Are you looking to take your remodeling or home-building business to the next level and attract more high-quality leads?

In today’s ever-changing world of technology and marketing strategies, it can be overwhelming to know where to start when it comes to acquiring new clients. But fear not – we are here to guide you through the process with expert insights and successful strategies.

In this four-part series, we will discuss how to create a Client Acquisition Roadmap that will provide you with a reliable stream of high-quality leads.

So buckle up as we dive into the first part of our new series called “Create More Engagement from High-Quality Leads”. Watch/Listen/Read to this episode, and get ready to transform your business by attracting and retaining your ideal clients with our engaging, authoritative, and professional approach.

Builder Lead Converter ATTRACTS, CAPTURES & CONVERTS high-quality leads for builders so they can pick & choose their clients & jobs. Find out how at https://www.builderleadconverter.com

 

Transcript:

Rick: Today on Conversations That Convert, we’ll be talking about how builders can create engagement from high-quality leads. Let’s get started. 

Welcome to Conversations That Convert. Every week we’ll spend about 10 to 15 minutes tackling relevant lead generation, marketing, and sales topics for remodelers, Home Improvement Companies, and Home Builders. Conversations That Convert is brought to you by Builder Lead Converter, your perfect sales assistant. And now, here’s Rick and Daiana.  

Rick: Hey, welcome to Conversations that Convert, everyone. Hello, Daiana. How are you today? 

Daina: Hi, very well. Thank you. And how about you? 

Rick: Oh, well, the sun is shining and it’s almost about freezing. So we’ll take it for a January, a January day. And you just got back from Turkey. So welcome back and you look ready to go. 

Daina: Yes. Ready to face the cold.

Rick: The cold, the winter. We got a little more, a few more days of winter, but let’s heat things up a little bit. And what’s our topic today?  

Daina: So, today we start a new series, “How Can Builders Create More Engagement from High-quality Leads”. 

Rick: That’s right. Yeah. The series is actually called “How to Create a Client Acquisition Roadmap.” And this is something you and I touched on with last year in 2023. And, you know, the more I looked at it, I thought, you know what, we really need to expand on this and kind of break it down a little bit more for our builders and remodelers. Of course, we always go back to the Association of Professional Builders State of the Residential Construction Industry Survey.

And every year, the APB surveys between 1,000 to 1,500 builders and they say, hey, what’s your number one marketing challenge right now? So results are in for 2024. The study hasn’t been published yet, but. I know that in 2024, there was 46 percent of all builders said their number one marketing issue is generating enough high-quality leads, high-quality leads.

And what’s interesting is that the second biggest marketing challenge was generating enough leads. And when you add the two together, it’s about six out of 10 builders. That’s their top issue is high quality and enough leads. And obviously, poor-quality leads don’t do anybody any good. So we want to focus on is high-quality leads.

And so this new series of creating that client acquisition roadmap is really gonna be focusing on those high-quality leads. So what we’re gonna talk about today again, is lead engagement. In other words, you have high-quality leads coming and going, looking at you every single day, whether they’re on your website and they may be seeing your advertisements or looking at your signs and you want to get those leads to engage you. 

I was talking to a remodeler the other day, Daiana, and he said, you know, there’s nothing worse. I was, you know, I live in this town and our office is right here. And all of a sudden I look down the street and one of my competitors is building a home. I never even got a chance to talk to those people.

And he goes, there’s, you know, why didn’t I get to engage, you know, with that high-quality lead? They’re building right down the street for me. And now for the next, you know, eight months or whatever, he has to drive by that job site. And you’re like, Oh, I kind of get mad every time you see it. So there’s nothing worse than that.

Or at least talking to somebody that you had a conversation with and then you lost it to a competitor usually doesn’t make you feel as bad because you’re like, Oh, well, so and so is cheaper than me or they did this or you know what, whatever. But we don’t even have a chance to engage that lead. That’s what really burns you and you have that question that never goes away, which is why, why, why, why, why?

