As with most self-employed tradespeople, word of mouth plays a significant role in Will Lingard’s job as a handyman in and around Wonersh, a pretty village of red-tile cottages and timber-beamed houses a few miles south of Guildford. Whatever your trade, glowing reviews are good for business.
But since setting up Surrey Hills Handyman in 2016, Lingard has sought to gain further advantage, using Google My Business, a free tool for businesses to manage their online presence across Google services. The tool helps him display his five-star ratings and the favourable reviews he has earned on his online profile, which – alongside the use of Google ads to reach new customers – have helped him grow his business exactly how he wants. Like word of mouth, in digital form.
Lingard specialises in ‘all the little jobs’ that people often can’t find someone to do, or don’t have time to do themselves
Working for himself was always the end goal for Lingard, a music graduate from the University of Southampton. His earliest efforts after establishing his business were rather rudimentary: “I printed off some crude flyers, offering a 40% discount,” he says. “But it got things rolling. The first job I ever did was for £20, chopping up wicker chairs with my Leatherman multi-tool on a cold January night and taking them to the dump the next day in a Nissan Micra.”
Four years on, Lingard can afford to be choosier. He specialises in “all the little jobs” that people often can’t find someone to do or don’t have time for themselves, focusing on quality, not quantity, “like bits of tiling or installing kitchen splashbacks, putting up picture hooks or fitting doorbells”.
It’s here that promoting himself through Google tools has really paid off, taking on greater importance in recent months. Lingard had already taken to using Google ads, using keyword research to help find out what prospective clients were searching for online in and around Guildford – for instance, jet-washing a patio during the summer months – and then advertising those specific skills. This ability to be flexible and fleet of foot has had a significant impact on his business – “It’s quick, effective and direct,” he says – but really came into its own following the lockdown, when he was able to swiftly angle his remit as a “contactless service” in order to address customer fears around social distancing.
Meanwhile, his Google My Business profile has helped him to keep existing customers updated with his working hours, while the review rating builds his reputation and earns trust with new ones. Lingard says Google also enables him to concentrate on the job at hand rather than tying himself up fielding calls asking what jobs he can do – the photos on Google My Business help showcase this to prospective customers.
At a time when his business could have dwindled, Lingard is now booked up weeks in advance
Even with the unpredictability of the future, given the pandemic, there is significant potential for tradespeople like Lingard to grow their businesses as households contend with the crisis. Homeowners have had more time to contemplate their surroundings, while a growing number of the UK workforce expect a permanent change to their company’s approach to flexible working post-lockdown. It means many homes and gardens will require improvements. Lingard’s Google profile, for example, flags up his skills at assembling flatpack office furniture.
At a time when the wider job market looks uncertain, Lingard reveals that he is booked up six weeks in advance. “In a time of social upheaval and economic downturn such as this, demand for my services could have dwindled to nothing, but I’ve even been able to turn work away,” he says. “Google My Business has been central to me weathering the storm and future-proofing myself.”
To find out how Google can help your business adapt, visit: g.co/smallbusiness
