Local Business Growth

If you run your own business (big or small), you want to grow – plain and simple.
In this Handbook, we give you FREE advice on how to set your business up for
major growth.
Our goal is simple: to help you win as many clients as possible in the simplest
and most cost-efficient ways.
Table of Contents
Intro
The Free Listings
Social Media
Cost per Click
Premium Listings
Discounts & Deals
Pay per Lead/Introduction
Pay per Transaction (“On Demand”)
Customer Referrals
Final Thoughts

Intro
Where are leads and how can the Handbook help?
When we say “leads” we mean your potential clients. And where are they?
They’re online. That’s just a fact. And rule #1 of growth is: be where your clients
are.
If you’re either just starting out or if you’ve been in business for 20+ years, you
need to be at the center of where consumers search for the help and service they
need. Clients nowadays search in all types of different ways for specific services.
In our Handbook, we outline the most useful lead generation and advertising
platforms on the internet today as it relates to getting new clients. We explain the
pros and cons of each platform, to help you better understand upfront (before
investing any time or money) if specific platforms will work for you, if they will
help you reach your growth goals, and what risks are presented with each. We
also give you detailed tips on how to get started so if you do choose to
experiment with a platform, you can be up and running in a matter of minutes.
Lest it also not be forgotten – one of the best resources to tap for growth is
actually your own client base. With a reported 83% of all clients wanting to refer
the professional they like, it’s important to learn crucial tools to help drive your
customers to do your marketing for you (as outlined herein)!
In short, we want to help you grow to something a little something like this…
We put this Handbook together to help you use all these customer acquisition
channels effectively, and in the most cost-effective and time-saving ways
possible.

The Free Listings
The idea with free listings is just that – they’re free. You want to make sure your
business profile and contact information are on as many of these free listings as
you possibly can. The reason for this is because many clients do some sort of
research about your business before they reach out about a job request.
The more your profile is present across the web, the more comfortable clients get
that you’re a legitimate business. Not to mention, getting your profile and
business on as many sites as possible builds up your SEO (“Search Engine
Optimization”), so that your name pops up on Google search results when a
client is doing a search for [service industry] in [city, state].
In addition, free listings give you a helpful platform on which to build public
customer reviews and content, which will in turn help your business go viral.
What’s the deal?
Yelp is probably one of the more popular sites when it comes to consumers
searching for services. The reason is because Yelp has amassed a highly
engaged community of people who are passionate about writing reviews on
businesses they have dealt with. In turn, the site is very useful to have your own
clients write glowing reviews to help you grow…that’s the magic here.
Once you set up a Yelp account, send every single client you’ve done business
with in the past a link to leave a review on your profile. And don’t worry – this is
not an abnormal request. Your clients won’t hate you for asking them for a
review. Most customers know how helpful Yelp can be and just need to be asked
directly to leave you a review. Your customers are busy with their own lives as
well, so send follow up emails if clients don’t review you right off the bat. Send
one, then another 1 week later, one more 2 weeks later, and finally a last one 3
weeks later. Then stop. You want to remind clients to review you but 3-5 follow
up emails is a good amount until emailed requests start becoming “spammy”.
Adding reviews to your profile is important because the more reviews you build
on your Yelp profile, the higher up you show on Yelp’s search results. Essentially
you’re leveraging your clients to help you with marketing. Yelp gives your current
clients a voice to express their opinion of you, which puts you more prominently
in front of new clients searching for services in your industry and location. Put
some upfront effort in to really get clients to leave you reviews. Heck, even ask a
few friends to leave you positive reviews to get the ball rolling. It depends on your
industry and location, but the global rule is the more positive reviews the more
likely you will reach that #1 listing…

The secondary effect in building up a Yelp profile is that many other (smaller)
directories use the ratings data on Yelp as their own reviews. Yelp allows other
platforms to tap into business reviews, and display Yelp reviews all over the web.
So building up your brand and quality rating profile on Yelp will indeed pay
dividends for you across the web.
How do I set it up?
Go and “claim” your business profile here: https://biz.yelp.com/ Search for your
business – just so you know, sometimes Yelp will auto-add businesses to their
site or clients will add businesses even without being asked by the business
owner. If you don’t see your business listed, then just tap on the “Add your
business” link towards the bottom of the page…

Setup takes just a couple minutes, and then you are free and clear to share your
business profile link to all your current clients!
What are the risks?
Yelp has been known for its sketchy “fake review” strategies. That is, if you don’t
pay to advertise on Yelp (we’ll cover that in the “Paid” section of this Handbook),
then they’ve been known to sick fake 1-star reviews on your account to penalize
you. This topic has been widely covered and has been consistently denied by
Yelp management: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/yelp-extortion/
There’s no real way to fight this risk. The one thing I will say is make sure you
have your profile on other platforms (as discussed below) as well so in case the
“review-extortion” happens to you, clients can see more legitimate reviews of
your business elsewhere.
What’s the deal?
You might think of Facebook (“FB”) as a place to simply share photos and
comments with friends, but FB has spent a considerable amount of time and
money building up its business ecosystem – specifically for small business and
service providers.
Facebook just recently launched it Facebook Services search product:
https://www.facebook.com/services. That means consumers looking to search,
browse and book local service professionals can now do so easily on Facebook
(albeit they are in the early stages of this search directory). Translation: you want
your business to have a Facebook Business page ASAP.
Similar to Yelp, once you set up your FB business page, start filling it up with
content. First off that means reviews. Send your FB page to clients and friends

(either email them your link or message them your link through FB messenger)
and ask them to post reviews on your page. That not only will make you look like
a higher quality business to prospective clients, but will now boost your ranking
on the new FB services search…
Other “content” (as I mentioned above) means photos and posts. Show off your
personality, build your brand – post pictures and any relevant articles or
announcements that are relevant to your business. Even post deals or coupons.
Show visiting clients that there is indeed activity and engagement going on on
your FB page. Let prospective clients know that there’s a person behind that
business name.
The great thing about FB is that clients can like, comment and message you –
loads of ways to engage with current clients and show off engagement to leads.
Not to mention – the average American spend 40 minutes a day on Facebook, so
you’ll be showing activity where your future customers are spending tons of time.
How do I set it up?
Setting up is easy and free. Just go to “Create a Page” FB. Choose “Local
Business or Place” as your entity, and then choose the correct “category” and
sub categories…these and also your location are important so that you show up
on the relevant search results when FB users are searching for service
professionals around them.

