Online Marketing For Home Services

Why You Need a Referral Program

referral program

One of the best things you can do for your business is to have a referral program. Why? I’ll give you 3 reasons:

1. You Will Attract Better Customers

 

What I mean by “better customers” is customers who are not looking for the cheapest bid. They don’t question your process or your prices, because they know your quality and reputation are worth it. They are easy to work with. This is all because they have been referred by someone who has already done business with you, or who knows you, your company, and your brand.

 

2. You Will Attract Higher-Paying Customers

 

Now, I want to be very clear about what I mean by this: I am not suggesting that you price gouge. Not at all! You should never price gouge, but you should also never be in a position where you need to discount or lowball your prices.

If you are watching this channel you are probably on the higher end of home service contractors. You put a lot of effort into the quality of your work. It is okay to charge a premium price for a premium product. You don’t want to provide the cheapest pool or pergola, and that’s not what your customers want. A better customer for you is not one whose only question is “How much is it?” They want a better quality product.

When you sell this way, you are dealing with high-end customers. As social people, we typically hang out with people like us. If you are getting referrals from high-end customers, typically they will refer their high-end friends to you. You will have not only one better customer but a string of better customers.

Another benefit to having a referral program is that you incentivize the people who have already done business with you. You can offer them a cash reward for a referral, or a gift certificate to their favorite restaurant, or—there are practically endless creative ways you can reward your customers. You benefit from the referral, and so do they!

 

3. Your Sales Process Will Be Easier

 

 

 

When customers are referred to you, it makes the whole sales process easier. These potential customers are not kicking tires. They are serious. They are usually not getting multiple bids, and if they are they are not looking for the cheapest one. In fact, the person who referred you to them has probably done most of the selling for you! They have said:

“Look at my new door—it looks amazing!”
“They did such a great job on my roof that you’re crazy if you don’t go with them!”
“Look at my pool and all the gorgeous landscaping they did with it!”

These customers have already seen the quality of your work! All you have to do now is explain how it all works and ask for the sale. You will not have to go to great lengths to impress them or build trust.

So, get a referral program together and start attracting better customers!

 

3 Types of Pictures For Your Website

3 Types of Pictures For Websites

 

You know you need pictures on your website. But what kind of pictures? Pictures of what? Does it matter?

Yes, it matters! There are three types of pictures you should always include on your website:

1. Team photo.

 

How often have you gone to the “About Us” section of a website and seen something like this: “We’re a family company, and we have an incredible team!” But there’s no picture of the family and no picture of the team.

We love to capture team photos for our clients. If you are a family-owned business and you have the family here locally, we will get great family shots as well.

I especially love it when we can include key people who will be working with you for a long time. You want the people on your website to be the people who are currently there at your company. This also means that you might choose not to include brand-new hires. You know your team best, so use your judgment about who to include.

2. Individual headshots.

 

Besides a team photo, you should include individual headshots of your team members. These will be pictures of your office assistant, project manager, sales manager, directors, owners, etc. As a bonus, include a little bio with each photo about that team member’s background and interests. Customers will get to know, like, and trust your company just by browsing your “Meet The Team” section.

3. Project gallery.

 

This is where you post pictures of your work! Show off your projects. People want to see photos of what you’ve done. That’s how they get inspiration for the work that they want you to do for them.

We like to bring our photography team into your office to get headshots and team photos, and then have you send us to completed job locations to get pictures of your finished projects.

 

Your Next Step

Why have all these photos? Seeing all these pictures helps people in the decision-making process decide to choose you over another contractor. If you need help with any of this, just let us know. It’s what we do!

Remember, when you Market With Mario, you profit with Mario!

Client Testimonial-Warrior Wolf Contractors


 

Garrett Blakley with Warrior Wolf Contractors shares his testimonial of why he values our services.

 

We started off as a small business in 2019. I was doing all my own social media and videos. I didn’t have any kind of email platform, newsletter, YouTube channel, or anything like that.

I’ve known Mario Wilson of Market With Mario for quite some time as a friend. I knew he did this kind of marketing. In fact, I used him for my previous company. But then I thought I’d try to save some cash and do my social media marketing myself.

Social media marketing sounds easy, but I quickly realized two things: I don’t have time for it, and I’m not nearly as good at it as someone who does it all day every day!

