The Non-Negotiable Future: Why Home Improvement Contractors Must Embrace AI & Radical Transparency
Marcus Sheridan, author of They Ask, You Answer and Endless Customers, delivers a stark message to home improvement contractors: the traditional sales model is dying, and the rise of AI is accelerating its demise. If your business, whether you’re a roofing contractor, one of the many plumbing contractors, or an electrical contractor, is not being recommended by AI, you could be in serious trouble.
The new path to leads and trust is simple, yet takes courage: become the best teacher in the world in your space.
Obsess Over the Buyer’s Journey
The core of a successful modern marketing strategy is moving away from thinking like a business and starting to think like your customer. Today’s consumers, who are more impatient and have a greater trust deficit than ever, would prefer a “seller-free sales experience” until they are ready to talk.
Your goal is to become an indispensable source of information by addressing every question, worry, fear, issue, and concern your buyer has. This strategy applies across the board, from residential to commercial hvac services.
H3: The Big Five: The Five Subjects Buyers Obsess Over
To build that trust, your website and content must be radically transparent about the five things buyers research before contacting any company:
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Cost and Pricing: You don’t need to give exact prices, but you must give a sense of the range. If you don’t answer the first question people have (“How much will this cost?”), you close the gateway to the buyer’s journey.
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Fear-Based Questions/Problems: Answer the doubts they have. For example, a roofing contractor needs content addressing common concerns about material longevity or installation risks.
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Comparisons: Create objective comparisons (e.g., brand vs. brand, product vs. product).
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Reviews: Share the good, the bad, and the ugly, not just the positive feedback.
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Best/Most/Top: Create content around the “best” options or methods for their specific needs.
Leverage Self-Service Tools and AI Visibility
In the age of AI, the ability to generate leads is tied to giving the buyer control over the front end of the sales process.
Deploy a Self-Service Pricing Estimator
One of the most powerful conversion assets is a self-service tool, like a pricing estimator. For hvac services or a large electrical contractor project, this tool allows a customer to answer a series of questions, which then generates an estimated range of costs.
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Result: You get leads, often 300% more than normal.
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Value: A great estimator is a great educator. It helps the customer understand value and moves them through the funnel before they ever talk to a salesperson.
Gain AI Trust Signals
With the growing shift away from clicking on search results, AI visibility is now massive. If an AI tool (like ChatGPT) is not recommending your business, you’ll be left behind. AI now uses “trust signals” to determine which companies to feature. Businesses must actively work to meet the standards AI sets for authority and transparency.
Video: The Non-Negotiable Tool for Every Trades Business Coach
For busy trades business coach clients and contractor management software users alike, the biggest barrier is time and complexity. Marcus Sheridan argues that video is the simplest solution:
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Batch Production: Dedicate just two hours a week to film 10 short videos answering your customers’ questions using nothing but a cell phone.
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One-to-One Video: This is the easiest way to differentiate yourself from competing roofing contractors or other service providers. Before a sales appointment, your representative should send a personal video:
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Introducing themselves so the customer recognizes them.
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Reviewing the meeting agenda and goals.
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The Flawed Mindset: Saving everything for the in-home visit is a deeply flawed mistake. You must give more on the front end to earn trust.
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The Four Pillars of a Known and Trusted Brand
For a business coaching for trades client seeking a blueprint for success, Marcus Sheridan outlines four core pillars:
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Say Online What Others Aren’t Willing to Say: Address the Big Five questions.
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Show With Video Others Aren’t Willing to Show: This includes surfacing your intellectual property (IP), like a plumbing contractors special pipe installation method or a unique material standard.
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Sell in a Way Others Aren’t Willing to Sell: Use one-to-one video, self-service tools, and radical transparency in the sales process.
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Be More Human Than Others Are Willing to Be: When you embrace the first three, you become naturally more open, honest, and transparent—a truly human brand.
The Certain Path to Growth: Find Your Community
The final key to success is community. Every business leader, whether running a small service operation or using enterprise contractor management software, needs an accountability partner or coach. If you are not involved in some type of community or mastermind, you will never reach your full potential, as you will constantly be reinventing the wheel. Being part of a supportive network, like the one discussed in this interview, is what allows you to work on your business instead of just in it.
This article is based on the conversation featured on The Successful Contractor Podcast episode, “Adapt or Die: AI & Content Marketing for Contractors with Marcus Sheridan.”
You can listen to the full episode and find other valuable content for your business here:
