Customer Follow Up
Customer follow up is where most home service businesses lose money without even realizing it. It is rarely one big dramatic mistake. It is usually just one message that never got sent.
I sat down with Nathan Klug of Lift Growth Systems to talk about it. Nathan learned this lesson the hard way. He and his business partner started an insurance agency and brought on 100 agents in 90 days, but they had no way to actually follow up with everyone they brought in. In this episode, you will hear the exact system he built afterward to fix that gap and turn old leads and past customers into new revenue.
What You’ll Learn
- Why the average business only follows up with a lead once and gives up
- How a simple database reactivation campaign can add revenue with contacts you already have
- The one shift that turns a slow month into your best lead source
- What most businesses miss about customer follow-up until it is too late
- A five-step process that turns old leads into new paying jobs
- Where nearly half of contractor income is quietly hiding
- One business collected 162 pieces of customer data and still lost the sale
Key Moments…
[1:37] Nathan’s Insurance Agency And Why Follow Up Broke At Scale
[3:26] The Average Business Follows Up Just 1.1 Times
[11:34] What Database Reactivation Actually Means
[12:31] The Postcard Program That Added Real Profit
[13:40] Why Nearly Half Of Contractor Income Comes From Follow-Up
[17:54] One Business With 162 Fields And No Follow-Up Plan
[20:08] The Real Response Rate From A Customer Follow-Up Campaign
[26:54] The Five Step Follow Up Strategy That Works
[33:50] Nathan’s Hidden Profit Leak Answer
The One Percent Habit Costing You Sales
Nathan told me something that stuck with me. The average business only follows up with a lead 1.1 times. That means most of us try once, hear nothing back, and move on. His real fix is not complicated. It just requires more customer follow-up than one attempt and a little patience. Most sales happen after the seventh touch, not the first, so most businesses are quitting long before the real opportunity even shows up.
What A Simple Postcard Program Proved
About a year and a half before this episode, I interviewed a guest who had built a good-sized HVAC and plumbing company and later sold it. In the last couple years he owned it, he started mailing postcards to people already in his database roughly every other month. He told me he was shocked by how much money that simple habit added to his bottom line, even though the postcards themselves were nothing special. The only real cost was printing and postage.
Why Data Without A Plan Is Just Clutter
One of Nathan’s own customers had built a spreadsheet with 162 separate column headings tracking customer information. When Nathan asked how much of that data they were actually using, he got silence. It turned out the only thing they were doing with it was sending basic appointment emails. The lesson here is simple. Decide how you will use data before you decide what to collect.
The Five Step Way To Reactivate Old Leads
Nathan walked me through the exact process he uses with his own customers.
- Take your past contacts and pull the ones who never became a sale
- Send a specific, easy offer instead of a generic check-in message
- Follow up by text as well as email, since texts get read faster
- Track who responds and move them into a real sales conversation
- Repeat the same steps with a new batch of old leads
This is Nathan’s own sales follow-up process, and it works the same way whether the lead came from an estimate or an old customer. Run it on your own list and you can expect a response rate somewhere between 30 and 40 percent, with 10 to 15 percent of those turning into an actual sale.
The Profit Leak Hiding In Your Own Database
When I asked Nathan for his hidden profit leak, he did not hesitate. He said the biggest leak in every business is the data they already own and never use. Building real customer retention strategies starts with using the data you already have, not collecting more of it.
If you take one thing from this conversation, let it be this. You do not need more leads to grow. You need a better way to use the ones you already have. Start with your own list this week. Send one honest message to ten people you have not talked to in a while, and see what comes back. And do not forget the easiest source of all: asking for referrals from the customers who already trust you.
About Nathan
Nathan learned the power of relationships early while growing up around his family’s bakery. He saw that durable businesses are built through trust, consistency, and how people are treated. He carried that lesson into insurance, recruiting, marketing, and business operations.
While building large recruiting organizations, Nathan learned how to create momentum. But rapid growth also exposed a weakness. He had become the trainer, connector, knowledge base, and person everyone needed. Nathan had become the system. That experience shaped a central belief: growth should not depend entirely on the owner’s memory, energy, or availability. Relationships create momentum. Structure makes that momentum sustainable.
Today, Nathan applies that lesson through LIFT Growth Systems. He helps owners connect strategy, people, processes, and technology so the business can grow without resting entirely on their shoulders.
Nathan is also a husband and father of five. His view of success is not endless hustle. It is building a business strong enough to support the people, responsibilities, and relationships that matter.
Connect With Nathan Klug:
Visit Nathan’s Website
Follow Nathan on Instagram
Connect with Nathan on LinkedIn
Follow Nathan on Facebook
Follow Nathan on YouTube
Access Nathan’s Resource so you can book a 15-minute call to see if the LIFT tech and strategy package is a fit for you. HERE.
Diane’s Resources:
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15 Ways To Add Another $200K In Profit To Your Home Service Business Without Chasing More Leads.
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