We should not work for free—we need to be paid for our time. I think there is misinformation around “free estimate” or “free bid.” I have been in this industry for many years and have felt the pain of remodelers putting in long hours to put together proposals, so my thoughts aren’t mere speculation, but an observation of what works. Too many remodelers think that charging for an estimate is the answer. If you already have a struggling business, how can charging for an estimate benefit someone? Is it to weed out bad leads or qualify them better? If it is to get paid for your time, then focus on getting to the design agreement quicker, by using effective and smart marketing & sales strategy/tactics! Become more profitable by not competing on price and make your business the preferred choice! Focus on the real profit, selling, building and getting paid on the project!

My primary focus for my remodeling business has always been positioning my business as a leader in the marketplace through an excellent and laser focused marketing objective. I wanted to brand my business, build trust with customers and have a strong emphasis on building a solid relationship up front. The process was to be an expert in a niche market, focus on my ideal client, draw in quality leads and to educate them before we ever first met. There is a marketing process for this and those that do it well, have thrived. It was and still is imperative to position yourself as an expert.

I look at Darren Salyer, of Absolute Basement finishing. His basement remodeling niche focus has helped him brand his business. Darren has made Marketing a priority for his company, and in these tough times, he has actually raised his prices. Absolute Basement finishing’s sales volume is up by 50%, compared to YTD sales at this time last year.

I look at Paul Klassen, of The Pinnacle Group. whose business is also growing substantially during these challenging times. His success comes from creating a marketing initiative that focuses on his ideal client and a detailed sales process. The Pinnacle Group has made it a focal point to make marketing their business a priority. He ISN’T building one of the best renovation businesses by a quick fix mentality or a new direct mail campaign, a Pay Per Click campaign, or the marketing event of the week mentality. The Pinnacle Group is building a consistently growing business by creating “a true marketing business,” that happens to also renovate, …by focusing on a niche, their ideal client( quality leads), and fine-tuned sales process, along with a complete a marketing focus and they ARE thriving.

Both of these remodelers are in a metro area or market where many other remodelers could probably say they are floundering.

What are these businesses doing differently? They made marketing and sales a priority! Many people currently are not in the position of these two business, but at one point these two were not where they are now either.

How did they get there? It wasn’t by wondering if they should charge for an estimate, ….it was from making their best effort to ensure that their clients were their main focus, by educating them before they ever met, connecting emotionally when they did meet, by positioning themselves as unique in the industry, and drawing in a customer that wanted to choose their business to remodel with. This is profitability at its finest, and neither charge for an estimate and are very profitable.

From the Remodeling Blog

Shared Goals
The best business marketing model is one that is consistent and on message. I talked about this in a previous blog. Meet with your strategic partners and share with them your marketing message and vision. Talk about how much you value your clients and want the companies you work with to help serve the needs of these clients. When I ran a remodeling business, I held an annual meeting with my strategic partners in our showroom. I thanked them, read our mission statement, and shared our annual goals. After the meeting, I met individually with each partner to review their positive contributions and any areas of concern.

Marketing Together
Co-hosting an event with your strategic partner can be a win/win situation that stimulates brand awareness and sales for both companies. I worked with Pinnacle Renovation’s owner Paul Klassen to set up an event at Jerome’s Appliance Gallery’s showroom. About 45 guests attended the successful Evening to Remember. The event provided a chance for past clients and those new to the Pinnacle family to mix, mingle and enjoy fantastic hors d’oeuvres prepared by a chef. Click here to read Pinnacle’s blog about the event. Below is a photo of Paul with a Pinnacle ice sculpture:

Talk with your strategic partners for ideas about events the two of you could host. Share your marketing lists of existing clients and new prospects and pair up to generate interest in the event to stimulate sales. Consider drawings for special prizes to create a buzz.

Social Media Partner
You can also create a marketing buzz by working with your strategic partners to educate clients about new products and to promote events and projects. Offer to let your partner write a guest blog on your website and offer to write one for their site. This is a great way to draw interest and get your company names in front of new people. Promote the blog in your newsletter, link to the blog on your company Facebook page and encourage your partner to do the same. You have to be consistent about your marketing so you can be in front of people when they are in need, and social media helps you do that.

I encourage you to make a list of all your strategic partners and brainstorm with them for ideas. Come up with a plan for cross-marketing and implement it now!

I once heard someone say that passion doesn’t build businesses. Really? To be the best at what you do, you have to love it–your passion is your business. Passion shows in your management, your meetings, and your systems. Your passion should motivate you and others.

Lead By Example
Your team and your strategic partners will feed off of what you do, how you act and your work ethic. Your leadership is the driving force in your company. Treat people with respect, treat them fairly, and your team will copy the standard you set the next time they are faced with an important decision. Go the extra mile for a customer and watch how your team reacts—your service and attitude will be embedded in their minds every time they are face-to-face with a client. When I work with a remodeling client, I get very passionate. I want to see the company owner’s mad passion for making a difference in their client’s lives, and I want to make a difference in their company. One of the most passionate and dedicated business owners I know is Paul Klassen of The Pinnacle Group. He is involved in every aspect of his company–from production to sales to marketing. He preaches customer service and being on top of the details, while providing an everyday example for his team. Paul follows the “man in the middle” philosophy I talked about in a previous blog.

Take Action
Today’s market is challenging. Sometimes, out of frustration, we make excuses about our decisions or actions. When does this mentality stop? I challenge you to set the excuses aside and get passionate about succeeding. Start believing and begin to regain control by starting with the little things. Your passion for the details will get results. If you need to improve sales, come up with an action plan. If you want more leads from your marketing, create a plan to and track the results. Here is one idea for tracking results that Idiscussed a few months ago.

Your Responsibility
You are the only person that can control your future. I encourage you to turn on your favorite motivational song, reconnect with what brought you to the remodeling business, and start making a difference today. Your positive attitude will spread to your employees, to your strategic partners and your customers.

Direct mail campaigns in a neighborhood where you have a project have several different names: radius marketing, pardon our dust letters, or postcard mailings. Let’s refer to all of this marketing as a Neighborhood Awareness Program. Generating awareness takes consistent effort, and when used properly, can be very effective. Here are some effective strategies: Lets look at some strategies that have been consistently effective and have already endured the luxury of tweaking and revised strategy to bring the maximum results.

Targeted Audience. This may seem obvious, but it is worth mentioning. Marketing is most effective when you focus on your ideal client. It’s important to target a specific geographical area where you have current and past ideal clients who refer you to their friends and family. This is a neighborhood where more work will likely bring you more ideal clients. A targeted mailing will bring you better results than for less cost than a large mass mailing.

Size Matters. Average post cards are 4-inches by 6-inches. To get the attention of your target audience, consider sending jumbo post cards that are 6-inches by 9-inches. Also, use full color on both sides.

Frequency. For almost any advertising or marketing vehicle to make an impact and achieve good results, frequency is essential. Frequency is the amount of times your potential client is exposed to your message. Your targeted audience may see a typical ad once and not even realize it. To achieve better results use repetition or frequency. Concentrate your message within a short time frame so it makes a mental impact and influences a homeowner’s decision.

Thomas Smith wrote a guide called Successful Advertising in 1885. He found that the first time people look at an ad, they don’t even see it. The second time, they don’t notice it. It’s not until the third time that they are aware that it exists. Awareness increases with frequency. Major advertising agencies know and use this strategy. Do you see a GEICO commercial once a month or several times a week? You need to be in front of the right person at the right time, and frequency and consistency increase your success rate.

Magnetic Presence. Try attaching a business-card magnet to your post cards. A potential client who receives a postcard might set it aside with the ide

a to call you, but then misplace it. If there is a magnet attached, they might place the card on their refrigerator, which means they can find your information when they are ready to make the call. The magnet increases the shelf life of your post card.

Creative Message. Determine your communication objectives. Are you branding, creating urgency through a “call to action,” or hosting an event? A message has to have an appeal and an idea that motivates an audience to respond. Include your unique selling point and have a clear path to contact your business.

Landing Page. Strengthen your post card campaign by attaching a link to a special landing page that is unique to just the postcard receivers. This concept works great for special events, sales, and client showcases to prompt a certain action or result. Through Google analytics it is possible to see how many people visited this post-card-driven landing page. To gather more information, put a lead capture form on the landing page.

A Renovation business in Canada used the postcard strategy outlined in this article for a mailing to invite people to a private client showcase in a neighborhood they considered to have many more ideal clients. The postcards had a link to a landing page, which detailed the specifics of the event, and requested the guest RSVP for the event. The landing page shared more information about this project and photos specific to the client showcase. Once the guest filled out the RSVP form, they received an e-mail requesting a phone introduction with a renovation representative. Once the employee qualified them, they received directions and details. This process clearly outline their objectives, brought a more qualified prospect to the event, created excitement for their sales team and made the existing clients comfortable about opening their home for a private event. The postcard frequency and strategy made for a full house of ideal clients and new sales.

From The Remodeling Magazine Blog

I had the opportunity to talk with quite a few remodeling businesses at the recent Builders’ Show in Orlando. Many people are very optimistic going into 2011, but the most common issue I heard was, “I need and want to grow, but I don’t know where to start. I need leads to support my growth.”

My immediate thought is that they should become passionate about understanding their marketing. Successful marketing is about connecting with your ideal client. It’s about being in front of your ideal client, presenting an image that truly connects emotionally with your ideal client, educating them and earning their trust. When it’s done properly, marketing influences their decisions. Marketing is the job of everyone in your business from office staff, and employees to sales people. Everyone.

Marketing makes you remarkable. It’s requires a consistent effort that stresses strategy before tactics. Your marketing plan should educate people about your business, services, products, and people. View it as a system. Successful marketing involves actions–not words. There is no magic idea that creates leads. Marketing is a body of work and consistent system that brings you results. It is the essence of your business.

Here are some essential elements for effective marketing:

1. Focus on your ideal client. Who is your ideal client? What are your most profitable projects? In general, your ideal client is one that brought you a profitable project and referred you to others. Interview several ideal clients and talk to them. Find out why they chose you. Identify the benefits of your company that make you unique. If you don’t get the message directly from these ideal clients, you are guessing. Record the call and listen to it with your team.

2. Bring the right message to your ideal clients. One component of effective marketing is being in front of your clients when they are thinking of remodeling. This can only be accomplished with a consistent effort, frequent contact, and using the right message. Are you using social media? Are you using newsletters? Is your marketing prevalent in neighborhoods where you have current projects? Do you have client showcases? With all of this outreach, present a professional image and use the opportunity to educate people.

3. Position yourself as an expert. When someone hears about your company, how do they perceive the company and you? Do they see you as an expert? There are many different venues business owners can use to educate and share their expertise, but few do it effectively. Don’t use social media to broadcast—use it to educate and connect with people. For example: Everyone enjoys a good story, so tell your potential clients a story that is relatable. Pick a topic your ideal clients value, interview a trade partner about that topic, and put the audio on your website, send it out in a newsletter or post it on your blog. This way, you’re directing people to this expert advice and position yourself as an expert. If your niche is kitchen remodeling, interview your countertop fabricator about current style trends or the difference between concrete countertops and granite. If you do this on a monthly basis, you build a library of educational topics that appeal to your ideal clients.

4. Connect emotionally. Once you have interviewed your ideal clients, you should have a good idea of what sets your company apart. Most businesses want to pre-qualify potential customers by asking for their budget. However, to truly get this information from a potential client, it’s more important that you connect emotionally and show them you care about their needs, desires, and what is best for their family.

How do you connect with them? Darren Salyer of Absolute Basement Finishing in St. Louis, Mo, told me about a customer that called him. This person had interviewed nine contractors before hiring him. He asked her why she interviewed 9 contractors. She said, “Because they all seemed the same and I didn’t get a good feeling from anyone until Darren. He was the only one that presented a project idea book and was in tune with what we really wanted to accomplish.” Her two biggest deciding factors were his expertise and his ability to show her he truly cared.” Do you have case studies that tell stories of a history of clients that came to you in need and you were able to help them with a favorable outcome? Educate potential clients with a proud history of existing clients that benefited from your expertise. I have found that businesses that use the Project Idea Book establish an emotional connection and take the time to address the true needs of the potential client.

5. Enhance your client’s experience. Take a look at your business and create a flow chart that lists every aspect of your business structure from initial contact with your customer until the project is complete and even beyond. How can you improve each aspect of contact with your customer? your goal should be to be remarkable and not just average.

