Ultimately, great marketing depends on great customer service. Your marketing dollars go to waste if no one responds to a potential customer’s email or phone call. Great customer care is becoming increasingly important and over 50% of consumers have cancelled a transaction because of bad customer service.

The Importance of Customer Care

For a growing number of customers, how a company treats them is more important than the product itself. Some experts are even saying that customer service is the new marketing. Chances are, you have a number of competitors that offer similar products or services and great customer service is a key way to stand out.

On top of that, customers are exposed to thousands of ads every day. Depending on the person, this number can be between 4,000 and 10,000 ads in 24 hours. People have lost faith in gimmicky ads, meaning the best way to make a lasting impression is through great customer care. 

Every happy customer is an ambassador for your business. Not only will a happy customer likely become a repeat customer, but they will also be more likely to help your business acquire new customers. Happy customers are more likely to tell their friends and family about your business, creating word of mouth marketing.

Everyone trusts word of mouth recommendations more than they trust advertising. Whether a satisfied customer writes a review online or tells their friend over coffee, a recommendation from an actual person is more valuable than almost any marketing campaign. That’s why many businesses (including ours) reward customers for referring others.

The Real Cost of Losing a Customer

Cost of acquisition is the metric used to measure how much it costs to gain a new customer. It varies based on the business and industry, but you can measure it by dividing your marketing spending by how many new customers you get in a given time frame.

That said, the exact cost of acquisition is less important when we compare it to the cost of keeping an existing customer. It’s fairly well-known that it costs five times as much to acquire a new customer than to keep an existing one. If that wasn’t enough to convince you, the success rate of selling to a new customer is only 5% to 20%, whereas selling to an existing one is as high as 70%. Even without any marketing, existing customers are the core of your business. Around 65% of all sales come from existing customers.

Marketing Strategies to Improve Customer Care

Customer Relationship Management

Customer relationship management is the strategy your business uses to engage and interact with customers. While it can be synonymous with certain software you can use to keep in touch with customers, it’s more about the approach to building relationships with people who buy from your business.

When you book a service for a customer, make sure you’re collecting their contact information. This can be their email address or phone number. After the service is complete, follow up with your customers. Do they have any feedback or questions? Do they want to prebook their next service? Do they want to follow you on social media or sign up for your mailing list? Most importantly, thank them for being a customer and show that you value their business.

Social Media

Social media should not only be a part of your marketing strategy but your customer service strategy as well. Whether it’s to complain or rave about a company, more and more people are turning to social media. 80% of consumers use social media to engage with businesses, and you should be there when they do. 

It’s also important to equip your social media manager with the resources they need to answer customer questions and complaints in a timely manner. Some businesses do this by having designated customer service staff reply to messages and comments, while others have a “question book” type of document for reference. Whatever method you choose, make sure it provides the best customer experience possible.

Customer Expectation Setting

Another way to align your customer service with your marketing is to make sure your messaging doesn’t over-promise. Your marketing should be realistic with what your business can deliver. For example, don’t promise customers 24-hour service if that isn’t something you can easily deliver on. 

Marketing shouldn’t make false promises, as you’ll end up with disappointed customers and an unsettling reputation. When in doubt, follow to old adage of undersell, over-deliver.

Sharing Customer Stories

A marketing campaign that shares customer stories works similarly to word of mouth. It’s effective because it highlights the work you do and makes it easy for potential customers to relate. Customer stories told by the customer come off as more authentic and less sales-y than traditional messaging.

Sharing a story about how your business went the extra mile, in particular, can win over new customers. Depending on your budget or the platform, this can be done in various ways. It can be as little as sharing customer reviews in a brochure or website, to creating a video campaign around a satisfied customer.

Customer Loyalty Programs

Customer loyalty programs are one of the best ways to retain and reward existing customers. Rewarding customers who already know your business can be 25% cheaper than acquiring new customers (and much more effective). 

