When people are searching for answers to their home comfort problems, the very best thing they can find on the Internet - and that's where they're looking - is an example of how somebody in their neighborhood fixed the same problem.
They want to see themselves, or something as close as possible, with exactly the same problem who already figured out how the best way to solve it.
The most effective way for your company to be the trusted adviser in situations like this is to post the real stories about your favorite jobs right on your website. As many as you possibly can. Make story gathering and story telling part of your company culture and watch them pile up fast.
It's simple once you boil down the required elements of an effective case study. Here's what we ask our ductless contractors for:
Once you have this basic information, it's easy to draft an article, quickly sanity check it with the tech or the salesperson - where you're bound to get a bunch more detail, and boom - you have an article on your website.
Stories about happy homeowners, not just about boxes, that showcase your company's way of doing things.
Stories about the people in the homes and neighborhoods who you really want to work with.
Include important words, like the name of your state's rebate program, or the financing options you offer.
This will increase the attractiveness of your story, meaning higher numbers of local visitors back to your website, finding exactly what they're looking for. Now you have the opportunity to educate these potential customers about the value your company brings to their home and their life.
In your stories prospects see homes that looks like theirs in their neighborhood or a neighborhood close by, where your HVAC contracting company was able to solve a problem just like theirs.
Salespeople and techs should be taking pictures of people, homes, and neighborhoods - not just the boxes. Take pictures of the homeowners with their newly installed system. That stuff is pure gold.
This is extremely powerful in building trust, the number one thing that will set you apart from your competition.
Here's a great example of a customer case study video that always drives the point home.
Once you have these stories published on your website, you can share them on Facebook or your favorite social network, send the link out to an email list of all your leads in the surrounding zip codes, or run pay-per-click ads to drive local traffic to your articles.
Your salespeople can email links to prospects before the appointment, educating them and overcoming objections before the kitchen table.
Here's a link to a story input form we use when contractors want us to create a draft of their customer case study. You can do the same thing with a paper form, or your own online form on your website.
Password is: casestudy
http://www.comfortmediagroup.com/comfort-media-group-case-study-entry
Once you get to this level, you're ready to start planning a case study video, an even more powerful way for potential customers to see themselves in your marketing content.
Check out these examples to see where you're headed:
ECI HVAC Learning Library - Read It
ECI HVAC Learning Library - Watch It
NETR, Inc. - Owning the Boston Ductless market with real stories about Mitsubishi Electric Ductless installations they've done in and around the greater Boston and North Shore area.
About the Don Lafferty: