How to influence tradesmen

How to influence tradesmen

The big challenge we are often asked to help with – for building products, tools and other services – is how to best reach tradesmen/contractors and influence their preferences. This post introduces some of the main aspects to consider.

Change with the times
As with many markets, the buying process for building products has changed, with tradesmen using many different resources for information and advice, including Google, Facebook and Twitter, forming strong opinions about you before you’ve even reached out to them directly. There is of course much scepticism and little willingness to accept at face value what a company itself is saying. And now even the merchants, who used to be depended on for advice, are also less influential today.

Tradesmen are, more than ever before, turning to broader third party/word of mouth opinions, feedback and peer group recommendations which are broadly available through multiple online channels.

They are now effectively shopping more like general consumers: looking things up at any time of the day or night, with high expectations, and demanding accurate, quality information.

The most successful players today focus on helping to make this possible, by curating information and comparisons, facilitating forums and ensuring details and discussions are accessible and easily found.

Understand and relate to their points of interest

Some things have not changed. Tradesmen are still passionate about their preferences but are often resistant to change.

This is because change always carries risk. They rely heavily on their tools to help them do their job efficiently and to gain an end result that everyone is happy with. Therefore, convincing them of the benefits of change takes substantial marketing effort.

We are always surprised by how little some companies selling to tradesmen actually know about them! Talk to the foremen on a site or gain insights from a focus group with tradesmen – don’t try and sell to them but take an interest in their problems and priorities. And crucially, don’t underestimate their commercial instinct, sophistication and initiative.

The types of things that are of interest generally include:

• Reducing man hours and increasing efficiency
• Materials cost, liability, call backs – no quibble guarantees
• Delivery times, availability and access to any replacements later
• Training, customer service, help and advice
• Finished quality and the wow factor
• More profit opportunities, through sales or referrals, making themselves more successful

Be thinking about how to position your products and services in ways that will help them be more efficient, or how to make their lives easier. Fitting in more jobs, by being able to work faster, means that they can make more money, but tradesmen also want to do things better. It is imperative for them to avoid time-consuming and costly call backs, as well as wanting to actively create a finished effect with wow factor. They take enormous pride in their work, so don’t be caught out thinking you should only be practical – be seen to be helping them achieve a superior and stunning outcome.

The important thing in marketing to tradesmen is to talk about what matters to them, such as how to achieve a better finish, fewer cracks/breakages, and speedier installation. Small details can make a big impression – not only with the builders, but also with their customers, which can be very good for their future business and referrals.

You also need to be patient! You will not achieve conversion to your products or services overnight – as we’ve said before, tradesmen are often wary of changing brands because of the risk of a sub-standard finish or the hassle in being let down. However, a continual drip feed of consistent messages and spreading positive testimonials from other tradesmen will start to have an impact.

Smarter ways to reach tradesmen

Tradesmen are everywhere, so marketing to them can be as costly as mass marketing to broad consumer audiences, but think smarter and target your visibility to those places where tradesmen will see your messaging, and position yourselves in a way that will engage their interest. Simply pushing your name or product will not work.

Tradesmen aren’t necessarily reading the latest trade publications or looking at company websites on a regular basis. When they are looking, they are probably not looking for products – they are looking for help, practical advice and solutions.

Be found for advice

Like the rest of us, tradesmen are mostly using Google to search for answers. Those manufacturers who create and relate their content to common issues are more likely to be found, but don’t just shout about your products or provide superficial information only to lure them in – take a genuine interest in helping them out with broader advice and helpful tips.

Connecting to tradesmen on their work challenges is far more likely to engage them on an emotional level than simply trying to sell something with a long list of features and benefits. Be the trusted authority they can turn to for advice, provide thought-leading articles that deal with the type of problems they face, and pose helpful solutions that are not all about just selling your products.

Social media is certainly a channel that can be helpful to tradesmen in large numbers, but remember it’s still about quality content and helpful tips – not quantity of mentions.

Just like us all, tradesmen will need several positive interactions before strong perceptions start to form, and as everyone absorbs messages in different ways, it’s good to repurpose messages into different types of content, e.g. infographics, videos, top tips lists, etc.

Try and get links and mentions from other parties – be they journalists, trade bodies or tradesmen testers/bloggers. Help them showcase photos of finished projects or key benefits for tradesmen. We are all far more likely to buy from those we’ve heard something about in a positive sense through third parties.