So let’s jump into that. Why leads don’t engage? Why leads don’t engage? Okay, so, so there’s really a very simple reason for why new home and remodeling leads don’t engage with you. And that reason is this. You don’t give them a reason to. It’s as simple as that. And I talked a lot about this at the conference I went to a couple of weeks ago, where most builders have what I call a builder-centric website.

It simply says, if you want to buy from us, call my phone number or fill out this form and hit submit. Now, if we talked about this a little bit earlier, if you wanted to buy a car and the car dealer said to you, well, if you want to buy a car, call us or fill out this form and hit submit,  you’d be like, you know what, I don’t really think I wanted to buy a car from these people because they’re not giving me a compelling reason to do so. 

So that’s what builders do. They typically tell people, Hey, if you want to buy, call me or.  and send me an email. And then what happens is the ones that do that, most builders don’t even get back to them in a timely manner. So people get really burned by that and they don’t want to engage you. So if you want more high-quality leads to engage your company, you have to give them a reason to do so. And that reason should be so compelling that they can’t say no. So what do you think Daiana?  

Daina: Yeah, I think that’s a good question to reflect on because I never realized that actually the, and that’s true the leads don’t engage. 

Rick: Yeah. And if you don’t engage, you don’t get the chance to talk to them.

You don’t get a chance to work with them. Your competitor gets the sale. So we got to get, we got to give them a reason to do that. So let’s go back again to the analogy of, 

let’s go back to the analogy of buying that car.  So what does the dealership do when you want to buy a car? What’s that offer that they give you or the reason that they give you to engage it’s come in and take a test drive, right?  Yeah. You bought a new car, what a year or two ago.  

Daina: I think there are four now, four years. 

Rick: You got one of those electric cars that we hear so much about, but they said, yeah, come in and take a drive, look at the car. You know, test it, push the button, see, see what you think of it. So what that is is really is that’s called your offer. What is your offer? So there’s, there are different types of offers, but your offer is that compelling reason that your leads cannot say no to.

Unfortunately in the housing business, we can’t let someone come in and test drive their remodel or say test drive their custom home. So we have to come up with different offers, but they have to be just as compelling as the opportunity to go drive, Something that you potentially want to buy. I was I was telling you before we started that I’ve worked once with a condominium developer.

And as they were building out the building, they created a guest suite. And if somebody was interested in purchasing in that building, their offer was, Hey, come stay overnight in the guest suite, and then they would give them a gift certificate to a local restaurant and it was right downtown where they could walk to all these different fun amenities and, you know, whether it was walking trails or parks or, you know, local businesses that they could visit and it was the closest thing you could get to a test drive.

So yeah another, the sales term for it was called the puppy dog clothes it’s when you go to the yeah, you take the kids to the pet store, right, and then they hold the dog and they say oh dad. Can we please please please get the puppy? And you’re like, no, no, no, no, please dad and then the salesperson comes up and says well, you know, you can take the puppy home and we have a money-back guarantee for a week.

So if you don’t like the puppy, go ahead and bring them back. Right. And of course, you know, what happens is the puppy goes home, the family falls in love with the puppy and the puppy never comes back. So, doing that test for the car or staying overnight is really called the puppy dog clothes. We want to, we want to get as close to that as possible and let the, our leads experience that emotion and feel really good about engaging us. So let’s go through these three types of offers, shall we?  

Daina: Yes, let’s go. 

Rick: All right. So offer number one is we have to establish trust. Now one of the things I speak on a lot is that the number one source for high-quality leads is referral and repeat business. Number one source, hands down. If I asked any builder of any price point selling remodeling or custom homes, if I say, if I could get you more leads, What is your favorite lead source?

Hands down, they will say referral and repeat leads. Well, why is that?  Because trust has already been established between that builder and the referer. Okay, so the person that’s making the referral. So when they referer, says to the referee, that’s the new lead saying, Hey, you need to go talk to Daiana. She’s the best remodeler out there. Don’t even bother talking to anybody else. 

