The slowdown prevention plan for hardscapers

There’s a lot of talk these days about home improvement projects slowing down. Let me let you in on a little marketing secret. If you want your business to avoid a business slowdown and have a predictable, steady stream of work, focus your efforts on low-cost direct response marketing.

Let’s share our top 5 direct response marketing strategies so you can pick 1 or 2 and get to work on growing sales quickly – without spending a pile of money.

1. Referral programs: Encourage satisfied customers to refer your business to their friends, family or business associates. Most satisfied customers are willing to do this if you ask! Every time you or a teammate receives a compliment from a customer, you should: a) give gratitude for the compliment, b) tell them you appreciate referrals, c) invite them to provide an online review, written testimonial or video interview, and d) share their comments permanently on your website.
   
   This can help generate new customers through word-of-mouth marketing over and over and over again with little to no cost whatsoever. Referral clients tend to negotiate prices less, and make purchase decisions faster, than any other type of lead. This will always be true.
   
   
2. Direct mail: Send physical mail, such as postcards, letters, gifts, or offers of services directly to your: a) current customers, b) past customers and c) unconfirmed estimates/quotes/bids prospects. The postal service is a never-ending, low cost sales machine. Use it. Today, too many contractors are focused on expensive digital marketing like Facebook ads or Google adwords. Focus on the direct response marketing listed here and you will never run out of work.
   
   
3. Email marketing: Yes, email is cheaper and faster than communicating via the postal service. But please understand, email has a very short life. One email might be good for 72 hours and it’s lost...sort of just goes away. We recommend that email messages focus on educational content 80% of the time. Getting access to an inbox is a privilege. Always deliver something of value to the inbox or you will wear out your welcome. A steady stream of educational messages with an occasional offer (to current and past customers plus prospects) can make you a wealthy hardscaper.
   
   
4. Telemarketing: Pick up the phone and talk to your existing customers, past customers and unconfirmed quotes/estimates/bids. There’s really nothing else that can move the sales needle faster than personal, one-on-one communications. A friendly call to say hello and check in creates an opportunity to ask for referrals and dig up new work. Once again, you won’t be spending a bunch of money to get this direct response marketing strategy to pay off.
   
   
5. Text message marketing: The only thing that’s more likely to gain immediate response than a phone call is a text message. Collect mobile phone numbers during the estimate or proposal generating process. Prospects and customers are always willing to share their contact information early in the relationship when they are seeking quotes or pricing information. Leverage follow-up using text messages. And please – ask for referrals or provide a link to your Google Review page via text messages. You will get great results.
   
   

We love direct response marketing. We think you should fall in love with direct response marketing too. Direct response marketing requires an investment of energy and time. The best part is that it produces measurable results helping you avoid the next slowdown.

‍Tony Bass is the founder of Super Lawn Technologies and the Super Lawn Toolkit Marketing and Management Membership Training program. Since 1998 he has worked with over 400 owners of landscape contracting companies to improve financial performance. Contact Tony at Tony@TonyBassConsulting.com or (478) 822-9706.