So I called Mario. We talked, and he came up with a business plan with pricing that fit my budget. Of course, I was a little nervous about the budget part, but at the same time, it was one huge headache I no longer had to worry about!

Now Mario runs all our social media: our Facebook page, our YouTube channel, our newsletters—everything. He makes it easy for us. He has a couple of other people he works with and they make everything happen so that I don’t have to mess with social media anymore!

The Best Types of Pictures to Post on Social Media

best types of pictures for social media

Today let’s talk about the best pictures to post on social media, specifically on Facebook.

If you’ve been following my channel, you probably already know what I’m going to say: I’m going to tell you to post pictures that include your people. This means your technicians, your admins—anyone in your business. Post pictures of everyone who feels comfortable being photographed. (The more people you have in your pictures the better, but we will never force anyone to have their picture taken and posted.)

Imagine that a potential customer finds your Facebook page. Will they see stock photos and images of things, or will they see your employees? Seeing pictures of your actual employees builds trust with your potential customers. They feel like they know you before they ever call you.

There are two types of shots I like to get with my clients. (And remember, you don’t need expensive camera equipment to take your social media pictures. Your iPhone will work fine!)

1. Action shots.

 

Take pictures of your team on the job. If you are a plumbing company, these will be pictures of your plumbers fixing a toilet or faucet. The important thing is to have your people in the shot. Anyone can post a picture of a toilet or sink—that’s boring. You might take a picture of your technician holding up a broken or worn-out part that needs replacing. Or, you might take an action shot of them doing the work. Either way, make sure your people are in the shot.

2. Hero shots.

 

The second shot is what I call the “hero shot.” I love these shots because they create a warm and fuzzy feeling. They show off your company’s culture. I like to get the technician in front of their truck (which is, hopefully, wrapped) and have them smile and give a thumbs-up. This shows your technician is proud of a job well done and proud of fixing your customer’s problem. Hero shots are great branding shots.

If you’re lucky, you’ll also get the “hug on the doorstep” shot. This is where the homeowner is willing to be in the shot. You can get a great picture of the customer standing side by side with your technician. This is as good as it can get because it shows that your customer is happy with your service.

Remember, when you take pictures for Facebook, the action shot and the hero shot show off your employees and build trust with your customers. Anyone can post stock photos. That’s boring. What separates your business is your people, so put your people in your marketing!

Google Business Profile Tips For Home Service Contractors

Google Business Profile Tips

Google Business Profile Tips For Home Service Contractors

 

Today we are going to talk about Google Business Profile.

 

Previously this was called Google My Business. When you Google your business name, it should bring up a business profile that shows exterior and interior pictures and provides information like your address, phone number, and website. 

 

And that’s handy. It’s nice. But of course, you want your listing to do more than display your information. You want this business listing to get people to call you or click through to your website. Here are some ways to optimize your Google Business Profile to make that happen. 

 

  1. Fill everything out completely. I know this sounds like basic advice, but you’d be surprised by how many people do not fill in all their information! When we first started, we had to fill out this information for many of our clients because they had not done it themselves. You want to make sure you’ve filled in all your contact and business information, but also that you’ve provided categories and descriptions for your business. This is something we can take care of for you if you would like some help.

 

  1. Put up some photos. Add pictures of your team members and completed projects to the photos area of your listing. If you have a physical location you can add pictures of your office. But most importantly, include people. When you look at your competition, you’ll see that all their listings look the same because they all post pictures of their projects. When you add your people in there with the projects, your listing stands out. People make a connection with the people in your pictures. There is something psychological and emotional that happens when you put your team members in your Google listing. Plus, when you use tools like Google Business Profile and YouTube consistently, Google rewards you in its search engine! Take advantage of this by posting pictures. Don’t just do it once—do it often.

 

  1. Make Google Posts. A Google Post is similar to adding pictures to your listing, except that you can add captions like you can in a social media post. You can also add a call to action button such as a booking button, or a button that clicks through to your website.

 

 

Your Next Step

 

 

Take advantage of this free tool from Google! It will help you with your search engine ranking. It will help you with your branding. If you need help with this, we would love to work with you! We can help fill out your Google Profile information. We show up at your job site to take the pictures for you. We take videos to put on Facebook and YouTube. 

 

Give us a call! We’d love to sit down with you to learn more about your business. Remember, when you Market With Mario, you profit with Mario!