February 3, 2024 • 46 mins
Get free resources for this podcast here. Excavation & septic contractors will learn how to harness the power of their websites and turn visitors into high value leads and customers for the targeted jobs they want to do.. Garner expert insights on how to boost your excavation and septic business revenue by priming your website to be a high-converting sales pipeline. Hosted by published author, Scott Andreasen, this episode takes you on a comprehensive virtual tour of the most effective strategies in internet marketing tailored explicitly for your niche, that will help you maximize your website's conversion rate.
In a world where digitalization is paramount, your website often serves as the first point of contact between you and your potential customers. It's not only about providing information; it's about creating an engaging, user-friendly interface that prompts your visitors to initiate profitable transactions with your business. Learn how to effectively utilize features such as customer testimonials, engaging video content, and a clearly depicted USP to attract and retain potential clients.
The episode accentuates the four primary channels through which people interact with local businesses online—calls, text messages, live chats, and forms. Understand how to exploit these communication channels to their fullest potential to increase sales and enhance customer interactions. Stay tuned till the end of the podcast for an exclusive bonus—a blueprint of a super-conversion website and a list of the top search keywords in the excavation and septic business.
Embark on the journey of effective AI integrated techniques like AI bots that amplify user interaction and streamline the lead pre-qualification process, offering easy online booking options. Discover how to filter out the heavy-weight leads using AI and maintain quick response times to hold your potential clients' interest.
Delve further into the importance of personalizing your website content according to your target market's preferences. Understand the tremendous impact of attractive offers and buzzwords on your sales figures, and get a detailed guide on amplifying your website's first impressions. A must-read for entrepreneurs keen on boosting their online visibility and client engagement strategies.
In our dynamic webinar, further explore how to transmute a basic website into a high-performance lead capturing tool for your excavation and septic business. With an emphasis on mobile-optimization for the rapidly increasing mobile users, the webinar also delves into the utilization of artificial intelligence in data collection and the power of prequalification filters for eliminating unprofitable inquiries.
Additionally, get a unique chance to interact with like-minded individuals and ignite stimulating discussions. Participants who stay till the end can also avail of free access to our website conversion resource and additional valuable industry insights. Capping the webinar is a special offer of a no-cost website and an online marketing plan review worth $500, a valuable addition to any excavation or septic business looking to enhance their online strategy.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
The Excavation Profits Podcast by Excavation Marketing Pros.
Interviews with successful excavation and septic business owners,
revealing how they market and grow their business in today's economy.
Hear directly from the most successful leaders in your business,
and discover what they're doing to keep their phone ringing,
(00:20):
equipment running, and businesses booming.
Now your host, Scott Andreessen. All right.
So we're going to get started here in just a moment, guys.
I want to thank you all for joining. Give a quick shout to Adam,
Chris, Dan, Jay, Sheila.
People are starting to come in and I am going to start this right on time.
(00:45):
And can you guys, someone please just type a one into chat that you can hear
me OK? I would really appreciate that.
Or you might need to use the Q&A box. I apologize, on the bottom, the Q&A box.
Can you hear me? Just type a one in the Q&A.
(01:06):
Cool. Getting plenty of ones. Thank you, Dan, Adam, Jay.
All right. So I know your time is valuable. I don't want to waste it.
Let's go ahead and dive right in. All right.
So this is how to maximize your excavation or septic website for conversions.
(01:28):
And you should have access, if you like, to go to excavationmarketingpros.com,
and you'll get a sheet right here.
And it will give you some things to help hone in your marketing,
some exercises to go through.
So you set your website up targeting your
(01:48):
ideal audience for the excavating and
septic jobs you want to do and i
want to start off by making sure you're in the right spot and so i'll tell you
who this is for this is for excavation and septic professionals so providing
services like residential and commercial excavating demolition land clearing
(02:10):
landscaping concrete flat work pond construction,
all septic services,
installations, pumping, dozer work, sewer repair, forest remulching,
land remediation, site work grading, utilities trenching.
If you're in that world, this is the ideal webinar for you to help hone in targeted
(02:33):
leads for those jobs using your website.
And I know your time is very valuable. So my promise to you guys is that by
the end of this full workshop,
you'll walk away with some easy tactics to convert high value leads and jobs
from your existing website, no matter how ugly it is, right?
(02:57):
And I believe you'll be able to dramatically improve your website's results by using these tips.
And some of these tactics you can deploy within minutes of watching this full workshop.
And so I just wanted to make sure that I am sharing my screen correctly and
(03:19):
it looks like I am. So that is good news.
And in this workshop, you'll learn the same strategies that our excavation and
septic business owner clients are using to generate hundreds of thousands to
millions of dollars worth of jobs for their businesses.
And here is an example of a dashboard.
(03:40):
They're tracking $391,700 of sales bids in their pipeline.
Here's another one, $433,000 worth of sales bids in in their pipeline,
and another one, $1.16 million worth of sales bids in their pipeline.
And while I cannot guarantee you're going to get the same exact results as them,
(04:03):
I can promise you the same website blueprint that they use through this training here today.
And there is a bonus. If you stay till the end of this webinar,
you're going to get the ultimate excavation website conversion machine blueprint right there,
as well as top search keywords for excavation and septic that you can use on
(04:29):
your site to help it attract those types of jobs that you're looking for.
But if you don't pay attention the whole way through, you will likely miss out
on a critical piece to the puzzle and destroy your chances of success.
So what I need from you today, guys, is to focus.
(04:49):
Turn off the cell phones, delete
other tabs, silence your Facebook notifications, and let's get into it.
So this is part of our 2024 internet marketing plan. And I recognize some of
you that you've been to our previous training workshops.
We do this every single month, you guys, all through 2023.
(05:13):
We went through the whole gambit. And we're going to go through everything you
see there through 2024, from website to SEO to paid ads to remarketing, everything.
Everything and at the end of december we
did our 2024 internet marketing plan
for excavation and septic that if you
(05:34):
miss that you can put pull that up on youtube 2024
internet marketing plan for excavation and septic and go through that training
as well so let's get into it who am i why should you listen to me well i've
got 15 years experience in digital
marketing now and we exclusively serve excavation and septic companies.
(05:59):
We've successfully launched hundreds of websites and marketing campaigns in this time.
And I'm published author of Excavation and Septic Internet Marketing Profits.
And the bottom line is this, guys. Through 15 years of trial and error plus
millions of dollars spent on advertising and marketing, we know what works to drive leads.
(06:22):
Like you see on the bottom left, and what doesn't.
And today I'll share with you what's working in today's market for excavation
and septic businesses so you can cut out the noise and start seeing amazing
results for your excavation business.
So why am I doing this? Reciprocity.
(06:45):
Basically, you may not be in the market looking for someone to handle your marketing. I get that.
But by giving you a lot of value here today on this call, in the future,
maybe you will be or maybe you have a friend that might need our help.
And so what goes around comes around, right?
(07:06):
So what is the one online marketing tool that will have the biggest impact on
the results of your overall internet marketing efforts?
Efforts go ahead type in the chat what do you think the one tool is that will
have the biggest impact on your own on your online marketing results type in q a.
(07:38):
Eric is saying paid ads. Chris is saying reviews.
Very good. Those are both valid answers.
So from our studies, those are definitely huge.
But still, what we found is the website is the number one biggest impact.
(08:01):
That no matter where they find you, if it's through looking at reviews,
through Facebook ads, Google ads, whatever, They seem to still want to flock
to the website and do their due diligence on the actual site.
So it needs to be set up to convert leads that once they're there,
you don't want them to go away and have to do more digging.
(08:23):
And studies show high-value clients still judge a business based on it,
especially when it's a big-ticket item like a septic installation or full site
preparation or a big land-clearing job.
So, do you guys know what a conversion is? Type a one into the Q&A box if you do know.
(08:46):
Tell me what that is. Type a one.
Anyone know what a conversion is?
And if you don't, that's okay. I mean, that's why you're here.
So a conversion is simply turning your website visitor into a high value lead.
