Congratulations on joining ServeNow, the best resource for generating new business for process servers. In addition to a ServeNow listing, there are a number of ways to market your legal services, investigation, or process serving business. Options include print media, direct mail and, of course, the internet. As you spend more and more time marketing your business, it is of utmost importance to know which advertising initiatives are creating positive results and which are not.
Marketing effectiveness is the process of tracking the results of your marketing efforts. Outlined below are a number of marketing effectiveness components in which process servers should engage.
It sounds obvious, right? But we’ve been in this industry since 2004 and we’ve made ten’s of thousands of calls to process servers -- many do not answer the phone!
Your phone is your lifeline in this business. Regardless of how much you market your company, if you don’t answer your calls the full value of your advertising won’t be realized. We asked our members where most of their new business comes from - 78.7% say they receive more new inquiries from a phone call versus email.
Missing a phone call can mean missing a high margin rush serve, investigative case, or losing out on a potential long-term client. There’s no room for screening your calls unless you absolutely know who’s calling. Lawyers and paralegals don’t have time to wait for a callback. If you don’t pick up your phone they’re not likely to leave a message. They’re going to move on to your competition.
Many process serving companies are small “mom and pop” businesses, making it impossible to be in the office to answer phones during the day.
When I first started my company the calls to my office went to voicemail while I was in the field. I would come back and see numerous missed calls, but no messages. Now we make sure that when we leave the office the phone calls are forwarded to our cell phones so we can answer any time. This improved our business overnight. - Keith Hollen, Eagle Eye Detective Agency in Charlotte, North Carolina
A missed call is a missed opportunity, and this is clear to the industry as a whole. 85% of process servers state their phones are answered by a live person at least 75% of the time.
Now comes the hard part! Tracking where your customers find you is vital to your marketing effectiveness. 45% of process servers don’t know what marketing initiatives are working for their business. The calls come in, but where are they coming from? Tracking your calls determines how well your advertising is working. Unless you’re using a tracking number (which we can set up for you), the only way to get this information is by asking.
We know it sounds easy, but getting accurate information on how someone found you from the internet can be much more difficult than it sounds.
Customers don’t often recall the path they took to find your phone number. They may have visited five or six sites before actually finding your contact information. When you ask, they may say, “I found you on Google” or “I found your website.” Does that mean they did a search for “Dallas process server” and found your web site in the search results? Or did they find your local listing? Or, did they find a site where you advertise?
If you can accurately assess where your customers are finding you 50% of the time or more, you’re doing a good job. - ServeNow.com CEO, Adam Camras.
The job of a lawyer or paralegal can be very hectic – they may not know where they found you. Therefore, you might be hesitant to ask. It can be fairly easy, however, to present this topic in a way that won’t annoy or put off your client.
For example: “Thank you for your business. We are marketing our business in a number of ways. Would you mind telling me how you found us today?”
Some people will know exactly how they found you and will be quick to respond. If they are not exactly sure where they found you, it’s probably best not to probe too much. Asking them for more details could be frustrating.
32% of process servers state they always ask their customers how they find them, while 13% say they never ask.
By including special offers in your advertising (especially on your ServeNow profiles), you can incentivize your customers to tell you where they found you. This is a primary reason we include the special offer field in your ServeNow profile. Even if it’s nominal like, “Get $5 off your first serve”, you’re likely to get customers to mention it to you. This, of course, assumes they actually click into your profile vs. calling right from the city or county list.
Many of you are fortunate to have hardworking and dedicated front office staff that are the heart and soul of your business. They are the people answering your phones and interacting with your clients. As you spend more to generate new business, educate them on the importance of tracking your marketing results.
Having a place where they can aggregate this data, such as a spreadsheet or call sheet, is a good way to achieve this. In addition, having a sheet in front of you will serve as a reminder to ask your customers where they found you.
Here is an example of a call sheet you can download and print: Call Tracking Sheet to Download: Call Tracking Spreadsheet (PDF). If you want to use something digital for this, copy the Google Sheet version of this.
You may not be looking to spend a whole lot on advertising, but it may be the push you need to be seen by your target clients. In order to be hired by the right people, you need to be seen by the right people and word of mouth may only get you so far.
Depending on how much you're spending, it doesn't take many jobs for your advertising to be effective. In fact, a customer that calls you today can pay for your advertising for years to come if you offer great service and earn their repeat business. Even if you're only breaking even on your investment, advertising helps build you brand and keeps you in front of potential long term, or high dollar clients.
As a profession, process servers don’t spend a lot of money on marketing, branding, or advertising their business. In fact, only 42% spend more than $100 per month and only 12% spend more than $1000 per month on advertising. However, effectively advertising your business and investing more in marketing can mean the difference between new clients or a fading workload. Often, investing money in marketing is worthwhile and a combination of tactics can provide better results.
Keep in mind the multiple benefits of advertising and marketing. You may not get a call for every click, but business recognition and online optimization (rising to the top of search rankings) is affected by your online saturation.
Be realistic about results. If you're spending a limited amount of money on marketing and advertising, your return may not support your entire business. Marketing prices are scalable so it is important to understand the appropriate amount of return. Business has its ups and downs, so don't be discouraged by a bad month. Building up an online reputation and repeat clients takes time, so don't lose faith in your marketing tactics.
ServeNow provides new clients, marketing, brand recognition, and optimization in our membership. We bring you new clients through our 100,000+ unique monthly visitors and we offer multiple products to help your online marketing such as websites and local optimization. Your company's brand is verified by being a part of our association. ServeNow optimizes your business' website by providing valuable backlinks which help with online rankings for your site. We make it our goal to provide process servers with the best online marketing tactics available while remaining affordable.
ServeNow surveyed our members about their practices and experience with marketing effectiveness. Here are some of the findings.
If you would like more information on Marketing Effectiveness, or if you are interested in getting listed on the ServeNow.com Process Server Directory, please contact us via email at [email protected] or toll-free at (877) 737-8366.