One other crucial setup piece is to make sure – once your FB page is live – is to
give clients a CALL-TO-ACTION on your page. That means giving them
something to do once they arrive on your page, read your content, and are ready
to reach out. FB added a “Book Now” call-to-action. You can link to your website
or any nifty booking tool you have already set up (e.g., like an FB booking link).
What are the risks?
Facebook requires a good amount of time to keep investing in. If you set it up
and don’t continue to post status updates, announcements, photos, etc., then
your business can look a bit dull and inactive. That might reflect on your very
brand – inactive, not particularly caring, unresponsive even. Now, that’s probably
not true (since we know that most professionals like you are simply busy), but
with so many professionals to choose from and so many platforms to search
through, prospective clients have the ability to be picky and jump to conclusions.
Get in the habit of posting at least 2-3 times a week some sort of relevant content
to make your clients feel comfortable that you are the man or woman for the job!

What’s the deal?
Google’s fundamental search platform has allowed other products to evolve –
specifically to help promote local professionals. Google Local or Google My
Business allows you to get listed and show up on Google search results in a
more relevant fashion.
Google processes over 40,000 search queries every second, so it makes sense
that your profile should show up in Google search results. Adding your business
profile on Google will ensure you show up in the major search engine’s results
list. Similar to previous free listing sites, fill up your profile with client reviews so
your business can show up as close to the top of search results as possible.
Google is always a great place to appear because it’s just a box that can be
checked – in the client’s mind – about your business’s legitimacy. Not to mention,
setting up your business account will allow you to delve into other Google
advertising products (as discussed herein) to evaluate their usefulness in terms
of growth.
How do I set it up?

Set up your business to be listed on Google: https://www.google.com/business/
You’ll be able to find your business (if it’s already listed somewhere on Google),
or add it yourself. In a matter of minutes you’ll have your profile live, and it’s up to
you to start sharing it with clients to update reviews!
What are the risks?
Just like with many Google products, Google My Business has not seen a lot of
active investment from Google (so it seems). That means the amount of
information a client can find on your Google profile is rather limited. A screenshot
below is an example of what your business will look like – not as content-rich as
other listing platforms.
In addition (and unfortunately), your business is always listed next to competing
professionals so the client can never really get a focused view on just you with a
bit of distraction.
What’s the deal?
Craigslist used to be one of the highest trafficked sites across the internet. It
was the place to go if you want to buy or list any services, products, etc.
It still is highly trafficked although not as “professional” (per se) in terms of
purchasing and offering local services as its peers. But don’t get me wrong –
interested clients are still on the platform.
Clients can go on and search the Services section of Craigslist:

So depending on the industry they are searching for, prospect clients can search
in an industry section and browse the postings of those people who offer the
requisite services. Searching for a music lessons? The choices are plentiful of
local folks willing to help – each posting can be clicked on with your – the
professional’s – details.
As you can probably see for yourself, the marketplaces and directories today are
enhanced versions of this type of model with better design and offerings. But at
the end of the day, this is commerce at in its most basic form, and a place where
you can absolutely meet interested customers.

How do I set it up?
Go to the account creation page on Craigslist, and all you need is an email to set
up an account. No one can browse your profile – people can only browse
classifieds (that’s what Craigslist calls job posts) that you post. So go create one.
Go to your home screen and tap on the top left where it says “Post to
classifieds”, then choose the “Service offered” option so your post fits in the
proper category.
There you’ll be able to fill out the specifics of your skills and offerings. You can
post as much or as little detail as to the services you provide in each posting –
totally up to you. I would try to appear as legitimate and detailed as you can,
since Craigslist doesn’t have reviews or other types of fancy content posting
ability like other directories. You can of course share your business information
and sources to other places where potential clients can find out more information
about you.
What are the risks?
Craigslist unfortunately can be known for some sketchy dealings. There’s limited
oversight so posting can definitely filter into the “adult services” bracket, which
generally attracts sketchier types of folks.
Due to this risk, some people advise hiding your contact details on the postings
on Craigslist at the risk of you getting low quality or sketchy people calling you.
Craigslist supports hidden email addresses so clients can reach out to you via
the job posting, but they can’t see your actual email address.

The site is declining in overall traffic so you can attract some potential clients on
it today, but 3 years from now I’m guessing this won’t be part of your overall lead
generation strategy.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
Yelp, Facebook and Google really are the “Big 3” when it comes to listing your
business online to get consumers to find you.
Some other directories include Yellow Pages, Porch.com, Manta, Merchant
Circle, and the Better Business Bureau. A good resource if you want to dig deep
into online directories can be found here.
If you have the time, set up profiles on all these websites – it can build your SEO
as you can link back to your website or Facebook Business page. That means
you will show up organically when people Google for specific services (in your
industry) at a U.S. location (near you).
The goal here is to just attack that low hanging fruit. You’re doing your business
a disservice actually by not being listed on these directory platforms, as these
provide potential clients with the easiest ways to find you. Don’t make that step
difficult – you’ve already got enough things to worry about!

Social Media
Believe it or not, the typical American checks social media 17 times every single
day. One rule of thumb when it comes to trying to attract customers: Be where
your clients are!
Organically introducing your business into the daily lives of consumers is a great
way to organically build your brand and presence. Social media enables you to
build your own brand (free), while also giving you the option to pay to target
potential customers and be put in front of them with simple calls to action.
What’s the deal?
Facebook doesn’t just have to be a place where you simply list your business
and build content in the hopes that clients find you (as discussed above). You
should first, indeed, set up your business online on Facebook, and post a variety
of content and reviews to build your brand and get the fundamentals set up.
Then you can actually be pro-active with Facebook and seek out potential clients
on the platform. Since Facebook collects information on individuals (i.e., what
they “like”, what their interests are, where they live, what they engage with on
Facebook, etc.), you’d be surprised how much accuracy there can be with
respect to finding potential clients using FB advertising. Core campaigns you can
test out are the following:
Note that with these campaigns, you’ll pay to drive interested people to your
website or your FB page or to take a specific action (i.e., Engage, Like, Click).

