Getting Customers for Your Trade Business

Getting customers is simple. Getting customers profitably is hard.

You’re probably wasting half your marketing budget. Not because you’re spending on the wrong things — because you’re spending on too many things at once.

I see it constantly. A contractor comes to me spending $3,000 a month on Google Ads, $1,500 on Facebook, $500 on Yelp, $800 on some lead service, and $1,200 on “social media management.” That’s $7,000 a month across five channels.

When I ask what their cost per customer is on each channel, they don’t know.

When I ask which channel has the best ROI, they don’t know.

When I ask why they’re on five channels instead of two, they say: “We’re trying to be everywhere.”

That’s not a marketing strategy. That’s hoping something works.

PE-backed companies do the exact opposite. They master one or two channels first, measure everything, and only expand when they’ve squeezed the maximum value from what’s already working.

This chapter is going to show you how to think about customer acquisition the way they do.

The Four Channels

Every customer you’ll ever acquire comes through one of four channels:

1. Referrals — Your existing customers tell friends and family

2. Reputation — People searching online find you through SEO, reviews, and your Google Business Profile

3. Paid Ads — You pay to get in front of people (Google Ads, Local Services Ads, Facebook, etc.)

4. Outreach — You proactively contact potential customers or partners

That’s it. Every marketing tactic, every platform, every strategy fits into one of these four buckets.

When someone tells you about a “new marketing channel,” ask yourself: which of the four is this? Nine times out of ten, it’s just a new flavor of one you’re already using.

Let me break each one down.

Channel 1: Referrals

Referrals are the best leads you’ll ever get.

Here’s why: A referred customer already trusts you. Their friend vouched for you. They’re not shopping five contractors — they’re calling the one person they were told to call.

The numbers back this up:

• Referred customers convert at 50-70%, compared to 10-30% for cold leads
• Referred customers are 4x more likely to buy
• Your CAC on referrals is essentially zero (maybe a small referral incentive)

The problem with referrals is they’re hard to scale. You can’t decide to “do more referrals” the way you can decide to spend more on ads.

What you can do:

• Make it easy for customers to refer (cards, links, follow-up asks)
• Incentivize referrals systematically (not just hoping they happen)
• Ask at the right time (after a successful job, not during)
• Track who refers and thank them

Most contractors treat referrals as something that just happens. PE-backed companies treat them as a system.

Channel 2: Reputation (SEO/AEO, Reviews, Google Business Profile)

When someone’s AC breaks at 2 PM in July, what do they do?

They Google “AC repair near me.”

If you’re not showing up — in the local pack, in organic results, or in Local Services Ads — you don’t exist to that customer.

This is demand capture. The customer already has a problem and is actively looking for a solution. Your job is to show up when they search.

The three pillars of reputation marketing:

Google Business Profile — This is free and non-negotiable. Optimize it. Keep it updated. Respond to every review. Add photos. Post regularly. This is often the first thing a customer sees.

Reviews — 93% of consumers read online reviews before choosing a contractor. If you have 15 reviews and your competitor has 150, guess who gets the call? Make asking for reviews part of every job completion.

Local SEO — Your website should rank for “[service] + [city]” searches. This takes time to build but compounds over years. The contractor who invested in SEO three years ago is getting free leads today.

The key metric: Cost per lead for SEO/reputation is nearly zero once established. You’re paying with time and consistency, not money. But it takes 6-12 months to see meaningful results.

Channel 3: Paid Ads

Paid advertising gives you what organic channels can’t: control and speed.

You want 50 leads next week? Run ads.

The problem is that most contractors run ads poorly. They set up a campaign, let it run, and hope for the best. Then they wonder why their cost per lead is $150 when their competitor’s is $60.

Here are the current benchmarks:

Google Local Services Ads (LSAs) are currently the best ROI for most home services contractors. You only pay when someone actually contacts you. The “Google Guaranteed” badge builds trust. And the leads are high-intent — people actively looking for your service.

If you’re not running LSAs, start there before anything else.

