When it comes to running a tree service business, the most important thing is generating leads. Without leads, you can’t generate sales, and without sales, your business will stagnate. In this blog post, we’ll share some tips on how to triple your leads closing rate. Implementing these tips will help you grow your business and reach new heights. So let’s get started!
3 Ways To Increase Your Leads Close Ratio
In most instances, an increase in the number of leads you receive won’t grow your tree service business as much as you would want. An improved sales process, however, can.
Simply learning how to convert a bigger percentage of the leads you get into paying customers can have a huge impact on your business’s bottom line.
Unfortunately, when it comes to lead conversion, a large number of tree service companies find themselves struggling. As a matter of fact, very few tree service companies manage to hit an 80% lead conversion rate. Most of the tree service companies struggle to even hit 50%.
The big question is, what makes a tree service company, with the same resources, money, and time as another tree service company, manage to generate 3X more paying customers from a similar number of leads?
We invested our time into doing thorough research to determine what made some tree service companies 3 times better than others.
Our research proved that master closers don’t use anything that as is rocket science. In fact, there are only three things they do differently – these separate them from the majority of tree service companies who struggle to even hit the 50% lead-to-customer conversion rate.
If you are currently struggling to turn your tree service leads into sales, or you just feel that your tree service business could do better, this article is for you. By the time you reach the conclusion, you will be familiar with the three rules you should adopt and stick to. Basically, you will know how to close more tree service estimates – boosting your business’s bottom line should become easier.
Check out this video that goes into more detail:
Rule #1: Speed is Crucial
Following up within minutes will increase your lead conversion by up to 391% according to studies.
If you have been hanging out with other successful tree service business owners, you have probably heard someone mention the importance of reaching out to new leads almost immediately. Even after hearing this, chances are, you did not realize how important speed is.
In this section, we will focus on making the importance of acting quickly crystal clear.
According to a study conducted by Insidesales.com, you are 21 times more likely to turn your new lead into a customer if you reach out within half an hour.
After analyzing tree service companies working in the tree service industry, we noticed this same trend. Those featuring the best closing rates focused on reaching out to the new leads within the initial five minutes.
Speed is extremely important when it comes to turning your leads into paying clients and, the quicker you act, the better the results you get.
A study conducted in the roofing sector (similar to tree service companies, focus on reaching homeowners) proved that if the business fails to respond within the first 5 minutes, it’s chances of converting the lead decreases by 400%.
This should already be convincing enough. Well, if it is still not enough, consider the following scenario…
Thanks to the world wide web (or should we say the internet?), your new lead has access to all the information that he/she needs, right at his/her fingertips. This means that the chances of them waiting around are very limited.
If you get in touch within the first five minutes, you should be safe – converting the lead should be easy.
If you reach out within half an hour, chances of landing the client are still there, however, they are very limited. There is no guarantee that you will be able to catch the lead.
If you reach after 30 minutes have passed, there is a very high likelihood that the lead has already moved on. They probably have already found a competitor (who is willing to reach out more quickly). Also, they could have found a different solution to their issue or even decided not to address the issue.
Everyone is busy, right? Calling your new lead within the first 5 minutes may not be possible for most tree service companies. If this is the case for you, why not leverage the power of technology?
For example, you can set up your tree service companies with live chat. Alternatively, set up text messaging services. This should ensure that appointments with new leads get booked quickly and easily.
Technology means no phone tag, no time-wasting, no losing leads to your competitors, and no low closing rates.
Rule #2: Follow Up More – Make At Least 5 Follow-Up Attempts
Though most tree services business owners do know that the follow-up step is extremely important!
They generally neglect it as much as they neglect speed.
According to statistics, 80% of the sales will require a minimum of five follow-up touchpoints (calls) to convert. The problem is, more than 44% of the people tasked with sales assume that the lead is not interested after just a single call!
These numbers are alarming. However, the good news is that a simple solution does exist.
The simple solution is: When the touchpoints you have already made appear enough and you are ready to assume that the lead is not interested, consider following up again!
On the sixth call, your chances of reaching the lead go up to 90%. Never give up until you have made a minimum of 6 attempts.
This persistence level does two things for you:
- It allows you to convert more leads.
- It gives you an added advantage over the competitors, who probably give up after the initial call.
Rule #3: Create a Lead Follow-Up System That Generates Results
Whether you receive 200 leads every month or generate less than 50 leads, you should have a reliable system to help you achieve maximum lead conversion. A lead follow-up system is not just for the big players – you do not have to be spending 6 figures on Facebook and Google to have the system in place.
The ideal lead follow-up system should achieve the following:
- Follow up with each new lead immediately. Ideally, in the initial 5 minutes. At the very worst, in the first 60 minutes.
- Follow up often. A minimum of 5 to 6 times per lead.
- Follow up in more than just one way. Use email, text messages, phone calls, etc.
If your system allows you to do all three, you should be able to convert leads much more easily.
If you are not sure of how the follow-up process is supposed to look like, we will give you an example below:
- Day 1 – Trying to make a call within the first 5 minutes. Next, send a text message within the first 15 minutes. Try making another call within the first 30 minutes.
- Day 2 – Try making a call and send an email.
- Day 2 – Send a text message.
- Day 3 – Combine a text message and a phone call.
- Day 3 – Send a second email.
- Day 4 – Send a text message.
- Day 5 – Send a text message.
In total, the above set up will allow you to make 10 touchpoints in less than 5 days. Since not all the touchpoints will be done via the phone, you will not have to worry about appearing too pushy or worse, annoying.
Phone Tip: Statistics indicate that the ideal time to call leads is from 5 to 7 PM and at/around 8 AM. Apart from the first day, placing the calls at these times should increase your chances of reaching your lead.
Statistics prove that SMS messaging is one of the most awesome ways of reaching leads. Currently, more than 98% of the sent messages are opened – only 2 messages out of the 100 messages you send are not opened.
To make things more interesting, you can always consider using SMS messaging with a scheduling application. A scheduling application does 2 main things for you – it reduces the follow-up work and allows appointments to be booked at a time that favors the leads.
Conclusion
As a tree service business owner, chances are, you are already investing a lot of money in tree service company marketing. If you did not know it, you can actually convert more of the leads you generate from the tree service company marketing campaigns. All you will need is speed, persistence, and an ideal follow-up process – this should help you make the most out of each opportunity that comes your way.
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To Recap:
- Focus on contacting the new leads within the first five minutes. After 1 hour, the chances of converting the lead will have dropped significantly.
- At least 80% of the sales will require a minimum of five follow-up touchpoints/calls. Before giving up, aim for a minimum of 6 touchpoints with each new lead.
- Invest your time into making a follow-up system/process that your team can execute without failing. Be sure to take advantage of technology, such as scheduling and text messaging, to reduce the workload while boosting the results.