And I'll tell you right now why it's so important to make your website convert.
(09:09):
We can do some simple math.
So let's say for instance, you have an excavation business and your website
right now is getting 500 visitors per month.
Now, if you're converting 5% of those website visitors, that's equaling 25 calls or leads per month.
(09:30):
And now let's say you are able to convert 30% of those calls or leads into an
estimate and get seven booked jobs.
If we put an average ticket, just for the sake of math, let's just say $5,000
is a transaction value. value.
That would be a total of $35,000 if your website converts 5%.
(09:53):
Now, if we make the website convert better, three times better,
to 15% and keep all the other information the same, it triples your sales.
So if we go from 5% to 15%, that's 75 calls or leads, leads,
(10:13):
30% conversion to estimate, 22 book jobs, a $5,000 average transaction,
that's $110,000 just by converting better.
And I'm going to show you how to do this today so you can squeeze literally
every ounce out of your site and turn it into a sales machine 24-7.
(10:36):
So by improving your website's conversion rate, you triple your sales.
So how do we optimize for these conversions?
Those are the secrets you'll learn today. This way, you can turn your window
shopper website traffic into cash paying takeoffs and estimates.
(10:58):
So let's do a little pop quiz. Right there, you see a mobile display of an excavation website.
And it's not too bad looking, right? I mean, it looks clean.
But can any of you type in the chat as you look at this site right here, this mobile site?
What would be killing it from getting leads? Does anything pop out?
(11:21):
Like, what would you do to make this thing convert leads better?
I'd love to hear from you. Go ahead and type in the chat.
Oh, I'm sharing my screen there. I'm going to take that away.
I was giving away answers. Dan says sign contract.
Anyone else? Kind of took away the site. So it might make it harder for you
(11:42):
because you're not able to see it right now. Let me bring it back.
So for one it's got no click to call phone number right if they're going to
get onto it through mobile site which these days 60 to 70 percent of all traffic
is going to a mobile phone,
then you want to have a nice easy number that they can click on or a button
(12:03):
there's no live chat that's one of the most popular ways people interact with
the local business now and we're We're going to get into how you can use that
with AI and some cool stuff in a moment.
And it doesn't state your expertise. So if we go on this site,
it says elite excavating, but that can mean many different things.
(12:24):
Like, are they commercial? Are they residential?
Do they do demo? What do they do? What don't they do? It doesn't state.
It just says whatever your need is, we have a solution for you. So it's pretty generic.
No unique selling proposition, and more, all right? So I'm going to help you
guys with this stuff today so you can dial in your website.
(12:45):
And so look, if your website is not performing how you want,
we're going to fix it today so you can copy and paste what I show you right
into your website and make it rain with the excavation or septic work that you actually want to do.
So here's 10 critical elements to improve your conversions. And if you have
(13:08):
a pen and pad, you might want to write this down.
First, speak to your target avatar. And you can use the worksheet that I gave you for this exercise.
And we're going to do a little of that. It's not going to be as involved as
the 2024 internet marketing plan for excavation and septic we did,
but we're going to go through some of that. What are their fears,
(13:31):
their frustrations, and speak to why they should choose you.
Be real. Use authentic images of your team and work on the homepage and throughout the site.
People can spot a stock photo a mile away.
Use video. That's one of the greatest things for internet, right?
(13:52):
As humans, we love video. We love moving pictures and people.
So adding multimedia elements to engage and keep them on the site,
a welcome video with drone footage, that's hot. People love it.
Videos for each of your services, and these don't need to be fancy either, folks.
(14:12):
You can pull out your smartphone, phone and a lot of those smartphones capture
in HD and that's totally fine.
You can use the smartphone horizontally.
So it takes the big 1920 by 1080 pixel videos and use those on the site,
or you can do some nice cool footage vertical.
(14:34):
Both works well and have a strong USP. So what What do I mean by USP?
That's a unique selling proposition.
And this would be three unique differentiators that make you, you, right?
Don't just say we do quality work and we're honest. I see that a lot.
And like, that's expected, right?
(14:55):
It's expected that you're going to do quality work and be honest.
So come up with something different. Of course, you can find three things about
yourself that are totally unique that your competitor does not have.
Leverage social proof so showcase
your online reviews prominently on
the home page with the tool preferably above
(15:19):
the fold so another mistake i see
on the sites is they'll have the
reviews at the bottom where the the potential customer has to scroll all the
way down to the bottom them to see a couple of reviews and that that's really
that's a sales killer right there so you can use a tool have it prominently
(15:40):
above the fold that right when they go to the site boom they're seeing the reviews.
Number five, let's get the basics in order.
So there are four ways that people love to interact with a local business.
Of course, they like to call, right? So having the phone number prominently
(16:04):
displayed in the right or left-hand corner, but big and bold, for sure, that's a must.
And sure, there's a web... Well, it did them all. There you go.
Ensure that there's a web form that customers can fill out.
That's the second way. Web chat is the third way. And accepting text message. That's the fourth way.
(16:28):
The next thing you want to do is add credibility with authority symbols.
So BBB, Angie's List, love them or hate them, they're still viewed as credibility authority sites.
And so by posting their logo, if you are a member of the BBB,
by all means do that. It will help win credibility points.
(16:52):
Ensure that you have clear calls to action on each page that speaks to your
customer avatar and tell them exactly what to do next.
So like when they go to the site, don't leave them guessing.
Like I know a lot of people will have a contact us page. That's really not good enough.
Instead, have a strong call to action, perhaps with a special.
(17:14):
You know, discount bundle package is available.
Click here now for fast quote and
have a big button, big red button right there, telling them what to do.
Use special offers and coupons that match the service they're in need of.
So if they go to the Septic page on your site, have a nice special specifically for Septic.
(17:39):
Maybe you can give a free basic inspection or something like that.
Make sure your website is mobile optimized with an easy click-to-call function.
So you could have a number that they can click on or a button that they click on to make a call.
But you don't want them hunting around for it and you don't want them to have
(18:03):
to click the back button to then type it in on their phone, if that makes sense.
And also, oops, having a little technical difficulty.
Make sure your website, consider leveraging live chat, AI chat on website.
I'm going to share that with you. and SMS automations have all gotten really good.
(18:28):
And start giving the client an option to book online through self-qualifying forms.
So we're going to talk about that.
So as you look at this form right here, this is going to show you an example
of what using an AI bot with some artificial intelligence would look like.
(18:50):
So let's say, for instance, that you have a form on your website.
You could have pre-qualifiers that are a little bit better than name,
phone number, give us a description of your project, because that's what everyone
has. but it really doesn't tell you if the person's a tire kicker or not, right?
So you could do a little more and have them tell you, are they the sole decision
(19:14):
maker or is there a partner or spouse?
How willing are they to invest? So if, for instance,
you're wanting to weed out people that are not financially qualified and that
are expecting like a brand new septic install for a thousand bucks,
You could use something like, our proposals require our time,
(19:37):
thought, and research to be accurate without surprises, but we always like to
help folks that are working on a specific budget.
What type of budget were you anticipating for this project?
And give them some bullet point options of different budgets that they had in mind.
This way you can see where their head is at. that, you know,
(19:59):
are they wanting the septic install for a thousand bucks?
Or in their mind, are they thinking 10, 15,000?
Let's just pretend for a moment I put together an estimate. You like what you
see. What's going to happen next?
This lets you know, are they an action taker looking to do something now?
Or are they thinking, you know, maybe next summer I'll do something.
(20:19):
And so the point I'm trying to make is putting questions in the form to peek
inside their mind to see if they're a tire kicker, financially qualified,
if they're wanting, willing, and able to move forward, that if you hand it to
them on a silver platter, can they give you a yes decision?
(20:42):
Of course, giving them the option to upload images and things like that.
Now, the technology exists these days, folks, where you can have conditional
logic in these forms and AI to then, if they meet the qualifications,
then it will automatically book a call. You can do that.
Okay? And so it's kind of like this.