Google Search Ads are more expensive but give you more control. You can target specific keywords, specific geographies, specific times of day.

Facebook/Meta Ads work differently. People aren’t searching for a plumber on Facebook — you’re interrupting them. This works better for lower-urgency services (maintenance agreements, upgrades) than emergencies.

Channel 4: Outreach

Outreach is proactive prospecting. Instead of waiting for customers to find you, you go find them.

This includes:

• Property managers who need regular maintenance contractors
• Builders and GCs who need subs
• Commercial accounts that need ongoing service
• Real estate agents who recommend contractors to clients

This is demand creation. You’re not catching people who already need you. You’re building relationships so that when they need you, they call.

The advantage of outreach: these customers often have higher lifetime value. A property manager with 50 units is worth more than 50 one-time residential calls.

The disadvantage: it takes longer. You’re building relationships, not capturing transactions.

Most residential contractors underinvest in outreach because it doesn’t produce immediate results. That’s a mistake — especially once you’re past $1M in revenue and looking to build recurring revenue streams.

Demand Capture vs. Demand Creation

Let me explain a concept that changed how I think about marketing:

Demand Capture = Catching people who already need your service

Demand Creation = Making people aware they need your service (or will need it)

For trades, demand capture should always come first.

Why? Because people with broken pipes and dead furnaces are the easiest customers to convert. They already know they need you. Your only job is to show up and be trustworthy.

Demand creation is harder. You’re convincing someone who wasn’t thinking about you to think about you. That takes more touchpoints, more nurturing, more time.

PE firms focus heavily on demand capture initially — it’s the fastest path to predictable lead flow. Then they layer in demand creation for maintenance agreements and recurring revenue.

Don’t get seduced by demand creation tactics (social media, content, branding) before you’ve maxed out demand capture.

Direct response should be your primary focus but don’t neglect demand creation. It’s the only way to build a sustainable business long term which will allow you to drive down other costs overtime as your brand becomes more recognizable and trustworthy.

The #1 Mistake: Spreading Too Thin

Let me show you some math.

Contractor A spends $5,000/month across five channels:

• Google Ads: $1,000
• Facebook: $1,000
• LSAs: $1,000
• Yelp: $1,000
• Direct mail: $1,000

Each channel gets minimal budget. None gets enough data to optimize. None gets enough attention to master.

Results: 30 leads, $166 cost per lead, no idea which channel works.

Contractor B spends $5,000/month on two channels:

• LSAs: $3,000
• Google Ads: $2,000

Both channels get enough budget to generate meaningful data. The contractor can A/B test ads, optimize targeting, and learn what works.

Results: 55 leads, $91 cost per lead, clear understanding of ROI by channel.

Same budget. Nearly double the leads. Half the cost per lead.

This is why PE firms practice channel discipline. They don’t try to be everywhere. They dominate where they are.

Channel Discipline: The PE Approach

Here’s how PE-backed companies approach marketing:

Step 1: Pick One or Two Channels

Choose based on:

• Where your customers actually look
• Where you can measure ROI
• Where you have (or can develop) expertise

For most residential contractors, this is LSAs + one other (Google Ads, SEO, or referrals).

Step 2: Master Those Channels

Spend enough to get data. Test variations. Optimize relentlessly. Know your cost per lead to the dollar.

PE firms often spend 6-12 months on a single channel before adding another.

Step 3: Measure Everything

• Cost per lead by channel
• Lead-to-close conversion rate by channel
• Customer acquisition cost by channel
• Lifetime value by customer source

If you can’t answer these questions for each channel, you’re flying blind.

Step 4: Scale What Works, Cut What Doesn’t

Once you know Google Ads gives you $60 leads that close at 30% and Facebook gives you $80 leads that close at 15%, the decision is obvious.

Double down on Google. Either fix Facebook or cut it.

Step 5: Only Then Add New Channels

Once you’ve maxed out your best channel — when you’re capturing all the demand you can — then consider adding another.

The Measurement Problem

Most contractors track the wrong things.

