As a commercial construction company, growth is always the motive. More revenue means more growth opportunities for existing employees and who doesn’t want that? While word-of-mouth is always a great marketing tool, if you want consistent growth, you’re going to have to do a lot more than rely on that.
Here are seven ways to grow your commercial construction business:
1. Invest in the Right Software:
It’s not uncommon for construction companies to still be using whiteboards and spreadsheets to keep track of all their leads, bids, and jobs. If that’s you, it’s time to upgrade ASAP. Whiteboards and spreadsheets are a super outdated, messy way to try run a business. Invest in a cloud-based CRM that’s specific to construction. While Salesforce and Pipedrive are both great software, generic CRMs just don’t make sense for the construction bidding process. Find yourself a CRM that speaks your language and follows the day-to-day routine of your business.
An all-inclusive sales and bid tracking CRM, like Followup CRM, gives you all the tools you need to grow a business. You can easily keep track of all your leads with their contact information and notes while setting dates for every single sales behavior, which is completely customizable. This ensures you’ll never forget to follow up with a lead again. Forgotten leads means less potential for new customers and revenue growth. If you invest in a software that tracks all your communication, customer and lead information, while alerting you when sales activities are due, you’re guaranteed to grow your business. In fact, on average, Followup CRM users see a 25%+ increase in their closing ratio, 30%+ increase in revenue growth, and save 10+ hours a week. And we all know time is money!
2. Increase Online Presence:
As I mentioned previously, word-of-mouth is just not enough to consistently grow your construction business. When someone is facing an urgent problem with their roof or they have a leak, it's very unlikely that the first thing they’d do is text or call a friend and ask if they know a roofer. People want immediate answers and search engines provide us with that immediate gratification we need to solve a problem. So, if your business doesn’t appear on the first page when someone Googles roofers in their area, it might be time to rethink your marketing strategy.
There are several steps you can take to increase your online presence as a construction company. If it’s in your budget, we’d highly recommend leveraging Google ads. When properly optimized, Google ads allows your business to show up as one of the first listings on search engines. This is one of the best ways to increase your online presence.
Another way to increase your digital visibility is by being active on social media. Consistently posting on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc. helps build customer trust while potentially attracting new business. A 2021 study conducted by Sprout Social found that “57% of consumers will follow a brand to learn about new products or services, and after following a brand on social media, consumers continue to engage in various ways. Ninety-one percent visit the brand’s website or app, 89% will buy from the brand and 85% will recommend the brand to a family or friend.” If you aren’t leveraging social media, you’re missing out on potential new business.
3. Communicate Effectively With Leads, Customers, and Your Team:
We all know we can’t rely solely on the prospect to reach back out after our initial conversations. As salespeople, it is our responsibility to be persistent in our communication with leads and customers. If you reach out to a lead and they don’t answer, don’t just move on and forget about the prospect. Most sales aren’t made until the 5th - 12th contact, so it’s absolutely crucial to make sure we’re still following up with these prospects. Followup CRM allows you to set follow up dates that alert you when it’s time to reach back out to a lead, ensuring you never let a prospect fall through the cracks and don’t miss out on any potential new revenue. Followup CRM also connects to your Gmail, Outlook, and Microsoft Exchange account so you can keep all your emails in one organized file and send emails directly from our platform.
To grow as a construction business, it’s important to also communicate effectively with your existing customers as well. You don’t just cut ties once you get the sale. If we want repeat business and our customers to send us referrals, we have to make sure we’re being responsive throughout the entire process. If a customer is facing a problem and we aren’t communicating effectively and trying to resolve the issue, we’d be hurting the company’s image and increasing the risk of that customer leaving a poor online review, which can be extremely detrimental to the company’s online reputation.
Communication doesn’t just stop with your leads and customers. We need to make sure we’re communicating effectively with our internal team as well. Executing a construction project from start to finish isn’t a one-person job. It takes several hands on deck to successfully complete a project. Consistently talk with your team to make sure everyone is on the same page. Followup CRM offers a feature that allows you to keep notes in every project file and tag other users. This helps you communicate quickly and efficiently with your team and get answers you need fast. Poor communication with your team almost guarantees issues when working on a project, which can make for a very upset customer. Upset customers means no referrals and no repeat business, hurting your chances at growing.
4. Create a Referral Program
One of the most effective ways to bring in new business is through referrals. When we go above and beyond to please and delight our existing customers, we’re increasing our chances of those customers spreading the word and bringing you new business. Referrals is one of the best ways to gain credibility and increase trust. According to Brian Cornelius of GAF, “Referral-based leads usually close somewhere between 50% to 70% of the time (compared to 10 to 30% for non-referrals).” There’s no question referrals is a strong, effective tactic for bringing in more revenue.
So, how do we get more of these? Creating a solid referral program is key. After successfully completing a job, consider sending your customers an email politely asking them to refer your business to a friend. The best way to ensure they follow through is by offering an incentive. Perhaps you might offer them a $100 Visa gift card if they refer your business to a friend. People are way more likely to take that extra step if there’s something in it for them. This is also a great way to delight your customers and keep them coming back.
5. Continue to Learn and Improve Your Services
At the end of the day, the better services you provide, the better your brand reputation becomes. When we’re delivering exceptional jobs and going above and beyond every single time, customers are going to rave about your business. This will increase your chances of getting more referrals as well as your customers leaving positive online reviews, which will help tremendously with your online visibility.
Always continue to learn, get relevant certifications, attend tradeshows, and engage with your community to ensure you’re always improving. Learning new skills and adding more services and product lines to your offerings is sure to help attract more business and overall, make your company more valuable.
6. Showcase Your Work
Let’s say you’re a construction company that specializes in building pools. If you’re a potential customer shopping for a new pool, there’s no way you’re going to hire a company without seeing examples of their past work. Always document your projects and use this on your website, social media, email marketing, and more. Having a solid portfolio of your work helps build credibility and trust, increasing your chances at bringing in new business. If you have the budget, we recommend hiring a photographer to get nice, professional photos. Construction is a competitive industry and having great photos of your work is sure to set you apart from the competition and bring you more customers.
7. SEO
SEO, which stands for “Search Engine Optimization,” goes hand-in-hand with step #2, which is to increase your online visibility. While investing in paid ads is one of the quickest, most effective ways to increase your online presence, we need to think about feasible, long-term methods to be present and make sure we’re showing up on the first page of those search engines. Some companies might not have the budget to leverage Google ads. And do you really want to spend money indefinitely in order to attract new customers? Doubtful.
SEO is a great, organic way to bring traffic to your website and get in front of potential new customers. Make sure your website is using relevant keywords throughout your pages, alt-tags, URLs, and more. You can also improve your SEO by continuously adding new content to your website. Blogging is one of the best ways to do this. Consider posting 3-4 blogs a month to get started. Writing around helpful, educational topics a great way to build brand trust and attract website visitors who could potentially turn into customers. For example, if you’re a roofing company, you might write a blog about what to do if your roof starts leaking. This blog could provide tips to temporarily solve the problem while they search for a local roofing company. And if someone is searching for “what to do when your roof starts leaking,” you have a great chance of your blog showing up and that visitor finding your company.
These are just 7 ways you can grow your commercial construction business. Continue to learn, communicate effectively, and implement a digital marketing strategy to help reach new customers. Applying these tips to your day-to-day will guarantee revenue growth and happy customers.
Interested in learning more about how a reliable CRM like Followup can help your commercial construction business grow? Click here to watch a free video demo.
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