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Lead generation: A builder’sguide to growing their businessMore clients, less stress. That’s sales done right. But we know that’s easier said than done unless you havethis guide. Follow this to unlock a better focus on lead dollars, faster conversions and a higher close rate.Let’s set the stage:You sit down for the most mouth-watering family mealyou’ve ever seen when the phone rings as you go in forthe first savory bite. “May I tell you about an excitingopportunity?” asks the telemarketer on the other end.We’ve all been there. This frustrating interruption is aprime example of sales gone wrong. The next thing tomost likely happen is a firm CLICK. You’ve hung up toreturn to dinner, and the telemarketer on the other end isno closer to meeting their sales goal for the quarter.Scenarios like this show why an effective leadsmanagement strategy is so important. It can be the verything that saves your business from being that disruptivecold caller – and the very thing that takes you from anup-and-coming builder in your market to top dog.There’s no doubt the construction industry is competitive.In fact, it’s the reason so many companies are willing topay a hefty price for the best construction leads.While this approach can be effective in the short term,it’s not the best if you want to grow your businesssustainably. So, within this guide, we examine alternativeways you can get more construction leads and convertthem into lifelong customers.Rising demand in the market makes intentionallead management all the more critical to builders.Construction companies – especially those that take ona larger volume of jobs like remodelers and specialtycontractors – need every advantage they can get.Consider the insights shared within this guide yours.GlossaryConversion: When a sale turns into an active job. Close rate: The number of sales that turn into actual jobscompared to the total number of potential customers. Lead: A person who has expressed interest in a companyand might eventually become a customer.Top 4 ways to attract construction leadsAlright, we’ve established that when it comes to construction, cold calling might not be the best tactic to turn a stranger into asale. While it might work for some companies, projects of this price and size won’t be decided over a chat during dinnertime.So, what should builders like yourself do instead? We’ve got four strategies proven to be successful for this industry. This isimportant. Because, before we can talk about effective lead management, we first need to fill our sales funnel with prospects.1. Provide value through content marketingBlogs. Engaging social media posts. Videos of formercustomers singing your praises. These are just some ofthe cornerstones of content marketing. This goal hereis to bring in quality leads by giving helpful informationrelevant to those looking to build a home. Investing timein content allows you to reach a larger audience, makeyour presence felt online and ultimately generatemore leads.Traditionally, the construction industry has relied tooheavily on slogans and brand taglines. Now that theworld has gone digital, you have an opportunity tonet leads who previously would have gone unnoticedthrough content marketing. Maybe it’s a blog focusedon “10 things to expect when building a home”, adownloadable map showing where new homes can beconstructed in your neighborhood or a podcast focusedof home financing options.Whatever direction you go in make sure it’s engagingand positions your company as the solution to anyhopeful homeowner’s woes.Glossary Cold calling: Making an unsolicited call to identify customers and talk to them about their needs and how thatcompany’s solution can resolve them. Sales funnel: This is the journey a potential customer takes as their interest increases in acompany before becoming a bonafide buyer. Prospect: An individual who is a potential purchaser of your product or service.Unlike a lead, they may not have already interacted with your company or expressed interest.
