Everybody wants more referrals. For many small businesses, referrals spell prosperity.
But what about leads?
Well, referrals are a type of lead, to be sure.
They’re great leads because they don’t cost much to generate, and when they come in, they are usually easy to convert into jobs.
Other leads are important, too. Making sure that you have a steady flow of jobs — whether you need them 6 weeks from now or 6 months from now — a steady flow of jobs means stability and the potential to scale and grow your business.
Over-reliance on referrals can be dangerous. With referrals comes a degree of unpredictability. It’s not possible to accurately predict the exact number of referrals you’ll get in the future or how many will convert into billable jobs.
The fact is this — if you correctly use marketing, you can generate predictable quality sources for new leads.
How do you do this?
There are a few factors that will inform what strategy you need to get the leads.
It depends on your budget and how soon you need more bookings.
Some of the factors include:
- Scope of the jobs
- The size of your business
- The quality of your call handling
- The number of crews/trucks you have to service new customers
- Your marketing budget
There are a lot of different marketing opportunities out there — Google, Home Advisor, Facebook, radio ads, truck wrapping, you name it. But which ones are right for you?
The answer lies in developing a custom marketing plan aligned with your business objectives.
