Do you get tired of answering your phone? Ever thought, “If they want my business they will leave a message”? Or maybe you’re just looking to grow your business but your time gets taken away by too many urgent tasks? If this sounds like you, it may be time to start looking into an answering service.
How can an answering service jumpstart your roofing business? An answering service provides 24/7 call support to your current and potential clients. It can give them estimates, schedule appointments for you, book your services, give leads, and provide you with notifications to keep you updated while you focus on expanding your business.
Being a small roofing business owner could mean you’ll need to wear multiple “hats.” You have to oversee the roofing works, you have to make sure admin work gets done, you have to keep your clients satisfied and constantly returning. An answering service can help you lose one hat so you can be more efficient with your most precious resource, your time.
What are the Advantages of an Answering Service?
An answering service generally automates the communication part of your roofing business by delegating that work to professional virtual receptionists. They take inbound and outbound calls, provide your estimates, schedule your services, follow up on leads, all while notifying you along the way.
Your Clients Get Access to 24/7 Call Support
An answering service will be responsible for inbound and outbound calls. Their agents will take note of the necessary information from your roofing business, handle the calls the way you want, and report back to you with possibly a booked consultation schedule or new leads.
Because they take note of the frequently asked questions, they’ll be able to provide the information without having to ask you from time to time.
This is beneficial because you can rely on them to handle your customer service. You don’t want to be working on a roof only to miss a call and miss another potential client.
With an answering service, all phone calls and texts can be answered and responded to by a team of professional bilingual receptionists.
More than that, answering services can take on emergency calls.
This means the next time there is a hail storm or another roof destructive storm in your local area and everyone starts calling roofing companies to schedule appointments. You won’t miss a beat. Your entire schedule can be booked out with roof replacements without you having to lift a finger.
Additionally, the team of receptionists can handle the mass flow of incoming calls. That is something a hired secretary won’t be able to do. This will definitely give you a competitive advantage over those who try and handle the phone calls themselves.
Estimates To Potential Clients
Any contact with a client is a potential sale. Don’t miss it, don’t let them go to voicemail. When callers inquire about your services, agents of an answering service will take care of that for you. They can give the necessary estimates but if consultation is needed, you’re sure to be informed by them.
A company that can answer customer questions quickly and by a real person has excellent customer service. This will help you develop more loyal customers.
Keeps Your Schedule Booked
You don’t have to sit down and wait for new appointments. Because an answering service accepts inquiries 24/7, it can keep your calendar booked with profitable appointments. The agents do the scheduling for you so you don’t have to stress about fitting things in.
Some answering services work with your current online calendar management software. They manage all the changes and cancellations and communicate them to you quickly to avoid miscommunications. Some popular software includes Housecall Pro, Jobber, ResponsiBid, Workizeasy, and Calendly.
Get Notified Wherever You Are
You don’t have to worry about what’s going on with clients or if you can get a new booking. You will get notifications from an answering service if they have an app you can access on the go, through text, email, or even a pager. With an answering service, you can always count on to be informed of the updates regarding client communications and only update you when it’s necessary.
Save in Operating Costs
An answering service can help you because, you won’t need to recruit, train, and pay more employees thus saving your roofing business some operating costs. Because a virtual receptionist handles the appointments and some processing, you won’t need a large customer service department. Also, since these agents aren’t in-office, you end up spending less on office space, equipment, and technology.
Potential Increase in Revenue
24/7 call support and the continuous updating of schedules and reminders can keep your roofing business booked. In addition to lesser operating costs, these two could increase your revenue and make sure that your clients are informed and satisfied whenever and wherever you are.
Skilled Professional Receptionists
Some answering services have bilingual agents which provide for more diversity. They will be able to assist clients who may not be able to speak English fluently. These agents are also professional, empathetic, and with years of experience that you can trust. The clients won’t even know that the agents aren’t employed in-house.
Achieve a Healthy Work-Life Balance
You don’t have to be in your office day and night and you won’t have to worry about clients calling you after office hours. An answering service has got your back so you can enjoy a healthy work-life balance and spend your non-working time with those that are most important to you.
How Do Roofers Get New Leads?
Answering services actually follow up on leads but how else can you get leads as a roofer? You can get them through satisfied customer referrals, email marketing, search engine optimization, search engine marketing, social media advertising, and review sites.
Satisfied customer referrals are one of the best ways to get more customers. There are several strategies that can be used to get more referrals. Here are some ideas:
- Ask everyone you talk to for referrrals. If someone is not interested, ask if they know anyone is might be interested.
- Create a referal program. You can offer incentives to refer people who refer their friends and family.
- Sign up for lead generations such as Home Advisor.
- Create an affiliate program
Some other ways to help build your brand and generate new leads are email marketing and newsletters.
Email marketing or newsletters can help keep your business in the minds of your clients. You can also update them on what’s new and offer services they might want to take such as roofing consultations or inspections. If you’ve got promos or discounts, you can definitely promote them through emails.
Search engine optimization and search engine marketing apply to your roofing business’ website. Keeping your website ranking through organic keywords or search engine advertisements can help lead prospective clients to your services.
Social media advertising is a common method of promoting your business. A lot of people are already online whether it’s Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. Promoted posts can help connect your services to targeted consumers who may need them.
Amongst all of these, review sites could be the most effective because people trust others’ reviews. Good reviews are testimonies to your roofing business and could convince potential clients. But make sure you are honest with your reviews. Being dishonest will discredit your business and will prevent you from having loyal customers who come back time and time again.
What Do Roofing Leads Cost?
If you have an answering service, the cost for roofing leads will likely be included in their service. However, in general, the price of the leads you’ll want to take on will depend on the business’ profit.
There are two types of leads to choose from, these are shared or exclusive leads. Shared leads are those you will have to compete with a fellow roofing contractor by giving bids to the lead. This is the strategy Home Advisor uses.
On the other hand, exclusive leads are for your business only. Generally, exclusive roofing leads can cost you $35 to $180 dollars while shared leads may cost around $18 to $85 dollars.
With that in mind, you can get leads for free if you are honest and treat your customers fairly.
Answering Services For Roofing Businesses
While all answering services are expected to be skilled and professional. Not all answering services are a good fit for roofing businesses. Here is one answering service that I would recommend because they focus on service businesses like roofing companies, gutter cleaning companies, etc.
Jill’s Office
Jill’s Office provides you with virtual receptionists all based in the U.S. They are bilingual and offer all the advantages mentioned in the previous section. They even have an app to keep you updated on new leads. Additionally, Jill’s Office is compatible with all of the following software, to allow you flexibility and convenience.
- Housecall Pro
- Workizeasy
- The Customer Factor
- Jobber
- Acuity Scheduling
- Markate
- ResponsiBid
- You Can Book Me
- Calendly
My experience with Jill’s Office has been positive, hence why I am recommending them. But you can also check out their customer testimonials on their website.
I contacted a representative of Jill’s Office and was able to get a discount for my fellow roof hippies. Using this code also helps to support this website.