From offering client referral discounts to using digital marketing tactics, here are 7 answers to the question, “How can you increase referrals and win more clients in the construction industry?”
- Offer Client Referral Discounts
- Highlight Your Company’s Key Benefits and Strengths
- Pay Customers to Leave Your Stickers On Your Best Jobs
- Be Proactive, Not Reactive
- Get Online
- Follow the ABC Rule
- Use Digital Marketing Tactics Like Podcasting
Offer Client Referral Discounts
You can offer discounts for client referrals. This is a surefire way to encourage your clients to refer others to your construction business. People will not feel as motivated to make these referrals if there’s nothing in it for them. Incentivization is a powerful marketing tactic.
Drew Sherman, Director of Marketing and Communications, Carvaygo
Highlight Your Company’s Key Benefits and Strengths
The best way to attract more clients in the construction industry is to highlight your company’s key benefits and strengths.
What makes your company stand out from the rest? What kind of results do you typically deliver? What kind of clients do you typically work with? What kind of results can you typically expect from working with you? How long has your company been in business? What kind of track record do you have? Be sure to emphasize these things in your marketing materials.
Potential clients want to know that they’re working with a trustworthy, reliable, and experienced company that can help them get the results they’re looking for. You can highlight these things by providing case studies, testimonials, and references from previous clients. You can also promote your company’s track record on your website and social media channels. By highlighting your company’s strengths and track record, you’ll be better positioned to attract new clients.
Luciano Colos, Founder and CEO, PitchGrade
Pay Customers to Leave Your Stickers On Your Best Jobs
Your customers may not always be physically available to broadcast your good works, but your best works can if appropriately branded and tied to you.
When potential customers see a fantastically executed project and also see the vendor that executed it, they are compelled to reach out if they have a need for your services. These works serve as living proof and visual documentation of your capacity to meet (or beat) expectations. And with your stickers on such projects, admiring prospects can quickly reach out with significantly reduced buyer objection or skepticism.
As a construction company, you know the best jobs you have done that you are proud of. If possible, incentivize your customers so you can leave a bit of branding on these projects that ties it back to you. This can be stickers or just anything that identifies you as the contractor behind the project and an easy communication channel for reaching you. This hack can load your referral pipe with high-value leads.
Lotus Felix, CEO, Lotusbrains Studio
Be Proactive, Not Reactive
As an experienced engineer in the construction industry, my best tip for winning more clients is to be proactive, not reactive. If you want to stand out in the construction industry and build meaningful relationships with your clients, be attentive to their needs and look into what they need before they even ask.
Be available on your social media accounts, networking events, or exhibitions. Be reliable and trustworthy so that people can depend on you for quality results whenever they have a project. Proactivity gives the feeling that clients are being taken care of with priority, which leads to greater customer satisfaction and trust, which increases the chances of getting referred by them.
Ludovic Chung-Sao, Lead Engineer and Founder, Zen Soundproof
Get Online
No matter how much traditional groundwork you do in the construction industry, you’re missing out on some great opportunities if you’re not online.
In an age where every player across industries has to make their presence felt online to stay in the competition, it is no surprise that the construction industry has followed suit too. Most brands are already making the most of the online sphere, from websites and social media handles to YouTube channels showcasing their work. Moreover, the first thing anyone does when starting their hunt for a contractor is to get online and run a search.
If you’ve played your online cards right, they’ll find you and your company right up there in their search results.
Neil Platt, Director, Emerald Home Improvements
Follow the ABC Rule
Following the ABC rule of communication with clients is a must to increase referrals. ABC, or ‘Always Be Communicating,’ means being in contact with clients from before a project starts to well after it is finished to ensure their total satisfaction. It demonstrates a level of care worthy of being shared with other associates. Everyone appreciates being in the know about what step the project is at, even if the news is not always good. Clients would much rather hear about a potential roadblock and work on a solution together than learn about it after the fact.
Alexandre Robicquet, Co-founder and CEO, Crossing Minds
Use Digital Marketing Tactics Like Podcasting
One way to increase referrals and win more clients in the construction industry is to use digital marketing tactics.
An uncommon example of this would be creating a podcast where people can ask questions or discuss topics related to construction. This type of podcast would provide quality content that potential clients could seek out and listen to when researching future projects, building relationships with potential leads, and establishing your expertise as an industry leader.
Additionally, these conversations could lead directly to referrals by providing easy access for listeners to direct possible clients your way.
Michael Alexis, CEO, tiny campfire