Getting leads is a challenge for all businesses, but with the right strategy, you can see the new customers start rolling in without expending a ton of time or energy. We’ve collected some of our best lead generation ideas broken down by industry to help any type of business thrive.
How to get leads for:
- Any business
- Roofers, construction, and general contractors
- House cleaning services
- Dental practices
- Insurance agencies
- Real estate agents
How to get leads (for any business!)
We’ll dive into some tips for specific types of businesses, but these ideas apply to any business looking for ways to generate leads and new customers:
- Get listed on local directories. Local listings show up in search results and on specific apps. Having accurate information and optimizing these listings can help you drive leads directly from these sites in the form of calls (or directions to your business, if applicable).
- Check all your listings quickly with our Free Business Listings Grader!
- Encourage customer reviews. Reviews are important for any business—look for ways to get reviews from happy customers to win over potential leads.
- Respond to negative reviews. Responding to negative reviews can help you win back an unhappy customer and sway potential customers (if you do it right!).
- Invest in search advertising. Search ads show on sites like Google and Bing and are an excellent way to collect leads.
- Optimize your site for local SEO. This can help you show up organically when people are looking for businesses like yours—driving more traffic to your site that you can then convert into leads and customers.
- Establish a solid lead management strategy. You can have the best lead generation strategy in the world, but if you don’t have a good way to collect that information and follow up, it’s basically pointless. Put an effective lead management system in place to make the most of your efforts.
LocaliQ’s AI-powered lead management solution can help you keep track of all your newly generated leads.
This is by no means an exhaustive list. We have even more lead generation ideas for any business here.
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How to get leads for roofers, construction, and general contractors
It can be difficult for roofers, contractors, and construction businesses to generate leads and find new customers. You have to build trust, establish a strong local footprint, and manage leads on the go. Here are some ideas to make this task a little easier:
- Create a landing page for each service you offer. To help drive potential customers to the exact service they’re looking for from your business, create a page for each service you offer. You can (and should!) also run ads for each of these services that direct to the correct landing page.
- Add live chat to your website. This is a great way to collect leads while also providing helpful information prospects may need before they become a customer.
- Create a customer referral program. Your happy customers are your best source for new leads. A customer referral program that offers an incentive for both the referrer and referral can help you collect new leads with ease (see referral program examples here).
- Register for Google Guarantee. Google Guaranteed businesses are backed by Google, which can set you apart from the competition. And can also run Google Local Services Ads—which help you drive leads, not just clicks, directly from your ads. Learn more about getting Google Guaranteed here.
- Use yard signs and door hangers. If you’re actively doing work at a home or business location, ask the owners if you can add a sign to their yard advertising your work. You can also walk around the neighborhood with door hangers to notify homeowners about your services.
- Offer free estimates or inspections. This can help you easily collect leads by providing helpful pricing information prospects need during the vendor research process.
- Provide a way for leads to text you. Not everyone likes to call a business, and sometimes they want more information than they can find on the website. Make it easy for them to contact you (and for you to collect their phone number) by enabling a way for them to text you.
This roofing landing page provides free next-day inspection and includes live chat plus a way to text the business directly.
Get more ideas to get roofing leads, contractor leads, and construction leads.
How to get house cleaning leads
If you provide cleaning services and are looking for ways to build your customer base, try these lead generation ideas:
- Offer a discount code for new customers. A special discount for new customers can help you drive leads for your cleaning business by making it worth their while to give your service a try.
- Create a downloadable cleaning checklist. Potential customers may be interested in providing their contact information in exchange for a helpful resource like a cleaning checklist. You can then nurture these leads via email marketing to convert them into customers.
- Design a subscription service. Make it easy for new clients to keep their homes clean (on a schedule) with a subscription service. This leads to recurring revenue for you and an easier way to book for new leads. You can create different tiers of subscription services that are customizable for customers based on frequency and more.
- Create cleaning videos on social media. Cleaning videos are surprisingly popular on social media sites like Instagram Reels and TikTok. Create cleaning videos that showcase the before, during, and after—or share cleaning tips with your audience.
