Microcement business: how to get customers
Are you new to the microcement industry and don’t know where to start to get orders? Or maybe you’ve been around for a while, you know you’re doing a good job, but your customers are somehow not banging down the doors? We have some tips for you on how to get customers.
1. Develop an offer and a customer acquisition plan
Not everyone will be interested in your services and not all of them will become your customers. That is why it is so important that you think about who your ideal client is. First, answer the following questions:
- Is it an individual client who finishes / renovates his house? Or maybe an architect who is looking for a contractor for his/her projects?
- What market do you operate on – do you operate locally, e.g. within a radius of 50 km, are you willing to accept orders throughout the entire province or country?
- What sizes are you doing? Do you act alone and prefer smaller projects, or do you have a team that is comfortable with meters of floors and stairs to heaven?
- What do you want to specialize in? Maybe you want to be the second star of microcement stairs like Tomek Grabarczyk, or maybe you prefer to only make floors or do you feel best in bathrooms?
Once you know all this, plan ways to reach your customers.
2. Be visible on the Internet
Where are your steps going to find the product or service you need? Of course, to the Internet! Nowadays, if you are not on the Internet, you do not exist. Make the task easier for your customers and be visible on the Internet.
If you are scared of the prospect of setting up your own website, buying a domain, and all that technical issues – do not worry, at the beginning all you need to do is add your company to Google My Business. The Google business card is extremely important in local marketing. Thanks to it, customers will find you on the map, they will have current contact details, opening hours and opinions about the company. In addition, you can also add your products, services or promotions to it.
3. Be active on social media
What social media do you use? Do you feel better on Facebook or Instagram? You don’t have to be everywhere, but if you decide to create a profile, keep it regularly. You can add photos from finished projects, work reports, and make live photos. Don’t forget to add the appropriate hashtags and like your colleagues’ work from time to time 🙂 At the beginning you won’t have many followers or likes, but don’t get discouraged and consistently do your job. The long-term goal of your profile is to build your personal brand of a good professional and develop relationships with potential customers.
4. Ask for an opinion
Are you satisfied with the implementation? A delighted customer is carrying you in their arms? Be sure to ask him/her for his/her opinion! Let him/her write on Google what he/she thinks about your work, let him/her add photos of the finished interior. At the same time, do not be tempted by buying opinions, asking your brother-in-law and cousins at the Easter table to add opinions in bulk – that’s not really gonna fly, okay? Google knows everything and also knows it’s a fake. Real opinions from real customers count. And the more extensive your opinion and more photos, the more it matters to Google. We wish you only 5 star-reviews 🙂
→ Check opinions about the Festfloor microcement
5. Take photos of the implementation
Buy a phone with a good camera and just take pictures – work in progress and the final result. If you have good contact with the client, do not be afraid to ask for photos of the finished interior with furniture, flowers and accessories, etc. The photos will be useful for a portfolio on a website, Instagram or Facebook profile.
6. Join our Facebook group
In our Facebook group Mikrocement Festfloor, we want to connect contractors with investors, as well as build a community of contractors who exchange experiences and help each other. Join the group and make yourself known as a good specialist, answer investors’ questions and win orders.
7. Don’t treat other contractors as competitors
The microcement market is constantly growing and there will always be a place for a good specialist. Therefore, instead of treating other contractors as competitors, maintain friendly relations with them, exchange experiences and help out. You can get more than one order this way, because, for example, another contractor has too small a team to enter a given investment and is looking for support. Or he/she got an inquiry, but for some reason (no deadlines, random events, no possibility to travel to a given region of the country) he/she cannot accept the order and will gladly recommend you.
8. Be available, call and write back
Customers expect availability. If you enter your phone number and e-mail in a Google business card or on a website, pick up the phone, call back and write back. You don’t need to be available 24/7 – when you can’t pick up, just call back later. If you have a lot of work, you can reply to emails once or twice a day. But don’t make the customer wait a week for a reply! It just doesn’t make sense, the client has long found another contractor. Remember also that good contact with the customer inspires their trust.
9. Keep your word
If you promised to do something, then do it. Seemingly obvious, but how many times was someone supposed to send you a service quote and never sent it? Someone promised to call back and no trace of him was found? Someone made an appointment and did not show up… Being verbal inspires trust – the client knows from the very beginning that you can be relied on and that you will be entrusted with the execution of the order.