(21:05):
Step one is they fill out the form. the AI
bot or conditional logic will read through the
responses and look for pre-qualifiers and if
it sees a win like the budget the
time frame and everything looks good then it can do something like what you
see on the right so I'm going to show you an example of an actual bot so here
(21:27):
you can see it says would you like to book a call and the person said yeah and
then And the bot says, here are some of the days available.
We have Thursday, June 23rd, Friday, June 24th. What day works best for you?
The prospect says the 23rd. And then the bot says, here are some openings.
(21:47):
Thursday, June 23rd. And it gives some times. What time works best for you?
And this bot, for instance, coincides with the business owner or estimator's calendar.
And that's how it's pulling the times. Okay.
Five. The prospect says five. Yes, that's available.
(22:07):
Should we book for Thursday, June 23rd at 5 p.m. then? The prospect says, yup.
Sounds good. I have you down for Thursday, June 23rd. Now look,
you can see the prospect says, yup.
The AI is good enough to understand natural English that a little slang is not
(22:29):
going to throw it off these days.
It's very, very, very good at this point. And so that's just a little example
of how you can take a traditional form on your website of name, phone,
description of project, and turn it into something like this that is more of
a sales tool that's going to work for you if you're out in the field or you
(22:53):
don't have time to pre-qualify on the phone.
You can use something like this to work for you. Hopefully Hopefully that makes sense.
So this type of solution, for instance, I just showed you, it's great for those
looking to filter out the best leads.
It's great for those who are busy out in the field. It's great for engaging
(23:14):
with leads so they don't go somewhere else.
They have actually done some pretty massive studies on this.
And they found, for instance, in Google search that literally within minutes,
if someone Someone fills out a form and they're not helped.
In less than 10 minutes, they're already on to the next company.
(23:37):
And so that's why if you ever ran ads on Google or anything like that,
you know that you need to be getting back to them quickly.
Otherwise, they're going to ghost you because they've just gone to the next person on the list.
So let's carve out your ideal client avatar right now. Now, I am going to quickly
(23:58):
look and just see if anyone has chimed in with any kind of a Q&A.
We still good? I think we're good.
I didn't put anyone to sleep, did I? I hope not.
I tend to get a little long-winded on these things.
But here's the point with doing this ideal client avatar on your website.
(24:19):
If you can see through Bob Jones's eyes, you can sell what Bob Jones buys.
Let's do it let's sell bob jones and so
did you download your worksheet if not go
to excavation marketing pros.com forward slash
worksheet and you can get it and work through this and so when you go through
(24:41):
the exercise you might discover that your core clientele are excavation excavation
and maybe where you're located,
you do a lot of pool excavations.
Like that's really kind of your niche, right?
That you're going through your services and you're saying to yourself,
I mean, gosh, like last year, 60% of my business was doing pool digouts and excavations.
(25:06):
So you might put something together like, okay, these are mostly homeowners. They're 35 to 60.
Typically it's a female calling me, sometimes a guy. They're usually married with some kids.
Their annual income is $150K plus, family-oriented, reliable.
They're not do-it-yourselfer types. And so you put down the pattern,
(25:30):
the trend of what you've seen with the customers you've sold.
And that's kind of how you want to base your wording on your website,
your content, geared towards that person.
And another helpful thing is think back to the previous clients that you've
sold and think about their pains and frustrations, especially. What do they hate?
(25:56):
What has really bothered them?
And speak to that. So I'll give you an example.
Existing yard, their fears might be that their existing yard is going to be in disarray a long time.
Maybe they got a jerk for a neighbor. or they can't get an excavation company
on the phone or return their call.
(26:16):
They're worried that they're going to pay too much because they don't know what these things cost.
They're too busy to deal with it. They're worried the job is going to destroy
underground pipes or wiring.
And so if you know these things, you could word on your site something to the
effect that, you know, we are going to give you a fair price.
(26:38):
We know you're busy and you just want it done right and you can expect us to
not have your yard in disarray or to you know break any pipes or wiring in your
yard we're professionals at this,
i'll give you guys some other messaging that works that you can literally just
input on your site right away okay people love saying fast they love fast service
(27:04):
you know amazon has done that to us that we expect it the same day we order it, right?
We can't always do that in the dirt business, but fast service,
that's catchy wording, and they want to see that.
Straightforward pricing, upfront pricing, satisfaction guaranteed.
(27:24):
Again, these are buzzwords that help sell.
Discount bundle packages available. Everyone loves a discount.
You can certainly sharpen your pencil if they're going to give you a full site
preparation package. Am I right?
You would be willing to do that. So offer them, if they're going to get multiple
(27:45):
services, and a lot of times you'll go out there, right?
And it may be for one particular type of service, but then you see they're also
going to need this, that, and the other.
And so giving them a higher retail price on all three, but if they do it all
with you, they're going to get this special bundle package offer.
(28:06):
That's going to help your sales.
Financing available. You guys, there's some good financing companies for excavation
and septic that it doesn't take a whole lot to get involved with them as far
as an application process.
And then you can sell more jobs by offering financing.
(28:29):
You get paid the full amount and then they finance through the finance company.
So again, it helps to create more revenue.
And land clearing starting at, or whatever service starting at,
and give them the best price option you could do.
So like land clearing starting at $1,497, there's an example.
(28:52):
Now that's not going to be 10 acres, right?
But you get the idea that maybe you can do a half an acre at that or something
like, you know what I mean?
A quarter of an acre lot or something like that. that best case scenario,
in and out, 1497, that you could start with that kind of wording.
And that's going to really get a lot of eyeballs and people wanting to contact
(29:15):
because that's going to sound like a great deal.
Now, let's get into some nitty gritty stuff.
Here's a website. No joke. This is a real website.
I scratched out the name because I don't want anyone going to this person or anything like that.
But just looking at this site, they're obviously very proud of their equipment
and they've got you know some nice nice equipment but really is what's going
(29:42):
to draw me to want to hire this person because i'm not seeing,
any special offers right i'm not seeing any pictures of the owners the team reviews.
Nothing in fact i don't even see a phone number on this website i would have
to click on the contact us page i supposed to find it and so if you guys do
(30:06):
have a website and it looks like this,
right i'm going to show you how to fix that here's how
we fix that so on the left you have a mobile site and on the right you have
a desktop site and what you really want to do is have the same elements on both
to convert leads the best and so let's go through some of these you'll notice Notice up top,
(30:31):
we have free estimates as a little call out,
something to get them, you know, wanting to reach out.
We've got a video from the owner.
We've got something special here.
We've got interest-free financing and we've got 25 years experience.
So we're giving like a unique selling proposition of how we're different.
(30:56):
Have another get quote button right there on the desktop. We have a phone number
in big bold print top right corner.
We've got the reviews right there above the fold. So the potential customer,
they really don't need to scroll down.
I can see it's a good company right as soon as the page loads.
(31:16):
On the mobile, same thing. Interest-free financing.
We've got 25 years experience. Again, Again, we got the video.
We've got a click to call button there. We've got the reviews.
We've got another get quote button that fills out a pulls up a contact form. Pretty clean.
(31:38):
And so let's go over some basics of website forms.
How are you going to collect these leads? Here's an okay example.
Bare minimum is have a form.
This is the bare minimum thing and that
would be name email phone number message this is
(31:58):
going to be your most basic form at least get
this by the end of this webinar at least get this on your website here's something
better okay now we're getting a little little more advanced a little more into
sales website quotes using conditional logic and artificial intelligence so
now we have have a button,
(32:19):
but this form you see can think.
So it's collecting the information, but then it's also using fields that will
appear and disappear based on the responses of the prospect.
So AI website contact forms are used to pre-qualify and make decisions based
(32:42):
on what you need. Time frame, budget, service selections will route them in the right direction.
So right here we see this form says estimated project start date.
It's a pre-qualifier. So if they put six months from now, then it's going to
stop right there because that's too far down the road. It's too much.
(33:06):
It's great to have a sale six months from now, right? But does that help you out right now?
