by constructaquote - 30 January 2017
The Tradesman industry is already competitive enough without the New Year struggle to pick up business. People tend to be strapped for cash after Christmas and budgets are tight.
Alternatively, the New Year can be a time for completing projects and getting things in order with some people starting the year with new projects and others using quiet time to finish the projects they didn’t get round to the year before.
It’s not always easy for customers to find you or for you to drum up new business, so we’ve put together some ideas to help you increase your work in the New Year:
The New Year is a time to get organised but after Christmas many people are a pinching pennies. Offering a discount is great way for customers to afford your work; if you’re a general handyman January in particular is a great time for people seeking removal, carpet cleaning and domestic cleaning services after the messy festive season. Offering a discount on these services could help you generate more business.
As a Tradesman, most of your business is word of mouth but you shouldn’t underestimate the benefits of being visible online too. A website is a great way for your customers to find you. As well as providing your contact details to the general public, your website can be a portfolio of your work and skills. You can even include a price list or a quote calculator.
Websites used to be expensive and time consuming to create but with free tools available including SunZu, you could create your business website in a matter of minutes.
Social media is a great way to attract more business. Creating a Facebook page/ Twitter account/ Instagram account/ YouTube Channel is a great way to showcase your before and after pictures, industry knowledge and share DIY tips with ‘how to’ videos and posts.
This will portray you as the expert in your industry and people will naturally choose you to do business with.
Your social media pages can also include incentives for people to contact you by offering competitions or discounts.
EG:
‘25% off all flooring during January’ or
‘Like and share our Facebook page for a chance to win £1,000 worth of building work’
As your business is predominantly a “word of mouth” business, it’s important for your offline branding to look good as this is how your customers will notice and remember you.
Many Tradesmen do not consider themselves as a brand and will often drive a van without a logo and operate without business cards. Establishing yourself as a brand will attract more customers, as people will be more comfortable working with a Tradesman that appears to be more established rather than one with no branding at all.
Your branding doesn’t have to be complicated, you might even be able to get a logo designed cheaply online.
You can also get temporary van stickers to promote any new year offers and change them throughout the year.
The old fashioned method of flyering is still an effective form of marketing. Whether you’re simply making people in your area aware of your services or promoting your new year discounts, flyers are a great way to make a visual impact. Door to door flyering can be time consuming so you could opt for public car parks and residential communal areas.
If you’re confident in your digital abilities, allocating a budget for a Google ads, pay-per-click campaign is another way to promote your new year discounts. However, if you’re unsure about this you could outsource to a PPC expert in order to get the best results.
Another great way to win more business it to offer a referral discount to your customers. If, for example, you do an attic conversion for a customer and they happen to refer more business your way, that customer will receive a discount on any future work. This not only encourages the customer to use you again and again but also encourages them to bring you more business.
Buddying up with another local business can promote your services to a different audience and attract new customer leads. To do this, you could start by agreeing, formally or informally, with a business that offers different products/services than yourself to refer any other business to each each other exclusively.
For example – Say you’re a builder and you buddy up with a plumber. You’re fitting a new bathroom but do not have the skills to fit the plumbing so you recommend a good plumber you know. Alternatively if that same plumber is doing a job and learns that the customer also needs a builder, they recommend you. Mentioning that you both have new year offers on is also a great way to win the customer.
Collaborative relationships should be nurtured and respected as they can really prove beneficial in growing your business. Be mindful of the quality of the businesses you collaborate with as any negative results may reflect on your recommendation.
If you want to find out more about getting online, check out our 5 Digital Marketing Strategies For Tradesmen To Win More Customers.
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