What would you say is the biggest marketing challenge restoration and remediation companies face?

1. Not generating enough leads
2. The quality of leads
3. Poor ROI on leads
4. All of the above

Originally, I thought the correct answer was D; All of the above.

But after working directly with restoration and remediation contractors, listening to inbound recordings and reviewing the results of all their inquiries, I have found the biggest problem is not the quantity, quality, or even cost of leads. I concluded that the biggest problem is converting leads into booked appointments and paying jobs.  

In fact, of all inbound leads, only about 50% to 60% convert.  And web form submissions convert at only 10 to 20%.

The primary reason for such low numbers is a lack of proper follow up. 

Studies have shown a lead called within five minutes was 21 times more likely to book than if they were called after 30 minutes. It also found that 50% of leads simply go with the company that responds first.

But the problem is that it is nearly impossible for restorers to consistently follow up that quickly. 

In a typical restoration business, when someone submits a form on their website, a notification gets sent to the office via email. Someone has to see the email and have the time and motivation to respond to the email or better yet, pick up the phone and call. Most often, on a good day, a call isn’t made until 30 to 60 minutes later. And by that time, assuming they reach the person, it’s too late. 

The solution to this problem is a marketing automation tool. A tool that will follow up automatically using three methods of communication: text, voice, and email. A tool that will follow up automatically, seven to 10 times over a couple of days, until they respond.  

Here’s how it works:  

First you replace the traditional web form or chat bubbles on your website with a “smart form”. A smart form allows you to capture contact name, phone number, and email in a way that allows you to call text and email automatically. 

A standard form submission will usually trigger two emails. That’s all. One to the customer saying, “Thanks, someone will be in touch." The other goes to the office giving the contact information.

When a smart form is submitted a complete contact record is created and can automatically trigger a whole series of events. Here is an example of what can be triggered after a submission:

Immediately, an email is sent to the customer. “This is Pete from Flood Busterz Restoration, thanks for reaching out to us on our website, would you like to schedule an appointment?”

1 minute later an automated call is sent to the customer and leaves a pre-recorded voice message “This is Pete from Flood Busterz Restoration, thanks for reaching out to us on our website, I wanted to personally follow up with you and see if you have any questions. You can call us back on this number or text us back on this number. We pay close attention to text messages and can answer any questions that you have quickly.”

2 minutes later a text message is sent to the customer. “This is Pete from Flood Busterz Restoration. I just left you a voicemail and wanted to let you know that you can text me here. Would you like to schedule an appointment?”

3 minutes later the marketing automation tool calls the office and announces, “Sally Jones just filled out a web form, press 1 to be connected with them right now.”  When your staff member presses 1, the system automatically connects the call. You or your staff member is now speaking with the lead.

When contact is made or they reply to one of your messages, they will be instantly removed from further follow ups. But if no contact is made, the system will follow up four or five more times over the next day or two.

Just think about what would happen if you did this with all the leads that come into your business, not just leads from your website? 

This isn’t limited to web form submissions. You can add marketing automation to follow up on the leads that come from Google Local Service ads, HomeAdvisor, and any other lead source that requires an immediate follow up.  

A marketing automation tool can triple conversion rates and will give you a tremendous competitive advantage in your market.

We are finding a massive increase in conversions and revenue by implementing this type of marketing automation. Consequently it makes all of your marketing more efficient and more profitable.  

If you want to learn more about marketing automation and see it in action, go to restorationmarketers.com/automation