Unless you are trying to avoid being discovered by the FBI or by the IRS, your name should be all over the place. Stop being Hidden In Plain Sight.
Confused? Don’t be. I will explain in detail what I mean by that in today’s newsletter below.
This week I received a very nice email from someone who follows my work. The message read:
“Hello Roger,
I hope you are having an excellent Friday!
My name is xxx. I am new to the industry and wanted to introduce myself. I listened to all of your podcasts and wanted to thank you for the great information.
I look forward to continuing to learn from you.
Have a great weekend,
Xxx”
Everything was perfect and very professional. I was pretty happy to receive an unsolicited compliment (Who wouldn’t be?) Pretty cool, right?
So I jumped right to his signature line and clicked on the website link to find out where he was from. I am always curious to learn how people find me.
Lesson #1
And that is your Lesson #1 – ALWAYS ask the prospect where and how they found you. This is a two-fold strategy:
- You’ll learn which marketing channels are paying off and which ones need tweaking.
- Knowing where they are coming from, gives you the ammunition to warm the prospect really fast. For example: If they saw your van parked at the neighbor’s house, you can tell right away if they have a similar layout home or compliment the neighborhood. Use your best judgment to carry on the conversation.
My other business, Shades In Place, has over 700 5-star reviews, so at this point, I know that most of the calls come from these online reviews. Still, I ask everyone who reaches out how they found us. When they mention reviews and how impressive they are, I simply smile and say “I have a lot of cousins and it is becoming very expensive to keep paying all of them.” The prospects know they are in for a treat.
Going back to the original story: So I went to his website and read every page and could not find ONE mention of the business location or his name anywhere. And so here comes your
Lesson #2
Google loves information (in case you haven’t realized that yet). So, the more information about your business, the easier it is for you to be found online.
Maybe you work out of your home and don’t want people to show up at your driveway at 6 pm on a Friday. I get it and trust me, I wouldn’t’ want that either…
However, listing the town and state alone on the website is a great idea for SEO. In case you don’t know what that is, SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. In other words, it is the behind-the-scenes of how Google and other websites find information about anything and everything.
A few other SEO tips: Always list your name on the site and write something personal about you or your family. I have a paragraph on my “About Us” page that mentions that I am from Brazil, that I love camping and that I almost died FOUR times (true story). So, when people mention those facts in the conversation, I know they already checked me out even before they called. Take advantage of this.
I am going to leave you with two more suggestions:
- In case you still have one of those “decorator123@gmail.com” emails, please replace your email address with a more professional one. Marketing doesn’t need to be expensive, but it must be professional. You need to secure a domain name in order to have the name of your company in the email address such as roger@tradingupconsulting.com. Ask anyone that works on websites and they might be able to assist you.
- Consider investing in uniforms for your company, even if you work alone. Buy a few shirts at Kohl’s or Walmart. Order them at Vistaprint or whatever, but always show up at your job sites looking professional.
Here’s the bottom line: first impressions will help you break the ice with a new prospect and people will judge you more than you think. By looking, acting, and presenting your company in a professional way, you’ve already won half of the battle. Now you only need to keep the momentum going.
As always, don’t be afraid to send your feedback and suggestions.
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My team and I are working very hard to deliver awesome, educational, and informative content about installations on a daily basis. The more engagement, the farther our content can spread so everyone can benefit. Thanks so much for helping us make our industry stronger,
And always remember: Never Stop Learning
Until next time…