Leads – let’s face it, as a business owner, it’s the first thing on your mind at almost any given point in time. At HomeStars, as we are in the business of growing yours, we understand the importance of generating leads for business owners. That’s why we decided to put all the questions on HomeStars leads in one place and answer them to help you understand and grow your business. Read on to know everything there is to learn about getting leads for your home improvement business.
How Are Leads Distributed?
Leads or customer service requests are requests that millions of Canadian homeowners submit on HomeStars. These service requests are based on category and the location of the user. Depending on the homeowner’s location, the request is distributed to 5 pros, who can choose to respond or reject the lead. These are primarily distributed by an internal algorithm which factors in the location, among other things. Apart from this kind of lead, a customer can also choose to request a quote from a particular pro, by visiting their HomeStars profile. If the profile of the pro matches their requirement, and they are happy with the pro’s reviews and Star Score, they can request a quote directly from that business.
What Determines The Distribution Of Leads?
As explained above, the HomeStars algorithm distributes the leads to the pros, factoring in things such as location and project category. The other things that are considered before distributing the leads include the elements on the pro’s profile. To be eligible for getting more leads for your business, you must:
- Have a Verified Badge on your profile, which can be requested after you upgrade your HomeStars profile
- Have a Star Score of over 80% – for new sign-ups, HomeStars also offers a 30-day Star Score boost, when you upgrade your account. You can also request previous customers to leave a review on HomeStars, to boost your Star Score and hence the profile’s visibility
- Have recent reviews on your profile, to showcase that your profile is updated and your business is active
When Do I Start Getting Leads?
When you create your profile on HomeStars and upgrade the same, you can get a Star Score boost, which will help your profile’s visibility. In addition to this, you can request your previous clients to review your business on HomeStars, to help the online presence of your brand. You can also request a Verification Badge to add to the credibility and trust factor of the business. When all of these are taken care of, your profile is showcased to homeowners on our website, which can help you get leads directly. When a lead comes in, it can also be directed towards you by the algorithm if the category and location are in sync with the request. The season’s demands and whether the business operates in those sectors will also determine how soon you start getting leads. Your dedicated Customer Success Manager can help you understand more about the timeline of getting leads.
How Many Leads Can I Get In A Month?
The number of leads you get in a month directly depend on the category of your business, among other factors as explained above. If you are in a business like home renovation, you may get projects that takes months or weeks to complete. However, if you are in the business of urgent and minor repairs like plumbing jobs, you can finish multiple projects in just a week. When you sign up with us and upgrade to a paid profile, your dedicated Customer Success Manager can help you further by looking into your profile and giving you a better idea of your profile’s performance.
Why Aren’t Homeowners Picking Me?
Apart from the two factors mentioned above, there are many reasons why you may not be getting leads or may not be closing the opportunities. Let’s take a look at some of the other factors responsible for driving leads to your business:
- Make sure your profile is updated regularly with the type of business you are and your offered services. If the homeowner can’t find their project category on your profile, they are likely to move on to another profile.
- Ensure that you put up the right company logo and an attractive cover photo on your profile.
- Add as many details to your profile as possible like licenses, descriptions of the jobs, certifications etc.
- You can also create a custom gallery in your profile to showcase the completed projects, which can instill confidence in the homeowner while hiring a pro.
- Being responsive is yet another way to ensure that you convert leads to projects. In our homeowner survey, 46.6% of respondents said they couldn’t hire a pro because they did not respond. This is a huge opportunity which can be easily converted by being quick in response – even if you are busy, you can choose the automated replies on HomeStars to get back to leads. This will help prevent the expiration of leads.
In highly competitive markets like these, it’s essential to stand out from the competition with an attractive profile and responsiveness. Due to the volatile nature of the industry and the current economic conditions, it’s difficult to predict the in-flow of service requests, and thus it becomes extremely important to convert the ones you do get. However, take a slower period of time, to build your brand to ensure you convert leads to jobs when they do come your way.