I talked more in-depth about having a remarkable process in a previous blog. A potential client may like you when they first meet you, but they are never going to trust you until you can describe from A to Z exactly what you are going to do for them. The best time to get that out is right up front. Or take it a step further and educate a potential client before you meet them. Your process is a tool–the lifeblood of your company—it includes how you operate and communicate.
And don’t forget about a memorable completion. The proud owner of a newly remodeled house would be very pleased to receive an owners manual. Or invite him or her to a post project meeting. Paul Klassen of Pinnacle Renovations occasionally asks his entire staff to come to the site after they have completed a project and congratulate the family when they move back in.

From the Remodelong Blog

It is very easy to get caught up in the day-to-day events of running a business, even for the most organized remodeling owners. Depending on your business model, there may be sales people, production managers, office staff and, yes of course, customers. Having to manage many facets of your company can seem overwhelming at times. So how do you maximize everyone’s performance?

I remember the early years in my remodeling business and the feeling of anxiety that when I put the keys in the front door to the office at 6 a.m. and thinking, “What do I have in store for me today?” I knew then I need to know the pulse of my business, so I could feel in control and lessen the anxiety.

I talked it through with my mentor, who told me it’s extremely important to be the “man in the middle.” As a business owner you have to be the one that receives all the important information through meetings and reports with key employees. I discussed this in a previous blog, Building a Culture of Success.

The owner has to be the center hub—the “person in the middle.” There are three aspects to maximizing employee performance. You have to monitor, motivate, and hold them accountable.

Monitor
Everyone needs to know your company standards and procedures. The best way to ensure these standards are met is to follow up on leads, projects, service calls, and talking to current clients. Once you have their feedback, evaluate it. Review issues with the proper personnel. Let them know you are involved. If you have a large number of projects, it may be difficult to collect this information. If that is the case, spot check the projects. Review the information with you team, and take this as an opportunity to train them and make recommendations for improvement.
For example, you can visit projects on a consistent basis to inspect the progress, monitor your crews and subcontractors, and talk with your customers. These visits also let the team know I cared and built confidence with our customers. My crews knew I would arrive unannounced anytime. This made them more productive, quality minded, and efficient.

Motivate
When you take the time to monitor your team’s progress, don’t let this information go to waste. Are you happy with the progress or results? Is there room to improve communication, the quality of the workmanship, the ordering process, scheduling, and job site safety and cleanliness? Educate the team members on how they can improve in these categories and help them set goals for implementing more effective practices.

Accountability
By consistently monitoring and motivating your team, you should see progress. For the best results, you should set specific goals for each person. Show them the path on how to reach those goals. Attaching a deadline for achieving the goal will ensure that it happens in a timely manner.

Building a culture of success and enhancing your customers experience will truly grow your business with a positive reputation, which should also increase the bottom line. Be the person in the middle and watch the positive changes in your business!

From The Remodeling Magazine Blog

In a remodeling business, whether you’re talking about marketing, sales, production, or customer service, you cannot make good decisions without accurate information.

It is very important to capture accurate information about your businesses performance by setting up the proper procedures to gather, track and analyze this information. Today, I’d like to review marketing metrics. 
If your business invests any money in advertising, it is imperative that when you look at your marketing and advertising efforts to make sure you understand how to capture the right information, analyze the results properly, and plan for the future decisions from that accurate information.

Hold your marketing team accountable. When I was running a remodeling business, I would review all my advertising vehicles on a monthly basis. I created a report called the Summary of Repetitive Advertising to help me analyze the performance of all aspects of marketing. The important elements are setting up proper tracking, and reviewing the results.

Tracking
Here are my suggestions on how best to track advertising and marketing information:

• Create an advertising calendar every month. Create it in advance and give copies to your receptionist and sales team. This way, your team will know the ads, flyers, etc…that you are using that month and ask the prospect how they heard of your company and correlate that information to the advertising vehicle.
• Create ad codes. If you are running numerous ads in a paper or magazine, create an ad code that is printed on the ad for quick reference and that inquiry can be applied to the proper ad.
• Lead tracking sheet. Create an incoming call lead sheet that reminds the person answering the phone to follow procedures to gather accurate information. Ask the person who answers the phone to practice these information gathering calls so the potential customer receives a good first impression of your company and it sets up the start of a relationship.

