How to Generate Leads

There are many ways to get your company's brand messaging out to the community and generate quality leads. The key to success (and making the most of your marketing budget) is discovering where your money and time are best spent. Knowing your audience is a key component of targeting and reeling in new leads. For residential repaint leads, we highly suggest you lead with a strong website, quality signage and well placed advertising.

Professional Website

Your first step is to hire a graphic designer and/or web developer to create a professional looking website. These days, your website is the first thing a customer will see before picking up a phone to call for an estimate. If you think of your website as the ultimate first impression, you will want to put your best foot forward. Focus on having professional looking photos of your past projects. Before and after pictures are very effective, and include reviews from satisfied customers. Stress that your primary focus is giving your customers a quality product for a fair price. Also, make sure you give a clear explanation of your services, and don't forget to let your prospective clients know that you use only quality paint products, such as Dunn-Edwards Paints^®. A recognized name brand that customers can trust can often set you above the rest.

After creating your professional looking website, you need to have someone help you with the "Search Engine Optimization" aspect of the website. This will ensure that your website will be one of the first to pop up when certain key words are used in a potential client's online search process.

High Quality Signage

Signage is key when trying to create useful leads. As you work on projects, they become an important indication of the type of quality work you provide. This, in turn already becomes a successful driver to acquiring productive job leads. However, keep in mind, job signs with your company name and contact will always have the greatest impact. You want to have professional looking signage on both your work vehicles and your jobsites. If you have the budget and time, use the Dunn-Edwards door hangers to get the attention of the entire neighborhood by loading the door hanger with your business card and the address of your current project in the neighborhood. The door hanger will direct neighbors from the surrounding area to drive by the project you are currently working on to get a preview of your work. Dunn-Edwards offer great options for job signs. Examples can be found on the Dunn-Edwards website and can be ordered through your Dunn-Edwards Sales Rep.

Advertising

While advertising can be effective, you need to be aware of the audience you are targeting. You can very easily get into a situation where you do a lot of bidding against contractors who cut corners to get projects and don't rely on referrals to get the majority of their business. Typical forums for advertising are The Yellow Pages, the Internet and newspapers. You can also pay to get onto certain lead programs, but they are usually expensive and don't always produce the expectations that you need for long-term results.

A simpler, lower cost advertising alternative is to use a door hanger program. While working on a project, it just takes 10 minutes to place door hangers on surrounding homes.

When generating leads for commercial or industrial clients, it's important to break down your methods based on new construction and repaint or maintenance type projects. The processes for the two types are very different.

Maintenance Leads

Rely on developing relationships with maintenance managers of facilities such as school districts, hospitals, government facilities, apartments, condominiums, and commercial office spaces. These relationships are usually developed by becoming a member of the different organizations that these managers belong to, such as IREM, BOMA, CAI, AACM, and AMA, to name a few. This is a time intensive process and requires a high level of dedication to this business segment. It demands that you make this your primary focus or you will be unable to properly compete with the other contractors who work this market segment. If you are interested in focusing on this market segment, it is recommended that you speak with your Dunn-Edwards Sales Representative for opportunities in your geographic area.

New Construction Leads

The first method is to establish a relationship with a general contractor who does the type of work that you would like to focus on and build a relationship. Ask the contractor if you can be added to his or her "bidders list" and then begin tracking the projects that they are currently pursuing. The tracking process requires that you subscribe to a service that tracks new construction projects based on the permitting process and requires you to pay a membership fee either monthly or annually. These services are not inexpensive and require a certain level of commitment in order to adequately pay off. The most commonly used program is the "Dodge Report". Once again, if you are seriously considering getting into this market segment, it is recommended that you speak with your Dunn-Edwards Sales Representative for more details.

Whether you are servicing the residential or commercial construction industry, the key is to think creatively and to make sure you know the direction you want to take your company. Then, make sure you give it adequate time to fully implement your strategy, and remember your best asset is your Dunn-Edwards Sales Representative with the products and services that Dunn-Edwards offers. Good luck hunting!