The customer cycle is one of the most important things a contractor can master. It is the framework for nearly every move you make with respect to your customers, both existing and new. Unsurprisingly, it impacts a lot of things you care about: your lead generation, customer retention, and bottom line, to name a few.
Mastering the Customer Cycle
In our recent webinar, ‘The Secret of Successful Contractors: How to Master the Customer Cycle’, we touched on the different ways you can connect with homeowners as they move along the stages of the customer journey. Below are some of the key takeaways from the presentation.
Fact #1: The customer journey in 2018 is very different from that of just a few years ago.
The evolving search landscape has changed how homeowners find your business. As mentioned in a previous post, we’re smack dab in the Age of the Customer. So what exactly has changed?
- Customers are more empowered and self-educating.
- Their journey is fluid and non-linear, where they move through the cycle at their own pace and skip or repeat stages as needed.
- The pre- and post-purchase stages of their journey are more closely linked than ever before.
Fact #2: The customer journey is an infinite cycle.
To recap, these are the stages of the new customer cycle:
- Explore – The homeowner searches for a product or service.
- Interest – The homeowner finds local contractors who provide that product or service.
- Compare – The homeowner evaluates one contractor vs. another.
- Purchase – The homeowner decides to make a purchase.
- Experience – The homeowner loves the product or service offered.
- Referral – The homeowner shares their experience.
When we say the pre- and post-purchase stages are “closely linked,” we mean it. Homeowners play such an active role in the cycle, their advocacy (reviews and referrals) directly fuels the exploration and interest stages for future customers.
Fact #3: You cannot master the customer cycle without mastering your digital footprint.
Your digital footprint is the combination of your website, review sites, social media profiles and directory listings. All these must be consistent and accurate. When you take control of your digital footprint, you increase the chances your business gets found in search and position yourself to master the rest of the customer cycle.
What’s Next?
The point of studying the customer cycle is for you to identify your goals and develop actionable plans to drive success at every stage. Surefire Local can help! We’ve built a proven system that can help you turn more leads into happy customers.
Get in touch with the Surefire Local team to request a free demo of our hardworking digital marketing platform. Just call 888-804-8685 or email marketing@surefirelocal.com.