How To Attract High-End Customers
If you’re a home repair contractor, you know that “reasonably priced” is a customer’s code word for cheap, inexpensive, low priced. I’m not knocking the customer here, but it is what it is. If you’re plumber, garage door repair person, landscaper—it doesn’t matter. People want great service, really fast, and really cheap.
Personally, I think you’re worth more than that. If you’re reading this blog post and are looking for tips on how to find better clients—I already know that you do a higher-quality work than just the lowest bidder would do. The fact that you’re looking for ways to improve your marketing and your business means that you’ve got a lot going for you, and it’s important to find clients who understand what you’re worth.
If you’re tired of dealing with people who are looking for the lowest bidder, or a “reasonable price,” you’re going to want to follow these tips:
1. Targeting the right client.
If you’re targeting demographics, locations, and interests, that’s great. But you can do a better job of refining your target. If you run an ad on Facebook you can choose criteria like income levels, location, and even home value. This kind of targeting is not always 100 percent accurate—Facebook uses many data points to form a picture of where we live, what we do and what we’re into. But they’re pretty accurate, based on the clients I’ve worked with, at attracting people who can afford their services without haggling over prices. They’re looking for quality contractors to come in and do the work.
Smart people with money do negotiate for a good price, don’t get me wrong. However, someone who lives in a $500,000 home in Dallas is not going to be thrown off by a bid just on the price if they understand what value they’re getting for that money. On the other hand, someone who lives in a less expensive area may not be able to afford your services. I’m not at all talking down at people who live in less expensive homes or who make less money. What I’m saying is you can target people who will not blink an eye at your proposal. There are ways that you can get in front of these people, to sell your services.
2. Show off your work!
Take pictures of your work. If you do a bathroom remodel or an outdoor kitchen, or whatever the project is, and you take before and after photos and show your worth compared to the next contractor who came in thousands below you and cut corners and did shoddy work. You can show your potential customers the difference. You can show them where the extra money is going because it’s not apples to apples—it’s apples to oranges.
3. Show off even more of your work through videos!
Make some explainer videos of you actually doing the work, and show them to your clients. You can use this to show the little details you put into your project. This is one way you can really help your customers understand exactly why your bid might be higher than someone else’s, by showing them the craftsmanship that goes into your trade.
4. Reviews, reviews, reviews!
If you’ve been following my blog and my videos, you know how important reviews are. I will believe Tim and Susie in Frisco more than I will believe you. Whenever you give someone their final invoice and they’re just raving about the work and blown away—maybe they’re so excited that they give you a hug right there on the doorstep—ask them if they would go to your Facebook or Google page and let people know about their experience with you. If you start stacking up those five-star reviews, and not just reviews but reviews with a story, people will know they can trust you to do quality work.
You have to show people why it’s worth it to spend more money with you, and building up good reviews is a great way to do that.
5. Show off your team.
I know a lot of my content sounds the same time after time, but that’s because it works! Show off your team! There’s an intangible that you can’t really track in marketing, and that’s how you make people feel. People do not buy with their brains, they buy with their guts. When you show off employee anniversaries, employee birthdays, when you show off all the team members that go into building your dream, it gives people an emotional connection. We don’t want to give our money to brands and logos. We want to do business with people!
So get your people involved. If you ask, you’ll have some team members who will jump at the opportunity to be featured on Facebook and Twitter!
When a potential customer has two bids in their hand, another company’s bid and your bid, which is a lot more—you have to show the customer why your bid is worth it.
If you need help with any of this, this is all I do! I work with home service and repair contractors, I help them with their online marketing so they can help more customers, and not have to chase around people who are just kicking tires and trying to lowball them. Give me a call! I’d love to talk to you about how you can get your work in front of the right people.
I hope this helps!