2. Word-of-mouth marketingIn the construction industry, this one is an oldie but agoodie. There’s nothing more powerful than word-ofmouth marketing. On average, word-of-mouth drives 6 trillion in annual global spending and results infive times more sales than paid ads.Think of it this way: When it comes to landing newcustomers, it’s important to impress your current ones.And exceeding their expectations is about more than justcoming in on time and under budget. Every step of thebuilding journey matters.To help you win over customers from sale close toproject completion, check out our homeowners’ report.This reveals what you need to do to have your clients raveabout you to all their home-hunting family and friends.3. Ranking through SEOYou’re a contractor, not a marketer, so right now youmight be wondering what in the world is SEO? We’vegot you. This is Search Engine Optimization, an integralpart of any effective digital sales strategy. That’s becauseit’s the best way to get construction leads.More than billboards, TV commercials or radio spots,people now find what they’re looking for through theinternet. Smart SEO helps you rank higher on Googlewhen people go looking for a home builder in yourarea. By using keywords, phrases and topics, you canSEO optimize your website, content, social media posts,videos and blogs. It’s all about using the words yourcustomers type in when they turn to Google for answers.4. Email marketingBeyond Google, one of the places we spend the mosttime online is in our inbox. That’s what makes emailmarketing so effective. You can create email newslettersto help educate potential clients about your constructionbusiness and generate fresh leads.Here’s a pro tip. At the end of all the great contentmarketing pieces you whipped up, encourage readers tosign up for a newsletter that shares even more tips andtricks. Now you’ve got their information to add to yoursales funnel.You’ve captured a qualified lead now what?You did it. Your content marketing, SEO or email efforts won you some great leads. So, what comes next?It’s time to create a lead management process that’s clearly defined, organized and most importantly moves prospects topurchase. Now comes the qualifying and nurturing. If done correctly, leads are pushed along in your sales pipeline withoutgetting lost in the shuffle. Conversely, without a solid lead management process in place, your team might become sodisorganized your sales cycle slows to a grinding halt (meaning you’re losing that potential customer to the competitors).No need to sweat it. We’ve got you. We broke down what a smart lead management system looks like into three steps.1. Capture your leads in one source of truthOrganization is key here. At any given moment, a newlead may sign up through your website, ring your phoneor even stop by your office the old-fashioned way. You jotdown their information on a sticky note, and before youknow it you’ve got sticky notes left, right and center.When it comes time to find details on a specific lead, youhave to hunt. Instead, keep all that information stored ina single system preferably one that’s more modernthan pen and paper.Once your leads are stored, it’s time to properlyorganize them by segmenting them. “Segmentation,” orcategorization of your leads, in the early stages will helpyou later on when it comes to nurturing (AKA buildingrelationships efficiently with) them.GlossaryTo do this, you’ll need to divide your new leads basedon certain qualities like how they contacted you, level ofinterest, new or repeat customer, etc.2. Score your leadsNot all leads are equal.If you knew in advance which leads are simply tire kickersand which were hungry for a purchase, you could focusyour efforts and prioritize the ones who are more likely tobuy. That’s where lead scoring comes in. This helps youin determining how likely a lead is to become a customerby assigning them points based on specific scoringfactors. The better their score, the more likely they are toclose a deal with you soon.Scoring factors might include physical location, websiteengagement, how soon they’d like to build and financingoptions available to them.Qualified lead: Someone who has been deemed more likely to become a customer compared toother leads based off engagement through marketing efforts.Lead Generation: A builder’s guide to growing their business pg. 2
3. Nurture your leadsBy this point, you know who your potential customers are – and which of them are the best of the best. However, eventhose with the highest lead score may not be ready to purchase just yet. It’s time to get to nurturing.What does that mean exactly? In the world of lead management, it just means you’ll provide them different content (there’sthat word again!) to push them closer to deciding your team is the right fit for them.It’s based off where they’re at in the sales funnel, too. Let’s break it down.Where is the lead at?AwarenessThey know you exist and aretrying to learn what you can dofor them.What can you do?Provide them with educational contentthat shows you understand their needsand gently reminds them of your company.Don’t go for the hard sell yet.Interest and evaluationDecisionWhere is the lead at?They’re considering your company – but likely alsoyour competition.What can you do?Offer them something valuable like a discount. And workon the relationship by sending a series of emails withinteresting info that keeps them engaged. ActionWhere is the lead at?Here’s the sweet spot. Your lead is now very interestedin you specifically.What can you do?This stage is all about calming all of their last concerns.Show off fantastic client reviews or success stories aboutprevious builds.Where is the lead at?It’s time. They are ready to seal the deal and sign on the dotted line but wait.Your work isn’t done yet.What can you do?In this stage, it’s all about responding quickly and confidently. (That’s why an organizedlead system is so important.) If you show you’re enthusiastic about the sale, they willbe too. Doing so will get your contractor-client relationship off to a strong start.Lead Generation: A builder’s guide to growing their business pg. 3