That trust that was established is now instantly transferred over. So when that referral lead comes to you and says, Hey, You know, you built a Diana, you, you built a home for Rick or you remodeled Rick’s kitchen. He said you are the best. Can you help me with mine? And you say, yes, absolutely. And that’s a very, very high converting type of lead. So now when we’re looking at other lead sources, such as your website, such as your signs, such as any advertisements you’re doing, you have to give an offer to establish trust. 

Now there’s a process, that you go through this. This is a negotiation. So what your offer has to be, it has to be so compelling, that they would not want to say no. In other words, in that negotiation, they have to feel like they’re getting more than they are giving.  Okay, so right now, if you’re a builder and your website is only has a phone number and a format to fill out, you’re asking the thing, for more than you’re giving.

That’s why you have so few people actually filling that out. But if I’m giving something that your leads feel like is more valuable than their contact information, along with their permission to fill it out, they’re going to say, Yes, I want that offer. Right. So it’s a value. So what do we, what do these value?

They value information on getting more design, more design ideas, pricing information, finding a location to build, or just simply being able to ask you a question where they don’t have to get on the phone with you, where they can use a text communication or website chat. The messaging that sort of thing.

They do value that. And that’s when they’re willing to start that relationship. So your first offer is always about establishing trust again. You’re giving more than you are receiving now. How you deliver that offer is what will confirm that trust.  So if you say I’m going to give you this to you, And then when you deliver on it in a timely manner, no doubt.

And no, what I mean by a timely manner is that they’re going to receive it in less than a minute confirms the trust and now you’re moving them forward to offer number two.  

So offer number two, Daiana? 

Daina: Give them a reason to talk to you.  

Rick: Exactly. So now I’ve given them something they value. They’ve given me their contact information. Now I have to try to give them a reason that they want to get on the phone with me. So I’m just going to double down on my original offer. So what does that mean?

Well, it means that I want to give them more specific information on design as it relates to their project or their new home ideas, or more specific pricing information as it relates to their remodeling project, their new home, or perhaps helping them find a location to build, or if they already own land, I’m going to offer to do a feasibility study to give them a reason to want to talk to me, but I’m going to again supply that information that they need in order to make a well-informed choice. 

And that specific language that I used to teach when I was coaching salespeople is like, everyone wants to make a well-informed choice.  Nobody wants to be sold. So if you’re doing your job right, you’re providing them the information, but you’re providing it in a way that you continue to reel them in. You can’t push people, but you can pull them. So you pull them in with your offers. What do you think so far, Daiana?  

Daina: I think that’s very, very interesting. So you’re just pulling them with an offer. They come, they jump and say, Oh, I want that. That’s exactly what I want. And you have it. And I want that like with the car. I want that. 

Rick: And you home and remodeling people want information to help them make a well-informed choice. They don’t want to be sold. So you’re going to feed them the information. So what you have to become, Daiana, if you’re a builder or a modeler, is you have to become the local source of information.  Coz when you’re trying to get ideas for your new kitchen, you’ll search everywhere. All over the Internet,  you’ll look at everything. But ultimately, that always comes back to your location and finding the builder that has a local source of information for you.

And then that’s your go-to person. So that’s kind of your trusted source. So when they feel like they’re getting the information from you, they’ll stop looking,  right? Now we’re giving a reason to talk to us. And then the third offer, of course, is we need to go from the phone to face-to-face.  So now I have to give them a reason of why they would want to meet, why they would want to meet.

And of course, the phone, when I get them on the phone, that’s so you as the builder get an opportunity to qualify them as a lead. So you want to make sure they’re viable because you don’t want to waste your time with them. You don’t want to waste their time either. So once you’ve had that phone call, At the end of that phone call, your lead is going to have primarily two questions. 

They want to know how much home or how much remodeling project they can get for how little money. So they’re going to be asking questions like, well, how much is this? Or what will this look like? Does it include this? Do I get this? You get a lot of times people ask like, well, what’s your price for a square foot for this type of home or this type of project, you know, and I know that drives a lot of builders crazy.

