ChatGPT Prompts To Help Contractors And Home Service Providers Get More Leads
Are you using AI to help with your business? I’ve got 6 ChatGPT prompts to help contractors and home service providers build their businesses and get more leads.
ChatGPT has been around for about two years now. Just about everyone knows that it exists - but I know there are contractors out there who may not have figured out how to take this tool and make it really work for them.
To get you started on your AI-infused contractor marketing and business development journey, I’ve got 6 sample ChatGPT prompts that small business owners can really use. These are some good starters to get you thinking about how you can use AI to assist in making business decisions.
#1 - Using ChatGPT To Find High-Income Neighborhoods or Target HOAs
Maybe you’re looking to branch out and find new places to advertise and get new business. In more rural areas, you may already know where you want to work. For anyone in more densely populated areas, you may not know every neighborhood or HOA in town. So get ChatGPT to help with this prompt.
I'm a CONTRACTOR in LOCATION. I'm looking for affluent neighborhoods/HOAs to target for my services. What zip codes or communities near me have the highest per capita income? Complete a web search to complete this task. Sort starting with the most ideal target.
Even using the free version of ChatGPT, you get limited access to ChatGPT4. GPT-4 allows basic web search capabilities - meaning it can find real-time data about your community.
Try this prompt and review the results. You could try doorhangers, social media ads, Google Local Service Ads, and more to try to target these areas with deeper pockets.
#2 - Asking ChatGPT To Help Prepare Your Project Page Content
We always recommend that contractors use individual project pages - mini-case studies - to show searchers and search engines exactly what you do. Preparing text content can be difficult - so you can absolutely use AI to help. Try this prompt.
I'm a CONTRACTOR in LOCATION. I recently finished a job, took pictures, and want to create some text content to place on my website regarding this project. The goal is to create content that would look nice to people but also rank well in search engines. The final content should be about 500 words, including bullet points. Ask me any questions necessary to help me prepare this text content.
The neat part with this prompt is that ChatGPT will reply and have a conversation with you. It will ask you the necessary questions to ensure the AI understands the work you’ve done. You can reply with short phrases or bullet points to interact with ChatGPT in conversation. This means you can have some nice, accurate content without needing to write everything out yourself.
#3 - Assistance from ChatGPT For Replying To Reviews
Review replies in Google are important but sometimes tedious. ChatGPT does very well in places where you may just plain get burned out on repetition. Try out this prompt
I'm a CONTRACTOR in LOCATION. I just got a positive review from NAME - "REVIEWHERE". How should I reply to their review as a business?
Including the full text of your newly obtained review provides good enough context to start. Of course, if you have any specific customer notes or moments that you remember from the client interaction, you can certainly add that to the prompt.
#4 - Sales Training With Help From ChatGPT
Most home service companies and contractors start new businesses because they are experts in their field, not necessarily in sales.
Sales are a big part of running a business. Using this prompt can help.
I'm a CONTRACTOR in LOCATION. I'm trying to sell SERVICE to my customers. What are the common objections I will get from customers, and what I can say to overcome those objections?
Knowing what a person’s complaints and pushbacks will be before your customer opens their mouth will allow you to be prepared to counter their arguments.
It demonstrates your industry expertise and can help you to close sales more effectively.
#5 - Finding Partnership Opportunities and Local Connections with ChatGPT
Networking is a big part of marketing. But you’re also busy taking care of customers. Using ChatGPT and this specific prompt can help to give you a good jumping off point.
I'm a CONTRACTOR in LOCATION. I'd like to make local connections and network more to get better local referrals. Complete a web search to complete this task. What organizations or people near me would help with that? Please include links or contact information where you can.
From there, you can do a little bit of research using the provided data and find some individuals or organizations to help you make the local connects appropriate to develop partnerships.
#6 - Identifying The Right Customers Based on Your Industry’s Conditions Via ChatGPT
This prompt is a bit loose right now, but it really needs to be customized to fit your specific industry and sales needs.
I'm a CONTRACTOR in LOCATION. I am looking to market directly to homeowners who are good targets for TIMELY SERVICE. What zip codes or communities/areas were built at a time that would be ideal for my TIMELY SERVICE?
So here - if you are an HVAC contractor - you can ask ChatGPT to help with finding communities where the originally installed HVAC equipment is getting ready to fail.
Roofers could find communities that were built 15-20 years ago and reach out for repair and replacement services.
Painters, pressure washers, lots of industries can find areas worth targeting using this tactic.
You can use this location data to complete social media ads, EDDM postcards, door hangers, yard signs, and a variety of other marketing avenues to take advantage of these customers in need.
Caveats And Warnings On Working With ChatGPT
If you’re already pretty savvy with ChatGPT and pay for the service, chances are you’ll get less AI hallucination and bad information.
If you’re using the free version of ChatGPT, you only get so many GPT-4 searches per day - and those are important if you’re running any prompts that require the “web search” component.
If you try to run those without GPT-4 capabilities - there are pretty solid chances that the AI will just make up fake names or URLs - so remember to double check any contact info or website addresses you get when working with AI.
Otherwise, you can try these ChatGPT prompts to experiment with a little AI and try to get some more unique insight into ways that you can expand your business.
If you need help expanding your contractor business, the pros at Footbridge Media are ready to help.
About Chris Lonergan
Chris Lonergan has over 12 years of contractor marketing experience with Footbridge Media. With a background in web design, print design, content creation, and online marketing, Chris is focused on providing quality marketing and business solutions in the construction and service industries - helping small business owners to more efficiently manage their companies and grow their operations.
Chris Lonergan has previously contributed to and/or been featured in PM Magazine (Plumbing & Mechanical | Contractors x Engineers), theNEWS (ACHR - Air Conditioning | Heating | Refrigeration), Service Roundtable's blog, inPAINT Magazine, the SMB Marketing Agency Show, and the Green Industry Podcast. Chris is also a past SGI/CertainPath breakout session presenter.
