|
|
Many time when I talk to construction business owners, they are struggling to think of new topic to write about in their blog. A blog, when used properly, can be a great way to interact with your potential clients, strategic partners and existing clients. What a great way to promote your business.
I thought it may be a good idea to write some ideas of ways to use your blog and promote writing.
Having testimonials on your Blog and then writing articles/stories about each customer is useful and good reading for potential customers.
Want to upload some testimonials yourself? Here’s how.Using Audio Acrobat is a good site for recording audio and producing a html code for uploading it to your website. If you have an account with Audio Acrobat a testimonial line can be set up and a unique URL to your testimonial line will be established. This URL can then be used to send out in a newsletter informing your clients with instructions on how to record a testimonial for your business.
Also, SKYPE has a call record option and that too can be saved to your desktop and converted to a html code to upload using various free tools http://www.ehow.com/how_4464333_embed-audio-html.html
Would you like to ensure that when you’re blogging, you are utilizing the best practices for Search Engine Optimization?
Here is a good link for SEO tips when blogging. http://labs.wordtracker.com/seo-blogger/Want more hits to your website? Use your blog as educational material to attract your ideal customer and be creative. Here is a link to content optimization ideas for your website. Good reading- http://www.remodelbuddy.com/content-optimization Also, try using testimonials for your marketing kit- have one to give to potential clients. Do you ever mail a DVD or CD with info on your business before your appt, hand it to them during or leave/send one after? Why not, it works…….I have proof:) Here is some info on marketing kits. http://www.remodeling.hw.net/blogs/postdetails.aspx?BlogId=timnagle&PostId=90623 Do you have any ideas that you have used for your blog you would like to mention? Let us know, leave a comment.
I was reminded from browsing Michael Stone’s Blog and wanted to post this, with my thoughts too.
In the November issue of remodeling magazine is a great sales tool. The Cost vs. Value report for 2009-2010. If you are a remodeler or home improvement company you can subscribe to a free issue here.
A question you need to ask every potential client is “What is your budget for your job?”
Using the Cost vs. Value report can help you address this topic. Many remodelers and home improvement businesses and their sales staff use this. I know I did very frequently. When I was meeting potential clients, and my sales people were instructed to & did present this also, ….we made color copies of the page in the magazine that was needed to refer to, and kept copies with us for our presentation and even ordered extra inserts of the Cost vs. Value report. When the topic about their budget came up and at the right time, I would show them the magazine and refer to the project we were discussing. Another great use of this magazine is to put a copy on your website.
There is an widget that you can download and post to your blog, sidebar, newsletter or even have a link from your contact page when people submit appointments online. There are many uses for this and I recommend them all. Here is the link to the widget below. Just click on the image. This was third party literature that showed the approximate budget that would be needed and it wasn’t me defining a number from my calculator. What a subtle way to show your potential customer what they can expect and if this fits in their budget and lifestyle. Very subtle and useful!
Many remodeling companies are trying to qualify their prospects by charging their customers for bids? It is a trend I see increasing, but one that may be done for the wrong reasons.
I never liked the word “bid,” to start with. What is a bid? I offer detailed proposals for your home investment and if you are looking for a “bid,” my professional remodeling company may not be the right fit for you. A Bid? Is this when a homeowner wants you to join a long list of competitors and just line up and deliver your best price and they chose the one they want based on price?
If you cannot separate yourself from your competition, your customers will do it for you. And how will they do that? By price, thats how. A good friend of mine, John Jantsch, author of Duct Tape Marketing, always said, “If you compete on price, someone else is always willing to go out of business before you are.” Thats what bidding does, gets in a price competition and not where you want to be. How is Charging for estimating a Remodeling Project going to resolve this?
On one hand, I can see that charging for estimates may eliminate a non-serious customer for engaging in a meeting with you and save you time. If you are estimating lower priced projects and contend with many inquiries, maybe it would help. In can see certain times it would. BUT, I see a larger underlying dilemma here.
I hear this said time and time again, “ One contractor looks just like another, right?” If you look like everyone else, you are competing on price. If you compete on price, you cannot be very profitable.
