By Brent Handy, Paragon Pools
The COVID era, just a few short years ago, was no joke. For many of us pool builders, the COVID era gave us a false sense of the market… at least from a selling perspective. For many of us, getting a homeowner to put ink to paper was almost like shooting fish in a barrel. Homeowners were willing to wait weeks just for an initial consultation, and often the first reputable contractor to provide an estimate that the client was willing to accept got the job.
Another shift happened during this period. The online business world simply exploded. Almost overnight, families went from visiting showrooms to scrolling online looking for information on whatever they were interested in. Meetings that had always been held in person were rapidly moving to virtual meetings.
You might be thinking, “How does this affect the inground pool business? Every yard and every family present unique challenges, and you can’t fix this with online content.” Well, you’re right, but your online content matters more than you might think.
Just a few short years ago, online presence simply meant the evolution of what the Yellow Pages was a couple of decades ago, a place for homeowners and potential clients to find your contact information, and to find out a bit more about the services that you provide. But that was then, and now we are entering a whole new era of online and AI-assisted searching.
Regardless of which platform your future clients are choosing to use for their research, AI agents are now heavily influencing all search results. So, pool contractors that are hungry for work and looking for ways to increase leads should lean into this. Spend an afternoon learning how AI agents collect their data. Then update your online presence to feed these agents. These Al agents don’t like stale content; they feed on dynamic content that is updated and changed regularly.
One thing that has not changed is that an overwhelming majority of homeowners either go with the first contractor that delivers a professional estimate or use that first estimate as the baseline for comparing all others. Contractors looking to sign more jobs should take note of this and work hard ahead of the initial consultation. Build an estimate template and be prepared to deliver your clients’ estimate as soon as possible. Make sure that your initial proposal sets a high benchmark for any other competitive bids that will be compared to your bid.
One more practical tip is simply to close more of the leads that you already have. Let’s dive into this a bit more. Not every client is actually ready to move forward when they first reach out for information. Every single client will have been doing online research before reaching out to talk to a salesperson. One thing about the Florida market is that there are plenty of contractors for homeowners to reach out to. So, it is fair to assume that your company has already passed the first round of vetting by the homeowner when the lead initially arrives. It is also fair to assume that your company is not the only firm that the homeowner is reaching out to.
It is important to stand out from the average response that the homeowner receives! Often, the inquiry response is simply the next stage in the client’s journey to find the right pool contractor. Make sure that your firm is top of mind with the homeowner.
It does not take much effort on your part to build a database of homeowners who reach out to find out more about your company. Send monthly emails to everyone who gives you their email address. Reach out quarterly just to stay connected. Keep notes of yo ur interaction with each homeowner. When a client tells you that they are just gathering information right now and to reach back out in 60-90 days, make a note on your calendar and reach back out!
I would be willing to bet that most of your competition will not actually be following up. And when your client is ready to move forward, who do you think they are going to remember? And who do you think will not even have the opportunity to provide a proposal?
