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Does anyone here sell to Construction Companies through cold email?

Solid Snake

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Would really appreciate some insight. I've been able to get clients through referrals 4 times since May but I want to scale.

I am trying sophisticated cold emailing campaigns that tech companies have, but its not working for the construction industry as much. Is there a special way to pitch to contractors in the email?

my latest try in the body pitch was:

"<personalized sentence>

Look I know you get these emails from other marketing vendors a lot, but I've been able to help contractors and builders significantly. Some of the results I've had with clients are:

  • 40% increased leads on website
  • Increased Brand Awareness
  • Reduced time spent on marketing
We can explore how your systems work to see if I can help, and I will provide a digital marketing report for you outlining what performance enhancing changes you can make to your website. Would you be available Monday or Tuesday at 3 PM ET to briefly discuss? "


If anyone has some direct experience with this from a marketing agency or software company, i'd really appreciate the insight. it's killing me after tweaking and testing for almost 2 months and im really thinking about switching my niche/industry soon if things don't work. The good news is ive figured out the subject line that works great.


FYI I do cold call, but here's the problem: I have an obligation in the morning MOST of the time. I call in afternoon when i can but my reach rate is really bad. This obligation will be present for quite some time. Another issue is, i can't scale cold call yet (would need to hire reps).
 
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Charnell

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Look I know you get these emails from other marketing vendors a lot,
Drop this part of the message. Off the rip, you're putting yourself below them.
Some of the results I've had with clients are:
  • 40% increased leads on website
  • Increased Brand Awareness
  • Reduced time spent on marketing
We can explore how your systems work to see if I can help, and I will provide a digital marketing report for you outlining what performance enhancing changes you can make to your website.
You're not talking to other marketers, you're talking to people in the construction industry. Most of them are straight shooter types, so cut the fluff and get straight to the value proposition.
Would you be available Monday or Tuesday at 3 PM ET to briefly discuss?
If you can't reach through on your cold calling in the afternoon, what makes you think they would be available for a meeting in the afternoon?
I've been able to get clients through referrals 4 times since May but I want to scale.
Why don't you try to get more clients through referrals? Seems to be working better than cold emailing. How did you land those clients that brought in referrals?
 

Solid Snake

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Drop this part of the message. Off the rip, you're putting yourself below them.

You're not talking to other marketers, you're talking to people in the construction industry. Most of them are straight shooter types, so cut the fluff and get straight to the value proposition.

If you can't reach through on your cold calling in the afternoon, what makes you think they would be available for a meeting in the afternoon?

Why don't you try to get more clients through referrals? Seems to be working better than cold emailing. How did you land those clients that brought in referrals?


Referrals aren’t scalable. Got them through my network mostly and then 1 off a client referral.

I want the pipeline full. But either way I just found a critical error in my pitch why it wasn’t working: they don’t need leads.

Most contractors are overloaded with work currently. Biggest problem is shortage of skilled labor. They have to give up work. Going to investigate more if this is the main reason, but it seems like it.
 

GoodluckChuck

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What part of the construction industry? It's a large industry with various types of companies.

Are you going after local residential or large commercial? Somewhere in between?

I know a fair amount about this industry and it's tough. The smaller companies have owners that are in the field a lot. They get lots of emails and lots of then are spam.

If I were to do cold outreach I would pick a different angle. Back things up a bit and focus on getting a conversation. Don't even bring up what you do until you've established some trust.

Associations and weekend retreats are goodm they are full of employees and owners of businesses that already invest in associations and retreats, so you know they probably invest in marketing too. Being at these gets you lots of exposure.

The local construction industry is like the hot dumb girl at school. All the boys want her and they don't leave her alone. She doesn't understand much except how to avoid them.

That's how construction companies are towards marketers. They feel like a piece of meat and avoid them like the plague.

For cold out reach I would find a reason and call. Talk to them a while before even bringing up anything about marketing. You might have to find good reason to call though.

For larger commercial companies you have to understand what the website does for them. It might be less about leads and more about closing deals.

Either way, you have to treat it like dating. You don't just rush in and pull down your pants and say "Hey here's what I got, want it?"

You have to get to know them first. Hold hands a bit. Give them some space. Play the long game.
 

Solid Snake

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What part of the construction industry? It's a large industry with various types of companies.

Are you going after local residential or large commercial? Somewhere in between?

I know a fair amount about this industry and it's tough. The smaller companies have owners that are in the field a lot. They get lots of emails and lots of then are spam.

If I were to do cold outreach I would pick a different angle. Back things up a bit and focus on getting a conversation. Don't even bring up what you do until you've established some trust.

Associations and weekend retreats are goodm they are full of employees and owners of businesses that already invest in associations and retreats, so you know they probably invest in marketing too. Being at these gets you lots of exposure.

The local construction industry is like the hot dumb girl at school. All the boys want her and they don't leave her alone. She doesn't understand much except how to avoid them.

That's how construction companies are towards marketers. They feel like a piece of meat and avoid them like the plague.

For cold out reach I would find a reason and call. Talk to them a while before even bringing up anything about marketing. You might have to find good reason to call though.

For larger commercial companies you have to understand what the website does for them. It might be less about leads and more about closing deals.

Either way, you have to treat it like dating. You don't just rush in and pull down your pants and say "Hey here's what I got, want it?"

You have to get to know them first. Hold hands a bit. Give them some space. Play the long game.


Thanks for this insight. Right now I’m targeting companies with 3-20MM revenue general contractors , commercial.

Here’s the issue I just found out last night right after I posted this thread:

Most contractors have too much leads and have to turn down jobs because they don’t have skilled labor.

So my pitch “increase your leads conversion on website” has been totally off the mark if that assumption is correct if them having too much work and less resources.

Now I either have to find a different angle, or another niche market.
 

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