Mon, 17 February 2020
Pick up the Contractor's Secret Weapon Solution by going here: https://CSWSolution.com Have a question for Pete or Dave? Text it to: 850-753-2020 More information on Pete Mitchell can be found here: https://BustOutTheBigGuns.com More information on Dave Negri can be found here: http://EliteHomeSVS.com Our marketing podcast is unlike anything available elsewhere to contractors…we talk with marketing specialists across the board who give us concrete tips directed entirely towards the trades. Some of the topics we cover include Marketing, Sales Cycles, Pricing, Positioning, Branding and more. We discuss what has worked for us, why it has worked, and why it might not have worked. Good marketing is the key to having a very profitable business. We are a marketing resource to contractors in the building, painting, pressure washing, roofing, plumbing…heck almost any trade that you can mention. |
Mon, 10 February 2020
Pick up the Contractor's Secret Weapon Solution by going here: https://CSWSolution.com Have a question for Pete or Dave? Text it to: 850-753-2020 More information on Pete Mitchell can be found here: https://BustOutTheBigGuns.com More information on Dave Negri can be found here: http://EliteHomeSVS.com Our marketing podcast is unlike anything available elsewhere to contractors…we talk with marketing specialists across the board who give us concrete tips directed entirely towards the trades. Some of the topics we cover include Marketing, Sales Cycles, Pricing, Positioning, Branding and more. We discuss what has worked for us, why it has worked, and why it might not have worked. Good marketing is the key to having a very profitable business. We are a marketing resource to contractors in the building, painting, pressure washing, roofing, plumbing…heck almost any trade that you can mention. |
Mon, 3 February 2020
Want a transcript for this episode? Text keyword 322 to 850-990-2020 to receive it. Pick up the Contractor's Secret Weapon Solution by going here: https://CSWSolution.com Have a question for Pete or Dave? Text it to: 850-753-2020 More information on Pete Mitchell can be found here: https://BustOutTheBigGuns.com More information on Dave Negri can be found here: http://EliteHomeSVS.com Our marketing podcast is unlike anything available elsewhere to contractors…we talk with marketing specialists across the board who give us concrete tips directed entirely towards the trades. Some of the topics we cover include Marketing, Sales Cycles, Pricing, Positioning, Branding and more. We discuss what has worked for us, why it has worked, and why it might not have worked. Good marketing is the key to having a very profitable business. We are a marketing resource to contractors in the building, painting, pressure washing, roofing, plumbing…heck almost any trade that you can mention.
Direct download: Why-You-Make-It-Hard-To-Give-You-Money-AU.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:30am EDT |
Mon, 27 January 2020
Want a transcript for this episode? Text keyword 321 to 850-990-2020 to receive it. Pick up the Contractor's Secret Weapon Solution by going here: https://CSWSolution.com Have a question for Pete or Dave? Text it to: 850-753-2020 More information on Pete Mitchell can be found here: https://BustOutTheBigGuns.com More information on Dave Negri can be found here: http://EliteHomeSVS.com Our marketing podcast is unlike anything available elsewhere to contractors…we talk with marketing specialists across the board who give us concrete tips directed entirely towards the trades. Some of the topics we cover include Marketing, Sales Cycles, Pricing, Positioning, Branding and more. We discuss what has worked for us, why it has worked, and why it might not have worked. Good marketing is the key to having a very profitable business. We are a marketing resource to contractors in the building, painting, pressure washing, roofing, plumbing…heck almost any trade that you can mention. |
Mon, 20 January 2020
Want a transcript for this episode? Text keyword 320 to 850-990-2020 to receive it. Pick up the Contractor's Secret Weapon Solution by going here: https://CSWSolution.com Have a question for Pete or Dave? Text it to: 850-753-2020 More information on Pete Mitchell can be found here: https://BustOutTheBigGuns.com More information on Dave Negri can be found here: http://EliteHomeSVS.com Our marketing podcast is unlike anything available elsewhere to contractors…we talk with marketing specialists across the board who give us concrete tips directed entirely towards the trades. Some of the topics we cover include Marketing, Sales Cycles, Pricing, Positioning, Branding and more. We discuss what has worked for us, why it has worked, and why it might not have worked. Good marketing is the key to having a very profitable business. We are a marketing resource to contractors in the building, painting, pressure washing, roofing, plumbing…heck almost any trade that you can mention.
Direct download: IsYourMarketingActiveOrPassive-AU-FINAL-AU.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 1:30am EDT |
Mon, 13 January 2020
Want a transcript for this episode? Text keyword 319 to 850-990-2020 to receive it. Pick up the Contractor's Secret Weapon Solution by going here: https://CSWSolution.com More information on Pete Mitchell can be found here: https://BustOutTheBigGuns.com More information on Dave Negri can be found here: http://EliteHomeSVS.com Our marketing podcast is unlike anything available elsewhere to contractors…we talk with marketing specialists across the board who give us concrete tips directed entirely towards the trades. Some of the topics we cover include Marketing, Sales Cycles, Pricing, Positioning, Branding and more. We discuss what has worked for us, why it has worked, and why it might not have worked. Good marketing is the key to having a very profitable business. We are a marketing resource to contractors in the building, painting, pressure washing, roofing, plumbing…heck almost any trade that you can mention.
Direct download: Preselling-And-Sorting-So-You-Only-Talk-To-Hot-Prospects-AU-FINAL-AU.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 1:30am EDT |
Mon, 6 January 2020
Want a transcript for this episode? Text keyword 318 to 850-990-2020 to receive it. Pick up the Contractor's Secret Weapon Solution by going here: https://CSWSolution.com Get Your Copy Of "7 Low Or No Cost Marketing Strategies" By Texting FREE to 850-990-2020. Have a question for Pete or Dave? Text it to: 850-753-2020 More information on Pete Mitchell can be found here: https://BustOutTheBigGuns.com More information on Dave Negri can be found here: http://EliteHomeSVS.com Our marketing podcast is unlike anything available elsewhere to contractors…we talk with marketing specialists across the board who give us concrete tips directed entirely towards the trades. Some of the topics we cover include Marketing, Sales Cycles, Pricing, Positioning, Branding and more. We discuss what has worked for us, why it has worked, and why it might not have worked. Good marketing is the key to having a very profitable business. We are a marketing resource to contractors in the building, painting, pressure washing, roofing, plumbing…heck almost any trade that you can mention. |
Mon, 30 December 2019
Want a transcript for this episode? Text keyword 317 to 850-990-2020 to receive it. Pick up the Contractor's Secret Weapon Solution by going here: https://CSWSolution.com Get Your Copy Of "7 Low Or No Cost Marketing Strategies" By Texting FREE to 850-990-2020. Have a question for Pete or Dave? Text it to: 850-753-2020 Did you get your copy of "4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business With Customers"? Get it at http://ContractorsSecretWeapon.com now!
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Mon, 23 December 2019
Want a transcript for this episode? Text keyword 316 to 850-990-2020 to receive it. Pick up the Contractor's Secret Weapon Solution by going here: https://CSWSolution.com Get Your Copy Of "7 Low Or No Cost Marketing Strategies" By Texting FREE to 850-990-2020. Have a question for Pete or Dave? Text it to: 850-753-2020 Did you get your copy of "4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business With Customers"? Get it at http://ContractorsSecretWeapon.com now! More information on Pete Mitchell can be found here: https://BustOutTheBigGuns.com More information on Dave Negri can be found here: http://EliteHomeSVS.com
Direct download: Mastering_google_To-Get-Clients-AU-FINAL-AU.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:30am EDT |
Mon, 16 December 2019
Get the transcript to this episode by texting 315 to 850-990-2020 Pick up the guide "The Quickest Way To 8x Your Business Profits" here: https://vipboardroom.com/8x Or by texting: TIPS to (562) 655-7955 Have a question for Pete or Dave? Text it to: 850-753-2020 More information on Pete Mitchell can be found here: https://BustOutTheBigGuns.com More information on Dave Negri can be found here: http://EliteHomeSVS.com Our marketing podcast is unlike anything available elsewhere to contractors…we talk with marketing specialists across the board who give us concrete tips directed entirely towards the trades. Some of the topics we cover include Marketing, Sales Cycles, Pricing, Positioning, Branding and more. We discuss what has worked for us, why it has worked, and why it might not have worked. Good marketing is the key to having a very profitable business. We are a marketing resource to contractors in the building, painting, pressure washing, roofing, plumbing…heck almost any trade that you can mention. |
Mon, 9 December 2019
Pick up the guide that Pete talked about here: https://vipboardroom.com/8x-opt-in Or by texting: TIPS to (562) 655-7955 Get Your Copy Of "7 Low Or No Cost Marketing Strategies" By Texting FREE to 850-990-2020. Have a question for Pete or Dave? Text it to: 850-753-2020 Did you get your copy of "4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business With Customers"? Get it at http://ContractorsSecretWeapon.com now! More information on Pete Mitchell can be found here: https://BustOutTheBigGuns.com More information on Dave Negri can be found here: http://EliteHomeSVS.com Our marketing podcast is unlike anything available elsewhere to contractors…we talk with marketing specialists across the board who give us concrete tips directed entirely towards the trades. Some of the topics we cover include Marketing, Sales Cycles, Pricing, Positioning, Branding and more. We discuss what has worked for us, why it has worked, and why it might not have worked. Good marketing is the key to having a very profitable business. We are a marketing resource to contractors in the building, painting, pressure washing, roofing, plumbing…heck almost any trade that you can mention. |
Mon, 2 December 2019
Pick up the guide that Pete talked about here: https://vipboardroom.com/8x-opt-in Or by texting: TIPS to (562) 655-7955 Get Your Copy Of "7 Low Or No Cost Marketing Strategies" By Texting FREE to 850-990-2020. Have a question for Pete or Dave? Text it to: 850-753-2020 Did you get your copy of "4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business With Customers"? Get it at http://ContractorsSecretWeapon.com now! More information on Pete Mitchell can be found here: https://BustOutTheBigGuns.com More information on Dave Negri can be found here: http://EliteHomeSVS.com Our marketing podcast is unlike anything available elsewhere to contractors…we talk with marketing specialists across the board who give us concrete tips directed entirely towards the trades. Some of the topics we cover include Marketing, Sales Cycles, Pricing, Positioning, Branding and more. We discuss what has worked for us, why it has worked, and why it might not have worked. Good marketing is the key to having a very profitable business. We are a marketing resource to contractors in the building, painting, pressure washing, roofing, plumbing…heck almost any trade that you can mention. |
Mon, 25 November 2019
Get Your Copy Of "7 Low Or No Cost Marketing Strategies" By Texting FREE to 850-990-2020. Have a question for Pete or Dave? Text it to: 850-753-2020 Did you get your copy of "4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business With Customers"? Get it at http://ContractorsSecretWeapon.com now! More information on Pete Mitchell can be found here: https://BustOutTheBigGuns.com More information on Dave Negri can be found here: http://EliteHomeSVS.com Our marketing podcast is unlike anything available elsewhere to contractors…we talk with marketing specialists across the board who give us concrete tips directed entirely towards the trades. Some of the topics we cover include Marketing, Sales Cycles, Pricing, Positioning, Branding and more. We discuss what has worked for us, why it has worked, and why it might not have worked. Good marketing is the key to having a very profitable business. We are a marketing resource to contractors in the building, painting, pressure washing, roofing, plumbing…heck almost any trade that you can mention. |
Mon, 18 November 2019
Pick up the guide that Pete talked about here: https://vipboardroom.com/8x-opt-in Or by texting: TIPS to (562) 655-7955 Get Your Copy Of "7 Low Or No Cost Marketing Strategies" By Texting FREE to 850-990-2020. Have a question for Pete or Dave? Text it to: 850-753-2020 Did you get your copy of "4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business With Customers"? Get it at http://ContractorsSecretWeapon.com now! More information on Pete Mitchell can be found here: https://BustOutTheBigGuns.com More information on Dave Negri can be found here: http://EliteHomeSVS.com Our marketing podcast is unlike anything available elsewhere to contractors…we talk with marketing specialists across the board who give us concrete tips directed entirely towards the trades. Some of the topics we cover include Marketing, Sales Cycles, Pricing, Positioning, Branding and more. We discuss what has worked for us, why it has worked, and why it might not have worked. Good marketing is the key to having a very profitable business. We are a marketing resource to contractors in the building, painting, pressure washing, roofing, plumbing…heck almost any trade that you can mention.
Direct download: CSW-311-Long_Term_vs_Short_Term_Money-AU.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:30am EDT |
Mon, 11 November 2019
Pick up the guide that Pete talked about here: https://vipboardroom.com/8x-opt-in Or by texting: TIPS to (562) 655-7955 Get Your Copy Of "7 Low Or No Cost Marketing Strategies" By Texting FREE to 850-990-2020. Have a question for Pete or Dave? Text it to: 850-753-2020 Did you get your copy of "4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business With Customers"? Get it at http://ContractorsSecretWeapon.com now! Our marketing podcast is unlike anything available elsewhere to contractors…we talk with marketing specialists across the board who give us concrete tips directed entirely towards the trades. Some of the topics we cover include Marketing, Sales Cycles, Pricing, Positioning, Branding and more. We discuss what has worked for us, why it has worked, and why it might not have worked. Good marketing is the key to having a very profitable business. We are a marketing resource to contractors in the building, painting, pressure washing, roofing, plumbing…heck almost any trade that you can mention. |
Mon, 4 November 2019
Get Your Copy Of "7 Low Or No Cost Marketing Strategies" By Texting FREE to 850-990-2020. Have a question for Pete or Dave? Text it to: 850-753-2020 Did you get your copy of "4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business With Customers"? Get it at http://ContractorsSecretWeapon.com now! More information on Pete Mitchell can be found here: https://BustOutTheBigGuns.com More information on Dave Negri can be found here: http://EliteHomeSVS.com Our marketing podcast is unlike anything available elsewhere to contractors…we talk with marketing specialists across the board who give us concrete tips directed entirely towards the trades. Some of the topics we cover include Marketing, Sales Cycles, Pricing, Positioning, Branding and more. We discuss what has worked for us, why it has worked, and why it might not have worked. Good marketing is the key to having a very profitable business. We are a marketing resource to contractors in the building, painting, pressure washing, roofing, plumbing…heck almost any trade that you can mention.
Direct download: CSW-309-The-One-About-Using-Multiple-Mediums.mp3
Category:pod cast -- posted at: 3:30am EDT |
Mon, 28 October 2019
Get Your Copy Of "7 Low Or No Cost Marketing Strategies" By Texting FREE to 850-990-2020. Have a question for Pete or Dave? Text it to: 850-753-2020 Did you get your copy of "4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business With Customers"? Get it at http://ContractorsSecretWeapon.com now! More information on Pete Mitchell can be found here: https://BustOutTheBigGuns.com More information on Dave Negri can be found here: http://EliteHomeSVS.com Our marketing podcast is unlike anything available elsewhere to contractors…we talk with marketing specialists across the board who give us concrete tips directed entirely towards the trades. Some of the topics we cover include Marketing, Sales Cycles, Pricing, Positioning, Branding and more. We discuss what has worked for us, why it has worked, and why it might not have worked. Good marketing is the key to having a very profitable business. We are a marketing resource to contractors in the building, painting, pressure washing, roofing, plumbing…heck almost any trade that you can mention. |
Mon, 21 October 2019
Get Your Copy Of "7 Low Or No Cost Marketing Strategies" By Texting FREE to 850-990-2020. Have a question for Pete or Dave? Text it to: 850-753-2020 Did you get your copy of "4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business With Customers"? Get it at http://ContractorsSecretWeapon.com now! More information on Pete Mitchell can be found here: https://BustOutTheBigGuns.com More information on Dave Negri can be found here: http://EliteHomeSVS.com Our marketing podcast is unlike anything available elsewhere to contractors…we talk with marketing specialists across the board who give us concrete tips directed entirely towards the trades. Some of the topics we cover include Marketing, Sales Cycles, Pricing, Positioning, Branding and more. We discuss what has worked for us, why it has worked, and why it might not have worked. Good marketing is the key to having a very profitable business. We are a marketing resource to contractors in the building, painting, pressure washing, roofing, plumbing…heck almost any trade that you can mention.
Direct download: CSW-307-Why-You-Make-It-Hard-To-Give-You-Money-AU.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:30am EDT |
Mon, 14 October 2019
Get Your Copy Of "7 Low Or No Cost Marketing Strategies" By Texting FREE to 850-990-2020. Have a question for Pete or Dave? Text it to: 850-753-2020 Did you get your copy of "4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business With Customers"? Get it at http://ContractorsSecretWeapon.com now! More information on Pete Mitchell can be found here: https://BustOutTheBigGuns.com More information on Dave Negri can be found here: http://EliteHomeSVS.com Our marketing podcast is unlike anything available elsewhere to contractors…we talk with marketing specialists across the board who give us concrete tips directed entirely towards the trades. Some of the topics we cover include Marketing, Sales Cycles, Pricing, Positioning, Branding and more. We discuss what has worked for us, why it has worked, and why it might not have worked. Good marketing is the key to having a very profitable business. We are a marketing resource to contractors in the building, painting, pressure washing, roofing, plumbing…heck almost any trade that you can mention.
Direct download: CSW-306-Hijacking-someone-elses-foot-traffic-AU.mp3
Category:business -- posted at: 3:30am EDT |
Mon, 7 October 2019
Get Your Copy Of "7 Low Or No Cost Marketing Strategies" By Texting FREE to 850-990-2020. Have a question for Pete or Dave? Text it to: 850-753-2020 Did you get your copy of "4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business With Customers"? Get it at http://ContractorsSecretWeapon.com now! More information on Pete Mitchell can be found here: https://BustOutTheBigGuns.com More information on Dave Negri can be found here: http://EliteHomeSVS.com Our marketing podcast is unlike anything available elsewhere to contractors…we talk with marketing specialists across the board who give us concrete tips directed entirely towards the trades. Some of the topics we cover include Marketing, Sales Cycles, Pricing, Positioning, Branding and more. We discuss what has worked for us, why it has worked, and why it might not have worked. Good marketing is the key to having a very profitable business. We are a marketing resource to contractors in the building, painting, pressure washing, roofing, plumbing…heck almost any trade that you can mention. |
Mon, 30 September 2019
Get Your Copy Of "7 Low Or No Cost Marketing Strategies" By Texting FREE to 850-990-2020. Have a question for Pete or Dave? Text it to: 850-753-2020 Did you get your copy of "4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business With Customers"? Get it at http://ContractorsSecretWeapon.com now! More information on Pete Mitchell can be found here: https://BustOutTheBigGuns.com More information on Dave Negri can be found here: http://EliteHomeSVS.com Our marketing podcast is unlike anything available elsewhere to contractors…we talk with marketing specialists across the board who give us concrete tips directed entirely towards the trades. Some of the topics we cover include Marketing, Sales Cycles, Pricing, Positioning, Branding and more. We discuss what has worked for us, why it has worked, and why it might not have worked. Good marketing is the key to having a very profitable business. We are a marketing resource to contractors in the building, painting, pressure washing, roofing, plumbing…heck almost any trade that you can mention. |
Mon, 23 September 2019
Get Your Copy Of "7 Low Or No Cost Marketing Strategies" By Texting FREE to 850-990-2020. Have a question for Pete or Dave? Text it to: 850-753-2020 Did you get your copy of "4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business With Customers"? Get it at http://ContractorsSecretWeapon.com now! More information on Pete Mitchell can be found here: https://BustOutTheBigGuns.com More information on Dave Negri can be found here: http://EliteHomeSVS.com Our marketing podcast is unlike anything available elsewhere to contractors…we talk with marketing specialists across the board who give us concrete tips directed entirely towards the trades. Some of the topics we cover include Marketing, Sales Cycles, Pricing, Positioning, Branding and more. We discuss what has worked for us, why it has worked, and why it might not have worked. Good marketing is the key to having a very profitable business. We are a marketing resource to contractors in the building, painting, pressure washing, roofing, plumbing…heck almost any trade that you can mention. |
Mon, 16 September 2019
Get Your Copy Of "7 Low Or No Cost Marketing Strategies" By Texting FREE to 850-990-2020. Have a question for Pete or Dave? Text it to: 850-753-2020 Did you get your copy of "4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business With Customers"? Get it at http://ContractorsSecretWeapon.com now! More information on Pete Mitchell can be found here: https://BustOutTheBigGuns.com More information on Dave Negri can be found here: http://EliteHomeSVS.com Our marketing podcast is unlike anything available elsewhere to contractors…we talk with marketing specialists across the board who give us concrete tips directed entirely towards the trades. Some of the topics we cover include Marketing, Sales Cycles, Pricing, Positioning, Branding and more. We discuss what has worked for us, why it has worked, and why it might not have worked. Good marketing is the key to having a very profitable business. We are a marketing resource to contractors in the building, painting, pressure washing, roofing, plumbing…heck almost any trade that you can mention. |
Mon, 9 September 2019
Get Your Copy Of "7 Low Or No Cost Marketing Strategies" By Texting FREE to 850-990-2020. Have a question for Pete or Dave? Text it to: 850-753-2020 Did you get your copy of "4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business With Customers"? Get it at http://ContractorsSecretWeapon.com now! More information on Pete Mitchell can be found here: https://BustOutTheBigGuns.com More information on Dave Negri can be found here: http://EliteHomeSVS.com Our marketing podcast is unlike anything available elsewhere to contractors…we talk with marketing specialists across the board who give us concrete tips directed entirely towards the trades. Some of the topics we cover include Marketing, Sales Cycles, Pricing, Positioning, Branding and more. We discuss what has worked for us, why it has worked, and why it might not have worked. Good marketing is the key to having a very profitable business. We are a marketing resource to contractors in the building, painting, pressure washing, roofing, plumbing…heck almost any trade that you can mention. |
Mon, 2 September 2019
Get Your Copy Of "7 Low Or No Cost Marketing Strategies" By Texting FREE to 850-990-2020. Have a question for Pete or Dave? Text it to: 850-753-2020 Did you get your copy of "4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business With Customers"? Get it at http://ContractorsSecretWeapon.com now! More information on Pete Mitchell can be found here: https://BustOutTheBigGuns.com More information on Dave Negri can be found here: http://EliteHomeSVS.com Our marketing podcast is unlike anything available elsewhere to contractors…we talk with marketing specialists across the board who give us concrete tips directed entirely towards the trades. Some of the topics we cover include Marketing, Sales Cycles, Pricing, Positioning, Branding and more. We discuss what has worked for us, why it has worked, and why it might not have worked. Good marketing is the key to having a very profitable business. We are a marketing resource to contractors in the building, painting, pressure washing, roofing, plumbing…heck almost any trade that you can mention. |
Mon, 26 August 2019
Get Your Copy Of "7 Low Or No Cost Marketing Strategies" By Texting FREE to 850-990-2020. Have a question for Pete or Dave? Text it to: 850-753-2020 Did you get your copy of "4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business With Customers"? Get it at http://ContractorsSecretWeapon.com now! More information on Pete Mitchell can be found here: https://BustOutTheBigGuns.com More information on Dave Negri can be found here: http://EliteHomeSVS.com Our marketing podcast is unlike anything available elsewhere to contractors…we talk with marketing specialists across the board who give us concrete tips directed entirely towards the trades. Some of the topics we cover include Marketing, Sales Cycles, Pricing, Positioning, Branding and more. We discuss what has worked for us, why it has worked, and why it might not have worked. Good marketing is the key to having a very profitable business. We are a marketing resource to contractors in the building, painting, pressure washing, roofing, plumbing…heck almost any trade that you can mention. |
Mon, 19 August 2019
Get Your Copy Of "7 Low Or No Cost Marketing Strategies" By Texting FREE to 850-990-2020. Have a question for Pete or Dave? Text it to: 850-753-2020 Did you get your copy of "4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business With Customers"? Get it at http://ContractorsSecretWeapon.com now! More information on Pete Mitchell can be found here: https://BustOutTheBigGuns.com More information on Dave Negri can be found here: http://EliteHomeSVS.com Our marketing podcast is unlike anything available elsewhere to contractors…we talk with marketing specialists across the board who give us concrete tips directed entirely towards the trades. Some of the topics we cover include Marketing, Sales Cycles, Pricing, Positioning, Branding and more. We discuss what has worked for us, why it has worked, and why it might not have worked. Good marketing is the key to having a very profitable business. We are a marketing resource to contractors in the building, painting, pressure washing, roofing, plumbing…heck almost any trade that you can mention. |
Mon, 12 August 2019
Get Your Copy Of "7 Low Or No Cost Marketing Strategies" By Texting FREE to 850-990-2020. Have a question for Pete or Dave? Text it to: 850-753-2020 Did you get your copy of "4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business With Customers"? Get it at http://ContractorsSecretWeapon.com now! More information on Pete Mitchell can be found here: https://BustOutTheBigGuns.com More information on Dave Negri can be found here: http://EliteHomeSVS.com Our marketing podcast is unlike anything available elsewhere to contractors…we talk with marketing specialists across the board who give us concrete tips directed entirely towards the trades. Some of the topics we cover include Marketing, Sales Cycles, Pricing, Positioning, Branding and more. We discuss what has worked for us, why it has worked, and why it might not have worked. Good marketing is the key to having a very profitable business. We are a marketing resource to contractors in the building, painting, pressure washing, roofing, plumbing…heck almost any trade that you can mention. |
Mon, 5 August 2019
Get Your Copy Of "7 Low Or No Cost Marketing Strategies" By Texting FREE to 850-990-2020. Have a question for Pete or Dave? Text it to: 850-753-2020 Did you get your copy of "4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business With Customers"? Get it at http://ContractorsSecretWeapon.com now! More information on Pete Mitchell can be found here: https://BustOutTheBigGuns.com More information on Dave Negri can be found here: http://EliteHomeSVS.com Our marketing podcast is unlike anything available elsewhere to contractors…we talk with marketing specialists across the board who give us concrete tips directed entirely towards the trades. Some of the topics we cover include Marketing, Sales Cycles, Pricing, Positioning, Branding and more. We discuss what has worked for us, why it has worked, and why it might not have worked. Good marketing is the key to having a very profitable business. We are a marketing resource to contractors in the building, painting, pressure washing, roofing, plumbing…heck almost any trade that you can mention. |
Mon, 29 July 2019
Did you get your copy of "4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business With Customers"? Get it at http://ContractorsSecretWeapon.com now! More information on Pete Mitchell can be found here: https://BustOutTheBigGuns.com More information on Dave Negri can be found here: http://EliteHomeSVS.com Our marketing podcast is unlike anything available elsewhere to contractors…we talk with marketing specialists across the board who give us concrete tips directed entirely towards the trades. Some of the topics we cover include Marketing, Sales Cycles, Pricing, Positioning, Branding and more. We discuss what has worked for us, why it has worked, and why it might not have worked. Good marketing is the key to having a very profitable business. We are a marketing resource to contractors in the building, painting, pressure washing, roofing, plumbing…heck almost any trade that you can mention. |
Mon, 22 July 2019
Did you get your copy of "4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business With Customers"? Get it at http://ContractorsSecretWeapon.com now! More information on Pete Mitchell can be found here: https://BustOutTheBigGuns.com More information on Dave Negri can be found here: http://EliteHomeSVS.com Our marketing podcast is unlike anything available elsewhere to contractors…we talk with marketing specialists across the board who give us concrete tips directed entirely towards the trades. Some of the topics we cover include Marketing, Sales Cycles, Pricing, Positioning, Branding and more. We discuss what has worked for us, why it has worked, and why it might not have worked. Good marketing is the key to having a very profitable business. We are a marketing resource to contractors in the building, painting, pressure washing, roofing, plumbing…heck almost any trade that you can mention. |
Mon, 15 July 2019
CSW #293 - How To Generate Leads! (The Secret Marketing Piece Your Competition Doesn't What You To Have!)
Did you get your copy of "4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business With Customers"? Get it at http://ContractorsSecretWeapon.com now! More information on Pete Mitchell can be found here: https://BustOutTheBigGuns.com More information on Dave Negri can be found here: http://EliteHomeSVS.com Our marketing podcast is unlike anything available elsewhere to contractors…we talk with marketing specialists across the board who give us concrete tips directed entirely towards the trades. Some of the topics we cover include Marketing, Sales Cycles, Pricing, Positioning, Branding and more. We discuss what has worked for us, why it has worked, and why it might not have worked. Good marketing is the key to having a very profitable business. We are a marketing resource to contractors in the building, painting, pressure washing, roofing, plumbing…heck almost any trade that you can mention. |
Mon, 8 July 2019
Did you get your copy of "4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business With Customers"? Get it at http://ContractorsSecretWeapon.com now! More information on Pete Mitchell can be found here: https://BustOutTheBigGuns.com More information on Dave Negri can be found here: http://EliteHomeSVS.com Our marketing podcast is unlike anything available elsewhere to contractors…we talk with marketing specialists across the board who give us concrete tips directed entirely towards the trades. Some of the topics we cover include Marketing, Sales Cycles, Pricing, Positioning, Branding and more. We discuss what has worked for us, why it has worked, and why it might not have worked. Good marketing is the key to having a very profitable business. We are a marketing resource to contractors in the building, painting, pressure washing, roofing, plumbing…heck almost any trade that you can mention. |
Mon, 1 July 2019
Did you get your copy of "4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business With Customers"? Get it at http://ContractorsSecretWeapon.com now! More information on Pete Mitchell can be found here: https://BustOutTheBigGuns.com More information on Dave Negri can be found here: http://EliteHomeSVS.com Our marketing podcast is unlike anything available elsewhere to contractors…we talk with marketing specialists across the board who give us concrete tips directed entirely towards the trades. Some of the topics we cover include Marketing, Sales Cycles, Pricing, Positioning, Branding and more. We discuss what has worked for us, why it has worked, and why it might not have worked. Good marketing is the key to having a very profitable business. We are a marketing resource to contractors in the building, painting, pressure washing, roofing, plumbing…heck almost any trade that you can mention. |
Tue, 25 June 2019
Did you get your copy of "4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business With Customers"? Get it at http://ContractorsSecretWeapon.com now! More information on Pete Mitchell can be found here: https://BustOutTheBigGuns.com More information on Dave Negri can be found here: http://EliteHomeSVS.com Our marketing podcast is unlike anything available elsewhere to contractors…we talk with marketing specialists across the board who give us concrete tips directed entirely towards the trades. Some of the topics we cover include Marketing, Sales Cycles, Pricing, Positioning, Branding and more. We discuss what has worked for us, why it has worked, and why it might not have worked. Good marketing is the key to having a very profitable business. We are a marketing resource to contractors in the building, painting, pressure washing, roofing, plumbing…heck almost any trade that you can mention. |
Fri, 2 March 2018
Today I just want to thank everyone of you who have been following this podcast we have been been on the air for I think four and half years we’ve brought you some great content some great guests to help you with your business and great marketing concepts all with the intent to help you grow your business.
I don't know about you all but I've come to the realization that there's so much information out there that it can be overwhelming and I hope that none of this has been overwhelming for you for you in the past.
Today I just want to share a couple of things with you, sometimes we just don't want to talk about. Or well it's kind of weird but we hear a lot of our great stories from a lot of the books we read a lot of people you come in contact you know the stories that are shared. They are those mountain top experiences usually the best of the best. These are things that have worked but you know we never talk about don't know why we don’t talk about the valley experiences. Don't know why we never talk about them. The mistakes or the challenging things the things that got to them on top experiences those are the real things that make you grow.
Yes, it's great to cheer on the people that have made the monumental quest but we don’t talk much about the failures or the course corrections that got us to the top.
Nobody likes to talk about the failures or the course corrections but they're real they are very real and what we get through.
Today listen I want to share with you one of my big secrets that I've never shared before and just recently it dawned on me over the past couple of weeks maybe a month or two, I'm not sure but it's just been really in the back of my mind and that I've been holding out on you and I apologize it's never been intentional, My goal has always been to give you everything that I possibly could to help you with the growth of your business but for some reason and shame on me I have not done that .
I have to tell you it wasn't intentional, but it's been brought to mind recently in a crazy and in a mighty way.
Out of all the marketing knowledge and insight about how people think in the way they buy and the psychology of things in the marketplace and how to get people to be attracted to your marketing and call you, the number one thing that has helped me in the growth of all my businesses is I know some are going to say is this is crazy but it's been prayer. I know some of you will get it and some of you will not get it.
And it's really you know I don't know why I never brought this up before but it's just really the words put on my heart to let you know that out of all the great things out there that are available for your marketing for running your business is prayer it has been for my business .
Because I don't know everything and no matter how much I do know in what I can put together.
You know why I would pray about it why would I pray about every aspect of my business alternately because it's not my business it's God's business and that's what the intent was from the very beginning that I started business and I know that.
Like I said Some of you will get it and some you won't .
Some of you will say, well why would I pray about every aspect of my business because like I said it's not my business my business is Gods business and that's for me it could be for you that's OK and if it's not that's OK too.
But in reality who know more about how to run the business, how to market, how to handle employees how to better run a business the correct way better than the creator.
Let me tell you one of my favorite stories and because I know some are saying why should I pray about something that I know how to do, or I think I know how to do that I you know been doing right along.
Why would I pray about that so let me tell you one of my favorite stories about the knowing what to do being in a position of doing the exact thing that you know what to do but.
Here is the story, He didn't do it and said he prayed about it so let me tell you and this is really one of my favorite stories and it's about King David and his six hundred men of war came home and they came home to find out that their town had been burned to the ground and everything had been carried off every living thing every child every woman all the livestock matter a fact if it didn't get burned it was taken off. Oh can you picture that. If you picture something like that coming home finding nothing there.
The story goes on and says they all wept until they could weep no more and now everyone was mad at David and they wanted to stone him, six hundred men blaming the leader for what had happened to them and you know what this is one of those scenarios where David knew what to do ,matter of fact those six hundred guys like your employees they know what to do but.
Why wouldn’t they do it go after their families they were warriors that’s what they did they know how to do the wok they were battle tested and driven. David knew how to do it he knew what to do he was the warrior just like your the business owner you're the business leader.
When you talk about peer pressure six hundred people wanted to stone him because we know what to do less This will get our families and David decided that now you know he didn't give in to peer pressure or even know that that would probably be the first thing when done was just go out and get everyone. David stopped cleared his head and called the priest and prayed, he prayed To God and he asked. Should I go after the Raiders? And will I catch them, and God said yes and if you read the story to the very end they recovered Everything ,everything.
1sam:30:1 take a look at it but I wonder will it happened if David and his army did what they knew to do that they were the warrior or the business person. We all know when of course we would never know what would happen because the story wouldn't be there. Got put in there for a reason to show us what happens when we bring our prayers to God. As it should be done. In any case the answer.Sometimes the most profound ways.
I know that throughout my business life the best times are really when I prayed about it and I think about it's a reaction that I should go and I pray about the marking actions do I prayed about even type of people that I want to attract and when I even went in did ask them as I wrote proposals is this going to be the best fit for this customer and I would always pray to give me the customer that you would have me to have the one that my interaction will help me to glorify youLord.
I have to tell you that prayer has had the most profound effect on my business.
So today's Transitions and knowing when its time I want to switch over and tell you about today's thought on trends this is knowing when it's time.What in the heck does that mean?
You know in our culture we as business owners and just in life in general and I know that I have big ego and I never thought I had a big ego until recently. Personally I’ve been tested it been a big deal and it's gotten into some trouble that I'm working it out let's put it that way.
Have you ever had a situation and let's just say we're going on topic since we're talking about business let's just talk about business and we're going to do everything same as always, everything's going great you're doing the marketing you're doing whatever you normally do. And then all the sudden. Everything slows down or stops and it seems like you all the sudden you hit a wall everything comes to a screeching halt or real close to it and it sort of sets you back a little and you go. What in the world in going on here ,this is happened to me three times in my life about twenty years ago. And we work that about two thousand and eight and I think a lot of people went through that and recently in probably the past. Probably twelve months it started and came to a head in the past two months.
So according to you know our normal business acumen are things that we've learned in this culture you know if there's all wall we hit we are taught to go around it to go right go through go over it, right I'm sure you shaking your head right now yes these are things that sometimes or some hard lessons I want that or I can't seem to break through the walls.
But I want to propose something new here. Here's a question that I want to propose to you that really change the way that changed things for me .It really helped me a lot going to this question. But a question that ninety nine out of one hundred people will never think to ask.
Why is the wall there in the first place. Interesting question isn't it why is the wall there. Well many of you are saying.
Well you know that's kind of crazy I would never ask that question why is the wall there in the first place. That was a question that I had to finally come to because I couldn't get around it can get through it can get past that and more I tried I just got humbled and says You're asking the wrong question so I want to share that with you the question about the wall. What would you why would you ask that question why is the wall there well cuz the wall is there because there's something that I need to learn or maybe there's something for me to need to stop and that's basically what happened to me is there are some things that I need to learn and there's some things that I needed to . It goes back to beginning of this podcast where we talked about goes back to prayer.
I know what to do maybe I should do it as God I mean what should I do. So I said this recently has just happened to me and it's been accumulating over probably the past maybe year and it's really come to head in the last two months and I really had to take a look at that and pray about why is the wall there and the answers that I got.
A couple real astounding answers that I never even thought would come about . That I can’t ignore. And the answers from my life for me was transition and that's where this came from this title this is this is part of that transition. Do I know what am I going to transition into ,I have no clue but I know that I need a transition and there's time and number two thing was you need to simplify let's simplify to make your life simpler and it's been too chaotic for too long . That's really refreshing for me and the other thing one of the thing that came through loud and clear above all other things is that you're chasing the wrong thing. And that really caught my attention also so I have to you know take these things into very big consideration and that's why when the you know the transition comes in people's lives and when you know that it's time to transition you need to do it because going on the path that you're going it's just not going to lead to work where it would be better that's the cool thing you know is he better and so. A lot of people who go through transitions I've seen him go through physical ailments I've seen people go through financial troubles, God will do whatever it takes to get your attention to draw you closer to him.Luckly for me it's not has been physical hasn't been a real big financial burden it hasn't been peaches and cream let me tell you that but He got my attention and I know. That this is great for me. So this is what I just want to let you know is that this is going to be the last Contractors Secret Weapon podcast because it's time for that transition. I to want to let you leave you on a note that the secret here success is about having God be in control.
And if you're not a believer that's OK you can do try to do it on your own and you may become successful but its more that it is serving a risen Savior Its about being at peace in all things its about an unspoken joy. For those who do understand you do understand for those that don't believe in Jesus Christ that's OK That's really OK. But it's not OK for me and you'll probably think that this whole thing I've talked about as crazy and that's OK but I want to tell you this . It is more important to know whose you are than who you are. And so the simplify is awesome because I've been working like a crazy man ten twelve hours a day for I don't remember how long and it's just like I've gotten this huge release. I need to do that that I can things need to be simplified so's and then I'm chasing the wrong things so I'm going to simplify I'm going to simplify and hopefully that this has helped you or will help unit future I don't know I'm not going to be on Facebook I'm not going to be on Linked In and if you want to talk a little bit more maybe you need to. E-mail me at. info@contractorssecretweapon.com
Again I just want to thank each and every one of you who have been following the podcast for the past four and a half years or if you are new go back through there's like two hundred eighty eight nine but I just want to reemphasize that prayer is the one thing that will exponentially grow your business and yourself. So signing out this is the last podcast go grow your business be profitable and be successful. In all that you do because you prayed about it.
There are so many ways to do almost free marketing you just have to think about it or you could just go to the web site and pick up the free download.
4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business with Customers
Our sponsors
Would you like your phone to ring more with qualified buyers people looking to buy now? Then let’s make that happen. Best Home Services Leads is dedicated to making your phone ring with qualified buyers wanting to buy now. Go to and fill out the form to get more information. http://contractorssecretweapon.com/money
How about 100 free postcards sent out to your best prospective customers. Radius Bomb sends out hyper targeted, laser focused postcards using a map while sitting in your under ware at your kitchen table then go to http://contractorssecretweapon.com/radiusbomb
Painting Contractors, get up to a 24% better response rate just for having the right memorable telephone number 1-800-PRO-PAINTER.Check out your area before someone beats you to it and it’s not available. https://www.1800propainter.com/ |
Thu, 1 March 2018
Hey this is Dave Negri from Contractors Secret Weapon, and for today’s podcast we will be talking with Pat Morlando. Pat’s been in the business for over 20 years. He was also a sub constructor. In reality you have to be in your toes because you have 2 customers, everything in your business translates in your business. No one knows the food industry like Pat Morlando. Now the extensive experience he had helps him with his current business. He provides quality experience and service towards his customer and to his staff as well. They have over 450 employees and extends to 5 states. It’s all about the service industry now. In today’s market, in every level, they want to understand the vision but also match the personality of the client. If every one of those pieces, the vision of the client will be gone. In each market you have 2 customers, and each should be treated equally and as important. Meet or beat the expectations of the clients is a must. For Pat, they hire the attitude and train the skill. Product is the product. If you don’t provide good service it won’t be a good product. It will just be so-so for the customers which may not be good. In the party business, they need someone who is very outgoing. For the most part, they will be trained their way. In most industries, it’s getting harder and harder to find qualified employees. Matching an event personality with staff personality ensures that success. The vision has to become the reality. They have systematically grown every year. As a business owner, no matter what happens you need to have profit. The challenging things as far as the programs they have has been, needing an employee that fits the needs of the target market they have. Finding the individual that fits the needs of the company is going to be tough but with the training program this helped the company earn more. Creating an image, going in prepared just like solving the problem before going there. This is something that they represent towards the market that are targeting and servicing. The whole outcome is to make sure that the company invests on their employees because they are hiring for the future. If the employee is not an asset they are not good for the company. Because if not then they are not valuable to you, to the company and to the customers. The company has the ability to put them to work but if the employee is not able to meet the expectations of the company then they have placed that opportunity to the wrong people. Reaffirm the commitment to make every effort to accelerate the achievement of the company so to be able to match the vision, to develop the goals. This is to also deepen the relationship of the owner to their employees. It’s about the customer’s the bottom line. It reflects on Pat’s company. “Servicing the hospitality industry is not only our Mission, but our Passion!” this is the motto they have and you can also see this in their website. They have franchised their companies, and what they’re looking for was group of business that they love what they want. Enjoying their team. Expand their branch nationwide. It’s a good business opportunity.
You may visit this website to know more details about Steve Smith:
There are so many ways to do almost free marketing you just have to think about it or you could just go to the web site and pick up the free download.
4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business with Customers If you have a story to tell and would like to be a guest on this podcast email my assistant Shell at Shell@contractorssecretweapon.com and she will send you our guest sheet.
Our sponsors
Would you like your phone to ring more with qualified buyers people looking to buy now? Then let’s make that happen. Best Home Services Leads is dedicated to making your phone ring with qualified buyers wanting to buy now. Go to and fill out the form to get more information. http://contractorssecretweapon.com/money
How about 100 free postcards sent out to your best prospective customers. Radius Bomb sends out hyper targeted, laser focused postcards using a map while sitting in your under ware at your kitchen table then go to http://contractorssecretweapon.com/radiusbomb
Painting Contractors, get up to a 24% better response rate just for having the right memorable telephone number 1-800-PRO-PAINTER.Check out your area before someone beats you to it and it’s not available. https://www.1800propainter.com/ |
Wed, 28 February 2018
Today we will be talking with Steve Smith about proven leadership skills to grow by. He's the president of the Growth Source Coaching, in Orange County, California. He provides performance coaching services to business owners, and a variety of professional industrial and trade industry. He’s focused on helping people replace limited thinking, unproductive habits, and poor decisions. Making with confidence, building strategies for reaching truly extraordinary outcomes is what he is widely known for. Steve speaks to businesses, professional organizations, co-host business podcast and writes to numerous publications. Today we are going to be talking about Steve’s new book, Leadership Axioms. Leadership is something we all look at and we look at it differently. If we want to become a leader, we need to become a leader that we are willing to follow. Leadership is all about dealing with people. It involves management systems and how the business operates on a whole. It is directed towards how do you worked with and get the most out of the people that you hire, the people that are working for you and your company. So, many times initially the reaction of some people are how they want their employees to work as to how they want it to be, which is the typical approach of not looking who they want to be in order for their employees to follow them. The working environment in the present times has radically changed that it doesn’t almost work anymore. The norm used to be “Do as I say and not as I do”. But now if we are to look at things in a different perspective, the people you oversee are what matters. If they operate on a top-notch level it reflects on you. The leadership and growth principles are there but this time, being a leader is about what we are doing together. When people trust you, care about you, when they are willing to extend great amount of time and effort in helping you achieve your goal it’s when you are assured that you hit the mark because people feel that they the leader they are following are also interested about them, this person thinks about the well-being of their employees and hone them in the best way possible. But, when you are working with someone who is all about them, all about what they want then the natural reaction would be is that the people will be looking for a different company to work for. When you are hiring someone, in the first 30 days, as a boss you have to set proper expectation and then ask them what exactly is important for them and you will be surprised as to what they will tell you and this, in result, will help you give the right assistance for them in the long run. The title of this book is interesting. Axiom means are well aged, universally accepted truths needing no proof. The book contains 14 principles but we’ll be talking some of it.
You may visit this website to know more details about Steve Smith: ***There’s a link in the website for free consultation and the book if in case you want to download it.
There are so many ways to do almost free marketing you just have to think about it or you could just go to the web site and pick up the free download.
4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business with Customers If you have a story to tell and would like to be a guest on this podcast email my assistant Shell at Shell@contractorssecretweapon.com and she will send you our guest sheet.
Our sponsors
Would you like your phone to ring more with qualified buyers people looking to buy now? Then let’s make that happen. Best Home Services Leads is dedicated to making your phone ring with qualified buyers wanting to buy now. Go to and fill out the form to get more information. http://contractorssecretweapon.com/money
How about 100 free postcards sent out to your best prospective customers. Radius Bomb sends out hyper targeted, laser focused postcards using a map while sitting in your under ware at your kitchen table then go to http://contractorssecretweapon.com/radiusbomb
Painting Contractors, get up to a 24% better response rate just for having the right memorable telephone number 1-800-PRO-PAINTER.Check out your area before someone beats you to it and it’s not available. https://www.1800propainter.com/ |
Tue, 27 February 2018
For our podcast, our unique guest with us Dave Fuller, Dave is going to show you how o earn more and worry less . He has an MBA. He’s a Certified Professional Business Coach and the author of book. Profit Yourself Healthy. He has over 30 years of business experience owning and running his own business that included 30 staff and doing millions of dollars each year. Dave knows what it's like to struggle in business and knows how to make Healthy Profits. Dave's mission is to help business owners who are having difficulties get to a point where they regain their confidence and profitability. He loves helping people EARN MORE MONEY and WORRY LESS. What Is the relationship between profits in our help as business owners? Something happens to our body when one had experienced a traumatic event at one point of their life. It releases chemicals and all the adrenalines in it. The fatigue follows and then we all become tired. As a business owner, a lot of things can go wrong, you might not be able to pay your bills on time, your staff will get worried about whether they’ll be paid or not, my bank calls me on a weekly basis, this kind of stress takes place when they experience this kind of trauma. This affect us in a number of ways. Our energy levels go up and down throughout the days. It affects our moods, affects our relationships as a result. When our businesses are not working for us it gives the business owner a huge chronic stress.
What we need to do is to focus on the key areas to turn your business up. Truth of the matter is according to the National Federation of the Independent Business, 60% of the businesses are not profitable and 40% of the businesses are doing great. They’re making good money for their owners. Thirty percent are marginally profitable, and 29% are never going to be profitable since day one. The marginally profitable ones are the ones where the owners are making a little bit of money but the truth is they are going to earn much more money if they’re working for somebody else with a lot less stress. If we can make our business profitable then we can lower the stress. Put a system in place in our businesses to keep our staff accountable, to keep things working the way we want it to. Have trainings for our staff to keep the clarity as to where the business is going, and setting proper expectation will cut down a lot of stress. To reduce the stress level, here are 7 key areas that they can focus on:
With all these, when we have our business with a great cash flow, it will make a big difference. You will have your business turn up positively and will become profitable.
You may check out this contact information to get to know more details about Dave Fuller: http://www.profityourselfhealthy.com http://www.profityourselfhealthy.com/free
There are so many ways to do almost free marketing you just have to think about it or you could just go to the web site and pick up the free download.
4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business with Customers If you have a story to tell and would like to be a guest on this podcast email my assistant Shell at Shell@contractorssecretweapon.com and she will send you our guest sheet.
Our sponsors
Would you like your phone to ring more with qualified buyers people looking to buy now? Then let’s make that happen. Best Home Services Leads is dedicated to making your phone ring with qualified buyers wanting to buy now. Go to and fill out the form to get more information. http://contractorssecretweapon.com/money
How about 100 free postcards sent out to your best prospective customers. Radius Bomb sends out hyper targeted, laser focused postcards using a map while sitting in your under ware at your kitchen table then go to http://contractorssecretweapon.com/radiusbomb
Painting Contractors, get up to a 24% better response rate just for having the right memorable telephone number 1-800-PRO-PAINTER.Check out your area before someone beats you to it and it’s not available. https://www.1800propainter.com/ |
Mon, 26 February 2018
For our podcast, our fun guest is going to help you make more money and show you how money is made in the back office . We have Randal De Hart, with Fast and Easy Accounting. He’s the co-founder of the Business Consulting and Accounting Agency, and a specialized in providing back office services for construction company. They provide book keeping services, invoicing, payment applications, preparation payroll processing, prevailing wage, monthly realtor, tax reports for construction companies. They’re located in Washington State but they handle companies all over the states. One of their mottos is: “WE REMOVE YOUR CONTRUCTOR PAPERWORK FRUSTRATIONS.” Way back ‘92,’93 its very obvious that there’s a huge difference between construction accounting and regular accounting. All accounting uses the same equation which is the 3 O’S.