Reviewing Advertising Metrics
Here is a list of advertising information you should review.

• Advertising source or lead source
• Leads received from this source
• Cost of the source/ad
• Number of contracts earned from this source
• Total sales volume from this ad source
• Advertising cost compared to the total dollar amount of the sales earned
• Cost invested in advertising divided by every lead received. This gives you the cost per lead
• To calculate the return per lead, take the total sales amount from a lead source and divide it by the number of leads your received
• To calculate the closing percentage, take the total amount of sales contracts and divide them by the leads from that source

I place all this information in my Summary of Repetitive Advertising form. With this format, it’s easier to assess the information and make decisions on what is working and what is not. This will allow you to evaluate where you will place your future marketing dollars.

What are you using to track your performance? There are online tools available with monthly membership costs that range from $25 to $100+ per month that can help you manage your client information and advertising performance. With these online services, you can access the information from anywhere. A few customer relation management (CRM) tools that remodelers tell me they use are MarketSharp, ELMS Software, and improveit! 360. If you want to use this type of service, do your research. Many offer free trial use so you can see if it is a good fit for your business.

Next week, I’ll review the types of decisions you can make from the Summary of Repetitive advertising report.

Something I was always proud of with my remodeling business was our team’s attitude. I didn’t want to just own a business and earn a decent income–I wanted a career and a team around me that was passionate. I wanted us to be the best. I desired to have a great team of people that were focused on our clients and the big picture. I call it having a “culture of success.” Building a culture of success is an integral part of creating a work environment that is productive. It doesn’t mean if your team is productive that they will always be productive. After all, success is not an event. It is a body of work that is maintained over a long period of time. To have sustained success, you must develop a culture—it’s a body of work. Here are a few key elements to help you build a culture of success.

Empower your employees. Employees usually leave a company for vari

ous reasons, but I believe the strongest reason is a feeling of spinning their wheels. Employees want to be part of their company, involved in decisions, valued, utilized wisely, and have their ideas heard and implemented. When this happens, the employees will not only be appreciative, they will be more productive and have a better attitude. A better attitude is infectious and can lead to employee retention, while keeping a fresh outlook on your company. As an owner/manager I always thought it was essential to empower employees to think on their own, be creative and act as a team of profit and loss managers by holding them accountable for their part of the financial statement.

Be the person “in the middle.” When you have good information funneled to you, you will be able to make good decisions. Most business owners and executives also understand the importance of time management skills. You need to combine the two to effectively manage a company. As owners, we are extremely busy. Sometimes we become so involved in the day-to-day that we forget we also need to be effective as managers of people. Our employees need guidance and a leader that leads by example. My recommendation is to get organized!

Manage your time wisely by holding meetings that are pre-scheduled and have an itinerary. I found that holding Tuesday morning production meetings were most effective. Why Tuesday? On Monday, we were very busy starting the week and everyone’s mind was focused on getting the week started. After the first day of the week and settling in, a Tuesday morning meeting is the perfect fit.
Have the meetings on time, be organized with a set itinerary and be interactive with employees. At our Tuesday morning production meetings, I was able to gather information from all the employees at one time. It eliminated the need for numerous phone calls that interrupted my day and my team’s day. Here is a list of the information I reviewed at the meeting:

• Backlog report or pending projects that were sold and their status; important dates, ordering status of products, communication with the customer, permits and /or drawings, selections, and the upcoming schedule.
• Work in Progress. Project status, schedules, quality control, and communication.
• Accounts Receivable. Cash flow, finished projects, and monies due.
• Service. Punch lists, reviewing client surveys, evaluating trades.
• Profit and Loss. We reviewed this statement every month.

Performance metrics and accountability. You should have performance metrics for every aspect of your business. You should have sales reports that show closing percentages and return per lead; marketing reports that show cost per lead; cost per advertising vehicle etc…;and production reports that show an overview of your projects with job costing and gross profit margins.

Reflect and evaluate.

