Increase Sales in Decorative Concrete with an Email Drip Campaign

What if I could show you how to make more of your face-to-face estimates? Or even reduce the number of estimates you need to go on to meet your income goals?

We use an email drip campaign strategy in our own business and with our Decorative Concrete Engine clients to consistently increase their closing ratios by 20-30%.

Benefits of Increasing Your Closing Ratio

Let's say you need two jobs weekly to meet your financial goals in decorative concrete.

The industry average closing ratio is 25%, so that means you'll need to go on eight estimates a week to book two jobs.

Pro Tip: Know your numbers. If you don't know your closing ratio, you can't determine how many estimates you need to meet your income goals.

I know you're out there meeting with potential customers and getting the job done. There are several benefits to increasing your closing ratio.

Benefit #1

The first benefit is a decrease in the number of leads required to book the same amount of business.

If you need fewer leads to book the same number of jobs, your marketing dollars can go further.

Benefit #2

The second benefit is a decrease in the number of estimates needed to meet your goals.

Imagine the time and effort you will save if you only have to go on four estimates a week instead of eight.

Benefit #3

The third benefit is the ability to scale your business.

If you can go on eight estimates a week and book four jobs instead of two, you might be able to add another crew and scale your business.

Email Drip Campaign Strategy

Now that we've discussed the benefits of increasing your closing ratio let's discuss a strategy to get it done.

The strategy we use to help our Decorative Concrete Engine clients increase their closing ratio by 20-30% is an email drip campaign after the estimate.

Let's say you've gone out on the face-to-face estimate, done all the right things, asked about their hot-button issues, addressed those issues with a product solution in your offering, covered all the benefits, presented the numbers, asked for the check, and you were not able to close the sale on the spot.

Your next step is to follow up with a written proposal via email and start the drip campaign.

You might think this is a good time to offer a discount, and I want to address that in a minute, so stick around to the end, and we'll talk about when it's appropriate to use discounts to acquire a new customer.

But back to the email drip campaign strategy.

An email drip campaign is a series of pre-planned, automated messages to prospective clients to encourage them to accept your estimate.

Here is our exact email drip campaign strategy that you can implement. It includes five emails. Click here for a free PDF resource with all five emails.

These emails will automatically be sent out a set number of days from the initial proposal. So when I say two days out or 30 days out, it is from the date of the original estimate.

Email #1

You'll send the first follow-up email two days after you send the written estimate.

In this email, you'll simply say, "I'm just making sure you got the estimate," and give them the option to accept the estimate at this point.

Pro Tip: This first follow-up email is sent in plain text with no attachments or logos. We do that on purpose so it doesn't get flagged by junk or spam filters.

Email #2

You'll send the 2nd follow-up email seven days after your initial estimate email.

All of our emails are short and sweet and ask the customer to respond.

In this email, we wanted to know if they had a chance to review the estimate and give them the option to accept the estimate or reply with questions.

Email #3

The third follow-up email will go out 14 days after the initial estimate.

This email reminds the customer that we schedule installs 60 days out and that they'll need to accept the estimate and pay their deposit if they want to get on the schedule.

Email #4

The fourth follow-up email is sent 28 days after the initial estimate.

It will basically say, "It's been a while since we met. We'd love to complete this project for you. Do you need to make changes to fit your budget, or are you ready to schedule the proposed work?"

As with all other emails, we ask the customer to accept the estimate and move forward with the next step.

Email #5

This last follow-up email is 365 days after the initial estimate.

This email will basically say, "It's been a year since we met last. If you haven't had the work done, we'd love to complete the project, and you might qualify for a discount."

I will talk about why we offer the discount at this point in a minute, but you might think it's a waste of time to follow up with a potential customer if it's been a year since you met with them.

It's not a waste of time.

In fact, I got a response from a customer just last week responding to the one-year follow-up email.

It's amazing how many people put things on the back burner because other expenses take precedence, but this email reminds them that they really want to look at this.

And you're the only person in the industry that's following up like this. Other contractors have long forgotten about that customer. This type of follow-up sets you apart from the rest.

Those are the five emails in our drip campaign strategy, and I increase my closing ratio by 20-30% with this simple automated strategy. I've also seen my DCE clients consistently increase their closing ratios by the same amount.

You may think this is a great idea, but you don't have the time and expertise to set up this kind of automation.

That's why we recommend a system that completely automates all of this without any additional effort or thought on your part. It's as simple as when you complete your estimate, this drip campaign automatically begins.

If you sign up for the same system using this link, our sample emails and timed campaigns are already in there. It is truly plug-and-play for you.

BONUS: When to Offer Discounts

Before we wrap up, I promised a bonus discussion on when it's appropriate to use discounts to acquire a new customer.

You may think that discounting your products and services is an excellent way to increase your closing ratio, but I want to caution you.

If you've built your pricing correctly, your product costs, material costs, and profit margins are accurate and built into your estimate.

You do not want to discount your services. Period.

You might push back on me and say, "But, Ron, you just said that the last email in your drip campaign offered a discount."

It is only appropriate to offer a discount when you've run the numbers and understand the cost of acquiring a new customer.

Your acquisition cost is the money it takes to attract a new lead, go out on the estimate, and ultimately acquire that customer.

You have ongoing marketing costs, and your time holds value, so offering a discount to an existing estimate you've already put all the legwork into makes sense.

However, the discount should be limited to the acquisition cost and the investment you've already made in generating the estimate.

For example, it is cheaper for me to offer a $250 discount on an estimate that I did 90 days ago than to start from scratch attracting a new lead, having my office schedule the estimate, and having me go out on the estimate.

In summary, don't give discounts. But if you do, make sure it makes financial sense.

Protect your profit margin.

Don't have a poverty mindset.

There's a lot of business out there.

So There You Have It

You now have three benefits for increasing your closing ratio and a detailed email drip campaign strategy to get that done.

And as a bonus, the appropriate time and way to offer a discount.

Don't forget to grab that one-page pdf of the email drip campaign HERE.

And when you click the link HERE for our preferred client relationship management system with the automated drip campaign included, there's a free trial for you. (If you are a CTi Dealer, use THIS LINK instead so that the emails and the products are pre-loaded.)

If you're ready to launch or re-launch your decorative concrete business, we'd love to be your partner for success, whether it's investing in our online course or opting for custom coaching.