Any constructor would understand this. Regular Accounting: roughly 80% of all accounting for business the world and is concerned with the basic financial reports which are used for preparing annual tax returns and some rudimentary management decisions:
Construction Accounting Is Roughly 15% Of All Accounting and Accounting with manufacturing making up roughly 5%. So, it is given very little attention in schools, colleges and universities.
Every business owner needs 3 basic report:
Accounting is history. Forecasting in economics is all future. In construction accounting you pull up all the report in our Quickbooks files; this explains that 80% of your profit comes from the 20% of your customer. If you pull up Job Profitability Report, the top 20% typically don’t complain a lot. Then going to a little bit of demographic and start taking a list which we call the persona of who is that person. Once the constructor already has that picture, he now has to go to the marketing, and markets through that persona. Going through this strategy, he was able to level up his income. The good personality you have and the setup you will have makes a good set up.
You may check out this contact information to get to know more details about Randal De Hart: PHONE: 206-361-3950 EMAIL: info@fasteasyaccounting.com www.fasteasyaccounting.com/caa - visit this website for the academy www.fasteasyaccounting.com/podcastbonus visit this website for free bonus and KPI review
There are so many ways to do almost free marketing you just have to think about it or you could just go to the web site and pick up the free download.
4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business with Customers
Our sponsors
Would you like your phone to ring more with qualified buyers people looking to buy now? Then let’s make that happen. Best Home Services Leads is dedicated to making your phone ring with qualified buyers wanting to buy now. Go to and fill out the form to get more information. http://contractorssecretweapon.com/money
How about 100 free postcards sent out to your best prospective customers. Radius Bomb sends out hyper targeted, laser focused postcards using a map while sitting in your under ware at your kitchen table then go to http://contractorssecretweapon.com/radiusbomb
Painting Contractors, get up to a 24% better response rate just for having the right memorable telephone number 1-800-PRO-PAINTER.Check out your area before someone beats you to it and it’s not available. https://www.1800propainter.com/ |
Wed, 21 February 2018
There needs to be a change in my business . I’ve been told a lot through some people I worked with. Things got to change. Business has to be better. I’ve got to have more money, I’ve got to have more customers, I’ve got to have more business.
Doing what you’ve always done only get you what you’ve always got. By saying, I need change, things need to change, is like asking what can I do to change? Here are some of the things that we will be talking today. Hopefully we’ll get pass this whole thing and we will move forward to do better, to do more and again we have to change in order for these to happen.
Wanting to get better and different results in your business while continuing what you have been doing is a topic that has always been in the mind of business owners. The steps that each owner is following needs to change in order for them to also change so that results will become better if not the best for their business.
It doesn’t take forever to change, it takes an instant second to change, it’s like a snap of a finger because you have come to a realization that it must be. The need to have a change in our business needs to be addressed. The only way that we can reach a whole new level to success and to your self-esteem without changing your behavior is to keep in mind that you need to have good results by the end of the day and what are the things you need to keep on innovating.
This is the greatest challenge that most people go through. As soon as you change your thinking, you’ll not only change your income but you’ll also change your life. What kind of thinking do we need to have? The kind that says, things will improve as soon as you get your name out there. As soon as you establish a reputation. Don’t spend your money in places to something that won’t help you increase your reputation. Getting clients and customers to call is the bottom line. Attracting the right types of clients, the right way, whether it would be email marketing, Facebook advertising, pay-per-click, post card advertising. They all work, you just have to pick a couple and then as time goes by you can just add more.
As your business grows, you will add more multiple streams of marketing. It boils down to how you see the world, determines how the worlds sees you. In other words, if you think the world is full of people is interested on what you have to sell and your job is to find those people to direct response marketing you WILL find them. If on the other hand, you feel that it’s your professionalism or it’s your good name are enough to make people beg for your products or services, you’re not going to make sales. It’s time to make a complete new view.
We always say that we get what we want. You need to adapt a whole new attitude to make the system work for you. Open yourself to new reality, and when you do you can experience all kinds of successes. But where does all this start? It all starts with us and it’s called “MENTAL GARBAGE” or REMOVING THE TRASH. It’s a battle that most of us go through a lot and the thoughts are like ‘IF YOU WORK HARD, YOU WILL SUCCEED’, this is complete garbage. Working hard does not ensure success. Willing to change and do the things that I need to do to learn the strategies, the principles that I have to do to work smarter. It’s not working harder but to work smarter. One of the biggest challenges is knowing what kind of marketing works best for each of us. Continue the process of learning. Because every day is a learning process. Get creative. We need to always ask ourselves “What am I doing now that needs to get better results?” This will create ways to get the head trash out of your way. This will move you to new heights. It’s about getting the head start. It’s about getting past the ‘’I’ve always done it this way”, “The expecting to get results from doing the same thing every time”. It’s getting to that conscious decision to change not only your business, because your business won’t change unless you change inside out. Become more of who you want to be in terms of your business.
There are so many ways to do almost free marketing you just have to think about it or you could just go to the web site and pick up the free download.
4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business with Customers If you have a story to tell and would like to be a guest on this podcast email my assistant Shell at Shell@contractorssecretweapon.com and she will send you our guest sheet.
Our sponsors
Would you like your phone to ring more with qualified buyers people looking to buy now? Then let’s make that happen. Best Home Services Leads is dedicated to making your phone ring with qualified buyers wanting to buy now. Go to and fill out the form to get more information. http://contractorssecretweapon.com/money
How about 100 free postcards sent out to your best prospective customers. Radius Bomb sends out hyper targeted, laser focused postcards using a map while sitting in your under ware at your kitchen table then go to http://contractorssecretweapon.com/radiusbomb
Painting Contractors, get up to a 24% better response rate just for having the right memorable telephone number 1-800-PRO-PAINTER.Check out your area before someone beats you to it and it’s not available. https://www.1800propainter.com/ |
Tue, 20 February 2018
New Word of mouth advertising Google Reviews. Today we have an awesome talk for you. We have a returning guest, Joe Burnich and his business partner Amanda Reid. Today we will be talking about Google Reviews, everything that we can possibly think about that is related to google reviews. Google reviews are very essential to businesses. Everyone looks at reviews but not everyone gives reviews. Even if people loves your work its hard to get people to take action. It’s still is a big roadblock that most small businesses experiences when it comes to get reviews. Beyond that, it’s not just being hard, there’s that fear from business owners as to what others will say about them when they are left with bad reviews even though they thought they did a good job. While we have that fear, understanding what we can do next time is very important as well. Providing good services, even though we don’t know what will be the outcome from the clients will be, it’s still part of the transparency between the interaction you had with your clients. The more you interact with your google page, the better that is for your rankings. It shows that you care to your customers, to your potential clients, whether it’s bad or good review. Responding to the bad reviews can also turn that review around to a good review. If you show that you reached out to customers who gave bad reviews somehow, they can change the reviews to a good one. Here are some of the ways that you can get good reviews:
Google reviews are the new word of mouth advertising now. You get a lot of referrals from other people or establishments since people will check your good reviews. Joe has a smart phone app called “The Easy 5 Star App”. It’s an app to get easy 5 star from your customers. It alleviates the bad reviews to come in automatically. It automates the feedback from the customer.
It’s easy for every business owners now to get 5 stars from their clients. Joe’s company wanted to do something different. They wanted it to be simple, affordable, and have you up and running in no time. And again, it’s inexpensive, they only offer the app for as much as $300 because they need to create the app specifics to the business but they will only charge the business $29 a month for each business listing they have in google. For the listeners of this podcast, $147 to have it set up and $29 each month. Special For our Listeners Get 50% off set up fee only through this link Half-Off Easy 5 Star App: https://easy5star.com/secret-weapon
You may visit this website to get to know more details about Joe Burnich and his smart phone app:
There are so many ways to do almost free marketing you just have to think about it or you could just go to the web site and pick up the free download.
4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business with Customers If you have a story to tell and would like to be a guest on this podcast email my assistant Shell at Shell@contractorssecretweapon.com and she will send you our guest sheet.
Our sponsors
Would you like your phone to ring more with qualified buyers people looking to buy now? Then let’s make that happen. Best Home Services Leads is dedicated to making your phone ring with qualified buyers wanting to buy now. Go to and fill out the form to get more information. http://contractorssecretweapon.com/money
How about 100 free postcards sent out to your best prospective customers. Radius Bomb sends out hyper targeted, laser focused postcards using a map while sitting in your under ware at your kitchen table then go to http://contractorssecretweapon.com/radiusbomb
Painting Contractors, get up to a 24% better response rate just for having the right memorable telephone number 1-800-PRO-PAINTER.Check out your area before someone beats you to it and it’s not available. https://www.1800propainter.com/ |
Mon, 19 February 2018
As I was doing a research for a webinar I am doing, I came across this and Its sort of like old school but not really. It’s not used much, not likely to think about it. You don’t see a whole lot of it. But believe it or not, this kind of advertising will give you up to 500% better response rate than an image advertising. That means it’s your postcards, could be magazine ad with all your stuff on it. Will this work on social media, I could imagine it would.
We’ll be talking about Advertorial Advertising. It gets up to 500% greater response than image advertising, color brochures, or flyers and other forms of products. It’s proven an advertising fact. Do you want to know why? It doesn’t look like advertising. It looks like news. Advertorial ads are successful because they combine the trusted look in the feel of an editorial or a news article with content that promotes an advertising your business. This marketing strategy will make your phone ring. This will make your prospects to know you. This isn’t the fastest way to attract your clients but it will make your response rate go up. Which is the main goal.
To protect ourselves, what we’ve really learned to do is quickly identify things that look, sound, or smell like advertising. Unless the ad or the commercial gets our attention or interest right away we turn the page or hit the remote control. Most advertising does have an identifiable look and a feel to it. There’s a headline, or maybe not, a pretty picture or whatever the case may be. Like a radar detector, our brain can instantly scan and senses advertisement pictures. The messages larger from the shapes and size whether there’s going to be a special discount something like that and precisely why the best marketing approach to do everything you possibly can.
The secret to making your advertising look like a newspaper story, is to trust and accept the look and feel as we read newspaper prints. Advertorial newspaper advertising has been proven for decades and gets 500% more responses than image advertising. The technique has started over a hundred years ago and it’s one of those lost things. If it’s a new story, people will more likely to read it.
WARNING! DO NOT HIRE CONTRACTOR UNTIL YOU READ THIS FREE REPORT. Planning and building a new home is probably one of the most important decision in your life. If you make anyone of the 10 biggest mistakes home builders usually make, you could cost yourself thousand or even ten of thousands of dollars in needless expenses. So, don’t take a single step without getting a copy of this free report that reveals the hidden secrets most constructors never tell you. Call +1-800 *** 24/7 days a week for a free reported message what no one else want you to know. This is a sample ad and as you will notice, this ad doesn’t have any graphics, pictures, slogans, logos no images or whatsoever of your business. It has a headline, copy and a non-threatening response.
Advertorial Ads are hidden secret that many people don’t really know about and is not aware of it. Advertorials have been known to post better results and is far likelier to engage the reader. Check the advertorial ads below and play with it. Customer tailor the ad or however you may want it to be.
ADVERTORIAL: WARNING DO NOT HIRE CONTRACTOR UNTIL YOU READ THIS FREE REPORT
There are so many ways to do almost free marketing you just have to think about it or you could just go to the web site and pick up the free download.
4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business with Customers If you have a story to tell and would like to be a guest on this podcast email my assistant Shell at Shell@contractorssecretweapon.com and she will send you our guest sheet.
Our sponsors
Would you like your phone to ring more with qualified buyers people looking to buy now? Then let’s make that happen. Best Home Services Leads is dedicated to making your phone ring with qualified buyers wanting to buy now. Go to and fill out the form to get more information. http://contractorssecretweapon.com/money
How about 100 free postcards sent out to your best prospective customers. Radius Bomb sends out hyper targeted, laser focused postcards using a map while sitting in your under ware at your kitchen table then go to http://contractorssecretweapon.com/radiusbomb
Painting Contractors, get up to a 24% better response rate just for having the right memorable telephone number 1-800-PRO-PAINTER.Check out your area before someone beats you to it and it’s not available. https://www.1800propainter.com/ |
Wed, 14 February 2018
Today we have an awesome talk for you. We will be talking with about Jim Mosquera.About how to Avoid Becoming Another Financial Statistics. He’s a published author of fiction and non-fiction and a business professional. He wants people to understand the world of problems and think for themselves. Currently, he’s the principal of Sentinel Consulting, a small business consulting, financing and debt mediation firm. He also operates the economic and financial website called The Sentinel. He contributes financial and economic articles to various publications. According to Dun & Bradstreet in the next 60 minutes, 12 businesses will file for bankruptcy and another 317 will have suits, liens or judgments filed against them. Jim’s company is here to improve the financial viability of your business. Sometimes personal credit problems bleed over into business. And Jim’s goal is to avoid from becoming another statistic! He is also bilingual practice. Jim was involved in his kind of industry, he always had his hand in money and doing things researching about money and banking. He took a license for himself that someone that can manage commodity futures money. Around 2008-2009 he began to write for an online journal called Examiner.com and for a while it was the fastest growing online newspaper at the time. He had a column in their that talks about financial economic topics, and small business was certainly what he wrote about. Around 2010 he first published his non-fiction book under the Excaping Oz series. It was all about the economy and the financial market. He started his SENTINAL CONSULTING company about 4 years ago. It’s a practice orientated to helping small to mid-sized businesses. Small to mid-sized business if you pay attention to it, it’s the engine of what makes the economy grow. He has 3 pillars that he talks about in making the small to mid-sized businesses to grow:
You may visit these website for more details of Jim Mosquera: Email: jim@thesentinel.biz
There are so many ways to do almost free marketing you just have to think about it or you could just go to the web site and pick up the free download.
4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business with Customers If you have a story to tell and would like to be a guest on this podcast email my assistant Shell at Shell@contractorssecretweapon.com and she will send you our guest sheet.
Our sponsors Would you like your phone to ring more with qualified buyers people looking to buy now? Then let’s make that happen. Best Home Services Leads is dedicated to making your phone ring with qualified buyers wanting to buy now. Go to and fill out the form to get more information. http://contractorssecretweapon.com/money How about 100 free postcards sent out to your best prospective customers. Radius Bomb sends out hyper targeted, laser focused postcards using a map while sitting in your under ware at your kitchen table then go to http://contractorssecretweapon.com/radiusbomb Painting Contractors, get up to a 24% better response rate just for having the right memorable telephone number 1-800-PRO-PAINTER.Check out your area before someone beats you to it and it’s not available. https://www.1800propainter.com/ |
Tue, 13 February 2018
What are the unanswered questions every employee needs answered today’s podcast we will be talking with Jeffrey Davidson about that topic. Jefferey Davidson likes to talk about is leading a great team. He loves seeing a team work together and a good leader leading a team. Seeing things done right is a good feeling for him. Taking your professional teams from a “meh” level to a maze ball.
He is engaging, thought provoking and sometimes get you excited, you think you forgot to pee. Jeffrey has been exploring the boundaries of world class team for over 20 years, and is a recognized expert in strengthening leaders and building teams. He has worked with hundreds of teams and thousands of employees, and consulted with multiple fortune one hundred corporation. He’s a dynamic presenter, he speaks in conferences across the US and in Canada, and his audiences loves his interactive and high energy talk because it includes humor, real life stories, success with many brushes of failures which is the best way to learn. Jeff likes to talk about is leading a great team. He loves seeing a team work together and a good leader leading a team. Seeing things done right is a good feeling for him. Taking your professional teams from a “meh” level to a maze ball. The “meh” is a bad version of bla people are showing up but they’re not showing up, they’re here but not present, they’re looking for the paycheck, but they’re not going the extra mile. How a leader does or share things, act or organize things leads people to act that way. People are disengaged and the employees feels that they don’t have any power to change it. Employees have a lot of questions in their head but they don’t have the chance to ask it, so as a leader it’s their job to answer it proactively. Knowing that your staff feels that way, they feel that they have a meaning in going to work makes a big difference.
How does a busy man turn his team to a stand out ground? There are 2 things that we got to do:
This is amazing because everyone becomes part of the team and everyone learns how to do good work. Knows how to ask themselves on what they need to refocus, so they can succeed on their goals. It’s becoming better and better every day. Interactions should show positively as well. The willingness to grow is what will make a successful team. A good leader sets expectation and this is what excellence looks like but still acknowledge your hard work. Because this is still part of good team work and this is what being a leader that you would like to follow. Don’t wait for an annual review to get better. Have that small conversation to get that positive change.
You may visit this website for more details about Jeffrey Davidson: You may book him for next event: 972.965.1830
There are so many ways to do almost free marketing you just have to think about it or you could just go to the web site and pick up the free download.
4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business with Customers If you have a story to tell and would like to be a guest on this podcast email my assistant Shell at Shell@contractorssecretweapon.com and she will send you our guest sheet.
Our sponsors Would you like your phone to ring more with qualified buyers people looking to buy now? Then let’s make that happen. Best Home Services Leads is dedicated to making your phone ring with qualified buyers wanting to buy now. Go to and fill out the form to get more information. http://contractorssecretweapon.com/money How about 100 free postcards sent out to your best prospective customers. Radius Bomb sends out hyper targeted, laser focused postcards using a map while sitting in your under ware at your kitchen table then go to http://contractorssecretweapon.com/radiusbomb Painting Contractors, get up to a 24% better response rate just for having the right memorable telephone number 1-800-PRO-PAINTER.Check out your area before someone beats you to it and it’s not available. https://www.1800propainter.com/ |
Mon, 12 February 2018
The Customer Experience, The Power of Moments what does that mean? Today we have an awesome talk for you. We will be talking about this book by the Heath brother, Chip and Dan Heath; The Power of Moments, it’s all about the Customer Experience. The only thing that your competition can’t steal from you is the customer experience. The takeaways from the book that I think is amazing is how we implement customer experience, that WOW factor to our business. Creating interactive moments with your customers even with your employees. People can put up with the whole harmony in an average. What you want is to have a stellar experience. A set of interaction that continuously outdo the expectations of each customer that comes in to your business. The experience is what pushes your customers on the edge. The customer experience, the customer service, is all that you have. There must be something that makes the customer happy, makes them come back. And with this being said we should have an exemplary communication with them. Pretty much everyone sells the same thing but we need to show everyone involved that we want to keep the customers happy, we want to make the customers come back. The communication starts with:
Translating the experience, you get from others to your business so that it won’t look like a business towards your clients. This will make your customers check your reviews, your feedback and it will be your defining moment because this is how you get them check you out and have that WOW factor when they transact with you. Appreciate your customers then go that extra mile to serve them because you will deepen your relationship and they will feel how much they are valued in your company, in your care. It’s all about how you take care of your customers and that is one extra magnificent customer service.
There are so many ways to do almost free marketing you just have to think about it or you could just go to the web site and pick up the free download.
4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business with Customers If you have a story to tell and would like to be a guest on this podcast email my assistant Shell at Shell@contractorssecretweapon.com and she will send you our guest sheet.
Our sponsors
Would you like your phone to ring more with qualified buyers people looking to buy now? Then let’s make that happen. Best Home Services Leads is dedicated to making your phone ring with qualified buyers wanting to buy now. Go to and fill out the form to get more information. http://contractorssecretweapon.com/money
How about 100 free postcards sent out to your best prospective customers. Radius Bomb sends out hyper targeted, laser focused postcards using a map while sitting in your under ware at your kitchen table then go to http://contractorssecretweapon.com/radiusbomb
Painting Contractors, get up to a 24% better response rate just for having the right memorable telephone number 1-800-PRO-PAINTER.Check out your area before someone beats you to it and it’s not available. https://www.1800propainter.com/ |
Wed, 7 February 2018
The Business of Expertise we all should strive to become experts in our businesses Today we have a special guest, David Baker. He’s an author, adviser and a speaker. We will be talking about his book: The Business of Expertise. This book teaches entrepreneurs to elevate the impact of advisors. It has 3 cores of Principles. It really is profound in a sense that we have to become experts. The world has really changed in terms of technology and using that to gain knowledge in order to develop a sense of responsibility towards our work. Niching down or becoming the expert is what we aim to be. When we get started in a business, we become in a sense, everything to everybody. Usually we are desperate for work, we accept what comes into our way, which is a little bit more out of desperation. That is something that might be a good strategy to start with but it’s not sustainable in the long run or overtime. You have to be in a place/situation where we could change the strategy or switch very quickly. Only accept the kind of work that we will be happy doing long term rather than just sucking all this other opportunity in to the vacuum, and then once we are loaded up with the right opportunity and experiences, then that’s where we go full time otherwise we develop other bad habits and it’s not going to be a good life for you. People get caught up in the real world and at times they feel like they’re good and strong enough to do their own business. When we compromise our business standards, it’s because we feel some sort of financial pressure. It makes sense to run the business well so that poor financial performance doesn’t prompt us to make some bad decisions. Once we compromise, we basically waste an opportunity. We are inside our own jar and we can’t see ourselves objectively. Another thing that stops us is courage. For us to be able to become a better expert in each of our own market place, we need to know how to position ourselves. It helps us to develop our deep expertise even further. Part of this is knowing how much opportunity is there in the marketplace and asking yourself these set of questions will let you know if you are headed to the right path.
This helps us differentiate the service that we are able to give. If we know how to position ourselves in the market place we have targeted, then we are able to review the entire business that we are about to provide to our clients. Your clients are needed in your market place because that is how you get your evaluation, your reviews, your feedback. These are very important to become an expert in your chosen field. We dig deeper by studying the most effective ways for us to exhibit our expertise.
The tenacity to grow, learn and love the workload that we have in this industry is what makes us establish ourselves and our company. Throughout the entrepreneurial journey, each business owners, each entrepreneur, they set a foundation for themselves to tackle any obstacles and these emphasizes their courageous decisions to make sure they position themselves to the key to success. The transition that each business owners takes from the very beginning until the present displays their ability and proficiency of knowing their weakness and turning that to their own advantage.
You may visit this website to know more about David Baker:
There are so many ways to do almost free marketing you just have to think about it or you could just go to the web site and pick up the free download.
4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business with Customers If you have a story to tell and would like to be a guest on this podcast email my assistant Shell at Shell@contractorssecretweapon.com and she will send you our guest sheet.
Our sponsors
Would you like your phone to ring more with qualified buyers people looking to buy now? Then let’s make that happen. Best Home Services Leads is dedicated to making your phone ring with qualified buyers wanting to buy now. Go to and fill out the form to get more information. http://contractorssecretweapon.com/money
How about 100 free postcards sent out to your best prospective customers. Radius Bomb sends out hyper targeted, laser focused postcards using a map while sitting in your under ware at your kitchen table then go to http://contractorssecretweapon.com/radiusbomb
Painting Contractors, get up to a 24% better response rate just for having the right memorable telephone number 1-800-PRO-PAINTER.Check out your area before someone beats you to it and it’s not available. https://www.1800propainter.com/ |
Tue, 6 February 2018
It's All About My Customer, Not About Me Something has been going on in the business that I’ve been working with. Just want to run it by you, get your thought on it, maybe give you some insight on some customer experiences so I think I’m going to call this, It’s Not About Me, It's All About My Customer. You know a lot of times we get into the thought process of, is it going to be good to me? Is it going to be good for you as a business owner? A lot of times we make protocols, or we put into our system that we are going to do this, we are not going to do this, and we are going to stick to it and then we get some responses from the customer that are not really happy with what we’ve chosen. This is the key. If people call you and you don’t do something about it then be considerate and kind and give them referrals if you can. If customers don’t feel like you care about them, they won’t stay loyal. As a business owner, we need to interact with our customers, old or new, consistently. Showing a heartfelt emotion to each of them will help you nurture and develop a deep relationship with your customers. Listening to your customers doesn’t mean you just listen to what they say but you have to know what emotion lies behind it. You are giving them your full attention and that’s what makes your customer feels like you really take care of them. Because then, they know you are focused to what they are saying. Your customers are there to ask help from you so we need to make sure we can properly deliver and extend any offers that we can to assist them. If you were able to acknowledge their concerns right away, you are able to communicate with them efficiently. There’s a ton of ways of offering assistance to your customers because sometimes you don’t get to talk to them personally so if your customers are not their then go ahead and give them a call as soon as possible when you are able to figure out the solution to their problems. You show respect to what you are doing and you go the extra mile to let them know everything is going to be ok. Doing all these makes it personal, so the customer really feels that they are a valuable part of your company. And by having a devoted customer helps you level up your income. Why? Because having a trustworthy customer, they go ahead and spread positive feedback to you other potential customers. And who wouldn’t like that, right? So, go ahead, just have fun with your clients but don’t forget to engage with them. Follow up on what needs to be followed up to make sure everything went as expected.
There are so many ways to do almost free marketing you just have to think about it or you could just go to the web site and pick up the free download.
4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business with Customers If you have a story to tell and would like to be a guest on this podcast email my assistant Shell at Shell@contractorssecretweapon.com and she will send you our guest sheet.
Our sponsors
Would you like your phone to ring more with qualified buyers people looking to buy now? Then let’s make that happen. Best Home Services Leads is dedicated to making your phone ring with qualified buyers wanting to buy now. Go to and fill out the form to get more information. http://contractorssecretweapon.com/money
How about 100 free postcards sent out to your best prospective customers. Radius Bomb sends out hyper targeted, laser focused postcards using a map while sitting in your under ware at your kitchen table then go to http://contractorssecretweapon.com/radiusbomb
Painting Contractors, get up to a 24% better response rate just for having the right memorable telephone number 1-800-PRO-PAINTER.Check out your area before someone beats you to it and it’s not available. https://www.1800propainter.com/ |
Mon, 5 February 2018
Some time its smart to go back to basic marketing. We sometimes get caught up in all the new types of marketing and forget about what got us started and moving in a forward direction. For today’s podcast are guest is Bob Fraser. He is the author of “How to Start and Operate a Successful Pressure Washing Business.” He has another book called “God Met me at the Mailbox”. Bob is also a Life and business coach. He loves marketing ideas and how he can help other business owners to get more clients or customers. He loves talking to people about motivation and encouraging them to be able to achieve their goals or their dreams no matter how old they are. You can find these quote from Bob’s website: I help people who want a second chance in life to “pursue their passion.” One thing as far as growing your business, have a time management. Let people know what their job description is when you are in your company. Set expectation to your people or to your prospects, or to your customers so that they will know what they are expected to do. Have that kind of system in your business. Have your contact information ready or handy. Set referrals and incentives. This will level up your business and income. Have a good or not, an awesome service. Bob was asked what are the things he would like to focus on when people talks to him. And these are some tips that he discussed to assist his clients or prospects in his line of business. HAVE A WEBSITE like most people do. This is because people will know more about you. 4 key elements in the website:
In short, with proper planning Bob teaches multiple touches to your clients so that you don’t get to lose them. Creating your system, finding out how it works, and not to become overwhelm with all of the things each business owners are going through. You should know by the end of the day how many customers do I need to serve each day, each week, each month for me to reach my financial goal? We all know what are average is. We just need to make sure we don’t lose focus on what is that we need to do. One thing as far as growing your business, have a time management. Let people know what their job description is. Set expectation so that they will know what they are expected to do. Have that kind of system in your business. Have your contact information ready or handy. Set referrals and incentives. This will level up your business and income. Have a good or not, an awesome service towards your clients. It doesn’t matter how long we are in the business, at one point we all have to go back to the basics and knowing what our passion is. You may visit these websites to know more details about Gary Geiman: Email: bobmfraiser@gmail.com Call: 941-916-8303 There are so many ways to do almost free marketing you just have to think about it or you could just go to the website and pick up the free download. 4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business with Customers If you have a story to tell and would like to be a guest on this podcast email my assistant Shell at Shell@contractorssecretweapon.com and she will send you our guest sheet. Our sponsors
Would you like your phone to ring more with qualified buyers people looking to buy now? Then let’s make that happen. Best Home Services Leads is dedicated to making your phone ring with qualified buyers wanting to buy now. Go to and fill out the form to get more information. http://contractorssecretweapon.com/money
How about 100 free postcards sent out to your best prospective customers. Radius Bomb sends out hyper targeted, laser focused postcards using a map while sitting in your under ware at your kitchen table then go to http://contractorssecretweapon.com/radiusbomb
Painting Contractors, get up to a 24% better response rate just for having the right memorable telephone number 1-800-PRO-PAINTER.Check out your area before someone beats you to it and it’s not available. https://www.1800propainter.com/ |
Fri, 2 February 2018
Being unforgettable means that your clients in marketing won’t be able to forget you and that you are going to give an impression that will last, which is very important in this contracting f industry. Nobody can steal your wow factor. The relationship you will have with your clients can be deepened and people can stand out. For today’s podcast we are going to be talking about business, experience and growth together with Sherri Fitts. Sherri is great in building personal and business brands, creating smart marketing and social media programs to attract more business and increase revenue. She also hopes her clients understand investor participant behavior and offers productivity tips to help keep everything in balance. Being unforgettable means that your clients in marketing won’t be able to forget you and that you are going to give an impression that will last, which is very important in this industry. The relationship you will have with your clients can be deepened and people can stand out. It really doesn’t matter whether you’re in the contracting business or the finance industry or dentist or doctor material because the basics really are all right. Nobody can steal your wow factor. Sherri make things better communications amongst her staff and with her customers. She does this because communicating better create more revenue. What she does is she motivates her people which is her zone of genius. She even goes back to her old customers to say hello. She does this occasionally. For today’s podcast we are going to be talking about business, experience and growth together with Sherri Fitts. Sherri is great in building personal and business brands, creating smart marketing and social media programs to attract more business and increase revenue. She also hopes her clients understand investor participant behavior and offers productivity tips to help keep everything in balance.
Sheri doesn’t have a system to follow. What she does is just do what she thinks is going to be good for her and the people around her which she gets great reviews. She does send out monthly newsletter, and she blogs at the same time. People love that, which is why she stays in touch with her old customers. At the same time, she also sends a little stuff like socks and cool postcards because this is how she show her love to her customers. And this makes her unforgettable. Sheri had done going to other places and checking out new things to acquire new customers to level up her means of getting to know other people. Even if Sheri is a Chief Marketing Officer in a big company she still makes sure that she hands unique cards to her staff, give some little gifts, and Sherri happens to be a hugger. This is her talent. This is her gift. Hence, by doing all these, by giving people a little love, she helps them stand out not stand in. It’s about creating meaningful connections to her old and new customers. For Sherri, it’s about personalization of engagement. A unique way of knowing her clients. In the process developing an expressive connection and communication, she brands herself and her company and even the people that works for her. This way she really won’t be forgotten by her prospects, clients. For Sheri, it’s not about spending a fortune, it’s about dominating the market and competing in a marvelous way because she knows that there’s a big competition out their but in making sure that what she has built won’t be taken for granted she does this to her patrons. We can all learn from experience to make sure that we have what it takes to become an awesome business owner. Again, whether you are in the contracting business, or in the financial industry, dentist or doctor material you just got to have that personality that will make you stand out. We all have that, we just need to bring it all out. An amazing engagement with your customers can do a whole lot to develop a great lasting relationship. Sherri has been exceptional and it was nice to know we have one like her in this industry. You can get to know more details about Sherri Fitts by visiting her website: Email: ifno@shoefitts.com Call Sheri Directly Office Hours
There are so many ways to do almost free marketing you just have to think about it or you could just go to the web site and pick up the free download.
4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business with Customers If you have a story to tell and would like to be a guest on this podcast email my assistant Shell at Shell@contractorssecretweapon.com and she will send you our guest sheet.
Our sponsors
Would you like your phone to ring more with qualified buyers people looking to buy now? Then let’s make that happen. Best Home Services Leads is dedicated to making your phone ring with qualified buyers wanting to buy now. Go to and fill out the form to get more information. http://contractorssecretweapon.com/money
How about 100 free postcards sent out to your best prospective customers. Radius Bomb sends out hyper targeted, laser focused postcards using a map while sitting in your under ware at your kitchen table then go to http://contractorssecretweapon.com/radiusbomb
Painting Contractors, get up to a 24% better response rate just for having the right memorable telephone number 1-800-PRO-PAINTER.Check out your area before someone beats you to it and it’s not available. https://www.1800propainter.com/
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Thu, 1 February 2018
Forward Motion What Is It and What Happens When You Stop It we are going to be talking about about another law, one just like The Law of Gravity that is just as real, just as powerful. This other law of forward motion can get your attention just like gravity and in some cases, causes pain also. No one ever doesn’t think gravity isn’t real because we all have been affected by it in one way or another. We have dropped something or tripped over something and the result is always the same… we fall, get hurt or something breaks because of it, The Law of Gravity. So, The Law of Forward Motion has some of the same characteristics. It’s one of those things you probably don’t pay much attention to, but it’s real none the less. Forward Motion in the English language means:
Just to give you out the 3 kinds of law of motions so you guys would have an idea what we are discussing and how we can relate this to the business world: The First Law of Motion states, "A body at rest will remain at rest, and a body in motion will remain in motion unless it is acted upon by an external force." This simply means that things cannot start, stop, or change direction all by themselves. It takes some force acting on them from the outside to cause such a change. The Second Law of Motion describes what happens to a massive body when it is acted upon by an external force. It states, "The force acting on an object is equal to the mass of that object times its acceleration." The Third Law of Motion states, "For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction." So, if we are to relate the meaning of “forward motion” to our business or in general, as you can see it has a positive meaning towards business or to us. This is what actually happens in The Law of Forward Motion. You are moving in forward motion with your business and doing many things to promote your business hoping that you are doing the right campaigns and you are tracking your marketing and all of a sudden business comes out of the woodwork from places you never would think of. It is because you are moving forward that you are sort of creating a vacuum and pulling business along with you. It’s because of what you are doing to promote your business in one area that you are getting business in another area. That’s the best way I can explain it. I don’t know if The Law of Forward Motion will ever pass you, but I do know that when you stop so does the vacuum and the forward motion. This is where the pain starts. So never ever, ever stop the forward motion in your business and you will not self-inflict any pain on yourself. It’s true and it’s real and can have a really positive effect or negative affect on your business and your life. Let’s look at an old handle water pump for instance. You may have never seen one in real life, but surely you have seen one in an old western. You know the kind that you pump and pump to prime and then after a while you have a steady stream of water coming out. This is what it’s like to keep the forward motion going in your business. Again never, never stop the forward motion in your contracting business. When you do it does cause pain because it will be like starting all over again. So never, never stop the forward motion. There are so many ways to do almost free marketing you just have to think about it or you could just go to the website and pick up the free download. 4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business with Customers If you have a story to tell and would like to be a guest on this podcast email my assistant Shell at Shell@contractorssecretweapon.com and she will send you our guest sheet. Our sponsors
Would you like your phone to ring more with qualified buyers people looking to buy now? Then let’s make that happen. Best Home Services Leads is dedicated to making your phone ring with qualified buyers wanting to buy now. Go to and fill out the form to get more information. http://contractorssecretweapon.com/money
How about 100 free postcards sent out to your best prospective customers. Radius Bomb sends out hyper targeted, laser focused postcards using a map while sitting in your underware at your kitchen table then go to http://contractorssecretweapon.com/radiusbomb
Painting Contractors, get up to a 24% better response rate just for having the right memorable telephone number 1-800-PRO-PAINTER.Check out your area before someone beats you to it and it’s not available. https://www.1800propainter.com/ |
Wed, 31 January 2018
Culture what is it, does your business have one? Gerald J. Leonard understands the challenges that business owners face as they struggle with culture confusion, too many number one priorities, lacking consensus among key leaders and misalignment of their mission, vision, and values. He is an international expert on the topics of Developing a Culture That Works, Strategy Implementation, and Project Portfolio Management and is also a professional bassist. He is the author of Culture Is The Bass: 7 Principles for Developing A Culture That Works and has an upcoming book, Symphonic Culture: Unify, Strategize, and Execute Collectively for Optimum Results Culture is the intangible and almost emotional connection that people have with a company or family or organization. Gerald thinks culture is the foundation of the place where you get great music baselines. It creates a framework of the bass and it’s like the physical bond that all other women who have similar cultures. It has different cultures that propelled people away from each other. Each influences our perspective and it also causes the characters of the organization. VISSION: Every business, every organization, every family and every individual has created. Has some form a culture of how they are living. It really boils down to their overall vision for their life. VALUES: This is how they live now and they are made here which creates this culture. A culture that is pleasant, exciting, fun, and serving helpful art that can be one that’s very toxic but everyone has. And sometimes, people are not sure how they develop them. MISSION: If people have a business, they should want to have an organization that they want to grow. Having people that will be loyal to them consistently. Meaning having a positive attitude of employees which relates to the culture of the company. The key learning here is discipline. People need to have a clear vision or a clear track of where they want to go. They need to look those three things. People have to step back and visualize “What do we want our culture to be?”. One way to do that has the business owners ask their customers since they know their clients and what they want. These questions will be your core values which are going to help business owners implement into their system, whether it’s integrity whether it’s customer service first, whether it’s excellence in each branch certifications, these are the things that customers admire and what business owners will have to live for. At times it does call for some challenging times where business owners have people on their team that doesn’t realize they don’t live according to these, sadly they would need part ways with these set of people in order to maintain the vision, values, and mission that they have for their company. Critical decisions are made because everything needs to be aligned to really make a difference. A good company culture takes work to build an anchor for a long-term sustainable business. In terms of hiring, a company needs to be able to hire people that fit into their culture. Meaning they could already see that the person is able to transform after developing the skills they have and understanding the story behind the company. They understand the vision, the values that the owner has for the company. It doesn’t have to be complicated, each of them should be able to share their best practices. The proper mindset to be able to do the job. Because companies want to be set by people who can tough it out but at the same time will always have the same mentality in understanding the main vision and values of the company. And that is their accountability. It’s very important for each person to be able to hold the core values and criteria of the company because then they truly understand the culture of whom they are working for and what the company can do for them in return. And that’s what a good business is. You may visit this website for more details about Gerald J. Leonard: AMAZON: https://www.amazon.com/Gerald-J.-Leonard/e/B01IQW616A
There are so many ways to do almost free marketing you just have to think about it or you could just go to the website and pick up the free download. 4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business with Customers If you have a story to tell and would like to be a guest on this podcast email my assistant Shell at Shell@contractorssecretweapon.com and she will send you our guest sheet. Our sponsors
Would you like your phone to ring more with qualified buyers people looking to buy now? Then let’s make that happen. Best Home Services Leads is dedicated to making your phone ring with qualified buyers wanting to buy now. Go to and fill out the form to get more information. http://contractorssecretweapon.com/money
How about 100 free postcards sent out to your best prospective customers. Radius Bomb sends out hyper targeted, laser focused postcards using a map while sitting in your under ware at your kitchen table then go to http://contractorssecretweapon.com/radiusbomb
Painting Contractors, get up to a 24% better response rate just for having the right memorable telephone number 1-800-PRO-PAINTER.Check out your area before someone beats you to it and it’s not available. https://www.1800propainter.com/ |
Tue, 30 January 2018
How to Present Value Over Price In Your Contracting Business and what is really the perceived value as opposed to your pricing structure and how that affects your profitability. I’m going through a checklist that will help you raise the perceived value of your business so that you can charge more. Making more profit at the time of sales and how to do that effectively, because if your customers don’t know the additional things that you have for sale, you’re both missing the boat. What are your other services how do you present them to your customers? Selling value is a way of positioning your company in all of your marketing. Make sure you provide a value proposition on the services you provide and why you’re different than any other contractor in your trade or niche. Using a funnel of great marketing to attract clients like this is the way to go. Basically, you are preparing them with information in the form of a recorded message or report. It really doesn’t matter what your competition is charging because if you set yourself apart from them as a value base business as opposed to price, your way ahead of the game and you’re going to leave your competition in the dust. With the value building system from this checklist, I’m going to give you a few secrets then you will attract clients that are used to paying a premium for real value. So in reality, raising the bar on perceived value teaches you that value is everything. Here are a few ways that you can go after your customer by raising the perceived value your customer has of your company. Some of these are pretty simple and you may be doing some these right now. If you are great! But some of these you may have never even considered doing so pay attention, I will go to this list fairly quickly.
2.Make sure that you, your technicians and your helpers are well groomed and well dressed.
These are just some things that will help you increase profits during your busy season. If you can get all this in place now, you just might now might just have your most profitable slow season ever.
There are so many ways to do almost free marketing you just have to think about it or you could just go to the website and pick up the free download.
4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business with Customers
If you have a story to tell and would like to be a guest on this podcast email my assistant Shell at Shell@contractorssecretweapon.com and she will send you our guest sheet. Our sponsors
Would you like your phone to ring more with qualified buyers people looking to buy now? Then let’s make that happen. Best Home Services Leads is dedicated to making your phone ring with qualified buyers wanting to buy now. Go to and fill out the form to get more information. http://contractorssecretweapon.com/money
How about 100 free postcards sent out to your best prospective customers. Radius Bomb sends out hyper targeted, laser focused postcards using a map while sitting in your under ware at your kitchen table then go to http://contractorssecretweapon.com/radiusbomb
Painting Contractors, get up to a 24% better response rate just for having the right memorable telephone number 1-800-PRO-PAINTER.Check out your area before |
Mon, 29 January 2018
Its all about Dominating your market Today’s Contractors Secret Weapon’s podcast is all about Gary Geiman of Salvo and we are going to be talking about Dominating Your Market. Gary has been involved in generating sales and developing marketing systems for almost 25 years, B2B B2C along with his brother. He started a pressure washing business into the fourth quarter of 2012 and how they are riding vertical fall in 2014 as a way to generate revenue around. Utilizing, planning, and understanding how to dominate local search and implementing e-mail marketing automation has allowed them to reach a million-dollar annual gross sales revenue in 2017. They've begun to turn this knowledge into a passion helping other business owners and entrepreneurs grow their businesses. Their Facebook group which where I found Gary the Marketing Mafia has over 20-100 members learning to dominate ways to dominate their market and explode their revenue and gear. When 2018 came, Gary and his brother tried Chat Bot conversation for their customers so they can get through the process of getting them into an automated communication funnel so that when their customers are ready for their service, the information is there. He resigned and learned e-mail marketing, utilize it to be able to attract all types of customer and this lead to learning about Google AdWords which helped them get to a million dollars in gross revenues in 2017. In term so dealing with their customers, Gary and his brother has a cleaning scenario or contracting scenario which is very transactional. Greg started the Marketing Mafia in the Facebook group in February of 2017 because they see that there's a lot of different things out there available for new contractors as well as even seasoned who are trying to get to that next level. They have experienced and had a lot of bad decision so now they had decided to put together a couple of different things for contractors to be able to look at and say “I don't have to make those bad choices and here's a roadmap for us to become successful”
Dominating the Market means Gary wanted to help his business and other contractors to be able to dominate their markets and achieving the goal that they want for their business as all started out with a DREAM. But at first, it wasn’t easy as there were roadblocks but at the end of 2015 Gary had to make a decision and he reenergized himself. Reenergizing came from deciding this is going to be a legacy and we’re going to build something that everybody in his family can be proud of and leave something for future generations. Thinking with a purpose. We all continue in life learning something. Learn things to the best of your ability, to get proficient and you will be able to earn more. Because it goes back to what was said, singleness of purpose. They know a lot of times contractors get lost in that and always looking for the next best thing when they might have the next best thing right in front of them. They just have to figure out how to make it the best thing. As what Gary had said, to bring home the fact of figuring out what it is that you want for your business and then going after it. And that's really why they are determined for 2018. They want to dominate the market together with other contractors. Making sure that they provide excellent service back to those customers. You may visit these websites to know more details about Gary Geiman: https://www.facebook.com/themarketingmafia/ There are so many ways to do almost free marketing you just have to think about it or you could just go to the website and pick up the free download. 4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business with Customers If you have a story to tell and would like to be a guest on this podcast email my assistant Shell at Shell@contractorssecretweapon.com and she will send you our guest sheet.
Our sponsors Would you like your phone to ring more with qualified buyers people looking to buy now? Then let’s make that happen. Best Home Services Leads is dedicated to making your phone ring with qualified buyers wanting to buy now. Go to and fill out the form to get more information. http://contractorssecretweapon.com/money
How about 100 free postcards sent out to your best prospective customers. Radius Bomb sends out hyper targeted, laser focused postcards using a map while sitting in your under ware at your kitchen table then go to http://contractorssecretweapon.com/radiusbomb
Painting Contractors, get up to a 24% better response rate just for having the right memorable telephone number 1-800-PRO-PAINTER.Check out your area before someone beats you to it and it’s not available. https://www.1800propainter.com/ |
Fri, 26 January 2018
It’s all about getting into the conversation early, direct response marketing. Contractors have been using run of the mill flyers for years and they are fine, but Direct Response marketing requires that any marketing materials do more than provide a list of services, they HAVE to have some kind of call to action. The call to action means that someone is prompted to do something after they see the website, magazine ad or postcard. Today’s contractor marketing podcast is with Tara Jacobsen of Marketing Artfully. Tara has been in marketing since 1999, starting at a web hosting company, which at the time she barely knew what the internet was, let alone the technical backend of how websites work. Over the last 15 years she has spent way more than the 10,000 hours required to get really good at marketing, currently providing speaking and consulting services for small businesses, real estate and manufacturing industries. What Is Direct Response Marketing Contractors have been using run of the mill flyers for years and they are fine, but Direct Response marketing requires that any marketing materials do more than provide a list of services, they HAVE to have some kind of call to action. The call to action means that someone is prompted to do something after they see the website, magazine ad or postcard. Direct response is not a kind of marketing but a style of marketing where your focus is to have something happen after the advertising piece is seen. It can be as “normal” as a coupon in a magazine ad, although this is not optimal as discount ads bring in customers who are shopping, looking for a bargain. These types of customers are “right now” buyers. As long as there is a rock-solid plan to turn these price shoppers into repeat or ongoing customers, everything is great. Tara mentioned that she has had numerous contractors and trade people come into her home and has only ever had one send anything after the visit. Some suggestions she had for example were a chimney cleaner could send a follow up with:
Getting repeat business from current customers who are used to paying you truly is picking the low-hanging fruit! Even though Tara came in on a discount coupon, they could have easily turned her into a repeat shopper for an annual fireplace checkup (but they
There are so many ways to do almost free marketing you just have to think about it or you could just go to the web site and pick up the free download.
4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business with Customers
If you have a story to tell and would like to be a guest on this podcast email my assistant Shell at Shell@contractorssecretweapon.com and she will send you our guest sheet.
Our sponsors
Would you like your phone to ring more with qualified buyers people looking to buy now? Then let’s make that happen. Best Home Services Leads is dedicated to making your phone ring with qualified buyers wanting to buy now. Go to and fill out the form to get more information. http://contractorssecretweapon.com/money
How about 100 free postcards sent out to your best prospective customers. Radius Bomb sends out hyper targeted, laser focused postcards using a map while sitting in your under ware at your kitchen table then go to http://contractorssecretweapon.com/radiusbomb
Painting Contractors, get up to a 24% better response rate just for having the right memorable telephone number 1-800-PRO-PAINTER.Check out your area before someone beats you to it and it’s not available. https://www.1800propainter.com/ |
Thu, 25 January 2018
The Customer Experience, is it Great, is it Good, is it Bad, Indifferent, How Does Your Customer See You? This one of my pet peeves, how do you treat your customer better yet how does your customer perceive your interaction, Do they believe they are being treated well? That is really the defining factor. They won’t tell you they just won’t do business with you again
The customer experience has been so on my mind for the past few days, week, or so that I really want to take a look into the customer experience. It’s just been one of those things over the past couple of weeks, sort of like a creeping thing at the back of your neck and I will tell you why. So, here’s part of what’s going on.
I’m looking to remodel bathrooms, or my wife is looking to remodel our bathrooms. So, I go to the granite store that’s suggested to me by my contractor. Yes, I hire a contractor; I don’t work on my own house because I love my wife and want to stay happily married. Because the only things she’ll get out of me is a start date.
So, we get to the granite store, we pick up the granite, and I forget to take a picture of the granite. So, my wife calls the store, but nobody answers. We just left there maybe fifteen minutes ago, and nobody answers, it goes to voice mail. We leave a message explaining our dilemma and ask if they could please send a text or picture of the granite that we just picked out so that we go pick out the tile for the rest of the bathroom because my wife is on a mission. She wants to get everything picked out and she wants you to get it done today.
So, now it’s been a week, a whole seven days waiting for someone to call back from the granite store. You know how you get busy to make the phone call, well, they never got called. I never got the chance to call them back. So, it’s seven days later, I’m driving my dad to the airport so that he can fly back to Connecticut and my wife calls me. She goes, “I really want to pick up the rest of that stuff. Can you run by the granite place since they’ve never called us and take a picture? I’m pressed for time but I say, “Okay,” because happy wife, happy life.
So, I run out of my way to the granite store thinking less and less of why I really want to do business with them. Because I have to go all the way back to the granite store since no one bothered to call me back or text me a picture or anything like that of the granite that we picked out. But just a little bit, the granite that we picked up was sold; they told us they could order another one when we are ready to order. So, that’s fine.
So, I get there and the granite’s gone. So, the girl says, “It went to production I can send you a copy of the picture we have to you by email.” I say, “Okay, do it right now here’s my email address because I know I’ll probably never get it if I leave.” And she says, “I will call the production guy and see if there is a piece hanging around that I can get to you so that you can go pick out your tile.” I said, “That would be awesome.” It is five days later and no one has called me. So, neither here nor there I guess they don’t want to do business with me. So, I went back to the yard to take pictures of the first piece of granite that we liked, and then I saw another one that I liked even better than the one that we picked.
So, I took pictures of that, I took pictures of the UPC code of the name of the granite. I sent the picture to my contractor with the UPC code and I said, “Find another granite company.” I bet you can tell by now that I’m so fed up with them because their customer service is really bad.
So, the person who takes care of all that stuff lost a granite customer, and I wonder how many this year. Anyone who knows how much granite costs, it’s a nice little chunk of change. So, that one customer experience really sucks to anyone.
