I have had the pleasure of talking with Mark Buckshon, author of “Construction Marketing Ideas,” about his new book. I have a few friends in the industry that have read it and have told me it is  full of great & useful information. I am in the process of reading this myself, but I am not finished with it. I have asked Mark to discuss this book and give us some insight. If you have read this please feel free to comment on it and let me know your thoughts.

Author Mark Buckshon's Book

From Mark Buckshon:

Tim has invited me to contribute an entry for this blog related to my new book: Construction Marketing Ideas: Practical strategies and resources to attract and retain clients for your architectural, engineering or construction business. Boiling a 192-page book (and the years of research behind it) down to a brief posting here is a challenge. However, I’ll practice what I preach in keeping things simple. If you are relying on repeat and referral business to succeed, you are three-quarters of the way to success in marketing and building a profitable contracting business.

You simply need to think beyond passive reliance on repeat and referral business to active processes to encourage and develop more satisfied clients. This is the untypical marketing-guru advice and may seem to be heretical since my business earns 95 per cent of its revenue by selling advertising primarily to contractors and sub-trades.

However, if you have been successful enough to satisfy enough clients that they call you for repeat and referral work, you have the first part of the marketing equation right: You are delivering a service that your clients find valuable and worthy of respect. So small investments to encourage, enhance and expand the referral and repeat business process will disproportionately help your business grow in good times and survive in hard times. The challenge is you must be organized, not passive, in your marketing for this business – and you should expect to spend about five per cent of your overall sales volume to achieve the results you are seeking. You can use these funds in a variety of manners: Enhancing your client ex

perience, developing organized follow-up service call processes, engaging with community groups and associations, improving your website and responsiveness to inbound inquriies and so on. I outline several practical ideas in the book. The book has been suc

cessful since its publication in April. You can read the enthusiastic reviews at Amazon.com and elsewhere. I’m preparing a special Webinar on Construction Marketing Ideas for Renovators/Remodellerss on Sept. 23 and if you register with this special promo code (not available outside of Remodelbuddy.com) you can save 10 per cent on the registration investment and receive a free copy of the book (value $39.95). http://renovators.eventbrite.com/?discount=remodelbuddy.