You want these people to see your page or website, and be impressed and want
to call you or email you about booking you. That means, you want to have lots of
great content on your FB page to increase the “conversion” of these customer
visits – that is, make sure when they do come to your FB page or website, they
take action!
That’s why it’s crucial to build up those FB reviews, post interesting photos, make
community announcements, share articles or write blogs yourself about you and
your industry. You can pay FB to drive people to your business page, but to get
the most out of Facebook advertising, the key is to make that page worth going
to.
An added benefit to FB is the ability to re-market. What that means is, you can
have people “like” your posts or page, and you’ll be able to know exactly who
they are. So these are leads…leads are interested people who could become
clients, but (for whatever reason) they simply aren’t ready to book you.
So you can reach out to these leads directly, and you can (more efficiently) post
more pieces of content on FB which will show up in their FB feed. If you have a
personal FB account (as opposed to a business account), then you know what
your “feed” is – that’s the main HOME page on Facebook where you see all the
various posts and ads flowing (from friends and businesses).
How do I set it up?
Before you try to set up any advertising campaigns on Facebook, visit the
Facebook for Business page. From this page, you can watch simple and helpful
videos about which campaigns to run and test out, such as:
 Pay per Post Engagement
 Pay per Page Like
 Pay per Website Click
These videos will do a better job in describing how each ad product will work.
This will give you a sense of what might work for you based on your goals.
Once you’re ready to get started, go to your Facebook Ads Manager to start a
campaign. Then get underway!
You’re going to have to stay on top of these ads and iterate. Don’t run more than
one at a time if you’re just getting started. Play around with the audience, the
copy, and the graphics on your ads. Get comfortable with how it all works before
you go crazy and start spending hundreds of $’s.
What are the risks?
I just alluded to it in the paragraph above, but these Facebook ad campaigns can
be time consuming to get set up and monitor. There’s a bit of a learning curve as
there are a lot of variables to pick and choose from in terms of ad copy, graphics,

audience demographic, interests, “cost per” pricing model, budget, etc. Then
when the campaign goes live, you need to monitor the campaign to make sure
it’s performing OK.
There have also been questions around what a “LIKE” is worth. Probably one of
Facebook’s most well-known engagement actions is liking something – as in like
a business page. Go ahead and enter into Google search “What is a like worth
on Facebook” – search results here.
There is a lot of debate as to the return on investment of getting a like. One of the
main reasons is because Facebook has now reduced the frequency of business
page posts appearing in the news feed of those people who have indeed liked
your page. FB’s argument is that they want the consumer’s feed to be more
relevant to them (more info on their rationale) and less commercial. So a simple
“like” won’t make your business – you need more engagement from your
audience than just that.
What’s the deal?
Twitter is a lot more fast-paced than Facebook. Typically the behavior of a lot of
consumers is opening Twitter up multiple times throughout the day to read or
post quick pieces of information or updates or news. As shown in the chart
below, people spend ~60% less time on Twitter each day than Facebook:
Since posts on Twitter are limited in the number of characters (140 per post to be
exact), the type of content you post will be different from that of Facebook most
likely. To be perfectly honest, consumers don’t go on Twitter to help discover
someone to hire, although Twitter would probably disagree (since they are
biased of course).

What you can use Twitter for is to help build your brand. Maybe post updates on
jobs completed, or happy customers, or photos of the service you performed, or
any interesting links about news in your industry.
A lot of white collar professionals are also on Twitter because it’s a great place to
get breaking news quickly. These white collar professionals should be your
clients! They know Twitter well and will respect any service professional who
leverages the platform and talks about interesting industry or business
information.
Use the hashtag tool! When you do tweet something, at the end of your tweet
add “#” and your industry name. (Read why hashtags are important for more
info.) This will organize all your tweets and content onto a public thread about
that very industry topic. It simply helps organize your tweets and increases your
chances of getting discovered if consumers are interesting in those topics.
Twitter also supports advertising products where you can pro-actively promote
yourself to a target audience of Twitter users based on their demographics,
profiles, and types of tweets they engage with. Call-to-actions can be clicks on
your website, email address collection (for re-marketing), or simply more
followers:
How do I set it up?
Just head to Twitter.com and set up an account. In about 2 mins you can start
tweeting anything you like. If you know anyone (friends, peers, current

customers) who is on Twitter, follow them and they most likely will follow you
back. This is where you start your network.
To set up advertising campaigns just go directly to Twitter Ads here. They will
walk you through how you can set up different Ad campaigns based on your
goals.
What are the risks?
I would be weary of focusing a lot of your efforts on Twitter to grow. Twitter is so
fast-paced of a social platform that it does not accommodate for potential clients
to spend time evaluating you and your tweets. In addition, your profile on Twitter
doesn’t leave a lot as it relates to client reviews and engaging content. You
typically use Twitter to link back to the important stuff.
I would create a Twitter account and be somewhat active mainly as a way for
prospective clients to “check the box” when evaluating you as someone to hire.
Having a Twitter account will show that you are indeed social, are thoughtful,
have something to say, and just improves your brand standing in the consumer’s
eyes.
As you can probably imagine, I would also advise you not spend money on
Twitter. Most companies that do spend money are large companies that want to
pay for impressions re brand building, or mobile apps that have easy call-to-
actions (like “Download Now”) when in a tap of a button they can get a user or
customer. There are plenty of other platforms that are better designed for your
service based business to help you grow more efficiently.
What’s the deal?
Instagram is a photo sharing app. People can join Instagram, post photos, follow
friends, and attract followers.
It’s almost like Twitter but more photo/visual-focused. To cut to the chase, use
Instagram if you run a business where photos are fun and important. A
beautician, a pet professional, a photographer, etc. – these are all service based
businesses that would be fun to follow on Instagram (and I’m talking about that
personally!).
Instagram is mainly used as a brand building tool (to show off your work), and if
you get enough followers then hopefully you can go viral. As shown below, you
can also include a bio and even a link – a link back to your website or even any
bookings tool you have one set up.