They can increase revenue, save you money, and they make customers feel appreciated. It can also be a valuable opportunity to collect information about your customers. Customer loyalty programs can give you valuable insight into your customer’s spending habits and the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns. 

If you need some marketing insight, we’re here to help. Our team of digital marketers specialize in marketing for home service businesses. We’ve worked with companies across North America to improve their marketing so you can focus on customer care. Contact us to learn more about us and what digital marketing can do for your business.

For years now, industry experts have been talking about the labour shortage facing the home services industry. A movement towards more formal education and an ageing workforce has contributed to predictions of the workforce decline. Even before this worker shortage was identified, businesses were feeling the impact.

While the number of individuals pursuing careers as service techs may be decreasing, the home services industry is not going anywhere. Check out our blog below to learn about how your home services business can combat the labour shortage and find good techs.

Create A Compelling Job Posting

When you have an open service tech position, a great way to gain applications is by creating a job posting. It’s not difficult to put together the posting itself, but what is challenging is making sure you create something that accurately represents the job while enticing people to apply. When candidates are scarce, it’s important to make sure your posting stands out among the rest. Here are a few tips to help you create an engaging job posting. 

Sell your position for hire

What is the primary goal of a job posting? To gain applications! To entice your potential new hire into applying for the job, you need to sell the position! When creating your job posting, ensure you include the what, when, and how of the job. Does this person need to be able to lift heavy equipment? Operate specific machinery? Or even just be comfortable being on their feet all day? Be sure to include any particular certifications or qualifications required for the service tech position. 

It can be helpful to mention projects your company has worked on in the past to create standard expectations. You can even talk about what the training program would look like to make sure they feel supported. 

Mention what a day in life could look like for your future employee

A great way to gain more applications is to provide an example of a typical day for a service tech at your business. Showcasing this information helps your applicants invest in the position before they apply. 

Advertise Your Job Posting to Multiple Platforms

Once you have created a compelling and accurate job posting for your service tech position, you need to get it in front of the right audience! One of the main issues that come into play when posting jobs online is that your reach is not broad enough. Here are some tips to not only help you reach more people but also the right people when posting your jobs online: 

Posting your job on industry-specific sites will increase your chances of reaching the right people. Consider proving your job posting to recruiting companies such as Direct Recruiters Inc. or HAYS recruiting to find high-quality, relevant applicants.  

Advertise your job postings to gain more visibility

While posting your job on high-traffic sites such as Indeed or Monster is a great idea, it is easy for your posting to become lost due to the large size and the fact that they are not industry-specific. To combat this issue, consider allocating a specific budget towards the posting to gain more visibility. 

Use Job Fairs 

Consider attending job fairs in your area to meet potential applicants in person and sell them on the open service tech position. 

Visit local trade colleges

One of the best ways to ensure you always have service techs is to grow and develop them yourself! Check out local trade colleges in your area and meet graduating service techs. Better yet, create an apprentice program. 

Ask for referrals 

If you already have great staff, there is a high chance they may have friends or family in the same profession. Ask your team for referrals. This may end up saving you time and money on a job posting and ad. 

Post your jobs to social media

Social media networks are continuing to grow, and platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn have advanced targeting features to help you reach the right people. Consider creating a few social media posts and boosting these posts to service techs. You can even create a dedicated LinkedIn ad and target service technicians who are looking for work. 

Screen Your Applicants 

So at this point, you have created a job posting and have started to see some applications come in, which is excellent - You’re getting closer to hiring a new service tech! 

Once you begin to receive resumes and cover letters, an important first step is to screen your applicants before you interview them. This will help you eliminate unqualified candidates. 

Create a checklist with the criteria you are looking for in a potential hire.

If you have a checklist detailing what you are looking for in your new hire, it will be straightforward to wean out those who don’t meet the requirements.

It is also a great idea to send your applicants some questions via email or give them a call. Here are some initial questions you may want to ask before you proceed with an interview. 

