Customer Spotlight: Black Diamond Experts
Local home services businesses often have a good bit of competition within a given geography—which is why standing out among local competition is the difference between acquiring new business or potential business lost to a competitor.
Utah-based Black Diamond™ Experts took the time to implement a strategic online advertising plan that included Service Direct’s plumbing lead generation program to outshine their competition in Ogden, Orem, and Salt Lake City. (And it’s working!)
We sat down with Carlos Lee—Black Diamond’s Director of Marketing—to find out how they’re using our services to grow their business.
Q: Tell us a little about your yourself and your company.
A: I’ve been Black Diamond’s Marketing Director for two years. I’m in charge of all marketing activities. While I’ve always worked in marketing, this is my first time working in home services.
Q: Tell us a little about Black Diamond Experts™ and how the business got started.
A: Black Diamond started in 2009 as an electrical service company. Dan James is the owner, and he started the business with a couple of guys and a one-or-two-vans kind of situation. He’s a master electrician and did really good work with customers in local commercial, retail, and residential markets.
He quickly grew the company, expanding from Orem to Salt Lake City in 2011. There are three locations today—in Ogden, Orem, and Salt Lake City—servicing electric, plumbing, heating, and air. Our core business focuses on repair and installation for existing properties, rather than new construction. Today, 95% of our work is residential, while 5% is commercial.
In the last couple of years, Black Diamond has grown from 20 to 60 employees. And we’re hiring!
Q: Who is your target customer?
A: Because 95% of our business focuses on residential properties, our target customers are primarily average homeowners.
Q: What were your primary lead generation challenges prior to implementing Service Direct’s services?
A: We’re trying to grow as fast as we can, so our main focus was on SEO prior to using Service Direct. Our partnership with Service Direct has become a supplement to our marketing efforts, which includes any way we can find valid, good, solid business leads that we want to pursue.
Q: What benefits were the most compelling in terms of addressing and solving those challenges?
A: We know exactly how much a valid, solid business lead costs with Service Direct. With our own paid search, on the other hand, we were never completely sure if people were just curious and clicking around—or if competitors were clicking on our ads as well.
Depending on competition, we know how our bid will pan out. With Service Direct, we have a direct source. I don’t have to compete with someone else; if I put in $50 per call, that’s what I’m paying for. And I don’t get charged if someone is calling for some other reason. That’s a major benefit—I know I can count on knowing exactly how much it costs per lead. We love that we know how much a valid lead is; there’s no guessing with Service Direct.
Q: How has Service Direct impacted your company, increased the quality of your leads, or solved former challenges?
A: The leads coming in are high-quality, high-price point type of leads. With Service Direct, our main focuses have been in plumbing and HVAC, which are two trades where we hire a lot of people. These efforts help supplement the leads we need to make sure our employees stay busy.
From experience, we know that repeat customers are the cheapest to acquire. So, our strategy has been to make sure our customers are happy with the services we provide so that they come back to us. That’s why our SEO and PPC efforts have mainly targeted existing customers.
Service Direct helps us generate new customers. Once we acquire them and give them good service, they come back to us to do business in the future.
Q: Which features or benefits have you found to be the most useful?
A: I can go and change the price per call myself—very easily. Service Direct makes it easy for us to invalidate a call if we know it’s non-billable; we simply type in notes to review. Service Direct makes it very simple and that’s great.
Q: Do you have any recommendations for your peers who are looking for a new advertising partner?
A: Service Direct is one the easiest-to-work-with lead generation companies. Your staff is easy to get ahold of; my account is easy to navigate; and the tools are easy to use. We appreciate the ease-of-use and friendly team. You’re one of the best vendors we have used.
Give Service Direct a call. You’ll be beyond happy to see the results after a few weeks.
A big thanks to Black Diamond for taking the time to speak with us. For more information about Black Diamond, visit their website.
**Disclaimer: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.**