Maybe you’d be better off spending less
We often get a funny reaction from new clients. When given the opportunity to review how they’ve been spending their marketing dollars, we’ll come back with a recommendation that they should spend less money. It startles them, because they’re accustomed to hearing a series of marketing consultants respond to every objective and business need with the same answer: you just need to spend more money.
So is your budget large enough?
Like you, we don’t really know. But given the right data, we can figure out whether your marketing truly represents a smart investment or if it’s just throwing good money after bad. Not smoke, mirrors, and a pretty PowerPoint, but numbers that provide definitive insights into what you’re doing well and where you’re stumbling.
It’s science, not hot air
People will tell you there’s an art to marketing and that’s true. But what’s more important is that there’s also a science to marketing that’s built around numbers. The better you understand what your numbers say about the sources of your business and how well your team handles it, the more effectively you’ll be able to invest those marketing dollars.
Do you have measurable goals?
Ask most home services business owners what they want to achieve, and you’ll probably hear things like “more sales” or “increased repeat business.” Those may sound like good goals, but those owners are unlikely to achieve them. Why? They’re not specific and they’re not measurable, so the owners really can’t know whether they’re on the right track. Better goals sound like “a 15 percent increase in year-over-year revenues” or “increase the percentage of leads that result in appointments from 36% to 50%.”
Do you know the 4 crucial KPIs?
Key performance indicators (KPIs) are statistics that provide useful business information you can track and study so you can make important decisions with greater confidence. For home services businesses like yours, there are four KPIs that are particularly important – the actual cost of leads, the percentage you’re able to convert into booked calls, the percentage of those calls customers cancel, and your average revenue per job.
The basis for a more accurate budget
If you have a clear goal for sales and know how many service calls it will take to reach that goal, you can use those KPIs to determine how many leads it takes to achieve the desired number of service calls. Next, you can compute what it will cost you to generate those leads based on your company’s actual history. For example, If you have six techs who need three good leads a day to meet basic goals, that’s a total of 18 leads per day or 90 a week. If the person answering your phone manages to set up appointments with only half the people who call in, you’re up to 180 per week.
Which lead sources are best?
By knowing and comparing the cost of leads associated with every channel you use, you can determine which marketing channels are worth your continued investment – and which you might want to walk away from. Do keep in mind that some channels may have other benefits beyond lead generation. For example, they may be more about building awareness and familiarity with your company’s brand so that potential customers recognize you when you pop up on a Google search.
Just sharing what we know
Knowledge and proven strategies like these are how Cornerstone has helped home services companies throughout the U.S. and Canada achieve growth their owners didn’t believe was possible. We’ve shared this and 11 other critical questions to help you determine whether your marketing is an effective investment or a frustrating expense in our white paper: “12 questions to assess your marketing’s efficiency … with answers that can supercharge your marketing ROI.” You can access it here.