The shaky economy has left some brick-and-mortar companies in slow-growth mode. However, there is one area that's doing very, very well, and that is home services.

If you have a company in this industry, you have to stay ahead of the competition by knowing how to reach today's customers. We have some simple strategies you can start with today! 

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The shaky economy has left many brick and mortar stores in slow growth mode. However, there is one area that's doing very, very well, and that is home renovations. If you have a company in this industry, you have to stay ahead of the competition by knowing how to reach today's customers. And we have three tips to help you do that. Hello everybody. And welcome to the show.

I am your host, Jeff Lambert, and joining me today. My co-host, he is wanted by companies all around the world who make wigs for all sorts of people because of the rich, rich nature of his beard hair. My host Rogelio Rodriguez, right? How you doing?

I'm doing great. That was a great intro, Jeff, thank you very much. When you've got a beard like that, you've got to proclaim it that every day, it's beautiful folks. You got to look at our video, uh, companion to really just admire what we're working with here. It's, it's just, it's absolutely gorgeous. So rod, today, we are going to be talking about home improvement services and how even in this era right now, where we have some economic uncertainty, this sub-industry is doing incredibly well right now. And we want to kind of dive into why that's the case and because there's such a boom in this area, if you are an owner or a manager at a home services company, you really need to think about how you can differentiate yourself from the competition and how you can continue to reach today's customer, which is different from the homeowner, the customer, uh, of previous generations.

So we're going to really jump into that and try and dissect that for you with some very specific tips. Rod, why don't we start off with our baseline? We know that there's a lot of economic uncertainty right now. Why are home services doing so well right now?

Yeah, absolutely. Uh, you know, home improvement services have grown nearly double the rest of the retailer in the United States, according to the us census bureau and the number includes consumer spending on DIY home improvement projects and hiring more home service companies for more elaborate renovations. I'm one of those people, right? Like I, during this pandemic, I ended up, you know, redoing the impact windows in my house. I got impact doors. I'm currently looking for a painting company so they can paint the outside of my house and waterproof it as well. So I, I, from a personal standpoint, I understand, I think like part of a, uh, maybe just spending a little bit more time at home, people are looking to improve their own experience that they, that they have at their house and therefore looking for these, uh, tools and these, these, um, renovations, right?

So they can have, uh, they can feel more comfortable in their house. There's also a few factors that we can cover, right? One of them being the age of the count of the country's housing, right? For context, 80% of the homes in the United States, or at least 20 years old, according to JCHS. And as a result, more property owners need to conduct some type of home improvement project, uh, than ever before. Right? Like my roof was over 25 years old, so I had to replace it like those, there was no choice, right? It was coming due factor. Number two, millennials are buying homes and there, they like to renovate, right. Millennials are buying homes with the intention of remodeling, according to home advisors and millennials are doing more significant, uh, home improvement projects each year than any other generation. So overall rod, it's kind of a causal effect.

What you're saying, like people are spending more time in home for obvious reasons. You know, the, the work from home, uh, trend has obviously caught on coming into and hopefully out of COVID right now. So we see, you know, poor people at home. You're looking at those home improvement projects. You've been neglecting it's in your face all day now because that's where you are. And of course, like you said, millennials, which we are we're elder millennials. We want our homes to be, I guess, kind of a sanctuary, uh, you know, that place where we can be really proud of, especially now that we're spending more time in them. Absolutely. Absolutely. And experts are predicting that this age, the group is going to drive billions of dollars in home services companies as their home equity increases as well. That makes a lot of sense, you know?

And so there is a specific age group. Now that's getting into the, that majority buying market of picking up houses. So we have to understand how to reach that group because it's different than the groups that came before them. So rod, why should I even bother looking at how I'm marketing to my customers? Why should I want to find new ways to reach customers now, these millennial groups, people who are buying homes or renovating them currently?

Sure. Well, I mean, short customers have changed, uh, as they've always done, right? But in the past year, more than ever, according to a study from McKinsey, you know, shopping habits have changed, right? There's a surgeon in e-commerce, there's a preference for trusted brands. There's also a decline in discretionary spending due to layoffs. Sure. People's focus also is at home is different, right? People are nesting at home.

Home is as recast as a new coffee shop restaurant and entertainment center, which leads to a desire for more home improvements as I alluded to earlier. Yep. And then how we communicate is different. So in-person sampling has declined. Digital is now expected a shift in how we consume media as well. More interactive content that's quick to digest is taking over. So all those, um, are part of, of how individuals have changed their, their mindset, their behaviors, the way they, they consume and, and, and also interact in their homes. Right? Absolutely. I mean, it's happening everywhere. You, you have to stop and look at the trends that are occurring. Look at now. HBO has announced that all new movies are going to come to their streaming service, same day as they come out in theaters, if theaters ever reopened to the point that they were before you have car dealerships that are now doing digital showings of their vehicles, and then driving the car to you, once you purchase it, like there's no need to go into a dealership every morning.