So, this is Saturday and I get to my mastermind I’m running a little late because I had to go out of my way to keep my wife happy and take pictures of the granite. When I get to my mastermind they say, “Hey, we are talking about the customer experience.” And I’m going, “The good one, or the bad one,” because you can tell right where my head was going. ‘I belong to a mastermind
So, I arrive at the mastermind a little late, they are talking about customer experience and I’m saying, of course, “Good or bad?” because you know what’s going on in my mind right now from what we’ve talked about.
So, I’m in a mastermind with Pete Mitchel, he’s been on the podcast before and he says, “No, no, we are talking about “Good customer experiences,” he says, “I have a new client and when I call her office I’m impressed by the way that I’m treated as a person calling in. It’s just a very neat and refreshing experience,” and the person, his new customer is a real estate agent who has up to this year sold over 200 properties, but she also has another business that trains real estate assistants, so she has it down pat.
She knows, “How do you answer the phone? How do you talk to the people? How do you make them feel,” so you’re going from bad customer experience to a great customer experience and how to really make that happen?
So, here’s the real question, that defining moment, “What is your company known for?” Good customer experience, great customer experience, or bad customer experience? If it’s the latter, it’s bad customer experience. I’m going to tell you what you’re not getting. You’re not getting a whole lot of business, you’re not getting any referrals, and you’re not getting good reviews on Google or anything like that. You’re not getting lifetime value out of good people that spend good money. But if your company has great customer experience, you know you’ve had to work on it and worked on it to make it better all the time. Something you might want to make on a script for your people to follow, when and how the phone is answered, the person answering the phone to know how to answer it, answer with a smile, with questions to ask, it makes all the difference in the world.
My wife, one of her pet peeves is customer service and overall customer experience. My wife is one of the most sweet, congenial people that I know; however, one of her pet peeves is customer service and overall customer experience. If it’s not happening, if she’s out doing business and she’s not treated right sometimes I just have to turn around and walk away because I feel so bad for the person or waiter that is waiting on us.
My wife owns a service business with my daughter and their whole business is customer experience and customer service. And their tag line is, “World class service can be yours,” so they live up to that. That’s why their business is growing at a rate of 61% over last year. Won’t it be great to have growth like that? She demands that the people who she’s going to spend money with treat her like they really want to do business with her. Sure, you know and like to be treated as customer, you go back to the business that treats you like they want to do business with you, you continue to do business with them all the time.
What about the ones that really don’t care? Don’t be like the ones that really don’t care. If it’s not that way in your organization, there are only two reasons to that, poor customer experience. One is the trickle-down effect, it’s your fault, or both ways it’s your fault. And two, no one has been trained and held to a standard that needs to experience your services and only can do that if they are trained.
So, I don’t know if I can beat that one up anymore today. But it’s all about the customer experience, and the customer experience starts off with the way the phone is answered all the way to how the proposal is presented and written, all the way to the end, how the job is done, how then people are treated and during that process the way their questions are answered. Yes, you have to answer their questions and all the way to the end when you say thank you, when you collect the money. Then you send them a thank you card and you learn how to wow them by building relationships.
So, until next week think on these things and go make a profit.
There are so many ways to do almost free marketing you just have to think about it or you could just go to the web site and pick up the free download . 4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business with Customers
If you have a story to tell and would like to be a guest on this podcast email my assistant Shell at Shell@contractorssecretweapon.com and she will send you our guest sheet.
Our sponsors
Would you like your phone to ring more with qualified buyers people looking to buy now? Then let’s make that happen. Best Home Services Leads is dedicated to making your phone ring with qualified buyers wanting to buy now. Go to and fill out the form to get more information. http://contractorssecretweapon.com/money
How about 100 free postcards sent out to your best prospective customers. Radius Bomb sends out hyper targeted, laser focused postcards using a map while sitting in your under ware at your kitchen table then go to http://contractorssecretweapon.com/radiusbomb
Painting Contractors, get up to a 24% better response rate just for having the right memorable telephone number 1-800-PRO-PAINTER.Check out your area before someone beats you to it and it’s not available. https://www.1800propainter.com/ |
Wed, 24 January 2018
3 simple steps to double your website conversions today I have Joe Burnich with us and you're going to love him. He is a contractor or was a contractor and grew his business. Became a web designer and now he does web designing and SEO and pay for click for contractors only. So, this is one of the cool things and this is the reason that I brought Joe on today is that he knows how you think, he knows what you're going through and he's been through pretty much everything that you've been through the different stages of growing your business. And I thought he would be fun to talk with. And today we're going to talk about three-key maybe four-key elements that will help you get more conversions right now today or tomorrow or the next day. But I just want it. Let's welcome Joe. Hey, Joe I just want thank you for being with us today and giving us great tips on web design and how to get better conversions. So, I'm going to let this go with you. I'm just I love to hear about the cool stuff that you're doing. And so, thanks for being with us today. Well, thank you, Dave. So that's my first time on your show. I just want to say thank you for contacting me and asking me to come on that I feel very honored. And yes, today I mean I don't know where we want to start. I've got three simple tips that people can implement today that can easily double the conversions on a Web site. So, if you're getting traffic to your Web site and you're getting let's say three calls a day implementing these simple tips that are going explain right now could get you double that. That's kind of what I want to talk to you about. You say and most time they can probably do a lot of that themselves. Some of you getting yourself some of it you'll probably have to have your web designer do it depends on what you know what your abilities are. Some people do their own Web site so they have full access it can do stuff like that. So yeah. And I'm going to say, guys, if you don't have a Web site, then we’re going to give you Joe’s contact information at the end. Nice. So, what's number one what's the number one first simple step? Real quick before we get into that could I share a quick story. Absolutely. OK. So, I just want to let everybody know where I come from and went into this whole Internet Marketing Google game because I know that guys like me get a bad rap kind of that used car salesman type vibe. Cause there's a lot of just scamming stuff out there. But my story is I moved from Kansas City to my original hometown of Missoula Montana where I live right now in 2009 and I didn't have a job but I had a 10-month-old baby and a new wife and I had to feed them out of desperation. I a family friend talked me into starting a cleaning business because easy startup you know don't need a lot of training don't need a lot of capital to start up. And so, I never thought I'd be in that. But I just ran with it. Took a couple thousand dollars that I had left and run with it. And basically, what I did was I taught myself how to get a website ranked up on Google not knowing if it would be you know profitable or whatever. But I mean I spent hours a day for months on end. I’ll bet. And yeah, I mean up at 4:00 in the morning if I wasn't working I was on the computer trying to figure this out because I had a friend that was doing it and he was selling like cell phones or something on the on the Internet and everything was done by Google rankings. By SEO. Oh wow. And so, he showed me some tips and then I studied. And it was tough because I was you know I had a Web site. And the calls were not coming in I didn't know really anything about marketing. I was out there handing out flyers and business cards and doing all that just struggling not knowing if I was going to ever make it. And so, but the cool part was that once it took about four months but once I did pop up into like the top three on google, my phone started ringing. And that's when I kind of decided OK this is something I can do. And this is something is really going to feed my family. It was all about taking care of my family and a lot of guys can probably relate to that especially the guys that are getting just getting started or if they're going through a slow season or whatever. There's just that fear of this business going to make it. And for me it was Google. And I know other people have other things that they use to get business and get calls coming in. Maybe it's Facebook maybe it's just having an awesome network that they've built up over the years whatever it is. And so, I'm not here to say that Google is the only way an Internet marketing is the only way to do this. I'm just saying to me it saved my family so I got a soft spot for Google. It makes sense to me. But it's just another tool. Really. It really is. And so, and that was in 2009. And so, I got into just helping a few other people doing it here and there. And now you know in 2018 in three days at least we know I've got four employees. We've got we've done over 850 Websites in the service contractor niche and industry. And so in over the years talking to people and just testing over and over I've figured out some simple things that most people are not doing with their websites. That really can blow the phone up that can really get the phone calls coming in which is what we really all want. It's nice to have a pretty web site that makes impresses people. But if it's not bringing in the phone calls then who cares right? Absolutely. So, I believe in having beautiful professional websites but to me, that has to go hand in hand with the conversion. So that's what I want to talk about is conversion. How to get people to pick up the phone and call you once they do hit your Web site. Tip number one that I like to give people is something that is very simple but I still see more than half of the people out there in the especially in the service industry construction industry. They're still not doing this. And what that is having a big bold phone number at the top of every single page of your website. I still go out there and look at websites that have the phone number like down in the text, down in the middle somewhere or it's down in the footer or even you have to click on the Contact Us page to even find the phone number. Right.
And so, it's so huge so, so important and so easy such an easy tweak to just put it nice and big at the top of every page and then in addition to that put a simple called action something like Call now for a free estimate or you know 24-hour service if it's an emergency type service you can do 24-hour service call. Now something very simple. There have been multiple studies that say if you have the words Call now next to your phone number it'll actually double the double the people that actually pick up the phone call.
Well, people like to be told Do they really. Yeah, I've talked to people they're like No I got my phone number on their people know what to do. And if they don't it's a subconscious thing it's not it's not like they're you know it's not like they're thinking this through. But having that and then another little another little tidbit to go along with this tip is if you can if you stand 10 feet back from your computer if that phone number isn't something that jumps out then it's not big enough it's not bold enough.
So, you can do things like kind of change the color to contrast with the rest of the Websites if you've got a lot of blues and greens and your Web site. Make the phone number Orange. Stuff like that. It really, really works. I mean after working with 850 plus clients I can tell you that people that have those big phone numbers like that are the ones that are getting more calls.
It's just it's amazing you got down to a science now. Yeah. Yes. Exactly, exactly. And a lot of web designers out there that are amazing award-winning web designers will make that mistake over and over and over because they're looking to impress people with the visuals and not the conversions. So that's two different aspects you're looking at it from the contractor point of view because you were one and they're looking at a designer’s. That this has got to be pretty.
Yes. Yes. And if you can nail pretty and convert then yeah, I mean you're going to be way ahead of the competition because nine out of ten guys out there don't have both of those nailed. So that's tip number one.
So, anybody who's listening to this if you can get a hold of your web designer or if you built your Web site on Wix or whatever you did, however, you got your Web site set up do everything you can to get a big bold phone number at the top of every page with a call to action that would be my number one tip that I can give today.
And then number two. OK. And this is something you and I were talking about before the podcast started here Dave is so, we all know that smartphones are here to stay you know they're not going anywhere. Everybody uses them all the time especially in this type of business.
So, it and what we're all accustomed to is you know hitting little buttons on our phone. So, my suggestion is that when you're somebody looking at your website on a smartphone, is you don't just have the phone number but you have the phone number on a button. So that and then you can even add a call to action to that as well like on all the websites that we do. We have a phone number in a button that says tap to call. OK. And they have that at the very top. Don't make people look for the phone number don't make them scroll down to find the phone number. Don't put the phone number in tiny little text somewhere make it into a button because they're already addicted to hitting buttons all day long or on their phone. That's all they do.
And your two icons are really good. Exactly. They need to tap this and the video and how it goes straight to a phone call. OK. Because like we said the beginning, we want to get phone calls. We don't want to just impress people we want to get that phone ringing. So, we can close the deal. So, the number two now Dave you brought up an amazing point. That you know most of the clients out there most of it most of the decision maker, comes to server benefactor's whatever it may be in this type of industry. It's the woman that makes the decision.
She is the decision maker in these types of transactions. She's going to give the go ahead. She's going to pick who they who they are going to work with. Who's going to do the work for them? And so that's going to go right into my next step. But you brought up a really interesting point is why not have in addition to a call now button, have a like a tap to text button.
So, you got my wheels turn and now I'm going to go out there and grab my web developer here. Leah and I are going to get we're going to figure this out. We're going to we're going to make a text button and start implementing it and web designs and start doing some major testing. Because as you brought up Dave. Females tend to text more than more than call. They would rather text a potential vendor or potential company than pick up the phone and have a drawn-out conversation. Right. I mean wouldn't you agree.
I would yeah, I would agree. And as we talked earlier and you know my daughter and your wife they've got kids. The phone rings. They're not coming they're not going to pick it up. If its text and they see it then they'll take the time or you know to text back. But it's just it's not part of the world.
And you know there's a lot of times where women are at work and they're on their phone and they can't call because of what they may be in an area where they can't call but they can text. You know there are so many variables that you know you're getting too loud. Let's say you're looking at an ad on an on your phone in a waiting room or something like that.
You're not going you're not going to wait forever to travel. You're just going Oh if I can text the phone let me do this. I can. Can I get an appointment or like what we were talking about somebody with this other night? Well like 7 o'clock at night you know nobody's going to answer the phone. But what if they got a text. You know that they would answer first thing in the morning.
Yeah. And I always I always tell people it's good to have like a little forum that people can fill out for that exact reason because they don't want to call it you know 8:00 o'clock at night or whatever. But you got me thinking why not add a text button that could place the form pretty easily so we're going to be doing some major testing here in 2018. Based on your that little that little seed that you planted in my mind so I appreciate that.
I want you to track in about six months after you run your test. Give us the stats on that. I'd love to do that. That’d be great.
So that kind of that kind of goes right but it is a good segue right into the third tip that I want to talk about which it goes right along with we are marketing to females primarily. OK. And so, what I see a lot of people do on their Web sites is they'll have a lot of pictures of you know their equipment, their trucks a lot of a lot of the wording on the Websites is very technical. And that doesn't speak to the average the average female out there that's going to make the decision the one that's going to basically fork over the money. Right.
She wants to know what her house is going to look like when it's finished. She wants to see smiling kids. She wants to see you know whatever the service is she wants to see the end result so that the even other women on your web page. Exactly. And testimonials other women that are in that are like them are ages and some more family situations whatever it may be.
So, I would highly recommend that if you've got you or if your website is dominated by stuff that appeals to you or to other competitors or men that you know friends whatever then you really need to rethink that and start adding some more. Make it a little bit softer. It's kind of what you need to do to make it happier and the end result as opposed to technical logical. You know just the man the male mind and the female mind respond differently to different things.
We all know that. Here is an interesting thing for you guys that are thinking well that's really not going to make a difference. I'm going to tell you that if you're in a cell situation and you're there with the woman and the guy and you sell to the guy, that guy likes you and a woman don't you've lost. You are not going to get the job no matter how it goes. Yes, yes, yes. She's going to say no, no, no. And you know me I've been married for 40, 41 years. My father has been a happy wife happy life.
That goes for your marriage and it goes for the clients as well. So, it does. I'm just laughing because I just I'm thinking back to when I had my business. And there are several times when I just thought I nailed it. I nailed that job. The guy loved me this and that. And I guarantee I lost it because the wife was like no for whatever reason.
You talk to them because you know the guy you didn't need to get the attention. I had this one year ago it was hilarious. I had a client. We were we did a lot of painting and he won. He called me, he called me over and look at the house to do stuff and the old school. I mean really old school. This was like this was a guy with his wife. It was one-word answers with me. That whole conversation. He was very Lithuanian very old school. OK, I go. So, Tony so his wife goes Tony I want to get next time we paint the house. Can we paint the outside just a little tinge of green?
No. So I go, Tony. Don't you understand how long have you been married it, Tony? How long. Many, many, many years. That's OK. Do you not know this? Does he go know what Dave? OK. Happy wife a happy life. Her eyes got as big as saucers I mean it got huge. I mean and Tony goes wow ok. So, we go inside and we're just talking. You know and she goes Tony I would like this house has painted in 15 years. I want to paint this house the inside for your birthday his response.
No. I said, Tony, I need to learn anything outside of that we talked about. And he goes, OK. She got the house painted the house with the exact tinge of green that she wanted to add one. Yeah. Everything you wanted.
But you know it's so important to come to that realization. Who are we selling to? And you know it's kind of funny. It really is. Yeah. And what's crazy is I'm not noticed too. Like if you take that Web site and show your wife a lot of times she won't be thinking in terms of a client she'll be thinking in terms of you know I'm one of the business owners. So, it's kind of dangerous actually to ask the wife I've found in many cases of them in many cases. The wife having somebody close to you give you feedback on the website is not always the best way. You need to have a third party that doesn't really have much connection to you or you what they think of the website. That's another thing.
Yeah because I mean just the other day we have a roofer who was like well I don't want to put the phone number at the top of the website when I only have it in like tiny little text down in the footer of the website because my wife thinks it looks tacky at the top.
And she wasn't thinking from the point of view of like what if I was actually you know a female out here looking to hire a roofer. I want to get a hold of this guy. You know if they don't find the phone number on your Web site. The seconds are gone. Yeah exactly. So, it's a big deal. OK.
And so that's it. That's my top three tips. I mean I've got other things too as far as like you know getting online reviews how important that is and how that can boost your conversions. And there are lots of lots of little things beyond that but that's at the top three. It's definitely three things that you or you a web designer can implement like now. Especially for the New Year wrap. Get going for 2018. That new Web site gets the Web site revamped, freshened up and to convert not just be pretty and rank but also to convert.
And so, and so that's what I got. And I don't know if we going to talk about this right now but I wanted to make sure that you're just audience gets a special prize. If they ever wanted to do anything with us let's do that now do it again later on.
You know I always like promote or guess what they have to offer and how they can help our community. You know this is all about helping other guys become more profitable. Be better or what they do so that they can spend more time with their families.
Yeah. And so, I want to make sure. So, for the next couple of weeks, I would love to give all of your only listeners only the listeners, $300 off any web design packages that we have. And but they just need a dimension that they need to mention that this podcast and then we'll make sure that that $300 is taken off. So, this is not an issue for a couple of weeks I want to make this isn't forever.
And so, we can either we can get a link set up or people just want to go to generalcontractorwebsites.net they can find us there or just give me a call at 4 0 6 4 9 3 1 8 8 1. Okay great, and we'll put on a show notice when we get on we get everything up and at that point and what we'll do is we'll put off end of show notes will put off cut-off date let's say two weeks or three weeks however you want to do it. It will just put on the cutoff date. And from that point, so everyone knows that.
I'd like to talk about Google reviews a lot because I think that's important. I mean I know you do too. From a standpoint that's probably would be number for one or one of the numbers high numbers. Absolutely. And it may even bump in their effort in some cases anyway bump into the top three.
Just because of the fact and the way that I look at Google reviews and other reviews you know Angie's List and everything but Google still the big one unless you're on the west coast and I know you can overtake Google a lot of times when it comes to the review game. But the way that I look at online reviews is they literally are the new world of the mouth of mouth advertising. Yeah
I mean the whole the whole idea of you know tell all your friends and then haven't called me all that stuff that still exists. But there's a whole another online version of that and that's basically, it's just reviewed. I mean how many people bought into this have read an Amazon review before actually clicking the buy now button. Right.
You know what I mean. Oh yeah and a lot of times you don't think that it applies to your business the same way but I'm going to tell you right now I've got a guy up in Portland. He's got a five-truck operation does a lot of like water damage restoration stuff like that. And he so he used to have like eight or nine reviews on his competitors all had they all were right around there like five to 10 reviews something like that.
Well, he got busy. Did you know I'm going to make reviews big in 2017 and so now he's got like 89 reviews and you're still acting like 9 or 10? And he says he literally doesn't have to do any more staying over the phone. It's not about right. You know my prices deserve prices any more. It's about you had the most reviews online. And these are all genuine reviews. Doesn't do any. These guys above board he doesn't know. No fake reviews of again. It's really easy to get reviews.
It's kind of funny. I just did a podcast not too long ago about a contractor in South Carolina and he grew his business basically by google reviews. It's kind of an interesting way for business. It was mostly referrals. He'd get like 75% referrals and 25% would be you know from reviews and stuff like that. He went out of his way to do the different ways and he started with the google reviews and now he's got. Last, I checked he had 55 reviews and he said that the numbers have turned. He said 75% of my business comes from the google reviews and 25% comes from referrals it's amazing.
You got to do. You got to really do is ask. Now I have an I have another tip based on that because a lot of times people say well I don't feel like one out of 10 people will actually you know say they're going to actually follow through and do it. But you got to do more than ask. Yeah. And so, I like that call but you know to push the call. Yes yeah.
Make it easy to make it Brain-Dead easy for them and so the best way that I've found to do that is to once again we go back to text thing is to basically give them a heads up say Hey you mind if I send you a text to get some feedback on how we did it and most times I say yes like 95% of you say oh yeah, no problem.
So, what you can do is get on your phone. This won't work on your computer. You got to get on your phone and search your business and find your Google page. OK. once you're on the Google page you click on reviews and then it'll take and then and then they'll let you choose the number of stars. Right. OK. So, you click on Star number five and that's it. You don't. All you do on your own business. on your smartphone has to be on a smartphone. And so all five stars are gold at that point. All right.
Now you do is you tap up into we're like the Web site addresses and you do and you click copy highlighted and then you click copy. All right. Now you go and send a text and you paste in that exact address. It's a big long obnoxious website address but that will take them directly when they click on that when they get the text and they click on that. It'll take them directly to the Google page with the five stars filled out. Now they can change it and put fewer stars if they want but it's one less step that they have to take.
And so, then they're just at the point where they're just typing in you know the actual experience they had. But that little chip right there texting over the actual google link that takes them already just right to the place where they can start typing is going to increase the amount of you know reviews you get so if you get one out of ten by asking right now. Now you to get like nine out of 10 because you're doing it for them in a sense. Yes exactly
And that's the that's the key thing is you know. We all want more business but we think that it's going to be easy. Sometimes it's easy but we have to work at it. Yes. Yes. I was reading some stats not too long ago. And the funny part was that 90% of the people who go to the internet to check reviews but only like 40-50% will actually write a review. Yeah. So, you know so you've got to work a lot harder to get what you want. That's all that's really what it boils down to. Which is nice. And yet the reviews are just awesome and I just you know it's kind of cool on how easy it is to just you know send it and they will do it. And if they don't do it right away then you do it one more time.
Yeah. Yeah but maybe you just do. You know I know you've been busy and we've talked about this. I just wanted to send this to you again. If you have time please do it. If you don't that's ok.
Yeah and the key time to do it is right when you have that conversation with them at the very end of the job. And they've got that those good warm feelings about you. Those are feeling quick like a week later. You know they're still happy with us that they dislike you but you don't have that. I want to help this person. Because people do want to help especially if you do an amazing job form they want. They want to but they don't want to have to go find your Web site or go find your Google pager your pager. They don't want to have to do all that. Most people anyway. So, the easier you can make it for them, then the better chance you're going to get. And it's all about just getting into a routine getting it in and out. Oh, the guy in Portland said what he does is it makes sure that all of his technicians are the ones that actually initiate that text. And then he gives them like a $25 bonus for every five-star review that comes in the day the day that they requested.
So yeah that makes it a lot nicer for him. Yes, I mean yeah, I mean one review is 20 it was worth you know is gold. One five-star is gold so $25 dollars. He looks at it. I'm paying $25 to get a review and that review is easily going to make me ten times that over the next year. Oh, easy. So, this is the place to place some golds in the pot is what he's doing. Yeah. Yeah. That is so cool.
Yeah, I know of a carpet cleaner that was doing Facebook reviews. He would actually give them if they would do while they were still there and he would give them a Starbucks coffee. Yeah, be careful with bribes like Yelp will shut down your account if they find out about that. But yeah Google and Facebook they, you know Google says not to do it but I've never heard of them cracking down on it yet. Well, how Facebook's pretty open now. Yeah, I mean people on Yelp people are suffering. I've heard of people getting shut down in Yelp. So, they Yelp figures it out somehow.
I mean they get so many and stuff like that depending on the trade. Yeah. And they've even gotten to the point Yelp's even gotten to the point where they've said you're not even allowed to ask for a review. So, Yelp is a different animal. It's not cool. Yeah, there's a lot a lot of angry people out there on YELP right now. So yeah, I think yes, I was listening to somebody tell me that you know it's tied pretty much to being three views from me you know. Is that true? Oh, I've never heard that I heard though. Yeah, that's why they post your reviews and stuff like that.
Now, something I did hear this morning that was kind of interesting. I don’t know if you knew this was home adviser bought Angie’s List. I did not know that. Wow. That just went through like two weeks ago. I wonder how that's going to play out. Interesting. It’s alright if they don’t change their name. An interesting change the name but nobody like Angie’s List and nobody likes Home Advisers so I don't think they've got some enemies that's for sure. You know. Yeah, they do because they just don't do things right. Neither here or there and we're not going to go there. All right. Hey you know this is really been awesome. Is there anything that you've been burning there in the back of your mind that you say you need to get this out. You want anything you want, additionally, you want to share before we close out this thing?
You know the only other thing is I do have a book that has 150 pages of all of this kind of stuff. It's basically where I just did a mine dump and put everything I know into book format. So, if people want to get that they can get it on Amazon it's like 17 something. If you want to get it for free and just pay the shipping and handling giving it away right now. Just go to a servicebusinessmoneymachine.com that's the name of the book service business money machine. How to turn your Web site into a virtual money machine. Cool.
Yeah, I've got, the matter of fact I've got my book on the way. So, guys, I ordered his books so we're in good shape. Nice. And so, we will put them on and show notes like he said. And then one more time let's run your special again since we're at the end. So, we'll have that at the very end again.
Yeah so, we've been talking about Website stuff today. So, what I want to do is if you're looking to get a new Web site or revamp your current website, we're going to take $300 off for the next couple of weeks we'll set the exact date on the show. Now it's like you were saying yeah but this is only for people that are listening to this.
You have to mention that you listened to the podcast and that's the only way you're going to get that $300 special. So, if you're looking to get a new Web site for the new year then we'd love to talk to you about it. And if we if we decide that we're not a good fit for each other then that's fine. I'll still give you a free consultation with you know lots of tips and little things you can do to improve your website anyway. So, that would be awesome. So, give us your contact information again. OK so you can go to a generalcontractorwebsites.net OK or you can just call 4 0 6 4 9 3 1 8 8 1.
Awesome. Joe thanks so much. This has really been great having you on the show. Little tips and tricks on how to get everyone more business. And I thank you for making that offer to our listeners. And guys listen, I really, take advantage of it if you if you need to know or call Joe and see what you need to do. But you know one of the things that I was impressed with overall is that Joe was a contractor and he thinks like contractors, he knows you know how you guys think, he knows what you're going through and he's been in your shoes.
And he only deals with contractors. He's not trying to make one everything fit. So, we're in good shape. Joe again thanks so much for being with us today. I love it Dave, and I hope to come back in six months and we'll talk about that text button. Yeah, that'll be a blast. Yeah. Yeah. OK. All right. Dave, you have a good one. Happy New Year. Happy New Year. Thanks.
You may go to this website to know more details about Joe Burnich: www.generalcontractorwebsites.net Contact: 406-493-1881 To get your $300.00 discount from Joe you can go to his website offer is good only until midnight February 7th 2018 Website Special: https://generalcontractorwebsites.net/secret-weapon/ www.generalcontractorwebsites.net let Joe know you herd about him at Contractor’s Secret Weapon podcast
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Tue, 23 January 2018
Do you have the customer you deserve, or do you have the customer you want? I ask this question to many contractors and the response that I usually get is, “yes, I want all the customers I can get! customers are the lifeblood of my business, the more customers the more money.” REALLY? That’s what we are going to discuss today.
The next thing I say is that was not the question I asked! The question I asked was, “do you have the customer you deserve, or do you have a customer you want.” Then I get this weird look and I have to continue on.
You see most contractors going into business think about getting business and not about that business as a whole. As they enter the marketplace, they sit down and figure out what everyone else is charging and start competing on price. They figure they have a good product and they are great at what they do so they should succeed. I ask why do they take their excellent work and just start competing on price just to get into the market place.
How do I know about this? I’m guilty, I started there too!
But I learned really fast that I would need to change directions fast or go out of business! That’s why I found a mentor and hired a coach. More on that some other day… So how do I have the customer that I deserve? As painful as it may sound, if you are competing on price alone then the customer you are attracting is the price shopper.
The price shopper will eat up your time, they will eat up your profits, and they will eat up your sanity. They will complain the most about everything and when they refer you it will be to likeminded people. Unfortunately, when you only sell by price you get these types of customers.
I say this is a customer you deserve because you are either lazy or don’t know any better. I’m going to go on the premise that you don’t know and today we are going to try to change that. Right now, you are on hamster wheel going around and round feeding the hamster (your business) with bad food (prices shoppers) and there is no nutrition (profit) to keep him going so he is running as fast as he can to keep the pace and he is dying from malnutrition and over-work.
Get off the hamster wheel.
Here is what you need to do. Take the time to go after your ideal customer; stop going after the easy money, your ideal customer has the money to pay for good work.
Think about business as business owner not as a trade’s person, sales person or installer. How do I run my business and strategically get the customer I want?
First of all, you have to define who the customer that you want is. Everyone’s definition of an ideal customer is different, so you have to figure out who your ideal customer is and how do you start going after that type of customer.
Here is an example of defining your ideal customer.
Get the point? The better you can define your ideal customer, the healthier your business will be. So, if you haven’t figured it out by now, selling by price only as a commodity is easy mentally but hard on the pocketbook.
Going after a specific customer type as a target is harder in the beginning because you have to learn about your ideal customer, but so much more rewarding monetarily for years after you make the choice.
Survive maybe or thrive. Now you know how to move in the right direction. There are so many ways to do almost free marketing you just have to think about it or you could just go to the web site and pick up the free download. 4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business with Customers
If you have a story to tell and would like to be a guest on this podcast email my assistant Shell at Shell@contractorssecretweapon.com and she will send you our guest sheet.
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Mon, 22 January 2018
We can’t find any skilled labor, does this problem resonate with your trade? Shawn Van Dyke has come up with a solution to this ongoing problem. As we talk about the solutions and the change of mindset you will come to the conclusion that for this will actually work. . I have a real and fun and exciting guest with Sean Van Dyke and Sean is a construction industry consultant business coach and mentor. He's the author of the paperwork punch list 28 days to streamline your construction business and find the home building brand administrator. Shawn is the keynote speaker and travels the US working with and training construction business owners on how to streamline their businesses. That's a fun thing. No one likes to work hard.
Yeah. Before becoming a business coach Shawn owned a Construction Management Consulting Firm and General Contracting Company. He also served as an Executive at the Specialty Contracting Company and enjoys living life in East Tennessee where it's nice and warm this time of year and happily married with five kids.
So, Shawn, I'm just excited that you are with us today. And, you want to share some valuable information farm with Dave. I'm excited to be here. Thanks for inviting me on. I'm looking forward to chatting with you. Yes. Tell us a little bit about your journey and how you got from here to there to where you are today.
Yeah, it's got an issue with it. When I hear my own bio read off I kind of hear my wife you know in the back of my head just saying you know to some people all that stuff sounds impressive to her and be married to an entrepreneur. It sounds like, man, you can't keep you can't keep down a job dude, you know.
Well, I as I say as I started out my career I guess by getting a couple of degrees in engineering and I got a bachelor's degree in civil engineering and a master's degree in structural engineering. Spent a few years doing that and then realized I don't think I want to be an engineer. And so, I transition to commercial construction doing some project management for some commercial contractors and then kind of bounced around as we do in construction sometimes from company to company and ended up doing some real estate development working and as a construction manager for a real estate developer. Traveling all around the Midwest and the Southeast building large commercial developments.
And by then we had number two on the way and I was on I was on the road three days a week and my wife were kind of like yeah this isn't going to work out so well for being a dad. So, I started my own construction management company and real estate company that transitioned during the downturn into the general contracting company.
And let's see what happened after that. Yeah, I went to work as a Chief Operating Officer for a trim and millwork company and spent several years there. And I guess that was the last job that real job that I had and left there about a little over a year and a half ago and went into what I'm doing now doing construction consulting and coaching and mentoring.
So, I travel all over the place and teach construction business owners you know how to streamline their business how to run a better business. And I'm just I'm really enjoying you know what I'm doing now before I was working for one company doing these things and now I get to work with literally dozens of companies all over the U.S. and Canada. Even have one client in Sweden.
So yeah if you're listening to this and you've got issues and problems it doesn't matter where you are in the world. Contractors we all have the same you know the same issues when it comes to the business side and the paperwork and the people. So, don't feel like you're alone out there. You're not you're not alone.
Everybody's struggling with the same thing and it's kind of funny everyone and you know you thought some might say well my business is different. Yeah right. Yeah. So saying we've got people you've got the paperwork you know the regular business and I'm dealing with people and it's all people. And so, I'll bet your wife’s a lot happier too now.
Well yeah, it depends on where you are. You know when I started this I didn't think I was going to be traveling so much and now I'm doing different training. I travel to my client’s locations and do executive training or employee training. But then also doing keynote speaking at trade events and that kind of stuff so I sold my wife on the whole deal.
Hey, you know as you know as I travel around then you know we find somebody to watch the kids and then you come out we can have a long weekend and some of these nice places. But you know when you when you have a speaking gig in I don't know. In Detroit in February or something like that. It's not exactly. You know what I sold her on Detroit in February is not exactly you know the long weekend. You know that I kind of promised her or whatever so are booking some.
Some stuff like Hawaii and Miami and LA in the summer when it's when it's nice and yeah what I've got I've got an I've got one client in Hawaii I have another one in Key West Florida. So those aren't the those are the worst places in the world that have to travel any time of the year so we'll see if that happens. Now you said you had five kids out with your oldest and you're young. You can't ask me those questions that they keep changing ages. I can’t remember them. I got grandkids. I've got them from 15 to 1 Yeah. So that's all I know. Yeah.
So, at one time at one time we have four boys and then the baby is a girl. So, four boys and then we had a girl. I think my oldest is he's in sixth grade so I think he's about to turn 11. I think he's going on 12 or maybe he's 10 going on 11. See this is very embarrassing. And you know I don't care about that sound to sound the same way. I know that the oldest is 15 and I said the baby just turned 1 a couple months ago. And there's a, let’s see, that's there four others in between.
Yeah. So, I think I've got an almost 12-year-old a 10-year-old probably and 9-year-old a 6-year-old that gets the four boys and then the baby girl is easy because she was born on my birthday. So as if she wasn't spoiled enough already She'll be sorry she'll be 3 on March 5th.
So, my oldest and one of my older ones were born both on November 6th. So, Abby goes when her brother was born. Oh, that is awesome and she had a birthday party with him. Yeah. Yeah well, my wife told me I don't have any more birthdays. They're all hers which is fine with me because I'm just you know I'm just getting older so they can all be hers anyway so yeah. So.
So, as you travel with here you're your clients. What are some of the biggest challenges that they're having to overcome in the marketplace right now? Yeah, right now it really you know it really comes down to and I hear this with every client especially with me. Construction is back. Things are booming. If 2018 doesn't isn't your best year in construction than you, you're doing something wrong because there's just so much work out there and from the downturn and this is kind of gets into the issue we're going to talk about you know we lost two million plus jobs 10 years ago.
And, it's not like those people were waiting around till it picked back up because like they left they're gone. They left the industry they left the country. They're just not there. So, demand is huge for construction and there are not enough people to fill those the available spots for Labor, skilled labor and then so I hear that all the time from my clients
Shawn, I just can't find the skilled labor that I need for you know for my business. If we had more people than we could do more work or are we just you know we're delaying projects because we just can't get to you know everything.
And so, I hear that a lot we can't find the skilled lay. You know we can't find it. And I say you're exactly right. You can't find it because it doesn't exist. Right. So that kind of hits I'm like will get hired you to help me solve the problem. Right. And the thing is the problem is they're just not making plumbers, electricians, carpenters, welders you know like they used two generations ago where that was a viable option now. And there's nothing. Well, give me all my soapbox here.
No there's nothing wrong with a college education. But I might get in trouble by saying this but the value of that college education with technology and all that is just not as high as it used to be. And so, there is this you know there's this there's this labor gap and it's huge right now. And so, to solve it the problem the problem is that you know that these people don't exist.
I say what you're doing is you're hunting for unicorns you're looking for this mythical creature that's supposed to you know mythology the unicorn I guess if you capture it you know the horn of the Unicorn had special healing properties and all of these other things. Right. That's what you're looking for you're looking for this-this guy or gal with five or 10 years’ experience that can just jump in on the crew lead the crew to you know a successful project. You're just looking for a unicorn. It's a mythical creature that doesn't exist.
Not too long ago I was in an education class and the teacher was going through said Okay so I went there was like 50 people in a classroom and I watch it and it was all for construction because I want everyone to look around the room and he goes How many people. And he goes how far under 40. Nobody resigned. He said how many people are under 50.
And there was a couple but most of them are 50. But they said here's the problem. He said there are no new contractors taking getting their licenses to fill the gap of what you guys are moving out of and he says that's creating a big problem in the marketplace. And I go Yeah and I said Here's a stupid thing guys if you don't realize that or not you are competing on price when you have you are no longer a commodity. But I need you and you're fighting against each other on price. Stop it yeah.
Yeah and that and that the solution to the problem is to say OK you know if we if we can't find it because it doesn't exist then what are we supposed to do. Well, you have to create it. And they're both hard problems to solve. I think that finding something that doesn't exist is a lot harder than creating something that you that doesn't exist. Meaning we stop hiring for skill, we stop hiring for technical expertise. Those are things you can teach somebody.
But what you need to hire like most other successful businesses and we need to take a note from you know the big Fortune 500 companies. And the other things like that. They hire a lot of cases. They will be hiring for competency and culture and fit. And you say you know things like culture to a construction other like What are you talking about. We just get the work done. And you know you know we're just the nose of the grindstone knock it outright. But every company has a culture and the culture of your company is what your employees think about working there. Right.
So, you know you may not have spent any time developing your culture but I guarantee you if I go in and start asking your employees you know what. What are some struggles they have working here or what you do have a culture you may just not be aware of exactly what it is? So, if you can if you can improve or you can enhance or you can just talk about what your culture is or what you want it to be then that's going to attract people that are competent and that have the right chemistry for your culture and are a good fit and you just have to say listen you know we can't find these people because they don't exist.
We're going to have to create them. So, what does that mean? Well, we better have a training program that we can take somebody that does. We're going to hire for a good work ethic and passion. Maybe it's not passion towards carpentry or painting or electrical work or you know whatever the trade is but you can probably help somebody to develop a passion because everybody in the trades that are working right now at some point you know no one was born with it. I don't even care if you've been wearing the tools since you were you know since you were a little kid on your grandfather's side and helping to build stuff in the shop.
You developed a passion for the time because you saw what that passion you know what it lived out what it what it created. Well just because somebody is 22 years old and they got a college degree in history, no offense to the history majors out there. But that doesn't mean that that that guy or gal can't develop a passion very quickly in six months and eight months and heck four months with the right company that shows this is what we do we create and build this stuff with our hands at the end of a day.
At the end of the day at the end of a week at the end of a project. We can walk away and point at something and say we built that. It wasn't here before and now it is. And the right people for your company they can develop a passion for whatever the craft is whatever the trade is but you got to train them to do it.
And I think that you could you can easily spend 18 months looking for this unicorn right and you'll probably go through a couple of people. The other thing that I say is if you hire somebody or somebody has the skills that you're looking for on paper anyway or they say they do. You got to ask why are they available. It's probably because no one wants to work with them right so oh this guy got 10 years of experience. He’s been a lead carpenter now you know he's looking for a job. Right. You need to make sure that you're interviewing process kind of weeds out the psychopaths right. Because you know you bring somebody in like that. Yeah, they're technically very competent.
They can do a lot of work but nobody wants to work around them. They won't listen. They won't get on board with the way your company does stuff so that can be dangerous too as when you do find somebody with the technical skills you've got to make sure that you're you know back to the culture thing. You've got to hire for that first and you get the right training program in place in six months, 12 months 18 months.
You can probably get somebody to where they need to be where they're very productive and very profitable for your business. And there are people out there that are the look they are realizing that they were lied to about college. Now if we go 100 grand in debt and get an education then somebody is just going to pay me 50 or 60 thousand dollars just because I went to college and they're working at Starbucks or at the movie theater or in and I've met them I've talked to them they're driven Uber right.
Trying to figure out what the next best thing is. And you find these people that are looking to put their passion towards something maybe it does haven't been carpentry or something like that in the past and you just say hey, come work for us. We've got a training program and we have a path in two years you could move up from this level to that level. You could you can do whatever you want within our company. But you got to have that structure you've got to have something you know you've got to have something in place and it's a lot easier if you focus and do that.
Put those systems and that training in place. You'll be able to take somebody that's pretty green and get them being very productive in a small amount of time because you'll go through the next 12, 18 months trying to hire the skilled guy and having to fire them every time you hire somebody and they come in and work for a little while and you got to let them go then. You know I think there are statistics that say you know when you fire somebody you have to let them go. It costs you 30-40% of whatever their yearly salary would have been.
So, I mean I work for a company like years ago it was co you can't train and fire, and I was like you don’t understand. No, we do understand. I said, “No, you don’t understand the cost involved in training them. Would it take a toll on me? Would it take a toll on you in dollars and cents?” “Well, we don’t care about that. We just want somebody to do the job. Well, we got to train them. No, if they can't do the job just fire them.” “Well, that doesn't make sense”. You know and again you know it's like going back to like you said it goes back to leadership and culture.
And the nice part about what you're talking about from what I'm saying is that now you're a construction company. You should strategically grow your company along with a path because you're bringing people on board. That you can train. I think that's awesome because, now you're, instead of planning for tomorrow because I need help tomorrow you're planning for the future which if any anybody in the construction industry would hope that their business would last for the future instead of short-term.
So yeah everyone has to look differently at it but I think it's you know what you're talking about is so awesome because it is. It’s long-term. And it's scheduled for long-term growth, but not only that but you've got long-term profits. And then if you've got you know the culture that you've got a good culture or you don't have a good culture but you know that you need to be the leader you need to change then that makes all the difference in the world and you can become you know a force to reckon with in your marketplace.
Yeah. There are companies out there that when they get this. So, here's what I see. I think that the trend is shifting. I think that there are more people getting into the trades. They're dabbling in it a little bit, but society still looks down on construction. Meaning they say oh you couldn't you know you're doing construction because you couldn't have done anything else. And I think that's starting to change a little bit. You know just because of just exposure to it you know things like Instagram and Facebook and YouTube.
They're saying you know that this is this is a viable career to work in the trades. So, it is starting to shift. But I think that the companies that are going to when demand is when the supply does change. And I think it will change. I think eventually the gap will get so big that the government will step in and start throwing a lot of money at trade back at trade schools and putting vote tech back into education
When that happens, the supply is going to jump up. It's the companies that have spent the last ten years previous to that time whenever that is building a training program building a recruiting process. They're going to be able to pick the cream of the crop and then those business owners are finally going to be able to ride off into retirement because now the supply they're going to get the best people and their companies are going to be are going to be set right.
Everybody else is going to be scrambling for the supply and now they're going to say yeah, they've got some technical training. Right. So, there are some more welders, there are some more plumbers there. Great. Now you got a people problem. You know they still don't you know your company isn't set up to work in a team atmosphere and how do we communicate and how do we you know how do we grow because sometimes growing, just for the sake of growing, can put you out of business quicker than anything else.
So, it's those companies that right now when this gap is huge and the work is really hard and they change their mindset from hiring as their first step to recruiting as their first step. They're going to win when the supply does change. When you when there are more skilled technically skilled people. But again, the technical skills part that just gets your foot in the door.
What gets you the job, what makes you the money, and what gives you-you know a huge opportunity with construction companies is your character and in the end, combine that with the culture of the company so that's why I think that's the long game is put do the hard work. Now get your culture and get your training procedures in place so that you can get people good people and train them and then that's a system that you know for success right there.
And if you have a company that's doing this progressively and growing and training and recruiting, then people are going to come to you for. You're going to be able to. I mean you're going to be running the profit margins you should be running to run a very successful business anyways. So, you can you'll be able to afford people who have the right mindset, who have the right culture into your culture and grow within the company. You'll be able to pay them more than the average contracting company.
Yeah, and that's part of the recruiting mindset. Like, listen supply is down demand is high. Guess what you're going to pay more. From the very beginning. But just get over it. That's part of recruit. Like when you know when the Yankees go out and recruit somebody like they just pay the bill whatever the guy needs for his contract right because he's an all-star player and we need him to win the World Series or whatever. Like the money just you know like let's get that out. Let's get that out of the way so yeah you know you are going to pay a little bit more but you know we're playing a long game. What's the payoff in the end right? That that that A player is really going to produce you know produce for me and I hear that a lot to say you know maybe list and they said ok Shawn, I get it.
Dave, I get it you know but I don't know. This is another issue I hear a lot from my clients. I don't know if I can afford to hire somebody. Right. Or when is the right time to hire somebody? And it's this mindset of like oh you know OK let's just look at the numbers and say OK if this is, what I hear a lot is OK we're going to pay somebody 25 bucks an hour. That's $50,000 a year. I don't you know I don't have that kind of cash out, or I don't have that much money or what I don't like.
Whoa. Listen if you're if you're hiring right and you're hired the right person may be there and you've got and what I call an onboarding process right. Maybe it takes somebody a couple of weeks to get into your system, to get in your company. Kind of learn the ropes or whatever. After that, they should be making you money right. It's not a cost any more. Right.
They should be making you mine. So yeah maybe you got to. You should have a cash reserve for a couple of weeks a payroll for that person. But after that, they should be making you money if they're not you hired the wrong person or you're not you're not training them right so it's not really. Shawn, I don't think I can afford to hire somebody. Most of the time it's you can't afford to hire somebody.
You as the business owner have got to concentrate on business development and sales and marketing and now training. You can't worry about wearing the tools every day. You got to hire somebody to do that. And in fact, that's why you're not making the profits you need to make right now is because of your high-value work. The sales, the marketing, the business development stuff that generates hundreds if not thousands of dollars an hour when you can put the time in there. You're trapped doing 30 40 50 dollars an hour of work. Right. I know I run into this with so many people. It's mind-boggling that they can't get past the 12 hours an hour 20 hour an hour even 30 hours an hour mindset. And it's because they are so used to doing it. Stop it.
You know and this is not I don't say it's not easy it's not easy but you've got you've got to start. You know you got to start somewhere. Yeah. And it's and it's I've had conversations with guys while I can't do this because I've got something to do and I'm going you know it's very. It's very challenging in the beginning to do stuff that you just need to make an appointment with yourself.
I mean it takes two hours to this day to do this. And it could be you know like going out and I need to go market. I need to go you know to call at this time. He was looking at a property manager say you need the schedule for two hours. Two hours on Wednesday, and that two hours I said you make your phone calls, make your appointments a week before. And I said if somebody calls in sick, you don't jump out and drop because if you put that off, you call the customer and say listen we're running a little behind.
We aren’t going to make it this afternoon. We're going to reschedule you tomorrow. Because you're talking about making a thousand dollars on a job to maybe get a contract for five ten fifteen twenty thousand dollars. You have to really get to the point of what's the most important. It's not dollars today it's for the owner. It's dollars tomorrow.
Yeah. Yeah absolutely. It's like it's you know. Stephen Covey writes about in his book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People it's urgent versus the important right. Right we got to and it's hard. The urgent stuff is urgent. Right. But the important stuff doesn't take as much time as the urgent stuff but the urgent always bleeds into the important time so if we can get that focus time, focus on the important stuff you know and what we were talking about before that you know.
OK, what's the first step in our recruiting process like let's just spend some time this 15 minutes 30 minutes this week thinking about recruiting instead of hiring. Right. That that will generate some ideas. Now go do that. Now to deal with the urgent stuff fight the fires and all that kind of stuff.
But then like you said to meet with yourself again that next week. Another 30 minutes what's the next step. And then if you do that for any period of time that creates a habit and gets into discipline then you're at least you know you've got this focused time where you're working on important stuff and then that's what creates momentum and movement towards you know towards having a better year than you did you know then when you had the year before
And I've even had a conversation with people so, well you don’t understand. I said, “Dude, I do understand. I understand everything you're going and I've been through it and I still go through at certain times. But here's the thing if you're going to make an appointment to do something. If you're going to schedule time with yourself to do this or that task you know to create something new.
I said to schedule it and I want you to write it down over there. What’s the worst-case scenario? What would it cost you? A time worth is it worth a thousand dollars? Is it worth ten thousand dollars? or is it worth $12? You have to value yet put the value of your time in there otherwise you're not going to you're not going to force yourself to go through the steps you need.
Like you said this to start to recruit process or even write down what you're even thinking about hiring and I knew I was listening until one guy and he was saying you know he says all of my all the people that worked for me are assets. I think of them as assets. We work altogether. So, once they are no longer an asset then we part company.
But that was a beautiful way to look at it because what's an asset? An asset is something that works for you in conjunction with your goals and everything. It brings you in money. So as an asset can be an expenditure. Right. Yeah, it adds value it adds value to the company. Yeah
So, it's you know it's like you know that rental property is an asset as long as it's paying you. And you ain't going to get rid of it until it stops. You know. That's right. You need to think about your employees like that.
So, you say you've got the recruitment process and I your client they are finding it, course, I know it's hard to work through but I know a lot of them seen a long-term plan. A long-term thing yeah I mean they're starting they're starting to you know they're starting to see that recruitment mentality you know. The other thing too is just like look everywhere for your next employee.
Talk to the guys at the. You know there's a there's a kid that's working at the loading docks of the building supply company. Right now. He's not necessarily “in construction or has school” but he's there. He's close to it. Right. He's you know he's doing work. He's yeah, he's working with people but he's around it a little bit. Right. So that's a great place to start in a company that I used to use to work with.
The owner was excellent recruiter and he would go in and if he found somebody at Lowe's or Home Depot working the cash register and they were smiling and he was treated with respect, he gave that guy a business card and said if you're thinking about being a trim carpenter you ought to give us a call even if you've never thought about it for come by our office see what we're doing.
You're already working at Lowe's your home depot. You're on the outskirts of this thing. We want to show you what we, what somebody like you can do at a company like ours. And we've got, we've hired guys and gals from that you know. So, it starts with just you've got to look everywhere. Everybody's a potential employee.
