5 Ways for Service Companies to Find New Customers

This article about how service companies can find new customers is by Cheryl Friedenberg, a Digital Marketing Consultant from Philadelphia, PA. 

Going Digital

Cheryl Friedenberg

Gone are the days of old-fashioned sales, whether that’s door-to-door or placing phone calls to prospects. If your home services business marketing efforts are not pivoting towards digital tools to help your business grow and gain new customers, try to peek out of the digital dark ages.

I’m not saying to give up on the human touch. What needs to happen is an integration of both digital marketing and H2H (human to human) prospecting. Digital tools are not only website-related; they may also include social media, email marketing, and online reviews.

Here’s how to use digital tools to help fuel your sales funnel and get on top of current trends.

1. Create a Local Facebook Group

The new algorithms in Facebook may show your business page reach has fallen by 25-50% over the past year or so. There is a new channel on Facebook to reach potential customers in Facebook Groups.

If you are a moving company, for example, create a Facebook Group about relocating to “Name of City.” The discussions are monitored by you, the administrator of the group, and may include topics such as family-friendly restaurant recommendations, where to take your car to get serviced, best pizza in the area, etc.

The more locals who join the group, the faster your group will grow. Keep up the conversations and eventually lean towards moving posts such as “How to find a reputable moving company” or “How to unpack without stressing after you move.” Facebook groups are a new path to create a ‘private’, protected forum and, at the same time, get your business in front of a qualified audience. This is a new avenue for you to reach prospects and has a lot of potential if you use it correctly.

2. Pursue 5-Star Reviews

Do you have 4.5 stars on your review sites, including, Google, Yelp, Angie’s List and Facebook? If not, then your reviews alone may be a detriment to your sales. When a prospect is searching for your service business and your competitors, low ratings will take you off the playing field.

The key here is to increase your star ratings and keep them coming in continuously. There are a variety of ways to do this. Start by calling happy customers and asking them directly for a recommendation. Give them the tools they need (links) to log in and write a review. Next, you want to include a reminder in your monthly newsletter requesting customer reviews.

When to Ask for a Review

The best time to request a review is right before you leave the customer after their first experience with your services. When filling out an invoice, shares the review sites — even go so far as to help them find the review location on their phone.

Additionally, automating your service business review requests is another tactic to try. Gather Up and Review Trackers are two apps to check out.

3. Facebook Business Ads/Boosts

If you have never boosted or paid for a Facebook Business Page ad before, the process may seem daunting. The benefit of high volume reach to an extremely targeted audience is the main reason a paid ad will be worth your time, money and effort.

Think about a realistic goal when setting up a Facebook ad. Do you want to increase traffic to your website, generate leads or create awareness? What do you want to accomplish by putting your business information out there beyond your typical Facebook audience?

Start Small and Test

By investing as little as $10/day per location, a paid post or promotion will get your business in front of fresh new pairs of eyes.

It may be worth it to find a local Facebook Advertising Expert (like me!) who will help craft and implement your Facebook business advertising plans. Try a Facebook ad for 7-10 days and keep experimenting with it until you find your sweet spot. It should pay off if used correctly and consistently.

4. Email Campaigns

Email campaigns still work better than ever. Your home services business should stay in front of existing customers with emails highlighting promotions, benefits of your services and other customer reviews.

A cleaning company may, for example, recommend an annual ‘deep clean’ by emailing their customers with a low-priced offer for this service. Suggestive marketing tactics are key with email marketing. This is how you can find another way to service your existing customer base.

Don’t forget to keep adding to your email database too. One of the reasons your emails get stale is that your audience stays stale too. Grow your audience with email signup plug-ins on your website, via texts and opt-ins on your service agreements or contracts. MailChimp, AWeber, and Emma are some of the larger names in email marketing tools available today.

5. Video

Nearly one-third of online activity is spent watching videos and this number will substantially increase over the next year. To get the attention of social media mobile or computer users (let’s call them scrollers), short-form video (less than a minute) is the way to go. Service providers have a wide array of topics to promote with video.

How-to videos (i.e. how to find a landscaper in your area), Customer reviews (with video of the customer speaking), Service recommendations (i.e. how often to clean your HVAC filters) are just a few types of videos to create for your social media posts.

It’s also advisable to maintain a YouTube channel where your video creative can have a home. Professionally produced video may be pricey for a small business, but the cost is well worth it when you get more than one video clip to publish. Also, your smartphone’s video function may work wonders if you’d like to DIY the video clips. Either way, I highly advise posting at least 3 videos per month on your social media channels.

Getting Started

By utilizing these and other online marketing tools available to your home services business, you will bring your marketing plans up-to-date with the latest trends in the industry. Best of all, you’ll attract new customers to your business.