How do I set it up?
You can download Instagram from either the iTunes App Store or the Google
Play Store. Note that this is primarily a mobile tool (less so desktop).
The strategy here is similar to Twitter – follow people, get them to follow you
back, build a presence and post interesting stuff.
You can even pay to advertise on Instagram. Since FB owns Instagram,
advertising on this photo platform can be set up when you set up FB campaigns
(as discussed on the above).
What are the risks?
I would steer clear of paying for Instagram advertising. What you see are brands
like Coca Cola, Uber, McDonalds, etc. – more consumer brands – advertising on
Instagram as a fresh way to build brand. You’re most likely outpriced when it
comes to spending on ads.
Also, you’ve got to invest the time to post continually, and – hate to say it – posts
need to look good if you’re going to get any traction of interested followers. So
you need to be dedicated. The risk to spending too much time is the return –

when post on Twitter and Facebook, for example, that content can show up on
Google search which is much more easily accessible by your clients to see.
Instagram is relatively isolated to unless a client is actively search for your name
or business, getting “discovered” is quite tough.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
Facebook, Twitter and Instagram aren’t the only social media platforms out there.
Check out others including LinkedIn, Pinterest, Tumblr and more. In terms of
prioritizing, I would check out LinkedIn first – not really from an advertising
perspective, but more so to create a profile on you the business owner. Lots of
times clients Google the business owner before booking a service and LinkedIn
has very good SEO to the point where your profile will show up in search. It’s just
a nice trustworthy source for clients to make sure you are a real person with
experience.
For the most part, Social Media allows you to just get your presence listed on
more platforms where your clients are, all the while building a personality and
brand. You can make announcements, post content, engage with followers /
likers, and even pay to pro-actively engage with others. Don’t be fooled though to
spend your way to going viral. You won’t grow your following if you don’t have
good content. Just keep on sharing what’s going on with your business and with
you, and you’ll slowly but surely build up an audience who will start talking you
up.

Cost per Click
The “cost per click” model was coined by Google, and is ideal to capture those
potential clients who are at the brink of consumption – a product, a service, etc.
As explained in the “Free Listings” part of this Handbook, the ideal is to have
your profile or website pop up organically under Google search. But Google and
other search engines allow you to pay to be put in front of consumers and even
pay only if consumers click on your ad.
What’s the deal?
Google Adwords allows you to present any advertisement (about your
company) at the top of Google whenever someone is searching for certain
keywords. And those keywords can be chosen (or “purchased”) by you. Even the
ranking of your ad can be purchased by you.
If you are – for example – a personal trainer in Des Moines, Iowa, you can
purchase keywords like “personal trainer” and “Des Moines, Iowa”, so that when
people are searching for those very keywords in Google, you can set a short
advertisement with a link to your website where “clickers” will get sent to. Ads will
appear either at the top of search results or the side.
Google Adwords are great if you want to pay to drive traffic to your website. And
not just random traffic, but traffic of those people who were actively searching for
topics or needs that are related to you and your business. You’ll be able to set

bid prices on these keywords in your Adwords account, set daily budget limits,
and choose any number of keywords or combinations of keywords.
How do I set it up?
Setting it up is pretty easy. In fact, I personally like the very clean “How It Works”
page to help you get a sense before you get started.
You’ll be prompted to sign in with your Google account (if you don’t have one,
then you can set one up for free), and you’ll be guided through how to set up
your first campaign. Free tip of advice: call the Adwords Setup Support team at
the # (1-800-848-9256), and ask for free Adwords credits…they are pretty
generous in giving you $100 in credits to start things off.
What are the risks?
Conversion is the key thing to look out for with Adwords. That is, you need to
make sure that when those people click on your ad on Google, they are sent to a
place (like your website) that has helpful content with a clear call-to-action (to
book you, or call you, or email you).
Conversion is key to look out for on the Adwords platform for a couple reasons:
(1) It’s very easy to spend a lot of money with absolutely no results. Be
careful setting up those daily budgets and cost per clicks. Don’t be tempted to
chase up cost per click bids. Constantly analyze your clicks and traffic and see if

that’s turning into real bookings. It’s easy to spend hundreds or thousands of
dollars on Adwords after a few months without seeing any real results.
(2) If you do not convert a click to at least collecting client’s contact information
(through a sign up flow, for example), then there is no way to re-market to
these potentially interested clients. On other platforms, when someone
engages with your ad or profile, you can see who they are (take Facebook for
instance) and follow up with them or re-market to them. But on Adwords, you
don’t know who is engaging with your ad unless the person emails you or calls
you or takes up some effort to reach out to you.
What’s the deal?
Most people don’t think about Yelp in the “cost per click” type of way, but they
released a relatively new advertising product/platform to drive people to your
Yelp profile and engage in specific ways. And you can pay only if they engage in
ways you want the profile visitors to.
You’ll be able to pay to drive people on Yelp to:
 Click on your profile
 Click on message the business (that’s you!)
 Click on request quote
 Click on your website
 Click to call you
Those are some more popular ones. You’ll also be able to set up deals/discounts
and have Yelp promote them and then pay Yelp a fee if that promotion is booked
through Yelp. Some visuals (always helps give you some context) of how
potential leads will be directed to take certain actions can be seen below:

Also, a pretty cool dashboard is set up for you to view the trends of how effecting
your advertising has been:

How do I set it up?
Simply go to the Call-to-Action landing page on Yelp:
https://biz.yelp.com/support/call_to_action
If you’ve already claimed your business listing, then it should be pretty straight
forward. If you haven’t, then sign up and create or claim your business – then
you can get going.
What are the risks?
Unlike other ad platforms where there is no minimum spend, on Yelp you need to
commit to a minimum budget amount and timeframe. The average spend per
advertising business on Yelp is $5,500 per year (sourced from recent earnings) –
so that can be a sizeable budget if you’re just getting started with your business.
For ad packages Yelp forces to you sign contracts so you can find yourself stuck
in ad deals even if you aren’t seeing good returns.
There’s also a lot of chatter from folks who have spent money on Yelp, and then
withdrew advertising because they weren’t getting enough business. As a result,
their Yelp profiles all of a sudden became filled with 1- and 2-star reviews out of a
no where. You can Google more stories such as this one about Yelp extorting its
business for not advertising or for pulling advertising on its site.
Mitigating this risk goes back to getting as many clients and friends to give you
legitimate 5-star reviews and building up content on your profile. Just be weary of

