Arkansas HVACR NewsMagazine April 2018

Business & Marketing Tips

4. Referrals and reviews do the work for you In a survey of 7,500 North American business owners, 85% said that word of mouth referrals are the single most effective way to acquire customers. In today's market where consumers have more choices than ever before, they increasingly rely on proof points and validation from people like them. Especially with the popularity of online review sites like Yelp, Facebook, Angie's List and others, customers have many outlets to voice their opinions, good or bad; it's the new word of mouth.. Happy customers are usually happy to refer you. The problem is that they may not always be aware of the outlets for doing so, and they may not always think to initiate it on their own, so it's up to you to direct them. As mentioned above, collateral can be an important tool for this. Every time you finish a job, present your customer with instructions for how to provide a review on one of these sites. A visual step-by-step diagram will make it easy for anyone to log on and leave a positive review for you. You may also want to offer an incentive; perhaps a discount on future services or the opportunity to be included in a raffle for customers who submit a review of your company and its services. Besides creating more validation for your business and greater word of mouth opportunities, these types of reviews and referrals also create a tighter bond between you and the customer who is providing the referral.

When a customer speaks highly of you, it creates another form of positive validation and a reminder that you are their go-to vendor for future service. 5. Use social media and content to stay connected Do you ever call your customers just to check up on them? Sounds like a nice thing to do, but it would suck so much time that you wouldn't be able to handle the workload in front of you. Social media, however is an effective and inexpensive way to stay connected with customers and increase awareness of your services. Facebook, for example, now influences more than half of the buying decisions for customers' good and services needs, and AdWeek says that it could be detrimental to avoid social media in your business. The first thing you need to do is create the basic social media accounts: Twitter, Facebook company pages, and Instagram all allow you to communicate messages to users and use visuals effectively. In your marketing collateral, encourage customers to follow your accounts, and you should follow them in return. Look for local accounts and engage with them as well. Social media is a great way to deliver personalized messages directly to the accounts of your followers and others who might benefit from knowing about your services.