Fix the problem instead with an Effective marketing, effective systems and an effective sales process. This is how you build consistency and repeat success. The right system and the right process for marketing and Sales is more important. Ask yourself this question; If I charge for an estimate and am still weak sales person, will, all the sudden, everything be better!
The idea is to fix the problem, not disguise it with a charge. You still have to know how to qualify a lead, attract the right leads and be able to sell them. THAT is what makes winners. What if you charge for an estimate and don’t have your act together. Then you are in double trouble. Qualify leads are a bi-product of marketing properly, operating your business properly inorder to attract better customers. Ideal clients are the result of having a great marketing system and a solid business foundation.
Getting Ideal clients is not an issue for business that focus on their foundation in building their business. I see the difference everyday working with many remodelers nationwide.
Do you think successful businesses are successful because they charge for leads? If that was the case, everyone who ever charged for leads would ALWAYS be in business, right?
I, personally, never charged for a estimate. 15 years in business and 10 years above 10 million in revenue and never asked anyone to pay for an estimate! Never! The whole idea is too attract the right customers. Build an image, market yourself right, brand yourself right, develop your systems and business processes correctly.
I work with many contractors every year and the successful ones attract the right customers because of who they ARE, not what they charge for a bid. They automatically GET THE RIGHT CUSTOMERS, because of who they ARE! THAT IS SUCCESS!
I built an image and a professional business. I struggled for years before I made a good profit. I banged my head against the wall day and night 365 days a year. I remember 4 years into my business I went to the grocery store with my wife for the first time. She said,” OMG, you out doing something family related.” That was my first and only needed wake up call. My life changed from that point forward.
Do you think if I just charged for an estimate that my life would have changed?
NO! I still had to attract the right customer and it all clicked when I became a “professional ” business with the right marketing process, the right sales process, the right production process, the right customer service process. I became a student of the game. I educated myself on how to be a great business person. I surrounded myself with good people. The day you become a good business man, thats the day you build a good business
Thank John Jantsch for the article- Author of Duct Tape Marketing!
So, how to write a press release? That’s a million dollar question. If done right, it can indeed bring you revenue. Let’s get started by answering what a press release is. A press release is simply a statement prepared for distribution to the news media announcing something claimed as having news value with the intent of gaining media coverage.
A press release consists of following elements:
• Headline - The headline is the first single line of text in the press release and tells what the press release is about. It can be a very effective tool to grab the attention of the journalist, so writing it from a journalists perspective is very important. All that the journalists care about is readers. Think what headlines catch your eyes in the newspaper. Identify a unique feature about your product or service and then write how it is going to revolutionize the world.
• Dateline - The dateline contains the release date of the press release and usually also the originating city of the press release.
• Summary – The summary let’s your build up your chance to sell your press release to the journalist. It is generally a requirement of online press release services and it can be of the size of a small paragraph.
• Introduction – The introduction is where the press release body starts. It is the first paragraph in a press release, that generally gives basic answers to the questions of who, what, when, where and why.
• Body - The body comes after the introduction. It gives further explanation, statistics, background, or other details relevant to the news and also serves to back up whatever claims were made in the introductory paragraph.
• About – The about section is also called the “boilerplate” as it used over and over again. It is generally a short section providing background information on the press release issuing company, organization or individual.
• Media Contact Information – This section contains the name, phone number, email address, mailing address, or other contact information for the media relations contact person.
General Tips – It is very useful to look at other people’s press releases. Feel free to take a look at the most viewed press releases on this site, as it usually gives a lot of insight into how to write a press release.
Web Addresses for reference:
Here is a free tool for writing a Press release.
www.ducttapemarketing.com/IPR.htm
http://www.prweb.com/pr/_assets/down…s-releases.pdf
Lead generation is a numbers game and a momentum game. Duct Tape Marketing-
Generally speaking there is no one magic way to generate a tons of leads. Granted, for some businesses there are more effective ways, but on the whole long-term effective lead generation comes down to a combination of advertising, public relations and a systematic approach to referrals – the lead generation trio as I like to call them. It’s my belief that you need to employ all three approaches in order to generate the right kind of know, like and trust building that will attract your ideal customers.
