FLOOD/WATER DAMAGE

RESTORATIONLead Generation Guide

1

About the Authors

Cliff Cole

Cliff Cole is President and Co-Founder of More Floods, Inc., North America’s leading provider of restoration business solutions for independent contractors. Cliff has over 30

years’ experience and ownership in the cleaning, restoration and distribution industries. He has helped hundreds of cleaning and restoration contractors with technical, marketing and entrepreneurial advice.

Ken Kahtava

Ken Kahtava is Director of Marketing at More Floods, Inc., North America’s leading provider of restoration business solutions for independent contractors. Ken has more

than 25 years’ experience in marketing, branding and business development in multiple industries. He trains and coaches hundreds of More Floods’ members in their multi-channel, local marketing efforts.

2

Lo

w -

Hig

h

Quality Score: Based on average sales closing % (securing the job)

Quantity Score: Average # leads/month compared to the other sources

Cost Per Lead: Marketing costs + referral fees (if applicable)*

Final Score: (Quality + Quantity) - Lead Cost *The higher the cost, the lower the ranking

Lead generation for restoration contractors is all about investing your time and money wisely, and making sure you are ‘fishing in the pond with the most fish”. Everyone’s marketing budget has limits, so getting the biggest bang for your marketing buck is critical. Building the best lead generation strategy for your restoration business is about understanding tried-and-tested channels, and finding the most effective combination of tactics for your unique goals. This article will help you gain insights into each major channel for lead generation in our industry, as rated by contractors themselves. Best of all, we’ll share the Pros, Cons, Tips and Best-Practices for each channel. We polled our More Floods’ members and factored in our first-hand experience within our own restoration company (www.powerdrykc.com) to identify and rate the most common lead generation sources for local residential water damage work (no storm chasing or commercial!).

Lead Source Ratings

3

• They see more residential water damage than any other

source.

• If referral fees are on the rise (or already out of control) in your area, concentrate on the owners of brick-and-

mortar locations. Educate them on the downside of their plumber techs taking large fees (i.e. the tech may be less

aggressive in cross-selling other plumbing services if they are feasting off fees; high referral fees can translate into

questionable invoicing by some restoration companies and their customer ends up footing the cost).

• Reach them by establishing relationships with plumbing supply wholesalers in your area and co-market to

the plumbers.

• Be persistent and diversified in your marketing. It will take time, multiple types of marketing tactics and face-to-face

relationship-building to get plumbers working with you.

• For example – in the More Floods Plumber Marketing System, there are almost 20 steps and a dozen different

tactics involved!

• Be consistent in your marketing so you become more recognizable to them. Your logo and other tangible marketing

assets need to provide a consistent look and feel.

• Before you fire up the plumber marketing jets, make sure you are sound operationally. You must ‘validate’ the

plumber’s decision to refer work to you beyond the referral fee you pay them. Things like answering your phone

live, 24/7/365, getting to the loss fast and other operational issues are critical so that the plumber knows they will

never get an angry call or bad review from their customer because they referred you!

1 Plumber Referrals

The largest source of residential water damage leads. Makes sense, since most residential water damage is plumbing-related, and most homeowners turn to plumbers first when they have a water damage emergency. Most homeowners don’t know to call a restoration contractor because, according to the Insurance Information Institute, the average home the the U.S. only floods once every 52 years!

• Not an ‘instant’ lead source. It takes some time to establish

a relationship and get them to start referring to you.

• Referral fees for plumbers are on the rise in most places. You

need to know how to combat that with relationship-building

that isn’t exclusively focused on paying referral fees.

• They may be easier for your competition to ‘poach’ by paying

higher referral fees.

• Competition is extremely high for this lucrative lead source.

4

• They are highly loyal to you, and not likely to be poached

by your competitors. The agents who get involved in the

claims process to ensure a high degree of policyholder

satisfaction are inclined to make you their sole go-to

company.

• Add value to the agent in your marketing. Stopping by with donuts on occasion doesn’t really make you stand

out. Offering things like continuing education classes is one example of how to establish yourself as a value-

added provider to them.