Choose your channels

• Emails are still a top priority – so long as you have a clean and opted in contact list. Emails are also very trackable – you can measure open rates, where readers are clicking, and interpret what sort of content is most relevant to them, enabling you to plan your next email to be more effective. However, don’t abuse email! Give quality, helpful information in a way which is tradesman-focused, not product-focused.

• Facebook has 3 key tools: pages, ads and groups.
  • Pages: Pages for businesses are similar to consumer profiles on Facebook, with a bit more functionality. You can create useful tabs for images, videos or webinars, and post fun and interesting posts on your wall which will show up in news feeds of those who ‘like’ you. You need to build up likes and followers and it can take a while to build a fan base. Keep a casual and straight-talking tone of voice for best effect.
  • Ads: Adverts can be targeted to certain geographical users, ages, trade specialisms etc. They work well if you offer click through to fun or interesting information, but you must monitor and adapt continually to get the best ROI.
  • Groups: Groups are like discussion forums, where you can relate to the wider industry, although these can be very time-consuming to keep up the dialogue required.
• Twitter can expand your reach with new and existing customers.
  • Perhaps the most immediate advantage is listening to conversations on Twitter which can inform you on topics appropriate for you to develop content on, and become more helpful and involved in tradespeoples’ daily needs.
  • It is especially useful for connecting with current issues and topics of conversation. It provides an opportunity for you to give customer support in real time, to build relationships, and allows you to connect with other influencers, such as bloggers and journalists. Look for active Twitter tradesmen and interact with them on a regular basis – with useful information!
  • Retweet content you are happy to support. Don’t be blinkered to only your own product/service offerings – look for tweets that are relevant for your audience.
  • As with other media, images, videos and graphics receive more views and interaction than words alone.
• Blogs – well written informative blogs are vital.
  • Take topics identified via Twitter and create a blog which helpfully gives a perspective to help tradesmen avoid or overcome certain problems. This will help to make you become the ‘go to’ supplier.
  • Make sure your content can be easily scanned – few tradesmen want or need heavy whitepapers on your specialist subject! Think about story telling in your content to ensure it’s more memorable and repeatable to others. Readers will then literally spread the word for you!
  • Explain comparative advantages and disadvantages and/or give intelligent practical tips and opinions that open up comment and conversation.
• LinkedIn – is now just starting to build some momentum for reaching out to tradesmen and contractors.
  • Tradesmen are increasingly turning to all forms of social media themselves to reach more customers, and LinkedIn helps them look more established to promote their business.
  • As their familiarity and activity on LinkedIn grows, they’re becoming more receptive to also receiving messages and interacting with groups and suppliers through this channel.
  • Be active in any relevant groups or instigate a new one to help answer questions posed. This way you will be noticed and appreciated for not pushing your sales messages, but for providing useful advice.
  • Paid advertising may be also worth considering and testing.

React sensitively to the customer journey

Once contacts have engaged with a few pieces they find interesting, they may be more inclined to reveal personal details for more direct contact via email or sales/service lines. Success at this critical point requires sales and marketing efforts to be closely aligned, otherwise there can be a real disconnect in the tradesman’s experience – for example if there is a sudden change in the tone of voice they receive from the company.

Be careful to map out the customer experience – offer content that inspires them to pass over their details or to supplement any contact they make. Make sure sales are kept in the loop on marketing information that’s been made available, and keep the approach focussed around the customer needs: service their enquiry, don’t start overt selling! This is of course well known, but cooperation and information sharing between marketing and sales often has plenty of room for improvement!

Sales people still hold many insights from closer contact at the frontline with customers. Their understanding of what customers want can be extremely useful to marketers – identifying the possible solutions that marketing can create content and advice on. Sales often don’t appreciate how useful marketing effort can be to warm up customers and make them more receptive to buying, saving themselves time.

Final note

It’s not just what you say and where you say it, it’s also how you say it. Get savvy on what will engage your audience and impress them – how you relate to them and capture hearts and minds.

Tradesmen have to like and trust you – just like their mate in the pub. Put all your content to the test with this in mind and check the ‘take out’ feeling. Creating likeable content is the key to success. Although it doesn’t all have to be fun, games and offers. Most are seeking out knowledge, help and expertise – so give this in form that can be enjoyed and is easy to relate to. Then you’ll have the most success with the trade.

To further explore how to influence tradesmen contact Rachel Arquati on +44 1285 626000 or email r.arquati@clearb2b.com