How Tradies Can Grow Their Business Using Classified Platforms

 Most tradies have been through a slow few weeks. The ute is clean, the diary is full of holes and your phone hasn't rung all week. A lot of tradies fall into the trap of jumping onto whatever lead generation channel they think is going to throw the most leads their way. And that might work. But it may just leave you with a bill at the end of the month that is a lot more than you expected.

Classified sites provide another avenue to advertise your local services in Australia. These are places that customers find you. You aren't charged every time someone comes to you asking for a bid. Here is advice on using them wisely.

Know What a Lead Really Costs

Lead marketplaces are not cheap, and the headline figures are misleading. Hipages memberships start at $139 to $649 per month, plus GST, with credits spent on every lead you accept — and every lead is shared with up to three businesses. You pay whether you win the job or not. Airtasker charges 12.5 to 20 per cent plus GST of every completed task.

The metric that matters is cost per booked job which is your spend divided by the number of bookings you secure. If a lead is costing you $40 and you win one in four. That job has cost you $160 before you even pick up your tool, do this calculation for your own trade before you invest in any platforms.

Why Classifieds Suit Tradies

On classifieds you only make the ad once. Customers get in touch with you directly. There's no auction to bid on leads or share a lead. It fits the jobs people are looking for in the suburbs, when they type "hire professionals near me", browse through a Services section: fencing, tiling, gutter cleaning, small jobs in electrics, handyman jobs.

A classified ad continues to work for you when you're on the tool and the same site can help operate the remainder of the business. Give away the excess materials or sell old equipment, recruit an apprentice or casual, and put the business up for sale. Dealin encompasses all of those categories (Marketplace, Jobs, Services and Business For Sale) with a single account, and customers directly contact providers without having to pay a commission on sales for Dealin. However, specific listing terms may apply to the Services category, so it is worth checking the latest terms and conditions.

Put Your Licence Number in the Ad

This is the field-specific bit that catches tradies out. In most states, advertising licensed work without your licence details breaks the rules. In NSW, the licensee's name and licence number must appear in all advertising for building trade work. Queensland's QBCC requires your name and licence number in advertising too, or the company's name and number if you trade as one. There are different rules in each state and trade, so check with your regulator before posting. 

Include your ABN, licence class and what work you actually do. Consumers looking for service providers in Australia will review the licence register before they call, so it's easy for them to compare your information. 

Build an Ad That Gets the Call

Most trade ads read the same: "Quality work, fair prices, no job too small." Customers skip them. The ads that get calls are specific.

List the suburbs you cover – not simply 'all of Perth'. Tell them what you will and will not do, otherwise they may call you when you don't want to be called. Include three to four images of completed work (preferably before and after images). If possible, provide a price guide, such as a "callout fee" or a starting figure for frequently performed services, as someone calls when he can visualize the cost. 

Say how fast you reply. Emergency trades like plumbing and electrical live or die on response time, since the customer is usually ringing three people. Answer within the hour, even if it's just to say you'll call back after lunch.

Turn One Job Into the Next

A classified ad brings the first call. Repeat work and referrals are where the margin is. Leave a card or fridge magnet, send a quick text afterwards with a link to your listing, and ask happy customers to recommend you in their suburb's Facebook group. A repeat customer costs you no lead fee at all.

Maintain a straightforward log of origin of jobs. You'll see in a couple of months that certain listings will be doing the job, and others will be just filling up the space. 

The Takeaway

No single channel will keep the diary full. The tradies who grow do a combination of a simple, compliant classified ad, a Google profile, a couple of referral avenues, and if they can stretch the budget a paid lead channel, with the spend ramped up and down according to the ebb and flow of work. Work out your cost per booked job, keep your licence information front of mind, and make it bloody easy for customers to get in contact. That’s how to advertise your services in Australia without paying for every bloody phone call.