Probably not. so if they put projected start date asap then more fields would
open up on this form are you the sole decision maker and and get into more pre-qualifying,
(33:27):
and it also has a fallback where it will use text or click to call button right
there And now here's another way to best convert high-value jobs.
Because I hear a lot, and our clients all want the best leads that produce high-value
projects, and they're kind of done chasing tire kickers.
(33:51):
Last way we found to do that is to ask tough questions to gain commitment from them.
Commitment is a key word. And weed out tire kickers.
So here's how we gain some micro commitments. First off, are you the sole decision
maker or is there a partner or spouse involved?
Really, you want to know who you're dealing with.
(34:13):
Because if they can't make the decision, if they're not the one who can sign
the check at the end and you're going out doing a site visit and they're not
the decision maker, then guess what?
Now you got to go back and do the whole process over again with the decision
maker. And you don't want to do that.
So make sure you can ask that. Another field. After we send out a proposal,
(34:35):
if you like what you see, what will you do next?
This is a nice open-ended question because it lets you peek inside your prospect's
head so you know if they're serious or not.
So for instance, if they answered this question, let's say you had that one
on your form and they answered it, well, I'd probably go out and get another proposal.
(35:00):
What does that tell you?
That person's maybe not too serious or you're going to have to work a little
harder because they're basically telling you, after you give me a proposal,
I'm going to go out and compare your proposal with someone else's proposal.
Proposal you might have another field will you
be ready to move forward with payment or loan if you
feel it's what you need this is very valid and
(35:22):
why is this a good question in my
opinion it it's good to know if they can actually afford your services because
let's face it by the time you do a site visit go back to the office pull up
your spreadsheet work the numbers put together a proposal email Email them the proposal,
(35:43):
follow up with them, and they say, yeah, you know what? You know,
this is great. It looks great.
The way, I don't have the money to pay for this right now. How much of a kick
in the gonads is that, right?
So you don't want that. And by having some simple qualifiers like this on your
form, you help weed that out.
(36:06):
Because really, guys, my whole point with this is your time's too valuable to
drive all across town chasing people that would never have bought from you to
begin with. And there is that old adage, you know, buyers are liars.
It's true. It's true. That's why once you give them a price, they ghost you.
And so the key, by asking some well-pointed questions at the start using web forms or chat,
(36:33):
or heck, even when you get them on the phone, you'll gain their commitment and
get to the truth fast if they're a real buyer and save yourself time and frustration.
Illustration and by the way if you're interested in more of this kind of stuff
on our youtube channel you can search excavation and septic sales call role
(36:54):
play and and you'll see a you know a demo role play of handling an inbound sales
call you might find that helpful too,
so guys i'm gonna open it up to you what is the typical problem excavation contractors
have with With their website marketing.
(37:14):
Type in the Q&A box. What's the typical problem that you're having?
I'm going to start calling out names. If I don't hear. If I don't see anyone answer.
What's the typical problem? Or septic. If you're in the septic business.
What's the typical problem.
Or problems. That you're having. With your website marketing.
(37:35):
It could be the.
Anyone. Is anyone going to chime in? I already know this stuff.
So like, if you don't care, anyone at all, no one wants to take a swing at what's the typical problem.
So typically what we see is it's a big investment in marketing.
(37:58):
And there's traffic, but not enough leads.
Or too many leads, and most of the leads are no good.
Which leads to a low return on investment. which leads to parked excavators and an empty schedule.
And that brings upon the failure cycle. So there's not enough leads generated
(38:19):
for the investment and the excavation or septic company just cannot grow.
So it turns into a feast or famine business cycle, busy then slow, busy then slow.
The key is to have a great website built to convert.
This way, you're consistently converting your visitors to callers and leads.
(38:43):
And you can create a full schedule with your earthmovers moving.
And momentum and consistent growth.
And that equals success. Phones ringing, takeoffs, estimates set,
excavators running, business booming.
It's a good feeling. So one key I want you guys to take away with is to make
(39:05):
sure your site is mobile-friendly and built to convert.
4.8 billion people now are on their mobile phones searching for businesses.
Three out of five consumers search for local businesses on their smartphone. phone.
And Google reports 40% of mobile consumers turned to a competitor's site after
(39:27):
a bad mobile web experience.
And site speed matters too.
So some key ideas that I want to leave you with is add real authentic images
of your team to the homepage and throughout the site.
Add video elements to your website, a welcome video, videos for your services,
a video explaining why someone should contact you versus the competition.
(39:52):
Showcase your online reviews more prominently on the homepage,
not at the bottom, but above the fold. And you can use a tool to do this.
Get your basics in order, big phone number, top right corner.
Ensure that there's a web form customers fill out.
Credibility is very helpful. So if you're a member of the BBB,
(40:13):
Angie, ABC, NUCCA, any of those organizations, Prominently display those up near the top.
And update your calls to action on each page to ensure they speak to your customer
avatar and tell them exactly what to do next.
Leverage coupons and offers that match the page they are on.
(40:34):
And add live chat to your website.
Offer clients the option to book online and self-qualify themselves.
So, is your website optimized for conversion?
I want to hear from you. Tell me, what do you think? Is your website already
optimized for conversion?
(40:55):
I want to give you guys some homework. Which of the following website conversion
items should you implement in your business now that will have a positive impact
on your lead conversion rates?
Pick three to implement over the next 30 days.
So what are you going to implement as a a function of today's webinar.
(41:16):
Anyone want to share that?
Eric says web chat. Very good.
Says click to call button absolutely awesome
so here's a layout for how
to make your website convert logo like
so this is a sample web page you can have your logo right up top there phone
(41:38):
number big bold print on the right have a call to action here with your unique
special offer like i showed you discount bundle packages that could be your
special offer and then a call now. Very simple.
Having your client testimonials right there above the fold, a contact form or button.
(41:59):
You can also do a button that when you push it, it opens up in like a light
box. Those look really sharp.
Having the business name, address, and phone number prominently displayed on the webpage.
That helps boost credibility and authority and helps with search engine and optimization.
Mobile site, same thing, call to action, click to call button.
(42:23):
So in summary, your website, it is your hub.
So any takeaways you want to share, guys, what did you learn?
What did you notice? What would you like to share?
And by the way, we do offer a free website and an online marketing plan review. It's a $500 value.
(42:45):
And on there, we go over an analysis of your online visibility,
a custom keyword list of most important search terms based on the jobs you want to do,
a ranking report showing where you currently are, analysis of your online directory
listings and consistency of your NAP. That's your name, address, and phone number.
(43:09):
Of online reviews and your reputation and an analysis of your online social presence.
And how you can get all this is by scheduling a call with me.
You can text SCHEDULE to 866-521-5298 or visit us at excavationmarketingpros.com
(43:32):
forward slash schedule.
Either option will work. You can text schedule to
that phone number and it's going to give you back a
link to schedule a call or you
can go to that web page and again it will give you
a calendar you pick a time a day and
answer some basic questions about your business to streamline our call together
(43:55):
okay and so your overall online strategy looks like this don't feel like you
need to do this all in a day but But this is really ideal of what you want to aim for.
A website that is built to convert, proactive search engine optimization,
providing value-added content that answers customers' questions,
(44:19):
focus on your online reviews and reputation.
Doing a strategic pay-per-click campaign, paid ad campaign with remarketing.
So after they visit the site, you have ads that will follow them around as they
go on on YouTube and Facebook and other platforms.
They keep seeing your business and they come back.
(44:40):
Social presence, email marketing, and then precision tracking and measurement
of your key performance indicators.
Bottom line is, if you're investing in marketing, you should know dollar for
dollar your cost per lead, your cost to acquire a customer on each marketing channel.
(45:02):
You should know what's working and what's not. Thank you.
Any volunteers that want me to look at their site, you can send an email to
scott at excavation marketing pros.com.
And if anyone types in chat and wants me to take a quick look at their site,
(45:22):
Luke says already busy, great website could equal more work.
I can't get too quick enough.