We see realtors doing, you know, property walkthroughs. So you actually don't have to physically go into the home that whole, you know, you said it, the physical, the in-person sampling that it's going to come back to an extent. Right. Right. Like Everence, there's some people that are going to want the in-person experience, but people are going to want the option to do it digitally. Absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely.

So if you're at home services, you have to think about your own business. If you're a plumber, if you're an impact windows installer, if you do garage doors, if you do HVAC, are you meeting this new demand for how customers want to be able to buy products or view services before they purchased? Like you have to rethink how you're approaching re uh, meeting the customer. So let's talk about some tips that we have, uh, individuals in this industry, let's start off with one, what's a one way that we could suggest that home service companies can pivot to reach this new breed of customer that we're talking about.

Sure. Uh, we just, I mentioned that a little bit of it, uh, in the previous comment, um, really thinking through what the experience that we want this individual to have, and, and, and you, and you also, um, mentioned some experiences that people are having that are different than other industries, but those experience are interactive, right? So as a marketer or business owner of a home services company, you have to, I think, more, uh, about creating this interactive content, right? Yeah. Blogging, yeah. Is an excellent stepping stone. Uh, it provides customers with relevant content about the business and services and educates them before they actually get to speaking with a salesperson. Right? However, you know, producing more interactive content and marketing deliverables is going to help you stand out against the competition. I mean, how many other home services companies are actually doing this and going through the process of educating customers on our, on our side.

I mean, we, we've helped a lot of, a lot of customers create this interactive content and we've seen the return because people are consuming that content consistently. And they're reaching out to our customers because of that content that they're, they're putting out there consistently. Yeah. Blogs are great, but I think it's safe to say it's not enough. Now. There has to be more. So what are some interactive content, some examples, I guess, right of ways that companies can create this more interactive style of content to consume. Sure. New, so there's video testimonials, right? 80% of users will watch a video while only 20% will read content according to design hill. So 360 degree property tours, consumers watch 360 degree videos, 28.8, 1% more and double the viewers watch the video from start to finish according to magnifier as well. And then the last piece is interactive infographics.

So 40.2% of marketers agree that infographics are the best visual format for an audience engagement, right? Infographics, outperformed, video presentations, and data visualizations, according to them. Wow. So we definitely want to get more visual. We want to get more person to person connection showing that real time feedback. I'm just thinking off the top of my head, rod customers like to see before and after if you open, uh, or if you own an impact windows installation company, being able to show a walk through of what a property looks like before and after that's gold for today's customer, to be able to view something like that. Just as an example, like you said about the property towards the end and the options are endless, it's just about making it more than just words on a screen. Absolutely. Absolutely. And I think it's one of those, uh, elements that really enables you, right?

It provides so much value, right? The ability to be able to see something before and after, or the ability to take a tour. I mean, all of those add so much value that people are more willing to provide their, their contact information, even if it's just an email provided. Right. So it enables you to begin that relationship as, as essentially for you, it's a lead generator for the individual that's experiencing it. It's something that they are willing to give up in order to get the value of experience of that. Absolutely increasing the ways that you can interact with your customers. Absolutely. Rod, give me another way that we can stay ahead of the competition. Sure. These are showing that it's easier and more profitable, uh, to keep the customer than acquire a new one. So increasing your customer retention by just 5% re is going to boost your profit by at least 25%.

Wow. And, um, I was thinking through like, how can you get and keep customers engaged? Right. So we, we have to think about how to focus on reinventing that customer experience that we were discussing. Uh, you can do that by releasing new products and updates based on the feedback that you're capturing. So imagine an interactive piece of content that people are able to provide you feedback on immediately and, and response to use that data, to make an educated, uh, essentially an educated guess of the next product that you're going to be able to offer to that individual. Right? So serving your customers consistently so that you can, uh, measure, use like measurements like customer likes and dislikes and, and areas for improvement, uh, in order to, to make those decisions a lot easier for you. Absolutely. If I own a garage door installation company, and I see that customers are really favoring, maybe the glass door look, maybe I want to release some new products from different manufacturers that I've partnered with, and that's going to get people excited about seeing that I'm expanding my brand, that I'm offering new products.

