Author Archives: Account Management Team

We are pleased to announce a new feature to the CraftJack Lead Manager where service professionals can immediately request reviews from leads. If the homeowner complies, the review would then be published on your CraftJack and ImproveNet profiles.

As you know, contractors need reviews. Before any project, consumers will undoubtedly look at your profile and see what past clients are saying. Likewise, our homeowners see your profiles before that first phone call. A pro with numerous positive reviews will always have the upper hand compared with those who don’t.

As temperatures cool, so does home remodeling work. Despite the upcoming slow season, 2015 has shaped up to be a very good year in terms of home remodeling and home buying. In fact, single-family housing starts have hit their highest levels since 2007!

That’s just a piece of the good news we found over the last few weeks. Below are the stories you need know regarding home improvement.

This month, we released two new trade categories. All contractors can now sign up to receive plumbing and gutter leads. If you are a current CraftJack contractor, you can add the new services in your CraftJack Lead Manager.

If you are not currently signed up with CraftJack, you can see all plumbing categories here and all gutter and downspout categories here.

As the year moves on, we get a clearer picture of the home remodeling landscape for 2015. Early on, signs were positive. Then, certain numbers began to decrease. Fortunately, more experts are starting to agree that 2015 is shaping out to be a very good year for contracting services.

If the recent stories below are any indication, it looks like our good fortune is not going away anytime soon.

If there are specific trends or news sources you want us to follow, please let us know in the comments section below or email me at jacob.hurwith@craftjack.com.

Recently, we showed you how to create high-quality videos using smart lighting, a microphone and a computer, but unfortunately, many of you wont have access to such equipment out in the field. That is why Noah is back showing you how to create, edit and upload an excellent video with just your iPhone.

Much like your other videos, this video will be perfect for your website, CraftJack profile or social media pages.

“Don’t give up, don’t ever give up.” Those aren’t just famous words spoken by the great Jim Valvano, but words to live by in lead generation.

As Noah discusses below, following up, even when someone has shot you down for a current project, can bring new light. Just because a homeowner wasn’t ready for their flooring project in January doesn’t mean they are not interested in redoing their floors this summer.

As such, reconnecting with old customers is always a smart decision. See why and how below!

Lead generation is always a two-way street. Homeowners are coming in and contractors are coming out. Too often, we forget about the homeowner perspective and solely focus on the contractor side of the street. Not today.

CraftJack recently made some improvements to your profile as well as the profile match page homeowners see as they search for available contractors. Watch below as Noah goes over all the changes that should improve your close ratio and ROI.

If you have any questions about your profile, please email us as support@craftjack.com.

Having entrenched myself in the marketing arena for over five years now, I have seen quite a few changes. In the old days, billboard signs, newspaper ads, TV commercials and word of mouth marketing reigned supreme. If you wanted to get the word out there, all you had to do was utilize one of these channels.

Today, most of those avenues will not work (with the exception of word of mouth). Consumers are spending more and more time online and therefore, your marketing strategy must adjust. The companies that will withstand the test of time are blogging, interacting with fans on social media, buying digital ads on prominent publications and making YouTube videos. Clearly, these companies are adjusting.

Speed and persistence are key to lead generation, but if you are not prepared for what lies ahead, quickness and tenacity won’t matter. That is because many contractors call potential clients unprepared and end up losing out on that valuable revenue.

Nonetheless, the good news is that you can easily prepare yourself for every referral call you make by answering the following nine questions. For an extra boost of confidence the next time you pick up the phone, prepare by reading through the following questions.

Following up is a key piece of lead generation. While we would like to get in contact with all our referrals on the first call, reality and stats show that is just not the case.

For all those referrals who you didn’t get in contact with or asked to be contacted next fall, summer, etc, the follow up function in the CraftJack Lead Manager will certainly ease your scheduling woes.