My roofer friend, his last three salesmen that he picked up they know nothing about sales, nothing about the roofing industry, nothing about nothing. They were all his waiters at his favorite restaurant. Yeah. Waiters are really good. Yeah because they knew how to interact with people, you know they know how to think on their feet. They've got to solve a lot of problems very quickly for very impatient and its people that with five kids waiting on the chicken fingers. Yeah, you know. You know.
Yes. I like you. And so that's so cool for you know a lot of guys that are to listen and you know you've got to think outside the box you've got to be constantly looking for friendly people that you know that are friendly, that is interactive. And the funny thing is that you know we were talking about earlier, you know you look so long for the technical side of it. And I learned a long time ago you know you hire for attitude. You can always teach technical. Because you have 98% of the time you're going to fire for attitude.
That's right to start with the good stuff first man. Yeah. I mean we're all gonna make mistakes technically right. But that's usually not a fireable offense that you know if you if you keep making the same technical mistakes it's probably because you have an attitude problem that you're not learning or you're not listening or whatever but it's really not because of the technical mistakes like you said it's an attitude mistake.
I was a guy I know he was. He put a Facebook post on he goes you know it's I get tired of all you guys in a particular industry complaining that you can't keep good health. He goes I want you to understand what the problem is. It is not your help, it is you. Yeah. Yeah.
And part of that you know part of that recruiting mentality means that the hiring process is longer. It means you need to have three or four interviews. You need probably have other people within your organization interview them. So, what does that mean? Well, we need to train some of our lead technicians or some of our project managers to how to interview. Right. They need to know that skill. That's another business skill that they need to learn because that's going to help you run the business.
You as the owner doing all of the interviews is not going to be as helpful as if you get these other guys. I've seen that before too, where we pulled lead carpenters and said hey we've got this potential guy he's going to be working with you on your team. I want you to have a chance to vote on this because he's not going to be working. Yes, working for me but he's going to be working with you and the insights that the guys on that you know boots on the ground kind of guys that are in the trenches they'll pick up on stuff and not necessarily bad stuff. They'll pick up on other things where they'll say yeah, this person is really good. I can tell their character because we had a conversation totally unrelated to something else but they're a good fit for us. Their attitude and because everybody looks good on a resume and everybody's going to say try and say the right things in front of the owner or the manager or whatever but get them get them with some of their peers and let them just have a conversation. And so, but that takes more time.
That costs a little bit more money. You mean Sean I'm going to pay my lead carpenter to come into the office for 45 minutes in the middle of the day and interview somebody. Yeah, it's going to cost you a couple of hundred bucks but if you make the wrong hire it's going to cost you tens of thousands of dollars. So yes, spend a couple hundred bucks and train your leaders. Carpenter how to do some job interviews.
So, it boils down to you're not hiring for today because you need employees today; you're hiring for tomorrow because you want to grow your company and you want your people to grow with you. It basically what it is. Yes, it is. Because it's going to cost you a fortune or the wrong. Like you said hiring the wrong people in a few. You're hiring because I'm busy and I need to hire people. Then it would be you. I know you guys are going to hate me for saying this but it would be smarter to turn the work away and lose the money.
Yeah, you can. You can always tell this to my clients when they say oh you know we're really busy. OK. You're making the money. No. All right. Well, you can just sit at home and go out of business. You don't need to go and work your butt off for it. Right.
Right. I know. So, the other thing the other thing about what we're talking about you know in recruiting and playing the long game here too as I hear this a lot is. Well, I want to give this person an opportunity. And again, it's just a slight little mind shift change or language change saying don't give anybody an opportunity. What you want, what your what your people actually want is they want a path. Give them a path. Show them where they can go. But they earn the opportunity.
We don't give opportunities to this company. What we give is a path. What we give is training. What we give is you know a path to go from here to here to eventually to a project manager to estimator to a general manager heck you can become the CEO of some companies the owners are they can't wait to not have to run the company of somebody you know.
So, don't give them an opportunity. Let them earn the opportunity but you got to show them a path because people see the path that they're on then they'll earn their way along that path and that path may take a couple of different rabbit trails that you otherwise were trying to force them in. But given someone's strengths and their abilities then your company will be better off.
But what does that look like? Well, that means you have an employee handbook that has job description and job titles and responsibilities and there's an organizational chart and have a communication system and you have a meeting schedule. All of that takes time and planning and thinking just like we were talking about before. That's important stuff the stuff that we got to stop doing the urgent stuff to get those things in place.
Yeah, I talked to so many so many business owners and when I go in to train their employees one thing that we work on I say What's your job title? Well, I'm a lead Carpenter would mean well yeah okay. Are you sure because it sounds like you said I'm a lead Carpenter? Well, sometimes I'm a Lead Carpenter. I think you know it's just like I talked to enough employees and I asked them what their job title is and what that means what are their responsibilities. They don't know.
So, no wonder you're having people problems. No wonder you know the business is kind of even though you're super, super busy and people are really frustrated you don't understand because your people don't know what they're supposed to be doing. They don't know what you want them to be doing because a lot of times people will, business owners will hire to fill a gap you know and they'll hire for a person instead of hiring for a job.
Because when Joe leaves this position we're going to hire for that position. We can't possibly hire another Joe because Joe is Joe. Yeah. Timing me crazy just I know it's good for you. I know it's true. Wow, this is really awesome. Well, we’re getting close to end this time. Is there anything in the back of your mind that you just wanted to have a thought about that you wanted to bring up to the front. Before we close out in the next few minutes or so.
Oh yeah. I always try to end on this just because somebody once asked me if you could only teach one thing to construction business owners or contractors. What would it be? And it's very simplistic but you got to understand the difference between margin and markup.
Like I'd be happy to teach it because when contractors get that and they understand and we don't have enough time to go into all that but when they realize how the math works on that and what the difference between those two terms are and what it means for their business then it totally changes the way they operate.
At least you know as far as knowing what you know when your costs are, what your markup needs to be to produce a certain margin so I'll leave it with that. Just saying if you don't know the difference between margin or markup or you think you do, you probably don't and that's okay. Again, like we said the beginning you're not alone. No one no one gets this until they really you know studied or whatever. Learn the difference between margin and markup.
Yeah maybe with in the future will do a full podcast about that will drive anybody nuts. Yeah. Doing Numbers doing numbers and math on a podcast is really uncommon. Yeah. You got to picture this that would do well do it. Yeah, ducks and birds you know. Yeah, that's right.
Shawn, it's really been awesome. How do our listeners get in touch with you if they want to find out more about you? What you do and your whole organization.
Yep. The easiest way is just Google me and I should pop up all over the place it's ShawnVanDyke.com is the Web site and that's S-H-A-W-N. But if your if your listeners want to you know get some you know to start making some taking some actions and getting some results. I've got a book called the Paperwork Punch List: 28 Days to Streamline your Construction Business.
FREE e-book on my Web site just goes to ShawnVanDyke.com /the paperwork punch list. Give me your email address and you'll get the book download for FREE. It's about 70 some pages and it just kind of walks us through step by step. Some stuff that you can do over the next 28 days over the next four weeks to start getting some of the paperwork stuff out of the way some of the systems in place.
Well, make sure all that goes on our show. Yeah. When we do that so everyone will be able to do that. Awesome. This is really cool and I really appreciate you talking about this. Really. Something an industry that's driving everybody nuts. Well, man, thanks for Dave thanks for having me on this has been this has been a blast. I think we could probably talk for two hours on different stuff. So, anytime and anytime. Thanks.
You can visit this websites for more details about Shawn Van Dyke: www.ShawnVanDyke.com/thepaperworkpunchlist
EMAIL: connect@shawnvandyke.com
There are so many ways to do almost free marketing you just have to think about it or you could just go to the web site and pick up the free download.
4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business with Customers If you have a story to tell and would like to be a guest on this podcast email my assistant Shell at Shell@contractorssecretweapon.com and she will send you our guest sheet.
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Fri, 19 January 2018
We wanted to talk about how you could get NO cost Construction leads and we will go into that kind of heavily, today. The best way to go about getting them and how to have others help you get those leads. At absolutely no cost. So listen up and take notes. Jonah Canter from Canter construction and Charelston, South Carolina. Really fun time. Last time we had him on the show and if you don't know who he is, he's a contractor in Charelston, South Carolina. He's been in the construction business and he's actually started at an early age and running other companies and moved up and actually ended up starting his own construction business and took all the stuff he learned in running other companies at such a young age and put him into his construction company. But, mostly, honestly, it's in the service area of it. I mean, he does a great job in what he does but he gets called back and back and back because of his relationships that he built with his clients and his customers. So, I want to bring him back because we wanted to talk about how you could get new cost Construction leads and we will go into that kind of heavily, today. And, you know, we just had such a great response that I want to bring Jonah. So here's Jonah.
Jonah, I'm glad that you could come back today. Because the last time, we get such a great response to what you talk about and I know you've got some really awesome stuff about marketing that you want to talk to today.
Yeah, Dave I appreciate you having me back. It was, it was fun doing the last one. I got a lot of responses from some of the viewers which was really helpful and made me feel good that people are actually taking some of what we're talking about and actually putting it to good use. And that was great.
So, yeah, I appreciate you have me back. One of the things I thought that would be helpful for the listeners today is if we can talk a little bit about how contractors can get leads or without spending money. I consider them "The no cost construction lead process".
And I'll dive right in. So, when I was first getting my business going, I didn't have a clue. Like, how I was going to get literally the first phone call. And, I had got friends and family to have us do some small stuff but that's not sustainable. So, I was sitting on my couch one night and I ended up e-mailing a real estate friend of mine and I said "Hey do you have a contractor you use for, you know, fence's decks or whatever?" and he responded back hey actually I need somebody to take care of a bunch of like loose end kind of stuff.
But yeah, we will. And I thought about it I was like wow. If he needs that kind of stuff, I bet you there's other realtors. So, I went on this journey and the Charleston area and finding how many realtor groups and you know people there were out there and I found out, which I know now and everybody knows, that there's a lot of realtors and whatever geography that you are and thousands of them. They're like fan staying on the beach kind of thing. So, what I realized there is I sad "man, this is kind of a potentially untapped market of people" who, on a regular basis, are dealing in real estate transactions--buying and selling-- that may mean some type of construction service. So, I went and I bought a six pack of beer and I got on my laptop and I started to go feverishly buy each reality and started copying pasting into a spreadsheet by the realty the person's name, their email. And this is a bunch, again sweat equity and viscid Alge it's mindless stuff. I've probably paid somebody to do it.
Sure. But to me it's like I don't want to spend money for stuff like that. So, I ended up doing it myself. And, at the end of it I ended up getting about 300 e-mails. And each company is a little different. For the most part, most really companies have their e-mails publicly available. You can click on the person space there because they want to have their e-mail. In other cases, if you're smart and you want to get crafty, sometimes the realty company will hide or have like, almost like a contact wall and front before you can get to the reeler. It's a dumb idea. In my opinion, it's a terrible way of aggravating people but they do it sometimes. Well, me being the never satisfied Jonah, I didn't like that. I thought there was a whole reality of people that I couldn't get their e-mail address for. So, what I ended up doing was I tried to find out like how exactly do you get a particular, you know, email and what I found was I ended up finding a press release that ended up coming from somebody within the company. And I realized that it said jane dot go at such and such realty. And I went "Oh, well that's the naming convention for their e-mails”.
I already have all the names of the people, I bet you are pretty close to figuring out John Maybank is John Bébé at name realty. So, for those that were a little tricky and I didn't get the e-mails, just using common sense I kind of put that together and I harvested those as well. Now I've got you know some middle names that, you know, that I didn't put in writing or whatever they got kickback but in general I was able to harvest a lot of those e-mails that that you know for the average person would be hidden behind that and were valid e-mails. But to get to the core numbers, I ended up about I think it was around 300 e-mails. And what I ended up doing was I did not do this kind of mail chimp or whatever process. There's a thousand different reasons but one of the biggest and most important ones is that a lot of these Web sites are red flags from e-mail accounts already.
They know where they're coming from and they say that's junk so we'll put it there. And those companies are always paying a lot of money to try to get that red flag lifted. So, I said I don't want that to happen. So, what I did was I focused on the individual realtors’ realty companies and what I did was I literally opened 15 different Gmail email windows and I would copy and paste.
And so, what I would do is I would have the same subject line and then the message would be the same I would say hey buddy with Jonah Canter. I'm currently working with Ryan X over here at Carolina One. Doing some projects. I'd love to be the person that can help you with your inspection reports. Your seal 100 sign offs or any kind of general construction that you need. Feel free to contact us whatever. And I would copy and paste that message into every single one of those messages. Go back to my spreadsheet. Pop in all the e-mails for a lot of listeners. They're like "Holy cow! that's a lot of work for it". Well, the whole reason I was spending a lot of that work is: I wanted that to get to that person. I've wanted to go around the junk mail thing.
So, that's the best way at the time that I knew how to do it. So, after a lot of time and sending those e-mails, I mean a lot of time as in like, I think it took me about three solid hours to do it properly and methodically and make sure it was nice. And I curtailed it to each reality, right? So, I made sure it's like "I work with your friend. So, and so at Carolina one" or "I've done business dealings with your colleagues in your office". It's such a familiar tone. E-mail? --more likely to open. So, out of the 300, I had about 32 people actually reply.
It was. Just having people reply, at 32 people was amazing and then when you get into the fact that out of those 32 people I ended up picking up 15 realtors who wanted me to start looking at jobs for. And right away.
So, for four years.
Jeez! That's Sweet!
So, yes the are people out there. If you don't know marketing and everything it seems like an immensely small number. But as far as industry standards go for marketing and marketing campaigns that's a seriously successful situation to find yourself and with your leads, right?
And so, break it down. I mean think about that. I know you probably will but when you break it down per hour the time you spent generating that lead and the dollar. It's a high percentage rate. Not only is it just a high percentage rate, but man, that's a high dollar amount rate for the amount of work you got.
Absolutely.
You know one of the things is that the immediate impact of this was really apparent to me to me until I realized how my network had expanded. So, agents who were on the buying side and had no knowledge of my company. We're now hearing that my company was doing the repairs right. So, I not only gained the selling agent but also the work from the buying agent. Right. And in the middle of all that were the customers both buying or selling who potentially would provide me with more work.
And it was a wonderful situation to find myself in because in a lot of cases, the clients buying the house, had ideas for what they wanted to add or update after the closing. And, I was the first person they came to their mind because I did the repairs on the-- on the real estate repair side.
So, yeah. Okay, let me stop because I just don't think that everyone is comprehending and if you are, I just want to make this another aha! moment by sending out those e-mails that actually put you in front of four potential customers. It does. Well, it's actually six potential customers. Well, it is a bigger deal with real estate teams. You're correct.
Two-- two bookends of your agents and (then the buyer and seller) buyer and the seller. And then, if you have couples, I mean the numbers, you get the point-- it's a lot of people-- it's a lot! Yeah. It's-- it's not one. (It's multiples.)
Yeah. And so, with the example of the the 15 realtors. Let's just say give me one job each. That's forty-five new jobs, right? I can tell you that if you impress a realtor, they will always use you for their own clients. And, they will absolutely refer you to future clients. Or, thirdly, they'll refer you internally to the network of agents because they're always having this problem.
So, the benefits of Hardisty real estate leads are honestly exponential. Now, I will say to people this process does lend itself specifically to general contractors. And, the reason behind this is because general contractors are capable of doing a wide range of trade work for customers-- especially contractors. They may find results that vary from what I've mentioned, so mostly because they are limited in the amount of work they can do. So, a contractor can pull permits and this and that. So, just know that when you're going into this, if you're a specialty guy who just does dry wall, well I'm sure you can get drywall work. But a general contractor, who comes to that same realtor and says I can do it all, is going to trump you every time because realtors do not like having 15 different subs on an inspection report. They want one time, get it done, get it out.
Well, at least that they have to have that license-- that license contractor just to show for the receipts and stuff.
That's correct. In fact, it says on inspection reports at least it's here in South Carolina and other places. I'm sure there's reciprocity in the thought process. But idea as it says-- MUST BE INSPECTED. Or not say it's a must. It says "have a license contractor review the work" or whatever And that's another kind of side business if you will-- with potential with real estate agents is. In South Carolina-- in Charleston specifically, we have a report. It's called SEAL 100. And this report is independent of a regular inspection report. So a regular inspection report tells you about door latches, sinkers are not working in light bulb, and all that kind of stuff.
The seal 100 is specific to structural and relates to termite damage, water damage, mold build, do that kind of stuff. Well, everybody, in fact that the mortgage companies require SEAL 100 to close on houses and Charleston. So, this report, and we're in the low country, right? It's called the Low Country for a reason, it's like that. So, a lot of times, we see stuff like surface mold or we'll find serious issues like the seals under the house or Roded or there's other things.
Well, you cannot close on a house without that seal 100 being cleared by a licensed contractor. That means that Joe Schmooze out there, who doesn't have a contractor's license, cannot clear that. It will not go through. You have to have your license. There's a separate one sheet you have. But, what's beautiful about it, is outside of the inspection reports, you have another potential avenue of doing work and-- a lot of cases, I'm extremely fair to my customers.
I never want to screw somebody over because I think karma will come back and bite you. So, a lot of contractors will be like "ha ha they got popped for mold mildew". They're already scared. I'm going to tell them it's a thousand dollars and try to squeeze--NO! Because a lot of times you can remediate it very simply, quickly. Or the things that are noted on the SEAL 100 they'll say things like past bore holes in the silt. Well, we look at it, it's structurally sound. Well, guess what? We're not going to charge you five thousand dollars to do that. But we will-- we charge every time for a SEAL 100 sign off letter, we charge 150 dollars to the customer.
So whether we do the work or we just go out there look at it and sign off, we have another potential money out of there.
That's just another way to get some money to pay for investment.
Yeah. It really is. It is a sweet way of getting us to-- with our time, effort to go out there and then put our contractor license on it.
It's worth the time. We don't really make money. But again, back to the point, and I think the other podcast that I mentioned is, you know, you're going to wow people if they get doom and gloom from a report and you go look it's not as bad. We're not-- you don't have to do all this. It's just a simple sign if you can see the stress come off that was sold again. Building trust this got to be straight. Yeah, you charge three hundred and fifty dollars, but I get it. Source less time effort and all that. So you know, it is a nice way of getting that.
So, one thing I want to caution people, the contractors and people that are listening right now, is to you know do not be duped by real estate agents and are real estate agents nefarious?-- No they're not. Are there a lot of bad ones? -- Absolutely. And there's a lot of lazy ones and there's a lot of young ones. There's a lot of part time ones there's a lot of people that aren't good.
So, when you're going through this, you've got to separate the wheat from the chaff and you've got to find the real estate agents that have, you have their best interest in mind and their client's best interests in mind. But they reciprocate that back to you.
If a real estate agent is always throwing you under the bus or last minute or whatever, I don't want to work with you-- you're a problem. And that's what a successful company gets to pick and choose who they work for. So, maybe not initially but that was a growing pain with some of these I jokingly told people: you're fired. Like the Trump I'm like "no I'm done". I can't deal with you. You're too hard to work with and I don't like the way you do business so I don't have to work with you. So I now have, to this current day, I have about out of that number of 15.
Like an accordion way out. And then I brought it until about 10 that I work with on a regular basis. And four that I do work with every month. You know that you're just weird.
I mean, well I know I know that it can be and its but it's like any, you know, you've got-- you've got a niche and you got to find the ones that are-- that are worth it to you. That you can build a relationship with, that you trust them, they trust you and it's you. Because good real estate agents are looking for team members. To help make their life easier, to make their business successful. And then you've got other real estate agents are just looking for people to get for thirty-five dollars an hour to get in and get it down. It doesn't matter what it looks like or to just say that it's fixed and knows enough people you want to do business with.
Yeah, it's absolutely true. And one thing that another-- I don't call it a cautionary tale, but something that you should know and this specific-- specific vein of leads that you get is, I do not charge when somebody comes to me and they're a homeowner they call and say "Hey Jonah I want you to give me a price on redoing my kitchen when I come out". I do not charge them any fee for estimates. I think it's a joke for a homeowner to get a fee for an estimate.
That's what we're here to do it's a cost of doing business right. However, there is a very deep caveat when it comes to buying and selling property. And I learned this the hard way and I'm a pretty quick learner and I cut it off really fast. But I was going out for a couple of these bad realtors and they said "Oh can you tell us how this is the inspection report. We'd like to have X Y and Z X can you give us a price?" And I'd have to go out, look at it, take my time, give it to them, crickets, crickets, and then I'd say "Hey just tell him what happened", "Oh we just we negotiated that off of the sales price". "Oh, OK I'm sorry I spent my day took my time out of my job to come help you negotiate". So, in real estate transactions, for those listening, do not be afraid to charge a estimating fee.
I say: hey look if you want me to come out here you don't own the house. You're looking to buy it. I'm going to charge you and I can-- this price at where I sit now, I can charge. You may want to charge less and I'm totally fine but I charge people 200 dollars. Because I know if you're serious or not. Right? Right. So, I say: hey I charge 200 dollars. I will come out. I will give you a static binding estimate on whatever you want. I'll shake hands with you know, whatever. But you'll get it for me a binding estimate. But you're going to give me 200 dollars when you meet with me and I'm going to turn that estimate over to you. Now, at the end of the day you can use that however you want. You can choose to negotiate the price, you can say oh I spent 200 dollars to learn something I don't care. Or, if you say Jonah we want you to fix this work.
I'll knock the 200 dollars off of the price and I'll do the work for you. Right. And that's a way of keeping honest people honest. And say: hey look this is my time effort. I'm in Charleston right now. As I stand here now, we are slammed, right? So, I don't have time for this. This kind of stuff in my business and I've grown up to the point where I don't need to go to things that aren't going to have results from them and it sounds kind of pompous but I don't know where I'm at now.
You move from one-- one spectrum to another spectrum and along the way you've learned the lessons. Like many of us have. That you would do what you can do, what you want to and what you should do and you don't mind doing stuff like that as long as you're going to get paid for your time. And you know what, it does. You always have to learn like what you say has reactions, right? You've got to look at-- empathy is the thing that's lost in today's youth because you can sit on a phone and call somebody fat and then you're like them I feel good about myself . I'm going to go make a sandwich and you don't know what the other person is like--you know, feeling. But when you have to look at somebody or interact with them and see when you say something like I'm going to charge you two hundred dollars. And the reason I'm doing this is because I wanted to be fair to you and to me.
But I'm going to I'm going to pay it back to you. If you react in a good way you know you'd say yes to the estimate or what I noticed in watching people is they said: OK not a problem or some people would go $200-- That's a joke. There's other people doing it for free and I'd go. You're right. And you should use them and I'd walk because I don't want to-- if that's how you're going to be about this, and not be thinking clearly-- you're not the client for me. You're going to be a pain in my butt from all from start to finish (because there's no value in your time). Exactly, exactly. You already treat me a certain way.
So, it's a great way to just, you know, kill a conversation quickly or to gauge if a person is interested. And I will tell you, I'm not kidding. Eight out of ten times that I charge 200 dollars for an estimate. They got some skin in the game, right? So, they want to they end up coming back. So, it's kind of like you know, it's a little bit of a sticky wicket but it keeps them coming back and saying "well you know we can use our 200 dollars off ". When you're doing this guys and ladies contractors out there who are listening, just keep in mind to build an extra 200 dollars somewhere in your in your estimate. If you really want to be honest. You can do that. There's nothing wrong with that. Which can be-- because you did spend your time. Let's be honest.
You spent your time, your effort to do it. So, I would never tell anybody not to do that. Or you can say, "you know what Jonah, the way I look at this, I'm just going to take it off because my best estimate. I don't think anybody would think bad of you on either side of that because this is the business that we're in. That's something that's totally acceptable in my opinion.
Well, yeah and I think that like the other day I’ve, you know, the other day I got a call and everyone said I'll get a call. And you know, can you come give me an estimate? Sure. Do I have to be there? Yes. Why?
You know I would really like to know what you need done. "Well, I want my house painted" And I can go "Is there any repairs?" Well I don't know. So, they just really-- they want a price they don't want you, your value or what you can bring to the table. So, I said you know most people, I'm going to I'm going to start saying, you know, mine was going to be 150. We're going to do, you know, it's going to cost you 150 dollars for us to come out and do an estimate. We'll give you a 10 or 15-page report line item everything. But if you're going to be there, we would be happy to do it for nothing. Yeah, you're exactly right. People who do not want to be at a job, now, if they're in Boston and they're buying a house down here in Charles, I get it.
Yeah that's a different time, I do that a lot of times, too.
Yeah, but if they're like: No no no just go. Just go figure it out. It's like no no no that's not how this works. I want to-- I want to look at you, I want to talk to you or Schumann’s. I want to hear what you want. Because guess what? I can give you that estimate and you weren't here. And then all of a sudden, you'll come back and go "Oh that's not what I wanted". Well, that's funny because you weren't here. Yeah.
So. So and you know, one thing I've come across when it comes to estimates, and this is getting outside of the no cost construction process, but I think when you do give these estimates, contractors please be aware of this. The devil is in the details. You cannot be over descriptive in your estimate and a lot of times, it's going to cover your butt big time. Some contractors think, well some contractors think if they're vague, they can hide numbers. No no no. You should never do that. You shouldn't be line item by line item. Like an inspection report. I've written up an estimate that is a 102-line item estimate before. And it killed me to do it. But guess what? The client was able to chew every bit of that off and it said replace fan, customer supplies the fan. There was never a question if they said oh I didn't know I had to supply the fan that estimate you accepted and said it it's on paper. It's cost. Sorry. So yeah. And then and that's in reality. I know we're you know off the subject, but it goes to the value, is that you're creating your value by making those line items. Because, you know, just like last time I was in a post the other day so I'm going to do a thing and you know how come. How do you charge-- I can't charge fifty dollars an hour to paint? And I'm like why are you charging by the hour? First of all. I said it's not in the painting-- it's in the details.
Tell them what you're going to do? What are you going to print? What are you going to do? Are you going to move? What are you going to clean? What are you going to cover? You know what are you going to-- How many coats of paint? What are you going to put back? Are you going to vacuum up after? See, because it's not about to paint, anybody can paint.
Yeah. It's about getting through the process from the beginning-- of moving the furniture and you make it as labor intensive as possible in your wording. So, they are going to say "Damn! I don't want to do that. I had a guy come in and do it. "
Yeah it's funny, it's like you never. One of the best examples of my own business that I had happened one time, and it never happened again was back to the painting thing. You know, I always tell clients look if you're going to say money anywhere sure you can pay. Are you going to be good at it? Probably not, but if you're if you painted it you're going to be satisfied with your paint job, right? Because you pay somebody.
But the thing that I did, I remember one time the customer came to me and said we were building a affricate. It was like doing some moldings or something and they said "we'll paint we'll paint the molding will do the walls everything."
I said No problem. Took that paint line item off, got done. Get done with the job I'm coming to get a final payment. And they're like "Uhh, yes so it says--or not it says-- they said there's nail holes and it needs to get caught in all this other stuff and I got out. That's the painter’s problem. That was my line item said paint included. Call me a hole feel everything. You're on that. They're like "No, my dad told me Bubba". And I don't care what your dad said. You're being lazy and trying to save money. I'm not coming back to do that if I'm not going to be painting, right? So that was an example of when, and I still to this day have clients who want to paint them alone, And I'm very specific. I have a thing that says client understands they will call Phil Nail hole bla bla.
So, well I ended up-- usually nobody likes to do that. So, I ended up usually I paint. You know, quote was just for simplicity you know six hundred dollars. I'm like "oh yeah". Three hundred of profit. You get that work back and its good money maker. You don't lose all of them just doing all that. But that's we're getting back to the estimates. That saves me a lot of the times. It saves me in being able to go back and reference and say I don't remember that. Well, that's fair or you might not have remembered that, but do you remember reading the estimate into my contract? Because that's gospel. And that's what we're going by. And it says. You're filling the nail holes. And so, you may get somebody wants to debate to the Kalkbrenner tone about that, but they can't debate what's on paper what they sign. So, it's like whatever at the end of the day. So that's where estimate. It can be helpful in that and in the sense of having it line item down like that. Cooley. So, let's go back to let's go back to the Realtors for a moment.
Now, when you picked out your realtor, because you were just starting out in business you just went and you just picked out the realtors in your area. And the ones that you-- that got the just the ones in your area that you felt that it would be out. Because you're just looking for business. But now, how would you do it?
Yeah I think when I was first doing it, I didn't really care. To be honest. I think I looked up realtors and Charleston and I didn't-- I wasn't looking like reviews, right? Because reviews on a realty agency doesn't tell about the individuals that you just said somebody to a good experience. So, you can't use that.
But, for one thing-- I mean different realty companies are predominant in certain areas. Carolina, one is big here. As an example--excuse me-- but you may have Century 21 or provincial or somewhere in your area. So just be cognizant when you're driving around. Who do you see a lot of the signs for? That means they probably have a lot of agents that's a good place. But, even more simple than that. I just zoned in through a Google search and started plugging away. I just went to the Web sites and started going into it. If I was doing it nowadays, I would still probably take the same approach because you will find the gems inside of the gems being the real estate agents inside of different agencies.
So, I've had bad experiences with agents at one Realty and also great ones at the same ones. Your kind of, you know, weave your path and there's a lot of good agents at bad Realty. So, don't forget also to don't overlook the more boutique firms that aren't with these national brands. They may be more centralized to local-- the local area. Those sometimes are good because they are Neish or a specialty boutique agency that deals sometimes in a lot more high-quality contracts for you. So, you know you may be going from five hundred thousand-dollar houses to the one point five million dollar range or what not.
So, they're all valid.
Yeah, I'm looking up for upscale realtors. So, you know, five hundred-- I don't know, what's your average house is sold for up there. I know you are premises historic places it is kind of pricey. Well, it's funny because it does. That's such a loaded question. Like everybody else. In what area of town, you live in?
Well, it is. But I mean, Charleston is an expensive town as a whole. We have Kiawah Island but Oprah and a bunch of people live 30 minutes from here. So, there's 22 million-dollar houses there, right? That's kind of skewed that a little bit. But, we also have downtown where the houses are in anywhere between 11 to 15-million-dollar range. But to answer your question, on average, you're probably looking at 450 to five hundred thousand dollars. About the average sale price for a home here and then as you get to barrier islands or isn't on the water. And that could skew greatly. But yeah in general that's about the price.
So really, so let's talk to you guys out there you can niche it to any anywhere you want. You want five hundred thousand, you come from working with five hundred thousand homeowners, come from working with million-dollar homeowners. And those are realtors you want to target. Yeah. And keep in mind that if you're looking for inspection reports and little knickknacky stuff to do to start with. But you-- that is a different-- when you deal with a client who owns the one point five-million-dollar house, there is a whole different kind of line of thinking and business that you just can't, you can't do it half butt. How about that?
Yeah, if you're sorted out, don't go there.
Yeah, don't go there built into that. And then you know, and then you'll be successful.
Right. So that's been cool. It's really been awesome. Yeah, I know some of the things that we used to do, because there's a painting company we would do a lot. We would do a little bit of repairs that didn't need permits stuff like that. And what we would do is, when we went back, you know, when the homeowner comes back to do other things like other painting jobs after they bought the house, what we would do is we would just write a note to the realtor. Say "Hey just so you can put it in your file. You know, Bob and Susie just had their house painted and such and such a date so they can put in their files". So there.
So, because I'm becoming a team member for that realtor. Let them know what's going on so that when they-- if they're playing their cards right, realtor, and keeping in touch with their clients. They're going to sell their house again but they'll have a portfolio. We know you get this done in this town and this done. So, we're in good shape. We know you don't have to do that.
Exactly. Exactly.
This has been awesome!
Yeah appreciate it. Thanks for letting me do round.
No, it's really cool because it's nice to talk to somebody who's in the trenches, has done the things, made the mistakes and bounced back from to actually turn those mistakes into successes. So that's really what makes us successful. It's just bouncing back from our mistakes or things-- tweaking things as we go along because there's-- I mean it's come on, to say that you can become successful by doing the one thing is a phenomenon. Let's put it that way. Yeah it's the one thing that I'm most proud about is that when I got into this, I didn't act like I knew everything. And you know, just like the listeners, you can you can read, you can listen, get advice from other people, ask questions, learn along the way, learn from your mistakes, but continue to evolve. And I promise you, if you keep your head down and your nose clean and you do it the right way, you will find success in the end. So, to everybody listening, keep your heads up and keep a positive attitude about it you'll be successful.
Absolutely. So, Jonah how does--give us your e-mail so if anyone want to e-mail, ask some questions or connect with you. So, we can do that. Yeah fee free for anybody listening. If you want to reach out to me with questions or comments about the show today or anything you can always reach me directly at jonahcanter@gmail.com. That's J O N A H CANTER at gmail.com. Or for more fun side of me, I'm a big instagrammer. So, you can check me out on my personal account which is @chucktown or you can find me on the Canter construction Instagram. Give me a follow. Give me a like some of the pictures. Feel free to reach out to me any way you want to. Awesome thanks so much for being with us. It has been a blast. Thanks Dave. Until next time.
For inquiries about the CANTER CONSTRUCTION, you can reach them at: To connect with Jonah Canter Gmail: jonahcanter@gmail.com http://www.canterconstructionsc.com Instagram: @canterconstruction @chucktown (personal account…me being goofy)
There are so many ways to do almost free marketing you just have to think about it or you could just go to the web site and pick up the free download. 4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business with Customers If you have a story to tell and would like to be a guest on this podcast email my assistant Shell at Shell@contractorssecretweapon.com and she will send you our guest sheet.
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Thu, 18 January 2018
You must Stop Your Competition for Stealing you Customers .If my customers don’t remember who I am then it’s MY fault because I’m not keeping in touch with them. So, if your customer got stolen from you because you didn’t use the proper tools to actually keep in touch with them and build that relationship, it is YOUR fault. Having a newsletter actually builds a relationship with your customer and, if designed properly, they will read the whole thing, and may even pass it on to a friend or a family member. I’ve actually booked business this way. I’ve gone to an appointment and I my newsletter is on the refrigerator . Out of all the forms of marketing, the monthly newsletter to me is the most valuable marketing tool that is available. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not giving up on any of my marketing strategies, but if someone came up to me and put a gun to my head and said, “You have to give up all of your marketing, but you can only keep one”, the answer would be my newsletter. It would win hands down. I ran the numbers from tracking the newsletter and 32% of my business in 2014 I attribute to my customers actually receiving my newsletter. Here is the wild factor..for every dollar spent on sending out my newsletter, I receive $21.37 in return. That’s an excellent return on investment. Will everyone receive that kind of return? Probably not, maybe yes, maybe no, maybe more. If you’re not building a relationship with your customers, then you are not going to be able to be that “go to person”. You’re not going to be an “expert” because you’re just another guy. I think if you’ve listened to our podcast, we talk a lot about not being a commodity, of being a value to your customers. When you keep in touch with them on a regular basis you’re being a value to them because you’re doing something that no one else does. Why is that? Every month you don’t communicate with your customers the relationship that you’ve having built decreases. Here is a very interesting thing as far as building that relationship is concerned. It needs to be done on a monthly basis. Proven fact that if it’s done every 90 days, then you might as well not even send one out, because they are going to forget about you. The consistency of doing it monthly is key. Five ways newsletters will grow and profit your business.
E-mail versus regular mail Newsletters Almost about everyone has an email address, but you can be guaranteed everyone has a physical mailing address. With today’s email and the way everyone is using it, you are lucky if your open rate is close to 15%. Sure, I know people who have 50 plus percent open rates, but they are proficient at writing catchy subject lines. When a hard copy newsletter is delivered to a house it has a 100% open rate, because it’s designed like a flyer with news articles on it. So it’s in your face. How do I know this? Because like you I bring the mall in the house and separate it into two piles…one pile gets opened and one gets thrown away. Every month they are getting something from me that’s keeping me in front of them and I am reminding them of who I am and what I do. What makes a bad newsletter? Mistakes most people make when they publish their newsletter. I see a lot of newsletters that are just down right ‘boring’ it’s just the biggest waste of money. I’ve seen one from a dentist who tells you all about teeth and gums and everything about the mouth. I don’t really want to know about that. You must keep your newsletter from being BORING. What you’re trying to achieve is again to build that relationship. It’s the relationship that builds long lasting businesses. If there’s no relationship, then there’s no business. Another mistake is allowing people to advertise in your newsletter and then you are advertising monthly specials for your business. I think this is a big mistake. I think that it can be done occasionally, but for the most part, it’s not a good thing because the newsletter is being thought in your customers mind as a non-threatening instrument to read. It’s a publication, it’s not an advertising tool so be careful. If you are going to run a special or want to advertise a business or businesses or even specials, I recommend that they be on an insert. It’s strange but the insert breaks the barrier of the advertisement. It keeps the newsletter personal. Newsletters are a great way to reactivate old customers If you haven’t been consistent or do not at this point do a newsletter, and then it’s a great way to reactivate former customers. Most people stop doing business with you because they feel like you didn’t care about them (this is statistics from the Rockefeller Corporation). Sixty-eight percent of consumers’ leave because they think that a business doesn’t care about them. That’s crazy, right? No, it’s not crazy because that’s what happens – people don’t feel like you care about them. Let’s get started today, let’s start the process. Hopefully, we’ve given you the basics of everything you need to do to start your own newsletter. I’m sure that we gave you enough information on the importance of doing a newsletter, or why you want to do it. It’s because you want more profit, you want your customers to stay with you for as long as humanely possible, and because you’ve you want to build a long lasting relationship with them.
There are so many ways to do almost free marketing you just have to think about it or you could just go to the web site and pick up the free download.
4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business with Customers If you have a story to tell and would like to be a guest on this podcast email my assistant Shell at Shell@contractorssecretweapon.com and she will send you our guest sheet.
Our sponsors Would you like your phone to ring more with qualified buyers people looking to buy now? Then let’s make that happen. Best Home Services Leads is dedicated to making your phone ring with qualified buyers wanting to buy now. Go to and fill out the form to get more information. http://contractorssecretweapon.com/money How about 100 free postcards sent out to your best prospective customers. Radius Bomb sends out hyper targeted, laser focused postcards using a map while sitting in your under ware at your kitchen table then go to http://contractorssecretweapon.com/radiusbomb Painting Contractors, get up to a 24% better response rate just for having the right memorable telephone number 1-800-PRO-PAINTER.Check out your area before someone beats you to it and it’s not available. https://www.1800propainter.com/ |
Wed, 17 January 2018
State of the Entrepreneur 6 critical success factors John Bowen. Six things that can help you grow your business to exponential growth. One, you want to nail. Now you want world-class customer experience. You want to scale. You want to scale your business, so it will grow. You want to systematize it so that you don't become the key driver. The systems become the slave to the business you want to monetize it. You want to increase your profitability. You want to bring people in that will help you build equity and create more profit within your business. You want to keep it. Some of that money for personal finance your personal future and then
Hey, this is Dave Negri with Contractors Secret Weapon. Today, I have a really neat guest with us today John Bowen and John has written a book coauthored with Dan Sullivan Joe powers the state of the occupation. It's a study that did have about 3500 business owners on six key topics that made them successful. The six key things. That six top things that did. And so, as we go through the interview today that the talk I just want to take notes because these are some really cool and poignant things that are the gold nuggets that will help you grow your business. But let me tell you a little bit about John. He’s a successful entrepreneur and founder of four multimillion dollar companies including AESNation.com, A financial advisers like CEG Worldwide during his experience the financial advisor or managing assets upwards of $25 billion. He found that most institutions and advisers lack the strategy necessary to build a practice that would make them indispensable to the ideal affluent quietly building a great quality of life. This led to founding CEG Worldwide organization in 2000 and continues to grow. John is a prolific author of more than 15 books to his name and a regular columnist for The Huffington Post and financial planning. He’s also the host of Accelerating Entrepreneurial Success Podcast. So, you're going to get a treat today. John has got some awesome things. Let's welcome him. John, I just want to thank you today for being with us and sharing your book with us the stuff that you got from the State of the entrepreneur. Dave, it's a real pleasure. I have a tremendous respect for my fellow entrepreneurs. And I was blessed with Dan Sullivan a strategic coach and Joe Polish of Genius Network and the three of us said you know nobody's really doing research on successful entrepreneurs and what separates the most successful among us and we have the privilege of going to both, all three of our audiences and said “Hey would you fill out almost a half an hour survey with us?” and we had 3500 entrepreneurs do it. So, we've gotten great insights that we've got tonight. You know I love making that available and we'll be making that available to all your listeners. That would be awesome. So, as you, as you put together your data and stuff and you come up with these six, I'm sure you can with more factors but I'm sure there are six keys ones like you said earlier that are the most prevalent to me. So, what are they? Well you know it's really what happens so often Dave and businesses when we get in we're all a little bit ignorant. We think business is simple and then all of a sudden it gets so complex we get overwhelmed. And one of the things I know you want to do and I want to do is we want to help our fellow entrepreneurs you know get on the right side of complexity and make it simple again and when we did that we saw six things. If you did these six things well it didn't matter what business you were in. This is what you need to do to be very, very successful. And so, when we kind of go I would go high level. I'll go right on my off-court date and then let's dive in a little bit on each. OK, excellent. So, first one is you've got to nail it no matter what business you're in. You're got to deliver a world-class customer or client experience you have to you know. Anybody with money has choices in today's world. Second, is you have to be able to scale it. So, once you got that client experience you've got to be able to scale it and really attract a steady stream of customers clients and then once we have that. I mean that's really those are the foundation of any business.
But what happens is that at certain levels it's different in every business model. We kind of peter out we can't do any more until we organize it. We have to really make our business systematic. And then why we're doing all this. What we've got to do is monetize it we've got to increase profitability the margins and increase the value the equity value in our business. And then boy you know we're building this great business and that's all really good. But we have to keep some of the money to get to build our personal well. We've got to take care of the people we love and the causes we care about. So, we've got to create the personal financial freedom so that we can make the decisions irrespective of our business.
And then really, we're in business not for more business. We're in business to support a great quality of life. We've got the 6 one is we've got to live it. And that's enjoying a great quality of life for all those around of us.
Every stakeholder is our clients and customers. Our teammates, your partners, we have shareholders and obviously our families and ourselves, Dave. Yeah, that's awesome. It's just amazing. And you know like you said we make it complex so making it simple. I like that part.
Well you know it's really the more and the simple a lot of times is nothing more than getting focused. So often in business you know we're all. Once we started having the success we started thinking we're really talented and we forget that if we can just focus in on that one thing, I always go back and think of city slickers where Curly says all you got to do is one thing and that's it. And in business, it is that when we start doing too many things, that's when we run into problems.
Wow. And that one thing could be multiple. I mean really it could be the wow factor or it could be delivery service or is it could be multiple of things but like you said the one thing that you're really good at that's the one thing and nobody's going to steal from it.
What I like. There's a fellow I work to a Joey Coleman and I did a podcast with him as well and I'm praying name of his company Dave. But Joey has his concept of the first hundred days and I would encourage all our fellow entrepreneurs to think about what is that you know if somebody decides to engage you to work with you. What're the hundred days? And you know as a contractor sometimes you may know, you may only come in for one piece of business but the reality is the hardest piece of business to get in any business is that first step. And if we can get them so that they're having an experience with us that they're going to use us ongoing. And it's as you said, Dave, wow so they want to share us with their friends.
And boy the ability to social media anymore. You know so often that we're finding a lot of the people we want to work with. And we're hearing from others how well they're doing. That's really made so many avenues have opened today to get business rolling for us. Well, let's go to number two.
Which is what we're what we're looking at here is scaling that and so we now have a great experience and we're really doing something well and to the extent that we can create a steady stream and this is the one thing we all want. I don't know that I've ever met anybody who said I don't want any more customers, any more clients you know and actually I can say a few people but they usually just don't want to grow their business.
They're kind of in the process of getting out of the business right. If you want to build you know the substantial business, be an entrepreneur you've got to have that steady stream of clients coming in and you know what. We live in a great time Dave because what's going on with today with the internet. The ability to market and lower cost. I mean you know the big thing is to be able to buy a page in the Yellow Pages was very hard to differentiate ourselves. Now we have so many different ways to reach out but we can never forget that the most important source is referrals and it's not only client referrals but it's also those strategic partners that we have.
And we do a lot of research in this and we find that the most successful business owners and how many successes, it's hard to measure. Success means different things to different people but add a million or more-net income. We count as very successful in every business.
And what they're doing is usually over half is through strategic partners. They're looking, they see the gatekeepers. You know I do a lot of work with financial advisers, and it’s the accountants and attorneys are there. There were contractors. Depending on your service. Who is somebody that already has all your clients that would be perfect for you? Building strategic relationships with them are so powerful.
Yeah, because I mean really, I'm just thinking about it now that static. That cut your marketing cost is almost zero. Well, I'm just thinking of you know at a fella a good friend that just moved out of the area about a year ago. But he was unbelievably talented kind of new in remodeling and he was a terrible marketer but you know just a great technician but not a business person. And we sat down over a drink and I said he got to do something Mark with us and he goes. Well you know you know can you refer.
And I go, Mark, I'm only one client I'm you know I might be able to introduce you when it comes up but why don't you go to where it is. And I introduced him to a couple of good friends that were the top architects in our area for remodels. And then he never you know he got all the business that he ever needed.
Yeah and that's rather than you know all you know the yellow pages that are the social media on Facebook. You know, let's think bigger where to do those people, where are they already that they have a trusted relationship with someone that you can earn. Think beyond the one g’s and the two-g’s individual client. Think about the people that already have your client.
And it's a lot more fun and then-then organized systematically you know we want to have our business systematic and the reason for that is you know if we were always doing one-off stuff, it becomes very, very difficult. We want to be successful on purpose. We want to take deliberate actions to whatever the goals that we're looking to do and we want to do it very efficiently. The more streamlined, the more effective it's going to be.
And this is where you know I love flow charting out exactly what we're going to do. Putting it in writing so it becomes real. And that is you know we're just seeing that over and over again that's transformational for most businesses. Because they get an “I” on it yeah. Well, what it does is they start looking that when we start mapping it out in the beginning. I know I had this experience I've got multiple businesses. I've been very successful over the years. I’ve been very fortunate blessed.
And I've had the chance to work with. You know we do research on every level of wealth all the way up to what we call the super-rich people with 500 million or more and I think we've done as much research on billionaires as anyone. And what we see is they really are focused and they're very queer oftentimes they're not the person doing the operational side, but they have somebody that just maps it out and anything that's not important is killed. You know they're going to make it as simple and elegant as possible. And this improves not only the quality of life of the entrepreneur, the contractor but also the team around it they love it and they'll work with you to simplify it. And that's where it really becomes great.
Yeah. And I would have imagined so. Well let's talk about you know as we do so we're going to nail it, we’re going to deliver a great experience, we're going to scale up. We're going to start having that steady stream of clients coming in. Then we're going to organize it so we have the processes are in place we have written procedures to do that then we're going to monetize it because now we've got it working so we can make it more profitable.
So, we're looking at you were working with someone who can get a virtual CFO but having somebody that really is outside the business is looking at the financials and looking at kind of what the exceptions are what can we do to actually make this more profitable. And what we find over and over again, there are so many ways to increase profitability and when we're so busy in our business doing it doing it doing it we don't see that.
And then as we do that the value of our business increases because now we've got the systems we become less important to the You've and the value if-if you choose to sell your business you know just goes up significantly.
And then what I like most about this is you know kind of the concept of keeping it. Creating personal financial freedom is so important because as we increase the profitability we to take some of the money out of our businesses so tempting to keep on investing and invest in invest in it. You know growing the business. But as we take it out and we build our personal wealth, we now have some freedom because we all know stuff happens and we're not going to be able to take really be successful in our business.
If we don't have the capital resources and this is something Dave I really feel passionate about because of my dad, I grew up in upstate New York. Had a great life a small town of 4000 but my father and uncle were one of the major employers. Number two employer with 400 employees and the cast iron foundry business.
And he gave me every dirty job in the pluckiness and I was kind of being groomed to run it down the road. I was the oldest son and lo and behold in my junior year in college, I'm waiting for the call to hear that I'm going to get the air-conditioned job. Finally, this year and he calls me and he tells me you know Don I've got some bad news is your uncle and I are going to put the foundry in the bankruptcy. I'm going to go out. He's going to wind it up I'm going to go get a job because I need the income.
Oh, and your mom and I are going to get a divorce. And it's like it was at that moment I mean I reflected and I just like standing there in shock and I go, daddy, you’re going to be OK? and the toughest thing was when he said I don't know. And this is where I at that moment I really didn't want that ever happening again. And you know I changed my major. Focused on financial and one of the top financial advisers in the country and me sold my businesses in ‘98. I started small mutual fund company manages a couple of billion dollars of money for top executives here in Silicon Valley.
And then I did sports and entertainment about CEO of a sports and entertainment financial group that had six hundred clients. The vast majority are you know there they were. We had the most NFL quarterbacks as well as a lot of people in front of the camera and I saw they were screwing up too and this was you know I just see this as universal Dave in a business owner. We have so many opportunities to really plan and I got to tell you even more about this new tax law to be so important to get advice.
I was just talking with a bunch of twelve hundred dollars in our tax attorney before we got together here and you know they show many things that we're all going to be able to do. We're going to need to make sure we're working with the right people because we have a not too silent partner working with us. The government taking what we want it to be fair and equitable. There's a lot of planning that we can do and then you know the last part is as we're doing all this we've got to live we've got to enjoy a great life.
And I find too many business people. We get caught up with as we're all about business. And then people tell us we have a balance and I don't believe in balance. I believe in harmony. You know I've got a wife of 37 years that hasn't always been balanced. I've got I don't have children but I've got up an awful lot of interest a whole bunch of things gone out of my life multiple businesses.
