Filling your sales pipeline with dream clients does not come magically. Devoting the effort it takes up front to attract the right customers for your interior design or construction business means wasting less time on pursuing leads that are dead ends. 

As an end to end business software solution, Houzz Pro helps you attract the right types of leads to win more jobs. With more than 2.7 million design and home renovation professionals, Houzz is a trusted source for homeowners seeking professionals to take on their projects. Houzz Pro provides a host of learning resources for home pros in every phase of their careers, including tutorials and advice from their peers. 

Read on to take a tour with Houzz’s Chloe Siegmann of all you need to know about advertising and managing leads through your Houzz Pro advertising subscription. Watch her complete webinar on attracting leads here.  

“It's critical that you follow these steps to ensure that you're getting the right types of leads that you're hoping for, and to ensure that you’re closing them quickly and you're getting a return on your investment,” says Siegmann.

Polish Your Houzz Profile

The best place to start promoting your business is through your Houzz online business profile, says Siegmann. “This is your opportunity to really sell your business,” she says. Customizing your online Houzz profile lets you target the exact type of client and projects you seek. Here are some best practices to get your marketing content up, and working for you:

• Visuals Sell Homeowners want to see projects that look like theirs and the best way to do that is to add photographs of past design and home renovation projects onto your online Houzz profile.“ The best pictures are those high quality, wide angle space photos,” she says. “I would encourage you to do that sooner rather than later. These are very important. Houzz is a highly visual platform,” she says. Posting photographs on the page is simple. A prompt is on the page to add a new project, and there are photo guidelines on the right hand side of the page with tips.
• Once a photograph has been uploaded, you can add descriptions and keywords around type of space and style. For example, when you click on Edit Space, you can select a space - such as an entry way - and pick that marker. Homeowners search Houzz by different room types and adding these descriptors helps businesses get in front of  the right clients for the type of work their home design or construction business offers. 
• How to Get Reviews Going hand in hand with project photographs are customer reviews. “When homeowners are searching on Houzz, they really want to ensure that they're going to have a great experience. They want to know what it's like to work with you, from the people who are just like them,” Siegmann says. Houzz makes it easy to seek reviews from clients.
• Users click on Get Reviews in the reviews section of their profile, load in the email addresses of those they are sending to, and then send out the template message or customize it. Once clients receive the message “they'll be able to click a link to write a review,” Siegmann says. Houzz ensures their privacy by having them create a Houzz account. Members of the Houzz team read every review, and then, they are posted on your profile. “The more reviews you have that speak to why someone should choose you over somebody else is critically important, so make sure you take advantage of that,” she says. 
• Feature A Review Giving more prominence to one of your five star reviews helps clients quickly recognize the high quality of your work and service. You get to choose which review to feature front and center on your Houzz profile.
• Add a Highlight Video Another way to show clients your work is by creating a highlight video using the photographs you have uploaded. “It allows you to build more things on your profile page to make it very compelling,”she says. Don’t worry if you have never made a video before. Houzz provides templates to choose from and customize. You can choose background music, change out text, and more. “If I watch that highlight video, I should be able to gather what it'd be like to work with you,” Siegmann says. “It's, again, just a great thing to sell your business.”
• Describe Your Business When homeowners click on a profile of an interior designer or contractor, they want to learn quickly whether the pros do the type of work they are seeking. This is the first information customers will see on your online profile so make sure it is complete, up to date and inviting. Click on Edit Profile to add information about your business, professional affiliations, awards and certifications. Add a logo if you have one, and also include a photo of the team so clients see the faces behind the names. 
• Include three short paragraphs on who you are as a business, what type of projects you take on, and why people choose to work with you over anyone else. Also add a call to action of how to reach your business. “A great business description will have those key components,” she says.“It is great for someone to understand at a glance the types of projects that you do,” she says. 
• Display Your Badges If your business has earned Best of Houzz awards make sure they are displayed on your profile page. If you are just starting out, a Houzz badge that shows you are available to take on projects immediately is your virtual ‘open for business’ sign.  “This is a great badge that appears on your profile and allows homeowners to find professionals that can work on their project right away,” she says. 

Lead Settings that Attract The Right Clients

Tailoring your lead settings is another key way to attract your preferred clients. “Many of our contractors, designers, you name it, have particular preferences on the projects they want to take on,” she says. Lead settings help match your services to the searches by homeowners who are seeking those services. Go to Settings and go to Subscriptions, and go to Packages to customize your settings. Review and toggle on and off the areas that best suit your business whether it is project budget, scope of services, or geographic area. 

“We know every business is different,” Siegmann says. “You can mark here if you're going to do design as a standalone service, or construction and installation as a standalone or bundled together,” she says.“If you have multiple packages, you can also apply those settings to the other ones, so you don't have to go in every single one separately,” she says. Businesses can also select the standalone services they may offer. 

Best Practices for Responding to Leads 

• Enable Multiple Notifications Now that you have set everything up to attract leads, it is time to manage the leads that will start coming in. “You already downloaded our Houzz Pro App, which is great, you'll get them there, if you enable text messaging, we'll also send you alerts there,” she says. “ You can also manage your leads in our client relationship management tool, our CRM, so you'll see your leads funnel over into here.” 
• Time is of the Essence The most important way to nail a lead is to move quickly. “I would encourage anyone to hear me on this one that time is of the essence. You want to reach out as soon as you get these inquiries,” she says. “I hate seeing messages that say, ‘Hey, got your inquiry, Let me know when you're free.’ Make sure you're taking the time to make it easy on them. These homeowners have a busy life.” she says. “The best advice is to pick up the phone and call them,” she says. Through Houzz you receive a phone number to connect to the homeowner. If the homeowner does not answer, leave a message with your phone number and when you will call again. “Set up that expectation so they are prepared to answer your phone call, and they're not screening numbers they don't know,” she says.
• Follow up Multiple Times Once is not enough when it comes to following up on leads. The Houzz Pro CRM lets you organize leads by stages, making it easy to have multiple contact points through calls and notes to homeowners. It also provides templates for notes and intake messages so you do not need to start from scratch with every new lead.

Use Houzz Pro to Manage Your Business  As leads turn into projects, Houzz Pro software also helps with the rest. Use it to do takeoffs and build estimates, communicate with customers through the client dashboard, manage projects and get paid on time for your work. 

How to Get Help  We are here to help. There are plenty of ways to reach out to us. Chat with us by clicking on the question mark on the right side of your profile page, call, or submit a ticket to our team. “We're so excited that you chose to partner with us for your business. We would love to chat with you,” Siegmann says.