5 Habits That Lose You Money On Every Job
Are your bad habits costing you hard-earned cash? Sometimes, your business mistakes aren’t super obvious. While big issues can cause financial problems, sometimes those sneaky little bad habits determine whether you make or break your bottom line.
When we are done here today, we’ll have actionable steps that you can take to capture more cash for your business. Let’s talk about the five bad habits that lose you money on every single job.
- Not jumping on your leads
- Waiting for reviews to happen
- Not pushing your referral program.
- Ignoring your data
- Not pre-scheduling and maximizing repeat business.
Now, I know you’re out there working hard, putting in long hours, and trying to grow your business. But even the best of us can fall into bad habits. The good news? Once you recognize them, you can fix them—and that means more money in your pocket.
Not Jumping On Your Leads
Let’s talk about your lead flow. You’ve invested time and money into generating leads. Maybe you’re running ads, networking, or working on your SEO.
No matter where you get your leads from, if you are not jumping on your leads immediately, you are leaving money on the table.
It’s a common problem, especially for sole proprietors and newer businesses where you are a one-person show. It’s also one of the biggest things holding back your business.
You get busy on a big project, get distracted, and those incoming leads get pushed to the side. You may even say to yourself, “I’ll call them back in a minute,” “I’ll get to that later,” or “I’ll email them back in a bit.
By the time you make your excuse, that lead has probably already booked an appointment with your competitor.
Setting up a system to respond to leads quickly—even just a quick call or email to acknowledge the inquiry—can make a massive difference.
Years back, we had worked with a contractor who received a call from a golf course operator. The caller was looking for a new holiday lighting vendor for their property. The contractor was driving, so he asked the prospect “to call him back later” instead of pulling over to have a conversation. That was a lead that they paid for via a managed Google Ad campaign.
They let a potentially high-value contract with very good potential for repeat business go instead of prioritizing the lead.
It’s about creating consistency in initial communication AND your follow-up process so no opportunity slips through the cracks.
In your early days, when you have no other staff to answer the phone, it is appropriate to politely excuse yourself from an ongoing job or a conversation to quickly address a phone call.
If someone calls you or emails you because they want to do business, make it your priority to book them for the next step of your estimate or service process.
Waiting For Reviews To Happen “Naturally”
Everyone knows reviews are super important nowadays.
Per BrightLocal’s 2024 Local Consumer Survey, "81% of your potential customers use Google Reviews when they are selecting a company to work with."
The issue comes when you’re sitting there, staring at your Google review count, waiting for something to happen to you.
You cannot wait for review to happen naturally. The reviews that tend happen naturally and organically tend to be the negative reviews.
Instead, start to build the habit of asking for the review in person with every single job you finish.
If you ’re not proactively asking happy customers to leave you a review, you’re missing out on free marketing gold.
Asking for reviews doesn’t have to be awkward. It isn’t asking too much of your customer. It isn’t overbearing. It is just what small businesses need to do to survive.
To make it easy, you can steal this quick script for talking to customer about reviews. As soon as you finish a job and you know they are happy, say the following:
“I’m so pleased to hear that you are completely satisfied with our services. Thank you for your business. If you could help me out by sharing your story and giving us a five-star review on Google, I would greatly appreciate it. It does so much to help our small business. I’ll send you an email/text with an easy to use link.”
- Key step number one is to strike when the iron is hot and when your customer is most happy with you.
- Key step number two is to make it easy for them. Sending them a follow up email or text message, even when you are standing there with them, from your smartphone, makes doing you a favor even easier.
If you say that script and follow those two key steps, you’ll get more online reviews.
Even better, if you pair all of that with an automated review management system, you’ll get even more reviews.
Being active instead of waiting for reviews to happen will help you to build more positive reviews faster which ultimately attracts more new customers to your business.
Not Pushing A Referral Program
Client referrals can be a steady source of new business for any contractor or home service company.
But there is a difference between just suggesting it would be a good idea to spread the work and rewarding past happy customers for their referrals.
If you are not currently pushing a referral program, you need to develop an incentivized referral program. That means you pay or give gift cards to someone who refers a new paying customer to you.
Once you have a well-defined referral program in place, build a new habit to talk up your referral program as you close out your final interactions with your customers.
Chances are, between talking about your customer service, asking for the review, and now pushing an incentive-based referral program – you’re going to be giving your customers a ton of information. Make life easier for you and for your customers by having support print material to help your cause.
We’ve talked about referral programs in much more detail previously, so you’ve got options for how to build your referral army.
No matter what reward you choose, build a new habit to promote your referral program so that you can turn your satisfied clients into your biggest advocates.
Ignoring Your Data
Keeping your business going is more than completing your craft, marketing, advertising, and customer service.
There’s also the numbers side to your business - and it is a big one that often gets overlooked.
I get it. If you’re an expert in your trade and you’re starting a new business, you’re now also expected to be an expert in marketing, customer service, and financial management.
But understanding and tracking your financial data and your job costs can transform your business profit.
As with most things business, you want to surround yourself with more highly skilled people and vendors than yourself when it is possible.
You need to have a understanding of how to craft a simple P&L Statement or “Profit and Loss Statement”
- At its most basic level…
- You have one column of a spreadsheet that shows your revenue. That’s the money you accepted from customers as payment for services rendered. Add up all of that revenue so that you have a “gross revenue”
- You have a second column of that spreadsheet to show your expenses. That’s the money you had to spend to operate your business - like paying people, equipment costs, insurance, phone bills, etc. Add up all of those expenses so that you have your “total expenses”
- Then take your “gross revenue” minus your “total expenses” and voila - you have your “net income”
Companies use a P&L on a monthly or annual basis to everything balances out appropriately to grow your business.
Having an understand of your net income helps you figure out if you are overspending or undercharging in your business. Having up to date data will help your business to make smarter decisions about pricing, hiring, and growth opportunities.
Not Pre-Scheduling Or Maximizing Repeat Business
We’ve already talked about how past customers are valuable from the perspective of referrals. But don’t forget that your previous happy customers are prime targets for repeat business.
So many contractors focus on getting new business and forget about the customers they already have. Repeat business is easier to get and costs way less than finding brand-new clients.
If you’ve completed a job, don’t let that be the last time your customer hears from you. Offer additional services, seasonal check-ins, or maintenance plans to stay top of mind. Even a simple email or postcard reminder can encourage them to book again. It’s all about nurturing those existing relationships for long-term success.
Depending on your industry, you could even pre-schedule for your next service before you even pull away from the customer’s property. If your company offers routine maintenance, seasonal services, or follow-up inspections - book your customers next service weeks or months in advance.
Lawn care companies can schedule their next mowing or seasonal clean up. Pressure washers can schedule an annual visit. Electricians can book a future safety inspection. HVACs can book the next season’s tune-up.
Build a new habit to encourage clients, perhaps with an early booking discount or a service club, to schedule future work with you to pre-fill your schedule as much as possible to maintain a steady flow of business.
Those are the five habits that could be draining your profits:
- Not jumping on your leads
- Waiting for reviews to happen
- Not pushing your referral program.
- Ignoring your data
- Not pre-scheduling and maximizing repeat business.
The best part? These aren’t hard fixes. They just take a little intention and some consistent effort.
If you need a little help to set good habits to grow your business, the pros here at Footbridge Media are always here to help. Our contractor marketing program is a great place to start.
"Contractor Marketing Tips And Tricks" - The Footbridge Media Podcast
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.
