Gary Kearns: Our lead costs during the last three years have increased a little bit, so that we’re now paying between $250 and $350 per lead from an advertising source. We’re trying to reduce those costs. We do a proximity marketing program that includes direct-mail pieces and jumbo postcards — and when we get into a neighborhood we deem ready for our services, we will do a three-postcard mailer in nine weeks, as well as door hangers.
Lance Smith: Our lead cost of $250 is slightly higher than it was five years ago. Our overall marketing percentage is probably lower because we’re becoming more efficient. We’re weeding out the more expensive lead sources and finding cheaper ones. Blanket mailings — 10,000 or 20,000 pieces a month to the whole area — work pretty well. And the Internet’s starting to work for us.
Brett Hall: Five years ago we relied on low-tech marketing, such as the Yellow Pages. Today our leads are driven by a lot of Internet-based marketing and our Web site is a tool to solidify the sale. We spent $18,000 to create a good site — more than three times what I had planned. What the site lets me do is to sell over the telephone; while I’m on the phone I can show [prospects] where to go and, on their time, they can get their questions answered.
Troy Marshall: I don’t know if you guys have heard of the Consumers’ Checkbook. We’ve been top-rated in the Washington Consumers’ Checkbook. We get 25% of our calls from subscribers to that publication. We’re also starting to get a lot of calls from Angie’s List [www.angieslist.com].
RC: Does it cost you to get leads on Angie’s List?
Troy Marshall: We’re paying $100 per month to offer a coupon [in Angie’s List’s monthly print publication]. We also pay to have our company highlighted on the list that appears on their Web site. I’m told that the companies that pay to get highlighted get more responses. When I looked the other day, 10 people had sent in a response about our company.
Gary Kearns: They brought it to Detroit in April. We’ve had a good response to it. We’re paying them to highlight us on the list.
We also do neighborhood marketing. We hold a picnic or cookout to introduce our company and its services to the neighborhood. We did three of these events in 2006, and we’re going to double that this year. Those have been successful, and they don’t cost a lot.
RC: From a customer-service standpoint, what differentiates your company?
Lance Smith: We look at a roof from a technical standpoint, not just sales. We make sure the difficult problems are dealt with immediately. So if an estimator goes out and decides that this is going to be one of those difficult installations, then my brother, with 30 years’ experience, will inspect the site and make sure we know exactly what kind of challenges we’re in for before we install.