- Collect customer testimonials. People want to know about the good work that you do! Get testimonials from your happy customers and share them on your website, social sites, and email promotions. Make sure to include pictures (and video, if you can).
This cleaning business created a subscription service, and their landing page details what’s included.
Get more ideas to drive house cleaning leads here.
How to get leads for your dental practice
If you’re looking to grow your dental practice, try these lead generation ideas:
- Optimize your website for all your services. Make sure your website reflects all the services your offer, and optimize each service page for local SEO to help you show up in search results for those services.
- Create a smile gallery. Show off those happy smiles to help win over new customers by getting consent from current patients to show off their before-and-afters.
- Add scheduling options to your site. Make it easy for potential patients to choose you by allowing them to schedule directly on your website.
- Send text promotions. SMS marketing is an amazing way to generate leads and convert them into customers. Send regular texts about promotions—and encourage patients to refer their friends.
- Create a monthly newsletter. A helpful newsletter can help you build an email list to nurture to. Your newsletter can include educational information, customer testimonials, subscriber-only discounts, and more.
- Offer complimentary services. Many dentists will offer a free teeth whitening treatment for new patients or special treatments for repeat patients. This can help you stand out and get new leads in the chair.
This dentist’s website includes a smile gallery, a way to book online, and a way to text the practice.
Get more ideas to generate dental leads here.
How to get insurance leads
The insurance industry is a complex one, and it can be difficult to sign new customers. Here are some ideas to get leads for your insurance agency:
- Host a webinar. Sharing your expertise can position you as an expert while helping you collect valuable lead information you can follow up with later. (Get tips to host a webinar here.)
- Create helpful content. A blog with regularly-published content can also establish you as an expert, help you get found in local search results, and drive more traffic and leads from your website.
- Send a regular newsletter. You can also share this content in a newsletter—along with regular updates about what’s happening in the market, tips to protect your assets, and more. This establishes a regular connection that can help you drive leads.
- Build a free calculator or quote generator. Everyone wants to know how much insurance is going to cost them before they sign up. By offering a free quote generator or calculator, you can provide this information while collecting lead information.
- Bundle services. Whether you’re bundling services for an existing customer or creating a bundle for new customers, this is a great way to generate insurance leads and sales.
- Partner with other businesses. Find complementary businesses in your area that you can partner with the spread the word about your respective businesses. This could be a car dealership, a real estate agency, and more.
This insurance agency partnered with the Patriots so new customers can get perks with the team.
Get even more ideas to drive more insurance leads here.
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How to get real estate leads
Real estate is a competitive industry with a revolving door of clients. A satisfied client means you’ve either gotten them in a new property or helped them sell their current one (or both)—and they likely won’t need your services again for many years. Here are some ideas to build up your real estate leads database:
- Create and optimize a YouTube channel. Creating regular video content—whether it’s educational about the home buying/selling process or entertaining home walk throughs—can help you get in front of a wider audience.
- Send regular emails. Your email marketing strategy can include upcoming open houses, happy home buyer/seller testimonials, agent spotlights, and more.
- Add appointment scheduling options to your website. Make it simple for prospective clients to schedule with you by allowing them to get started right from your website.
- Try geofencing. Geofencing allows you to target a hyperlocal area with ads. You could geofence open houses, apartment complexes, colleges, and more depending on your target audience to help drive leads.
- Get involved in local events or organizations. Sponsoring local events, hosting a booth at fairs, and generally being part of the local community can help you build a positive reputation for your agency and drive leads.
- Create a check-in station at open houses. Don’t let open house visitors get away without sharing their contact information with you. If they’re at an open house, they’ve already shown some interest in buying/renting a home—and many show up without agents already.
- Host home buying or selling seminars. The home buying and selling process is so complex. Lend your expertise to your community in exchange for their contact information so you can follow up later.
This real estate agent sponsored pet adoptions and got featured on the local news.
There’s more where that came from! Get even more ideas to generate real estate leads here.
Start getting leads for your business today
Use these industry-specific ideas to drive more leads for your business. Many of these ideas can be done quickly and easily (and oftentimes for free!) so you can make lead generation a breeze. And if you need any help, we’re here for you.