In order to better understand why this blended approach makes such sense let me introduce the 3 Cs of lead generation: Cost, Credibility, and Control. Each of the lead gen trio offers you some advantage in one or more of the 3 Cs.
By using them all, you get the perfect mix.
So here’s the matrix of sorts:
Advertising – potential high cost, often lower credibility, high, in fact ultimate, control – turn the ad on and off when you choose – control is the best part about advertising, you can launch a promotion on the day you want or need more leads and then turn it back down when you don’t. There is a definite need for strategy and not just tactics here.
Public Relations – cost can be low, credibility is high – often a tiny mention in a publication can bring more leads than a full page ad in the same publication – readers love the third party endorsement, control can be low – you can’t really dictate when and if you will get any pub
Referrals – again, cost can be very low, credibility a little dependent on the source of referral but often high, control also out of your hands and based on your ability to educate sources properly.
Each of the members of the lead generation trio has pros and cons, but employed as a unit they have the power to help you create the kind of marketing momentum that builds long term success.
Posted by
Who is an Expert? 
Who is an Expert?
How many blogs and articles have I read from “so called experts” in marketing. Too many! There are books out there that are a dime a dozen. There are people that I talk to that say” this works for me and gets profitable leads.” Well, first of all, How do I know that they even have a profitable business?
Blindly following who? Many ideas I hear are just for an occasional attempt to get leads, the old,” marketing event of the week “ type tactics. I even hear people that claim to know niche marketing, but have they ever had to” live and die” from their own ideas and efforts by running a successful business with those same ideas. Do you follow a pretender, contender or a proven leader? Your business depends on you! Your decisions pave the road towards…..where? Throwing words around is fine. Creating perception is one of the things that marketers do. But realize the words eventually become meaningless.
What is Marketing anyway?
Marketing is not about the text book definition that Webster dictionary gives you. Don’t bother reading that, because it will only confuse you after the fourth or fifth meaning. Marketing to me is getting someone who has a need to Know, Like and Trust you! Simple! Marketing is not an event, marketing is not just buying advertising and no marketing is not about driving around with a sign.
Don’t make it more difficult than it needs to be. Marketing is not an event, but it is a system. Marketing is about earning someone who has a need to know, like and Trust you. Marketing when done properly influences peoples decisions. Marketing is everyones job in your business from office staff, employees, and sales people. Everyones job.
Marketing makes you remarkable and not forgettable. Marketing is a consistent effort that needs strategy before tactics, and needs to educate people about your business, services, products, and people. Marketing is a system. Marketing isn’t found in a text book and certainly isn’t found from a book reading teacher. Successful marketing has to be action and not words. There isn’t just a magic idea that creates leads. And really the idea of marketing isn’t to JUST create leads. The IDEA that if you try this advertising piece and get leads is really the WRONG idea. What happens after that advertising piece? DO you run another? What happens next year when the price goes UP? Do the results go UP too? NO, they don’t!
POINT BLANK!
Marketing attracts the right customers, Marketing influences peoples decisions and marketing is a body of work that brings consistent results because you have a consistent system that won’t fade away because it is about doing so many little things properly it is the essence of your business. THAT is marketing!
There have been many times in sales meetings a sales person will say, “teach me how to close.” He will say, “I just couldn’t overcome that objection and I keep hearing the same one over and over.” Talking strategy over on how to handle that nagging objection and working through a solution is always a good idea. (BUT) Did you ever think about the possibility of overcoming it, before it even arises? That, is the true solution.
No one likes to be sold. Everyone likes to buy. In the remodeling and home improvement industry it may be more important than ever to understand that when a customer becomes a client and says,”yes, you’re hired,” it is an emotional decision. When the decision is made, your prospect will make an emotional decision based from them knowing, liking and trusting you.
A sales process that educates and is unique is ultimately the best path towards reaching your prospect on an emotional level and answering questions before they arise. When more effort to educate before the questions come up, before the objections have time to dwell in their minds, the less effort and time will be spent in the end trying to convince them you are right for the job. Trying to convince people in the end about something they are unsure of will erode that like and trust and more than likely the opportunity for you.