They know how many people visited their website. They know how many Facebook likes they got. They know their ad spend.

They don’t know:

• Which channel produced which customers
• What their cost per customer is by channel
• Which customers are actually profitable

Here’s what you should track:

Example:

You spend $3,000 on LSAs and get 50 leads. That’s $60 cost per lead.

You close 35% of those leads — 17 customers. That’s $176 CAC.

Your average job is $800. Your LTV:CAC is 4.5:1.

That’s a healthy channel. Scale it.

If you can’t do this math for each channel, you’re guessing.

When to Invest in Each Channel

Your marketing strategy should evolve with your business. What works at $500K doesn’t work at $3M.

At $500K:

Focus on referrals plus one paid channel (LSAs recommended).

You don’t have the budget to do everything. You don’t have the volume to optimize multiple channels. Pick the lowest-friction path to customers.

Referrals are free. LSAs have great ROI. Start there.

At $1M:

Add SEO investment.

You now have some cash flow. Invest in your Google Business Profile, your website, and a basic SEO strategy. This won’t pay off immediately, but in 12 months you’ll have a lead source that costs almost nothing per lead.

At $2M:

Expand to 2-3 optimized channels.

You can now afford to run Google Ads properly, maintain LSAs, and have SEO working in the background. You might add outreach if you want commercial accounts.

Still don’t try to be everywhere. Just be excellent in three places.

At $3M+:

Consider demand creation.

Now you can think about maintenance agreements, service contracts, and building brand awareness for future demand. This is where content marketing, partnerships, and broader advertising start to make sense.

Response Speed: The Hidden Factor

I need to tell you something that will change your lead conversion immediately:

Speed to response is one of the biggest factors in whether a lead converts.

Research shows that emergency leads are 3x more likely to convert when responded to within 5 minutes.

Think about that. The same lead, from the same source, at the same cost — and you can 3x your conversion rate just by calling faster.

Most contractors respond in hours. The best respond in minutes.

This is why someone needs to own lead response (Chapter 3 callback). If it’s “everyone’s job” to answer leads, leads sit in inboxes while technicians are on jobs.

PE-backed companies have dedicated CSRs answering leads immediately. They know that the cost of a dedicated person is far less than the revenue lost to slow response.

This is one of the first things we install for Office OS clients — dedicated phone coverage that ensures every lead gets a human response within minutes, not hours. The ROI is immediate and measurable.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Let me quickly hit the most common marketing mistakes I see:

1. Generic Messaging

“Quality service at affordable prices” describes every contractor. If your marketing sounds like everyone else’s, customers decide on price.

What makes you different? Specific guarantees? Faster response times? Unique expertise? Say that instead.

You need to know you market, what they want and how you fulfill that in a way that is unique to your business.

If you are a commodity, you get compared to all of the other commodities. This is the fastest path to the lowest price.

2. Ignoring Your Google Business Profile

This is free and critical. Optimize it. Add photos. Respond to reviews — even negative ones. Post updates. Most of your competitors ignore this, which means you can easily outperform them.

3. Not Asking for Reviews

Reviews are social proof. They directly impact whether someone calls you. Make asking for reviews part of your process — not something you do when you remember.

4. No Follow-Up System

Not everyone who calls books immediately. If you’re not following up on estimates and inquiries, you’re leaving money on the table.

(This connects to Chapter 3: someone needs to own follow-up. This is one of the core roles we staff at Office OS — someone whose job is following up on every lead, every estimate, every opportunity.)

5. Turning Off Marketing in Slow Seasons

Marketing builds momentum. Turning it off in shoulder seasons means starting from scratch when busy season hits. Consistent marketing produces consistent leads.

6. Not Having a Clear Way to Track Metrics

Not having a clear way to track metrics means you can’t measure the success of your marketing efforts. This can lead to wasted time and resources, and ultimately, lost business.

The best businesses obsess over tracking and making sure you are sending clean signals back to the ad platforms. This means you can optimize your campaigns and get the best return on investment.