Tips to grow your business

TIPS TO HELP GROW AN INSTALLER BUSINESS

If you’ve reached a point where you feel like you’re ready to grow but are not sure how to take your business to the next level, read on for some tips from Houzz, the world's leading home design and renovation platform, and their community of professionals, to help you grow your installer business.

Learn where to delegate

It can be hard to hand over tasks when you’re the sole owner of a business, but there comes a time when it’s impossible to perform all tasks in your business yourself. If you feel like you’re spending too much time on admin and too little on building client relationships and planning projects, it’s time to delegate. Professional on Houzz, Jennifer Chong of Feioi recommends starting with certain tasks: “This could be accounts, marketing, technical drawings, social media or small admin jobs. It will allow you to take on more work and ultimately make your business more successful.”

Make it your mission to hire people you can trust to continue building your businesses reputation for highquality work.

Get the right team in place

Having the right people around you will make it a lot easier to take your firm to the next level and ensure you have time to focus on growing the business. Make it your mission to hire people you can trust to continue building your businesses reputation for high-quality work. Try adverts on popular job boards and social media, as well as making sure others in your field know you’re looking to hire, as recommendations could be key! It’s also worth reaching out to colleges and schools to hire apprentices potentially looking for opportunities.

Start thinking about marketing

It’s important to get your name out there, so a working website 

and marketing plan is vital. Your website will play a big part in potential customers initial perceptions of you, so make sure this has clear information about your business and attractive images of your projects, and most importantly, is mobile-friendly! If you need to create a website for your company, the Houzz Site Designer tool is free and in less than 15 minutes you can build an easy to use, mobile-friendly site.

Once your website is up and running, it’s important to build up your profile on social media platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, as well as more targeted online platforms such as Houzz. Building out a profile on Houzz will allow you to showcase your work and provide insight into your personality, working style and approach through client reviews, direct community interaction and more. Take this to the next level, by investing in local advertising solution, Pro+, to connect with renovating homeowners who are looking to hire in your local area.

Connect with other businesses

A great way to expand your business or take on larger projects is to team up with other renovation specialists. You can

use their skills to get certain aspects of a job completed, which would normally be outside of your remit, and work out a way to share the profits, or tap into their client base by agreeing to recommend each other’s business. To build out your professional network try reaching out to architects and interior designers via Houzz and other social media platforms or attending industry events.

Choose jobs wisely and be honest

When you’re trying to grow, you can often feel under pressure to take on all the jobs that come your way, however, it’s much better in the long term to focus on projects where you know you can do a good job.

“Being honest is very important,” explains professional on Houzz, Peter Reader of Peter Reader Landscapes, who adds. “If it will be a month before you can start, then state this upfront.” He explains that clients who really value you as a designer will wait. On the other hand, if someone wants a rush job, the whole process is likely to be stressful and compromised.

Stand out to the right clients

Houzz is an easy to use platform to present your work and connect with potential clients who are looking to hire professionals. To stand out to those searching, the foundation of any successful Houzz profile is beautiful, eyecatching photos and great customer reviews.

So, when building up your profile, heed this advice from Anna Daly, Senior Account Manager for Houzz UK. “Building up good reviews and a portfolio of great photos does take some time and organisation, but they really make an impact when it comes to presenting the best version of your business online. Houzz is a visual platform and you need to show your work in the best way to stand out.”

Houzz is the leading platform for home renovation and design, providing people with everything they need to improve their homes from start to finish. With the largest residential design database in the world, Houzz is the easiest way for people to find inspiration, get advice and hire the professionals they need to help turn their ideas into reality. Houzz connects professionals with homeowners who are actively looking to hire the right home professional for their project.