the large budget requirements and the sketchy dealings that are widely reported
with Yelp.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
There are other platforms that offer pay/cost per click ads – like Yellow Pages
and the Yahoo! Bing Network – but Google and Yelp are probably the most well-
known. However I would urge you to check out a number of them. Check out this
good comparison piece.
Cost per click can be both time and capital intensive. It can take up a lot of your
time to monitor different keyword campaigns and make sure your cost per click is
low enough where the spend makes sense, and to make sure you’re
experimenting with different keywords based on the business you run and where
you operate. In addition, budget minimums can be a hurdle for businesses if
you’re just starting out and don’t have such a large marketing budget.
The interesting thing about platforms like these though is (in theory) you’re
getting yourself in front of the right customer. That customer who is searching for
a specific business or service type, will see your name at a time when they are
prime for consumption. Not only that but they are given clear calls to actions to
continue – click or buy or call, etc.

Premium Listings
To be honest, the “Premium Listing” model is arguably a declining model due to:
(1) The influx of so many free listing platforms around the web; and
(2) The fact that consumers are charged an ongoing fee to search for
businesses.
However, there is still one well-known player in this category – Angie’s List – that
is alive and kicking.
What’s the deal?
Angie’s List is a directory of service based businesses. If you’re a service
professional, you can sign up and pay an ongoing fee to be listed in this
directory. In order to get access to search through this directory, clients /
homeowners need to pay an ongoing fee to get access to search, review and
hire these professionals.
Angie’s List touts over 3 million individuals who are “members” of its platform,
and about 54,000 participating service providers (i.e., who are paying to be
listed) as of the end of September 2015.
A way to think about this platform is that there are “serious” customers here
looking for professionals they want to hire. You can call them serious because
they are paying money to get access to businesses like yours (if you’re listed, of
course). Point being – they can afford spending money, and having clients who
can afford paying a lot is a good thing!
There are additional advertising products you can purchase on Angie’s List to get
promoted in front of its homeowners. You can promote the “ratings grades” that
customers give you towards the top of search, or you can promote your business
profile in front of local homeowners on the platform.

Angie’s List’s Business Center explains at a high level their goal as a platform. In
short, it’s kind of like a smaller Yelp for business and homeowners to pay to get
access.
How do I set it up?
You can go Angie’s List’s business center and either claim or create your profile:
http://www.angieslistbusinesscenter.com/
From there Angie’s List will send you a starter’s guide of how to subscribe and
the things you can do to start promoting your business.
What are the risks?
The risk is that you pay a lot to be listed without have any clients reach out to you
at all. So you’re incurring an ongoing fee but you are getting no return out of it.
At one time Angie’s List (which was founded way back in 1995 actually) was the
ideal place to be listed and to find premium local professionals, but now with all
the directories and search platforms out there for consumers, the amount of
customer inquiries that go through Angie’s List doesn’t justify the price. The
company’s reported numbers are saying the same thing – a decrease in the
number of service providers on platform from a year ago.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
I would be careful jumping into the premium listings game. For the most part,
clients searching for service professionals should not have to pay to be able to
simply search…but Angie’s List forces this.

Now, if you offer extremely specialized services, then premium listings might be
right for you. For homeowners who want specialized and high quality service,
then paying a few bucks a month to give them some further assurances at times
might make sense. I would simply reflect on your type of business and ask
yourself if you really need a “premium service” listing, or if there are plenty of
other ways for eager clients to find you.

Discounts & Deals
“Everyone likes a deal”, the saying goes.
That’s also true when it comes to customers searching for professional
services…sometimes.
Discount & deal platforms became the huge rage starting in 2008 because they
were so new. In theory, offering eye-popping low prices will attract customers to
want to book you – voila, a new customer! At the same time you could fill a
timeslot on your calendar that would otherwise go unbooked (re opportunity
cost).
This idea spread and now almost every type of ad platform for service providers
offers ad products like “specials” or “deals” to promote. But the platforms that are
most known for discounting you’ve probably already heard of…
What’s the deal (no pun intended)?
Groupon is the most well-known discount deal platform out there.
You can take advantage of Groupon by listing any of your services kind of like
coupons. Groupon then advertises that service you want purchased at a
discount, and then takes a fee once it’s sold to a client.
So say you typically offer a standard service for $100 to most customers. You
can list that service at $50 on Groupon – so a 50% off special! Groupon then
promotes it in front of interested customers, and gets it sold. Then Groupon takes
a 50% fee, so you will get $25 in your pocket for this client booking which you
normally charge $100 for. But hey, it’s a new client.
Your clients can search for services around them and will view you listed as such
(an example search):

When you list a deal, you can specify the deal price, expiration once a coupon is
purchased, and any fine print as to the deal specifics.
Groupon touts 950,000 businesses that have used the platform, and you only
pay if you get booked – so no risk here of spending a lot of money without seeing
any customer wins.
How do I set it up?
Go to the Merchant section of Groupon (here: https://www.grouponworks.com/)
and you can get started.
Instead of “listing” your business (like other Getting Started platforms), start by
choosing what ad or deal you want promoted. Different from other platforms,
Groupon only displays your profile if you list a live deal. Choose from:

(Note: “Breadcrumb” is Groupon’s point-of-sale credit card swiper, if you’re
looking for a Square replacement)
What are the risks?
A lot of the feedback from business owners is that Groupon attracts a “certain
type” of customer. That type of customer is one who is price sensitive…one who
cares less about quality but more about getting the best deal no matter what.
Those clients typically aren’t ones who will stick around with you after that first
booking. And the whole point of advertising on Groupon is to convert those first-
time clients into long-term clients!
If you listed all your services on Groupon, then you’d be getting paid 25 cents on
the dollar for each service booking (re the 25% example scenario as discussed
above). You wouldn’t be able to survive on those prices. What you’d need to do
is convert those bookings where you’re getting 25% of what you normally charge
into full time clients who will return to purchase your services on a regular basis
for your normal rate.
The time and effort to convert those customers to longer term ones is tough
mainly because of the price sensitive nature of those particular clients. If you
can’t convert them, then at least try to motivate them to leave you great reviews
elsewhere – some marketing benefits.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
There aren’t many “pure play” discount platforms anymore besides Groupon.
LivingSocial is probably the closest competitor – you can list deals for local
services, and customers can browse and book you. Groupon, however, has
much more reach.
The structure of the discount model is interesting because you – as the business
owner – only pay for marketing costs if you do get the business. That helps