Awesome. Thanks, Luke. I appreciate that.
Otherwise, I think we're just about all set. that, if you would like some help,
again, you can go to excavationmarketingpros.com forward slash schedule. All righty.
(45:42):
And for those who stayed to the end, you want to claim your reward,
the ultimate website conversion machine plus top search keywords for excavation and septic are on there.
Just go to excavationmarketingpros.com forward slash reward and you'll get instant access to that.
(46:03):
All right. So that's pretty much it, guys. Thank you so much for your time.
It's been a pleasure. I appreciate you taking time out of your day to come on
to the webinar and pat yourself on the back for doing this.
You're taking action and it's going to lead to positive results. All right.
Thank you so much, guys. Have a great rest of your day and I I will bring this workshop to a close.
(46:27):
Hey there, Excavation Pros. If you enjoyed today's podcast, make sure to like
and subscribe to our podcast and channel.
Leave us your feedback and let us know how we did.
And hey, if you're interested in taking your excavation or septic business to the next level online,
make sure you visit excavationmarketingpros.com today and take advantage of
(46:49):
our free resources and mastermind group for excavation and septic industry professionals.
Thanks for watching!
The Excavation Profits Podcast by Excavation Marketing Pros.
Interviews with successful excavation and septic business owners,
revealing how they market and grow their business in today's economy.
Hear directly from the most successful leaders in your business,
and discover what they're doing to keep their phone ringing,
(00:20):
equipment running, and businesses booming.
Now your host, Scott Andreessen. All right.
So we're going to get started here in just a moment, guys.
I want to thank you all for joining. Give a quick shout to Adam,
Chris, Dan, Jay, Sheila.
People are starting to come in and I am going to start this right on time.
(00:45):
And can you guys, someone please just type a one into chat that you can hear
me OK? I would really appreciate that.
Or you might need to use the Q&A box. I apologize, on the bottom, the Q&A box.
Can you hear me? Just type a one in the Q&A.
(01:06):
Cool. Getting plenty of ones. Thank you, Dan, Adam, Jay.
All right. So I know your time is valuable. I don't want to waste it.
Let's go ahead and dive right in. All right.
So this is how to maximize your excavation or septic website for conversions.
(01:28):
And you should have access, if you like, to go to excavationmarketingpros.com,
and you'll get a sheet right here.
And it will give you some things to help hone in your marketing,
some exercises to go through.
So you set your website up targeting your
(01:48):
ideal audience for the excavating and
septic jobs you want to do and i
want to start off by making sure you're in the right spot and so i'll tell you
who this is for this is for excavation and septic professionals so providing
services like residential and commercial excavating demolition land clearing
(02:10):
landscaping concrete flat work pond construction,
all septic services,
installations, pumping, dozer work, sewer repair, forest remulching,
land remediation, site work grading, utilities trenching.
If you're in that world, this is the ideal webinar for you to help hone in targeted
(02:33):
leads for those jobs using your website.
And I know your time is very valuable. So my promise to you guys is that by
the end of this full workshop,
you'll walk away with some easy tactics to convert high value leads and jobs
from your existing website, no matter how ugly it is, right?
(02:57):
And I believe you'll be able to dramatically improve your website's results by using these tips.
And some of these tactics you can deploy within minutes of watching this full workshop.
And so I just wanted to make sure that I am sharing my screen correctly and
(03:19):
it looks like I am. So that is good news.
And in this workshop, you'll learn the same strategies that our excavation and
septic business owner clients are using to generate hundreds of thousands to
millions of dollars worth of jobs for their businesses.
And here is an example of a dashboard.
(03:40):
They're tracking $391,700 of sales bids in their pipeline.
Here's another one, $433,000 worth of sales bids in in their pipeline,
and another one, $1.16 million worth of sales bids in their pipeline.
And while I cannot guarantee you're going to get the same exact results as them,
(04:03):
I can promise you the same website blueprint that they use through this training here today.
And there is a bonus. If you stay till the end of this webinar,
you're going to get the ultimate excavation website conversion machine blueprint right there,
as well as top search keywords for excavation and septic that you can use on
(04:29):
your site to help it attract those types of jobs that you're looking for.
But if you don't pay attention the whole way through, you will likely miss out
on a critical piece to the puzzle and destroy your chances of success.
So what I need from you today, guys, is to focus.
(04:49):
Turn off the cell phones, delete
other tabs, silence your Facebook notifications, and let's get into it.
So this is part of our 2024 internet marketing plan. And I recognize some of
you that you've been to our previous training workshops.
We do this every single month, you guys, all through 2023.
(05:13):
We went through the whole gambit. And we're going to go through everything you
see there through 2024, from website to SEO to paid ads to remarketing, everything.
Everything and at the end of december we
did our 2024 internet marketing plan
for excavation and septic that if you
(05:34):
miss that you can put pull that up on youtube 2024
internet marketing plan for excavation and septic and go through that training
as well so let's get into it who am i why should you listen to me well i've
got 15 years experience in digital
marketing now and we exclusively serve excavation and septic companies.
(05:59):
We've successfully launched hundreds of websites and marketing campaigns in this time.
And I'm published author of Excavation and Septic Internet Marketing Profits.
And the bottom line is this, guys. Through 15 years of trial and error plus
millions of dollars spent on advertising and marketing, we know what works to drive leads.
(06:22):
Like you see on the bottom left, and what doesn't.
And today I'll share with you what's working in today's market for excavation
and septic businesses so you can cut out the noise and start seeing amazing
results for your excavation business.
So why am I doing this? Reciprocity.
(06:45):
Basically, you may not be in the market looking for someone to handle your marketing. I get that.
But by giving you a lot of value here today on this call, in the future,
maybe you will be or maybe you have a friend that might need our help.
And so what goes around comes around, right?
(07:06):
So what is the one online marketing tool that will have the biggest impact on
the results of your overall internet marketing efforts?
Efforts go ahead type in the chat what do you think the one tool is that will
have the biggest impact on your own on your online marketing results type in q a.
(07:38):
Eric is saying paid ads. Chris is saying reviews.
Very good. Those are both valid answers.
So from our studies, those are definitely huge.
But still, what we found is the website is the number one biggest impact.
(08:01):
That no matter where they find you, if it's through looking at reviews,
through Facebook ads, Google ads, whatever, They seem to still want to flock
to the website and do their due diligence on the actual site.
So it needs to be set up to convert leads that once they're there,
you don't want them to go away and have to do more digging.
(08:23):
And studies show high-value clients still judge a business based on it,
especially when it's a big-ticket item like a septic installation or full site
preparation or a big land-clearing job.
So, do you guys know what a conversion is? Type a one into the Q&A box if you do know.
(08:46):
Tell me what that is. Type a one.
Anyone know what a conversion is?
And if you don't, that's okay. I mean, that's why you're here.
So a conversion is simply turning your website visitor into a high value lead.
And I'll tell you right now why it's so important to make your website convert.
(09:09):
We can do some simple math.
So let's say for instance, you have an excavation business and your website
right now is getting 500 visitors per month.
Now, if you're converting 5% of those website visitors, that's equaling 25 calls or leads per month.
(09:30):
And now let's say you are able to convert 30% of those calls or leads into an
estimate and get seven booked jobs.
If we put an average ticket, just for the sake of math, let's just say $5,000
is a transaction value. value.
That would be a total of $35,000 if your website converts 5%.
(09:53):
Now, if we make the website convert better, three times better,
to 15% and keep all the other information the same, it triples your sales.
So if we go from 5% to 15%, that's 75 calls or leads, leads,
(10:13):
30% conversion to estimate, 22 book jobs, a $5,000 average transaction,
that's $110,000 just by converting better.
And I'm going to show you how to do this today so you can squeeze literally
every ounce out of your site and turn it into a sales machine 24-7.
(10:36):
So by improving your website's conversion rate, you triple your sales.
So how do we optimize for these conversions?
Those are the secrets you'll learn today. This way, you can turn your window
shopper website traffic into cash paying takeoffs and estimates.
