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Maximize the Lead

What Is A Lead?

First of all, let’s make it very clear what does “lead” means. The term lead refers to any individual that is contacting your company with the intention of either finding out about your services or getting a job done. Leads are very important in any business as they usually represent the first contact a potential customer has with your company. Failing in effectively and efficiently convert your leads into a real customer will have detrimental effects on the growth of your business.

A lead might approach your company through the different communication channels you provide. Here are some examples.

Phone Calls

The most common “leads” in the roofing business will contact you via phone calls. For this reason, you not only have to have an excellent system in place but you should also ensure to appropriately communicate your contact number. You should include your contact number on your website and any potentially printed prospectus if you want to be contacted. Also, make sure that your current phone system allows you to book appointments at a high rate.

Submissions of Forms

Every good website should include a lead “capture” from for all the potential customers that do not feel at ease at calling or for somebody that is looking to find answers that go deeper than the information you already provided on your website. When such a form gets submitted and you receive it, you have to have a system in place that allows you to contact such prospects as soon as possible. The quicker you will be able to contact these leads, the better the first impression you will provide.

Other Types of Inquiries

Leads can flow into your business in several different ways, depending on where you decide to be available. For instance Messenger, Instant Chats or Facebook are some of the other common channels commonly used for inquiries about business. As with any type of contact, you should aim at getting back to such leads as soon as possible to maintain a high level of interest in your company.

How Much are Leads Worth?

The most important concept when talking about leads is to understand that every type of contact counts. Everyone involved in your team must understand such concepts and acts accordingly for the benefit of your company. Every type of lead is a potential customer and should be treated in the best way possible to maximize the chances of converting the lead into a customer. To give you a measure of comparison, you can calculate how much it costs to attract leads, but dividing the costs of your advertising efforts to the number of contacts you receive.

(Cost of Advertising) / (Number of Calls and Forms Submitted) = Worth of Your Leads

How Should You Correctly Handle A Lead and Increase Your Chances Of Conversion?

Getting leads is great, but the most important part is to ensure that those leads convert into customers. How to do so? Here is a set of tips you should follow if you want to maximize your chances of success.

Smile

Even if you’re talking through the phone, so your prospect won’t see you smiling, you should still smile while on the phone. Doing so helps you keep your enthusiasm level up and your prospect will be able to perceive your motivation. You’ll transmit a positive attitude that will benefit your interaction with the client and his or her perception of the company’s worth.

Introduce Yourself And the Company Appropriately

You should always professionally introduce yourself and be polite when answering the phone, especially when talking to a lead. A great way to start your conversation would be something like “Hello, it is a great day here at ABC Roofing Services. It’s (Your Name) speaking, how can I make your day a better day?”.

By replying in such a way you’ll set the tone for a friendly but professional conversation and give the customer a good impression of your company.

Show Empathy And Reassure The Customer

Remember that every call and every interaction is a business opportunity. If a lead is contacting you and feels frustrated about a problem at his house, you need to show empathy. Saying simple sentences such as “I understand your frustration”, “That sounds like a terrible situation”, or “Yes, I understand how that must be very inconvenient” will help the customer feel understood.

After having shown empathy, you should reassure the customer saying something like “So good that you’ve called us, we will take care of you and your situation” or also “You have called the right place”. This will not only humanize the interaction but also set you as the most efficient and best solution the customer can receive for his or her problem.

Make Sure You Note Your Leads’ Contact Information

Ensure you get the information on who’s calling you and keep a record of that. For instance, you can simply ask “Have you ever made use of our services before?”. Depending on the answer, you can respond accordingly. A reply on the line of: “Thank you for calling us again, could you give me your name, please?”, will allow you to confirm some of the customer information, location, and phone to contact him back when needed. You should have a list of your customers’ information. When a new lead calls you to ask for their information. A great way to pose the question is “Thank you for calling us, could we first start by getting some of your information?”.

Questions you need to ask have to include the type of house or building (is it commercial or residential?), the location and address of the building, a phone number to contact as well as the email address to send a confirmation of the order to. Even if it sounds pretty logic, do not forget to ask the name and the billing information of the customer.

Categorize the Kind Of Job Requested

Get right what is the problem the customer is experiencing and what kind of solution you should provide. For example, you might ask your client to describe his trouble and for how long has he experienced such an issue.

Book An Appointment

After having categorized the type of job required and having taken a look at your schedule, offer to your client the time frame you would be available to help him. Ask your customer if the time frame provided fits his schedule as well. If it doesn’t let him propose a different date and time. Once you both come to an agreement schedule the appointment and confirm it to avoid any troubles.

Communicate the Value You Will Bring

Before closing the call, you must outline what the customer can expect from your service visit. Say something like ” We value your time and money and we will send you one of our professional experts, trained, background checker and extremely effective in delivering the high-quality service that characterizes our company. Our roofer will come in a fully equipped truck which will make it possible to conclude the repair on the spot unless the issue is particularly unusual. Our technicians are trained to thoroughly examine the issue first and they will spend some time with you before starting the reparation to properly begin fixing the problem”.

Find Out The Source

To maximize and improve your lead conversion rate, ensure you ask your clients how they have heard about your company. Finding out will help you to focus your advertisement and your energy into one or two specific channels, thus to improve the way your leads contact you.

Confirm The Appointment Before Closing

At the end of the call, make a summary of the appointment. Specify the name of the client and the date and time of the scheduled appointment. Clarify that you’ll make a courtesy call around 30 minutes before the arrival of the roofer so that no time is lost and the client can be ready to receive the professional. Be polite, attentive and empathic. Conclude the conversation with saying something on the line of: “It has been a pleasure to serve you today (Name of the customer), if you have any other questions do not hesitate to contact us again. Have a wonderful day!”.

Calculating Your Booking Rate

You have seen how you can maximize the chances of converting a lead into a customer, how to correctly treat a lead and why are leads so important. It is also essential that you keep in mind that you need to calculate your conversion rate to see how effective your methods are. If you do not keep a record of your booking rate (also referred to as conversion rate) you will never be able to assess your performance and to spot any possible mistake.

You can calculate your booking rate through a simple formula:

(Number of Calls Booked) / (Total Number of Calls) = Booking Rate

You can apply this formula to the forms submitted and to the other interactions you had with leads. Compare the results and find out which channel gives you the highest and the lowest conversion rate, analyze why and adapt your strategy accordingly.