because you can’t flush a bunch of money down the toilet and be left totally
empty-handed.
However, when you do get booked, you need to work hard to win those new
customers and convert them into longer term clients or else the economics of the
discount model don’t make sense. I’d recommend testing out Groupon and
seeing what types of leads you get out of it. If you offer services that are
recurring in nature, then you could yield a lot of value here if you can convert
those customers to longer term payers.
Any maybe even compare posting deals on Groupon and deals on Yelp, and see
if the quality of the customer is different. Clients on Yelp are on there doing their
diligence – making sure other clients (leaving reviews) like you a lot. So if they
see a deal that would be opportunistic – some savings up front but they are still
looking for a quality service professional. Folks on Groupon may only be looking
for lowest price. I would experiment on the discount strategy.

Pay per Lead/Introduction
If you like pitching your business to clients, then the pay per lead (“PPL” or pay
per introduction) model will fit you just right.
Platforms in the PPL space have grown in recent popularity it seems as more
and more individuals are going out and starting their own businesses on their
own (thanks to lower marketing costs, lower legal setup fees, lower healthcare
costs, mobilization of work). Many of you reading this Handbook will be able to
relate!
PPL is more of a pro-active type of growth platform than others, where you – the
business owner – can pay for direct access to a client who is in search for
specific services that you specialize in. Then it’s up to you to close them!
The model isn’t new, but you’re seeing more platforms offering this PPL product.
What’s the deal?
HomeAdvisor is one of the originators of the PPL model at scale. It was founded
in 1998, formerly known as ServiceMagic. ServiceMagic was a pureplay PPL
platform allowing professionals of all types (musicians, handymen, therapists,
you name it) to simply pay for incoming leads and pitch the business.
In 2012 the company changed its name to HomeAdvisor, and started to evolve
its ad products and focus purely on home services.
As a professional on HomeAdvisor, you can sign up and pay to join the network
(similar to Angie’s List it’s a “pay to get access” monthly / annual fee). Once
you’re in, then one of the main offerings is being able to “turn on” leads. What
that means is you set a budget and HomeAdvisor sends you new business that
you can try to win.
That new business comes from clients submitting jobs. HomeAdvisor lets clients
fill out detailed requests of the services they need. This runs the gamut of the
type of home services needed (e.g., landscaping, remodeling, cleaning,
plumbing, etc.), the timing of the service needed, the location and more.

You – as the service professional – will get notified of these job requests and it’s
up to you to close the customer. You can call the client, email the client, text the
client – do whatever you think will win you that business.
As you can imagine, this type of marketing platform can be ideal if you want
clients immediately (like a new business owner) and are energetic enough to
pitch for that business. I pulled a solid top 3 tips from a blog when using a PPL
platform like HomeAdvisor in order to maximize your return on investment which I
thought was very accurate:
1) Call leads immediately
 “This is the single most important factor to making HA work for you,
even more so than having good reviews. I’ve found that 9 times out
of 10, if I call within minutes of receiving the lead, I get the
business. Some customers have even told me that they always
choose the first person that calls”
2) Sign up for small job leads
 “Leads for big jobs are expensive at $50 and up. With price
shoppers all over the place, this can eat into your profits really fast.
Thats why I recommend only signing up for leads for jobs under
$15. You will still get your foot in the door and can bank on the
return business.”
3) Eliminate leads that don’t pay
 “After you’ve been using the service for a while, it’s a good idea to
go back over your leads and see which categories pay off and
which one’s provide mostly junk leads.”
So get a game plan in place so that when you do turn those customer leads ON,
you are immediately ready to act and beat out the competition!

The platform has also invested in tools like Instant Booking and Instant
Connect which allows clients to reach out to you directly if they like your profile
and reviews. Still a small part of the platform activity but it’s growing.
How do I set it up?
Go to the “Pro” section of HomeAdvisor: https://pro.homeadvisor.com/how-it-
works/
Watch the 2 mins video of how the ins and outs work. Then you can sign up for
free.
The setup process is multiple steps, and you are asked to provide even
references and background information.
HomeAdvisor is pretty thorough in terms of its screening process, so setting
everything up takes a bit of time. You get a dedicated marketing consultant
contact who will reach out and who you can call or email with questions
throughout setup. Then you’ll be prompted to set up your subscription and set up
how much you want to start paying for leads.
What are the risks?
In 2012, ServiceMagic changed its name to HomeAdvisor in an effort to re-brand
itself. If you Google “ServiceMagic” you will see a laundry list of customer
complaints about the quality of the professionals on its platform. Homeowners
were complaining that the service providers who performed the jobs did terrible
jobs. But more so are complaints from the providers themselves talking about
how the leads coming to them were bogus in a lot of cases, and they spend all
this money to pitch customers with no business coming to them. To shed this
beaten down reputation, ServiceMagic brought in a new CEO in 2011 and
changed its name to HomeAdvisor.

HomeAdvisor is also pretty expensive. It costs ~$250 per year to just be a part of
the network, and then you’ll need to pay to get leads. We have heard feedback
from participating professionals that you need to be careful turning your leads
option ON, because if you don’t pay attention then HomeAdvisor can send you a
bunch of leads in a short amount of time and start charging your card on file
instantly…so you need to stay on top of your leads option and turn it OFF if
you’re busy with work or taking some downtime.
Also, for a lot of business owners, this type of lead ad model is very tough to
master. The risk is you spend a lot of money to get these leads with none of them
panning out. Sometimes you were too slow to call the customer so they went with
a competing provider. Other times your bid was simply too high. Or customers
can always get cold feet and you call but they never pick up and you never know
why.
Just be careful on that upfront spend – before you know it you could be in the
hole hundreds of dollars without any clients, any clicks, any “likes”, any reviews.
What’s the deal?
The Thumbtack model is very similar to HomeAdvisor. The main difference
being the industries it services are not just limited to home improvement – but all
types of services like dog walkers, lawyers, photographers, tutors and more.
Clients can go through the similar “concierge” flow, specifying their service
needs, and then that job detail gets blasted to up to 5 professionals in that
specific area of need.
Thumbtack sets the cost of opening up that client’s contact information for you to
pitch – and the cost is in “credits”. Each credit costs $1.67 to buy and leads can
go for anywhere from 2 to 9 credits (so $3.34 to $15.30 per lead). That’s another
different between Thumbtack and HomeAdvisor – Thumbtack has more control
over which leads you want to spend money on (based on limited information).
Once the credits are spent – then it’s up to you to close!
Another consumer use-case is if clients actually Google the specifics of the
industry of service needs and the location, then Thumbtack’s page results
actually pop up high on Google and is accessible directly by customers. For
example if I Google “dog walkers in Seattle, WA”, one of the results in Google will
be like the below link to Thumbtack’s list:

Clients are able to review your profile (like description, reviews, photos, etc.) and
“Request a Quote” from you directly. Note that you – the professional – will still
be required to pay credits to find out who requested said quote from you (as no
website or phone # details are included on your profile for direct contact).
Converting first-time clients into recurring clients is crucial with Thumbtack as
well. If it takes you multiple leads before closing one, then your initial return on
investment might not be that great, but if you can convert that client to book with
you in the future, then your ROI could look great.
How do I set it up?
You can join Thumbtack as a “pro” for free: https://www.thumbtack.com/pro
The setup process is pretty simple and straight forward. Along with setting up
your profile, Thumbtack will give you a link to your specific profile – they
encourage you to send this link to past clients to build you reviews. I would
recommend doing this. More reviews and content on your profile will make their
system think of you as more relevant (and higher quality) and will send you more
leads for you to bid on.
What are the risks?
With Thumbtack being a similar PPL model as HomeAdvisor, similar risks around
cold leads and tough bidding apply. You can wind up buying and using a ton of
credits, and not get any new business when it is all said and done. There are

some reports out there stating on average you win 16% of all leads you buy – in
that case you need to make sure you are not spending a lot to buy said leads…or
if you are you need to make sure the final payment you get from the customer is
a lot more than the amount you spent on all the other lost leads.
Another risk is that the bidding and pitching system typically leads (a lot of the
time) to a “lowest price wins” game. Meaning, the clients will often tend to accept
the lowest priced service no matter how many professionals reach out to them.
Thus, similar to discount platforms, this model attracts customers who are
looking for price over quality, and the next time they need a service (the same
service done again even), they will go back to the well for anyone who can give
them bottom-barrel prices again.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
The PPL model is becoming more popular with a certain sect of consumers
because it makes price shopping quite convenient for services. You tap a few
buttons, and then in minutes you’ve got professionals calling and emailing you
with specific quotes on cost of service as well as a nice little pitch to go along
with it. It’s almost like a concierge service for the clients, all the while delivering
clarity around pricing – and that means lowest price in most cases.
As a result, we’re starting to see the likes of Google enter the space with Google
Home Services. They’ve started first in the San Francisco Bay Area (in beta), so
if you’re a provider in that area I would sign up. Clients can “Send Requests” for
a quote from you directly from Google (without doing any extra work like visiting
another site):
Angie’s List is testing out its “Lead Feed” product offering even, which is again
very similar to the PPL model.

Point being, you’ve got an increasing amount of options to play around with to
test out if the PPL model is right for your business. I would get a game plan in
place as to what your course of action is once a warm lead comes your way, then
spend some money to see what it takes to convert leads to booking clients and
also get a sense as to how many of these new clients you’re converting to
lifelong customers.

Pay per Transaction (“On Demand”)
The “On Demand” platforms are probably the most talked about types of models
around these days (FYI, publicity isn’t always a good thing).
Some of the more talked about platforms are listed below, and they range from
industry specific to broader services: Handy, TaskRabbit, Uber, Care.com,
DogVacay, Amazon Home Services, and others.
For efficiency’s sake, let’s just dig into the On Demand model as a whole…
What’s the deal?
These models are all pretty much the same in terms of how they operate – a
client comes in requesting a service, the platform sends the service professional
(that’s you!) to perform said service, the client pays the platform, and then the
platform pays the service professional for work done anywhere from 75-85% of
the job.
They call it “On Demand” because of the convenience for the client. Clients want
to book a service and they (for whatever reason) don’t care who comes to
perform the service – they just want it done. So that’s the client’s mindset.
For you – the professional – the platform sends you these jobs directly. They tell
you what to do and where to go. Then it’s up to you just to perform the service.
You don’t have any real interaction with the client, and the entire scheduling and
payment part of the transaction is done through the platform itself. You are
advised on how to behave (almost like an employee) and you need to agree that
the customer is the customer of the platform, not you.
But it’s pretty much guaranteed money (for the work you do), you don’t have to
spend any time or money marketing, you only give up a fee (the platform fee)
when you get paid, so no upfront costs or financial risk.
How do I set it up?
Since you’re essentially working for the platform directly, setting yourself up for
these On Demand companies take a bit of time. They usually do a background
check, references sometimes, even bring you in for a personal interview
potentially. Each setup process is a bit different depending on the platform, but
expect a bit of time to go by before you can start accepting jobs.
What are the risks?