(10:58):
So let's do a little pop quiz. Right there, you see a mobile display of an excavation website.
And it's not too bad looking, right? I mean, it looks clean.
But can any of you type in the chat as you look at this site right here, this mobile site?
What would be killing it from getting leads? Does anything pop out?
(11:21):
Like, what would you do to make this thing convert leads better?
I'd love to hear from you. Go ahead and type in the chat.
Oh, I'm sharing my screen there. I'm going to take that away.
I was giving away answers. Dan says sign contract.
Anyone else? Kind of took away the site. So it might make it harder for you
(11:42):
because you're not able to see it right now. Let me bring it back.
So for one it's got no click to call phone number right if they're going to
get onto it through mobile site which these days 60 to 70 percent of all traffic
is going to a mobile phone,
then you want to have a nice easy number that they can click on or a button
(12:03):
there's no live chat that's one of the most popular ways people interact with
the local business now and we're We're going to get into how you can use that
with AI and some cool stuff in a moment.
And it doesn't state your expertise. So if we go on this site,
it says elite excavating, but that can mean many different things.
(12:24):
Like, are they commercial? Are they residential?
Do they do demo? What do they do? What don't they do? It doesn't state.
It just says whatever your need is, we have a solution for you. So it's pretty generic.
No unique selling proposition, and more, all right? So I'm going to help you
guys with this stuff today so you can dial in your website.
(12:45):
And so look, if your website is not performing how you want,
we're going to fix it today so you can copy and paste what I show you right
into your website and make it rain with the excavation or septic work that you actually want to do.
So here's 10 critical elements to improve your conversions. And if you have
(13:08):
a pen and pad, you might want to write this down.
First, speak to your target avatar. And you can use the worksheet that I gave you for this exercise.
And we're going to do a little of that. It's not going to be as involved as
the 2024 internet marketing plan for excavation and septic we did,
but we're going to go through some of that. What are their fears,
(13:31):
their frustrations, and speak to why they should choose you.
Be real. Use authentic images of your team and work on the homepage and throughout the site.
People can spot a stock photo a mile away.
Use video. That's one of the greatest things for internet, right?
(13:52):
As humans, we love video. We love moving pictures and people.
So adding multimedia elements to engage and keep them on the site,
a welcome video with drone footage, that's hot. People love it.
Videos for each of your services, and these don't need to be fancy either, folks.
(14:12):
You can pull out your smartphone, phone and a lot of those smartphones capture
in HD and that's totally fine.
You can use the smartphone horizontally.
So it takes the big 1920 by 1080 pixel videos and use those on the site,
or you can do some nice cool footage vertical.
(14:34):
Both works well and have a strong USP. So what What do I mean by USP?
That's a unique selling proposition.
And this would be three unique differentiators that make you, you, right?
Don't just say we do quality work and we're honest. I see that a lot.
And like, that's expected, right?
(14:55):
It's expected that you're going to do quality work and be honest.
So come up with something different. Of course, you can find three things about
yourself that are totally unique that your competitor does not have.
Leverage social proof so showcase
your online reviews prominently on
the home page with the tool preferably above
(15:19):
the fold so another mistake i see
on the sites is they'll have the
reviews at the bottom where the the potential customer has to scroll all the
way down to the bottom them to see a couple of reviews and that that's really
that's a sales killer right there so you can use a tool have it prominently
(15:40):
above the fold that right when they go to the site boom they're seeing the reviews.
Number five, let's get the basics in order.
So there are four ways that people love to interact with a local business.
Of course, they like to call, right? So having the phone number prominently
(16:04):
displayed in the right or left-hand corner, but big and bold, for sure, that's a must.
And sure, there's a web... Well, it did them all. There you go.
Ensure that there's a web form that customers can fill out.
That's the second way. Web chat is the third way. And accepting text message. That's the fourth way.
(16:28):
The next thing you want to do is add credibility with authority symbols.
So BBB, Angie's List, love them or hate them, they're still viewed as credibility authority sites.
And so by posting their logo, if you are a member of the BBB,
by all means do that. It will help win credibility points.
(16:52):
Ensure that you have clear calls to action on each page that speaks to your
customer avatar and tell them exactly what to do next.
So like when they go to the site, don't leave them guessing.
Like I know a lot of people will have a contact us page. That's really not good enough.
Instead, have a strong call to action, perhaps with a special.
(17:14):
You know, discount bundle package is available.
Click here now for fast quote and
have a big button, big red button right there, telling them what to do.
Use special offers and coupons that match the service they're in need of.
So if they go to the Septic page on your site, have a nice special specifically for Septic.
(17:39):
Maybe you can give a free basic inspection or something like that.
Make sure your website is mobile optimized with an easy click-to-call function.
So you could have a number that they can click on or a button that they click on to make a call.
But you don't want them hunting around for it and you don't want them to have
(18:03):
to click the back button to then type it in on their phone, if that makes sense.
And also, oops, having a little technical difficulty.
Make sure your website, consider leveraging live chat, AI chat on website.
I'm going to share that with you. and SMS automations have all gotten really good.
(18:28):
And start giving the client an option to book online through self-qualifying forms.
So we're going to talk about that.
So as you look at this form right here, this is going to show you an example
of what using an AI bot with some artificial intelligence would look like.
(18:50):
So let's say, for instance, that you have a form on your website.
You could have pre-qualifiers that are a little bit better than name,
phone number, give us a description of your project, because that's what everyone
has. but it really doesn't tell you if the person's a tire kicker or not, right?
So you could do a little more and have them tell you, are they the sole decision
(19:14):
maker or is there a partner or spouse?
How willing are they to invest? So if, for instance,
you're wanting to weed out people that are not financially qualified and that
are expecting like a brand new septic install for a thousand bucks,
You could use something like, our proposals require our time,
(19:37):
thought, and research to be accurate without surprises, but we always like to
help folks that are working on a specific budget.
What type of budget were you anticipating for this project?
And give them some bullet point options of different budgets that they had in mind.
This way you can see where their head is at. that, you know,
(19:59):
are they wanting the septic install for a thousand bucks?
Or in their mind, are they thinking 10, 15,000?
Let's just pretend for a moment I put together an estimate. You like what you
see. What's going to happen next?
This lets you know, are they an action taker looking to do something now?
Or are they thinking, you know, maybe next summer I'll do something.
(20:19):
And so the point I'm trying to make is putting questions in the form to peek
inside their mind to see if they're a tire kicker, financially qualified,
if they're wanting, willing, and able to move forward, that if you hand it to
them on a silver platter, can they give you a yes decision?
(20:42):
Of course, giving them the option to upload images and things like that.
Now, the technology exists these days, folks, where you can have conditional
logic in these forms and AI to then, if they meet the qualifications,
then it will automatically book a call. You can do that.
Okay? And so it's kind of like this.
(21:05):
Step one is they fill out the form. the AI
bot or conditional logic will read through the
responses and look for pre-qualifiers and if
it sees a win like the budget the
time frame and everything looks good then it can do something like what you
see on the right so I'm going to show you an example of an actual bot so here
(21:27):
you can see it says would you like to book a call and the person said yeah and
then And the bot says, here are some of the days available.
We have Thursday, June 23rd, Friday, June 24th. What day works best for you?
The prospect says the 23rd. And then the bot says, here are some openings.
(21:47):
Thursday, June 23rd. And it gives some times. What time works best for you?
And this bot, for instance, coincides with the business owner or estimator's calendar.
And that's how it's pulling the times. Okay.
Five. The prospect says five. Yes, that's available.
(22:07):
Should we book for Thursday, June 23rd at 5 p.m. then? The prospect says, yup.
Sounds good. I have you down for Thursday, June 23rd. Now look,
you can see the prospect says, yup.
The AI is good enough to understand natural English that a little slang is not
(22:29):
going to throw it off these days.
It's very, very, very good at this point. And so that's just a little example
of how you can take a traditional form on your website of name, phone,
description of project, and turn it into something like this that is more of
a sales tool that's going to work for you if you're out in the field or you
(22:53):
don't have time to pre-qualify on the phone.
