You’re competing for the attention of local homeowners in a saturated market. To gain an advantage over the competition, you need to use every tool at your disposal to optimize your roofing business. And if you’re not investing in marketing automation yet, it’s time to start.
We know what you’re thinking: “Marketing automation is too overwhelming. Where do I even start?” One word: Zapier. From lead generation to email blasts, Zapier can help you manage your entire sales funnel so you can save time, money, and peace of mind while keeping your appointment book full. With over 5,000 app integrations available, you can save time by automating monotonous tasks across different platforms.
The best part? Zapier isn’t a traditional marketing platform, and you don’t need any technical expertise to get started. It’s more like an editor, where all you need to do is specify triggers and actions to automate your business. Here’s how to make Zapier work for your roofing company.
Zapier is a beginner-friendly automation platform that helps you create workflows by integrating different web apps and services. This way, you can automate tasks without worrying about the technical aspects of integration and coding—or hiring developers to build integrations for you. So, how does it work? When an event happens in one app, Zapier tells another app to perform a specific action.
For example, Zapier can automatically send out an email blast right after you’ve published a new blog post. You’ll set up what your automatic email blasts look like, what they’ll contain, and who you’re going to send them to. When you create “zaps” (see: automated workflows with a trigger of one or more actions), you can trigger automatic actions. In this example, your blog post is the trigger event, and the custom email is the automatic action. Sounds simple enough, right?
Maybe you’re still on the fence about marketing automation, but hear us out: It’s a must-have for any contractor. You’re already sacrificing blood, sweat, and tears to grow your roofing business. You need a marketing platform that works as hard as you do.
Enter Zapier. At its core, it’s an automation tool that lets you create workflows. You can link your apps and services together, set them with if/then commands, and let your new marketing MVP work its magic. When you trigger a zap, it processes data. Each time that happens, it counts as a task. Zapier’s pricing tiers are based on how many tasks you run per month, so you can choose the right subscription plan for your roofing company.
But that’s not all. You can also use Zapier to create a seamless customer experience from start to finish. For instance, you can integrate your marketing tools, such as email campaigns, social media management platforms, and your customer relationship management (CRM) tool to automate lead generation and nurturing. Even if you’re working overtime on your latest roofing installation, you can still grow your business without missing a beat.
To get started with Zapier, create an account. You can start with a free account, which allows you to automate 100 tasks per month with five zaps. Remember: A task is different from a zap, and your zaps should be used more than once.
Each time you trigger an event, you’re asking Zapier to perform a task. If you use one zap once a day, you’re automating 30 tasks per month. You also have the option to choose between different paid subscriptions to automate more tasks, but we recommend starting with a free account to see whether Zapier is right for you. You just need your name, email, and password to start with automation—and you don’t even have to hand over your payment info until you’re ready for a premium account.
Once you’re finished creating your new account, navigate to your dashboard. Here, you’ll be able to view your zaps, create new ones, and edit existing workflows. You can also connect apps and services to Zapier to customize your experience.
When you’re ready to create your first zap, click Make a Zap. Then, follow the instructions to build your zap. Start by choosing an app set as a trigger event. For example, if you want to take action when a potential lead interacts with your brand on Facebook, you could choose “Facebook message” as your trigger event.
Next, click Trigger to choose what you want to happen when your trigger is activated. Here, you might choose “Slack” and specify “Send Slack notification” so you know exactly when new messages are coming in. When you activate your new zap, you’ll get a message right away in the Slack channel of your choice.
After you’ve spent some time playing around with your new Zapier account, you can start using Zapier for lead management. Your goal is to guide them down the funnel—qualifying them, converting them, nurturing them, and closing the deal—while tracking their touchpoints across channels.
Don’t worry; it’s easier than it sounds. When you eliminate the need to manually enter data into different marketing tools, you can boost productivity and keep leads engaged with your roofing company. Here’s how.
You’re probably already getting some basic customer data from website forms, but that first touchpoint probably won’t tell you why a particular lead landed on your website, what they’re shopping for, or the scope of the deal. To provide a personalized customer experience, you need as much information as possible.
What’s the best way to get more information from leads? Online surveys. They take the lead gen process beyond the data phase so you can start nurturing and engaging your leads. With Zapier-integrated apps like SurveyMonkey, you can kickstart conversations with qualified leads to learn more about their roofing needs.
That’s where automation comes into play. Once you’ve captured customer data from surveys, you can move that data anywhere you need it—whether that’s an Excel spreadsheet or CRM platform. In turn, you can easily equip your sales and marketing teams with the right information without spending hours behind a desk.
Once you’ve converted a lead into an email subscriber, you’ll need to segment them into the right email audience. It’s not enough to stay top of mind with regular email communications; you need to send a personalized message that resonates with your leads and encourages them to take action.
Of course, it takes time and energy to keep your marketing systems updated. And if you’re like most roofers, you can’t pull up your CRM to enter new information every single time someone new subscribes to your email newsletter. The good news? Automation can help you track new leads, so every roofing lead entered into one system is automatically entered into the others. In addition, you can create or update contacts in your CRM whenever subscribers are added to specific lists in your email marketing tool.
It might be tempting to follow up with every lead personally. But you’re already busy growing your business and managing your contractors—and you probably don’t have the time to send a personal reply to every email that lands in your inbox.
The solution? Start automating your email replies. When you get new contact activity on one platform, you can automatically send an email to your new lead. Your custom email replies should be personable, on-brand, and (most importantly) human. After you’ve made the initial connection with a new lead, you can focus on guiding them down the sales funnel.
Since you’re saving so much time on lead generation, why not use this as an opportunity to scale your lead nurturing strategy? After all, you need to nurture a steady stream of leads to grow your roofing business. At the same time, you need to make your customers feel respected and valued to keep them coming back for more.
By integrating Zapier with different marketing tools, you can streamline lead generation and ignite your conversions. With efficient workflows at your disposal, you’ll save time, money, and resources while taking monotonous marketing tasks off your plate. You want there to be as little friction as possible throughout the buyer’s journey, and Zapier can help you manage new roofer leads—wherever they come in—so you can focus on running your business.
It’s time to think beyond traditional marketing solutions. When you’re ready to take your lead management strategy to the next level, Zapier can help you run toward the fire with automated workflows, smart integrations, and more.
Have any questions about marketing automation? Interested in automation coaching? At Company 119, we’re here to help you reach your automation goals with tailored marketing solutions for your business. Give us a call today to take the next step.