And on top of that, if I already bought something from your company, or if I already had you service a part of my home, and I see that you're constantly updating what you're doing, I'm probably going to want to stay connected to you because I've already seen your work. I already trust you. So if you're coming out with new things, maybe I can partner with you in the future for other projects. Yep, absolutely. Absolutely. So rod, talk to me about, let's go with one final tip that we can share for home services owners to be able to really separate themselves from the competition and reach today's customer. Sure. Uh, I think the last tip would be oftentimes it's challenging to find ways of how to track all this activity and how well the marketing and sales are performing. So, and the edict track something and where they're coming from is really, you know, to try to easily implement, uh, those tracking options.

You can use, uh, elements like landing pages, right? Uh, where you can apply UTM parameters to each landing page URL. So when an online, online user clicks the link, you can track what leads to a sale using. You can use either Google analytics or a CRM tool. Uh, we use HubSpot internally, that's the tool of choice to be able to track those activities, uh, and also call tracking. I mean, I speak to home services companies often in my days, and I can't tell you how many companies do not track their calls. And, um, I'll tell you, give me, can you give an example of that rug call tracking? Because when you think about like what it does, it's one of those things, like, I can't believe I wasn't doing that a year ago. Absolutely. So I'll give you an example. So we typically use a software called call tracking metrics, right?

The call tracking metrics allows you to be able to attach a, you add a, essentially a JavaScript code that changes the number on your website to a attract number. And that trap number is associated with a campaign that you set up on the back end of the system. And, uh, I'll give you a great example from one of our clients Alco, they closed a huge deal in December. And the question was like, Alco Lewis calls me on the phone and he's like, Hey, we just closed a huge deal. He's super excited. And I'm like, he's like, okay. But I have no idea where it came from. Like, can we try to figure this out? I'm like, okay. So, so where, you know, what was the number like, can you pull up the number of the client? And so he goes into his HubSpot, pulls the number of the client looks at the number.

And, uh, then, uh, what I did was go into the call tracking software, search that number and realize that that huge sale, I mean, it was, it was over, oh, it's a few hundred thousand dollars sale, right? Well, it's a massive sale. You realize that that individual lead came from an advertising that he made on the only, uh, direct mail piece, like actual printed material piece that, that actually works. And we know this because we track everything right. We track that number that came from, from that ad. And we were able to tie back all the way from the time that it came in, in February and all the history that came in until it closed in December. And we know that that particular ad, which probably cost them maybe $500 a month to run brought back, uh, several hundred thousand dollars in return. So it's an example of, of how call tracking is effective.

And so I can assign different phone numbers based on the advertisements that I send out. And then when a customer calls that number, I'll know exactly the origin point that they used in order to find out about me. Absolutely. And, and, and more than that, you can find out what's not working. So if you get no calls from that flyer or ad that you created, you realize like, Hey, let me stop spending hours on this because yeah, I, if you spend $10,000 putting your face on a park bench everywhere, like, Hey, call me, I know it calls the number that you'll know while it's time to act that the next time around when you're looking at your expenses. So, oh man, it's so important to track what you're doing. So you're not just throwing money out the window. Absolutely. Absolutely. So rod, talk to me a little bit about if I'm a home services owner or a manager, and I'm looking to kind of boost my marketing potential risen, just launched a new program that is kind of an end to end solution to be able to help these companies, right?

Yes, absolutely. So right now we are, uh, beta testing, uh, rev growth for home services. It's really applying all our past experience in the business and, um, running several businesses and also helping specifically home service businesses grow at a, at a very quick pace. So we'll share everything that we've learned with you, uh, as a program and coaching where you can, uh, actually learn what it takes to go from zero to over a million dollars a year in revenue easily. That's right. And we offer different levels and tiers as well. So if you just want the spark notes on how to make it happen, we've got videos that you can watch and you can do it yourself. Or you can choose the full on implementation option where we're there on, you know, with, with regular calls and helping you create the content and build the ad and, and set up your tracking and, you know, just kind of an end-to-end solution. So we're there no matter what you need, it's an exciting program that we just launched. So we would encourage you if you're in the home services industry, look us up, give it a shot. We'll include a link to the program. Sign up in the show notes. Thanks for coming on today. And I'm excited to continue this with you as we add more content for those

In the home services industry. Fantastic. Thanks for having me, Jeff.

This podcast is brought to you by Rizen, a revenue growth firm focused on helping home service companies like yours. We've helped clients and impact windows, garage, doors, HVAC, mold remediation, and more grow year over year predictably and safely. Learn more about how we can help you by visiting www.gorizen.com. That's Rizen with the "Z." Thanks for listening, and we'll see you on the next episode.