Marketing materials should educate. The sales process starts before they even contact you. The principles we discuss and the processes we follow at Remodel Buddy coaching and MasterBuilder Roundtables are based on getting the client to Know you, Like you, Trust you and ultimately buy and refer you. All of your communications should allow your prospects to really experience your expertise. The most successful remodeling businesses that increase their conversion rate, increase their profits from earning more of the right jobs and eliminate time chasing leads. It is the ones that understand a sales process that educates and is unique is successful. Here is a case study of a remodeling company that increased their conversion rate, decreased leads and at the year end had more sales and revenue, plus higher profits.
Answer the question, “Why would I buy from you?” And you are well on your way!
Why would I buy from you is what your clients and potential clients constantly ask themselves when considering a purchase. Of course what they are really asking is “What’s in it for me?”
From John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing-
A simple strategy for positioning your firm or product deeply in your target market’s mind is a tool called a USP. The term USP has been around for a long time. The letters stand for Unique Selling Proposition.
The idea here is to identify and then communicate a concise statement of your firm’s most compelling offer and benefit in a way that the potential client can automatically answer the what’s in if for me question. That’s all a USP is.
Most everyone is familiar with the original Fedex USP. On time, every time or it’s free. At the time this offer was very unique in the shipping industry and literally built the company based on communicating this unique selling proposition. So what’s your compelling offer? What can you do and offer that no one else in your industry can offer?
Most consumers view small businesses like commodities. The feeling is that one remodeler is like another or that one home improvement company can get the same result as another.
The problem is that most marketers do nothing to expel that perception. “Buy from us because we’ve been in business for 20 years,” or “we’re dependable,” “Quality and service,”go the slogans of many construction businesses.
Of course the fact that you are dependable, carry a full line of products, offer fair pricing, or are honest are expectations…they are not points of differentiation.
An effective USP communicates your firm’s unique ability to fill an obvious void in the marketplace. The USP shows your target market how your firm is uniquely qualified to solve their pain or increase their gain. A USP can be your firm’s single most powerful marketing weapon.
To craft a USP for your firm first make a list of all the benefits of doing business with your firm. Don’t leave anything out.
Then cut the list down with these guidelines.
1. What things on your list are unique versus your direct competitors.
2. Which of these benefits is most important to your clients?
3. Which of these would be difficult for other’s in your industry to copy?
4. Which of these can be easily communicated?
From this set of guidelines you should be able to narrow your search to the top one or two benefits of doing business with your firm.
From there it is simply a matter of injecting this chief benefit or USP into everything that you do.
Craft headlines that promote your USP, put a USP statement on your stationary and business cards, build your USP into all of your sales presentations.
The ultimate goal is to become known to the market as whatever your USP promotes.
One final word of warning. You must deliver on the big promise communicated in your USP. Failure to do so may actually do more harm then drifting along without any marketing focus.
Posted by
Operating a successful Remodeling & Home Improvement business relies on doing a lot of little things properly. In order to establish a consistent and repeatable success there is a need for a design. The design for a successful business is having the proper processes and systems in place.
Just like when you are working on a project, there are certain steps that need to be followed. When a Kitchen is being remodeled, the cabinets won’t be installed before the design is finalized. I am sure that if a client needs to be invoiced, there is a certain process you will follow. The actual construction process has certain steps that have to be followed and perfected to ensure a consistent and repeatable success. The same applies for effective Marketing.
Thats right, marketing is a system. …not an event. Most business owners fall prey to the “marketing idea of the week” and never seem to produce any significant marketing results with this chaotic approach to the most important facet of their business.Don’t spend another dime on wasted advertising until you develop and implement a strategy and a consistent approach to your marketing efforts.
Remodel Buddy has two experienced marketing coaches that implement Duct Tape Marketing Principles. Duct Tape Marketing® is the first small business marketing program that treats marketing as an integrated system. At the core of the system is a series of steps and strategies, in various stages, that any business, regardless of size, can use to finally produce stunning returns from a consistent marketing effort. That’s why Duct Tape Marketing has been called the World’s Most Practical Small Business Marketing. Duct Tape, because it sticky. Every tool box needs Duct Tape. Remodel Buddy uses Duct Tape Marketing to focus results 100% on the remodeling industry.