You don’t have to go it alone. Tech can help.By this point, all this might sound exhausting. Landing new jobs sounds like a full-time job in and of itself – and we know manysmall builders don’t have a dedicated sales team to handle all this.Luckily, you don’t have to go it alone. Tech can help streamline and automate the lead management process for you.Buildertrend, the leading construction project management software, can be your path to more projects – and profits.Here’s how Buildertrend perfects your lead management process with just three features:1. CRMBuildertrend is more than just project managementsoftware. It’s also the strongest salesperson on yourteam with the CRM feature. This acts as the place tocreate, capture and close all prospects.Empowering your business with options, Buildertrendoffers four different ways to add leads to Buildertrend.Just pick the method that best suits your team. You canmanually add them, import from an Excel spreadsheet oreffortlessly go from click to customer by inputting leadsfrom our app while on the go. The final way is a customerfavorite. At no additional cost, connect your website toour software so that leads instantly rush into our CRMfeature after potential clients fill out a form online.Once a lead is added, you can maintain the details toshow your confidence in the sale, projected sale date,who the salesperson is and much more.All this works together to remove the friction from presales. Now your team can always access, analyze andcollaborate on deal data together.2. Email MarketingYou don’t need a master’s in marketing to conqueremail campaigns. You just need Buildertrend.Any contractor can become a lean, mean email-marketingmachine with this feature. Just a few clicks do the trick,too. From the palm of your hand, automate drip emailcampaigns that turn cold leads warm and warm leadshot. These are the type of high-quality emails that getopened, keep attention and motivate consumers to act.Our team will even help bring your campaigns to life.We can teach contractors on how to create an email dripusing activity templates that keep leads engaged. Pushnotifications can be sent to your phone the moment alead responds, too. That means you can reply quicklyto further show potential customers just how on top ofeverything you truly are.3. ProposalsFast. Easy. Powerful.That’s our Proposals tool in action. Yep, our system makesit super simple to build estimates, deliver customizedproposals and ultimately sell more jobs.Using this feature, we’ll take your pen-and-paper contractprocess and automate it. Each contract in our systemwill have the important boilerplate and legal language,and you can create multiple proposal templates for yourteam to use.The streamlining continues when you consider the factthat pre-sales has gone digital in Buildertrend. Printedproposals? Not anymore. Instead of meeting with a clientthen racing to draft a proposal, quickly produce one righton the spot. You can even collect electronic signatures tokeep things moving and get to the job itself.4. Bonus! Customer PortalWhile not part of our pre-sales suite of features, theCustomer Portal is another powerful tool to help youland leads. Consider this. According to our 2020Buildertrend data report, today’s homeowners valuedigital interactions and ease of communication whenworking with residential construction businesses.That’s where our Customer Portal comes in.Through a unique login, clients can stay informedby viewing job progress, the projectschedule, pictures or videos andmore. Plus, they can make selections,complete online payments andcommunicate with your team –all in one place. Don’t wait until alead becomes a customer to showthem this powerful tool. Do itwhile you’re trying to land thesale. This demonstrates you’rethe type of digitally savvyconstruction professionalthey want to work with.Glossary CRM: This stands for Customer Relationship Management and is a systemthrough which businesses nurture relationships with potential customers.Lead Generation: A builder’s guide to growing their business pg. 4
A lead management success storyDo all these tips and For proof, here is the story of one home builder who grew their business through an organizedtech really work? lead management process with Buildertrend.Getting better with age:How one senior living contractorimproves and grows business with tech.Customer: The Bridge Group ConstructionLocation: Flower Mound, TXIndustry: Senior living contractorEighty thousand square-footproperties. Long corridors.Spaces accommodatinghealth services andaccessibility.challenges are only set to rampBuilding for senior carecommunities presents a myriadof unique challenges – and thoseare more than 65 million over theup in the coming years. Withthe baby boomer generationentering their sunset years andlife expectancy increasing, thereage of 60 who currently need orwill need care.Lead Generation: A builder’s guide to growing their business pg. 5The Bridge Group Constructioncompany is up to the test. Thiscommercial contractor servicesthe senior living industryexclusively, so they need asolution that helps them meetincreasing demand.They found that solutionin Buildertrend.
