Tradie Marketing Tips

As tradies or builders, we are used to working hands-on, so the thought of spending a lot of time trapped behind a laptop or on a mobile phone can seem daunting. 
Things have evolved drastically, and we can now achieve more business building and administration work without pen and paper!

Of course, we still need to pick up our tools and get out on the job sites. Still, when it comes to learning new tips and techniques to help us move our business forward, a lot of it is possible with our computer and our phone.
When we think about how to grow our trades business, we usually immediately focus on sales strategy.
Of course, your sales strategy is essential. Still, other things contribute to the growth of your business that is arguably just as important.

Below are three key things to think about when growing your business. 

Know your customers and master your customer service.

Before we try to sell anything, we need to know who we want to and can serve, which means knowing our customers. 
Focusing on what we sell and offer is easy as a trades or builder business owner. 
For example, a plumber will concentrate on plumbing and drainage issues, so they need more clients with blocked toilets and drains.
Doing body corporate work will get you a lot of blocked drains and toilets!
Finding body corporate managers to work with would have a steady stream of on going plumbing issues that tenants would need to have fixed.
But how can you make your business the one that the body corporate managers will want to work with.

Face it – they would have a lot of plumbers approaching them to offer their services.

Take a step back and try and see it from your customer’s point of view and how you can offer what your client really wants and needs.
Find out what is important to them and their biggest frustrations when booking a plumber.
It might be things like:

• Call out fees not clearly advertised
• Unexpected charges
• Do you guarantee your work
• Being overcharged for work
• Spending all day waiting for the booked tradie to show up

When you fully understand your customer, it’s easier to master your customer service because you have clarity about what makes them happy. Then you can figure out how to exceed their expectations. 

Build your personal brand and use social media to get your brand out there and known.

Social media is a powerful and highly cost-effective tool for building and strengthening your personal and business brand. 
Think about your own behaviour and consider how much time you spend on social media.
It is undeniable that social media platforms attract the attention of our customers, so we must be present on social media every day to be at the forefront. 
As a trades business owner, it’s easy to forget to market yourself and your business.
As a small business owner, social media marketing is essential to you. 

Many trades will build their business through referral networks. They are excellent for building solid relationships but can be limiting, especially if your service isn’t designed for frequency and repetition, meaning customers need you once.
If you run a service like air conditioner cleaning or pest control – You know that your happy customers will be booking you every 12 months or so.
Most customers only need a plumber when there is an emergency or plan an upgrade or renovation!
You need to ensure that you have customers coming in through different channels and they can be

• Social media awareness
• Word of mouth referrals
• Business Networking
• SEO or being found in a Google search
• Paid advertising

Understand and manage your numbers

Most of us start a business because we are passionate about helping people in a certain way. We want to achieve financial freedom and flexibility in doing so. So if we want to be financially successful with our business, we must understand and manage our numbers. 
Before you freak out and think we suggest you become an accountant or bookkeeper, we mean by managing to make sure they are “taken care of”. You, your partner, or perhaps a professional accountant can manage your numbers.

The most important thing is that your numbers are managed and that you understand them. If we put someone in charge of managing our numbers, we can easily “forget” about them.  Even if the goal (and the best strategic business decision) is to have someone else manage your numbers. Ideally, a business owner should still try to understand them yourself. 

The person who manages your numbers and is on top of everything and help you understand your numbers to make the right strategic decisions for your business.

Talk to experts

Sometimes, talking to an expert can seem overwhelming, especially when we have a difficult challenge to overcome and feel nervous or unsure. We often feel anxious and uncertain about challenges because we don’t know how to solve them, and that’s what experts are for. Experts dedicate their time to mastering certain business functions to help us build a successful business. 
This means that we need access to multiple experts in different fields to cover all areas of our business and get comprehensive advice.

At Businesssight, our team of experts provides remote support to our members in one-to-one and group coaching to help them grow their business. 

A great way to get a feel for a business coach is to attend a workshop. At BusinessSight we run Break The Cycle every quarter and this is done on a Zoom call. We typically have between 5 and 10 tradies join us for a day of mapping out how their ideal business would look like and some easy to action steps to get them moving towards those goals.

Our tradie business coaching has many experts who deliver training to our tradie coaching students via Zoom to provide first-class support and advice to our members. Especially with the current coronavirus pandemic, having remote access to a dedicated team of experts to support you and the growth of your business is more important than ever. 
And the best part? You don’t have to be tech-savvy to access this expert support.

No matter who you are or where you’re located, the technology and tools we have access to allow us to grow our businesses through remote support. Even if we’re not technically savvy!
 If you want to know who our experts are, book in for a free discovery call.

We’re here, and we’re ready; you can reach us anytime.