Fatrank Podcast

Kasra Dash:
So if I have a heat pump installation business and I want to grow my business and get a consistent flow of inquiries, what do you recommend?

James Dooley:
So with regards to the heat pumps market, it's a massively growing and trending marketplace. You've got different types. You've got air source heat pumps and ground source heat pumps and I'm sure there's many other types. Over at FatRank we generate quite a lot of different inquiries, so if anyone is looking for a lead generation company for heat pumps, head over to fatrank.com, fill in the details on the contact page and see whether you qualify for getting a consistent flow of inquiries for heat pumps on a day-to-day basis. You only pay on converted jobs, so you have nothing to pay for any of the leads, any of the SEO or any of the PPC. That is step number one for any heat pump business owner of what I would recommend them to do because it's zero risk.

But big caveat. I would not throw all your eggs into FatRank’s basket and say that's it, I’m just going to go all in on FatRank generating me twenty leads a day. The volume might not be there to do twenty a day. So for that reason, you might want to speak to one or two other lead generation companies like Bark or Checkatrade or BuilderBuilder or Yellow Pages advertising. But please be savvy as a business owner. Be frugal and make certain that you're getting a return on investment. Don't go buying leads if they're being resold to six other companies and they're not converting for you. The good thing about fatrank.com is we give you exclusive real-time leads, but as you want to grow, try to diversify as much as you can.

The next major play is the biggest play for me for growing a heat pump business. That is search engine optimisation. Can you explain a little bit to anyone watching this who is a heat pump business owner, not just the benefits of SEO to generate more leads and trust, but why they shouldn't be looking for a quick return on investment? And how by doing SEO, it can actually get them a bigger multiplier if they ever look to sell the business?

Kasra Dash:
Yeah, so when you’re not relying on a lead generation company and you’re actually generating your own inquiries via your website or your Google Business Profile, the multiplier of your overall business goes up. If you ever look to sell that business, which we know a few people in the renewable space want to do in the next five or six years, it is by all means one of the best growth strategies for your business.

When somebody looks to buy your business, there’s an asset value of your business, your staff, your vans, your tools and your office. But there’s also a website value. If your website isn't generating any leads and it's just a homepage with a pretty picture, there's not much value. But if that website is generating you thirty or forty inquiries every month, there's an actual asset value. The multiplier definitely goes up.

And the investor or the new business owner can see you’re not just relying on FatRank or Bark or Checkatrade for leads. With certain lead generation companies, they can switch you off. We obviously don't do that, but be aware when you sign up with others, they can just switch you off and your consistent flow of inquiries is gone overnight.

James Dooley:
Yeah, I think it's very important as well that FatRank could switch you off. Being honest, we could do if you're not good enough at converting the leads we send and you don't respond quickly or provide a good service. We're not going to indefinitely keep supplying you with heat pump leads. When you start looking at it that way, that's why I talk about diversification. Make certain you're getting leads from different parts.

So the two major plays to grow a heat pump business we've spoken about up to now are teaming up with a few lead generation companies and SEO. A couple of things I wouldn’t spend too much time on is traditional marketing. Billboard advertising, TV advertising, radio advertising, magazines. I think it's so 2000. Nowadays the filtering on social media ads can do much better than traditional marketing.

But if I was to do the two other major plays, they would be PPC or social media ads. Organic social media, if I’m going down that route. Heat pumps have got certain tax relief incentives, so in the renewable energy and decarbonisation industry, especially in the UK and the US, they will give you tax relief. If you can start to write blog posts from an SEO standpoint ranking for it in Google, great. But you might also want to be sharing those blog posts on social media. You might run ads to those posts. You might want to create a video explaining the steps to get tax relief if they’re looking to get fifty percent off their bill.

You could even, if it's a longtail query, start to do PPC. I’m not a massive fan because it's expensive. What's your thoughts?

Kasra Dash:
So the SEO play I'd be doing is listing as many services as I can. Ground source heat pumps. Air source heat pumps. Heat pumps for commercial. Heat pumps for swimming pools. Heat pumps for new builds. Those are the services. But then I’d also do blog posts on tax reliefs, government grants and anything topical. You might be the first to cover it. You might rank very quickly.

Then I’d push those blogs on social media. I’d run traffic from Facebook ads to them, educating people and saying hey, did you know you can get ten grand off your air source heat pump? That funnels more people into your contact form. Then your sales team can start ringing out.

James Dooley:
For sure. And something you touched on there is EV chargers. A commercial solar company might not install EV chargers, but I’d still want to rank for EV chargers and heat pumps even if I didn't install them. It’s a “scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours” situation. If you can get Kasra Dash heat pump inquiries and he doesn't do commercial solar, who is he going to refer them back to? Us.

So from there you can build relationships with EV charger companies or heat pump companies and do what I call shouldering niches. I think that’s a great strategy. I’d also be networking on LinkedIn to connect with EV charger company owners and heat pump owners.

Kasra Dash:
Definitely.

James Dooley:
So if you're a business owner of a heat pump business, whether that's ground source heat pumps or air source heat pumps, we hope you like the tips we’ve given. Make certain you do diversification. Make certain you're doing the SEO and the lead generation play more than the others. But still try to get those tax incentive articles done and share them on social media.

If you want a consistent flow of inquiries, head over to fatrank.com, fill in the form and see whether you qualify.