Here is an example of the marketing process. This is a simplified version of how a hourglass would look.
As you can see the natural progression of the flow – know, like, trust… (flows to the right), the information to move the process forward is provided below each step. If you can identify your current process, current customers, many Remodeling and Home improvement companies will find big gaps in their processes of getting someone, who has a need, to know, like and trust you.
But, when you have an effective marketing system in place the process expands from – getting someone, who has a need, to know, like, trust you, to having someone try you, buy from you and refer you. This will benefit into a consistent and repeatable success- a System.
One purpose of the hourglass is to provide clarity to your customers & clients in your marketing process. This gives you the ability to walk a prospect through the process, understanding where they are at in the process. The secret to this is that you really forces you to layout your marketing process and is really the beginning of development of your marketing system that is effective in every area. It is a system that is about understanding and doing all the little things properly and better than everyone else
Posted by
What Does Your Company message say about you?
This is a great benefit of Duct Tape Marketing from John Jantsch and something we implement consistently.
Lots of remodeling/Hme Imp. owners are intimidated by the thought of marketing their businesses. The buzzwords and flash associated with “marketing” often make embarking on a do-it-yourself marketing effort seem daunting. But don’t let that fear distract you from the goal of educating your customers and potential customers about your business.
In your day-to-day business, you focus on what your customers need and how you can provide them with that. That is what your marketing should focus on, too. Too many marketing messages focus on the company rather than the customer. So as you craft your marketing strategy and materials, keep the customer top of mind.
Here are some ideas that will help you take that customer-driven attitude and translating it into marketing:
Today’s marketing requires lots of content, lots of education, and lots of trust-building via expertise sharing. The tri-fold brochure just doesn’t cut it anymore. Today’s smart marketers think in terms of information products more than marketing collateral — education over selling rules the day. The best way to tap this necessary marketing shift is to think in terms of kits or suites of information. The most practical approach for the typical small business is the creation of on-demand, flexible and personal marketing kits, press kits and new customer kits. These multiple page-documents, often housed in a pocket of a custom file folder, allow you to tell the entire story in a range of formats that take in the learning styles and personalities of a broad range of prospects.A typical marketing kit might include the following pages: Your core differences: Use one page to outline 3 or 4 key ways that your remodeling business is different. Make these the most important value benefits and not sales mumbo jumbo. Your products/services: You do need to tell your potential client what it is you have to offer. Success stories: Profile a number of successful customer engagements and try to involve your customer as much as possible and share specific results if you can. FAQs: You know the kinds of questions that get asked or should get asked — list them for those readers that are looking for a specific bit of information. Processes and checklists: Show proof of how you get the work done in a professional manner by sharing your process maps and checklists as marketing documents. Your company story: Everyone loves a good story and everybody has one. Share your personal story, why you do what you do, and make a deeper connection with prospects. Testimonials: Let your customers sing your praises and let your prospects see this third-party validation. Articles: If you’ve published articles or received some great press, include copies of these in your kit. A new customer kit can include information on:
Key contacts: List everyone that your customer might need to contact.
How your process works: Set the expectation for what will happen next so that there are no surprises.
What you need from the customer: If you need information from a customer or need to set a meeting, let them know what to do to get started.
How your billing works: Let them know how your billing works, how you expect to be paid. This demonstrates your professionalism and can help avoid misunderstanding after the work is done.
A basic press kit should include:
Overview: This should be solid background information, not a sales pitch.
Key staff bios: Let everyone know the key facts about people in your organization that they may need to interview ( with photos).
Suggested questions: In some cases if you are noted expert- a unique process -you can aid journalists by listing important questions.
Potential story ideas: You should be thinking of these at all times internally, but you may also want to develop some key story ideas that tie into themes and industry trends.
Customer stories: Journalists love success stories, so profiling your customers and offering their success stories to journalists can be a win for all parties.
The flexible nature of these kinds of information products make them easy to change, grow and personalize almost on a case by case basis.
In addition, this is exactly the type of education-based content that should be going on your website in an effort to build visitor trust and search engine attention.
So, I ask you. What are you doing to brand yourself? Posted by
