You might have heard that leads retain their “hot” status and freshness for a maximum of 48 – 72 hours after they reach your inbox or CRM before they start to go “warm,” then “cold,” and eventually “die” in the dark abyss of your database, never to be contacted again.
To some roofers, this loss of leads doesn’t really matter since they’re overloaded with roofing jobs for a good portion of the year and don’t necessarily have time to contact, quote, and book everyone interested in their work.
That said, lost leads are also lost revenue and lost reviews and referrals for your roofing business as well. Just because you’re overloaded with leads and contracts doesn’t mean you can’t optimize your workflows to accommodate more roofing jobs.
Here are three ways to save time and revive dead leads so you can grow your roofing business and increase your revenue with less friction.
Let Automation Do The Work For You
One of the easiest ways to keep your hot leads from cooling down and revive the older ones is by setting up some automation to keep them interested and keep your company’s name at the front of their minds.
If you’ve been following our marketing advice, you’ll already know about the importance of building and maintaining an email list and using email automation features to touch base with clients and leads. Email workflows can be implemented to ensure that your leads hear from you with the information they need at precisely the right time.
The majority of your new leads will either:
- Request a quote, receive it, and book your company for the job.
- Request a quote, receive it, and book a competitor for the job.
- Request a quote, receive it, and go silent. Never to be heard from again.
Your goal is to make sure that everyone who doesn’t get back to you after receiving their quote is sorted into one of two buckets:
- Closed with another roofing contractor.
- Warm lead, follow up later.
The easiest way to learn this information is through automating an email send to trigger a week or two after your roofing business sends them a quote for their job.
This email could include a question asking whether or not they’ve completed their roofing project or could be more detailed and invite them to get back in touch with their feedback on your roofing proposal to allow you to provide them with an updated proposal or special offer.
Still haven’t heard back? Don’t lose hope! Create another quick email flow that sends emails at set intervals to keep your cold leads aware of your products or services. Offer a discount three months down the line, or highlight a few of the shingles your roofing company installs.
You can also send informational emails to get homeowners thinking about work other than a roof replacement, such as signs they may need roof repairs, or if you do business in a hurricane-prone area, send tips on protecting their roofs from storm damage. Even if they’re not interested today, they may need your services later on.
The goal here is to ensure that every potential customer that reaches out to you is occasionally reminded of your roofing business without feeling like they’re being bombarded with emails and calls so that when the time comes, they’ll know who to get in touch with.
Give Your Cold and Dead Leads a Call
Having email automation running 24/7 is an excellent way to revive dead leads while still being able to go on with your day-to-day, but it’s important to remember that we’re all human beings and that sometimes a good old-fashioned phone call might be just what you need to close the deal.
Chances are, if you can set up email automations in your CRM, you can also sort, tag, and filter all the leads in your database based on any factors you might want to keep an eye on. Set up a filter that can sort your leads by “last contacted” date (let’s say, leads that you haven’t spoken to in the last 90 days), and set aside some time daily to give this list a quick phone call.
Even if you don’t manage to close anyone that day, doing this regularly will make sure that you keep your cold and dead roofing lead lists short since you’ll be able to remove anyone who tells you that they’re not interested, as well as delete anyone who’s phone number has since been disconnected.
As a roofing contractor, you already know that half of the job is talking to and getting along with people, and you’re clearly in this business because you’re skilled in the art of the phone call. Put those skills to work and ensure you’re maximizing your profits at every turn by minimizing the number of leads that fall through the cracks.
Find Ways to Save Time In Your Day-To-Day So You Can Contact More People
Roofing season can quickly get overwhelming, especially if your company’s service area is in a region that’s cold and snowy for half of the year where everyone only has a few months to get their outdoor home improvement projects done. In this crunch, it’s easy to accidentally let some qualified leads fall through the cracks and go cold.
The trick here is to be as organized and efficient as possible to ensure everyone who needs a call or email gets one. The best way to do so is by using software tools to save you as much time as possible daily.
For example, Roofgraf’s roof measurement software gives roofing contractor’s the ability to quickly and accurately measure any roof from anywhere with powerful A.I. tools, eliminating the need for roofers to head out to every single property to get homeowners the quote they’re looking for.
Additionally, our SmartQuote and FastQuote templates make creating roofing proposals a breeze by cutting the process down from hours to minutes while also giving roofers the freedom to be as detailed in their quotes as they want or need to be at whichever stage of the sales process they’re currently in.
Cutting down on travel time, as well as time spent on roofing proposal creation, opens up hours of extra time during the day to not only schedule roofing jobs but to contact as many interested leads as possible, as well as work on reaching out to your cold and dead leads to increase sales and keep your contact lists as clean and organized as possible.
In Conclusion
Many people will say that the best way to manage dead roofing leads is not to let them go cold and die in the first place, but as any roofing contractor will tell you, that’s easier said than done. Implementing these three tips is the best way to ensure that you keep your cold lead list as short as possible while increasing your sales and saving you precious time.
With accurate roof measurements, roof reports in seconds, and beautiful proposals with Good, Better, Best options, Roofgraf’s roofing software is the key to fast and easy quotes. Give it a try, risk-free today, and see why it’s your competitor’s best-kept secret.
