Make phones ring in your independent contracting company

Silent Phones will ring again in your Independent Contracting Company when you follow

4 Proven Principles:

If you have found yourself wondering why your phones are not ringing inside your HVAC, plumbing, or electrical independent contracting company, and how to get them ringing again, then you have found just the place you were looking for.

Here’s why:

Residential service contractors in the the trades listed Silent Phones as The #1 Fear of Residential Contractors.

The result came from a poll submitted to over 1,400 independent contracting company contractors and included the following trades:

• HVAC
• Plumbing
• Electrical

Why are Silent Phones so scary?

I can remember sitting at my desk wondering where the service calls were going to come from for that day.  There was a laundry list of reasons why we needed the phones to ring inside my independent contracting company:

1. 5 Technicians were about to ask for their first call of the day
2. Bill collectors were trying to get through the gate keeper to ask for money that I didn’t have
3. Marketing was on the street, and something should be happening
4. Silence just messes with your head

You need your phones to ring as a residential contractor inside your HVAC, plumbing, or electrical independent contracting company.

Here are 4 principles to make your phones ring.

Principle #1 – Define Your Company Message

Building awareness by defining your independent contracting company message is the first step to making your phones ring.  People will not call you, if they are not aware of you.

How do you Build Awareness?

Define your independent contracting company message.  Your client is receiving over 16,000 different types of advertisement in about an hour.  That is a lot of noise.  You have to standout from that noise in some unique way.  If your primary message is “we are a plumbing company,” you are wasting your money.  As a matter of fact,

When your message as a residential contractor is primarily about the type of work you do, you are helping your biggest competitor.  They already own that message.  You must be different.

Your message must be different and unique.  It also must be attractive.

Principle #2 – Be Seen

You don’t have to be seen by everyone.  Just the right people. 

I’m a good ole boy from Mississippi that lives in Texas.  We know a thing or 2 about hunting and fishing.  The trick isn’t to see every dear in the woods, or find every fish in the water.  The key is to be in the right place, and see through the clutter. 

The same is true for your independent contracting company.  You need to be seen by just a few to make awareness occur.  Once awareness takes place, then people begin to talk.  They spread the message for you. 

Ask yourself the following questions,

Who do I want to see my independent contracting company?

What do I want her to think?

What do I want her to do?

When do I want her to do it?

I think the biggest mistake of most HVAC, plumbing, or electrical residential contractors is not knowing how to define those questions in their marketing.

Principle #3 – Get Permission

You are going to have 2 basic types of marketing levels:

1. Non-permission based
2. Permission based

Non-permission is the old school way of marketing.  It is sending direct mail pieces to an address list that you purchased.  We all use this to some degree in our business.   Newer companies use it a lot.  Here’s the bad news, it has never been great for generating response, and it is getting worse.

People do not like you sending them stuff without permission.

Permission based marketing is when your client wants your message.  When the client wants you message, the Be Seen  rate goes through the roof.  Your goal should be to get permission.  Here is the golden rule to permission marketing:

Give me something irresistible, and for free, and I’ll give you permission to market to me.

Another way to think about is, like this:

My permission / attention isn’t free.  You own me something for it.

There are some creative ways that you can accomplish this in your business.  Here are a few suggestions:

• Create a do-it-yourself list of recommendations.   Don’t be cheap with your knowledge.
• Provide a How To paper in exchange for an email address.  A great suggestion would be, “How to reduce air duct leaks by 10% yourself.”
• A real discount on service.

Principle #4 – Deliver WOW

When you deliver “WOW!” service to your clients, your phones will ring.  Because, they will call you back, and they will bring their friends.

Here is how you deliver the WOW!

1. Give more than you get.  This doesn’t mean loss money, it means go the extra mile.
2. Train team members so that they know how to impress.

Residential service companies are built by their people.  People are not built by their companies.  WOW Service Providers are built by their leaders.

If you are not getting raving testimonials and referrals from your existing clients, why do you expect the phone to ring off the hook with new clients?

I can help you deliver the WOW Service you need.  This will be covered in the next post.

What Question or Input do you have on Making Phones Ring?

Will you help us Be Seen?

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