Many commercial roofing companies have struggled with lead generation efforts because they haven’t generated the B2B leads they want. Inexperienced salespeople are often more focused on setting the appointment than listening to the prospective business’s wants, needs, and timeline.
Throughout this blog, we’ll discuss these four ways to convert cold leads into warm leads for your commercial roofing company:
Schedule Appointments With Businesses That Have a Roofing Need and Fit Your Criteria
This may seem obvious, but many inexperienced sales development representatives (SDRs) tend to schedule appointments with prospective companies that don’t have a roofing need. However, they still agree to schedule a free roof assessment. In addition, they may schedule roof assessments with cold leads that don’t meet your criteria.
Many SDRs are required to hit a certain number of appointments or sales for their role. This can lead to scheduling appointments with any prospect who agrees to a roof assessment. Although the prospect agrees to an appointment, that doesn’t make this a warm or a hot lead. Actually, this can turn a cold lead into no lead and wastes the time of the prospect and the roofing service provider.
When you start your appointment setting efforts, the sales pipeline is packed with many prospective businesses in your region. It takes time to go through each prospect and determine if they meet your potential customer criteria. Setting criteria for your roofing company is crucial because it allows your SDRs to know if this is a prospect they should continue to reach out to.
Chasing unqualified leads is a waste of time and company resources that can negatively affect your company’s bottom line. Practicing lead cleansing in your appointment setting efforts is vital because it allows your company to follow qualified leads and eliminate prospects that have little to no impact on your ROI.
Focus on the Relationship, Not the Sale
Sales professionals are designed to be relationship builders, but sometimes sluggish SDRs get too caught up in securing an appointment even if it’s not a great opportunity at the time. Although setting appointments is a crucial component of an SDR’s role, it’s more important to build a relationship with the potential customer rather than force an appointment that isn’t there.
On average, it takes about 39 days and nine dials for an SDR to set up a roofing appointment with a prospective business. This is a short turnaround for B2B appointment setting compared to other industries. However, this is also for roofing companies looking for all types of jobs, no matter the size. If you’re looking for more significant projects, such as a re-roof or a roof replacement, the timespan and number of dials are much more significant.
During the prospecting and cleansing phase of the sales process, it’s essential to discover who the key decision-maker (KDM) is when it comes to maintaining the roof. This allows SDRs to know who to contact so they can start building a relationship with the prospective company.
Through the cleansing stage, SDRs should gather KDM contact information (including their title, phone number, and email address) so they are able to contact them directly and obtain a better understanding of the company and its buying cycle. This way, the SDR can nurture the lead until the time is right and there’s a better opportunity to close business.
Ask Timeline-Focused Questions
Asking timeline-focused questions enables SDRs to gain a better understanding of the prospective company’s buying cycle. These questions allow SDRs to nurture the lead and contact them in an appropriate time frame.
Here are some questions that appointment setters should ask prospective businesses to understand their timeline better:
- When was your last roof replacement?
- When was the last time you had a roof inspection?
- How are you using this year’s budget to enhance the structure of your building?
- What building projects do you have lined up for this year?
Collaborate With an Outsourced B2B Lead Generation Provider
Outsourced lead generation service providers have had a bad reputation in the past. Many companies have this idea that they’re pricey, don’t have control over the SDRs, don’t understand the industry, and many other excuses. Well, we’re here to tell you that none of that is true. You may be saying, “Give me one reason I should outsource my B2B sales efforts.” As a matter of fact, we’ll give you five:
1. Internal Sales Teams Lack Expertise and Experience
Most in-house sales and marketing teams don’t have a deep understanding of B2B lead generation—and without a thorough understanding of lead gen, your sales strategy won’t be successful. Outsourced appointment setting sales teams can make cold calls, nurture prospects, and use other effective marketing strategies to generate high-quality leads for your business.
2. You Save Valued Company Time and Money
Onboarding, training, and retaining a team of sales professionals requires a significant amount of company time and resources. In the end, you risk negatively impacting your roofing company’s bottom line and jeopardize profitability. Outsourcing B2B appointment setting services is a much more cost-effective option for your company’s budget, and it allows you to focus on more pressing day-to-day responsibilities.
3. Outsourced SDRs Can Introduce a New Product or Service
As exciting as it is to introduce a new product or service into your company, pitching this product or service may require an entirely new set of sales skills. Regardless of your product or service, outsourced appointment setters have the skill set to promote it to potential customers effectively.
4. Outsourced Lead Generation Strategies Align With Your Sales Model
As new best practices come into the mix, companies change their sales models to align with the state of the market. When you decide to change your sales model, you’re also choosing to spend additional time training your employees on new processes. Rather than training your employees, you can look to a lead gen provider and outsource all or parts of your sales process.
5. You Can Enter Into New Markets With Ease
Whether you’re looking to target new geographic areas or direct your message to a new audience, entering new markets can add a lot of stress to your plate. Rather than hiring more employees to get the job done, outsourcing highly skilled SDRs can help you pitch these demographics and set appointments that matter.
Not Getting the Business You Want? Abstrakt Has the Opportunities You Need
Abstrakt Marketing Group partners with successful commercial roofing companies like yours to generate high-quality leads and establish predictable growth. We know how dependent roofing services are on the season and the weather, but we want to ensure that your business continues to accelerate year-round.
In 2019, a Virginia-based roofing service provider reached out to us to help them with their lead generation efforts. Their business growth remained consistent, but they were looking to build their empire and take on new clients. During their first month with Abstrakt, the client closed $120,000 in business. These scenarios are rare, but this provider saw the impact that Abstrakt had on their success and implemented two more outbound programs.
Abstrakt is undoubtedly dedicated to generating local business for your commercial roofing company. We understand how competitive the roofing industry is, which is why we provide an exclusive partnership, so you don’t have to worry about us working with competitors in your market.
Ready to take your roofing company to the next level and convert cold leads into warm leads? Connect with us today to maximize your company’s ROI!
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