You’ve been investing in marketing for your Fire & Security business website for a few months. Suddenly one of your admin staff pipes up.

“I don’t think we need to carry on doing marketing,”

“Why’s that?”

“Well most of the leads come from existing customers”

Now, this comes from the person who deals with your enquiries before passing them to sales. You should take notice, right?

WRONG!

This is one of the most dangerous conversations that can ever happen in the back office of your Fire & Security business.

You’re teetering on the edge of a precipice! That unskilled, ill-informed ‘back of an envelope‘ analysis is well-intended. Heed it at your peril… It will harm your business…

S/he is about to poop all over your sales!

The definition of existing customer

Someone who had an installation from your company but has not been in touch for several years.

Someone who has an annual maintenance contract with your company.

Someone who has used you to install or upgrade their home alarm in every property they have owned for the last three decades. And has had an annual maintenance contract with you for all those properties. And often recommends you to family and friends.

Can you see the difference?

Returning to the mothership

So let’s analyse how some existing customers get back in touch.

An enquiry arrives through your website contact form:

I have an alarm currently installed , the battery is low, I want a maintenance cover quote please

Your records show that you installed this alarm system for Mrs Smith about three years previously. But she didn’t want a maintenance contract.

My first question is: Why has Mrs Smith used the website contact form to get in touch? Wouldn’t an existing customer who was happy with you as her supplier know your contact information?

Happy customers tend to pick up the phone or reply to a previous email exchange.

STRIKE 1

So how DID Mrs Smith actually arrive on your website?

Do you know how your visitors get to your website?

Most businesses have no way of accurately finding out. Fortunately, HubSpot can show us exactly how Mrs Smith found your website. And the pages she visited.

We can get an insight into her thought processes and the journey to making her enquiry! How cool is that!

It’s better than cool. When someone completes an enquiry form on your website, HubSpot automatically creates a contact card. The first entry on that card shows the page she visited. The second entry reveals that this enquiry was generated as a result of a click on a PPC ad.

So Mrs Smith was browsing the internet. She clicked an ad!

STRIKE 2

A quick check in the Google Ads dashboard reveals that this lead was generated through a search for “alarm maintenance”. Not the name of YOUR COMPANY.

She was playing the field!

She is no longer your existing customer!

She only landed on your website BECAUSE your Google Ad was one of the top 3 listings on her search results page.

Without marketing, your customer would have got her alarm maintenance from a competitor.

STRIKE 3

Ongoing marketing is vital to retain your existing customers.

Because they will often cease to be an existing customer… Especially if they don’t hear from you regularly.

And you won’t even know it.

When you remember that 80-85% of your enquiries will come from existing customers – as repeat orders or word of mouth referrals to their friends or colleagues – that becomes a terrifying thought!

Some customers won’t always contact you using the phone or email that they already have. Why not?

a member of staff has moved on
your company contact details have been mislaid
they don’t know you provide the service they require
they are on their phone so use Google for ease
they literally ask Google for the nearest alarm maintenance company

One thing is for sure, they definitely won’t always search for YOUR BUSINESS NAME!

The majority will search for the service they require. If they don’t see your business on those results, no amount of good will generated by previous experience can help you to entice them back.

And marketing is what makes you appear in those searches.

No marketing = fewer enquiries = less sales.

It’s as simple as that.

Which is why the verbal exchange at the top of this blog post is one of the most dangerous conversations you can ever have.

Click the image below to find out more about marketing your Fire & Security business.