• What is your work experience, and/or do you have experience with similar roles?
• What is your wage expectation?
• What is your availability? (is the candidate available on weekends?)
• Are you physically able to perform the duties listed in the job description? 

The Interview

Once you have assessed your candidates against your checklist and conducted an initial screening, you can move onto the official, in-person (or virtual) interview. Be sure to create a consistent list of interview questions that you ask each candidate, and keep in mind any deal-breaker answers that would disqualify the candidate. Here are a few questions you may want to ask your service tech in the interview. 

• What equipment have you worked with in the past?
• Are you able to lift [x] amount of pounds that will be required with this position?
• Are you comfortable working alone?
• Are you able to stay on your feet for long periods?

Hiring

When it comes to hiring the right home services techs… take your time! One of the main pieces of advice we can give you when it comes to hiring the right people is not to hire in the heat of the moment. If you do this, chances are you’re going to end up hiring someone who isn’t qualified or who’s not going to stick around for long. So how can you avoid this? Always be on the lookout for good employees! Whether you are currently looking to fill a service tech position or not, it’s a great idea to have relationships with service techs and not close any doors… you never know when you may need someone. 

Ask for references

Do not discount the importance of checking references! Checking references allows you to learn more about how your future hire performs on the job, how they will interact with your clients and staff, and the quality of their work.

Test Run

It is not uncommon for businesses to offer test runs to make sure the new candidate will fit in with the rest of your team. If you are still unsure or feel the need to confirm your decision to hire this candidate, have them come in and help with some office work for a couple of hours. You can even send them on a job with one of your other more experienced or senior service techs to see how they fit in and receive a second opinion. 

Make an Offer

At this point, you have decided on a candidate - congratulations! When the time comes to make an offer, ensure you prepare the correct documents whether you are hiring an employee or contractor. Create a clear job description and have the candidate sign off on all required responsibilities. If you are hiring an employee, ensure you go over the expectations regarding insurance and health benefits. 

Once your candidate accepts the offer, the fun begins! If training is required, create a clear training plan and transition to regular work once complete. 

Last Thoughts 

While a labour shortage is still prevalent in the home service industry, there are still many ways for you to hire great service techs. Following the steps outlined in this blog will provide you with a framework to use and follow throughout your search and hiring process. 

We wish you the best of luck with finding the perfect service tech, and if you have any questions, reach out to us! We’re happy to help. 

What is Local Marketing?

Local Marketing is a term created by digital marketers to explain how detailed you can get with your targeting online. As a small or medium sized HVAC business, all of your marketing is local.  It always has been. What is important to discuss is what does Local Marketing mean now in 2021 with everything that’s just happened?

When marketers talk about the importance of local marketing for a service-based business, they really should be referring to the targeting you should be utilizing to speak to the right customers.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s important to focus locally for marketing, but that has always been the case. That hasn’t changed, it’s just not the full story anymore. We really need to look at local marketing + demographic targeting + audience intent + marketing funnel segmentation. With data being so accessible now, there’s no reason not to utilize it. I know there are restrictions coming, but we can use similar strategies to accomplish the same targeting as before.

Let’s dive a bit deeper into how you can build a targeting strategy for your HVAC company in 2021 and how to amp up your Local Marketing game.

Update Your Customer Persona Data Based on What They Will Likely Need Soon.

I have been having a lot of discussions lately with HVAC and Plumbing companies pertaining to data. We collect and curate so much data, it’s hard to sometimes know how to make sense of it all. Where the conversation usually ends up is "business units" (service + market). If we can determine your ideal customers in each business unit then we will better know how to target the right customers at the right time.

Determine the customer persona based on what they need. It’s easy to know if you’ve been to their home. You should also target new customers using this method as well through digital marketing, and direct mail by analyzing your database, and average profit returned from ads.