You can use something like this to work for you. Hopefully Hopefully that makes sense.
So this type of solution, for instance, I just showed you, it's great for those
looking to filter out the best leads.
It's great for those who are busy out in the field. It's great for engaging
(23:14):
with leads so they don't go somewhere else.
They have actually done some pretty massive studies on this.
And they found, for instance, in Google search that literally within minutes,
if someone Someone fills out a form and they're not helped.
In less than 10 minutes, they're already on to the next company.
(23:37):
And so that's why if you ever ran ads on Google or anything like that,
you know that you need to be getting back to them quickly.
Otherwise, they're going to ghost you because they've just gone to the next person on the list.
So let's carve out your ideal client avatar right now. Now, I am going to quickly
(23:58):
look and just see if anyone has chimed in with any kind of a Q&A.
We still good? I think we're good.
I didn't put anyone to sleep, did I? I hope not.
I tend to get a little long-winded on these things.
But here's the point with doing this ideal client avatar on your website.
(24:19):
If you can see through Bob Jones's eyes, you can sell what Bob Jones buys.
Let's do it let's sell bob jones and so
did you download your worksheet if not go
to excavation marketing pros.com forward slash
worksheet and you can get it and work through this and so when you go through
(24:41):
the exercise you might discover that your core clientele are excavation excavation
and maybe where you're located,
you do a lot of pool excavations.
Like that's really kind of your niche, right?
That you're going through your services and you're saying to yourself,
I mean, gosh, like last year, 60% of my business was doing pool digouts and excavations.
(25:06):
So you might put something together like, okay, these are mostly homeowners. They're 35 to 60.
Typically it's a female calling me, sometimes a guy. They're usually married with some kids.
Their annual income is $150K plus, family-oriented, reliable.
They're not do-it-yourselfer types. And so you put down the pattern,
(25:30):
the trend of what you've seen with the customers you've sold.
And that's kind of how you want to base your wording on your website,
your content, geared towards that person.
And another helpful thing is think back to the previous clients that you've
sold and think about their pains and frustrations, especially. What do they hate?
(25:56):
What has really bothered them?
And speak to that. So I'll give you an example.
Existing yard, their fears might be that their existing yard is going to be in disarray a long time.
Maybe they got a jerk for a neighbor. or they can't get an excavation company
on the phone or return their call.
(26:16):
They're worried that they're going to pay too much because they don't know what these things cost.
They're too busy to deal with it. They're worried the job is going to destroy
underground pipes or wiring.
And so if you know these things, you could word on your site something to the
effect that, you know, we are going to give you a fair price.
(26:38):
We know you're busy and you just want it done right and you can expect us to
not have your yard in disarray or to you know break any pipes or wiring in your
yard we're professionals at this,
i'll give you guys some other messaging that works that you can literally just
input on your site right away okay people love saying fast they love fast service
(27:04):
you know amazon has done that to us that we expect it the same day we order it, right?
We can't always do that in the dirt business, but fast service,
that's catchy wording, and they want to see that.
Straightforward pricing, upfront pricing, satisfaction guaranteed.
(27:24):
Again, these are buzzwords that help sell.
Discount bundle packages available. Everyone loves a discount.
You can certainly sharpen your pencil if they're going to give you a full site
preparation package. Am I right?
You would be willing to do that. So offer them, if they're going to get multiple
(27:45):
services, and a lot of times you'll go out there, right?
And it may be for one particular type of service, but then you see they're also
going to need this, that, and the other.
And so giving them a higher retail price on all three, but if they do it all
with you, they're going to get this special bundle package offer.
(28:06):
That's going to help your sales.
Financing available. You guys, there's some good financing companies for excavation
and septic that it doesn't take a whole lot to get involved with them as far
as an application process.
And then you can sell more jobs by offering financing.
(28:29):
You get paid the full amount and then they finance through the finance company.
So again, it helps to create more revenue.
And land clearing starting at, or whatever service starting at,
and give them the best price option you could do.
So like land clearing starting at $1,497, there's an example.
(28:52):
Now that's not going to be 10 acres, right?
But you get the idea that maybe you can do a half an acre at that or something
like, you know what I mean?
A quarter of an acre lot or something like that. that best case scenario,
in and out, 1497, that you could start with that kind of wording.
And that's going to really get a lot of eyeballs and people wanting to contact
(29:15):
because that's going to sound like a great deal.
Now, let's get into some nitty gritty stuff.
Here's a website. No joke. This is a real website.
I scratched out the name because I don't want anyone going to this person or anything like that.
But just looking at this site, they're obviously very proud of their equipment
and they've got you know some nice nice equipment but really is what's going
(29:42):
to draw me to want to hire this person because i'm not seeing,
any special offers right i'm not seeing any pictures of the owners the team reviews.
Nothing in fact i don't even see a phone number on this website i would have
to click on the contact us page i supposed to find it and so if you guys do
(30:06):
have a website and it looks like this,
right i'm going to show you how to fix that here's how
we fix that so on the left you have a mobile site and on the right you have
a desktop site and what you really want to do is have the same elements on both
to convert leads the best and so let's go through some of these you'll notice Notice up top,
(30:31):
we have free estimates as a little call out,
something to get them, you know, wanting to reach out.
We've got a video from the owner.
We've got something special here.
We've got interest-free financing and we've got 25 years experience.
So we're giving like a unique selling proposition of how we're different.
(30:56):
Have another get quote button right there on the desktop. We have a phone number
in big bold print top right corner.
We've got the reviews right there above the fold. So the potential customer,
they really don't need to scroll down.
I can see it's a good company right as soon as the page loads.
(31:16):
On the mobile, same thing. Interest-free financing.
We've got 25 years experience. Again, Again, we got the video.
We've got a click to call button there. We've got the reviews.
We've got another get quote button that fills out a pulls up a contact form. Pretty clean.
(31:38):
And so let's go over some basics of website forms.
How are you going to collect these leads? Here's an okay example.
Bare minimum is have a form.
This is the bare minimum thing and that
would be name email phone number message this is
(31:58):
going to be your most basic form at least get
this by the end of this webinar at least get this on your website here's something
better okay now we're getting a little little more advanced a little more into
sales website quotes using conditional logic and artificial intelligence so
now we have have a button,
(32:19):
but this form you see can think.
So it's collecting the information, but then it's also using fields that will
appear and disappear based on the responses of the prospect.
So AI website contact forms are used to pre-qualify and make decisions based
(32:42):
on what you need. Time frame, budget, service selections will route them in the right direction.
So right here we see this form says estimated project start date.
It's a pre-qualifier. So if they put six months from now, then it's going to
stop right there because that's too far down the road. It's too much.
(33:06):
It's great to have a sale six months from now, right? But does that help you out right now?
Probably not. so if they put projected start date asap then more fields would
open up on this form are you the sole decision maker and and get into more pre-qualifying,
(33:27):
and it also has a fallback where it will use text or click to call button right
there And now here's another way to best convert high-value jobs.
Because I hear a lot, and our clients all want the best leads that produce high-value
projects, and they're kind of done chasing tire kickers.
(33:51):
Last way we found to do that is to ask tough questions to gain commitment from them.
Commitment is a key word. And weed out tire kickers.
So here's how we gain some micro commitments. First off, are you the sole decision
maker or is there a partner or spouse involved?
Really, you want to know who you're dealing with.
(34:13):
Because if they can't make the decision, if they're not the one who can sign
the check at the end and you're going out doing a site visit and they're not
the decision maker, then guess what?
Now you got to go back and do the whole process over again with the decision
maker. And you don't want to do that.
So make sure you can ask that. Another field. After we send out a proposal,
(34:35):
if you like what you see, what will you do next?
This is a nice open-ended question because it lets you peek inside your prospect's
head so you know if they're serious or not.
So for instance, if they answered this question, let's say you had that one
on your form and they answered it, well, I'd probably go out and get another proposal.
