Why It Takes More Phone Calls to Set an Appointment
If you’re feeling the pinch of fewer appointments from the same amount of sales leads, you’re not alone! When the economic outlook worsened, so did homeowner confidence with purchasing home services.
That being said, you can still run a profitable home services business, it’s just going to take some strategic adaptation.
The Problem: Lower Buyer Confidence
The reason you are booking fewer appointments with homeowners is because the homeowners are worried they won’t be able to afford your services. The homeowner still calls in or still fills in the website form, so they know they need your service, they just balk at actually setting the appointment.
So our solution will be to solve that problem!
The Solution: Adapting Your Approach
Setting the appointment is going to require more effort than usual this year, and here is where to focus your energy to get the best results.
More outbound dials:
If you normally book an appointment after placing 4 phone calls, plan on placing 6 phone calls in the current economic climate to book a single appointment.
Experiment to find the correct number of outbound calls to book to a lead, since eventually more phone calls will not net you significantly more appointments. You don’t want to waste time with majorly diminishing returns after say, the 10th or 12th phone call.
Vary your approach:
If you don’t call AND email, there’s never been a better time to start. Platforms like Hatch and SignPost also give you the capability to send text messages at scale. Be sure to reach out to the customer in a variety of ways.
Brush up on answering objections
We’ve seen a higher-than-usual number of customers asking for pricing over the phone. Totally makes sense if the homeowners are nervous about the economy! So be ready to answer that objection with a well-written script.
Remember, homeowners are happy to pay the price for quality work, but you can only prove that quality during an in-the-home sales appointment! If you give ballpark pricing over the phone, otherwise winnable sales will be scared off by sticker shock.
There you have it! Three strategies you can implement today to close out the year strong, even in the face of a tough economic environment. Just let us know if you have any questions!