It drives me crazy as well, but just understand that that’s the information that they need in order to make their well-informed choice. They don’t understand yet that they need to use your process. In order to get that information. So we have to work with them at that moment to try to qualify them and to see if their budget is viable based on the project they’re describing.

We understand that everyone has champagne tastes. So they want, they want to have this level of finish and this big project. They want to pay. As little as possible. I don’t want to overpay. Don’t want to get sold, you know, that sort of thing. So that’s what they’re thinking. So now what we have to do  Is in that conversation after we qualify them is we have to give them another reason of why they want to meet, you know So, okay, let’s go out.

Let’s look at your land. Come on in. I’m going to show you some design ideas you know, come, I’m going to come out to your home and we’re going to take get some as builds done and we’re going to go ahead and, you know, start building a scope of work, you know, for, for your project. So there’s all another offer is here’s why you want to meet and what you’re doing at this point is you’re shifting from there with a want for information, which is, what’s it going to look like?

How much is it going to cost? Where can I build it?  To your process, they need to follow your process in order to get that information done. So once they shifted over to that, you know, now you’re running with it and it’s really your, your sale to lose. So what do you think, Daiana, final thoughts from you? 

Daina: So free logical offers, and then they can follow the offers, and then you get the chance to meet with them face to face.

Rick: Absolutely. Yeah. And the strategy is called a controlled release of information. So each offer gives them enough. Okay. I’m going to create a compelling reason why they want to take the next step with you. So, establish trust, give them a reason to talk to you, and give them a reason to meet with you. I’m controlling the release of information and I’m always holding something back that offer.

So they want to go to the next step and go to the next step. And organically we do this organically or build their authority. Maybe you haven’t thought about that, but that’s what you’re doing. But if I give them all the information upfront. I never, then I lose the opportunity to continue them going down my sales pipeline.

In other words, I’ve given you all the information you need. There’s no reason for you to want to hear from me again, nor is there any reason for you to want to follow up with me again, you know, to keep moving forward. If I hold some back and you know, I’m holding some back, what I’m doing is saying, Daiana, I would love to give you this information.

Here’s how I can get it to you. I need you to come into my office or we’re going to come out to your house. You know, so again, I’m moving them forward in order to get that information. So that that’s the offer and they feel like the offer is worth more than their time, or perhaps it gets to the point of where they’re starting to write you a check, they will opt-in.

So it’s always a value perception. What do they value? Make sure you’re giving them something that they value more than whatever you’re asking for in return, contact information, a five, 10-minute phone call, and ultimately maybe a 60 to 90-minute, consultation at your office or at their home,  any final thoughts? 

Daina: Yeah. So  I can ask, when do we start?  

Rick: I sold you. Yes. Yeah. Well, that’s, that’s how it works. Yeah. That’s how it works. And that’s, and I’m sorry, go ahead.  

Daina: Yeah. It’s so, so easy.  

Rick: Yeah. It is. You know what? And the idea is that you have to be consistent with your messaging. You have to be consistent with your offers, but more importantly, you have to let the lead notes feel like they are personalized in the offer because the more you feel like it’s personalized.

The more likely you are to engage and move into the next step in your sales process. If it’s just like a static offer, it’s going to have very limited reach. But if it’s something personal, like you’re putting some input into it and you’re getting something back in return, boy, then it’s even more compelling and that will cause you to continue to move forward in the sales process.

Daina: So consistency is key.  

Rick: Consistency is key personal personalization is key and also fulfillment. Fulfillment is key again to establish trust. You have to get them, whatever they’re after immediately to establish that trust, because if you don’t establish trust upfront, you’ll never get them to go to the next step, which is the phone call and ultimately that face-to-face meeting. 

So if you’d like to know more about how we can create offers for you to get leads on the phone with you from your website or signs or advertisements, schedule your strategy call today. We can show you how we attract, capture, and convert high-quality leads so you as a builder can pick and choose your clients and jobs.

And for my brothers and sisters in Christ, may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all always. We’ll see you next time.