Their story:Quality building for qualitycare facilities“We want the best outcome for residents, period,”said Lucas McCurdy, founder and owner of TheBridge Group Construction. “When you get in thereand you meet the people who live and work in thesecommunities, you fall in love with it.”For Lucas and his team, this business is about morethan doing good construction. It’s about being goodstewards to the senior living industry.Every person in The Bridge Group Construction crewapproaches projects with a deep understanding ofwhat older adults need in their living environments.It’s all about skillfully creating spaces withconvenience, comfort and safety in mind.“There is a big gap in commercial generalcontractors and limited options for those whocan complete the complicated constructionprocesses senior living requires. That’s mypassion – to bridge that gap.”Lucas McCurdy,founder and ownerTheir goal:A one-stop place to houseall operationsThe Bridge Group may service the senior community,but it’s still in its infancy stage as a business. Theyopened in January 2019 and quickly realized theyneeded a single system to manage jobs. As thecompany got off the ground, the team began togrow and so too did demand.Lucas likes to think of construction projects aspuzzles – and their piece count seemed to be quicklyincreasing. It was time to find a platform that couldhelp bring the chaos all together.“Initially, we focused our attention on more traditionalbig box robust construction management forcommercial contractors,” Lucas said. “They were veryoverwhelming, very expensive and more than whatwe needed.”Then they found Buildertrend.
Their success:Doubling sales inyear threeTheir solution:A CRM tool that converts leads intoactual jobsBeyond its ease of use and affordability, Buildertrend’s biggest sellingpoint was the fact it’s a selling machine. With a built-in CRM tool,The Bridge Group could track leads then easily switch them over toactive projects all in one place. This eliminated the need for multiple,cobbled together systems.Buildertrend made sales seamless.“It’s not just a CRM that’s bolted onto something else,” Lucas said.“I can track my sales, push them over to jobs, manage the projects,budget it and tie to accounting. It’s the sales tool’s ability to integratewith the things that make my business run day to day. Take away oneof those steps, and I would need another system.”The CRM feature further empowers The Bridge Group by givingthem the ability to forecast what comes next. Anybody from the teamcan see the status of any lead, increasing visibility companywide onoutlook for the next 30 to 60 days. They can then better plan andadequately allocate resources.After adopting Buildertrend, TheBridge Group saw growth in theirsecond year of business – even afterthey experienced a few monthswithout billing during COVID-19lockdowns. They expect that trend tocontinue through 2021.With the CRM helping them keepbetter track of leads and quickly flipthem into ongoing jobs, sales havedoubled.“I don’t know where we would be,especially as a startup company,without Buildertrend,” Lucas said. “It’sthe easiest investment we made tolook back and say, ‘That was a gooddecision.’ That’s how valuable I knewit would be.”“Being a young company, Buildertrendhas leveled us up. When customerssee that we have this tech and it’s soorganized, it gives them a differentperception. We might just be gettingstarted, but our operations run likewe’re veterans.”Lucas McCurdy,founder and owner
Are you ready to revamp your lead management process?Take the lead with Buildertrend.Whether you’ve been working with an ineffective lead management process or without one at all,the steps we’ve outlined can help you build a workflow that really well, works.Because winning over leads and besting the competition doesn’t happen automatically. It’s aboutbeing strategic, smart and savvy with tech.To start growing your business the stress-free way, consider using the No. 1 construction projectmanagement system. Schedule a Buildertrend demo today. Our tech is sure to impress.Manage leads. Land jobs. Repeat. With Buildertrend, it’s that easy.GlossaryConversionClose rateLeadCold callingSales funnelProspectQualified leadCRMWhen a sale turns into an active job.The number of sales that turn into actual jobs compared to the total number of potentialcustomers.A person who has expressed interest in a company and might eventually become a customer.Making an unsolicited call to identify customers and talk to them about their needs and how thatcompany’s solution can resolve them.This is the journey a potential customer takes as their interest increases in a company beforebecoming a bonafide buyer.An individual who is a potential purchaser of your product or service. Unlike a lead, they may nothave already interacted with your company or expressed interest.Someone who has been deemed more likely to become a customer compared to other leadsbased on engagement through marketing efforts.This stands for Customer Relationship Management and is a system through which businessesnurture relationships with potential customers.About BuildertrendBuildertrend is the No. 1 cloud-based project management software tool used by home builders,remodelers and specialty contractors. Since 2006, more than 1 million users across more than100 countries have chosen Buildertrend as their preferred platform for real-time collaborationthroughout each stage of the construction process. To learn more about Buildertrend, visitbuildertrend.com and @buildertrend.buildertrend.com 11818 I Street Omaha, NE 1 (888) 415-7128
Lead generation: A builder's guide to growing their business More clients, less stress. That's sales done right. But we know that's easier said than done unless you have this guide. Follow this to unlock a better focus on lead dollars, faster conversions and a higher close rate. Provide value through content marketing Blogs.
