How A Contractor’s Web Site Marketing Can Speed Up The Sales Cycle

With the right marketing strategy and tools a contractor can turn his or her web site into a lead generation machine as well as a selling tool. That's right. Think of your web site as not just a place for consumers to find your business, but also a place where you can help them buy.

Make it a place where they can educate themselves

Educate them about your business as well as the many things they will need to consider about their project and about choosing the right contractor to partner with for their project. By helping them do this at your web site two different outcomes are possible.

One might be that they realize your business is not right for them. This can save you and them a lot of time because you won’t need to get together in person to figure this out.

On the other hand, because of your content, the right prospects for your business will be much closer to making a confident buying decision by the time they ask you to come out and meet with them.

Every consumer has their own buying process

Research shows that consumers spend anywhere between 38-114 days doing their research and due diligence before they make the decision to go forward on a significant investment. If you think of their buying process as their buying cycle, broken down into definable stages, you can strategically align the content of the marketing on your web site with what your target customers need to help them as they move through these stages and their research.

Here are the typical stages of a remodeling consumer’s buying process:

Awareness stage:

Research stage

Comparison stage

Purchasing stage

Repurchase stage

In this follow-up article I explain how to strategically market to these consumers during each stage.

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Keep in mind that due diligence will be personal to every consumer.

Never assume what they should do or tell them what to do. A key to this strategy is to offer options within your marketing and clearly explain the differences between them so prospects can confidently make their own decisions. Remember, it’s all about them, not about you. Helping them along and being a resource, rather than telling them what to do, will make you stand out as a trusted advisor. Often times, because they are typically the main decision makers when it comes to purchasing remodeling, this strategy works particularly well with women. Think about it. How did it go the last time you told a woman what to do! It’s about options and helping them compare them.

Summary

To help speed up the sales cycle with your prospects your goal should be to help them buy, not sell them something. Put yourself in your prospects shoes. Would you want to be sold?