How to get electrician leads without Checkatrade

If you are reading this, you have probably had the same thought most self employed electricians have at some point. You are paying a lead site every month, the leads are getting worse, half of them are price shoppers, and you are competing with three other sparks who all got sent the same job.

You do not have a lead problem. You have an ownership problem. Right now you are renting your work from somebody else, and the rent goes up every year. This page walks through what that actually costs you, and how to build a flow of work you own instead.

What a lead site really costs you

Most electricians only count the monthly fee. That is the small bit. Do the sum properly and include the leads you pay for and never win.

Put your own numbers in this. It is the shape of it that matters, not my figures.

Now the part nobody puts in the spreadsheet. The three jobs you won came in at a price you had to shave, because the customer had four quotes in their inbox by teatime. So you are paying £113 to be given the chance to work cheaper than you want to.

Why the leads feel worse than they used to

They probably are, and it is not personal. A lead site makes money when a job gets sold to several trades, so the same enquiry lands with you and your competitors at the same moment. The customer is then trained to compare on one thing, because it is the only thing they can compare. Price.

On top of that, you are invisible. The customer remembers the platform, not you. Next time they need a spark they go straight back to the site and the whole thing starts again, and you pay again for a customer you already served well.

Where the work comes from instead

There are five places a domestic or small commercial electrician can get work that nobody can take away. None of them are clever. They are just rarely done properly.

1. Your Google Business Profile

This is the free listing that shows up in the map results when somebody searches for an electrician in your town. It is the single highest intent place you can appear, because that person is looking for someone right now, and it costs nothing. Most electricians have one that is half filled in, has no photos, no services listed, no posts and three reviews from 2019. Fill it in properly, get the reviews coming in on a system, and it will out earn any lead site you have ever paid.

2. A website that is actually yours

Not a one page brochure that nobody visits. A site built round the jobs you want, in the towns you cover, that turns a visitor into a phone call. When it ranks, the enquiries are exclusive to you and they arrive at no cost per lead.

3. The customers you already have

Every electrician is sitting on a list of people who already trusted them with their house, and most never contact them again. A simple reminder about the age of a consumer unit, an EICR that is due, or an EV charger, sent to people who already know your work, is the cheapest work you will ever get.

4. Referrals, asked for on purpose

Most sparks get referrals by accident. A short, planned ask at the point the customer is happiest, plus a reason for them to pass your name on, turns a trickle into something you can count on.

5. Local visibility, so you are known before you are needed

The van, the workwear, the local Facebook groups, the estate agents and letting agents, the kitchen fitters and builders who need a reliable spark. People buy from the electrician they have already heard of. Being the obvious local name beats being the cheapest quote every time.

A sensible first month

1. Week one. Google Business Profile. Every field completed, real photos of your work, your services listed, and a plan for asking every happy customer for a review.
2. Week two. Your numbers. Know your minimum charge and your hourly rate before you chase more enquiries, or you will just be busier at the wrong price.
3. Week three. Your old customers. Get the list into one place and send them something useful. Not a sales blast, something that helps.
4. Week four. Your website and your follow up. Make sure an enquiry gets a fast, tidy response every single time, because most quotes are lost to silence rather than price.

That is a month of evenings, not a career change, and at the end of it you own something.

What this looks like when it works

Chris Ward was sceptical when he joined. Six years later he is still a member, and he puts it like this: much more control of his business and a constant workflow, without a big spend on leads or ads. That is the whole point. Not a magic month, a business that stops depending on somebody else’s platform.

You have spent years getting good at the work. The marketing side is just another skill, and it is a lot easier than a three phase fault find.