Get Smart!

You could change your business in big ways just by using existing technology.

You need customers, and somehow, someway, you set out to find them. That, the need for lead generation, will never change. What has changed, and a lot in the last few years, is hand-held technology. I mean specifically the smart phone in your pocket or the computer tablet held at your side. These can, in seconds, download, email, and access the web, or (in the case of the phone) shoot a video and then transmit it. You may think of that device you’re talking into as an enhanced phone, a convenient way to read and respond to email at any place and time. Actually smart phones-projected to outsell laptops by the end of next year-and touchscreen tablets can and will have a big impact on the home improvement business by streamlining efficiencies, eliminating redundant procedures and making communication between the different departments in your business-sales, marketing, admin, installation-nearly immediate.

First off, think of your sales presentation. That three-ring binder will soon carry all the cultural overtones of the horse and carriage. With a smart phone in every other pocket, how will thumbing through the plasticized pages of that binder look to the homeowner, even the older prospect, when the company before you and the company after you come in with a touch screen tablet such as an iPad and use it to bring up their website, pricing, government sites featuring energy saving tips, etc.

Today these devices are relatively new to most people. Just bringing them into play in the sales presentation gives you an opportunity to get more of the homeowners’ attention. How about canvassers, store promoters and people working shows and events? Many companies outfit their field marketers with iPads and other tablets. Tablets make it easy to carry an unlimited amount of information. Marketers can display customer testimonials, product descriptions with high resolution photos, and before and after pictures. And they can do this instantly. Take a moment to watch this brief video clip demonstrating how to use an iPad as part of your canvassing strategy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0bRC2Z0i90

Smart phones and touchscreen tablets also present big opportunities for direct input from the field. Think about the efficiency you can achieve in setting appointments. Your direct marketing personnel-canvassers, show and event staff, in-store demonstrators-can enter appointments in real time, as they’re generated. This not only saves on the time and cost of data entry but gives everyone in your company an accurate and up-to-date schedule of open time slots. Office staff will no longer need to field inbound calls from marketers in the field, so they’ll be free to focus on other tasks.

One other thing. There’s a big opportunity in enlisting canvassers to take photographs and video in the field.  In some case they’re simply taking photographs of bad workmanship done by unqualified contractors. In other scenarios they’re filming brief testimonials of satisfied customers that they happened to come across while knocking on doors. Check out the power of this thirty second testimonial from a customer I recently stumbled on in the field:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1N5dgjxfC0

There are tremendous benefits associated with integrating the latest technology in to your business. If you coach and train your staff properly, outfit them accordingly, and provide solid, obtainable incentives, they will take these technological opportunities and come back from the field with more than just leads. In fact, they may just surprise you….

For assistance in revolutionizing your lead generation process, feel free to contact me as always.

Cheers,

Tony