8 Tips On How to Get More Qualified Leads

While it would be nice if every sale just came to your business, that’s rarely the case. Reaching your target audience with your marketing efforts is where it all begins. That’s why the sales process lives and dies with solid lead generation strategies.

What’s your lead generation strategy? If you don’t have one, you are wasting valuable time and effort operating with an inefficient sales process. It’s not uncommon for a small-to-medium sized business to struggle with finding potential leads.

Learning how to get more leads is essential if you want to take your business to the next level. That’s why we have a few tips to help get you started generating quality sales leads today

These marketing tips can help you improve your marketing reach and generate new leads for your business. These are especially important for any new business, but anyone using sales leads can benefit from them.

1. Happy Customers Are Your Best Source of Leads

Potential customers often find out about businesses from current customers. Business experts agree - loyal customers the most effective and cheapest form of lead generation you have. What would you like those current customers to say?

These are often the highest quality leads you can generate. People trust their friends and family members. When they hear about your products through the word-of-mouth of these customer referrals, they are much more highly likely to buy, and buy quickly.

It’s so much more expensive to find leads than it is to receive them directly from customer referrals. Where generating a new lead takes time and expense on your part, a referral is absolutely free. Turning every paying customer into a lead generation machine yields spectacular ROI since the cost is so low.

This means you have to care deeply for your existing customers. This itself is an important lead generation strategy. Make sure they feel heard and valued, even if there’s a problem. This will continue to ensure that every paying customer will generate leads for you.

Keeping your paying customers happy is too important to “wing it.” Make sure you are using a customer relationship management software to track all interactions, and spot trends. Take that data and turn it into lead generation of new paying customers. If you're wondering about the best CRMs for those in the home improvement industry, check out this blog post. 

Follow-up is also key to lead generation. When there is a question or problem, have your sales teams reach out promptly to make sure the interested parties know they are well taken care of. This, in turn, generates more leads.

2. Everyone Likes Something Free

Free trials are something we encounter frequently. The reason is, they work to attract leads! Not only do they give your potential customers a chance to engage with your business, it builds enthusiasm. It’s a great way to drive leads when you gather contact details from the people who try the product. 

These days, most people are fairly comfortable providing their personal information, since they do it all the time. With email filters now the norm, they can choose to view promotional emails at a time of their choosing. Some freebies you can put in an email include:

• Free quotes
• Free upgraded products
• Discount on services

You can also offer free promotions in a well-trafficked physical location where people will be receptive. Who is your target audience? You need to reach them where they are for the most effective lead generation, like:

• A busy office plaza on a lunch break
• Community fairs
• Conventions
• Sporting events

The best way to capture leads is to simply require that people fill out an opt-in form on a digital notepad device. This allows you to send relevant content or contact your leads directly.

3. Write Blog Posts

While blogging itself doesn’t generate leads, it’s a form of direct engagement with your customers. So how do blogs generate leads? When the information you provide creates interest, and demonstrates your expertise, you’ll be creating future customers and more leads.

A blog post isn't about advertising your services. It needs to be part of an overall strategy that benefits both existing customers and ones you haven’t won over yet. The home improvement industry is a GREAT place to write tips and suggestions for homeowners. These website visitors will read each blog post, then browse the rest of your website to learn more about you specifically. It’s a low-cost marketing tool that can be employed by just about anyone.

Including helpful links is actually one of the ways to generate leads directly through your social media platforms and blogs. If you have a blog post discussing a problem your customers might have, and how you can solve that problem, link directly to the product.

4. It’s Okay to Buy Leads

Buying leads is just another form of investment that you make in your business. Of course, not all purchased leads are the same. There are countless sources of paid leads.

You’ll want to make sure that you’re reaching prospective customers, not just random people. If you do purchase leads, your top priority is to monitor ROI, otherwise you could be fruitlessly throwing money away.

On the other hand, you don’t necessarily have to buy them. There are a number of free tools you can use for online lead generation. You can also review lead aggregator services such as Angi or Thumbtack. This blog post walks you through the most popular lead agg sites for home improvement companies. 

The fewer contact details you need, the lower the cost will be. Paying for email addresses alone will cost far less than full demographic and location data. As part of your inbound marketing strategy, think about what information you really need.

Generating leads through purchase can be well worth the investment if you turn those into profit.

5. Effective Email Marketing

Lead generation through email is nothing new. Many businesses struggle to do this effectively, however. While people are generally comfortable getting marketing emails, it’s important to make sure you are providing content that is valuable and likely to generate a sale.

Make sure you have someone on your team with marketing experience, who can compose and send emails at the right length and frequency.

The most important section of the email? You need a call to action! Without it, your email is going to be ignored. Give the customer an urgent need to contact you or make a purchase today. If they don’t buy right away, be sure to follow up.

6. Increase Your Number of Marketing Channels

If your business just has one marketing channel, you are missing out on the opportunity to generate new leads for your business. You need to meet your customers where they are, and if that is in multiple places, you need multiple channels.

To capture more leads, you need the widest sales funnel possible, as long as it’s capturing potential paying customers. Any wider is a waste of time. Each marketing channel you add widens your sales funnel and helps to generate leads. A great option to start with is Google My Business. Download our free ebook using Google My Business to market your business. here. 

7. Social Media Presence is No Longer Optional

While social media channels aren’t typically for sales, they can be one of the most effective ways to generate leads. With short, targeted posts, you’ll be able to drive web traffic and generate high-quality leads. In fact, one of the best ways for home improvement businesses to use social media is by posting short videos of the work you're doing. These videos don't need to be professional. People LOVE watching before and after videos, and our industry is perfect for this. 

So how does social media generate leads? First off, the bottom line is that even if you aren’t on social media, your competitors are. Why let your competitors interface with your customers? You’ll be missing out on business leads that you could have had for free.

The great news is that a social media platform is a free tool for generating new leads for your business. While you don’t pay to be a member, you will be well served by team members who are skilled in communicating through social media channels, and providing a strong call to action in every post. 

8. Search Engines Are Your Friend

While we all know how useful search engines are for researching topics, they are also one of the top ways to generate leads. You need to make sure that your lead generation process includes search engine optimization and dynamite small content.

Perform some basic keyword research. Then, use those keywords in creating content like landing pages, blog posts, and other items to make sure that you are reaching your target market. This isn’t just for the big players, all small businesses can benefit from content marketing and the leads it generates.

Want more ideas? Download our ebook, "The Home Improvement Growth Guide" to jumpstart your business growth.