• Be persistent and diversified in your marketing. It will take time, multiple types of marketing tactics and face-to-

face selling to get insurance agents to work with you.

• For example – in the More Floods Agent Marketing System, there are dozens of steps and tactics involved!

• See Plumber Marketing/Best Practices #2 and #3. Same applies here!

2Insurance Agent

Referrals

While agents don’t typically get involved in the claims process, those with a strong commitment to customer service or have had a poor experience with a contractor often will.

• Not an ‘instant’ lead source. It takes time to establish a

relationship and get them to start referring you (longer

than plumbers generally).

5

• TPA’s will send you work without you having to market

to them.

• Choose your TPA’s carefully. Ask your peers which TPA’s

they work/worked with to get some insight in to which ones

may be a fit for you.

• Tighten up your operations – from the time your phone

rings until your estimate is paid, TPA’s hold you accountable

for reaching various performance metrics and compliance

tasks, and the clock is ticking.

• Try to avoid becoming too ‘TPA heavy’ in your job mix. The age-old wisdom about not having all your eggs in one basket

applies here.

3Third Party Administrators

(TPA’s)

TPA’s work on behalf of the insurance carrier to manage claims. As such, they are highly focused on keeping claim severity down, and they often do this by dictating pricing if you are on their ‘program’. Industry estimates say TPA’s account for anywhere from 10-40% of insured residential property losses. As the insurance industry continues to implement strategies to reduce their exposure to claims, TPA’s may get more, or less, of the losses. For example, some insurance carriers have converted their insured’s deductibles to a percent-based deductible. So, the average residential water damage loss may increasingly be paid for by the homeowner, and not the insurance company. This would obviously reduce the number of claims handled by TPAs.

• You will agree to their pricing and terms. This often results

in steep discounting of your pricing and profits.

• Your job average and overall company profit margins may

take a hit the more you rely on TPA work vs other sources.

6

• In establishing a relationship with a carpet cleaner, offer to outsource the floor cleaning on your jobs when needed.

• Be persistent and diversified in your marketing. It will take time, multiple types of marketing tactics and face-to-face selling

to get carpet cleaners to work with you.

• For example – in the More Floods Carpet Cleaner Marketing System, there are dozens of steps and different marketing

tactics involved!

• See Plumber Marketing/Best Practices #2 and #3. Same applies here!

4Carpet Cleaner Referrals

If you haven’t considered marketing to carpet cleaners for restoration work, you may be missing out on a largely hidden source of water damage leads. It’s not uncommon for a homeowner to call a carpet cleaner when their floors are wet. Establishing relationships with carpet cleaners in much the same way you do with plumbers can pay off.

• Not only can a carpet cleaner refer work to you, they can

also be an excellent source of on-call labor when a surge

happens. Also, there’s a good chance that your competitors

have not tapped this source, so you may be able to snap

them up.

• Not an ‘instant’ lead source. It takes time to establish a

relationship and get them to start referring to you.

• Increasingly, carpet cleaners are adding ‘restoration’

to their own service mix. Note: You can use this to your

advantage. While they may be equipped to tackle smaller

losses, educate them on what is involved in larger losses and

the upside to partnering with you to take them on.

• They may regard you as competition. You’ll need to get

past that.

7

• Whoever is going to represent your company in these groups needs to be well-spoken and good at networking and speaking.

So, brush up on those skills!

• Follow up on referrals. When someone in your group refers you, fast, efficient follow-up is critical.

• Prepare your ‘elevator speech’ about your company. What makes you different?

5Networking(i.e. BNI Groups, Chambers of Commerce, etc.)

Some restorers report that they get work from networking in business groups in their local area. Attending meetings and developing key relationships takes time but can pay off.

• These networking groups are purposefully designed

to facilitate referrals between their members and the

members’ extended network of family, friends, etc. Many

plumbing company owners, insurance agents and other

referring party types participate in these groups.

• It takes time and dedication to establish relationships and

get them to start referring to you.

• Some networking groups only allow one company per

industry vertical in to the group. So, you may have an issue

breaking in if there’s already a restoration company in it.

