How did the pandemic change the way consumers behave?
During the pandemic, people stopped travelling overseas and spent more time at home. That meant they started noticing what needed fixing, upgrading, or improving around the house. Many tradies who expected customers to shut their wallets found the opposite: homeowners were upgrading home offices, replacing fittings, and investing in their properties.
The other lasting change was digital. Consumers became far more comfortable researching and making decisions online. That shift did not reverse when lockdowns ended.
What is happening to the market now that the pandemic is over?
The post-pandemic boom has softened. Rising interest rates and cost-of-living pressure mean fewer people are building or renovating at the same rate. At the same time, the number of contractors in the market has grown. More competition, fewer jobs being called in: that combination makes it harder to win work if your only lead source is word of mouth.
Survey data from a thousand consumers found that 88% were concerned about rising costs. Energy bills in particular have increased sharply over recent years, and feed-in tariffs for solar have been dropping. Energy efficiency is front of mind for a large portion of your potential customers right now.
Why is word of mouth no longer enough on its own?
The informal conversations that used to generate referrals, whether at the pub, the sports club, or through a friend, are happening less. People are making their own decisions using Google and social media rather than asking a mate who they used for their electrical or plumbing work.
That means relying purely on repeat customers and referrals leaves you exposed. You need a digital shop front as well. That includes your Google presence, your social media, and your reviews. Online reviews function as social proof in the same way a personal recommendation from a friend once did.
How do you maximise the value of the jobs you already have?
The first step is to ask questions rather than pitch. Before you recommend anything, find out what the customer actually cares about. Is it safety? Reducing their energy bill? How their home looks? Once you know that, you can frame your recommendation around their concern rather than pushing a product they did not ask for.
For example, if a customer mentions their electricity bill is painful, showing them how LED downlights will save money over time becomes a helpful conversation, not a hard sell. If a customer clearly cares about how their home looks, you can ask whether they would like the switches in a room to all match when you replace a broken one. That single conversation often leads to the whole house.
The key is that the conversation stays genuine. Ask a real question, listen to the answer, then offer a solution that fits what they told you. When customers feel heard, they are far more willing to spend, and they tell their friends about it.
What practical tools help you have these conversations naturally?
Having physical or digital resources in your vehicle makes the conversation easier. A checklist, a product guide, or a home magazine that explains energy efficiency options gives you something tangible to show the customer. You can use it to walk through options visually rather than just talking at them.
Practice is what makes the questioning natural. The more you ask genuine questions with customers every day, the more fluid it becomes. You are simply extracting information about what matters to them, and that information tells you exactly what solution to offer.
How do you keep generating work from existing customers?
Most tradies do not follow up after a job is done. Sending an email or SMS to past customers is a straightforward way to stay in front of people who already trust you. Combined with asking good questions on every job and leaving customers genuinely happy with the outcome, you create the conditions for repeat work and referrals.
When a customer stretches beyond what they planned to spend because you showed them something genuinely valuable, they often want to tell people about it. That word-of-mouth referral, earned by delivering a great experience, brings in business that would not have come from any ad.
