Leveraging Existing Customers to Generate More Contractor Leads
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Posted On :
May-19-2010
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Article Word Count :
516
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Your best customers now will generate your best new leads for contractors in the future as they communicate with friends online.
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Your best customers now will generate your best new leads for contractors in the future as they communicate with friends online.
When just starting your contracting company, your first order of business was to generate contractor leads for jobs. Back then, advertising was an investment you were probably hesitant to spend your meager profits on. At that time you relied on good reviews and word of mouth advertising from your best customers to generate new leads. How many customers reached out to you after seeing a friend or relative's new kitchen, freshly finished basement, or renovated bathroom? Many people today have virtual brag books online. How can you leverage this idea for more contractor leads?
Prospective clients today are doing their research online in not only traditional websites, but by using local searches like Google Local, social media sites like MySpace and online classified sites like Craigslist. Local search is a relatively new search method that has several advantages for the local business person. If you are one of the first to take advantage, you can quickly dominate some key phrase and word searches. This will put you at the top of the list for these local search engines, and drive new contractor leads to your website. The smart and profitable business person combines these new leads with word of mouth referrals. By having a presence on these sites that your customers can link to and read, you'll build a Link Wheel that will have a synergistic effect, generating more leads for less expense than traditional methods.
It all starts with superior service and products. When customers post the pictures of their new pool, or brag about their new air conditioner or landscaping, your company should be able to turn those posts into new leads. Increased sales and increased revenue combined with decreased costs of advertising leads to increase profit and success for your contracting business.
How do you make this a reality? Start by knowing yourself and your business. Answer the questions “What is my niche?” and “What am I most proud of?” Integrate the answers to these questions into your website design. Then create and distribute content associated with your business into the right sites and in the right form to drive customers to your site. That content needs to be search engine optimized so it’s easy to find, is highly ranked, and drives contractor leads to your sales channels. Providing space and content for your customers to react to, post their own comments and reviews will also be highly effective. Once you have one keyword captured, find more. Remember that your website is your salesperson. You want it to be dynamic and constantly improving to convert your leads into contracts.
Taking the time to learn about these advanced Web 2.0 tactics and taking action on a well thought out plan are the first steps in getting this ball rolling. Then watch it snowball by teaching others in your organization to do it, and then monitor and measure the results, to optimize the effect and drive sales and profit.
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Article Source :
http://www.articleseen.com/Article_Leveraging Existing Customers to Generate More Contractor Leads_19318.aspx
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Author Resource :
Chris Marentis, owner of GenNext Media LLC., is a successful Internet marketer, entrepreneur and creator of the Surefire Social system for contractor leads and small business lead generation and profits.
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Keywords :
web 2.0, contractor lead generation, Google local search, SEO, new leads, contractor leads,
Category :
Internet Business
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Internet Marketing
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