And what you do if you want to design your life to be successful on purpose and have those fun things you've got to schedule. I got to tell you a behaviorist tell us Dave six weeks out of the year we should be taking off to recharge ourselves. Most entrepreneurs we can't unless we schedule that early on. But that forces us to do all the other steps to get our business in such great shape that it's going to run without us which creates so much excuse me so much value.
Yeah, I like that thought six weeks out of the year. I mean here we need it recharge and you know so many of us are just going to feel like I've ever read that money right yeah.
And you know, in particular, I mean the demands on you know the profession that you were just you know where it's nonstop and there are shortages of contractors at least in my area and the demand. You know if we don't carve out time for yourself you beat yourself up and you know nobody's going to appreciate that. Right. You're not going to be of service to anyone you know at the end of the day.
This has really been awesome. I got two pages of notes here. I was just looking and I've got to see how many pages I've got a hundred. Now it's only about 81 pages kind of an almost an e-book type and it's really a great overview. You know one of the things we were talking before we turned on the mike. I do podcasts as well. I have a site called AES Nation. It's accelerating entrepreneurial success AESNation.com Where you'll be able to get this book as well as you know really follow some of the research and interviews that I’m dealing with you know very successful entrepreneurs and you know one of the things we want to do is let's not try to figure it all out ourselves. Let's go with them. You know work with really talented people that help us make it all happen. Yeah because everyone needs a team to grow.
What we do and we don't need them all of them, boys, we can outsource this and this is why I always like to work with people who have already walked the road ahead of me and they know they know how to do it. Dave as yourself. And that's where it really comes together
That’s really awesome. So this really been really intriguing and it just going through those six steps because that's another part of a blueprint that we can do to actually get where we need to be. So, your contact information is basically you want to go to it. How do you listeners the best place to go to find this is www.AESNation.com .
So, I’ll make sure that goes into the show notes and they go to AESNation.com and they can look for a book based on the home page cool and everything we just. A lot of stuff we went over but it'll be a little bit more detail. That would be AWESOME. AWESOME. This is really being awesome. I just want to thank you so much for taking the time to share with us today and your knowledge in this.
You know the six things that are really will help everyone if they implement it too. and then you get to go play golf and you're going to work on the last one. Number Six a good quality of life and I wish everyone else. You know let's go out make a difference. We've got all our current clients and future clients and customers counting on us. We can't let them down so we've got to do well on all six. Wish you the best. All right. Thanks so much.
Hey, I hope you really enjoyed that. John just delivered some killer content. And I just want to just give you a little brief overview and you need to come back and do this again. Take notes because it is six things that can help you grow your business to exponential growth. One, you want to nail. Now you want world-class customer experience. You want to scale. You want to scale your business so it will grow. You want to systematize it so that you don't become the key driver. The systems become the slave to the business you want to monetize it. You want to increase your profitability. You want to bring people in that will help you build equity and create more profit within your business. You want to keep it. Some of that money for personal finance your personal future and then six.
You want to live it your business support. That's why you went into business was to live it. So, let's do that again. Go back. Listen to this again. It is well worth your time to implement a bunch of this stuff into your strategies. Have a great week. Great day. Be profitable and grow your business with your lifestyle.
Connect with John Bowen get the book here http://aesnation.com/assessment/
There are so many ways to do almost free marketing you just have to think about it or you could just go to the web site and pick up the free download.
4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business with Customers If you have a story to tell and would like to be a guest on this podcast email my assistant Shell at Shell@contractorssecretweapon.com and she will send you our guest sheet.
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Tue, 16 January 2018
Simple Micro Hack to Grow Your Contracting Business Exponentially Dave Negri; what if you could to grow your business by 40% without adding any more marketing campaigns with no more postcards, mailers, just by tweaking it just a tad and go through this thing called asset recovery.
Well if I sat down to think that I was going to grow my business by 40%. I would rack my brains and say Man I got to do a ton of work but I'm going to show you today. Now, what if I told you, you could grow your business by 40% without adding any more marketing campaigns. That's no more postcards no more mailers no more just by doing exactly what you're doing now but tweaking it just a tad. And I mean just a tad it just blew me away when I sat down and went through asset recovery. I'm still speechless as I go through it. You know there's a lot of times that we all know things like I knew this and I practiced it a little. But to take it one more step. I actually added 40%. I can actually add 40% to my gross sales. So, before you say I'm crazy to listen to me and you can actually implement this into your business very, very soon like tomorrow. So, let's just take a look at today we're talking about leads when I'm talking about referrals. We'll get back to that maintenance smartening next. And, but today I want to talk about this because I implemented it. It made it tweaked a little bit more than what I was already doing and the results were just fantastic. So here we go. Everyone spending the money for leads. Now the national average for closing leads, the leads that you get is 30% and the contractor around some someone will hire some less. I know in painting roofing plumbing you're doing about 30% on highly paid leads. If you're a builder you're probably doing about 10% to 15% because you're talking about huge high-end stuff. But let's just stay in a room about 3%. Now let's say that you have 100 transactions in your average transactions that you've closed on those hundred is $1,000 so say you've done a hundred thousand dollars’ worth of business. Now that's 30% of the leads that you got. So, you paid for 300 and 30 leads you closed one hundred. Well, what happened to the other 70%? When I sat down and gone through. Well, that's not a bad closing ratio but let's take a look at what the averages are for most people. Of that 70% that, didn't say yes didn't say no. If you moved on to the next sale how many of those people actually will buy within the next year was an amazing. It's him raising a high number 65% of the 70% that didn't close or you didn't close is going to buy from somebody within the next year. So, you've already spent the money on the Lists and you were dropping them out the back end and going after more new leads. So, the whole idea behind asset recovery is to take in work those leads. Well, they didn't say yes but they didn't say no. So, I only sent one to follow up. But now that I know that 70, 65 percent are going to actually buy within the next year, I put in more follow up the process into my, into my sales process. So, am I spending more money on a small tab? Am I implementing any new marketing strategies? No, because I'm actually taking something I hand. I am expanding it out farther so that I can benefit from the results of the money that I've already spent on leads. So, let's just run the numbers for the fun of it. But you've closed a hundred transactions, thousand dollars is your average sale. So, you've done $100,000 hours with business. You've closed 30%. So that means you've purchased 330 leads that you've heard that you pay for. You close to a hundred. So that means there are 230 leads that have dropped off your radar. My radar too. I mean I was just one follow up and I was getting results. But when I come to the realization that 65% of those 230 people are going to buy within the next year they called me and they called you. Why am I not continuing to follow up and follow up, and follow up might as well? So, out of that 230 people that fell off 161 of them. Can you believe that 161 of them are going to buy within the next 12 months from someone the services that they contacted you about? So, what if you only captured 25% of that 161 people that fell off. Think about that. You just captured 25%. Not a going after all of them. Just 25%. That's 40 people. That's 40 sales that you could have if you follow up and followed up and followed up. That's another forty thousand dollars just buy this in an area that's 40% added to your revenue. It's that simple. Now if you had said to me, Dave I want you to increase your business by 40%. I'd be on not looking at this, looking at that. That I had you more marketing strategies. No, it's this simple follow up on leads that you've already paid for. Put together a program that will continually get these people integrated into your system so that you can keep in touch with them at least through the year. Things happen. I've had people say well I'm not going to do it right now something happened. Call me back in a few months. Well, that happens and there's a lot of people that just fall off it or not. They contacted you in the beginning because they wanted to do something. So, might as well just keep following up with them until they say “Hey I had bought or Don't bother me anymore”. So, here's what I do. As soon as I do an ask them a proposal I'll send them a postcard thanking them for the opportunity to do this and to give them an estimate. I thank them for them giving me an opportunity to come out and do an estimate of the needs that whatever they need to be done. You know that goes a long way. Just on that alone, I've gotten business again people that are just like any and when I get a survey they say you know the reason I did business with you is that you sent me that crazy postcard just thanking me for giving you an opportunity. Come on give me an estimate. I felt like you wanted to do business with me. Well, I do you want to do business with them. Now. I added a step further. So, I programmed the card to go out as soon as I come home then I program to other cars for follow up. One goes out in seven days after I've mailed the first postcard thanking them and it's just as “Hey how you doing. Just want to keep in touch with you.” And there's some other stuff I do. But then there's the other postcard that I've been out ten days after that one. And then I schedule one for a phone call in about three weeks. Now in that interim they'll go on my monthly newsletter so that the least know who I am and what I'll do is after two months I'll send them another card in the mail. So yes, some continue to spend money but it's not a whole lot of money. You know, I was talking on an average of let's say your average ticket is a thousand dollars. I know everybody says it. But that was an easy one to work with. What would you be willing to spend to get another 40 customers that you've already got in your file? Would you spend a hundred bucks in marketing over the next year? So, for each one. So that's 4000 to get 40000. Yeah, I think I would and I don't think I would I know I would. I do it all the time. So, it's just not about the money it's about the return. You know you know to send out of 27% postcard to get a thousand-dollar job. I mean it takes a little bit of money but it's not a new program. I mean it is a new program because it's something that you're implementing into your already year process. Your system. It's not like “Oh I had to do more marketing. I got to get more leads.” Well you know you don't have to get any more leads because you can you just never really knew what to do before your closing ratio can now go up and if you're saying well my closing ratio is already better than 30%. Well you know it may be but if you're not tracking it and you're lying to yourself. So, here's just a brief overview. You've paid for 330 leads. You've sold 100 at a thousand dollars a pop. I mean a hundred dollars a pop now. Now that's just right. Thousand dollars a pop. So, you've done a hundred thousand dollars for the business. This could be a month it could be a year really doesn't matter because the numbers are the same. You've got 230 people that you have an additional 230 people that you paid for. Hundred and sixty-one are going to buy within the next year. You want to continue to follow up with those people and follow up with those people until they either buy or they say “Get off my back!” So, remember what Zig Ziglar said. I hope most you know Zig Ziglar was. If you're young and you have to look it up. He said Terry says people have skinny kids just go sell and continue to sell. So, what you need to do is put together your system. Card goes out because when you go do an estimate and they don't say yes right away. Thanking them for the opportunity you just give them a proposal to send out or put in your Hopper automated two or three post postcards or regular cards to go out in increments of seven days and then ten days after that and maybe ten days after that and if you're a phone person then by all means call. I'm not a phone person so I'm not going to call the. Put them on your newsletter list if you don't have a newsletter list. Then listen. In the next couple of weeks, we'll show you how to put together a newsletter and how to create an automated system to do all this stuff for you. Really, it's that simple. And like I said before if you had time me down as David got to grow your business by 40% I would have kicked in screens. There's no way. I just got so much work to do. But really this is a really simple process. You're just adding I'm tacking onto or creating a system that you never had before. But on the back end of your proposals of your leads, it's really simple. So also get minds book, “How to double your profits in six months or less”. You get some tremendous information and error. If you just take one or two things and run with it. Your business will grow. Simple stuff really simple stuff. So today have a great day. Next week we're going to talk about basically how to keep your competition from stealing your customers. So that would be pretty interesting. I know it is one of my favorite subjects. So, have a great week. Thanks for listening to us.
There are so many ways to do almost free marketing you just have to think about it or you could just go to the web site and pick up the free download.
4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business with Customers If you have a story to tell and would like to be a guest on this podcast email my assistant Shell at Shell@contractorssecretweapon.com and she will send you our guest sheet.
Our sponsors
Would you like your phone to ring more with qualified buyers people looking to buy now? Then let’s make that happen. Best Home Services Leads is dedicated to making your phone ring with qualified buyers wanting to buy now. Go to and fill out the form to get more information. http://contractorssecretweapon.com/money
How about 100 free postcards sent out to your best prospective customers. Radius Bomb sends out hyper targeted, laser focused postcards using a map while sitting in your under ware at your kitchen table then go to http://contractorssecretweapon.com/radiusbomb
Painting Contractors, get up to a 24% better response rate just for having the right memorable telephone number 1-800-PRO-PAINTER.Check out your area before someone beats you to it and it’s not available. https://www.1800propainter.com/ |
Mon, 15 January 2018
Ken Tucker Important Local Online Strategies, Specializing in comprehensive integrated marketing strategies and campaigns for small and mid-sized businesses across the US. Specialties include search engine optimization, website design, reputation management, social media marketing, and lead generation marketing automation Hey, this is Dave Negri with Contractors Secret Weapon. Today, I have a fun guess. There's going to be a lot of fun. His name is Ken Tucker. He's the founder of Changescape Web a Small Business Marketing and Website Design Agency specializing in comprehensive integrated marketing strategies and campaigns for small and mid-sized businesses across the US. Specialties include search engine optimization, website design, reputation management, social media marketing, and lead generation marketing automation. And Ken is a Master Duct Tape Marketing Certified Consultant, an Inbound Marketing Certified Professional (since 2010), and an SEO for Growth Certified Consultant. Ken is the author of Social Media Marketing for Restaurants. Coauthored Reputation Management (Marketing Guides for Small Businesses) and this compact guide explains how to create and protect your online reputation. Awesome. This is really awesome. Ken, I just you know thanks so much for being with us and being willing to share your expertise. Thanks, so much Dave, I look forward to it. Cool. Just how did you get started in this crazy business because it's ever changing, ever moving and is no slow pace to it at all, is there? No, not at all. So, I actually started my company in 2005. Prior to that, I had been in the software development business and I had worked on some very large projects for the Department of Defense. I started my company largely focused on the Information Technology Business, Dave, that I had done a lot of web application development and not necessarily marketing websites that business you know business web applications I should say. But I, because I ran an entire division of the company. I had to be responsible for my own marketing and so we took on that role we actually built a team of marketing consultants in India to help us supplement what we were doing here in the U.S. And so, when I started my company in 2008. When the economy took the downturn we just decided hey what do we like to do the most and when we have the most fun with. And we found that that was doing the website design work and then turning that into you know all of the other cool things that you get to do as some digital marketing agents. That's cool cause then you get to see and get to help people and you get the result. Like me and most people they just say oh I want to see the results. I have no crazy idea. Yeah exactly. And you know that's the thing I love about anything that you do from a digital perspective you get. Yes, you can measure and track just about everything. And sometimes there's too much data. Sometimes there's a lot of noise. And you know in terms of data and information that you get that really doesn't mean that much for your business. But at the end of the day if you do it right you can have a lot of accountability. As a matter of fact, I think it's the most accountable way that I know you know to do marketing. Right. Like you said you get that track and see, you get to see what works, what’s not working or and then you can tweak it a little to see and get it to work better or scrap it depends on how many overall applications. Yeah absolutely. And you know one of one of the things that I know, IBM, kind of became famous for after they became kind of the monolith and they had to reinvent themselves when they moved into the digital space. They, you know, they basically developed a strategy of failing quickly. Yeah. Because you're never going to be able to build a perfect solution. So, the goal is having these, have these little experiments you know. Continue to make progress. Be prepared to constantly adapt and change and you're constantly improving and so I kind of liked that model. I mean I don't know that I like necessarily failing, nobody does. But the reality is you're never going to you're never going to know if you're accomplishing anything if you don't have some failures along the way. And we all, we all have those. Right. And the important thing is what do you learn from it. How do you incorporate it and make it better and how do you seize those opportunities? And I think that's one of the biggest challenges that I think most business owners have is that of course, no one likes failing and like you said. But the key thing is to try multiple things at once and instead of one thing to see if it works and then finding out it doesn't work. And then slowly you move on to the next thing and that will drive you crazy in itself. That's right. You don't know obviously you want to set up you know environments that you know and experiments that you can track and monitor you know. I mean when I talk about failure I'm not talking about the catastrophic system. I'm talking about you know like if you were running a Facebook ad for example or Google AdWords Campaign. You know the first month of that is you're going to gather a lot of information that you better be taking and reinvesting the knowledge that you're learning to tweak and optimize that the performance of that ad campaign. And if you do that you're going to be rewarded because your ad is going to perform so much better. The reality is it's hard to make a decision and it's hard to get something set up perfectly from the start. And so, you know you definitely need to think about the structure of when you're when you're moving forward in any event whether it's a Web site design, whether it's copy that you have on your homepage, or call the action button on your homepage. Measure or track it. See what behavior is happening and be prepared to change it. And you know the great thing is there are so many inexpensive tools and solutions that a lot of people can do it themselves. A lot of people may not ever want to mess with that, but you know there's plenty of technology out there for all levels of users. Right. Yeah, I agree. And it's just it's just creating habits, is really all that is. Whether it be five or 10 minutes I mean going into your you know Google Analytics just check see what's going on and little stuff like that. But I agree with you. And it's even I mean it's all forms of marketing because nothing works perfectly out of the case. Yeah. That would be nice because there would be oh I can do it the first time and I think that’s what gets people frustrated that they can't get to a point where they want it to work so bad the first time that they say well it doesn't work and a lot of that I think has to do with the mindset of I need to work. Now. They're not planning for the future. You know what I'm saying. Yeah. Yeah absolutely. And so much of digital you know I mean there are some things that are very immediate and direct but a lot you know we're like the example from search engine optimization perspective, that you know that can take quite a bit of time to really optimize and you get to the point where you work at what you have it working the way you want it to. You know so. So, I think it's important also to strike that balance and you know one of the things that's interesting you know is I often think you know think coming from a software development background I come from my mindset is I think about software development like I think about building a house. OK. You know where you have blue clear blueprints and you have you know different diagrams for you know your different contractors you know the electrical contractors and plumbers and all kind of stuff. Well, you do software very much the same way when you do it on a large scale and especially you know for Department of Defense where you're building software and if that fails people you know people's lives are at stake. Right. Well, I don't see marketing any different than that. And so you know I think it's really important to have some kind of a system that you use to create all of these different blueprints and have these understandings in place, in these different systems in place to be able to build an effective overall marketing system that does kind of start to break down a little bit in that analogy and that application on the marketing side is you know if I'm if I'm hiring somebody that's building a window for me I want them to get that pretty accurately measure that building. And so that's really where I think best practices and experience come into play. You know in the world of marketing we can't be as precise as a lot of you know a lot of contractors and home builders but you know with best practices and with marketing automation and things like that where we can build repeatable systems and components, it helps us to you know to get much closer to that. Right. And one of the cool things about the digital marketing and like you said earlier is that it's almost instant gratification in a sense. If you can get it you know you may not get the exact results you want but you can spend a little bit of money to find out if that concept is even going to work. Then you can add onto it because now if you took it into the old school way which would be EDDMM or Letters, and stuff like that then you've got to wait months sometimes to find out if just because you got one word that's wrong, you've got to wait months. But with digital, bingo it's like almost instantaneous, isn't it? Yeah, it is. That's a great point. I think it gives you the ability to create a lot of really inexpensive experiments to find success. And you know it's a fraction of the price of a lot of the old traditional types of things that we used to do in marketing. Right And then a lot of times you know I'll suggest to guys, to your social media when you Google AdWords or your Facebook ads and put them together see how they work and if they pull well. Now design a postcard off of that information and that. Yeah. And instead of reversing it. So now you've already done a little bit. And you run it by hundreds and even thousands of people. And now you can ___ and do your mailing if you want to then send them back to the website or whatever the case may be. Yeah absolutely. As a matter of fact, I'm a big fan of Integrated Marketing Solutions. It's not all about digital. You make a great point. I mean you can use. You can do use digital messaging to find out what resonates most effectively. But you know take it take another step, and incorporate some other different type of touch point. For example, every door direct mail I mean you could do a targeting of a Facebook ad for based around the zip code or when you go overlay and every door direct mail campaign with those mail routes that line up pretty well with that zip code area. And now you're touching people from a marketing perspective in a couple of different ways. You know not everybody learns and not everybody responds in the same way. So, you'd be very receptive to a digital message. Other people want to have that tactical or that tactile physical touch you know and being able to read a postcard or a direct mail piece of what is sent to them. So, I think there's a lot of opportunities and honestly, I think that's a huge missed opportunity for most people. They picked one thing they do it and they don't they don't compliment it and they certainly don't create enough touch points to really have the effectiveness. You know it takes seven touch touches typically from a marketing perspective to be effective. Right. And when you when you balance digital and you know and some of the more traditional styles, you can really cut your costs substantially. Oh, that's an interesting topic. Yeah well here's the here's the thing that I was thinking about and I just wanted to see what you think. I think that a lot of guys don't. There's a couple of reasons why they don't do both. One is that they don't think about it. And second is I think maybe most people think of marketing as an expense instead of as an investment. Saying they don't track it. So, if they tracked it then they would know what type of return they are getting, or any at all. Yeah, that’s exactly right. You know I also, I mean I look at advertising it's easy to kind of fall into the trap of thinking that that is an expense and that is it. There's no doubt it is an expense I mean you are laying out cash in return. Right. But you know, and the other thing about you know paying paid advertising is that it only works for as long as you keep continuing to do it. As opposed to now there are two really true investment strategies with digital too I think where you make an investment in building your online reputation where you're getting quality reviews about your business. You're putting content on your Web site and optimizing that content. When you do those things. You know even though you're paying for that maybe one time to create a piece of content and put it on your Web site. Every piece of content that you do that for, it turns into a long-term investment in your business. So, not everything in digital is measured in the same way either. Right. But they also have different returns and different timeframes that they return. Right. Yeah because your blog post on your content is never going to go away. That's right. And it will always be there and you know. Yeah. Just like when we do our podcast, all the interviews go back go up on anchor so it keeps rotating in and out all of the time. So, it's always replicating and it's always there. Yeah. So, I want to ask you this question because most of our listeners are contractors okay. Local Search Engine Optimization. I know that's really it should be a big focal point for most contractors. What do you think about that? Yeah absolutely. You know I think that from a strategy perspective I think it's really important for a business to be honest with themselves. And if they're not prepared to spend money on a monthly recurring basis there is no end there. Their goal is to be found online from their Web site. Through to search engine optimization. I'm not talking about a paid advertising strategy. I'm talking about building a website and having your Web site start to rank consistently Businesses need to be really honest about that. Some businesses honestly can't afford search engine optimization. And so, they're better off developing a referral marketing program or you know doing advertising campaigns here or there. But I think you know them from every contractor I think would benefit from a local SEO’s strategy. As a matter of fact, it gives the independent guys an opportunity to outperform some of the larger companies. Then you look at search engine optimization there's a very localized set of tactics that you would want to do what we refer to as local SEO. And that would be where somebody is typing into a search for a plumber in a particular location. And so, number one. the number one ranking factor right now appears to be the quality and consistency and currency of online reviews. And so, developing a review funnel where you're constantly getting a stream of high-quality reviews where you're responding to those reviews whether they're positive or negative ads. Google's paying attention. The other review sites are paying attention if people are writing reviews and you don't acknowledge those. You're losing opportunity there. So, it's really important to respond to people who are writing reviews. And if it's a negative or a record review I recommend everybody still reply but try to take that offline and say we're sorry to never get experience. Contact us at this number. This email we want to make it right. Right. But after that, you know the other thing that a lot of businesses could take advantage of is you know it's not obvious at all but there are all these different Web sites that are directory listings that point back to your business. And there are literally hundreds or thousands of these directories. They all carry. Not all of them but a lot of them carry tremendous domain authority which is you know a trust factor when Google sees your business as listed on a site like CitySearch for example. You know that that carries a lot more weight. And if a small business association of 10 businesses all got together and created a website for themselves, they decided to link to your Web site. They're probably not going to have the same main authority as CitySearch so having your business what we refer to as the name address phone number record, consistently, exactly the same as in as many of these directory listings as you can be a really big deal because it just provides a tremendous amount of trust to the search engines and it's a very powerful thing. So, I typically talk about reputation management program where it's a combination of reviews and directories. One of the biggest problems with businesses online is there's so much bad data out there. There were bad phone numbers or bad physical addresses. You may have changed your name. You may have brought on a new partner and as a result, you changed your name. Maybe you used to work out of your house. Now you have an office you work out of. You know look those are all captured at one point or another whether you whether you do anything or not that information is being put on websites. And so, it's important to take control and ownership of that. So that's fine I would go back to something you said a little bit earlier about the contingency of about name address telephone number because I know that there are guys that have in the past because they think well let’s say carpet cleaner and I do carpet cleaning and let’s say Joe’s Carpet Cleaner. OK. But on one directory put Joe’s name as Carpet Cleaning and another directory says I'm going to buy Joe's famous Carpet and Upholstery Cleaning. That's a no, no? It is because it introduces potential confusion to the search engines, one. But it also introduces confusion. You know with potential searchers. Consumers who are looking for a company and maybe they get referred from a friend by one name and so they go you'll look them up online and they find that their information and they are like I'm not sure it's the same company. So, you know it's one is you know more about a user experience related issue. But the other is a search engine related issue. Now, humans, we can probably make a judgment call and say you know those names are close enough to where yeah that's probably the same company I'm going to go ahead and give them a call. The search engines don't operate that way. They don't necessarily have the sophistication to say these are the same company. And so, you've just eroded the confidence that a search engine has in delivering the search results. And when you think about it if Google consistently delivers search results that are not what somebody is expecting when they do those searches. They're going to stop using Google and they're going to go start trying being or you know a variety of other search engines that are out there. That's Google's number one job is to deliver the highest most quality and most relevant and accurate search results that it can for you know based on what people are typing into those searches. So, don’t go changing things around. Whatever you start off with. Stick with that. Everything is the same, your name, your address, telephone number, and if you have to change and you've got to go back and throw those directories and change everything, don’t you? You do. It's really important to do. And the other thing is, keep in mind that you know these are going to be created whether you do anything or not. So, it's important for you to go and do an audit. You know they are going to pull from you know where you were. Every state you know wherever you put your business license information. When you register as a business with that city or state, where they're going to have a record of that, that somebody, some Web site is going to pull that data from. And so even if you're like for me you know when I started my company it was Changelandscape, now it's Changescape Web. Part of my challenge was I found that a lot of people thought we were in the landscaping business because of the name. So, I wanted to be really obvious that you know where in the web space. And so, I have a Doing Business ads but my company is still technically you know and certain Web sites it's still listed as changscape. So, I actually have some management tools that I used to go out there and run some business scans to see how my business is listed in it. And you know you can either sign up for subscription services where that you can control that data or can do a regular push to that data or at least make it give you a central console so that you know you can go in and periodically just do a quick check yourself to make sure that that information is still accurate and up to date. But it is very important to do. The access it's got to be something fluency in there's got to be consistency so that you get to get the maximum exposure from Google that you can possibly get. That's right. And you know the good news is if you if you decide to take that on I guarantee it the majority of your competitors are not. If you do that that you know just by doing that could be the thing that puts you know over the top and helps you show up on those search results especially on the Google map results. Yeah because I know that you know just getting there on the first page of Google. I know it's important and but I know with the map and the local and the views I think everyone needs to if nothing else really spend their time in getting reviews from their customers Yeah absolutely. And you know not all review sites are equal. So, a lot of a lot of you know the folks that listened to this podcast. You know they like Home Advisor or thrummed or Angie's list or is probably pretty important. And yes, they are important. But keep in mind that there are a lot of solutions that are out there and a lot of tool vendors that give you a view capability that will build a review profile for you and you spend a tremendous amount of time getting reviews that are listed there but they're not the same as being a having a review on you know some of the industry-specific sites and especially not the same as Google. Right. You know Google is such a fundamentally important review site for every local business that that is the first place I would ask people to go write reviews and just you know it's kind of a shame because I see a lot of people who have done a lot of really hard work and they've done the right thing to go get a lot of customer reviews. They're just putting them on websites to really make an impact for them. And so, I really strongly encourage everybody to go do that was with Google. You have to be careful in the way that you get reviews on Yelp. That really needs to happen much more organically but Yelp reviews are important for almost every business. And when you look at the reviews that are pulled in on being search results it's pulling from Yelp. So, because Bing doesn't have a native Review feature. Oh ok, I never knew that. Yeah. And the interesting thing, as a matter of fact, I was with somebody not long ago and they were talking about a kind of Google paperclip. And they go you know this is kind of interesting for everyone out there that Bing pays per click is cheaper and all your it's all Microsoft. So, it's going to Bing first unless you change it over to default in Google. Yeah, that’s the point I mean Bing still gets about 25% of all search traffic. Yeah. So, it's less competitive from an advertising perspective. And you know, there maybe I mean depending on the demographics of you know your typical customer you know if they're the type of customer that they buy a computer and they never change any settings the default search engine may very well be Bing because they may not ever know when they buy a brand-new computer it's from launch edge Microsoft's browser and that's going to return Bing search results unless they go in and make that change. So, it's important to understand who your customer is and you know I we certainly encourage and also search engine optimization techniques are a little bit different on Bing and a lot of people forget all about that if they're going to do. So, we think it's important to absolutely consider Bing. Wow. This has just been a ton of information. It’s really been awesome. Is there any last minute thing like in the back of your mind that you want to share with our audience that did not get a chance yet. Yeah absolutely. So, Google has just as matter of fact it's in 17 cities right now. It's called Google Local services ads. It used to be called Google Home Services Ads. Now, this is going to impact plumbers, electricians, track contractors, garage door service companies, and locksmiths. And what's happening is this is a new brand-new advertising program that Google, as a matter of fact, it's coming to St. Louis by the end of the year. So, they're rolling it out to an additional 13 cities. It's in most of the major metropolitan areas right now as of the end of the year. It's been you know 30 total cities. It's a paper lead strategy. They're going to dominate the very top of the page. They're going to have a listing of three rectangular listings at the very top followed by the Google ad words followed by the Google map results and then you're going to have your organic search results. And so, anybody who is in any of those affected industries, I really strongly encourage you to learn about those. It's I think it's you know it's going to be a really interesting thing. I was talking to you know a person from Google the other day about setting this up for one of our customers. And in the St. Louis market it's going to be a ten dollar per lead price which is not bad. That's really reasonable. Yeah. Yeah and you know it's you're only going to be charged if somebody takes a very specific action from that ad so they can click on the ad to go read more about your business. But you're only going to be charged as one of these businesses if somebody places a phone call and Google's going to give a call tracking number so they're going to know that somebody called that number sends a text message or fills out a form on the on the page that they'll be taken to when they click on the ad. So, if your them if you are it you have the ability as a plumber or any of these you know to pick your geographies that you want to show up for. And also, to pick the set of services for your locksmith and you don't want to get calls at 3 o'clock in the morning because somebody locked themselves out of the car. You don't have to turn on that that that specific category of this Ad. So, I think the important thing is that it's a paper calling out not a paper clip. That's right. Yeah And it's going to dominate the top of the page for the five industries I mentioned which again are Garage Door service companies, Locksmiths, HVAC, Electrical, and Plumber Yeah, That’s pretty awesome. So how can how can our guest get in touch with you? So our Web site is www.changescapeweb.com and we actually have a blog post that we just add to the Google Local services ads that people might want to check out should be on our homepage right now. And we're on social media with the handle changescape for Facebook.Com/changescape or on Twitter Instagram @changescape. Very cool cause we'll put all that stuff in the show notes when it when we get this whole thing up and running and ready to go. OK. awesome I appreciate that.
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Twitter and Instagram: @changescape
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Fri, 12 January 2018
Chris Cooper and I talk about retaining customers long term. That seems to be one of our biggest challenges overall with every business. But it's so, so, so much in the fitness industry. And so, we can pull some nice golden nuggets from Chris and the way he lays out his business and what he does to help you grow your business. Our guest today, Chris Cooper. He is founder of the largest mentoring practice in the fitness world with clients and every time he started his entrepreneur life as a gym owner and in 2005, Chris Cooper had a new home, wife, baby. His job as a personal trainer wouldn't cover the bills so he opened a business or, so he thought he did three years. Cooper realized that he didn't have a business but he just bought himself a high-risk job with no upside when he missed paper and hit bottom and realized he needed help he found a mentor. He paid for the service and checked that should have bounced. Over the next two years. Chris Cooper was taught how to build a real business. He began mentoring gym owners 2013 and founded his own practice, Two-Brain Businesses and in 2016 it rapidly grew to become the largest fitness mentorship practice in the world with over 350 gyms participating worldwide. Now the cool thing about Chris and I just told you all about him is that today we talk about retention of customers. You know that seems to be one of our biggest challenges overall with every business. But it's so, so, so much in the fitness industry. And so, we can pull some nice golden nuggets from Chris and the way he lays out his business and what he does to help you grow your business. Chris, I'm just so glad you could be with us today. Share your expertise and your knowledge on how you built your business and some of the things you did that will help our business owners. So again. Chris thanks so much for being with us today. My pleasure Dave thanks for having me on.
This is going to be cool. I know that you have your own business. It's called two brain businesses which is kind of interesting in that. So how did you get started in this particular business? And you also have your podcast too but how did you start in this business. And what were some of the things that got you to where you are today? Well I own several small businesses mostly in the fitness industry in northern Ontario Canada and so around 2009 my GM which was my only business back then was very close to bankrupt and I kind of had this epiphany that I was a great fitness trainer but a very poor business owner. I lucked into some mentorship and that turned my gym around and as that was happening, I started blogging about the experience because I thought maybe there were some other gym owners out there who could use the same advice. And after about 300 blog posts, it's kind of a funny story but I was invited to speak at a seminar and I knew one of the other speakers would have this handbook that he would share with the audience and I said well I've got to have a book. So, I took the top 12 blog posts from this blog which was called Dontbuyads.com and the cheapest way that I could get these things printed so that I could give that out to the audience was to self-publish them into a book. So, I self-published and shipped them shipped them to Florida. We were in Fort Lauderdale
Well, that's pretty awesome. Just get to the key with just getting started. Yeah exactly. To not worry about perfection just to worry about executing every day taking very small imperfect steps. And then I notice that your success came overnight. 300 blog posts later. Well, actually you're up around 1300 now. Wow. You know the original book. I mean it was it was really published for real in 2012. But two weeks ago, I was asked how often do you actually publish blog post now. And so, I asked our editor to go into the twobrainbusiness.com archives and pull out just the blog posts from the last year. And that turned into a book. There was 308 pages long. Wow. Just without even meaning to. So yeah, we do publish a lot. That’s awesome. But that's the key is to get people that were actually you know get people to use to find out more information which absolutely physical recording business. So, one of the things that I know that you hear in the mentorship business but you're also in a fitness industry and that has and it's like most businesses. I think that one of the biggest challenges is retaining clients long term. So how. What are some of the success stories are some of the things that you've used to just build a like a platform or a system into making that work? The most effective way. Well, so for some context for us I mean the fitness industry is one where it is very hard to retain clients. It's not really hard to get people to sign up. I mean you and I both know what will happen two weeks from now or you know a week and a half everyone is going to have this new year's resolution. They're all going to want my service right. Right. So, by March 31 statistically about 43 percent of those people will be left. Most people survive in a gym environment for less than three months. Well, we have to do is make sure that we are basically selling a service business instead of a fitness membership. We start off differently than other people do. We start with a consultation process which I'm sure many contractors will do and I'm going to start with a blank slate. What do you want? And then from there, I'm going to narrow the options and tell the client and I decide that you know here's our best course of action or here is our fitness prescription. So what aids in that number one is having like almost a third-party dataset. So, for example, let's say that I put a client on the scale we don't do this anymore, but we put them on a scale and we say, Dave, you and I need to beat that scale. Okay. I placed the client and myself on the same side of the desk and were facing off against this third object with this data. How can we work together you know to beat the scale? So, the first thing that happens is the mindset of the client that I am their guide. But they remain the hero of the story here. Okay. And I am yeah. So, I'm helping them. Then during the first period that we work with a client whether in a mentorship practice or in the gym you have to look at the first maybe three months is kind of an incubation period. Okay so in the fitness industry people are not comfortable with being uncomfortable and you're right you can't just talk them into that and you can't say no pain no gain or suck it up or anything like that. It's not going to work. Well, we have to do is have more frequent touch points in those initial stages after they've made that initial purchase. So I need to talk to you, every two to three days at the outside. I need to email you sometimes in between those discussions and just basically reassure you that you've made a good investment. After that, I need to make sure that I have a clear path to follow up and then you know the most important question I think that we teach is what do you want now. So, in the gym every three months I want to meet with the client and ask three questions. The first is what are you most proud of achieving in the last three months? So, I'm framing the conversation by focusing on bright spots. The second is Dave since we started. Have your overall goals changed and what are they now. And the third is do you feel as if you're accomplishing your goals quickly enough? So sometimes if they say yes, I do feel good. I think I'm making good progress. We say that's fantastic. I love to brag about you. Can I take your picture and put it on my website? If they say no I think, I'd like to go a little bit faster than I can say. You know Dave if it were me here's what I would do and basically change the prescription. OK. So, there's no upselling ever involved. It's just a common feedback loop of what do you want now. And here's how I can help. The other the last big retention piece that I think we’re kind of famous for is a strategy called bright spots and I'm sure some of your listeners have heard of Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath in their new book The Power of Momentous Phenomenal. If they haven't though Chip and Dan Heath and our researchers from Harvard University and they basically study the science of retention. So, in a gym setting what I'm going to do every time you do something for the first time. Let's say that you deadlift 200 pounds and you've never done it before. I'm going to write that on a whiteboard for everyone in the gym to see. And then on Friday, I'm going to call you and say, Dave, we're so proud of you what are you going to do next? And what we're basically doing here is giving them these peak moments in their life. You and I both know that people don't really remember what you say to them but they always remember how you made them feel right. Absolutely yes. And so, the key is setting yourself up to have all these positive feelings as often as you can. And so, you know we build up an entire plan and strategy around calling the client saying We're proud of you etc. Yeah. And then they quit because you're setting up a whole new paradigm shift for them as opposed to what they were used to in that industry were just come work out and will help you lose weight. You just take them with baby steps and reassuring them and helping them in and walking along with them may be behind them so that they're the hero. Like you said they become the hero of their progress but you’ve basically egging them in little different ways. But the cool thing is that its constant communication. And so, what did I write down here a constant communication and always following up no matter which way. And I love the way you put it. It's not the upsell but where do you want to go now. What do you want to do now? So, it basically takes you out of the selling cycle and creates them into the buying cycle with their own thought process. Or the continuation. Yeah. You know I never put it that way but that makes total sense. Absolutely. Yes, so they’re comfortable with the whole process because basically what you're doing is you're helping them own it. Right. Exactly. Yeah, they feel like it's their choice right. Yeah, yeah, No pressure at all. I like what’s going on and I’d like to be just a little better and how are we going to do that? Yes, so there are a few things there. Number one I think is the realization that 10 years ago we could sell information and information was the salesman's tool. Now it's the buyer's tool. You know a lot of the times people who come into my door they know how to lose weight. They know that they have to cut back on carbs and go for a walk every day. The problem is that they're not going to do that you know. I mean anybody now can go to Home Depot and take a lesson on how to paint their bathroom. So, the question is our real value now is not the ability to paint a bathroom. Our real value now is you know we're going to save you a lot of time. We're going to eliminate the stress involved in doing all this stuff. We're going to help you make a better color choice. You're going to love you know. And that's what we're really selling now our service has changed but our services become more valuable because of that change. Now you know we have to be authorities. It's not enough just to sell anything anymore. So, going into that conversation. That's basically what you're looking at. And so, what I'll start most people with is six months from now if everything is going perfectly. What changes should we expect to see? And so, in their brain, the client is painting this picture for themselves of. They've been successful. They're the hero. Then I'm going to say six months from now if you take no action. What do you think will happen? And another painting a separate picture telling a different story in their brain. And then I’ll say I would like to help you become more successful as your guide. Would you be more comfortable having me as a guide one on one or guiding you in a small group setting? And what I'm basically doing now is filtering them toward the two service options that we sell you know. So, at this point, they've already purchased in their brain. Now we're just saying you know we're filtering basically thank you notes. Awesome stuff. I go through the entire process in my book ‘Help First’. But also, I'll have it in the next book, Affinity Marketing, which will be a more updated version of. So, you're just leading them along the path of actually, no resistance because they see themselves working a plan. It’s just now it’s ‘Do I want to do one on one or do I want to do in a group setting?’ Yeah and as soon as I learn that I learned a lot more about you know how I should set up this meeting with the client. I mean one of my favorite stories about meeting with a client as she came into the gym and she was carrying her little 1-year-old and you know 1-year olds are very squirmy they don't want to sit still. But outside the gym was a kid selling lemonade. And so, we went outside, and I carried two chairs and we sat outside and had a lemonade and you know her baby had a lemonade and, we talked about you know where she wanted to be in a year and that just kind of helped her paint that picture in her mind of what her perfect day was and Perfect Day as a concept that we teach everyone. I mean you should ask your staff what their perfect day is you should ask your wife what her perfect day is so that you're all working toward the same goal. But if you get your client to paint that picture in their mind early and then you suggest that they can achieve that. You know they can ride off into that sunset and you're going to be their guide and that that follows the same basic story flow of every epic adventure. You know the Walt Disney produces right. Yeah. So, I'm sure you've heard of the hero's journey before. In case your listeners haven't. It's basically every Disney movie, every heroic epic you know almost every religious story follows the exact same plot line. And so, you know we are we're taught from an early age that here is how you achieve greatness. Here's how you become a hero. And so, it's just an aid that if we say you can be that hero we can be your guide. You know people really latch onto that idea. Yeah, I love that. Cause it’s taking, I don’t know, it’s just the whole another concept that most people don’t think about, it’s like your saying it’s not your fault. We’re going to help you become the hero. Yeah, exactly. Exactly yeah. So, I think that's what has really helped us and in the mentoring practice to every day. Basically, I send people a story that's about 800 words long. I tell them about something that I've screwed up and that's why I'm in a good position to be there guide as they go through the same thing right. I learn from my mistakes, not yours. Yeah exactly. Yeah exactly. Yeah, just like what I’ve said, I want to learn from another people’s mistake because I don't want to make them all. Too expensive right. But you know that's part of the growth process of making mistakes and not being afraid to make them just you know I've always wanted of my pet things. You know let's just do it and if we make a mistake, great let’s learn from it and move on to the next thing as fast as we can because failure is part of success Exactly. It’s a critical part of success. It is the keynote though I think though Dave is what you just said is that it doesn't have to be your own failure. Right if somebody else can learn from our failures that's incredibly valuable. Sure it makes it a lot easier and BOOM. I can. OK. He did this so I'm not going to do that exact same thing. So. Exactly. I'm going to treat people this way. I want to talk to people this way especially if you're going through a process like your retention program where you start off at A and you end up with Z. And you know that's a big long process that you've gone through and it's you documented and systematized and you know that if you say this, this is going to happen and when you say this or do this that this is going to happen and so you're increasing your success exponentially. But there again people come into your business who can hold fast and true to the stuff that you're doing because you're creating great results for your clients. On all facets. So, one of the questions that I wanted to ask you I know that you since said that you don’t particularly like sales funnel. Well, I think that it starts from the wrong end. You know a sales funnel is like when you're trying to you're trying to meet a woman that you're going to marry. OK. Are you going to first sit down and think What do I do? Who do I like? You know what trades do I want. Who shares the same values. What do I consider attractive or do you say I'm going to date 500 women and then pick the best 300 and date them again. And then I'm going to pick the best 100 of those and date them. I mean it just doesn't make sense. It makes good TV, but it does make sense.
So, what we do is we invert the funnel and we say let's start with the people who are most likely to actually want to buy from you and are also able to afford your service.
So, we start with what we call Identical Seed Clients like Mike McCalla wrote this amazing book called The Pumpkin Plan. And we've taken his method of identifying who your best clients actually are and we apply that to other businesses too. So first we say my best client is Dave because Dave makes me happy every time he comes into this gym and he always pays on time and he buys my most expensive service. So, the first question I'm going to ask myself is how can I serve Dave better. Right. So, if I'm a contractor and I'm redoing your kitchen and I say, Dave, this kitchen is really starting to look fantastic. You're going to be able to host more dinner parties here. Is that, is that your goal. And you say yeah, we love having guests over. I could say, ‘that's great’. You know the most popular place in your house or the most important place when you're having guests over is your kitchen. The second most important place when you're having guests over is your bathroom. Nobody talks about the bathroom unless it's bad. What are your plans to renovate your bathroom? Right. So, we will start there and I think the philosophy of help first is really important because most entrepreneurs are not good salespeople. So, if they think about this as an upsell they're not going to do it are they going to stammer and they're going to blow it. You have to think about like how can I help Dave best. So, if I know your goal is to have more and better dinner parties than I'm helping you by suggesting that you think about doing your bathroom next. Then I'm going to say Who are the people that Dave influences so you can picture a bull's eye where you, the ideal client are in the center. And I'm going to radiate out ring by ring again and we call these affinity loops. So, the first ring is the people you influence most of the people you live with or your family. I'm going to say Dave who visits your house the most. My kids do when they come home. Fantastic. And when they come home for Christmas you know do they bring their kids. Yes. They live nearby. Yes. How can I help them have a better house?
I would say you know is there is there anyone in your office who is trying to lose weight by Easter. Or I would say I know this is a tough month in your tax office because everybody's rushing to get their tax filings done. How would you feel about bringing all the bookkeepers and accountants in on Friday night and we'll have a fun little party in the gym? You know you can bring some wine if you want to and I'll just give you some fun little team building challenges. You know it's actually easy because most gyms are just big playgrounds right. And then the fourth loop is people with whom you recreate so you know who do you golf with. Who do you play midnight basketball with? It could also be who do you go to church with. I mean you have such a strong bond there and it's it's a very trusting bond. And then from there, we would say OK those are your personal connections. Who is almost a personal connection? So, the fourth affinity loop are people who are paying attention but not paying you money yet and that's usually people who have given either e-mail address or they've given you permission to talk more to them. And then the next infinity loop would be people who are slowly paying attention they're already aware of you, so they've clicked like on your Facebook page or they follow you on Instagram or something like that. And then the last loop would be Cold Leads. People who know nothing about you. They don't even know they need your service. They're not looking for you. They're not comparing you to anybody else yet. So, if I'm a chiropractor this would be someone who has back pain, but they don't know that there's any way to get relief or they just think while I'm 50 and everybody gets back pain when they're 50 you know that. They're completely oblivious.
They're not looking for a solution to their problem. But this is where most funnel marketing starts is that person and they try to dump you know a thousand of those people into a funnel and then filter out oh yeah that guy. He's too old. That guy doesn't make enough money. That guy lives too far away. And so finally you get down to these like kinds of ideal clients who by the way still really don't know anything about you. You don't have a personal connection with them. I mean you might as well just drop fliers from a helicopter onto the roof of their car and hope one of them calls you. So, there is a time and a place for online marketing. We do teach Facebook marketing. We have a huge course for that. But it's really maybe step eight. I think there's a lot much lower hanging fruit.
Within the process, you went through so much smarter and simpler because you're going through the whole thing of who do I know who do I like and who's around me that could benefit that way. And it makes it easier for you as a business owner whoever the business owner because it's a referral in a sense. And it makes so much more sense that it's easier to get referral business. And I think one of the biggest challenges about that is that referral is awesome, but no one has figured out how to do it on a systematic basis. We're basically everyone for all businesses as gravy. And so that's why they go after the other stuff to fill in. But somebody should come out with a plan to really work that referral business and have that be that's one of the best parts of their system whether it would be referral marketing or referral rewards whatever the case may be. Yeah. So, we teach that, and we call that sales and you know marketing would kind of be at the tail end of that. But we teach that, and we call it affinity marketing. And I have a book on call affinity marketing by May. Cool. cool. You know this is really been awesome. Off I've got the whole sheet of notes. But there's a lot of great content there. Just you know making them feel like the hero and being there guide them and not really selling them anything but just ask them where they are so that they can pick and choose the points that they want to move to because you've helped them along those lines as being their guide or that's the perfect way to put it the way you put it being their guide, we are going to help you get to where you want to go. Yeah, I think it's really tempting. You know this is old school marketing. Dave, you and I both over 35. So. I'm always over 35. Me too, but back then I mean you tried to make your brand a hero. You talked about what you could do and how amazing your company was and how long you've been in business. But that's not the way our brains are wired. No, our brains are all wired to think that we're the hero. And so, if you can show your clients how they will get to be the hero and you will be their guide you know the genie in Aladdin or Yoda to Luke. That's going to fit their mindset a lot more Oh absolutely. Absolutely. This is really being awesome content. I got it. I know everyone. So how can our listeners get in touch with you Chris? www.Twobrainbusiness.com is our Web site. People can actually book a free 30-minute call with me through the website, and on Amazon, on barnesandnobles.com. If you look for Chris Cooper, you'll find my books. And that's probably the easiest way call. Hey. Wow, that was a really great interview. Great talk with Chris Cooper about retention of long-term clients and here just a couple of takeaways that I took away. And I wrote notes, I’m just real quick real clean for you. But here's the key. Constant communication and it had a path to follow up and he always asked the client where do you want to go now. What do you want to do now? How can I help? These are just some great key takeaways to help you build and go through this again because there are some awesome nuggets here on how Chris builds his business and helps others and I love them some of the stuff that's customer-driven it's not sales driven. So, to your success continue learning more being better and all that you do so you can have the dream lifestyle. The dream business you want to have the lifestyle you wanted to create. So, until the next time. Have a great week.
You may visit this website to know more details about Chris Cooper: Chris Cooper’s book two Brain business get it right here
There are so many ways to do almost free marketing you just have to think about it or you could just go to the web site and pick up the free download.
4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business with Customers If you have a story to tell and would like to be a guest on this podcast email my assistant Shell at Shell@contractorssecretweapon.com and she will send you our guest sheet.
