When it comes to generating new customers, sometimes you only have one shot at winning the business. This rings true when a potential customer has an emergency service issue, such as an HVAC system being down in mid-Summer or a business having a power outage issue during business hours. During these times a consumer will need your services and they’ll need them now! So how can you position your contracting business to generate more emergency service requests? Here are a few tips you’ll want to consider.
- Run Paid Search (top paid listings on Google) after business hours and use headline text that makes it clear you provide “24 Hour Service” or “Emergency Services.” You can see in this example that the AC Service provider has added Emergency Service Pros front and center on their ad. This strong call to action hits the mark for what the consumer needs and will generate more website visits.
- Improving your Google 5-Star reviews helps you generate more clicks and calls. When a consumer is in need of emergency services, the path to purchase (or customer journey) is very short, with the first phone call being made minutes from when a problem arises. What’s important for a potential customer is that you’re available and trustworthy. When you consider that 90% of consumers read online reviews before doing business, it’s critical that you generate a consistent flow of Google reviews. Take a look at this image showing HVAC contractors and their online reviews. Which might you call first?
- Add strong “Emergency Service – 24/7” Call-To-Action (CTA) buttons on your website. It’s a win if you can get an emergency service prospect to your website, and an even greater win if they call you once they land on your website. One way to increase the likelihood of generating that service request call is to clearly communicate on your website that you offer emergency services. Be sure to make the website visit-to-call process frictionless by making the CTA a clickable button that calls you.
- Always have someone answering the calls that can deploy a technician. Far too often we see contracting businesses that need to improve their call answering and lead intake process. As we speak with customers about this challenge (it’s really an opportunity), we often hear that they don’t want to pay to have someone available or they just haven’t nailed the lead intake process yet. From our experience, paying someone who can handle your after-hours calls and book service requests will yield significant dividends. Emergency service callers are more willing to pay a large “after-hours” fee. You never know when the next $8,000 job will come as a result of an emergency request call.
Generating more emergency service requests isn’t easy. If you simplify the process by considering the above tips, you’ll be well on your way to booking more after-hours service calls. So let’s remember to be at the top of Google, build trust on Google, show consumers that you offer Emergency Services, make it easy to contact you, and always be available!