8

• There are business/networking groups that many of these contractors belong to, like builder associations. They would be a

good source to get more bang for your time buck.

• Be persistent and diversified in your marketing. It will take time, multiple types of marketing tactics and face-to-face selling

to get contractors to work with you.

• See Plumber Marketing/Best Practices #2 and #3. Same applies here!

6Contractor Referrals

Beyond plumbers and carpet cleaners, there are several other contractors out there that see water damage. Home builders/remodelers, HVAC companies, roofers and more. While none of them will equal the potential for leads that a plumber can give you, collectively they can be a decent lead source. They may be untapped by your competitors as well.

• May be untapped by restoration contractors which makes

them an attractive source.

• It takes some time to establish a relationship and get them

to start referring to you.

9

• Get referrals from your peers for an SEO provider. Do your research.

• Set clear expectations with your SEO provider about how you will measure success, and over what period.

• Good SEO providers are busy these days. If an SEO provider is ‘chasing’ you relentlessly for your business that may be a

warning sign.

• SEO for water damage leads will generally take longer, and require different approaches, than other services, like mold

remediation. This is because water damage is usually an emergency, as opposed to people ‘shopping’ and ‘educating’

themselves about mold or cleaning. Your SEO provider should know this. If they don’t, you’re probably talking to the

wrong provider.

• Before you spend a dime on ongoing SEO services, make sure your website is up to today’s standards. These are some of

the basics:

• Your site should be ‘mobile optimized’. That’s a fancy way of saying it should look very different on a 6-in phone screen

compared to your 20-in computer monitor.

• Your site should load very fast. If you type your website URL in and then it takes more than 3 seconds for the entire to

load you need to get that corrected as people will leave your site before it finishes loading.

• On mobile or tablet, your phone number should be ‘click to call’, meaning the user can simply tap your phone number

and it activates their phone and dials you.

7Search Engine Optimization

(SEO)If you’re spending a lot of money on Google AdWords™ and lead generation fees, don’t neglect to spend some money on SEO. A good SEO provider will cost 1-2k per month. After a few months, you should be able to generate leads from their work. SEO is to AdWords/PPC what buying is to renting a home. SEO will pay off for the long term, while PPC, once you stop paying for it, shuts off immediately.

• You must have a website in today’s connected world.

Investing in the site to make it generate leads for you has

long-term value.

• Compared to PPC, SEO takes much longer to see it start to

generate leads. Also, unless you are well-versed in SEO, we

recommend you shell out the dollars to have an expert do it.

10

• Just like discussed previously in SEO, before you spend a dime on PPC services, make sure your website and PPC landing

pages are up to today’s standards. These are some of the basics:

• Your website should be ‘mobile optimized’. That’s a fancy way of saying it should look very different on a 6-in phone

screen compared to your 20-in computer monitor.

• Your site should load very fast. If you type your website URL in and then it takes more than 3 seconds for the entire site

to render and be useful, then you need to invest some time and money in correcting that.

• On mobile, your phone number should be ‘click to call’, meaning the user can simply tap your phone number and it

activates their phone and dials you.

8Pay-per-Click (PPC)

Be very careful here or you could lose your shirt! If your PPC campaign isn’t hitting on all cylinders, you could easily pay three figures PER CLICK. That said, done right, you could see a decent return on your PPC investment. Just know though, on average, the closing percentage in the home on these leads is much lower than it is for leads that come to you from referring parties, like plumber and insurance agents (about 30-40% for PPC leads and north of 70-80% for referred leads). The homeowner who comes to you via the advertising link they clicked online has zero relationship with you, and you were not referred to them by a trusted third party.

• Of all the lead sources, this is generally the quickest way to

get some leads. While it won’t happen overnight, within a

short time of a PPC campaign being live and running full

speed, you should see some leads coming in (of course,

there are a lot of variable at play here, so no guarantees!).

• High cost and low close percentage on the leads. You will

have to be very diligent to find the balance.

• Get referrals from your peers for a PPC provider. Do your

research. Unless you have been expertly managing PPC

on your own for a while, this is not the place to try and

figure out something new.

