According to Australian messaging technology company, M2 On Hold, global click-to-call revenue is expected to reach $13.7 billion by 2020. Read that again. That’s $13.7 billion with a B. No matter how you slice it, that’s a LOT of dollars coming in from ‘unknown caller.’

If you’re not in the know about click-to-call, it’s a technology that gives a person the capability to tap an icon or text on their phone to immediately call you. It makes connecting with a painting business easy and convenient. This capability, given the aforementioned research, can be seen as the growing consumer preference for reaching all types of businesses, including contractors. That means painting professionals should probably prioritize having a mobile-friendly website that allows potential customers to reach them with a simple tap.

MOBILE-FRIENDLY AND YOUR PAINTING BUSINESS

With the gradual roll-out of Google’s Mobile-First Index, sites without a mobile-friendly version now appear lower in search rankings.

But just making your site mobile-friendly isn’t always enough. As fast as consumers want to be able to find paint contractors, they want to be able to connect with them quickly, too. Hence, their love for click-to-call.

While it’s not always practical to answer every call the moment it comes in, how quickly you respond can dramatically influence whether that call converts to business or not. Tom Droste of Estimate Rocket, an estimate technology company, advises his clients to treat every call like a live prospect.

“The best possible option is to take the call when it comes in,” he says. “In all likelihood, that customer is online and they’re pecking their way from website to website. If you don’t answer the phone, they’re on to the next [contractor]. And if you don’t get back as close to immediately as possible, you can be pretty sure you’re off the list of contenders.”

NAVIGATING CLICK-TO-CALL REALITIES

If a potential customer can easily reach you with a tap of the phone, there’s also a good chance they are expecting someone will answer and be ready to talk. This can pose problems for contractors who may be working with another customer, and a long discussion may not be possible. At the same time, pushing that call to voicemail could mean missing out on a hot lead. There’s no hard and fast answer here, but having some strategies in place will help.

Droste suggests a solid Plan B where you “call back and explain that you’re currently tied up servicing another customer but you’d love to connect first thing tomorrow. This demonstrates that you’re attentive and respectful to current customers and that you’re interested in taking them on as a customer. That puts two points in your plus column with that prospect.”

Droste likes phone systems that bounce calls to ensure they get answered, but he said a system needs to be in place to assure a qualified person takes the call.

“It’s great that the call gets picked up the first time a customer calls,” he says, “but you need to be sure that the person who ends up taking the call is prepared to answer the most common questions about your company and services. That first impression is an important one.”

For more on how to effectively handle click-to-call customers, read the Trend in Focus article in the July/August issue of inPAINT magazine. And for other painting business tips, visit inpaintmag.com