By David Crary
Two decades ago, when people thought of marketing, they thought of expensive activities like TV and radio ads, billboards, and print ads. Marketing was about pushing your message out to as many people as possible, and to do so often cost lots of money.
But for many service businesses, spending money on expensive marketing campaigns isn't an option. Luckily, today there are some simple things service businesses can do to generate revenue:
Create an Assessment to Generate Upsell Opportunities – One of the things I love about HindSite's work order software is how easy it is to collect, store and retrieve data. And when it comes to marketing success, data is your best friend.
As an example, HindSite's marketing manager had a baby about a year ago. By the time his wife was four months pregnant, Target knew and was sending specific ads for products that appealed to expectant mothers. And after his son was born, they began sending them coupons for bottles, formula and baby food. Those targeted, relevant ads worked, too, because he bought baby food that was on sale and later some of those brands became frequent purchases.
You obviously don't have the resources of a Target when it comes to capturing and analyzing data. But you don't have to. When I owned an irrigation business, I had a simple three-part assessment and asked my techs to complete it after every service. It basically asked if there was any additional work that needed to be done. If the answer was yes, I asked them to specify what it was. If there was, I'd send an email or call the customer to discuss what we'd found. An assessment forces your field techs or crews to look for additional work.
Another option is to create an assessment that collects all the property data you can – things like what kind of controller a customer uses. Then, you can create service business marketing campaigns to those with dated systems or those in need of an upgrade. By collecting as much data as you can, you can better identify and target specific customers with highly relevant messages.
Improve your contract pricing tiers – Most service businesses offer some kind of contract. The key to increasing revenue from these contracts is to offer three different tiers of pricing. In my irrigation business, I found that the names of the tiers mattered. But just as important is indicating what savings each tier brings.
For example, many of our customers use a tiered contract structure where the services are included in the contracted price, but any parts are not. But if you select the most expensive tier, you get the deepest discount on parts.
But even more important is how you price those contract tiers. I've seen research that suggests that you want your upper tier to be priced extremely high. The rationale being that it makes the other two tiers appear more palatable, and realistically, 80% of your customers are going to buy your first two tiers anyway. So by pricing your highest tier significantly more than your other two tiers, you make them – especially your middle, most profitable tier – more attractive because it seems like a better value.
Start or improve your referral program – If you're like most service businesses, you get the majority of your new business from word of mouth and referrals. However, you could get even more if you create a systematized referral program. So spend some time this offseason brainstorming ways to create or improve your referral program. Some things to consider when creating a referral program:
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Happy customers are the ones that are giving you referral business. So first and foremost, focus on generating satisfied customers.
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Target your satisfied customers with referral offers. At HindSite we're developing a solution to help. Our service business marketing solution, HindSite Connect, will in the near future include the ability to survey customers after you complete a service to see their satisfaction level. Then, you could use that data to send an email to those customers offering them a 5% discount on a future service for referring a friend.
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Involve your employees. Train – and incentivize – your employees to talk about your referral program and ask for referrals after every contact with a customer. You can't get referrals if you don't ask.
Marketing programs don't have to be expensive. There are a number of simple things you can do today to improve your revenue in 2014. Want some other tips to improve your sales? Then download our free eBook, 6 Requirements for a Website that Sells today!