Our sponsors Would you like your phone to ring more with qualified buyers people looking to buy now? Then let’s make that happen. Best Home Services Leads is dedicated to making your phone ring with qualified buyers wanting to buy now. Go to and fill out the form to get more information. http://contractorssecretweapon.com/money How about 100 free postcards sent out to your best prospective customers. Radius Bomb sends out hyper targeted, laser focused postcards using a map while sitting in your under ware at your kitchen table then go to http://contractorssecretweapon.com/radiusbomb Painting Contractors, get up to a 24% better response rate just for having the right memorable telephone number 1-800-PRO-PAINTER.Check out your area before someone beats you to it and it’s not available. https://www.1800propainter.com/ |
Thu, 11 January 2018
When is the best time to raise prices? Today I’m going to talk about what most contractors are afraid to do raise prices. We talk about all the time and acknowledge it. I need to raise my price, but most are afraid to raise their prices. So when is the pest time to raise prices and how do I do it And I want to tell you all the time whenever you can but tell us about this systematically. Ok, so I'm a firm believer that most of the time our prices are too low. Now there are some guys out there that just rip people off and jack people up. And so, we're not going to go there. We're going to talk about delivery of value. Getting your best price that you can get and to continually raise your prices until you hit a resistance point. I want to talk about Disney World. You know they have a tendency to raise their prices. They're continually raising systematically until there's a resistance and when there's a resistance they stop and then your ticket sales will start rising again and then once they get them to where they want them then you'll start raising prices again. So that's really want to talk about your value to raise your prices because most times every contractor I see is cheap for the most part. I mean you’re talking about the majority. And I want to get you out of that room with that thinking of how but I want you to be able to raise your prices. I'm a firm believer that if you wait until tomorrow. Raise your prices by 10%. None of your customers would ever notice that difference. So, rule number one tomorrow is the day to raise your prices to raise them by 10%. So, I know a lot of you guys are saying right now we're going to complain again complaining. Listen, if they complain they don't understand that you're in terms of maybe gas has gone up. And a lot of other things have gone up systematically supplies have gone up. Then they really don't understand what it takes to run a business. And listen they've been here for a long time and they don't understand this. Guess what. You don't need them as a customer because you’re supposed to be doing this for profit, not for fun. Listen, let's take this, for example, the other day I go running through McDonald’s and I go to pick up a cup coffee and I think it was a sausage burrito. Now when they came out, sausage burritos , You know I do the dollar menu. I didn't get coffee. And so, the other day not too long ago in and it’s like a dollar thirty-nine dollar for dollar forty-nine out for you what it was but it was like it jumped 50%. And guess what. Nobody complained. And everyone's still buying sausage burritos. So, my thoughts to you or my question to you are, what's it going to take for you to raise your prices so that you can be profitable. And that's really what it comes down to being profitable in the marketplace. So, let's go over a couple of things and we'll just talk about them briefly. OK so here's something that would really scare the crap scare the crap out of you. Dan Kennedy is one of my mentors. I read all of this stuff and women was thinking my business and he says, what you need to do is raise your prices by 5%. That's a great philosophy but it will scare the crap out of most of us because we'd be afraid of losing half of our business. Now, what would really happen if we lost half of our business and we raised our prices we'd be making the same amount of money with fewer clients. And wouldn't that be a cool thing? But we're all afraid to do that. So just do it in small increments. OK, just small increments. Going back to the McDonald's scenario where they ran up 49 or 50 percent in their pricing. Do you think they made more profit? Well absolutely. Do you think they slowed down on their burrito so they may have but if they slow down 2%? They're still making more profit if they so than 10%. They're still making more profit. But for the most part, you know it's not going to happen. So, another great time to raise prices is really when you're busy. So why would you want to do that while you're busy? You've got things scheduled out you don't really care so much depends on who you are about you know filling in that gap because the gaps are already filled. Your pipelines are already filled with work so you can raise your prices to raise it for elasticity to see how far you can go before you know they'll say no. And if they say no then the next one brings it down a little you get to play with it when you're busy. But here's the exciting thing is here's what I want you to think about if you're afraid if you're really afraid to raise your prices I want you to think about this I want you to think about how important it is for you to be profitable in your business to pay for the things that you've always wanted to pay for your family. And so, if I'm just going to put this in a perspective and maybe you like it maybe you don't. And I really don't care. Is it more important for you to supply the necessary needs for your family? Or are you going to try to make your customers happy by giving them cheap prices? You have to. You have to answer that but I'm going to say listen you don't want to be a commodity and that's really what this is all about raising your prices so you are no longer a commodity. So, if you're if you're doing proposals if you're doing estimates by price only stop it. You've got to give value. So how do we give value in this whole context? Well if someone says I want a price for paying so a lot of guys will I've seen guys write painting proposal on a lot of cars or they'll just say well we're going to pay the interior house this room this room this room for X amount of dollars or even pressure Clinton to do this-this this and this. But I want you to think about it and here's where the real value comes in. I think this is personal. This is one of the things that I do and it helps me become more professional and less of the commodity because I give them a complete breakdown of what I'm doing of how it's going to get done. The process is going to go through. And you know most one guy's proposals are one page. Mine can be 10 or 12 pages depending on what we're doing because I put so many so much stuff in there that I sort of kill them with professionalism knowing honestly, I know you're saying well they're not going to read all this stuff. I know they're not going to read all that stuff but here's the important thing because you have all that stuff. They're not going to say wow this guy has a lot of stuff and the who gets one page say this guy is not very professional. So here let's go into the process of the proposal and the pricing. I'm a firm believer in giving you know three-part proposal. Good better best or high medium and low and it due to an hour or you to do high medium and low not low medium high. And for the most part, most people will go towards the middle. But when you do an I'm going to I'm going to pick out myself for the most part for paying proposal so let's just say that I have someone who wants the interior painted on their house. And so we're going to go through and we're going to line item everything we're going to put to paint for the ceiling the painting for the trim work that broken out towards doors and casings and then another one for baseboard and then another one for crown molding and then another one for miscellaneous. If they have additional work and then I have one for walls only. And then you know closets and then I'd do a breakdown of the prep work that we're going to do to go through the covering of the furniture taking off of the switch plates of the work that needs to be done to have this make a complete project so it's not just painting. A lot of guys think about they are going to paint. No, you're not going to the paint you're going in to create and it's not really an illusion you're going to create the facade and then run not even a facade you're going to create this system .Step one step two three fourths of five steps 6 7. And why are you going to do that. Because this is where the value is the value is putting together the process so that when the customer looks at this painting of walls throughout the house well if some you guys don't know this the wall space is about two and a half times that of the square footage space. So just for the fun of it just say have a thousand-square foot house. You're going to paint two thousand five hundred square foot of wall space two times not two coats of paint do you see where I'm going. You're going to the extremes so they're going to look at it and say wow I don't want to do this amount of work and I'll do it myself. This is worth the real value is. And if they don't want to pay the price that's fine. But you've created value there and the profits in the profits.
You know I was looking at here is the funny thing the other day I was looking at a proposal of a guy for putting in a floor they put in a proposal and in a proposal, they put in ripping up the old floor. But not only did they put in as a square foot price of covering everything with plastic. Who would have thought that floor guy going to charge you to cover it because you think well he's going to just install a floor? Well no because they had to do leveling. So there was so much for the leveling and that you know so he did this in the same. So the customer's going to say man I couldn't I couldn't do that. So I would be willing to pay someone to come in and do that. And this is where the customer sees the value of the price because a lot of times it's not just the price. Granted there are some people that shop by price but really when you're dealing with most a lot. I'm going to say a lot I'm going to say most people they’re looking at price number four or five. The main reason they look at the price is to see if they're getting the value for the price that you're charging. So that's why I always go into infinite detail when I'm doing proposal I put in you know repairs would repairs replacement all kinds of things so that they know that when I'm doing it that I'm going to be professional about it I'm going to cover the furniture and take the switch plates off and then I'm going to actually I can even give him a price for not moving the furniture. If they want to then when they come and say, geez this is a lot more than I expected I can look and say OK what don't you want taking care of seeing that takes out of their mind. The thing about discounts because you're saying why don't you want to be done in this proposal. And you're thinking why if I say I was higher than I expected. They're thinking oh he's going for the discount. No, I don't do discounts because I don't like giving money away. I would rather not do something, we could cut out. I had one customer once who just said Oh I never thought about that and I said well this is something that you don't need to be done but you asked to have done should we take that out. Yes. Oh, I can live with that price. So, it's defining what the customer wants giving them the value of what they want. And now you can get the price by doing that because you've raised your price to be profitable. Well how. Here's one thing that I see consistently with a lot of guys is they really don't know what it takes for them to be profitable. They don't know what their bottom line is they don't know what their expenses are they don't know what the payroll is they don't know what they are. All other ancillary expenses are like their insurance or gas or truck or truck rental and car rental but there their truck payment. And so, you've got to take all these into consideration and then figure out what you're based on 40 hours. Break it down into what your per our cost of business is doing. And now add profit to that and depending on what your cost per hour is then you add your profit. Now I know lots of guys that will go. Yeah well, I can do 20 I can do 30. I'm going to be real honest with you. If you can't run a 45 to 50 percent profit margin on your stuff then it's going to cost you to do business because there's going to be things that are going to be hidden like mistakes and errors and broken stuff and reduce and so there's got to be room in there. For all the stuff that you are might not consider. And then there's enough profit for you to fix it instead of getting mad insane or getting mad and walking off the job because I've seen a lot of guys do that. So, this is where you basically want to be in this area so that you can raise your prices so that you become more profitable. Ok, so I'm going to tell you a little story about Steve a guy that I used to do a lot of business with and work on the same line. When I did a lot of new construction Steve was a carpenter and an excellent carpenter for a matter of fact he was a homebuilder. And then he moved to Florida and he just did trim carpentry for his first trade. And he was very good at that. Got a lot of business. One guy and sometimes he had to helper but most of it was by himself and like I said sometimes he did have a helper. But here's what happened. One-day Steve was working on this really huge house big house and he was there for a couple of months. And every once in a while, a contractor or one of the other guys in the trades would come by and take Steve for a walk out back and say, Steve, you need to raise your prices. You're too cheap you're just too cheap. And basically, what's happening is you're given the rest of us bad names. You need to be up with us. Not that we're they were super expensive but they needed to be needed to be up with the rest of the crop. He didn't need to be cheap because he really wasn't. His work was that good that he could raise his prices and not worry about it. But he was looking at fear mode. Which a lot of you guys do. And then this went on for a couple of months. Every once in a while, one of the guys would come in and say Hey Steve take him out back. They didn't beat him but they came up back and talked him and say hey listen you really need to raise your prices. You are too cheap. I don't even know how that you can live the way you live and pay the prices. Of course, I knew he lived in a mobile home so he didn't have any expenses. But still, it doesn't matter. You need to be able to put money aside for days when you're slow. Come on you're not going to be busy all your life and no matter how good your funnel is every once in a while, you're going to slow down a little. So, I guess it's the end of the project. The homeowner is sitting down making out Steve a check for his invoicing and Homer looks at Steve squirty eyes says, Steve, I got to tell you, you do excellent work but you're too cheap Steve goes what. He says you're too cheap goes can I raise my prices. He goes on the next job. So, I want you to know that you know doesn't matter happens to everyone. The fear of raising prices but really the customer knows when you're too cheap. And listen to this guy and all of our customers will take advantage of us as long as we're cheap they're not going to say you're too cheap. This guy was nice but most people are not going to say oh you're too cheap we don't want to do business with you because you're too cheap. But if you raise your prices they're still going to continue to do business with you. Why. Because they're not dealing with you on a price basis. They’re dealing with you on a relationship basis and you need to keep that relationship going and the relationship needs to make a profit. You need to make that profit. OK so here's another thing I want you to consider in your pricing and all the time. And, here I am stuttering because it really does make me stutter some of these things that some of the guys I come across off. Go into price wars over their services. But here's what I want you to know. Throughout the country, don't matter where you are. There is a shortage of legitimate licensed contractors in your trade. Granted there are people coming up through the weeds that are cheap and inexperienced unlicensed but licensed contractors for the most part. There is a shortage throughout the country and but yet even the licensed contractors have a tendency, for the most part, to fight amongst themselves all over the price because there we go. They're afraid of raising the price, they're afraid of not getting new work. And you cannot grow a significant viable business living in fear. It's just not going to happen. So just a quick overview. You're going to have to raise your prices. Well in order for you to raise your prices so that you know what it's going to take for you to be profitable. Because a lot of times we will lower our prices to compete on something. And when we get through, it actually costs us business, cost us money to do business with that person. I want you to sit down. I want you to go through and figure out what are your overall expenses. Line item everything. It's really simple. Just take a piece of note paper write down your expenses your truck. You know what they are you are you should know what they are. Write them down. Figure it out per hour basis then add 45-50% too it. And I want you to think about adding profit to your products that you are using. So, if you're a carpentry you upsell you up the price. You got to go pick it up. So, you either charge for picking it up by the hour or you charge the profit for the product, same thing what do you guys that are doing paint. You charge retail plus you don't charge retail because you're buying at 20% discount. You need to charge retail plus a percentage of profit or do your wholesale plus 45 I don't care. But there needs to be profit in everything you do because that's the way business runs. Every other business runs that way. So, raise your prices to become profitable. That's the only way that you're going to continue to survive but you want to do more than survive in business. You want to grow. You want to exponentially grow. You want to grow your business. You may want to grow it into more employees or more service trucks or whatever the case may be. But in order to do that, you have to start at a point of where that's what does it take for me to be profitable from day one from the very beginning. And where do I move out from there and don't play with those numbers? Because always remember the prices, the prices, the price. And when you cut your price, you cut your profit and then you have to figure out the numbers. I don't know what is it going to take to overcome that. So, if you actually cut your price and I'm going to cut it off with this if you cut your price by 10% you have to sell 50% more to make up for that difference. Think about that. Just think about that next time you want to give a discount. It's not the discount today is what is it going to cost me to make up that profit tomorrow. So, hey thanks for listening. I know that this is an item that a lot of you guys are afraid of doing. Just do it implement it and get it over with. And because like I said you need to profit in your bank account today. So, go grow your business and build it the way you want to don't have it run you-you run your business.
There are so many ways to do almost free marketing you just have to think about it or you could just go to the web site and pick up the free download.
4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business with Customers
If you have a story to tell and would like to be a guest on this podcast email my assistant Shell at Shell@contractorssecretweapon.com and she will send you our guest sheet.
Our sponsors Would you like your phone to ring more with qualified buyers people looking to buy now? Then let’s make that happen. Best Home Services Leads is dedicated to making your phone ring with qualified buyers wanting to buy now. Go to and fill out the form to get more information. http://contractorssecretweapon.com/money How about 100 free postcards sent out to your best prospective customers. Radius Bomb sends out hyper targeted, laser focused postcards using a map while sitting in your under ware at your kitchen table then go to http://contractorssecretweapon.com/radiusbomb Painting Contractors, get up to a 24% better response rate just for having the right memorable telephone number 1-800-PRO-PAINTER.Check out your area before someone beats you to it and it’s not available. https://www.1800propainter.com/ |
Wed, 10 January 2018
Today we're going to talk about chatbots. Using Chat Bots to Triple Your Sales Conversions without being tech savvy. With Heather Havenwood all about using Chatbots within Facebook to grow your business. I'm happy to have a returning guest with us Heather Havenwood. And we had her on a while ago and she offered up some awesome content to know who you're selling to. So, after this episode, you might want to go and listen to that episode of know who you're selling to. But today we're going to talk about chatbots. How to triple your conversion rates with your sales without being tech savvy. So, if you don't know about Heather let me tell you a little bit about her. She is CEO of Hazelwood worldwide. She's sexy boss, a serial entrepreneur and is regarded as a top 40 in internet marketing business strategies and marketing. She since marketing her first online business in 1999, brings together clients and personal coaches. She has played an active role in online marketing world since before most of us even had computers. In 2006 she started developing and growing online information marketing publishing company from ground zero to over a million dollars sales in less than 12 months starting with a list of the product name or an offer. Heather and molded her clients into successful gurus now known as the expert in this field. She is awesome, and she really knows her stuff. So, let's welcome Heather today. Heather so great to have you again. And I'm just so excited to really talk about chatbots. I know it's something new that I've heard about a little but almost nothing. So, this is going to be exciting. Thanks so much for being with us. Thank you for having me. This is going to be a lot of fun so it's going to be different and chatbots, feel like what's a chatbot, I will explain all of that. Awesome. OK. All right. So, here's what chatbot is. I mean just kind of dive into it if you're ok with that. My name is. My name is Heather Havenwood and I'm a marketer in an online marketing for since 2001 and I had my, I actually got my online degree my master's degree in 2010. My first million online was in 2005 right so I've been around a long time in one of the things about me is I'm an early adopter. Not everyone's like that. I got that from my father actually. Whenever there was a change of technology from BETA to VHS to like those discs we had for a while he was like the first one out the gate to buy the technology. In fact, in 1985 just to give you I guess when I get this from 1985 he had a physical bone in his car wired in his car he drove 80 miles from our house to the nearest train and when the train ran by he called his buddy and said look I'm, I'm in my car and a car phone is like 1985. OK. Wow. And I think it was like 50 dollars a minute or whatever it was. But this is before the bag phone. He was one of the first people in Houston Texas in the 80s to get a phone and he was very proud of that. So that's just I think that's where I get it from. I'm a true early adopter and I kind of have it. It's like I've heard about it. I'm probably late. I just have this kind of weird thing. But, I will say with chatbots it's a little bit different technology, but it really is the future. So, let's kind of take you back down to a technology lane if you will. Right. Let's start with good old-fashioned Yellow Pages. Yellow Pages. I remember going up we have yellow pages. My grandmother lived on her yellow pages. He wanted a plumber, or they wanted a roofer, they wanted whatever they open the yellow pages and all the market people talked about the yellow page remember that. Yeah absolutely. All right the bigger the ad the more people who will get to read the copy. And then what you trying to get them to do. You tried to get them to do what. Call the office sure. That was the thing. And then you got them to convert from there. Then we had the big explosion of online marketing in the last couple least of decades. Is it all about ads. Now no longer Yellow Pages but now that it was newspaper ads direct mail it's all about no matter what your ad is Facebook, online, Google, Yelp what are you going to do. Call. You still want them to call or go to your Web site and call. Especially with service-based businesses. Absolutely. Mainly because you want to say what's going on what's happening. When can we meet? Here's what's happening with text messaging. So, let me give you kind of an example. Go back three years. I opened a weight loss company here in Austin. So, it was a service-based business. Local business right. And it was kind of a new business and so what we want to do is again like you guys we wanted them to call to set an appointment. But from the beginning, I knew that a couple of things one of our target markets was women in the construction business even though it's predominantly male-dominated the customer is the woman. Absolutely right. She's the one dealing with the leaky roof she's the one dealing with all of that. The plumbing situation even though maybe you know the man comes in to fix it. The customer is a woman. Absolutely. Go back to this weight loss program. I knew the market was women and women like texting more than men. There's stats on that. OK. So, I thought to myself OK well we're going to set this phone number up. Obviously, we said the phone number, but it was a virtual number for the beginning. There's all kinds of companies you can use Grasshopper, Google Voice, whatever. And the number one thing that I said the company we have to make sure the phone number is textable and the like really __, it has to be textable and it has to be text was such a way that no matter who is working that day, myself I work in the office as virtual or anybody that we actually had in the office that they physically, they could text message back the customer as fast as they possibly could. So, it first happened my staff was like no one's going to text us or on my watch. Sure, enough we put on all our ads either on the Website, Yelp, Google ads whatever our thing was when we did even radio we said call or text number, call or text number. And guess what happened. We had people text and they say: “I just heard your ad on, I just saw your ad on Yelp, whatever can you tell me more about it?” Now here's what's happening. People are busy. They got their lives going on their moms or whatever they're busy lives right. They go oh I really want to try that. I'll send them a text but they don't really want to have the time to call and have this big conversation. Right. Right. So, it's their way of kind of like oh I'll start something and then like a follow-up. But they don't want to e-mail either because they kind of want to talk to somebody, so they text. Now here's another example. So, we actually had a huge amount still, do have you drop people texting. And then what we do is we'll text back and forth a little bit and then go hey is this a good time to call you so we can now continue the conversation get your schedule and then they’ll go “Yeah, come in 10 minutes or actually give me five minutes. Yeah. Call me now” Boom. Now we’re calling, we've had we've had a connection, come on the phones, schedule an appointment, you'd be surprised. Well the interesting thing, I’m hearing you're going through the whole sequence. You’re texting back and forth and you're creating a dialogue and a familiarity and then you're asking them permission to call them which then they're saying yes. Yeah exactly. They reached out with the text which is what I call a soft connection. No commitment. And then-then we would always encourage our staff to say try to get on the phones as fast as possibly can so they can answer questions faster. Of course, and get an appointment. And but when you're in that dialogue then you can have a permission-based conversation where you're like hey is a good time call you when should I call you? Perfect timing I'm driving. Great. You know or hey you're going to be on speaker with the kids. No problem. You know so now you're calling them and they are inviting us to call them. I know that's so awesome. It is also, that we did. So, here's another thing and give me another example here just in case you're just like oh I don't believe it. I had a gentleman who was in a mastermind with me who his agency did all was managing all the lawyer infomercials to just commercials right across the country and that the lawyer was one of those ones where it's like: “Do you this crazy sickness I can never say it. OK. I can't say I call this number does you have this. This is, call this number. You know your part of a class action lawsuit” So that was his agency like blasting this and their conversion wasn't getting very high and they didn't understand. So, they, once someone said someone called in the customers who are feeling like and she goes well someone called in the other day and said they tried to text the number and nothing happened. And of course, everyone in the agencies that text the number that they go to. Why don't you make the number textable and see what happens? So, said what we could do that. Right. So, they made the same phone number. No changes really textable. And I think on the ad they put, call or text. What do you think happened? They got and ended with texts because nobody wants the call and really talk to somebody right now. Exactly. They don't want to be sold. Right. And you also don't know maybe they're in a loud factory or maybe a hospital, maybe they didn't want to actually talk to, they can't, maybe they legally can't, maybe are in front of people they don't want to have a conversation about right. Oh yes, let’s talk to a lawyer right. So, there are all kinds of reasons why people text versus call. Sure. Right. My sister, when she's in a certain area of her work. She can't take calls because for some reason the area is restricted. She's like I can text you but I can't call you back. Right. So, stuff like this you just realize that you can still get in communication and so give the customer through text so what they did they made it textable and they got inundated their conversion went way up and they're all happy. Right. Yeah. Instead, they made the customer service people take the text and they, it’s just like chat nowadays. I mean I go when I do customer service for clients or I go into a software that I'm purchasing the first thing I do is chat right because I have music in the background or I have you know kids screaming the background the dogs, but I can chat through what I need but I can't get a call. So, the point do you want to do more of that and that's where chatbots come in. OK So, here's what's happening now because people are already used to texting. And sometimes people don't even want to give out their phone number because when they text you, you’re the front of them. Yeah. What's happening now is Facebook early 2017. They opened up their API. We will talk for a second. They opened up their API for their messenger which is their texting communication right. They opened it up, API really from the concept of what do we do with this thing. We want more people on our platform. We pretty much want to take over the world. We don't want anyone anymore to even use their phone. They want us to call and voice call and video call and do everything with Facebook. How can we get more businesses to use our services? How can we get more businesses on our platform? They go well let's open up the API and see what happens. They open up the API. Kind of like OK developers go. We don't know how to sell this so why don't we just open up the platform. And there's about 40, 50 companies in San Francisco area and they are kind of tap the shoulders on and said OK. You start your own company and we're going to let you API into our service. It's not for the public it's just for like who we tap and see if you can find a way that will you know will basically increase the amount of businesses on our platform. So that's what happened. And it's only been around pretty much since the first quarter of 2017 and what's happened now is there are all these different services trying to figure this out where they are now no longer on their Website no longer saying things like click to my Website or click to chat or click to call. They're saying hey click here to talk to somebody right away. And it opens up the Facebook messenger app on desktop as well as mobile. And so, what happens is you now are engaging with the company via their Facebook app, via their fan page or their business page immediately. Interesting. Yeah. So, then you can move them from there to wherever you want. Here's a link to site for a service. You know why don't you give us a call I'm available right now. By the way, you're on our fan page if you click on this link it takes you to our service agreement whatever you want. What they're trying to do is have it so that business is really no longer would have Websites they just have business pages. Wow. That’s interesting. And that's why I think it is. And it's clickable so here's how it hits it and then I would go to the next level of this. So, I'm going to give you my chatbot link right now and I want everyone listening to go to this URL and engage with my chatbot and notice how different it is than going into our website to opt-in or just calling me or anything like that. Notice the differences here 's the URL, ready? Yup. www. askheatherann.com. My name is Heather Anne so, askheatherann.com. Now you put that in URL, no matter if you’re on desktop, no matter if your iPad, or your phone it's going to happen. It's going to open it and it's going to turn, you'll see that like open and open again, and it will go right to Facebook Messenger. Wow. Ok. . Yes. So that once you experience it now mine's customized and the first thing it says is like “Hi” and it starts to have a conversation like Hi I'm Heather Havenwood. This is what I do, you know. And then I ask it a question. The first question I ask when I ask you is “What's your name?” What am I doing? I'm building a list near you. David, you're like great Dave. They'll say tell you what do you own a business because that's what I do. Right. And you can say yes or no. “Great!” right you're in a business that's awesome because that's what I do I help businesses expand their space expand their revenue through different through exposure visibility and profitability. You go, “Great!” And it will tell you what I like because “I'm a bot. I don't know if you're man or woman. Will you tell me if you're man or a woman? Then you say, “Man” Type in MAN. “Great!” Right. Expands things, I go, tell you what I should give your free gifts just for your time today. Here is. Will you please give me your e-mail address? You type your e-mail address. Press ‘send’. Awesome. Here is your gift. I just had an entire interaction with you. Yeah, that's pretty amazing. Now here's what's cool about it. Why you're having that interaction. If I can actually watch you do this entire process live. Like I can be sitting at my desk as a customer service person or the CEO of the company. Watching people interact and at any moment in the middle of the conversation. I could just like come in and go “Hey”, “Hey, how's it going?” And I can totally take away the competition of the bot and just literally have a conversation with you. I don't know what to do. And the chatbots going. You can literally have someone go Oh hey you know I'm here right now we're available we can get someone out. Can I get your number to call you right now and what's going on? What's your address? Now, what can we do for you? Start actually communicating with the right way via chatbot and everything's recorded and everything you can see at any time. Wow. That's way, way better than a Web site. It's way better than a website right. First of all, it doesn't go there then opt-in and you get autoresponder. You just need a whole process right. And so, you can so much time. But here's the cool piece. It also brands you it has a conversation. There's a company here in Austin called the Reliant plumbing. And oh my god they, they do the best ads. They really do. I have to give them credit. The radio ads and ads and its husband-wife team. I’ve never used them but I hear their stuff all the time. And, the radio ads. it's husband-wife team. And they have this kind of brand, the whole fun team going on. But they’re still on plumbing for God’s sake. And you got to rate it, it’s funny. So, they lost the whole brand through fame. Now they just drive people to the website of course and their brand and their phone number. And I don't they do text messaging but they've created this kind of funny brand. Between them, you know between the husband-wife. He acts like these guys as goofy guy and she acts like she's like seriously honey you know like that whole thing. Imagine if you had a cartoon of them were few ones with chatbots and high, and all of a sudden you had the spokespeople the CEO's husband-wife team basically talked to you go “Hey!” And they had this little fun banter for ten seconds. You're reengaging with them and you're reengaging with your brand. And that's key because we want to, at the end of the day businesses what do business people it's human to human interaction. They don't run businesses with brands. But what they what they what we're doing now with artificial intelligence basically is rebuilding connection with bots which is aka a cartoon of Disney. We have a relationship to Winnie the Pooh. We have a relationship to Mickey Mouse. We can have a relationship with a cartoon right represent something to us. Remember that the movie with Tom Hanks where he's alone on an island for forever. He literally had a relationship with a volleyball called Wilson. Right. Right. He built this interaction with it. We have this is old school, Wendy’s. You know we've had interactions with the dog, Spot. I think it was Budweiser. We've had we've had relationships with inanimate objects before and cartoons. That is a way to connect with an audience. So that's how Chat Bots allow, you to do that and it also allows you going at one level but also alleged that sustained interaction fast speed connection with the with the with your customer and you don't have to have a big hole. You know there are services you get that are called chat services. Yeah. Yes, that's true. That takes a little more manpower right because any anybody in your office can be logged into and be a part of the Facebook business page. And anybody can be having a conversation with a client. It starts with the CEO. Yes. Yeah. It's kind of interesting because it's like you know even when you get a text on your phone or you check it always before you will an e-mail. So, the chatbots if you’re on the other end you just know that it's up and running all the time and you would be able to use it so much better than answering the phone ain’t it? Yeah absolutely. And plus, on top of that you know you again you don't know are people going on in the background their world right. Being able to chat and have a conversation with a service provider like Hey I like to have you come out roofing. I've got a hole Yeah, I live in South Elvis or the South Austin. I really rather have it on Tuesday and how this whole conversation and go Yeah. Well, we have something available 2;00 on Tuesday. Here's my address. Thank you so much. We'll follow up with you in a week. All that can be done. In fact, my head my AC go out actually three months ago and believe it not I was very impressed. This company texts me a text me but the only thing that I think they did incorrectly is that I had a phone number I called. And then the text came directly from the technician. The problem with that is a different phone number. Wouldn't it be that everything comes from one place? That's the beauty of Chat Bot. You don't have three numbers right. It could be anyone. Right. Because the technician can leave. They can leave the company tomorrow, in a year, and you really don’t want to have that right. When you want to own the customer. And with all the technology there is today you can have all your phone numbers from the company forwarded from one out. Yeah. So, if I have five technicians they could all be routed through that one number. Exactly. Yeah. So that way. Anyway, like I said with Facebook how Facebook as if I own a Facebook page and I own a business I can have you as they call it editor. I don't have this system. I can have a business manager all the editors at any moment. Everyone's texting from the same location to the customer. So that's continuity. Right, it’s continuity to the customer, so a customer's text via Facebook Messenger. They used to clock smart. That sounds great. Awesome. And then all of a sudden you have the technician Mike go “Hey Sarah. This is Mike your technician”. And again, it's coming from the same place it's coming from Facebook Messenger. Just want to let you know I'm on my way. I'll be there in 15 minutes 20 minutes. I'm running late. Whatever. You know if there's any problems or any changes please just text back to this Facebook Messenger and either myself or someone from our team will help you. Right. And that's a cool thing to do because like now I and my other business have people when I talk to them though I'll ask them what method you prefer. And they probably say text me the most. Most of them are saying text now because they're on the go and no glance at a text and no answer. Or you know at times I’ll call somebody and knows you know on my phone and says I can't take the message now so they end up getting a text right. They got texts right. And I've actually had a situation where it was a service provider and I said I can't get on your calendar. You could text me and like well we don't text them you need to step up. They are in the real world so the point is that you want to have both right now. I think having your phone number textable. You can do this you can do that through Central, you can do that through Grasshopper, Google Voices is a lot of different areas you can do that is OK. But then also having the Facebook ad or the Yelp ad, you can literally text have the URL go right to the messenger. So askheatheranne.com goes right to the chat box experience. It doesn't go to my page. And then you click. No, it goes right. Right. Right. The Chat Box experienced first thing actually the interaction. And you can actually like you so you say you can give a free report or give me a free gift from there. Absolutely. Absolutely. And then you can then you can send them to your web page if you so desire to. Exactly then definitely. I mean you'd be surprised nowadays. I mean just the other day I went to Facebook I'm looking for a new gem on something. I went their Facebook page, their business page and this was me testing them. So, went their Facebook page a business page. And I went to their message and I started texting them questions. Now, it was late at night. Like it was late, was like ten o'clock and I didn't expect them to respond at all like I expected either they weren't going to respond, or two, may or may not respond in the morning if someone's actually managing their Facebook page. What's interesting about it is the owner, she responded in 20 minutes. She’s like “hey yeah, I was sleeping. It’s all right, Sure, you know what Why don’t we give you a free weekend. Love for you to come in. My name is Sam, I’m the owner. I love to connect with you and see how we can support you. I was like “Awesome!”. Because well have the days of weak control of when people buy over. The nine to five is over. And so, I'm not saying you have to sit there all night. You know, and you can't ever turn your hours off and you can but have to allow people to connect with you when they want to connect with you. And lots of times it happens at seven o'clock at night when they're at dinner and their husbands like we got to fix the plumbing Let’s push it in the morning. Doesn't work anymore. It's like you know what I'll text them right now and they'll get it in the morning and they'll call me when I'm running around 8 o'clock in the morning because of so many of those in our weight loss company people text as after hours. Really? You know the interesting thing too is like I've done a lot of research, not research but you know playing with other people's websites and see how they respond. You know to email him or send him an email from their website and nobody virtually nobody checks the email that they get from their websites. Yeah, that's really strange to me. I get a lot of people don't. But if you do a texting and it is going right to you in a different format than you know, I think that's pretty awesome just the way that that whole thing set up. I’m going to have to check it out. So how did you pick up your URL? You just put it into when you set it up. Yes, you can buy your URL anywhere, of course, godaddy.com or whatever. And then ask. It doesn't make sense. I just I had I had it sitting there and now you can make it whatever you want. You can make it your company.com/contact us what you can make it whatever you want it's just an easier redirect obviously, because we’re sitting here sitting here the audio you know you know I've explained to you what it is or what's happened with the API with Facebook the techie is to notice nowadays your Facebook Messenger is now an entirely different URL M./ What Facebook did is basically, Facebook now has two websites, it’s Facebook.com and m.com. Yes, so that's why your app you have an app for Facebook and an app for messenger. OK. From a distance, so your Facebook business page Messenger is literally an entire another URL. And so, this is new to me. So, I could have Facebook off. Right. So that's how I open up my desktop with Facebook because it's too much drama. But I can communicate with business people all day long on Facebook Messenger. So, I close Facebook, but I open that messenger and I go to m.com/ you know and that opens up my messenger so all I see on the desktop is messenger. Anyone talking to me. I don't see any of the blog posts or drama or ads or any of that stuff because that's turned off okay. So, it's two, it's two entities at this point. You look at Facebook as if there's two companies two URLs and that's why the messenger literally is its own world and they're going to start. They've already started but they're slowly rolling it out. They're going to start so that you can actually advertise inside of messenger. So eventually, especially 2019. That's a good or bad thing. Yeah right. The cool thing though about that for a local business right. Save money or whatnot. A local business you can really you can really focus on people that are in their message or app at 10-mile radius or at a 50-mile radius. The other thing with that is here's what's really cool which I forgot. So, let's the moment you start interacting with my chatbot and I mean the moment all you have to say is hello. And that's considered it opt-in. So, what's happening in the background is I'm connected to a third-party service remember this third-party company I told you about I'm connected to a third-party server I pay $20 a month and there are tons of out there. One of them is called many chat spells it M A N Y C H A T.com, 20 bucks a month. What it's doing and again it's this open API company okay. What it's doing is at the moment you say “hello”. OK. On my page the moment, many chat considers that an opt-in. You've interacted. You've interacted therefore you are at opt-in. Therefore, you're now on my list. I can broadcast. I can send a New Year’s Eve or Christmas Eve special to anyone that's ever interacted with my business page messenger ever. You're on my list. The cool thing about that looking e-mail list right is the messenger app is an 80-90% open rate. Message my broadcast my message list. I'm going to get a huge open rate versus an emailing blasting my list. Wow. This is just the beginning it's only been around not 11 months or so yet. It's a whole new world the about ready to explode. It is. It is and it's geared towards businesses. It really is geared towards businesses because Facebook wants to pretty much take over the business page. They want to take over the Yellow Pages right. They want to be the pages for the world so they don't know how to do that. So that's how they opened it up and now all these things are kind of coming about with entrepreneurs and they're all figuring it out. I mean a chance really expands $20 a month. All it does is basically talk to Facebook and as a third party or you know interaction that they've got the blessing from Facebook. So basically, what the Many chat does is it take everyone that interacts with you it just takes their information, stores it with you it just takes her information stored it for you. It's pretty good. So, think of it like a Manychat, board member or eye contact where you log in and you say I want to send a broadcast tomorrow at 8:00 a.m. and I want to have a little image. You don't make the thing about Chat Bots you know broadcasting for Chat Bots as you make it short like a taxi you'll see like an image in like a little thing like “Awesome offer new year's offer click here or call us now for your offer” like Texas small. Yeah. Right. But then you press a button and the system sends it to everyone on your broadcast list. So, 90% open rate of your offer. Wow, that's pretty awesome. It is awesome, right? I'm just thinking about what awesome possibilities. So, so what I do. I work with companies to do that. I mean I set their Chat Bots and it starts around a thousand dollars to do a full set up. And the reason why it takes that much money is that yes you can do it yourself there are many chat bot but I do an entire process and a marketing process of how are you using text now and how can we integrate that with your current system. Consulting involved. So, it starts with thousand usually about a two or $2,500. But I mean how many clients do you need to make up one, you know $2,400. Right. One or two in the construction business. Sure. Especially if what you are selling off its roofs. It's one deal if it fits windows and doors are its kitchens and yeah, it's one deal. Take care of it in an armpit. So, I hope that helps and I love for people to get a hold of me at www.heatherann.com and that is my own private page. So, I am the one answering questions of you really seriously have a question you can just literally message me and it's me because I'm the one logged in. Or you can go to call with www.callwithheather.com, callwithheather.com and that is my schedule on the phone with me and have a conversation and let me know how I see you I can help you know to consult with you and your marketing. I do marketing advice right, so I work with service providers as well as authors and speakers specifically and how do they increase their ROI their current marketing. I do a lot of local businesses so lawyers, Service providers, Weight loss. That's cool. That's awesome. Yeah. And if they if they get in touch with you and www.askheatherann.com then they'll get a whole preview of what they can possibly expect to get you know on the short side. Yes absolutely. And are actually looking at. Call and interacts with them. So that's pretty cool. This has really been cool. Thank you. Thanks for having me. I really appreciate it. This is just killer information like the last time I know how to do the Chat Bots that's the last time was. Know who your customer is so you can sell them. Yeah. Forgot about that other piece about that know who your customers. Just circling back. Yeah. Though women like to text more than men. Like I said that earlier. That is why if your target market is women, this is just brilliant. I mean it really is brilliant. Really. I know that the technicians usually are men were generalizing of course but women are usually the ones writing the check. Right. I agree. Just like my daughter, she has six kids don't even think about calling her. Oh my. Oh my God yeah. Text her, and if one of the other kids see this they'll pick up the phone and text back. But she barely really answers the phone. Well, I can only imagine. Right. So yes, I'm surprised she can even text but a good example. A lot of what I mean. Yeah. You’d be surprise texting I'll do stop in there. They're doing all kinds of things and they'll text. But getting a phone call out of them is like forget about it. You'd be surprised how just doing this one thing can really just increase your conversion. Because remember your target market is. And if you're over there going I'm old school. What the hell are you talking about Heather? I’m like “What? look you're not your market. You're not the one writing the check. Yeah. They’d get up to speed or die, it’s about it. Let the millennial business owner take your spot in the market. Exactly. My father last, I checked I haven't even tried it in a couple of years. He hadn’t a flip phone. You know like he doesn’t even get texts but he's an early adopter too which always makes me like what happened to you. I think he got retirees, forget it I’m not an early adopter anymore. But I did my first text message in 1988. 1988. And it was. I was working for a telecom company and we, of course, have the cell phone and that Nokia; the Nokia dealer was there at the offices way back. You remember that. And they were explaining to us text message and were all in the conference room about 10 of us. And I never forget it. And I said to my friend Brad, “Brad I'm going to text you ok. Hold on a sec” I put HI. You know you heard his little phone go ding ding. He’s like WOW, I got it. He's like OK I'll text you back. Hi. Oh my God, Oh, my god. We are in the same conference room. It was like, Woah, that’s so, really, how did you get to. So, things had changed a lot. Oh yeah. We still want to talk to humans. We still want to have a relationship with the people that we're giving money to. So, believe it or not, text us. Text us here. No, it's not something that's going to get progressively more interesting let’s put it that way to interact and engage with our customers. So, thanks for having me I really appreciate this. I really appreciate you being with us this morning. It has been an awesome day. This has really been some awesome content. Heather has just given us some tremendous information on how you can jump ahead of the game. Jump ahead of your competition and be that guy or gal that's in control of what's going on within your business triple your conversion rates. Figure out how to use chatbots is just another tool in your toolbox. That's all it is. So, until the next time, we meet be profitable, have fun enjoy your business. . You may visit these websites to connect with Heather Havenwood: There are so many ways to do almost free marketing you just have to think about it or you could just go to the web site and pick up the free download. 4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business with Customers If you have a story to tell and would like to be a guest on this podcast email my assistant Shell at Shell@contractorssecretweapon.com and she will send you our guest sheet.
Our sponsors Would you like your phone to ring more with qualified buyers people looking to buy now? Then let’s make that happen. Best Home Services Leads is dedicated to making your phone ring with qualified buyers wanting to buy now. Go to and fill out the form to get more information. http://contractorssecretweapon.com/money How about 100 free postcards sent out to your best prospective customers. Radius Bomb sends out hyper targeted, laser focused postcards using a map while sitting in your under ware at your kitchen table then go to http://contractorssecretweapon.com/radiusbomb Painting Contractors, get up to a 24% better response rate just for having the right memorable telephone number 1-800-PRO-PAINTER.Check out your area before someone beats you to it and it’s not available. https://www.1800propainter.com/ |
Tue, 9 January 2018
Discover How to make your customers feel Important should be number one on top of your list. We want to give a wow factor to our customers and basically the wow factor is doing what other won't But really boils down to doing what others don't. We all want to build ultimately a business with sustainable growth, sustainable profit. Treat our customers exponentially super good. So how do we do that? First of all, we want to build ultimately a business with sustainable growth, sustainable profit. So, in order to do that the best way to do business. And yes, we do need customers and acquire new customers all the time but mainly we need to treat our customers exponentially super good. I like to call it the WOW factor and basically the wow factor is doing what others won't. What others won't. But really boils down to doing what others don't. So, let's just go through a list of some of the things that you can do to make your customer feel important because when your customer feels important when my customer feels important then guess what. Not only do they want to continue to do business with me, but they let others know more often about you and the services you provide. Wowing your customer is really simple in today's market. It's very simple. We want to go into the expediential growth stuff the stuff that really sets you apart. Some of the simple things are just a handwritten thank you. Now a handwritten thank you note to your customer. I really appreciate you thank you for doing business with us. Same thing for a referral. Oh, my goodness it just it just sends them over the top when they get a handwritten thank you note. Thank you so much for referring us. How about just answering the phone. These are simple things returning phone calls. And never letting that customer drop off. And so, if you get a customer that you call them back and they don't answer, or you had to leave a voicemail just let them know say listen I promised that I would get in touch with you. And I'm not going to stop until I do. So, therefore, that kept you off the hook of actually saying or feeling like I'm really badgering that person but you're not badgering. Because they asked you they asked you to get in touch with them. How about sending them a gift a token of appreciation for when you finish up that job or even sometimes Let's let's start with that one first. A gift of appreciation a thank you thank you card with a gift. Could be brownies. It could be a cookie. It could be a little gift something you put in the mail to them. Just an appreciation of something that you found that they liked or noticed that they liked or had collected at the house. And I've even done it for people who have dogs. I also send the dog a gift that is just unheard of because people don't think about that. Listen you're saying why that cost $ 15.00 max 15 you can do it for 15 dollars. Just send a thank you card and brownies for 15 dollars or thank you card and a small gift for fifteen dollars or less. Why wouldn't you do that? You're saying wow why would I do that. Oh man are you kidding me. This is just crazy I can't. You want to thank them you want them to feel important. But guess what. You don't have to take 15 dollars out of your profit figure it into the price. Are you kidding me just this is a wow factor? It will. It will make your customer feel so appreciated. Because no one else does it. You want to rise to the top. You want to bring yourself up to the top of the pile of contractors that you've got your hand raising above all the rest. You want to do multiple touches a year. So how do I do this sequence? There are certain ways you can do. You can use send out cards. You can use Send Jim or Radius Bomb. I don't know if any you guys have the herd of Send Jim but if you go down to the bottom of the page. One of our sponsors is Sendjim. You can click on the link there it'll take you over to a video. And yes, it is an affiliate link. We do get paid for it for sending you over but it's the same price as you would pay if you went to direct. However, you do it just do it. Just go there. Add the sequences to your touch points throughout the year. Newsletter's. Oh man, I am a big fan of newsletters to send out newsletters on a monthly basis. And if you're going to say why would I spend money on a newsletter. I'm going to tell you why. My statistics show for every dollar I spend on sending out a newsletter. I get 21$ and 67 cents or 76 cents something like that back in return. Throughout the course of the year, you don't get too much of a return like that in many other areas. Why. do it Because the customer feels important. You're keeping in touch with them you're always on the top of their mind. This is actually a wow factor if done correctly. So, go in the show notes, go to the page, go to free stuff. You can download a link that will give you an example of the newsletter that I send out for my painting business and it's free. I mean just get an idea of what to send out. Now if you want to do an e-mail that's great. But also remember that your e-mail is only going to be eight to 10% open rate with a legitimate and I mean they're all legitimate. But with a mail newsletter, the way that I send it out everyone gets a 100% open rate when it arrives. They look at it at least they remember you. You're on top of mine and they're going to call you and say Oh man I've been thinking about Dave. They were thinking about Bob let me give him a call. And listen it is awesome the way that they respond. So how do you do this? You got to get their data. You've got to get the e-mail you got to get your mailing address you got to get some time their anniversary. Listen here's a thing that some restaurants do and you could actually implement this into your system is they send out half a birthday card. So, they know when their birthday is. So, they send out a half a birthday card to say hey it's half a year to your birthday have a birthday card. Here's a certificate or a coupon for a free drink or an appetizer with your dinner. Come in and visit us and enjoy your half birthday marked on us. So, think about what you could do with your own your own business your own contracting business. You could do an anniversary card. Oh, this not if you knew what their anniversary was when they got married but how about the anniversary day of the work you did. So, this is a one-year anniversary. We just want to thank you for doing business with us and put in there something that you might want to a new product, new service that you're selling or maybe you did some work last year that needs to be cleaned up may be pressure cleaning. Well you know we did your driveway and house last year it's time to freshen that up to kill the mildew and the algae. The same thing with a painting you could put together something for an interior touch up, a walk-through discount. a So, these are just some things you know you can do that with. You need. Like I said you need to get to thank you. There is a, go on the Internet you can find out. Pull up weird holidays and it'll give you a calendar of certain things that are happening weird like. So, you want to get weird and have fun with the weird holidays. OK so here's a couple I just pulled up and here's some thoughts as they go through January 4th is National Spaghetti Day. What if you boxed up a pound of spaghetti and you send it overnight mail or something like that and said Hey It’s National Spaghetti Day. It January 4th just wanted to celebrate that with you. Here's some thoughts. Oh, here’s January 15th Blue Monday, however you want to do that. January 13th National Pie Day. February 9th is National Bagel Day. Here’s one, February 5th World Nutella a day. So, you see where I'm going with this you could have so much fun by doing stuff. One time I had buttons made up according to holidays. You know some buttons made up I had. It's not my fault day. Sent him out to a bunch of customers for fun. So, there's so much you could do just to make them feel important. What makes some feel important that you are paying attention to them. That's what makes them feel important. So how are what are some of the ways you can come up with a zillion ways to make them feel important? It's always but it's always making you at the top of their mind. So, when someone thinks about her they're talking about having the service that you do when they hear that they go oh here's Bob you need to give him a call. Here's his number. And you know so you might. Oh, I was thinking about this here's the thing you could send them your contact information in the form of attacks as say keep this on hand and just you know when you think about us and you're in a conversation you might want to just send this over to a friend. Your whole contact information so good it's there. So, I know that this is going to make if you do this, this will put you so far ahead of your competition, that you don't have to worry about anybody stealing your customers because they'll be yours for life. So, let's take it a little bit further just a little bit further depending on the business you're in and the contracting that you do so let's say that you're a remodel contractor. Couldn't you take pictures of all the work you did to do before and after picture put it in a postcard and say “Hey can I send these to your friends that they know that you just updated your house and that and you might have their real estate agent in there and fun stuff like that.” So that's another one. Here's another one so that I that I know that some people do. And it is a killer strategy. I mean a real killer strategy. Depending again the contracting business you do if you're remodeler you do kitchens and bathrooms but mostly kitchens. This could be done with an outdoor barbecue or something like that is do you know the before or after picture or do the pictures say we just and celebrate the picture had this huge 6 by 6 by 9 inches. I think the postcard made because you can actually make those up and you can send them out for 49 cents. They don't go out Lark's mail and send them out to their friends inviting them to a dinner party to the new kitchen the new outdoor grill. It's that's really. How do I do this? Why would I do this? Why would I spend the money? You know you just add that to the price figure. Five hundred bucks and you want to really so I here's one that's just at 500 dollars for the party. You tell them Listen we'd like to throw help you throw up. We would like to throw a party for you when this is all finished. And of course, now you're going to be on your best behavior all the way through this deal. You're going to have to keep in touch with them you have to keep contact when they going to be better than anybody else, so they will allow you to do this. I had one contractor that I was talking with and he was doing a kitchen remodel in a house that I had just painted and we had the same coach, same business coach and he goes ha I'm doing you know the remodel for this customer and I'm running into a small challenge because she runs her business out of her house and she has the back bedroom which I knew that and I said So what's going to make you different than every other contractor that comes in. He goes I what do you mean. I go well here's the deal. They're really nice people. They want quality more than price. I know that because I've dealt with them. And if you go into the transaction with listen we know that it's going to be a pain in the neck for you to be there with all that work going on and all that noise and all that chaos. This is what I'm going to do. I'm going to rent you an office space for a week or two weeks till we get through the front of the demolishing and contracting and noise and the chaos. And I said I guarantee you that she will go for that and that will set you apart from everyone else that she's getting a price from. So, if you do that I will almost guarantee that you get the job. And you know he did that because he wowed her. He wowed her, and he got the job. So, it's all about how are you going and why your customer from the very beginning all the way to the end of the transaction. And then after the transaction so that she continues to keep a contact with them keep them on top of mind and continue to wow them. And just by going over some of the things that we talked about in this podcast. Guaranteed that you'll stay top of mind to all of your clients now and for everyone you do business with in the future because the key is make them feel important and when they feel important they will never leave you. That's the main reason customers leave because they feel like no one's paying attention to them. So, if you're keeping in touch contact with them 12 or 14 times a year, you touch base with them even if you throw in a phone call to say Hey Hi just wanted to say hi and says thank you for past business, and if you don't want to do it have somebody in the office do it for you. Hire somebody it doesn't matter just get it done. The key is to make them feel important. Wow, them, do things that no one else will do or is even considered to do. And be profitable. That's the name of the game. Be profitable. So, it's really the simple things that will grow your business to help you become more profitable to have more sustainable growth and then you know it's your business you're building for your lifestyle and make sure that you are in control of the business and the business is not in control of you. So, until the next time. Have a great week. . Be profitable and we'll see you again. Later.There are so many ways to do almost free marketing you just have to think about it or you could just go to the web site and pick up the free download.
