Okay, tradespeople may not represent fertile soil in our line of work.
Mention funnels, sequences and squeeze pages and I suspect a lot of them would give you a blank look and mumble something about advertising in the local newspaper.
They work in the real world not the digital one. I get that. Hell, I even envy them to a certain extent.
But if you can find a way to make money copywriting for the builders and repairers in our society, then I envy you even more.
Because if my experience this last month, trying to find a roofer* prepared to offer me anything approaching customer service, is typical of the blue-collar marketplace, then making your client stand out in this sector shouldn't need more than 10 minutes of your day.
Much as I'd like to vent, this isn't the place. So I content myself with channelling my frustration into this simple email pitch template for your swipe file. You won't have to be a read-between-the-lines expert to spot the causes of my pain...
........................................................................................................
Hi, I'm [INSERT NAME], your local roof-repair expert. Fully qualified and fully insured.
No, mine probably wasn't the flashest website you saw when you were deciding who to call. And yes, when I show up on your doorstep, some of you will wonder if I'm old enough to know the first thing about roofs. I am, but I appreciate that ageism works both ways.
So much for the downsides. Now for the upsides.
Phone the number below and I promise to do the following as if the very lives of my children depended on it...
- If I'm too busy to take your job on, I will tell you so at the outset. I won't leave it to you and your psychic powers to reach that conclusion when you're still waiting to meet me one week after I said, "I'll be round at five..."
- I will show up when I say I'll show up, whether that's to view your house, give you a quote or start the work. If by some act of God I can't, I will let you know in advance and then move heaven and earth to keep this promise asap. My dodgy carburettor and serial migraines are, I fully agree, not your ******* problem.
- I will do the repairs we agree on to a perfectly acceptable standard and in a perfectly reasonable timeframe.
- I will tidy up after myself so thoroughly, you'll wonder if I was even there. Until you notice your loft insulation is no longer damp.
Tel [insert number].
........................................................................................................
Seriously, I'm not sure you even need a call-to-action. If I am but one example of a public having its chain well and truly yanked by these people, your client's despairing customers-to-be will just need the number.
It is a woeful state of affairs when characteristics that tradespeople of years gone by would have deemed so obvious as to be unworthy of comment, are suddenly USPs, but there we are.
It's not our problem. Our problem as copywriters is simply making sure we don't get in the way of a stand-out sales message.
*So far, I have found just two roofers with the decency to show up and quote me promptly. Only for one of them to quote £15,000 for a full re-roof while the other quoted £350 to patch some holes because "the roof's got another five years..." What's a layman to do?
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