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How to find customers as a tradesperson: the channels that work, and for whom
Word of mouth, Google, platforms, social media, advertising: what each channel gives a tradesperson, its limits, and when it is worth it.
Published on · Joh · 8 min read
Most tradespeople filled their order book for a long time through word of mouth. It works, until the day you need more jobs, or different jobs, or simply to stop depending on two or three loyal customers.
No channel is right for everyone. Here is what each brings, honestly, and who it suits.
Word of mouth and recommendations
It is the cheapest channel and the one that converts best: the person arrives already reassured. It has two limits. It cannot be steered, you do not set the pace, and it plateaus: people do not recommend indefinitely.
It is strengthened by one simple gesture, which is to ask. A satisfied customer happily recommends, provided you ask at the right moment, just after the job ends.
Google and the business profile
When somebody types "plumber" or "boiler repair", they have a problem now. Google captures that already-formed intent, and it is the right channel for anything urgent.
Your business profile (Google Business Profile) is the key to it. A well-chosen category, regular photos, a precise service area and above all reviews: for a local tradesperson it often weighs most on visibility, ahead of a website.
Limit: you capture demand that already exists. If nobody searches spontaneously for what you sell, Google has nothing to offer you.
Lead-selling platforms
They deliver contacts quickly, which makes them tempting when the book is empty. But the same contact is often resold to several companies, and whoever arrives fourth on a job ends up discussing the price before the visit has even happened.
Use them as a stopgap, not as a model. Always compare on cost per signed job, not cost per contact. I set that calculation out here.
Social media, with no budget
Showing your jobs on Instagram or Facebook builds an image and reassures those who have already noticed you. It is an excellent complement, and a very poor acquisition channel on its own: with no budget you mostly reach your followers, who are already your customers or your relatives.
Partnerships
Architects, estate agents, brokers, suppliers, other trades: they meet your future customers before you do. A maintained partnership brings qualified jobs. It takes relationship time rather than money, and it does not scale.
Online advertising
It is the only channel you run like a tap: more budget, more enquiries, provided the rest keeps up. It reaches people who are not searching yet, which is what makes it suited to trades where the decision is slow and the order value high.
It suits a pool builder, a kitchen fitter, a joiner, a renovation company or an air conditioning installer well: considered purchases, compared, postponed, which advertising can bring back to the front at the right moment.
It suits pure urgency badly. Somebody whose boiler has just failed is not looking at their news feed, they are searching on Google.
Two conditions for it to pay.
Tracking through to the signature. Without it, you do not know whether the contacts are worth anything. The method is here.
A fast callback. The time between the contact and your call often weighs more than any setting.
How to choose
Ask yourself three questions.
Do your customers search for your service? If so, the business profile and Google come first. If not, advertising takes its place.
What is your average order value? The higher it is, the more worthwhile it is to pay for a qualified contact. For a small order, the acquisition cost has to stay very low.
Do you have time to call back fast? No channel works if enquiries sit unanswered for two days.
In practice, the tradespeople who do well combine them: word of mouth and reviews as the base, Google for urgency, and advertising to go and find what search does not bring them.
Further reading: What Meta Ads budget to plan and What a signed job really costs. And before any advertising: getting your Google Business Profile right.
Torn between several channels? . We look at your trade and the channel most likely to pay off for you.