The risk of On Demand platforms is you not being able to grow your business.
You’re treated essentially as a subcontractor or employee, and are shielded from
having direct access with the clients you serve. Thus you can never really build a
base of a clientele from which to grow your business to a larger scale.
The platform is your boss. So long as you do a good job and the platform is large
enough to attract a lot of consumer traffic, you’ll get staffed on jobs and paid.
However, the pay might be 20% less than what you would normally charge
clients directly (since the platform is taking a cut), and your upside is limited.
There are also rules you need to abide by in order to continue working for this
new boss of yours.
More detail around how entrepreneurial professionals can exist (or can’t exist) in
this On Demand world can be found here.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
On Demand platforms overall are ideal for the type of professional who fits into
one of the below categories:
(1) You’re just starting out. Say you’re just jumping into a new industry and
would like to hone your skills or get some experience under you and even get
some cash in your pocket. Taking jobs from an On Demand platform will give you
the practice and feedback you need to perform a solid service. Reviews are quite
common on these platforms so you’ll be able to manage and react to feedback,
and you’ll be able to hopefully save some money along the way to then start your
own business when the time is right.
(2) You have no desire to grow a business. A lot of the workers for On
Demand platforms have no interest in entrepreneurship or building a business.
They essentially consider themselves as employees or contractors, and are
perfectly fine being told where to go and what to do so long as they get their
paycheck at the end of the week.
If you are, however, a professional who is an entrepreneur at heart and you’re
interested in leveraging these platforms to grow, then here’s a major pro tip:
start taking these customers “off platform”.
Here’s what I mean – these platforms deal with the customer directly, and simply
send you (as the professional) to perform the service. You technically are not
permitted to “steal” the client…that is you aren’t supposed to approach the client
and say – ‘Hey, next time you need service can you just call me directly? That
way, we don’t have to get the platform involved. The price and service quality is
the same for you, and for me I can keep 100% of the service price.’ That is what
we call going off platform.

The reality is, for many customers they are totally fine going off platform. If they
like you and your service quality, then going to you directly the next time they
need a service is actually preferable because they know what service quality to
expect (as opposed to going to the platform and getting a new professional to
help them). So long as that customer doesn’t tattle on you, then this is the ideal
way for you to build a solid book of business and recurring clientele.

Customer Referrals
Customer referrals – one of the oldest growth tricks in the book.
Every business owner has heard of this growth engine. It’s honest, it’s free, and
it’s the most trusted – customers are 4 times more likely to use your service if
they are referred by a friend.
However, many professionals don’t know how (or have the time) to juice this
growth source as much as they can. The obvious answer is to do great work –
but let’s assume you’re already doing great work. So what else can you do to get
clients to tell their friends or family about you? How do you stay top of mind?
How do you motivate your clients to want to promote you?
Here are my top 4 tips that you can implement in your daily working routine to
boost that viral growth. With very little effort, you can leverage your current client
base into a larger marketing engine.
1) Ask for reviews
This sounds basic, but you’d be surprised how easy it is to forget to do
this. I don’t mean while you’re walking out of your customer’s home give a
“Oh hey, do you mind writing a review for me on Yelp?” Maybe 1 in 20 of
these interactions will result in a review. And don’t blame your clients –
they’re busy! What you need to do is make it extremely easy on them and
also remind them.
Set up a standard email template with a link to one of your business
profiles online (e.g., Facebook, Yelp, Google, Thumbtack, etc.) and email
your client asking for a single review. The client will tap on the review link,
give their rating with brief commentary. Don’t send them 5 different links
because that’s asking a lot and some customers might just look at all the
review work in front of them and just push it off for another day (which
turns into eternity). Just get that one review from each client. If the client
doesn’t complete a review, then follow up 1 week later. If nothing then,
then send a another review reminder 2 weeks later. One more 3 weeks
later. Not every single person will bite, so you need to find the balance of
not being spammy yet being top of mind enough for them to give you that
review.
Set a simple calendar reminder about asking for reviews, or use an email
service like MailChimp to time emails that get sent out asking for reviews.
(Note: MailChimp is completely free for up to 2,000 customer emails.)
Streamline your review request flow!
2) Remember birthdays and anniversaries

A basic law of human nature is people care about themselves the most.
So if you show that you care about them too, then they’ll love that!
Sending a text or email or postcard the day of that special date will mean
a lot to that client – and not a lot of businesses do this enough.
Collect special dates like birthdays or anniversaries from your clients. You
can do this by being honest and straight up asking your client for the date
and explain that you send out customer birthday cards (for example). Or if
you collect information upfront from your client in a questionnaire or online
form upon booking, collect that information from the client.
The beauty of this is that you’re simply doing one extra thing a year for a
client, so the investment is minimal. But I’m telling you – you will be 100%
top of mind for that client, and the next time one of their friends needs a
specific service that fits in your wheelhouse, there is a huge chance you’ll
get recommended.
3) Discount for referrals
Sometimes clients need a little nudge over the finish line when it comes to
a referral. Discounts can help with that.
In your email signature or on your website, keep a standing % or $ off for
referrals. For example – have a perpetual “Refer and get $15 off your next
booking” tagline everywhere. Everyone likes a deal, so if a client sees that
line, that might actually prompt them to remember that one friend who was
asking for service help.
Spending money to get a high quality client is a good investment. And if
you’re constantly driving more customer referrals, then adding another
client to your list will just help you grow exponentially.
4) Share useful content
As you grow your client list, you’re essentially building your own audience.
You can actually take advantage of that in creative ways.
Whether your business is in home services, photography, pet services,
beauty, education, therapy, or any other industry – I’m sure you follow a
variety of industry news. Topics like DIY (“Do-it-yourself”) or newly (and
complementary) tools / technology are typically interesting for clients to
read amount.
I know you’re probably very busy, so just once a month (or every other
month) share some of that interesting industry news with clients via email.
Even if your client doesn’t read the content you send them, I guarantee
they will be impressed at the fact that you’re continuously on top of trends,
announcements, and industry happenings, that will boost their respect for

you. Not to mention, this is also a very easy excuse to keep your brand
top of mind with customers, while at the same time giving your client
something that’s easily ‘forwardable’ to their friends to recoup that referral

Good service and the above starting tips will help you leverage your client based
and turn them into avid cheerleaders for your business. The truth is 83% of your
customers are willing to refer you to friends, but on average only 29% actually
do. That means over 50% of your customer base is low hanging fruit for you to
take advantage of and grow like crazy.

Final Thoughts
We know that starting a business (and growing it) seems like a daunting task. So
we hope this Handbook can be helpful as you navigate how to grow during a
time when it seems like a new platform promising you leads pops up every day.
At the same time, the ones from yesterday have a track record of fizzling out just
as fast as they popped up. So sometimes it’s tough to keep track.
There isn’t a “one size fits all” type of platform, so don’t feel like you’re doing
something wrong if one strategy is working for a fellow professional you know but
not for you.
The key is to experiment and find the right growth plan for your business – and
our goal is to help expedite this experimental process so you can get growing as
quickly and cost-efficiently as possible.
Any questions or comments, just drop me a line at sam@pocketsuite.io.

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