I also recommend going off-site on a weekend. I would turn my phone off and sit in a library with a cup of coffee and reviewed the financials and performance metrics. I had a business partner that went with me, so this was very beneficial being able to sit and talk away from the day-to-day environment. Follow these steps and you’ll have a good start to for a “culture of success” in your business.

If you position yourself — and your business — as an expert in your field, more people will seek out your business. Finding a niche is a great start to positioning yourself as an expert.

Many contractors think that by appealing to as many people as possible that they will have a better chance to get more work. But as the saying goes — Jack of all trades, master of none. You can’t be all things to all people.

A niche would be a particular area of expertise that your business excels in. Focusing on a niche says to potential clients that you are focused and, hence, an expert. If you were a potential customer needing a new kitchen, would you call Mike’s Home Remodeling, ABC Construction, or Creative Kitchen Remodeling?

Focusing on a niche and positioning yourself as an expert narrows the competition and puts you into a better competitive situation and makes it easier to have your business stand out. If you don’t stand out, customers will separate your business from others based on one thing. Price. And competing on price is a bad place to be because someone else is always willing to go out of business before you are.

Focusing on a niche benefits clients in numerous ways. A niche allows you to perfect a skill, perfect your sales presentation, perfect the process from start to finish on every project and will likely enhance your customer’s experience. When you have mastered a specific process, you can use this to your advantage with clients.

Your process becomes a tool, the lifeblood of your company, how you operate, and communicate. Your process is how you structure yourself and your business, how you present yourself to the homeowner. It’s also a confidence builder. Ultimately, when you can enhance your customer’s experience you will be able to build an excellent reputation. The last time I checked, experts usually command a premium and receive it too.

Once you’ve got a niche and present yourself as the expert, you can stop chasing more work and a higher volume. Instead, you’ll be freed up to look to your profitable project and your profitable customers and grow your business wisely. Please give this some serious thought heading into the new year.

From the Remodeling Magazine blog

When you are on an appointment in the home of a potential client for an initial meeting, you may be working a little bit too hard to make an impression on your client. Have you experienced this? When you or another representative from your company is in the customer’s home, you usually feel the need to establish trust and do this by talking about your business instead of listening to the customer talk about what they need. However, this may not be the best approach. When you are working this hard to sell your company, you might lose focus and miss out on discussing the actual project and the connection with your customer. Or, conversely, you may be rushed to focus on the design and miss the essence of establishing an emotional connection with your customers and the foundation to a good relationship.

At the first meeting, there usually isn’t enough time both get to know the customer and talk about the design. So what is the solution? From a marketing and sales standpoint think about being memorable, remarkable, unique, and creating an advantage that is different than your competitors. We always talk about creating an advantage as a small business owner and the need to differentiate your business and be memorable. How about some homework for the customer before the initial meeting?

Working with my client, Pinnacle Renovations, we have implemented a unique process to make the initial meeting more about what the customer needs and establishing a strong relationship. Owner Paul Klassen now sends his customers a project idea book, which evokes a good response from his customers and has enhanced his vision of creating a family-focused, relationship-based team at Pinnacle. This Project Idea Book was something I created and used in my business and when presented to the home owners properly, can establish be very appealing to your ideal client.

How can you adopt this for your business? Send customers a project book that takes them through a few emotional thoughts that need to be translated to paper and requests the family’s participation about their home and project vision. The book has areas that encourage the homeowners to express ideas, add photos, and articles.

When you schedule the initial appointment, tell the homeowners that you’re going to send them the project book as a PDF document via e-mail. Then send the e-mail with a “read” receipt to ensure they have read it. This same e-mail should include your process of what you’d like to accomplish at the initial meeting, and even subsequent meetings. Your conversation with them to explain the book would go something like this:

“We use this project idea book to help you share your thoughts, creativity, feelings and ideas with us prior to the first meeting. We want to ensure you have some quiet, thoughtful time to think about your project. This gives us valuable insight to better help you with what you want to accomplish with your home. As part of the project idea book, we’d like to request that you and your family include ideas, clippings, and pictures. We can review these during the first meeting. The book sets up a collaborative process that we find works best for remodeling projects.”

What happens when you establish a relationship between you and the client that is unique and is about communication and sharing ideas? It will move you leaps and bounds ahead of the competition. This will establish the trust in you and your company and will connect with them on an emotional level. A true win/win!