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Mon, 8 January 2018
Reggie Brock talks to us today about in s and outs of insurance work and managed repair programs and where it is heading In the construction industry Is It good or bad. You have to decide for your business I have another awesome guest Reggie Brock and Reggie has been in the last three years has been in the construction business. But, regarding managed repair companies and he’s been into 23 years in the insurance industry, seven years in the roofing contractor and consulting and two and a half years as the director of Manage Repair Program. So, for some of you guys who don't know what manage repair as far as the insurance industry works going on. How it was good for your business or bad for your business. And I thought it'd be really great to have you Reggie on the program so he could explain some of that to you guys who are in the insurance industry or doing business with insurance companies and for some of you guys who might think about whether you want to wade into that area or jump in, however, you want to do it. So, Reggie I just want to thank you for being with us today so you could share this. I know this is an important topic for a lot of contractors. Well first, thanks for having me David and you're right. This is concerning insurance work with its retail work. Insurance is a part of that. Or if you want to get into the insurance industry. This is a segment of the industry that really needs to have great consideration given to it. And, my job, my opportunity to really show it and then other places that I just educate and to inform. Dave, I'm not going to tell people what recommendation particularly through our conversation or just get the full view so to speak of the industry and the impact that manager cares having not only just on the industry. But there them as individual contractors as well. All right. So, you know we talked earlier about this and I know that there's a lot of guys who make a great living at doing insurance work. And I think for you they were in Manage Repair Program. So, you can explain a little bit differently but there are pros and cons aren’t there? Absolutely. There's no question about it. And you know it's like anything, in my opinion, Manage Repair is not for everyone. Right. And insurance work is not for everyone. And you know I mean I think that people do make a great decision. People, many contractors to make a great decision. They just need to have an abundance of facts right. And so, when you hear a lot of the conversation that you've heard like in the last eight months to a year and the industry has been pretty negative about managed repair in some circles. And so, what I found in listening to that information is it was more fear based and it was they just didn't understand so based upon my background you know 23 years in the insurance business I understand policy construct I understand payment I understand how the insurance company views things. I mean the guys that are out doing the work, the contractors I did that for seven years. I know what it's like for those guys get knocking’ doors. So, they are knocking until their knuckles bleed. I know what it is to be on a roof that I have no business being safe. And then the second the third side of it is you know I've worked with the manage repair company for two and a half years so really what I'm able to do is come up blend without endorsing. So, I want to speak good information to these contractors. They'll make up their own mind based on facts not just feelings. Yeah, that's pretty awesome because I think that so many times we get asked. Contractors we'd see dollar signs. Right. Or like I remember when I first went into the painting business. My brother was in the painting business. I saw a big wad of cash and said I could do that, once I started doing all sorts of you know started this road I got to finish it. It was so much harder than just looking at the end results But you know a lot of times we get into things like I'm really trying to say is we get into things under false pretenses. So how do we how do we get by that? I know, we’ll talk about that a lot of that today. Your job is basically like you said to inform you said there's a lot of negative stuff going on But a lot of it has to do with failing I guess from my information on the right procedures and paperwork and stuff like that. Yeah, I think I think the biggest difficulty for most contractors that I talked to who had been. let's start with the guys that who are you know most of their business work is working insurance claims.
Manage Repair Programs are really a secondary way of working and insurance claims most contractors are not comfortable with because they have really contractors generally speaking control the insurance job from start to finish. So, to speak. And the problem Dave is that contractors and insurance companys for years and years and years have been more enemies. To some degree right. You know the insurance company they will overpay at times, contractors think they underpaid, and really that was caught in the middle as the policyholder. And so, you know I made a lot of times because of that bad mentality so to speak. The policyholder suffers from a servicing standpoint and an experiential standpoint so you know managed to repair is just another version of how insurance claim work. It's just that the controls look a little bit different. And so honestly to really understand the shift you know. Here’s one of the things that I hear all the time is Reggie you know Manage Repair is it a trend or is it a shifted you know like I know Dave that you know trends come and go it’s not anything you need to be concerned about that if there is a shift you better prepare yourself. One of the top ten insurance companies last year basically lost money they spent more money than they took in all but three of them of the top ten carriers across the country. They're going to make adjustments and usually Yeah. And usually what happens is what motivates that is really two things and that is there's a sense of overpayment that the insurance company has had a claim that they paid too much money for. And the second thing is there's usually fraud involved in billing. And you know from a historical standpoint that's kind of a hint that things arent going right. Those are the indicators of what it meant when insurance companies are going to get a better grip on its payment and reconciliation. And that's kind of what's happening right now. I'll give you a perfect example I'm with contractors constantly and all the contractors tell me they know I'm underpaid I'm not overpaid you know they're not giving me too much money and I ask them if you ever had you ever done work or been paid for work that you didn't do and all of them are like, well absolutely not. Well if you just look at a simple roof and gutters to be replaced because of hail and windstorm. You know there’s most of these guys out here, or not most of them because they're crazy high deductibles I mean especially we do a lot of work in Texas. And there's a lot of. And I'm sure certain Florida's kind of the same way. There are high deductibles that these homeowners are having to wrestle with to get the claim handled and so they pay out of pocket So contractors creative in one of the things that they do is they take money that was allocated for a repair. And you know they don't do it and they use the money that was given to the homeowner to offset the cost that the deductible. Now isn’t that fraud? Well, it's not. When it becomes Fraud is when you send the insurance company a bill stating you did the work and didn’t because the way insurance companies set their pay up is that they’ll give the contractor, the homeowner money upfront to start the job that they want to make sure they pay all the money that they want to make sure the work was actually done. And so, in a lot of cases like for example gutters things like that. Contractors you know get reimbursed for work that they didn’t do. And that's where the fraud comes into play. So that's kind of historically what's created the shift that we're seeing today. OK, so I'm going to ask a question for her because we're the guys that know nothing about insurance work and manage repair is because I don't know. And I'm just gathering stuff I know it we talked a little about it before but manage repair is basically a go between the contractor and the insurance company is that correct. That's a pretty good way to describe it. You know we're a third-party administrator. Companies like us are. And you're exactly right. Rather than the conventional method of a homeowner called to set up I have roof damage you know they'll call the insurance company and the insurance company route's it to their field or generators and they all have the conventional way of doing it. What made these repair companies do is they find qualified certified contractors in areas all across the country. And then when a claim them from a carrier partner that they have a relationship with a particular insurance company a claim comes in and the insurance company will generally rub it to the managed repair company who then from start to finish manages through the contractor the local contractor the project until completion. And so, the insurance company has what you know they trust the banister payer or third-party administrator. That's what some many of these companies are called to handle the customer experience right from start to finish. So, there's not a whole lot of moving parts so to speak. This confuses homeowners. And so Manage Repair Company sits in the middle way the customer of the contractor and the insurance company tries to coordinate what I call a smooth landing with the customer experience with. All right. Exactly. You know I'm thinking I'm going to play the Devil’s advocate. I’m going to think about it from a homeowner’s point of view and then from a contractor from a point of view, I think that Manage Repair would help me have a better experience with both the insurance company and the contractor because there is, in essence, a mediator. And now from a contractor’s standpoint. And so, before you go to a contractor let's talk about homeowners for a second. You bring up a point. The homeowner, If you and I don’t know how, or where you live in the US, but like in Texas and Colorado where I spent a lot of time. Hailstorm comes in particular and it’s like ants on a landfill in a neighborhood right. I mean people knocking on doors. I mean there’s flyers being left the door and they said so what happens is homeowners truly don't understand who to choose in many cases. So, one of the things that a Manage Repair Company provides a requirement from the insurance carrier is the vetting of the contractor. So, they have to pass financial background they had to find credibility in the local market. Those type of things, that also when a homeowner says Hey I'll say that one of our preferred contractors that contractor has gone through the strenuous process before they ever can walk on the property. That creates a lot of confidence with the homeowners. I didn't mean to interrupt but I will I see the next perfect the perfect scenario because you know as a homeowner I want to know that I’m not stuck in a truck that has been ok by the insurance company to do my work yes because I just can't tell you from an experience from a family member. We had a process where they directly worked with the contractor and the insurance company and it was not it was very interesting. And it really it took probably two months longer than it should have. Right. And not saying that they were good or bad either way. It's just I can’t see the benefit of especially the family member because she was on the phone every day, almost little every day between the contractor and the insurance company where it could have been handled with the one person and they could have been done and in a way, that was acceptable to all. Yeah and the home owner’s ordeals with the Manage Repairs Programs, generally speaking, getting them whole or back to like normal life isn’t much faster project much faster process. Because the insurance company with most of the Manage Repair Companies that they have they have very strict requirements in terms of getting that homeowner back to a lack prior to a storm in a very expedient way. So, there's not a lot of finger-pointing . I mean it’s a very process driven system that ultimately is geared to the way it is to make sure that the customer experience is what the insurance company promised. So, it's interesting you're right. Now just like with anybody. I mean there are people in Manage Repair Contractors and Manage Repair Companies who mess up and you know create problems that are by and large that's kind of the reason behind Manage Repair from the carrier’s standpoint and how often is to vet them to make sure that they've done work in the past. Good for their word and the reputable men are honest and all of them. And there again from I’m not talking about from the contractor’s standpoint from two different areas because I would think that from the contractor who is above board who is honest about his business dealings. Really goes out of his way to create the value for the customer. And I believe most do. I agree. I believe that most do and of course, it's the squeaky ones that screw things up for it but I think again from that contractor who's been vetted that this poses a unique situation for them. The fact that they don't have to deal with the insurance company you know in their dealings they've got you know the Manage Repair Company and that if they're good at what they do and there are like registered with a managed repair company that it is a nice avenue of income. Right. I'm not going to say because I'm always I've never been an advocate of putting all your eggs in one basket. I believe in multiple things of income. That's why I say it could be a nice avenue of income from them for them as long as they do other things. And that's you bring up, that is the greatest point probably of this conversation. Manage Repair should not be looked at as replacement but simply the addition to. Because honestly depending on the type of Manage your Repair Program you're involved in I can pretty will tell you that contractors are going to make generally as much money in particular with working to manage repair because major repair companies have to be paid. But if you look at the work that they're doing and what we're not doing and compare the income cap is strange is a lot closer than most people think. The biggest thing that we hear from, I've heard from contractors was manage repair programs is that a couple of few things number one: By going, send basically by an insurance company because you're a preferred contractor to the homeowner, the homeowner knows who you are coming as a contractor. It kind of moves you to the front of the line in terms of marketing. Because you are endorsed, when I say endorse you're absolutely vetted by the carrier and that just create confidence with the homeowner. The second thing it does is it puts them into neighborhoods and usually because of managed repairs, especially in roofing. Manage repairs there's such a quick turnaround in a big storm hit area that got us with a major repair program getting there first get his side or her side of the arch. They get the roof done. In many cases before the other company’s insurance suggests even better out there. So, it's giving them a huge advantage. Yeah. And there again, it’s from a marketing standpoint. You don't have to pay for marketing. Why do you need to be paid as much? I mean and I'm not saying and like you said the variables are close. So, there's a lot of things that you need. You should consider is that you know how not to pay for a multiple callback stuff like that because my face and my appointment are being made for me in a sense by a referral and your closing rate are always higher with such. And then you know I mean the smart contractor is not going to wait to put a sign in the driveway or in the yard saying oh you know we've done this or we're confident this is going to go out and you're going to do five or 10 rounds and say hey we're a trusted adviser or trusted by a managed repair for these companies or insurance companies you know can we assist you in any way. That's a great point. I mean that's a real winning card played here so to speak if you don't mind me saying it that way and you say I need to make sure that there is like going into an ice cream shop when it comes to looking for manage repairs. You know there's a variety of tastes. Right, and each of them do different things you know. So, I hear guys saying well manage repairs does this. No, they don’t. They don't they have a different taste and a different approach to the market. And in many cases, they have different services that they render which kind of helps a contractor realize Well you know. So, this is not a minor Manager Repair. It is. Is it an another as you said Avenue to the business that I'm already doing that can help me add income strain to our portfolio as a business so to speak and you know so I guess what I'm trying to say in that is everything there's so many different varieties. What I try to help guys to do is OK how do I choose which means prepare to be a part of them, like for example, my next year I'm sure that there’s an A-Z. You've got find the one that's going to fit you and in your business. How you operate your business I would imagine because I'm sure there's a like this. So, one of the things that I took us the most important is you need to be a part of a Manage Repair Program that is extremely close and what they do to your core competency as a business. Right. So, if you're a roofer you need to be looking for MRP’s or Manage Repairs or third-party administrators that their focus is on roofing. And why is that. Because the transition will be easier you'll understand. The training will be closer to what you're already doing so that it won't be a huge lead in terms of energy. The second thing I tell them is you need to figure out what the what I call the exchange rate is. What am like giving as a contractor and what am I getting in return. Because if it doesn't make sense for the time you're getting and there's proper compensation that you feel then you don't need to do it. Doesn't matter how sexy or how trendy or whatever the opportunity is made for sure that it makes sense in terms of the time and it's not just yours but the resources required of your staff. That's what people do not to make monetize off and that is what is okay for me to run one of these assignments when they give it to me. And so that because I have a guy, he does a lot of transfers for one of the local roofers in town. He makes a lot of money but he does all the paperwork and you know that’s, you know he does it all by himself. It's a lot of time invested he said. Nobody understands the amount of time I am invested in doing make sure the paperwork right. And you know he's kind of down to almost the size now, and he's worked with the adjuster so much in the past that you know they've helped them and they help more now than it did before. But yeah, you're right. Those times spent that you don't even think about you know going into it. Right. A couple of the things I would notice I took at, this look. What kind of program is it that that stretches your credit or your cash. Right. So, if I get a storm in under the roofs I mean most guys you know these big national companies so they you know they've got a local roofing company and they have credit limits. And so, you know three or four storm comes in pretty quickly these guys run out of credit and are having to wait for you know mortgage companies to release funds or whatever the case may be. So, you need to be really, really, careful that the opportunity that lays you has opened a reality. And from a credit standpoint you get a look and ask yourself OK how’s this manage repair company help me avoid getting myself into a credit crunch. Same thing with cash. You know you need that. I mean these needs to guys to ask OK if I do a job for you, how long am I going to have to use my cash before you pay me what you owe me? Right. So, most of these major care companies are extremely quick on the draw when it comes to pay because they don't understand that they say they get the big ideas and these big eyes are wide open say they oh great. What a great opportunity these manage repair companies are.
And then in the essence you know, if you ask if you really just back off of it. Look at it. It might not make sense because of your credit, straining your cash capabilities. It doesn't mean you're a bad contractor just means you need to look at that stuff before you jump into it. Yeah because it's all about you know you're doing it for the money you're thinking about it to make you more money, to do more business. And in the end, you know it's like guys who grow too fast and they're putting themselves out of business because they know how to handle it. Exactly. Who’s coming in at that time? A hundred percent. So, is our manager repair company’s good programs have been involved in? I think generally so. And I think that they ever say that we've talked about today is considered it makes good business sense for some not all. You just got to slow yourself down and look by the company that you're looking to talk to. The true fear factors. What am I giving? And what am I getting in return? Right. And so, guys I know here's the thing that I was just thinking about too is the time to do it is before you need it. Right. So, if you're thinking about doing you know next storm season or you know if he knows stuff like that happening and start doing your research now because in the middle of a storm season when it hits you're going to just grab at the closest straw you've got and you may end up being a loser. Well, the other thing is the storm and storm that are so hectic. You know what I get afraid of is that people getting involved in manage repairs at the point of a storm at the event that just happened. Boy sometimes everybody bends the wrong direction in terms of training in particular what ultimately happens is it's a bad experience for here. The manage repair company, the contractor, the insurance company and most importantly a bad experience for the homeowner so I concur. If these guys are interested storm season for hail and wind kicks up probably in March. Now's the time. I mean start looking around. Put your oars in the water so to speak and just try to figure it out because right now there will be no pressure. Most major repairs some of them are still run running, some clients buying large they're gearing up for the season before us. So, I agree with you. This has really been interesting. Just a lot of new stuff that I've never thought about and I'm sure that a lot of guys do think about it for how do I do it. But this is information. Useful information I think for you. I really appreciate you being on the show and going through this. Is there anything in the back your mind even thinking about you want to say that you haven't gotten out yet. Well you know I mean I think that the best thing that's been said that needs to be reiterated is just make a decision on that manage repairs not going away right. I mean manage repair is going to grow in scope, more carriers are starting to roll out these types of programs across the country. And it's only going to get. Let me give you one statistic I'd get egotistic so badly, bear with me on this one. So, insurance claims right now, less than half of all insurance claims that that occurred in 2016. I don't have data for 17 yet. Obviously in 2016 less than 1 percent of all insurance claims done last year were done through manage repair program. That's nothing right. But it always that has kind of come out of that less than 1 percent. It's been crazy. people are confused and frustrated and aggravated. Now they're saying by 2020 10-12% of all claims will be run through managed repair program. Why. Because it's allowing the insurance company to control the cost and to offset some of those as we talked about earlier that is overspending and fraud. Now before this thing gets so overwhelming it's too late. Take now just to analyze, gather your facts and you'll make a great decision for you as an individual and a contractor to your local market. And that's kind of what I would think sets it off for me, Dave. That’s pretty awesome. I think that you know demand manage repair program could be as far as the insurance company was looking at could also be in the long term you know to keep a lid on prices of insurances going up. Yeah, I mean it again. Go ahead. And everything is happening in a due season anyway. That's true. That's true. That's really been awesome. How do our listeners can talk to you if they want to know more about manage repair or pretty much in terms of insurances, what's going on? How can they get that? Right. All right. That's awesome this has really been great. I really thank you so much for sticking with us today and share all the stuff that's going on that might make it really easier and help you understand a little bit better. So it's cool. And I know that you will put your LinkedIn. You know to connect with you on LinkedIn to you first from the show notes. So thank you so much for the time, your interest in the topic and hopefully, it’s been helpful for contractors You may visit this website for more details about Reggie Brock; https://www.linkedin.com/in/reggiebrock/
There are so many ways to do almost free marketing you just have to think about it or you could just go to the web site and pick up the free download. 4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business with Customers If you have a story to tell and would like to be a guest on this podcast email my assistant Shell at Shell@contractorssecretweapon.com and she will send you our guest sheet.
Our sponsors Would you like your phone to ring more with qualified buyers people looking to buy now? Then let’s make that happen. Best Home Services Leads is dedicated to making your phone ring with qualified buyers wanting to buy now. Go to and fill out the form to get more information. http://contractorssecretweapon.com/money How about 100 free postcards sent out to your best prospective customers. Radius Bomb sends out hyper targeted, laser focused postcards using a map while sitting in your under ware at your kitchen table then go to http://contractorssecretweapon.com/radiusbomb Painting Contractors, get up to a 24% better response rate just for having the right memorable telephone number 1-800-PRO-PAINTER.Check out your area before someone beats you to it and it’s not available. https://www.1800propainter.com/ |
Fri, 5 January 2018
5 Things You Should Never Say, Always Say If You Want to Make More Money. Clint Arthur takes us through key components to make more money. Make more money have more fun. Conquer your fear of public speaking become a confident and charismatic person you've always wanted to be. I just want to introduce you to a. Highly motivated guy Clint Arthur. He's gonna be our guest today. And Clint is the bestselling author of Speaking game seven finger secrets revealed says that there are five things you should always say if you want to make more money and Five Things You Should Never Say If you want to make more money and I'm looking at the cover of his book which is pretty cool seven figure speaker secrets revealed. Make more money have more fun. Conquer your fear of public speaking become a confident and charismatic person you've always wanted to be.. Clint. I'm just so excited you could be here because I know this is going to be a lot of fun. Thank you. It's a pleasure to be with you I really appreciate your taking the time to record this and I'm excited to help everybody in your audience to have more fun make more money and gain more confidence and charisma.
Every time they open their mouth to say whatever to anybody to their kids to their spouse to their boss to a boardroom full of people to a hundred people at the PTA meeting or to a thousand people at some kind of conference if you ever open your mouth and speak this next 30 minutes is going to change the way you speak and the impact that you have on the world and influence you can make on the world and on your pocketbook and bank accounts forever.
That's awesome because we're really all in speaking game no matter what we do aren’t we. Every time you open your mouth you are trying to influence somebody if you want to go to a certain movie or to a particular restaurant or if you want your kids to clean their room or if you want to get your boss to give you a raise or to implement something or if you're trying to negotiate with a customer or with a contractor this is going to apply to you.
Every time you talk and the things that we're going to talk about here are going to be things that you can do every single time you speak to anybody so that you can have more influence and impact and income that's so cool.
Yeah because we all need to work better on being better is so that we can be better at everything. I know that’s not the right thing. Exactly. Sure, what the heck. No no, no, we need to be better. That's exactly right. And you know Donald Trump is whatever you may think about him politically. Let's cast that aside let's just think about how successful that guy was as a speaker. He gets paid a million dollars to go show up and talk for an hour. That's not a bad paycheck even for Donald Trump. That's not a bad paycheck. And that's all because he's a good speaker. And what are some of the funny things that he says you know I do this bigly you know so you're right. We all need to be better at this.
That's right. And it's not your words. It's not it's not necessarily the words that you say. It's really how you say things that is the biggest impact. However today we're going to talk about five things you should never say if you want to make more money and then we're going to talk about five things you should always say if you want to make more money and words have an important part of this whole thing but when you get into the speaking game book and you start learning the methodology of the speaking game you start playing the speaking game every day.
When you talk you'll see it's much less about what you say and it's much more about how you say it. But for today's purposes because this is a sales oriented moneymaking oriented podcast, let's talk about the Five Things You Should Never Say if you want to make more money and the first thing you should never say if you want to make more money is, let me think about it. See, I recently learned from one of my friends who is a founding member of the National Speakers Association that I make more money than 99 percent of the speakers in the National Speakers Association. And I've only been doing this for about five years now as a as a professional speaker and my ascent has been meteoric you know in GKIC world. I set the all-time record for a speaker selling from the stage at GKIC.
No one's ever sold as much as me and I really do believe that I know what you should do, what you shouldn't do when it comes to speaking and making money and the first thing you should never do is say let me think about it because decisive people make more money and people who make more money are very decisive.
You go to a restaurant with a person who makes a lot of money. They take a quick look at the menu and they know what they want and they say I'll have the steak, I'll have, fish tacos, I'll have the shrimp whatever they want to have. They just look at it they decide and then they say it. And when you're talking to somebody we all know what it means if somebody says if you say let me think about it.
What that really means is no but I just don't have the guts to tell you no to your face. I don't want to have that kind of confrontation with you to tell you no. So really what you do is you're opening up a loop. You're making the contractor or the salesperson call you back and find out. Well do you want to do it or not. Then at that time you'll say no or maybe you'll be such a chicken that you just keep blowing them off and never respond and get to squeeze everybody’s time. The way to make money is to waste less time and to be direct and decisive and say yes or no and decide.
So that's the first thing you should never say to make more money is let me think about it.
The second thing you should never say if you want to make more money is you should think about it. Don't tell customers or prospects to think about it. Encourage them to take action and be decisive. You and I know you know as a contractor as a sales person. It's a numbers game. You got to go through x number of proposed rules in order to get X amount of Yeses.
And on the other side of that you've got to go through x No’s. However, many no’s it's now. So if you're selling 2 percent you need to get a no for every yes. So, you have to get a no because that means you're one step closer to getting a yes. So, don't encourage customers or prospects to think about anything encourage them to make a decision and say hey you got all the facts here's the price here's what we're going to do. Would you like to move forward? Yes or no. And then when they say they wanted to say let me think about it. What do you need to think about? Here's. All right here. Is it a yes or no. I'm happy either way I'm going is happy with. No as I am with a yes. You're not hurting my feeling right.
It's I think about it that drives me nuts because it's more time sucking out of my schedule. That's right. And we all know think about it means it means no. But it just means you got a follow up and make another call and or two or three or four or whatever.
The third thing you should never say is you want to make more money is I woulda coulda shoulda. Now in life you're going to win some you got to lose some you're going to break even on some don't have regrets just learn lesson. Some lessons come cheap some lessons come expensive. I've had $50,000 lessons where it just came right out of my pocket 50 grand. Those were expensive lessons but I learned the lesson and I don't regret what I did. I have learned the lesson I paid the price and a lot of times some of the most expensive lessons are the best lessons. So, I don't regret them. Just learn your lessons and move on.
They call them seminar. It’s an expensive seminar I went to. Yeah I get it then a lot of travel I had to travel to China my most expensive seminar, geez.
All right then the fourth thing you should never say if you want to make more money is: Let me give you a discount. That drives me nuts. Don't offer people discounts. First of all, you're not doing anybody any favors giving them a discount when you give somebody a discount. They feel like they're getting less value. The only way to give a client a great experience is to charge him a lot of money and make them pay full price. If you don't charge them full price if they get the discount. Now they're looking for flaws in the product. Now they're feeling like they didn't get as good of craftsmanship or workmanship or it didn't happen as fast or the alternative is you may feel like you're entitled to delay the job or not deliver it as quickly as possible or as well as you should have.
Because well after all I gave the guy a discount. And that's a really bad recipe for success. It's not going to bring you the best success the highest paid people don't give discounts. Do you think Tony Robbins is getting any giving any discounts? You think Dan Kennedy is giving any discounts. Never. Never. They pay they charge full price and they give full value and that's the way to do it.
And then the fifth thing you should never say if you want to make more money is the the other side and that is. Can you give me a discount? Yes. Now a lot of people ask for discounts and that's a really negative way to approach things you're going to make a lot more money focusing on making money than you will if you try to save money especially on little things like you go into a shop or you. You're dealing with a vendor and you say hey man can you give me a discount on this and you're really much better off being the vendor's favorite customer being the customer who pays full price money on the spot.
Yeah all the time. And then you'll get the special treatment and the special favors that you need when you're in a crunch and that's when it really is more important that you get the service and the quality that you need is when you really need their help. You can only get that by being the best customer. That's why I always pay full price and I pay. Boom. Johnny on the spot. When I when I owe people money or when I hire a vendor or a contractor I always pay promptly because I want them to feel like I'm their best customer because I get the best treatment that way.
So those are the five things you should never say. Think about it. Let me think about it. I wish I would have could have should or let me give you a discount or can you give me a discount. Yeah those are two words I hate discount. Give me a discount. Can I have it now. That's not even in my vocabulary. I just, drives me crazy.
You really have to educate customers to understand that discounts are not in anybody's best interests. Really. Even in the customers worsening trust to give them a discount, I have a guy that I was talking to not too long ago. He is a roofing infighting and window guy in Rhode Island and I was just talking about marketing, one of my favorite subjects. We are talking about how he's grown his business from one and a half million, to 15, five million in the last couple of years.
And I said well what's your best marketing piece. He said You're not going to believe this. If I tell you I believe anything he goes I have a door hanger. When my crews are out I'll go to a few houses run and they'll put it on and open anything. It’s basically a coupon for a 0 percent discount. Wow.
And he said and then I go to explain him why we don't give discounts because in order for us to give you a discount we are going to have to raise the price. And that's not valuable to you. Wow that's very interesting technique. Yeah. I love doing podcasts because you learn so much from listening to this stuff.
And let's get into the five things you should always say. You want to make more money and this is some really fun ones.
The first thing you should always say if you want to make more money is your full name.
Now when I call people I always say hey this is Clint Arthur. Saying your full name is a very subtle power grab and a very subtle power statement. You're saying my full name is important. I am somebody and I'm not just Clints I'm not just Joe I'm not just Jack or JR I am Clint Arthur the one and only Clint Arthur.
And all celebrities do this. And you have to look at what celebrities do because they're playing the toughest most competitive game of all which is the celebrity game and what they're trying to do is to position themselves as somebody important. And ultimately you know that whole saying people need to know, like, and trust you before they're going to do business with you.
I don't agree. I think that's wrong. They need to admire you like you and trust you they need to think that you are better than them in many ways. Certainly, they need to admire your ability to deliver a contracting job on time. And for better houses than theirs they're not going to nobody in a mansion is going to hire a tract home contractor to come in and do work.
He's only going to hire a guy who's done work on the best mansions to come and work on his OK mansion and they're always going to look for somebody who is the most admirable, the high-status person they can get in the category that they're looking to hire.
And by saying your full name it positions you as somebody who is that important. You can even do this with restaurant reservations you call them and say hey this is Joe can I get a reservation for two at eight o'clock. Or you could call up and say hey this is Joe Smith I'd like to come in with my wife for dinner at eight o'clock. And what the reservation is just thinking at that point is who the heck is Joe Smith.
He must be somebody and you know it's kind of funny just listening to you say that you know this is Joe and then this is Joe Smith. There's a different influx in your town when you say your first and last thing name. Interesting.
Yeah I was talking about this with one of my financial advisor clients and he told me that he started implementing this technique and the very first call that he answered that way he said. Jeremy Montrenga, when he answered his phone. That's what he said. Jeremy Montrenga and that set the tone for the whole entire customer intake and it resulted in the biggest client ever brought on board because the tone was a certain direction and power right from the beginning and that's what you can get when you use that kind of full name technique.
The second thing you should always say if you want to make more money. Give me the money. Now that may mean there's different ways to say that essentially. Essentially that's what you're saying is give me the money. Now this is the very first thing they taught me when I was a student at the Wharton Business School is get the money. That's what they teach you at business school. How do you get the money? How do you get it as fast as possible? The number really this is one of the most important things you can do is ask the customer to give you the money if you don't ask for the order you have a lot less chance of ever getting the order.
There's very few customers who are going to say hey I want to buy this thing. Let me give you the money. There's very few who are going to do that. Your job as a salesperson is to ask for the order which is asking for the money. So, don't ever be chicken about that. Always be happy to allow the customer or the prospect this opportunity to make a decision to give you the money. It's very important.
Yes. When the customer has asked you to be there, has asked you for a proposal it is not time to be shy and not ask for the order. I agree. And too many people too many salespeople never do ask for the order.
Now the third thing you should always say if you want to make more money and this is really important is I'm the only one in the world who does this. Now this is a marketing stance or positioning statement that's so important you don't want to be one of 10 window contractors who install certain windows. You want to be the exclusive licensed distributor of Fleetwood windows.
You want to be the exclusive distributor of Fleetwood windows in this region. And if somebody wants to get Fleetwood windows they have to come to you. Otherwise they don't get Fleetwood windows and I know I'm building my dream house right now in the Hollywood Hills. I haven't a whole house full of Fleetwood windows.
That's what they're going to be. You know why. Because when I go to sell that house 10 15 years down the road those fleet windows are going to add value. I'm going to be able I'm going to be able to say hey my house. Every single window in this house is top of the line Fleetwood that's money and I'm and I'm going to do that and I'm going to pay up for the exclusive Fleetwood guy to come in and install them and buy them for me and bring them to me and install them perfectly because I know that and I try to do the same thing in my work too.
So, for example I invented the speaking game and I'm on www.speakinggame.com if you want to play the speaking game, I’m the only one selling the speaking game there is nobody else talking about how do you play this game. How do you make money when you speak like this? There is nobody else doing this so if you want to learn speaking game you've got to go to speakinggame.com and you have to buy the speaking game book and you have to opt in and give me your email address to get the free bonus videos because there's no other way to get it. Alternatively.
Auto repair shop owner named Dave Steagall and he came to my local TV publicity training program. Oh, you know I got. You know. Shawn King from risk free guaranteed. Yeah that's who I was talking about Shaun King. He's a client of mine. Is your song King. Yes, song King came through celebrity launch pad. He's done 30 television appearances. No, it was because he was at the seminar I was at.
In Rhode Island and it was kind of funny because we were talking about that and he was positioning himself to open up different places throughout the United States. And he's already going to be the number one guy because he's already got credibility from TV station.
Yeah, he was on Fox Los Angeles. He booked so many of those shows that my celebrity launchpad. Then he went books a whole bunch more off cold calls the way I taught him how to do it. And if you want to do that I'm the only guy in the whole world who teaches how to book yourself on local TV news and talk shows.
So, if that's of interest to you then you can get that from me and that's a powerful position and you as a contractor you need to figure out a powerful unique position for yourself so that you can take advantage of this third thing. You should always say if you want to make more money. Like we've been talking about and then the fourth thing is I don't discount but I can give you this bonus.
When people ask you for a discount. It's you can't just shut them down cold the smart way I believe to shut down the request for the discount is hey I can't give you a discount but I will throw in this bonus for you because I really like you. So for example you know what can we do. Well I could install I'm thinking of a good a good thing for a contractor. I know. When we're doing the alarm system I could install a bonus with regard to like a camera that you could have. I'm not going to discount the price but I'll throw this in extra for you just to make you feel better.
And the last thing is the fifth thing you should always say if you want to make more money is I'm very grateful for this that or the other thing. Look we live in the United States of America. We many contractors are fortunate enough to be entrepreneurs. Owning your own business and we should be grateful every freaking day man.
I mean the opportunity that we have the lifestyle that we lead we made the best lives on the whole planet. And I'm grateful every day for my opportunities to make money when I talk and to have great clients like Shawn King or Dave Steagall or other people who come through my trainings and pay me a lot of money to teach them this stuff so that they can go out and make their unique impact on the world make the world a better place.
I think that you know the contracting industry delivering homes and improving homes for people is such an important and valuable service. And I'm I'm grateful for all the contractors in the world. I've been working with one I'm building my I'm building my dream home right now and I'm very grateful every day and I try to express gratitude as much as I can for the benefit of others and also for myself so that I can stay grounded and be grateful for what I have because gratitude man, that is a powerful ingredient of a happy life.
Oh yeah. There's so many people that they’re who have a lot of money they're not grateful on their kids. They're just miserable all the time because they haven't learned the gratitude effect. Amen. So there you have it man. Those are the five things you should never say and the five things you should always say what do you think about that.
Hey I'm with you on all of that stuff. You know like I don't discount but I can give a bonus. That is my favorite one because I hate giving up the cash. Yes. It's so funny. You know there's like some kind of ego with attachment to the cash and getting paid what you're worth or what you're not worth.
And yeah, I think too many guys are. And you know and here's a funny thing is I think a lot of you know people that do discount and it goes back to what they're always looking for discounts. They figure in order for people to buy from them they have to give a discount which is just totally wrong thinking
One hundred percent man, it all comes down to are you the guy, are you the ball or are you the player that you always wanted to be. Like I say to a lot of my clients. When you drive up to the valet parking stand you're the guy that every valet parker is hoping is going to come up to the valet parking stats. You got money you've got a car that runs. You've got a great lifestyle and you're the guy who should be tipping them two three five dollars. You're the guy.
And the only way you can be the guy or lady as the case may be the only way you can be the guy is to be the guy. Right. There's nobody who is going to put that five-dollar bill in your hand for you. You got to pull the five and put it in the valet parkers hand and beat the guy. And that's the whole thing about discounts. And asking for discounts or giving discounts if you give or ask for discounts, you're not being the guy.
No definitely not because you're, like you said you're taking the value away from yourself and what you can supply that customer. Yep you know I have it happened to me once was kind of funny and it came out of left field. You know usually you know when you're in the contracting business you can read people and you know how they're going to talk and react.
And I had this one lady you know is that your best price and I'm gone. Now this was a 2-million-dollar house and it's just you weren't thinking that. And I’ve gone “Oh, where did this come from?” So, I really had to think about aside, I did that I said “This is what I can do. I said I can give you I can upgrade the paint which was really you know from and that was not that much more expensive but it actually made my job easier.” And I said why don't we give a 10-year guarantee and the paint and you know all that stuff will up this 12 years and they were totally ecstatic about that.
Yeah. There you go. Cause I didn’t, wasn’t about the money. It was more about what kind of value can I give that. And in place of the money because I think in the long term like you know getting ready and you're going to put those windows in you're in your home you're not thinking about what it's going to cost you today. You're thinking about what is going to return me in the future.
That's right. And today especially today with quantitative easing QE 2 has printed up so much money. There's lots of money out there today. It's not about is there enough money. It's about people getting the experience that they want. It's about people feeling like they're getting the value. I'm not saying you should rip off customers and overcharge them. I'm not saying that. I'm saying you should charge the right price for what you do. You should get what you're worth, what you deserve and the price that the market will bear without ripping people off. I agree. Right.
And people are more concerned today about being treated fairly, getting great value and getting what they want. The experience that they want. Especially from a contractor who's going to deliver on time, deliver in a pleasant way not be sending drug addicts and alcoholics to their house. Not having unfortunate experiences where damage cases are done or accidents happen and it's just it's just about being professional and delivering a first-class experience to people today and then it's easy to get a lot of money people are happy to give you a lot of money for a first-class experience.
I agree wholeheartedly. Oh, cool man. Hey this has been a lot of fun. Any anything. I know we went through those five and five. Is there anything last minute that you to just share with our listeners on the back of your mind? Hey we covered a lot of stuff. If you are interested in the speaking game, go to speakinggame.com and get those free videos.
And the book, oh my gosh so proud of this book. It’s hardcover book. It's my first hardcover book. And I'm really excited about it if you do buy the hardcover, e-mail me your receipt and I'll immediately send you the Kindle book and some bonuses and if you want to find out more about my TV training like Shawn King had, or other ways that I help my clients to immediately position themselves for six figures and seven figure contracts like without changing who you are, I can change the way people perceive view.
And if you're interested in that go check out www.clintarthur.tv and you'll see some of the ways that we do that and I'm happy to hop on the phone and enroll people into a much better and brighter financial future by repositioning yourself as a high money earner. Awesome.
Connect with Clint Arthur
There are so many ways to do almost free marketing you just have to think about it or you could just go to the web site and pick up the free download.
4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business with Customers If you have a story to tell and would like to be a guest on this podcast email my assistant Shell at Shell@contractorssecretweapon.com and she will send you our guest sheet.
Our sponsors Would you like your phone to ring more with qualified buyers people looking to buy now? Then let’s make that happen. Best Home Services Leads is dedicated to making your phone ring with qualified buyers wanting to buy now. Go to and fill out the form to get more information. http://contractorssecretweapon.com/money
How about 100 free postcards sent out to your best prospective customers. Radius Bomb sends out hyper targeted, laser focused postcards using a map while sitting in your under ware at your kitchen table then go to http://contractorssecretweapon.com/radiusbomb
Painting Contractors, get up to a 24% better response rate just for having the right memorable telephone number 1-800-PRO-PAINTER.Check out your area before someone beats you to it and it’s not available. https://www.1800propainter.com/
Visit these websites to know more details about Clint Arthur: |
Thu, 4 January 2018
Can I Write That Off with Craig Cody; Ever thought about what you can write as a business expense Craig goes into some true but seldom used write off strategies. You might just be amazed you are going to love the topic is “Can I write that off?”
Today I have a returning yes because of you guys. His name is Craig Cody and Craig is a certified tax coach, certified public accountant, business owner and former New York City police officer with 17 years’ experience on the force in addition to being a certified public accountant for the past 15 years.
He's also a certified tax coach and as a certified tax coach Craig belongs to a selective of group of tax practitioners throughout the country who undergo extensive training and continued education and various tax planning techniques and strategies to become as well as remain certified Unser. With his organization.
Craig has co-author Amazon best seller book Secrets of the Tax-Free Life and today I'm excited because this is one that you are going to love is the topic is “Can I write that off?” Craig thanks so much for being with us today.
Oh, thank you very much for having me today.
I'm psyched. We got such a great response to you being on here. The last time that this is really I know is going to be fun. I know it's always fun for me but it be fun for a lot of our guests too. Can I write that off? Boy that is probably a thousand different things or a thousand different questions we could ask.
I don't know if I've ever been asked that question before. Can I write that off? First you have to get everything out of your shoe box and put it in order before I can tell you whether you can write that off right.
That's right.
Sometimes when I tell them yes, they're actually really surprised. Yeah. Because they're just grasping a store straw they’re just open right. Exactly, exactly.
OK here's what I want to ask you, and then what is the most unique thing that someone has asked you Can I write that off? Oh it was probably some type of cosmetic surgery.
And I'll leave it at that. Leave it to the imagination. OK.
I'm sure it's not so I'm sure that. And I know a lot of people.
You know it's getting that time of the year. And you know as they go through all their income expenses and stuff and they're gone I'm sure of that I can write it off or I wish I can write that off.
What are some of the things that you want to tell us about that.
Well some of the unique things. Let's talk about OK. You know can I write off my pool? you know. And that's one of them when they're shocked when I say yeah well if you have a home office you can write off your pool because you're allowed to have a home athletic facility for the use of your employees and you and their families. So that money is typically a little bit of a shocker.
So, what if you live up north and you have a game.
If it's a gym you could write it off. Not a game. OK or a pool or even if it was an ice skating rink we have a few of those. You could write that off. Yeah. So, you could write off you actually depreciate the actual pool and you could write off the operating expenses. Sweet. You have just had to document everything. A lot of things just come down to making sure you document what you're supposed to.
So, one of the other fun things a lot of business owners come up to you and say give us a list. Some are probably crazy but that's OK.
Yes, some of some of them that they can't write off they come up to me for. But you know there's a lot of times they'll come up with a medical expense items and you know you know can I write this off while you can write it off but you're not going to get the benefit of it unless we do it a certain way.
Another thing that's actually interesting is if your child goes to a special school and maybe they have ADHD or ADD or there's some reason that they have to go to a special school that could actually be a legitimate medical deduction and we could create a medical expense reimbursement plan so that can work. Well we just had a client that had to pay huge fees for rehab that they thought they were going to write off to schedule late and moves like thirty thousand dollars of deduction.
So, we were able to show them how to do it the right way and take four hundred thousand dollars and such. So, you need to ask. You know that's really what it comes down is she should ask and you should have somebody that's you know willing to look into things and not just shut their mind out and is willing to invest in education and learning what's out there that you can do. There's so many things out there. So many things and that's why when we work with clients sometimes they're shocked or wait I could write my pool off. Yeah you can.
Yeah that's why it's so important to have someone like yourself as a member of a team because you are a team member right. Everybody
should have a team. You know we you know we spend so much time working on our businesses, building up businesses you know can't do it alone. We need to concentrate on what you're really good at and have other people deal with the stuff that you're not really good at.
Yeah that's the main thing. So, what I'm going to have I kind of friend who has a multimillion dollar business I'm going to think about some of the things that actually had so like you if you have a boat you could possibly right to potentially you could write that off for some time. But, will you advise it? You really have to be careful on that. OK. But typically, if somebody buys a boat and it can actually be a second home and they can write interest they could write the interest off on their own schedule day.
So, there are rules with that that a lot of people watch you fall on this subject. That could be a good thing. You know there's a million-dollar limit on mortgage interest and stuff like that but they might that might change in the next 24 hours might become a loan.
I figured they might go higher. I don't think so. I mean I think that tax money. Looks like big business is really going to get a big bulk of whatever this tax savings going to be. Well that's a whole another story for a whole another day. Where that comes from. Yes eventually. So OK. Let's let's keep moving on. What can I write off stuff that most people don't even think about? Most business owners. Yes.
I mean people don't think about their home office. They definitely don't think about that. Some people do but most people don't. They don't think about you know their medical expenses they don't think about how to properly do that.
They don't think about how to write off their kids. You know Camp high school tuition, hockey you know hockey lessons are hockey camp and stuff like that. All right. So, there's a way to do that by hiring your kids and then you pay them directly and then you let them pay for the camp or the school directly out of their bank account.
Well I you know I brought that up to son in law the other day because he is a real estate agent. Of course, he's technically in his own business. I say, you know what I said your kids again old enough where you can hire them and make them pay for their own stuff and he goes. Yeah, the last time I talked my accountant about that he said there was no benefit to it. I said “fire him!”
Right. Exactly. Get somebody that thinks properly. Right. Exactly. That's very true because if he's a realtor and he's a schedule C that's a home run. Yeah, I said you know just there's stuff that they can do you know for your business that you can pay them and let them start paying their own bills. Right. and Write the whole things off.
Exactly. Make nondeductible expenses deductible and you know I spend a lot of time going to you know advance trainings and learn this stuff. Yeah so you know the typical CPA has to do about 30 to 40 hours a year in training. I do easily two weeks if not more. Right. Because now you're learning the ins and outs of what can and can't be done.
And you think well I'm not going to go there. But no, I will go there. You would think that everyone would go for that. But there again that's why we have different personalities, we have different thought processes, and different things I just need to find the right person who will work with you on your side. That's all it really is. Exactly it's kind of like working versus a new business. That’s amazing.
Yeah. So, we have yes, we have hiring the kids we have the home office we have them your current truck expenses and if you have a home office now or you travel from one office to your other office becomes deductible where you can have, too often you can have a home office and another office and do both of them. Oh yes so let's just say you know in my case I spend easily two hours every morning and answering e-mails and doing stuff. Plus, you know easily two hours’ time on the weekends.
It's always you spend 14 hours a week working from that home office. Then it falls under the rules and it's qualified. OK so and most people I speak to you know that when I tell you I got to do 14 hours they look at me like 14 hours? You know I'm working 60 hours or 40 hours in my regular office and I'm home and I'm doing e-mails, I'm doing billing, I'm doing this. You know that's a drop in the bucket.
So yeah that's a huge thing because I was there again. Not that I have two offices but I was always kind of under the impression you could only do one. No. Now well think about if you're a real estate company and you have multiple offices. Yeah. Why can't you. You're allowed to deduct the rent on all those offices and all the expenses that are associated with same principal to dental practices. So, and we all do a lot of administrative stuff when we're sitting at home or whether it's you know in an office or you know the TV which is which means you know I'm working in your office so you should be doing it in your office in front of the TV in your office. Right
Right. That’s why I have one right here. So, have. Exactly. Matter of fact I don’t even know if it works but haven't thrown it out yet. So yeah. So that's a bunch of things that you can do. Then we have the you know you're about to rent your home out 14 days a year and not pay income tax on that money. So that's an interesting thing that is very interesting.
Could you rent it to your company for a Christmas party or a new year's party or any other kind of party during the year. You can do that or you could rent it as a you know especially with air BMB that's really popular. Yeah but you want to make sure you don't go off with the14 days because if you go over the 14 days it's all taxes. All that's taxable yes. So is it 14 days total or is that total OK. Those 14 days total for the year. So, you know that has just brought up like for where I live every once in a while, you know you have a super bowl that comes here you could rent out your house for the weekend for megabucks.
And you don't have to pay that. You know I had a client that used to rent the house in Brooklyn for movies and they used to pay me that was wonderful they were paying a $5000 a day. So conceivably if she was able to get on that rented for 14 days you know she would have made you know a lot of money.
Yeah. Would have paid part of her mortgage right. And she would not have had to claim any of it legally on a tax return. Oh, I love that. And you just got to be careful that you don't go over the 40 days at least. So, you need two guys who everyone is listening as you need to think about how you can do that in different venues. You know if you can't rent it out, you know rent it out for your party you have an associate renting out for a little party. I don't know it doesn't matter just get. Figure out how you can get the 14 days in there because it could it could be worth it to you.
Exactly. Exactly. So, but yeah there's some interesting stuff out there. And I think what everybody needs to do is they need to communicate with the CPA and stay in touch with them and make sure that they stay in touch with each other. So, you know they could all help each other keep more of what they're making.
Yeah that's the key. I always say that’s where the profit that you never see is when you pay to the IRS. so let's get to keep more of it. Exactly. That's the that's probably the easiest profit to make. You know rather than going out and getting more clients, you know they get more of it. Yeah. Yeah because you were thinking about paying less and now you get to keep it. that correct at all. That would be nice if we keep it all.
But the thing happens no right as much as that that's legally allowed. So that we can have more fun and do whatever we want with it. Yeah there was. Right. There was one the Supreme Court justices that quote it says there's nothing wrong with structuring your so use to pay the least amount of tax possible. Who was that guy? OK I have to because I knew it. I want to it wasn't Holmes was it?
No I'm thinking it might have been Marshall but I'm not exactly sure I was OK. I remember that. Yeah I remember that reading bunch stuff. It's my responsibility, it's my job to pay As little as possible because it's written in the tax code so that I can I just have to be able to know where it is and what it is. And that's why again we're going to talk to people like Craig so that we cannot do that. OK. Have that team member.
Exactly and it was actually William Rehnquist. There is nothing wrong with the strategy to avoid the payment of taxes. The Internal Revenue Code doesn't prevent that. That's a statement from Justice cool yeah. So that's pretty awesome. I love that. OK. What’s another really weird thing that someone’s asked you if they can write off that was available. That was available. That was available.
You know cosmetic dentistry you know somebody had to get new guess you want to call them false teeth implants. And you know the first time I heard it, you know like, that can’t be deductibles. I go back to my grandparents and with the old dentist and it is you could actually write it off as legitimate medical experts. While I would think it would apply to certain industries. But what the heck. You know I'd like fewer news anchor act or something like that than it would be part of your income producing.