Funnels Aren’t Just for Keg Parties

After you install a new Air Conditioner for a customer, you aren’t going to need to replace that for a while. However, that doesn’t mean they should fall out of your marketing funnel, it’s important to determine which funnel they get added to after each purchase. Once they leave the install funnel, they go directly into the “Sell them a membership” funnel.  Here’s a full breakdown of all the marketing tactics you can utilize to reach each customer along with your sales and marketing funnel.  We also wrote a description of each customer's mindset and potential triggers to know how to properly target them at each stage. (Full Eguide download available here).

Transition Your Tactics

I know it’s really exciting to see your ad on the boards at your local hockey stadium or your logo on a team’s practice jerseys.Guess what though… no one is going to these games (or practices), so now what? They might not be sitting in those seats anymore, but they all are online and they are still sports fans.

If you're a business that likes to sponsor sports teams in your community, try keeping that tactic for targeting, just rethinking how you reach those same people.If you have someone in your organization that is a die-hard sports fan, ask him to go on Facebook Live or Instagram stories and create a funny “Recap of last night's game” - brought to you by (your company).This is a cool tactic that starts driving people to your content to build loyalty. Start creating content for sports fans that have absolutely nothing to do with HVAC repair. But always include “brought to you by (your business name)”.  This tactic is great because it allows you to build your own fan base and user audience which means you can start paying less for media on other platforms.

Local SEO for Home Service Businesses is so Much More Than Google My Business Optimization.

It’s important to optimize your Google My Business page and keep adding posts to ensure engagement and proper SEO for local keywords. But everyone is doing this. All your competitors are racing to get the most amount of reviews possible and trying to get ranked #1. So what else can you do while you’re waiting for your SEO to rank you?

Hyper Local Platforms

It’s going to be more important than ever to sign up for platforms like “Nextdoor”.This platform allows hyper-local interactions with neighbours directly living in your area. Sign up for all of the neighbourhoods you want to work in, and ensure you’re active on the posts. If you’re doing community advertising or team sponsorships, this could be a great way to reach out to let people know you’re looking for a team to sponsor.

Facebook, TikTok and Instagram

These platforms are very useful especially if you utilize the groups and hashtags properly. If you’re not sure how to use hashtags for your home service business check out our latest E- guides. We really like to ensure a good combination between social media ads and authentic content.  ADHOME has a membership that includes a social media library inclusive of ready-to-use images for Plumbers, Roofers, Electricians and HVAC companies. We find this to be a good way to get started with social media platforms. Once you see value with our self-serve option and want to step it up, we will recommend adding one of our custom social media strategy programs, where we keep you fully aware and in control, but a strategist does all the work for you.

YouTube

I love YouTube for a lot of reasons, but mostly because of how user-friendly the platform is. We have created a few videos that help Home Service Businesses learn more about marketing like this one which teaches HVAC businesses how to build a holistic digital marketing strategy for growth.

YouTube is great for targeting users that just conducted a search on Google for one of your keywords “new air conditioner in Miami” or “Furnace Repair in Vancouver”. Google allows you to target your videos to people who just conducted one of those searches on Google.  This type of targeting is incredible for businesses to save budget and only target homeowners at the bottom of the sales funnel.

Conclusion

We aren’t having the right conversation when we only talk about “local” marketing. With the amount of data we have available, we should be using it to target the right customers. The right customers are the most profitable ones. First, determine your target customer (per business unit), then determine all the stages in each ProfitFunnel (marketing funnel + sales funnel for each business unit). Once you have drawn out each ProfitFunnel and determined the budget you have for each customer, then you can choose the right messaging for each customer along each stage of each funnel.

I know it seems like a lot of campaigns, but that’s what we’re here for. ADHOME has a membership designed to get you started for only $1,000/month. We will analyze which tactics are the best and most effective for your company per business unit. This allows you to throttle your budget down when your schedule becomes full (per schedule) or up when you have open capacity. Book a demo with Amanda Wilhelm, our CoFounder and the Lead Strategist for our Home Service Members.

We can discuss anything and everything digital marketing and it is relevant to you because we only work with HVAC, Plumbers, Electricians and Roofers.

To Your Success!