(35:00):
What does that tell you?
That person's maybe not too serious or you're going to have to work a little
harder because they're basically telling you, after you give me a proposal,
I'm going to go out and compare your proposal with someone else's proposal.
Proposal you might have another field will you
be ready to move forward with payment or loan if you
feel it's what you need this is very valid and
(35:22):
why is this a good question in my
opinion it it's good to know if they can actually afford your services because
let's face it by the time you do a site visit go back to the office pull up
your spreadsheet work the numbers put together a proposal email Email them the proposal,
(35:43):
follow up with them, and they say, yeah, you know what? You know,
this is great. It looks great.
The way, I don't have the money to pay for this right now. How much of a kick
in the gonads is that, right?
So you don't want that. And by having some simple qualifiers like this on your
form, you help weed that out.
(36:06):
Because really, guys, my whole point with this is your time's too valuable to
drive all across town chasing people that would never have bought from you to
begin with. And there is that old adage, you know, buyers are liars.
It's true. It's true. That's why once you give them a price, they ghost you.
And so the key, by asking some well-pointed questions at the start using web forms or chat,
(36:33):
or heck, even when you get them on the phone, you'll gain their commitment and
get to the truth fast if they're a real buyer and save yourself time and frustration.
Illustration and by the way if you're interested in more of this kind of stuff
on our youtube channel you can search excavation and septic sales call role
(36:54):
play and and you'll see a you know a demo role play of handling an inbound sales
call you might find that helpful too,
so guys i'm gonna open it up to you what is the typical problem excavation contractors
have with With their website marketing.
(37:14):
Type in the Q&A box. What's the typical problem that you're having?
I'm going to start calling out names. If I don't hear. If I don't see anyone answer.
What's the typical problem? Or septic. If you're in the septic business.
What's the typical problem.
Or problems. That you're having. With your website marketing.
(37:35):
It could be the.
Anyone. Is anyone going to chime in? I already know this stuff.
So like, if you don't care, anyone at all, no one wants to take a swing at what's the typical problem.
So typically what we see is it's a big investment in marketing.
(37:58):
And there's traffic, but not enough leads.
Or too many leads, and most of the leads are no good.
Which leads to a low return on investment. which leads to parked excavators and an empty schedule.
And that brings upon the failure cycle. So there's not enough leads generated
(38:19):
for the investment and the excavation or septic company just cannot grow.
So it turns into a feast or famine business cycle, busy then slow, busy then slow.
The key is to have a great website built to convert.
This way, you're consistently converting your visitors to callers and leads.
(38:43):
And you can create a full schedule with your earthmovers moving.
And momentum and consistent growth.
And that equals success. Phones ringing, takeoffs, estimates set,
excavators running, business booming.
It's a good feeling. So one key I want you guys to take away with is to make
(39:05):
sure your site is mobile-friendly and built to convert.
4.8 billion people now are on their mobile phones searching for businesses.
Three out of five consumers search for local businesses on their smartphone. phone.
And Google reports 40% of mobile consumers turned to a competitor's site after
(39:27):
a bad mobile web experience.
And site speed matters too.
So some key ideas that I want to leave you with is add real authentic images
of your team to the homepage and throughout the site.
Add video elements to your website, a welcome video, videos for your services,
a video explaining why someone should contact you versus the competition.
(39:52):
Showcase your online reviews more prominently on the homepage,
not at the bottom, but above the fold. And you can use a tool to do this.
Get your basics in order, big phone number, top right corner.
Ensure that there's a web form customers fill out.
Credibility is very helpful. So if you're a member of the BBB,
(40:13):
Angie, ABC, NUCCA, any of those organizations, Prominently display those up near the top.
And update your calls to action on each page to ensure they speak to your customer
avatar and tell them exactly what to do next.
Leverage coupons and offers that match the page they are on.
(40:34):
And add live chat to your website.
Offer clients the option to book online and self-qualify themselves.
So, is your website optimized for conversion?
I want to hear from you. Tell me, what do you think? Is your website already
optimized for conversion?
(40:55):
I want to give you guys some homework. Which of the following website conversion
items should you implement in your business now that will have a positive impact
on your lead conversion rates?
Pick three to implement over the next 30 days.
So what are you going to implement as a a function of today's webinar.
(41:16):
Anyone want to share that?
Eric says web chat. Very good.
Says click to call button absolutely awesome
so here's a layout for how
to make your website convert logo like
so this is a sample web page you can have your logo right up top there phone
(41:38):
number big bold print on the right have a call to action here with your unique
special offer like i showed you discount bundle packages that could be your
special offer and then a call now. Very simple.
Having your client testimonials right there above the fold, a contact form or button.
(41:59):
You can also do a button that when you push it, it opens up in like a light
box. Those look really sharp.
Having the business name, address, and phone number prominently displayed on the webpage.
That helps boost credibility and authority and helps with search engine and optimization.
Mobile site, same thing, call to action, click to call button.
(42:23):
So in summary, your website, it is your hub.
So any takeaways you want to share, guys, what did you learn?
What did you notice? What would you like to share?
And by the way, we do offer a free website and an online marketing plan review. It's a $500 value.
(42:45):
And on there, we go over an analysis of your online visibility,
a custom keyword list of most important search terms based on the jobs you want to do,
a ranking report showing where you currently are, analysis of your online directory
listings and consistency of your NAP. That's your name, address, and phone number.
(43:09):
Of online reviews and your reputation and an analysis of your online social presence.
And how you can get all this is by scheduling a call with me.
You can text SCHEDULE to 866-521-5298 or visit us at excavationmarketingpros.com
(43:32):
forward slash schedule.
Either option will work. You can text schedule to
that phone number and it's going to give you back a
link to schedule a call or you
can go to that web page and again it will give you
a calendar you pick a time a day and
answer some basic questions about your business to streamline our call together
(43:55):
okay and so your overall online strategy looks like this don't feel like you
need to do this all in a day but But this is really ideal of what you want to aim for.
A website that is built to convert, proactive search engine optimization,
providing value-added content that answers customers' questions,
(44:19):
focus on your online reviews and reputation.
Doing a strategic pay-per-click campaign, paid ad campaign with remarketing.
So after they visit the site, you have ads that will follow them around as they
go on on YouTube and Facebook and other platforms.
They keep seeing your business and they come back.
(44:40):
Social presence, email marketing, and then precision tracking and measurement
of your key performance indicators.
Bottom line is, if you're investing in marketing, you should know dollar for
dollar your cost per lead, your cost to acquire a customer on each marketing channel.
(45:02):
You should know what's working and what's not. Thank you.
Any volunteers that want me to look at their site, you can send an email to
scott at excavation marketing pros.com.
And if anyone types in chat and wants me to take a quick look at their site,
(45:22):
Luke says already busy, great website could equal more work.
I can't get too quick enough.
Awesome. Thanks, Luke. I appreciate that.
Otherwise, I think we're just about all set. that, if you would like some help,
again, you can go to excavationmarketingpros.com forward slash schedule. All righty.
(45:42):
And for those who stayed to the end, you want to claim your reward,
the ultimate website conversion machine plus top search keywords for excavation and septic are on there.
Just go to excavationmarketingpros.com forward slash reward and you'll get instant access to that.
(46:03):
All right. So that's pretty much it, guys. Thank you so much for your time.
It's been a pleasure. I appreciate you taking time out of your day to come on
to the webinar and pat yourself on the back for doing this.
You're taking action and it's going to lead to positive results. All right.
Thank you so much, guys. Have a great rest of your day and I I will bring this workshop to a close.
(46:27):
Hey there, Excavation Pros. If you enjoyed today's podcast, make sure to like
and subscribe to our podcast and channel.
Leave us your feedback and let us know how we did.
And hey, if you're interested in taking your excavation or septic business to the next level online,
make sure you visit excavationmarketingpros.com today and take advantage of
(46:49):
our free resources and mastermind group for excavation and septic industry professionals.
Thanks for watching!
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