• Set clear expectations with your PPC provider about how

you will measure success, and over what period.

• PPC for water damage leads will generally take longer,

and require different approaches versus other services, like

mold remediation. This is because water damage is usually

an emergency, as opposed to people ‘shopping’ and

‘educating’ themselves about mold or cleaning. Your PPC

provider should know this. If they don’t, you’re probably

talking to the wrong provider.

11

• Don’t just post content for the sake of it. Make sure the content you post is relevant and useful to your audience.

• Be consistent and frequent. You can’t just post once a week and expect to build any sort of engagement with people. At a

minimum you should post daily, 5 times a week.

• It’s not about me, me, me. Don’t be ‘that’ person at the party that sucks all the oxygen out of the room. Join conversations,

don’t interrupt them. It’s not all about you!

• Facebook ads are generally not the best way to garner water damage leads, but you can use them to remarket to the visitors

on your website (especially for mold and cleaning services), or to outreach to storm-damaged areas. In storm-damaged

regions, almost everyone needs your services, so you should have some relatively broad targeting ads to get decent results.

9Social Media

For emergency water damage services, social media websites like Facebook, Twitter, etc. are not the greatest source of leads. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have a company presence on social media (you absolutely should), it just means you should be careful if you decide to pay for advertising on those platforms or you will waste money that could be put to better use, and you should temper your expectations.

• Since your company should have a solid presence on social

media anyway (because some loss victims will research

you online), investing some time and a little money to test

the waters won’t hurt. Your referring party’s may also be

checking you out on social media. After all, at last count,

Facebook had about one billion users!

• Low returns for the time and money – that could probably

be spend in other lead generation sources with a much

higher return if your marketing budget is tight.

12

• If you’re thinking about investing in traditional media, get some feedback from your peers. See if they’ve had success and

how they did it.

10Traditional Media

Last in the rankings is traditional media – print ads, Yellow Pages, billboards, TV, telemarketing and radio. For water damage, these are not likely to generate enough return to warrant the cost. Again, for services that homeowners’ ‘shop’ for, like mold and cleaning services, they will be more effective.

• Honestly, can’t really think of any for emergency water

damage services.

• Cost vs Return. Your money and time are probably better

spent in other lead generation activities.

• If you do want to explore traditional media – like radio, TV or print – combine your advertising dollars with some ‘earned

media’ from them. Get them to do a story on your company in return for your ad spend with them so that you have some

great content out there (and then link to that content from your website to super-charge your SEO!).

13

Lead Source That Didn’t Make the Cut

There are a couple other lead sources that didn’t make our list. Here’s why:

Insurance Adjusters: The insurance industry is quickly moving away from the traditional field adjuster model to ‘desk’ adjusters. Largely because it saves them money, as well as all but eliminates the possibility of an adjuster getting ‘too cozy’ with a restoration company. It’s not to say that there still aren’t possibilities with adjusters to drive work your way, we’re just saying it’s slipping away quickly.

Lead Sellers/Services: In our view, the money spent with these services can produce a much better result elsewhere. Yes, some restoration contractors report that they do well with them, but by and large, we hear an overwhelming level of dis-satisfaction from restorers regarding these leads. Again, not to say you can’t have success with them, we just think investing your marketing dollars in areas that will produce lasting benefit to the company is a better way to go.

In Conclusion

We’re huge advocates of having multiple marketing baskets for your eggs. Use different marketing channels to generate leads so you are not overly dependent on any one channel. Invest your lead generating time and dollars by fishing in the marketing ponds that have the most fish!

About More Floods, Inc

At More Floods, we specialize in helping independent contractors dominate with referring parties in their local market through referral marketing systems and operational systems specifically designed to create a superior experience for your referring parties and loss victims. Based on the same systems we use in our own water damage company (www.powerdrykc.com), we’ve helped hundreds of companies in markets all across North America grow their water damage business for more than 15 years. If generating more water damage work is high on your list, contact us today to see if your exclusive territory is available!

14

morefloods.com | 1-866-667-3356