Right but if I don't have if I don't have teeth I can't chew food so I can't eat so I can't survive. So that's another way of looking at it. Yeah pretty wild. Yes, sometimes just a matter of the way you document different things but I think that one's a pretty straightforward one was the first time I heard it I was a little surprised. You know I've gotten some weird ones over the times and you know you know my dog obviously you can't deduct the cost of your dog now you have. If it's a Rottweiler and it's in a junkyard Yeah that's a different story because every army of service. Exactly. OK. But that's not a huge cost for pet poodle at home. No you can't deduct that. What about if you tried to pay them by the hour and they'd have to have a social security number. There social security number. I have a lot of fun with these huh? People try, “Can I claim my dog as dependent?” NO. Well you feed them then. And that’s a statement from Joe Justice.
I think the biggest one was the pool is something that people were very surprised about or the school. Yes. If they have to go to a special school that you know those are typically pretty expensive things and they could save you a lot of money. Yes, specially some schools. I mean yeah, I can imagine. I mean some schools are expensive as expensive as college.
Yeah some of them are more expensive I think on what the school is for it to be very expensive. Same with rehab can be very expensive. And the ability to structure your fast seat to write that off as a good thing. Yeah. Wow that's amazing. Again, that's just knowing the right people who know the right things. That will put your whole tax perspective into profit and put into profit making mode. Right. And I mean I guess I could throw a little thing in it that's really more towards contractors and rehabbers and stuff like that is you know domestic production activities deduction. What’s that.
It's basically a deduction that was meant to keep jobs in the U.S. versus going overseas and giving these factories that say OK a credit or a deduction for juicing goods in the United States I guess as the bill was written it was expanded to include construction or remodelers and stuff like that and it basically if you take that they called Qualified productions activity income and you take then your qualified activities expenses and you get your net income.
You take 9% of that. You get a deduction on your personal returns. If let's just say you're a new home builder or you do spec and you know you have five hundred thousand dollars in net profit you know you can wind up with like $45,000. deduction. It's very often missed. Wow. Yeah wow that's pretty good.
Wow. Wow. One thing you know that's why it pays to go and you know go to conferences and learn and socialize. Talk to other people that are doing different things. People love to share ideas. Well yeah, and then that’s what makes you the expert in your market place Exactly. You know the go to guy and you know the little you know more than your average CPA because you've taken the time to become the expert just like we tell you know our contract to become the expert take that extra time to become you know the certification or you know become the expert learning more from an expert in their field so that they become now they become the go to guy like you become the go to guy to contractors they've become the go to guy to their clients.
Yes, exactly exactly. So, it's yeah it's it's a consistency in in the whole growing your business standpoint. Yes. I think that kind out of odd type of questions that's your standard questions that they asked us. So what's the funniest on that you've ever got that just flat out and now she was. Somehow, she called the office and she was a lady of the evening. OK. And she had questions about what she was able to dock or what she wasn't able to dock.
I'm not sure we're bitcoin fits into all that and that and crypto currency but we'll see. Yeah I am. That's. It's kind of funny how many experts there are crypto currency now. It’s amazing. I mean they're popping up every day. I know. I'll let them pop up down to. I’m afraid to even consider that. But that's me. That's so. Hey Craig you know this a real awesome man. I'm just. Can we. Can I write that off? That's been a lot of fun today. How can how can our listeners get in touch with you so they can get more of your information and to actually contact you personally if they want you to help or consider you being on their team. Sure.
Well they can go to our website. It's Craigcodyandcompany.com. and actually if they go to craigcodyandcompany.com/secretweapon They can get a free copy paper copy of our book. Almost most recent book “The 10 most expensive tax mistakes that cost business owners thousands”. They could also call at 5 1 6 6 9 4 0 5 1 or email it craig@ccodingcpa.com.
And I'm sure you will have all that information in your show notes. Yes we will make sure everything goes was on our show notes so everyone can go to and download and get whatever information they need. Excuse me I'm losing my voice here. Awesome. So that's has really been fun. I'm glad that you are all our guests today and we got talking and I'm glad that you are going to be at the podcast . Yes. That sounds like a fun thing.
You may visit Craig’s website by visiting the link below: www.craigcodyandcompany.com/secretweapon
email: craig@ccodingcpa.com
There are so many ways to do almost free marketing you just have to think about it or you could just go to the web site and pick up the free download. 4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business with Customers If you have a story to tell and would like to be a guest on this podcast email my assistant Shell at Shell@contractorssecretweapon.com and she will send you our guest sheet.
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Wed, 3 January 2018
The American Dream Revisited: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Results – Gary Sirak. He’s been helping other people achieve their American dream for the last 35 years. These are stories about everyday people creating extraordinary results in their lives and the those around them a true inspiration
I've got a really fun guest for you today, and his name is Gary Sirak, he’s been helping other people achieve their American dream for the last 35 years. He's president of Sirak Financial Services in Ohio, a company founded by his father, Stance Sirak back in 1957 and the company will celebrate 60th anniversary this year. Gary has written two books. First, “If your money talk, what secrets tell?” In this books about personal finance and the most common mistakes people make with their money and so many people make the same mistakes again and again and again with their money that you decide to do something about it. The second book the book we're going to talk about today is the “American Dream Revisited.” Ordinary people extraordinary results. It's deeply personal subject for Gary. While it's true it was a survey and deepest in this conversation in a coffee shop that spurred to write this book and the ideas and beliefs of the book that’s been with him for his entire life.
So, I just want to welcome you Gary for being with us today. Thank you, Dave. And so, I love the part about your book was thought about at the coffee shop. It's like so many those businesses that were put together on a napkin
Well kind of. I'm addicted to mochas.
I really am. And between work and my home there are four coffee shops that I frequent. So, I kind of rotate them as they all make different ones, they all taste varieties of chocolate and coffee but I literally stop every day at one of them.
And I was in a place called Karma Cafe one morning, sitting down and just having my mocha thinking about my day, my week, my month, my life whatever I was on that day. I mean I never really remember that.
But as I was sitting there four college students sat down right behind me Dave, and they started talking about the American dream which really piqued my interest because I've always had an interest in the American dream. So
I heard them and I kind of slid my chair a little closer to them and my back.
Them I want to hear what they were saying and then very quickly the American Dream was referred to as the America Disaster. And three of them were really negative. They talked about college debt, credit card debt, tough job market, all these things that were negative.
And then finally the one person who had the same thing said listen I don't really agree with you guys. I think you know life's good. I'm going to pay my college loans, I’ll pay my credit card off. You know I'm going to have a good life he said. I feel like I'm really getting, I’ll get a good job, and they shut him down in a matter of seconds. And he never said another word. But the conversation was just very ugly.
I told people that day and this is a Tuesday and I love Karma Cafe with some really bad karma.
It was just a very negative experience. I was very disappointed and bothered me in about four nights later I woke up in a middle of the night and decided I was going to write a book to refute their opinions. And I just was gonna. I just believed that they weren't right. And there's no reason in the world to be that young and that negative. And it just really disturbed me.
Wow that's pretty amazing. And you know I was like you were talking about that for people. It was kind of interesting that the 25% of the people were positive Yeah. Exactly. And so, it really runs close to 80 20 rule all the way around doesn't it.
It really does. It really is that 81-year-old of. It is accurate that men were a long time ago Yeah.
And everything still comes. There's the 80-20 and it keeps you break it down down down farther just gets crazy with the numbers. So, you got to write your book. And what were some of the highlights in there that helped you. I mean it was pretty good perspective in a sense where you got to hear both sides and it peaked you to really move in that direction to refute it. So, what were some of the things that really get your attention during that conversation.
Well a couple things that happened I realized that I needed to find people that achieve their American dream.
So, what I did is I started asking friends acquaintances who was the most interesting person they know or they knew that still living? Who did they know the most interesting person in their life that still living that I could talk to.
And people started throwing names at me and he said well what about. And I said well the American dream. I’m writing this book and I told this little.
Oh, I know this lady in California, I know this guy in Chicago. So, I started getting names of people all across the country, and a guy in England, and a guy that you know migrated here from South Africa and just fascinating. I ended up doing 25 interviews Dave. Wow.
And I took the 25 and I picked 13 of them that I felt most congruent with. I felt like they were the ones that fit. They were after they were in the model of what I was really trying to achieve. And so, each one after another felt like they were in the right place. So, I ended up with 13 stories. And it was kind of unique and how it all came together because I really hadn't planned any of the thing except they broke up they going right away.
So, the interviews were very interesting the 12 that I didn't use, I didn't use for a whole host of reasons sometimes I didn't like the credibility or lack of credibility. There were some things that just didn't feel right or sound right. And deep six those and the people that I ended up with I had a very nice feel about it. And I was able to fact check them enough that everything they said was true.
That's wild. So how long did it take for you to pull this all together? Close to a year.
What was the most out of all of this story, who’s story was the most interesting?
Well it's funny. There were three that I really, I always think about. And one of them is a man who actually became a friend, a dear friend, had survived seven Holocaust camps. Oh wow. And not only the surviving but he ended up coming to Canton Ohio. By the way home of the Pro Football Hall of Fame Oprah coming to Canton Ohio and being a physician and taking care of people in this town.
And I got to know him because I was on a basketball team and he was the team physician for the basketball team although he knew absolutely nothing about basketball.
He did understand when you got beat up. What chances do you have? When you weigh what I weighed you get knocked around a bit so he just became friendly with him and then later on he became a client and I got to know his story fascinating man. So that story clearly resonates. There's another man that I found equally interesting. He
was an Old Order Amish farmer and he had an eighth-grade education and his wife and two kids left the order which is very traumatic events and move to Canton and started a company and he did this with no money or anything and just all on a leap of faith.
And at the peak of his business success he had a 186 million in sales. Nineteen hundred employees, 13 locations across the country. I mean just fascinating what he was able to achieve. So, those are a couple that really stand out. But there is another way I always find incredibly interesting and she's actually down your way. She's in Jacksonville. Her name is __ Echiveria, and __ was brought up in the Bronx and she was a girl gang member a quarter and girl gang member. And her story of how she escaped the gang and how she turned into the person she is today. A great story. Just and a wonderful person by the way.
So, every single person that you talk to and I think where you are really trying to make the point was that everyone has a story and everyone can overcome the odds if they choose to. Yes.
And that is exactly correct. Every single person in my book had adversity had trouble had nothing for anyone of them and they all overcame them.
You know it's kind of interesting. And I've said this to color.
I know you on the straight today a couple of other people and you know it seems like it in our society today people look at success and they see the top of the iceberg and the base of the iceberg is all the trials and tribulations all the hard work all the sweat all the tears and everything that got them up to a certain point for you or I see them but the interesting thing is for those people who are the iceberg that we're looking at. They still see themselves like a halfway point yeah.
They really do. Actually, one of the key points in the book and I found this unique once I really sat down and did all these stories I was looking for points where there were links between the different people. OK. And one of them I came up with was that the people that I interviewed all had an amazing ability to not just look forward and see what they had accomplished but to look where they came from and their sense of achievement and what they'd accomplished once we started talking and they look back where they started from. Remarkable how they would think in terms of that and a lot of them said gosh I haven't thought about this in years. But yeah, I started out it was really tough and all that. And
I said Yeah look where you are now.
I just haven't done that long time and said it really helped rebuild my self-esteem and my self-worth and it made me feel proud to look at all the things I've accomplished she said because sometimes there's one person in particular talking about Whitney Hadnagy. And, all of a sudden, we are talking and I realize we got on my copy which I love to go back and see where everything started from.
I mean I get on my desk to look at how I started looking to lots of people start and what they've accomplished. It's just a remarkable journey backward and fun journey too by the way. And that's what I'm in this for all these people were much more backward based than forward base which is really very interesting.
And you know here.
Yeah you know that's really interesting that you said that because I think that the people are just, they don't really think about what they've achieved.
They think about what they haven't achieved or there's so much more to do.
And we get lost in that.
And that's kind of funny because I'm in that process my own self I think we all go through it at different times or all the time just at different stages. And I was talking to my wife this morning and telling her I’m going to put this webinar and going you know it's yeah, it's so I'm doing it and I'm going. And then I started thinking about you know introducing myself in a sense you know who are you.
And then I started looking at all the stuff they've written and I'm going Hey I have done a few things you know but you don't look at it from that standpoint you're thinking about I could do so much more. I haven't done this yet. It's pretty wild.
Well that is exactly the point. So, I'm a financial adviser and I help people with their money I help them. Right now, I'm helping a ton of people with their retirement or helping them gain money so they can retire. And when I find out is I'm also a cheerleader in a lot of ways.
I'm inspirational to them because they're stuck and they don't need to talk to when they talk to me and they say wow you’re really fun to talk to because you inspire me or you make me feel better. I sleep better at night which are all very nice things to say and appreciate it.
But I also find out the reason they say that is because I get them to go back and see what they've caught where they've come from and where they are now and it just makes them feel better. I've got a guy right now going through a divorce which is really tough. And I've been on the phone with him a few times now helping him because his self-esteem has gotten kicked in in the gut and he's really down. And I said wait a minute look at who you are what you've accomplished. Look at how cool your kids are. I said that didn't happen by accident. I said Yeah. One person rejecting you. And that's true but there's 300 million people out there that don't know you and some do and the ones that know you really care about you. I said so don't focus on the one that doesn't Wow that's amazing. It really is you know man that's such a great thing right there because we do get stuck in at home. I don't want to downplay it too much but we do have like our own little pity parties. I've been there from time to time and I go I can't, I can't afford to be here I need to go somewhere else. But it's I think it's just part of human nature where we just have a tendency to go backwards instead of looking too far forward. I mean it's just really weird on how it just all comes together. And I like the way that you've been presenting that and I'm sure your book really demonstrates that especially with each one of these stories of these people who you know come through. Not a bad place. Well I mean in the beginning you're probably was in a bad place. I think we all start off in different places and we can consider it good or bad but it's challenging let's put it that way. Clearly counting and you're right. And it's funny. Someone asked me what do all these people have in common. I can tell you one thing when they all started it was all about food, clothing and shelter. Was it about being rich? Was it about making a ton of money? It was just can I provide for my family. Yeah. What do I need to do to provide for my family? How do I get that accomplished? That's really where we started that and quite frankly that's kind of how it went down. So we're looking at this and saying if that's the case these people had something very similar to everybody else I've ever met who was just starting out. And that's you got to start somewhere. And when you start you don't start at the top. You start at the bottom and you work your way up. That's just how this being goes. Yes. That's amazing. I know cause, it's you know I look at kids going through school. It's for some grandkids I've got one just graduated she went into high school and I'm gone. Awesome. You went from the top of your class to the bottom of the totem pole. And then you graduate high school you go into college to graduate top of your classes go to the bottom of the totem pole. And then, each stage of our life. That's what we go through as we go, we reach a pinnacle and then we start something new. And we got to start at the bottom. We have this. There's no place. How are you going to learn? That’s the thing. How do you learn. It was the point that came out in the book club where was all these people fail. And sometimes they fail a lot the whole time. And they all had the same response I said Well how did you overcome failure. So, we don't have a choice. It's food clothing and shelter Gary. We didn't have a choice. Failure wasn't an option. Delaying was an option but failure was not an option. We were going to make this thing work come hell or high water. And they did. That's so true. Failure is not an option. It's the only time you fail is when you fail to get up and start over again. Exactly. I know it's kind of funny I would thinking the other day and I'm going you know I've been in business for so, so long. The other day it was and it wasn't too long ago and I think we all go through this at a certain time. I was really sick and of course you know it doesn't matter whether you're in business for yourself or not when you're sick it doesn't matter. You just do what's gotta get done you know. And so, I said to somebody this, you know this these are times like this when I wish I had job when I could call in sick. Yeah, I know there are many days where I've felt the same way. I have lots of people around me. We have a pretty good-sized staff. But quite frankly there's things only that I can do. Right. And some days I don’t wanna do them. No I said Are you sure you can do it. No. So you see you know I really need to teach them how to do those things so if I don't feel like coming in I can actually do that. Right. And that's just that's another part of the process that all it is. It is. It's really how you replicate yourself and give somebody else in position to take over for you. You just teach them. Tricks. Yeah that's it. That's amazing. So, in the course of your book what were some of the things that that were eye openers for you. Well here's an interesting one. I interviewed a guy named Duez. Duez lived in South Africa grew up in Johannesburg and moved to the states because at the time he's an Indian living in South Africa which had all kinds of issues. And there was violence everywhere. We saw so many people injured. And when I interviewed him and he came to America with like a thousand dollars and turned out to be very, very successful. In fact, he actually owns a mini mart and a drive through and he's just a super nice guy. Charitables can be a couple kids both of whom are going into med school and it's very, very interesting talking to him. When I talk to him though the main reason he came to America was freedom. He said, Gary I need needed freedom to vote. I needed freedom to have a chance to get a job. Means, that there, I would have been stuck in the system I would have never owned my own business in the threat of violence was so prevalent every day. He said I can't say how many people he said I was knifed in a fight and he said I can’t tell how many times that you know I had to fight or how many people I knew were killed in fights he said. Just ridiculous how many people were threatened every day in the streets. And he said I had to get away from that. He chose to come here. And he ended up here because he had a relative that owned a motel and he came here and clean rooms for him until he could figure out what to do with his life. So, the idea that America provided opportunity is really the point that I think has been trying to make your America has really been an opportunistic country if you take advantage of your opportunities and all of the people that I interviewed took advantage of those. Right. I think you know going back to the conversation of you know those four guys in the coffee shop that they realized that there was an opportunity and the other three were not really thinking about an opportunity but thinking about the long-term effect of paying back a loan or Bill or you know and it was something that they chose to do from the beginning. Absolutely. And I'll say one thing about this is if they were sitting here today and they really felt sorry for themselves and then that came out really loud and clear also. They really did feel sorry for themselves. And I guess that's ok you're allowed. But, I don't think you want to go in the light, feel sorry for yourself. I just don't think that's a real healthy thing to do. I just don't think that comes out positive energy. Yeah you know because you end up like you know we go back to the percentages you know like 75% of the other people out there are whining, complaining and just don't see any good in anything. Right. It's funny Dave. As I’ve gotten more successful for a long time. One of my key ingredients that I look for on the clients I work with are making sure they have a positive attitude and that they have a go forward attitude not you know not put their head in the sand attitude I really want people that are progressively moving forward in life that are exciting and dynamic and entrepreneurial. Those people. I like that and I have fun with them. I don't do so well with the others. It just doesn't resonate quite so well Yeah this doesn't seem like it would fit well with your personality. You sound like that fun-loving guy who loves to help other people and wants to always moving forward directions and then you would give it all. But if they're going to fight every step of the way then it's just a losing battle for everybody. That is exactly the case so I've really gotten pretty, pretty careful about who I do business with because of that and someone have said you know you're pretty exclusive and I said I'm not exclusive I'm just careful. So, I just know who I'm going to fit with and who I’m not going to fit with and I don't want to waste my time. Well you know I think if more business owners thought about that you know from a different perspective on how well do we do we work together instead of going after the end result which is you're not going after you're going after the solves their problem. In place of collecting their money exactly. And I don't I don't try and solve their problems anymore Dave. I use to do that. That was frustrating now just give them suggestions. Right. They have to take action because I can't do that for them. In the beginning. I try to do that for them and I had to engineer things but that was miserable and so many times I was doing things that they didn't have they weren't so long as I was I said OK this has got to stop. This is frustrating. We don’t do that anymore. It will be more like pushing spaghetti. Right. Pretty much Leave them the water they have to drink. I can't make over. So, this has really been exciting. I love the way you brought this all about. I loved the interviews with the people and just the whole brings back you know that American dream Revisited. And it's just like you said the American Dream Revisited: Ordinary people, Extraordinary results. So, there’s extraordinary results in each one of us if we dare to dream. Yes, and take advantage of our opportunities. We all have them. It's a question of seeing them recognizing it's an opportunity and then doing what it takes to make it work for you. And I was with someone the other day and there were some that started in the company and he started the lowest end of the totem pole and he asked me what I thought. And I said, would he make any comments that OK's He’s not making much and what is he doing. They called me and said OK. I said this is temporary. He said Why do you say that. He said he's way too talented to be left in that job for very long. They are going to see if he has what it takes to work on the bottom. I said they're just testing it. I said so let's find out how this plays out. Anyway, it was funny it was about six months ago and he got his first promotion and the promotion was pretty good one. What was really at the bottom. I mean they jumped him about three levels and that's awesome. They saw what he could do. But he was humble enough to start at the bottom. Absolutely. And below where he wanted to see all his friends were making more money and they were giving him crap which they would and said No, no I'm going to do this and we'll see what happens. Yeah. Yeah. It's just like there's a young guy I know it's a bartender in a bar. And then 15 years later he owns a bar and it's a very successful bar. And he goes really well at it and he started as a part time bartender but you know he did whatever that owner had him do to the point when the owner said hey I want to sell the business would you buy it because you fit the culture of what I tried to do here. That's awesome. Yeah that's plenty of opportunities. We just have to be willing to look with open eyes. Yes. And don't let people talk you out of it. That's the other thing that amazes me. The people around people I always mention. And it didn't come out in this book but it came out in “If your Money Talks what Secrets would it tell?” and that’s upgrading your friends. So, many times I have found people that were so negative around that I just don't want to be around those people so they stop being my friends. And I stop calling them and stop going out to dinner with them because I didn't want to be around negative people. It just wasn't fun. And I just wasn’t, I mean they complain about everything, and I’m thinking man this wasn’t enjoyable. This is like going to the dentist and getting a tooth bowl without Novocain I know I've gone out to people that dinner right. Well I went out to dinner with a bunch of people one day and I said next to one person when I left my wife, I said listen, if they come out to dinner with us again, great but don't ever, ever sit me next to him again ever. Right. And it's like one guy one day it was kind of funny at a family function so I can say this because it's family. And one of my in-laws says you know you're lucky and I go explain luck to me I don't understand it but explain what you're saying. He goes you can afford anything you want. And I look and I says No I said I can afford anything you want. But I can't afford anything I want or everything I want. It's interesting how perception isn't really reality after all. So, I work with some people that are massively wealthy and massively wealthy and they're just not happy people. And I don't like hanging around them I don't really like working with them all that much because they're not fun to be around and their money is OK as long as I deal with them on a regular basis. But it's just not a group because they're just we just don't have it in common. And so eventually they'll go away. And I don't get sad about that at all because I think of myself, good I don't have to go to deal with this guy anymore. I mean I can think of three of them right up top of my head that I’ve left that I was maybe I helped touch them up Dave, I don't know. Sublimely, maybe I did that and all I know is gosh I don't have that point with the people anymore. I sort of smile about that. Yeah that's pretty awesome. That is really awesome. Hey Gary this is really been awesome and I just I just love the whole concept. How can our listeners get in touch with you and maybe just talk to you about your book or work when they buy your book?
We've never had answered an email so far in the four or five years I've been doing this, as I've always responded when someone sends me something and I do get things sent to me I guess I've gotten some very interesting questions over the year. I said really, they're asking me that. And you know I can smile. Yeah. Anyway, I never forget Dave I was doing this and I got a call from somebody what kind of refrigerator that I buy? What? I said OK. Why would you ask me? and he said well your proof smart about a lot of stuff, we’re thinking you might know something about refrigerators. And I said how much do you know about refrigerators? I said that’s what they like and they said OK well thank you. I mean that was just, it was just an interesting phone call. I’ll bet it was. It’s kind of funny. That was pretty awesome. So www. GarySirak.com and Amazon and that's where my books available and they're both on there and. Yeah, I just thought thanks for taking the time to share your story with us share your book and the experiences. It's been a really, really been a fun time. Thanks Gary. Dave, thank you. You may visit Mr. Sirak through this website: www.garysirak.com Get your copy of Gary’s Book The American Dream, Revisited: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Results There are so many ways to do almost free marketing you just have to think about it or you could just go to the web site and pick up the free download.
4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business with Customers If you have a story to tell and would like to be a guest on this podcast email my assistant Shell at Shell@contractorssecretweapon.com and she will send you our guest sheet.
Our sponsors Would you like your phone to ring more with qualified buyers people looking to buy now? Then let’s make that happen. Best Home Services Leads is dedicated to making your phone ring with qualified buyers wanting to buy now. Go to and fill out the form to get more information. http://contractorssecretweapon.com/money How about 100 free postcards sent out to your best prospective customers. Radius Bomb sends out hyper targeted, laser focused postcards using a map while sitting in your under ware at your kitchen table then go to http://contractorssecretweapon.com/radiusbomb Painting Contractors, get up to a 24% better response rate just for having the right memorable telephone number 1-800-PRO-PAINTER.Check out your area before someone beats you to it and it’s not available. https://www.1800propainter.com/ |
Fri, 29 December 2017
One of the best definitions of sales I have ever heard on selling“Selling is getting someone intellectually engaged in a future result that is good for them, and getting them to emotionally commit to take action to achieve that result.” Dan Sullivan (who is just a genius) The definition is not that I have something they need and, by golly, I going to make them buy it. Please, please, please buy my services…. So let’s go through the definition again. Selling is getting someone intellectually engaged in a future result that is good for them, and getting them to emotionally commit to take action to achieve that result. So really, what does that look like? What are the steps to actually make that happen? Well I think number one, you really need to listen perceptively. In the old days a salesman pitch was… you get it down, go over it and continue to role-play and do all the things to make sure that you, the sales person, was comfortable with the sales process. I think one of the biggest challenges with something like that kind of pitch is rigidity. It’s great that you should know your sales process and that you should know what you want to say. BUT I think what probably more important than anything is that you need be yourself. You can’t go into a sales situation or presentation to your customer thinking that “I can beat the other guy’s price.” You really need to take ownership of who you are. You have to be comfortable with who you are and you have to have the self-confidence of knowing what you can do. Knowing that you can provide the services and the quality of services that you’re presenting to your potential client. I can’t really say that over all that it works on commercial clients, at least the ones that are only looking for the bid price. I do know that it works well with the residential customers and clients that I have. I don’t do a whole lot of commercial sales for the services that we have, but I follow the same process for that also. I am comfortable with who I am, I know who I am, I know the type of service that I am going to provide. Most importantly, I what that service is costing me to provide! I know the type of profit margin that I need to make to keep my company sustainable in the marketplace. That’s what I mean by knowing particularly who you are. Be confident of the person in your skin. I actually think that once you put yourself in the position of going through the sales process and second-guessing yourself and not knowing what you want to charge… thinking that “I know that Bob So-and-so my competitor was here, and I know what he charges, so I’m going to be real close to him, maybe a little below so that so I can get the business.” That is not knowing who you are. That’s being wishy-washy. That’s not having the confidence in who you are, what you can do and what you can provide to that customer. YOU KNOW that customer sees you weakness, he sees your inability to be genuine and he sees your neediness because they see that battle going on in your presentation. When you chase after what other people are charging, then you’re back to being a commodity and you are not going to make it in the marketplace and be an extremely profitable company. In order for you to have an abundance mindset, you need to be who you are. You need to find your identity so that you can run the course, be positive, be genuine, and be confident in your own skin. Here’s what really happens if you’ve done your marketing correctly and you have educated the consumer correctly through your marketing. Mostly your job is already done. They called you because they want to know if you could provide the value that you say you can from your marketing materials, so they just want to meet you. That’s why it’s so important for you to be genuine when you know who you are. Also, story building is a great part of the sales process. Actually the nurturing stories are the greatest relationship builders. It is like Mr. Rogers used to say, “it’s hard not like someone once you know their story.” As a sales person, we must first be able to relate to the customer to help solve the customer’s problems. I believe by delivering the facts, you build trust and by educating your client, you will give your clients new ways to think about their problems. As sales superstars we do many things… we attract, we teach, we advise, we serve, we measure. And most importantly, we guide our clients and prospects by developing individual brand (that’s us) that stands for trust and expertise. In order for all that to happen, for me to close and get the sale, I have to provide the client with the emotional response or let’s go back to our beginning definition… “Selling is getting someone intellectually engaged in a future result that is good for them, and getting them to emotionally commit to take action to achieve that result.” This just takes a few simple steps. We will have to listen and be perceptive to what is actually going on in the sales meeting. We need to listen to what our customers’ real problems are and how they think that problem can be solved. So what is perceptive listening? Perceptive listening is when you hear, interpreting the words as they are said, AND that you also consider what the person isn’t saying, what she might really be thinking and how she is acting as they speak. This requires you to be totally focused on what their needs are and what you’re trying to sell. Perceptive listening will tell you what the prospect says he Tells You. Prospect says he’s not ready to buy, but what he’s really saying is that he doesn’t understand the benefits of what you’re offering. Perceptive listening is how you draw out what the potential customers are really passionate about allowing you to understand their goals and objectives. In today’s world there are so many teaching opportunities for our clients who are our future customers. Teaching them actually sells them, or at least presales them, by giving them useful expert information. That’s how you build an expert platform, by creating the information they need to make an informed decision, So by creating expert platform, you are now becoming the authority in that area (the industry and the geographic area you serve). Once you become that authority, you normally have very, very little competition. You see, what you’re doing is you are sending a message that by being the expert, you are no longer competing on price as a commodity business. You don’t want to show up at a customer’s house, write out a proposal and say, “this is the price.” You want to go through and educate them. You want to leave behind sales materials. You want to talk with them and walk around the house, or sit down with them and go through whatever you’re going to go through with them. You want to explain the process, what you do and why you do it and maybe the safety factors. Go through all the benefits of working with your company. By what you’re presenting, you are making them more informed, showing you have more expertise, you are better educated and more professional by the way you talk and explain things to them. Then you’re going to leave them with material that backs up everything you just presented. When they go over it, they will say, “I remember he said this, I remember he said that when he went through the information and our Proposal.” So, let me just get you a couple of examples of something that just happened to me recently. In this sales situation I got a call to come out and do an estimate on some work at this potential customer house and he told me that everything he wanted done. I met him at the house, we walked around, and he explained what he wanted done. As we went through, I told him about what our process was, how we did things, how we protected things and as I got towards the end of our walk around the house, I asked, by the way how did you find out about us… His answer was “on the Internet” and he said to me, I checked you out on the Internet. As a matter fact you were the first person we called, and something happened where you couldn’t get out. You were real busy, and we were impressed with all the information that you had on your website. It very informative for us and easy to make an informed decision. We have two other people that we got prices from and we called you again because we really wanted you to come out and give us a proposal on all the work we need to be done here because we felt that you were the most professional. So, I put together the proposal, I talked to them about it and I left him some more information. Basically, everything that we talked about in a report that I give each potential customer and I will let you know how that turns out. Next let me tell you another example of how I presented in a sales situation. I had a phone meeting with someone that I want to buy a particular service. We had a meeting on the phone. I know the man, I like the man, I trusted the man and we had talked before but not about what I wanted to purchase from him. We just knew each other so that was a big plus on his side as we did our telephone conversation. He went over the his products and services that I was interested in, going into great detail about what the whole program was, what the benefits were and how he would help me get through the whole process. We went over the dates of the seminar that I wanted to attend and he said, “listen, this is how I handle my sales process… I give you all the stuff we just went over and you know that the class is going to be very small, like just 4 to 5 people. The class will sell out and if you can’t make this one, that’s fine, and if you don’t want to do it all, that’s fine too. But if you do want to do it, this is the date. Let me know right away if you want to attend before it fills up. We have another class in January that you are also than welcome to attend” and that’s how he left it. He followed the definition to a tee, “Selling is getting someone intellectually engaged in a future result that is good for them, and getting them to emotionally commit to take action to achieve that result.” Go sell your services at a premium! Until next week… There are so many ways to do almost free marketing you just have to think about it or you could just go to the web site and pick up the free download. 4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business with Customers If you have a story to tell and would like to be a guest on this podcast email my assistant Shell at Shell@contractorssecretweapon.com and she will send you our guest sheet. Our sponsors Would you like your phone to ring more with qualified buyers people looking to buy now? Then let’s make that happen. Best Home Services Leads is dedicated to making your phone ring with qualified buyers wanting to buy now. Go to and fill out the form to get more information. http://contractorssecretweapon.com/money How about 100 free postcards sent out to your best prospective customers. Radius Bomb sends out hyper targeted, laser focused postcards using a map while sitting in your under ware at your kitchen table then go to http://contractorssecretweapon.com/radiusbomb Painting Contractors, get up to a 24% better response rate just for having the right memorable telephone number 1-800-PRO-PAINTER.Check out your area before someone beats you to it and it’s not available. https://www.1800propainter.com/ |
Thu, 28 December 2017
Run Your Contracting Business with Less Stress More Success He created the systems in his family business that allowed him to sell his shares of the family business at the young age of 50 to pursue a consulting career to other business owners create less stress and more success Out of that process, he wrote a book called Run your Contracting Business with Less Stress and More Success, the 7- Power Contractor. Al Levi he is a former heating air conditioning and electrical guy had his own business and at work for 25 years and his family business created systems and now actually had put his stuff in place to enable him to sell his share of his business to his brothers and retire before the age of 50. And of course, in return I thought is giving up some things that he doesn’t want to do to. So now Al has written a book and he does consulting and helps other companies become successful through the systems in the manuals that he created for his company that gave him so early retirement. This is Dave Negri with Contractor Secret Weapon and today is another fine day in Florida. Sorry Sinos. How many of you guys are up in the winter and snow? Today, I have Al Levi with me and I'm excited to talk to him because he is a former heating air conditioning and electrical guy had his own business and at work for 25 years and his family business created systems and now actually had put his stuff in place to enable him to sell his share of his business to his brothers and retire before the age of 50. And of course, in return I thought is giving up some things that she doesn’t want to do to do some things that she does want to do. So now Al has written a book and he does consulting and helps other companies become successful through the systems in the manuals that he created for his company that gave him so so early retirement. He's probably working harder now, aren't you? Let me do it all right. I'm not working. Right. Contract as well. Appreciate that you know the life that I lived then before I was lucky. I was third generation in our company started 1936 and we also did plumbing by the way. Okay. So, it was 24/7 365 and I don't need to we just ran ahead. We literally have our shift on to cover those hours. There were real people there wasn't somebody up and come out. You know it was non-stop and it really was you know. Good news is I was making a lot of money. The bad news it was killing me. So, I had to change the thing and that was what this is all about. You know I created with help from other reasons seven power concepts which is the second things to run a company. My dad did raise myself and my brother was the time we were young teenagers. To be in business meetings. So, we got a big education from him and the nature of it is that we also were surreal entrepreneurs. Beyond that we had a cable, liquor stores. We had an ice cream shop. We had to multi state real estate, the main golden goose was always the contracting business and that was really about the seven thing which was Planning, Operations, Staffing, Sales, Sales Coaching, Marketing, Finance. All those are the seven things because Dave, contractors it feels like there's a million things. We have to handle, a million of things we have to do. And I know what that chaos is about, but it really boils down to seven things I just rattled off and what I changed to be able to make those things systematic the fact that I had all these people that were now in power to help to me to themselves and most importantly to our customers and even better way than we have been That's really what was the secret. And so, I decided because I hope you appreciate the story as well as most contractors. We are able to do it in seven hours you know because they do seven hours in working hours trying to tell everybody this is how long would you say a good employer will give you notice that are leaving two weeks maybe a week. I said you know in my case sometimes my employees would just leave the keys on the desk and I'd have to go and find it you know. In all the places. It's how to get my brothers and my dad three years notice that I'd be leaving. Three years, that was, let it wash over you for a second. So, you would know what kind of fleener I am. Because that was not believable right. I really just wrote all the system that we put in place. Letting out all the ability to create people who are willing with no skills and the people that are willing with skills and that all positions, I don't mean tech position. But inside the office and all the other kinds of things right. The backbone of that is the operations manuals. That's a one of a kind thing that I spent one year of my life. I didn't take all three years while I was doing all my other jobs. I sat with everybody when he walked out without warning calls and stuff I would make notes to create an outline. Of all the things it took all the tests that our company had grown to give and to create that. That backbone I hired a writer. Initially, I gave Dan Callahan to help me run meetings. And we spent you know about a hundred thousand dollars in 1996 money. Now got hundreds of hours putting these manuals in. So, their policies and procedures were plain English. We got fired from the store from our staff from all these meetings and we were union shocked by the way, so, if everybody is listening you would say well that's fine it won't work either. My answer is I was a New York shop at a union shop and trust me. I've been all over this country for the last 15 years doing one on one consulting with people. Now I'm switching that up to where I'm going to be running these program workshop where people can pick a manual with me and show them how to do the same thing at their own company So that's really the essence of what it means that I, I've been doing. But there's a lot more to it. And I want to be careful about how much I live in here because I know you're in the lead but I've got some exciting things to share about how you can really transform your company to make it in a place that's attractive to come to work and that you surround yourself with people that you want to be with. It's a world of difference. It's what you were talking about creating your system before putting books together and working in a union shop of course you know the 90's and so on and I'm thinking about what about today. You know I hear so many stories of people trying to attract the new generation the millennials. And getting to go to work for their contracting company. And there are just some are just having a horrendous time and when you get to that I can assure I also have a franchise. I talked to my partners. He's actually a client I've been to back in 2005. You haven't been to tell us story. Absolutely. OK so in 2005. I'm going to my plumbing meeting and cooling. I got some frame worker or at least I thought I I’d had done framework, you know plunger, you know big kind of steak and the rest of it is like oh, and I have to tell you and finally this is not telling a story I can't get notice from. So, I get a call from these guys in Philly. Two young brothers. They're in their 30's and, all they do is just framework and they're telling me that and they do you know whatever specialized framework and I'm thinking 'yeah right'. So, it's all the job that there is you might be snap in picking up in plumbing, heating and air conditioning and electrical. And so, I get down there and walk around and dirty and you know what I mean disorganized. Pretty much what I expected. But then I sit down and give adjacent to create magics for. And I get an education. I had no idea your client's framework and the way they do it with water Dave, camera and stuff. Was just incredible to me. Wow. That's the joy of this whole thing. And so, the funny part of this is he was a missionary, say's to me because you know how this is this is only like two months into the process they get the picture. He says to me I would love to license the franchises and look at this in a snarky New York attitude and go "franchise this?" How about if we just get the guys dressed to go to meetings clean up the trucks. Obviously, here's the big story here. Two to three years we had got everything. We had got to the point where we let training centers and built new pipes, and meetings guys dressed in this profession and working in white shirts all day long and doing all these things and so I'm not a contractor. So, a lot of I said you know were all good and then I go off with my good friend. Ellen Moore is the model of Ben Franklin plumbing. And so, she finishes over there. She and I had worked together for many years. She says to me "Al, do you know any clients that might be interested with franchising?" And I said "Sure do Olives. I thought you worked with them. Zoomed trained. Not really. So, I called up Jim and I go "Jim, remember you said you have that desire to own the franchise, you still interested? And there's a pause and Jim say "I've been waiting by the phone all this time for you to call." The rest as they say is history. Get a franchise down in Orlando and up in New England and down the Long Island. Me old stomping grounds. That's really great, but you know what's so great about them. They are living breathing the manual staffing systems that are put in place. All of the other things the weekly meetings working on the top five everything that I've create is living breathing. That brings me back to this because that will have nothing but young guys like the breed young people who want to build a career or not have a job who's not kids and motivated young kids. They're not motivated because we as leaders have failed. We are not heeding a vision of where they can go in this company. And they want more. And it's not who everybody thinks this is new. So, I'll take you back if you will when I arrive at my job and like I told my dad well why don't you guys can do this, and why aren't they do this and my dad says sorry you weren't born 30 years your younger, 30 years earlier because maybe you could have done that. But nobody is doing anything around here unless they know what happens to them in a good way. What happens in a bad way. Yeah. That was an education I've got early on. So, here's the rest of that story. The guys from the Vietnam era were just ahead of me when I arrived. Phil Atami was one of them and he's talking to me because we're training new candidates back in the 90s. And he's telling me these kids have no work ethics. They just want to play around. They're not that interested in this. And I said, Tommy it's funny because the old guys used to say the same thing about you and the rest of us. As for the essence of this is Zoom is one example of all the companies that I work with today that take good young millennials and show them there's a career path. And if you don't have a great organization chart that shows where am I today and where can I go tomorrow? You're not going to sign the equal your shoes to your door. But your heart and soul are not there. Alright. What you must have is heart and soul. So that's another way. And from what I'm hearing you say is what you're doing is you're creating a team that's buying in to the whole company and the future of the company it's not a job. And for themselves, that this is where I want to be. Right. My dad had a great line. Employees boat with their feet. Every day they decide that you can be here or be elsewhere. That's a great way to see it. Wow, that is really awesome. So, this is just amazing. And a lot of it had to come with you creating the manuals from the business that you're in with your dad and creating that whole process and how wow this is just how long does it take like for you to walk into company NSA and a decent size company. I don't know 10 ,12 employees and I'm sure most of the time when you walk into something like that they're pretty much flying by the seat of their pants and its chaos. How long does it take to create for them to help them correct that system to get it up and viable in place? You're going to tweak it on a regular basis. Well there are two types of companies that I've worked with over the 15 years doing this job now, and they're one of two flavors. One is that they are fast growers and it's nothing but chaos. Every moment of the day. So, they got this great house built on a really bad foundation or no foundation at all. Right. And my job was to come in Dave, and put a foundation under that company so that control can come back in and stop chaos. Every moment you go there's a plan of we work plan. So, first thing I with planning power which is teaching them how to get a master project list the top 30 and work on the top five which make all the difference. One of the top five is always the operations manager which are my managers and they're pretty much 90-95 percent of the way that they need to have them. Because they make adjustments to better fit their company. And I work with blue frame and photographers and believe or not it's still pretty much the same. Yeah pretty much. Pretty much the same. Yeah getting reform just back to the rest of it and so I fix those areas right around the start. Then we move want to staffing it. That's what needs to be done which is, I teach them how to leverage the manuals and have one of a kind building blocks for training people all the way up apprentice, taxicab field supervisor and all. And so, it's also hands on training center. I built hands on training centers for ever and now I've been all over the place building training centers everywhere we go it's not the training center alone about what we're talking about hands on where you can create the problems that people will encounter in the field of your employees as far as setting faucet showers. If it's it's heating, it's warm their or colder, whatever. It's working breathing and you can simulate all the problems. So by the time they get in the field, attack can do the three most important things she's talked to customers, communicate and today that being said, was it the customer's best interest? in what I call ethical self. No one will ever hear that I want you to sell anybody anything that's not in your best interest. Right. But you are here to serve them. You are the one that's the expert and it's your job to take the blinders off and look around. Not just think fix the handle of the toilet have along the toilet that you know is 30 years old and we are back from our fix in a flap or not. You know you don't change air filter out when you know you really need to change the unit out. Those are the things that you know we train right from the beginning because ultimately that serves people best. You know the fact the matter most couples these they've told got to go to work and you have good high paying job. Nobody wants to take home more time to go hang out with your plumbing heating pool electric guy. So you've got to fix it right the first time. And a lot of times that means selling the right things and doing the right repairs. So sales operation technical are the skills that you must train. That's a where good sale system which is another thing that really helps to ratchet it off. But at the backbone of it all it's really the manuals. The operations man buying policy procedures and that's the way I'm doing it today is still your operating manual. First of all, that's where people will be doing, kind of what I used to do when I came to their shop. So the answer to your question is; the fastest anybody run with all of my programs today and not everybody goes all through the programs. Then what. I've had so many do it in 18 months and they've gone from 9 million to 33 million in sales that just because of me because they were great guys. They just need to get the foundation right. I've had guys typically like the Zoom guys I was talking about thought we had done everything in three years because it's not how fast you show progress out. It's how well you get them. So I don't just come there as and pull up and changed my residence and hang out with you. You got to be able to do these things and get each one of them because they build on each other the good way to see this. Imagine a pyramid the higher and bigger you want that pyramid the longer you want to last. That starts at the bottom not at the top. That's right, the better the base and the selling power concepts are, it blocks. Better those block form which is planning which means working on right thing at the right time, the right way. That's what planning power is. Operating power is having the manuals that handle 80 percent. Nothing's gonna cover 100 percent of what goes on. But handling the 80% of the policies and procedures of each of the boxes on your old chart, the things that go on. So, it's replica and people can be empowered from the day they show up. And then there's Staffing which is again building you know young willing people into skilled willing people and giving them a career path. And that its Sales, have your sales system for both techs and also or ticket sales people. And if you're in a commercial like that was what I called Commercial sales agents the person who goes to order to pick places open up accounts keep them happy and keep them buying from you. Which is critical so there's sales process for that. That's another block. Sales Coaching, which is coaching the right things and you get the right rewards and they win. But ultimately always the customer first wins. Right. Marketing which is what you're seeking is a contractor is right about a call from the right customer at the right time. The three rights of Mark and so we beyond that is Financial which is you know you can do all that off and if you don't charge and if you're not careful about your expenses it doesn't matter anything else, you won't be in business. Yeah it's called The Leaky Bucket Syndrome. Yeah exactly right. And sometimes, you're lucky it was just The Leaky Bucket is exploded. What are you. Yeah yeah I've never heard that one but yeah when I heard one no one guy "Some days you're the bug again. Some days your the windshield". It's a country song. Yes. I love that one. Yeah he was a plumbing contractor. But that was kind of funny. So how did you come up with the idea here. Have you booked. I actually when I changed for me you know it's hard to remember when you make a change. You're in the midst of craziness. Yeah. You know my kind of day was so I could wake up at 5 a.m. get back home in 2 am and get my three hours of sleep. I always have always really love sleeping because the phone next to my head was going to ring. Yeah from the guys who are on the call shift that were stuck yeah. I was mad as heck at them for calling and waking me up Sure. But, he it was needed. That's the awful truth of being an owner. I never gave them enough information. I never documented it. They were in a position where they had to call. Yeah. And it was really kind of crazy when my brother, Richie, and I rode up the manual with them we defied you know. Do these three thing before you call Richie. And, 50% of the calls went away. Yeah I was doing in class education class one day and the guy was a remodeling contractor and his guys were calm all the time. Lucky for him it was just normal business hours so it wasn't like 24/7 like yours was. But he'd finally get to the point he goes what would you do if I wasn't there. But no, I want you to think about. Give me the answer What would You do if I wasn't there. He said you know it's if you ask me that question enough times they come up with the answer. I agree. And it actually in seminars that I teach about how I train a stepping power agent is. If you ask a question and you answer it on your own. Why should I think right? You may ask the question shut up and let them. Even if they guessed wrong. Give me a call because they have the guts to speak up right. And you treat I like that. I think that's great. That's a really good first step. Yeah it was just so then. Next time you about these three or four times before you call me. he said he tends closedown. He said I got some but he said it was nowhere near what I got before then. And it's like you said it's just it's goes back to the training. Yes. And part of that thing now is that we're going to speak to a deeper level issue. So why didn't I share all this information. Why didn't I do all of this stuff. Was the question at all? Yeah. One day this fellow, I was talking about Dan Callahan, he was an industry giant and he didn't go as well as everything else. I was one of the lucky guys that he actually rode in my truck and he's in my truck. I know the same thing but I always read my pages go at all. My friend Dan looks over at me, while I'm driving and he goes "You think that's normal, don't you?". And I stopped for one second and I go "Yeah I do" and then i said "I hate it." And then one second later I said "But I'm really indispensable." And, I just popped out. And that was it. We as owners, first of all what made as great is what sabotages us. Right. Great text, so we were great at whatever that thing was, and so with the the rest of it. Nobody else can do the job as well as us. What you're not saying is untrue but you really can't have people I'm certain but you really can't have people you can't group because you automatically get a lid on the pot and you can't you can't have business run run without you. And you can have vacation. You can't get sick. You have to be on target. All of them. Yeah yeah. Unless you are willing to be in the base. So here are the three syndrome that I finally pointed the finger back at me. So are you ready. Yeah, I like being a rescuer. I like running to the rescue. OK. And I like coming in and be able to you know to pull out that thing. I like being the fire. What I didn't realize is I also was hoping to set the fires that I could put out that way. Here's the last one. You know coming from New York this one will make sense. I like being the guru. Seems right now we're renting. Dave, you don't know how to do that? Really? You know what? I know, would you like to know. Because I'll be happy to share it with you. I was I was operating and when I witness the contractors I worked with over the year they to their credit finally go yeah, I get it. And that is what you have to deal with first. Because even with quick manuals, even with the training centers and everything else that you can do on the marketing systems because every one of these things are a system. If you're not willing to give up those three identities you are automatically sabotaging everybody who's trying to help you. That's that's. Say that again because that's profound. If you are not willing to give up being a rescue or a fireman guru like I was you are automatically sabotaging those who are there to help you or anybody who will arrive. You know. Wow. That was a big Aha moment. It was a big aha moment and I thank my friend for sticking the truth mirror in my face. Yeah. Wow that's it's amazing that that's you know that's one thing in two set. We are in our own businesses or so in the weeds we can't see what's going on and it takes you know someone like you or you know someone to come along and say like your friend did he could see beyond the weeds because he wasn't in the depths of it. I like that analogy. It's really important for that. And you know even to this day Elle Agror who's the one I was mentioning before she has a consulting business in dozen, and we worked together. She also in the branch with me. We had a meeting where she an I know her sister Ellen Gayle in Ellewood she's H.D. and we meet and we look at each other's business even though we talk to each other all the time. That meeting is all about you know looking at things we haven't got every time we have that meeting every year all three of us. Our business grows and gets better. To this day after all these years. Wow that's pretty amazing. If she can have someone that would help you you know that you could go to a lot of times most of us are afraid to unravel the thing before us because so few will get ridiculed. It's dealing with people who are like minded and think alike and want the best interest for you. Put that to can do that. You know it's interesting when you mentioned that when they think about it when you go to the doctor for your health care check-up or you need. When you're not in your clothes off it out at the end of it. It's the same thing with your business which is you can't see it. And I'll give you guys. Listen to this quote I can see it. Here's another. How many times have you got to another company that you don't know. And by the time you walk through door and spend 30 minutes and you know what's broken. Yeah that's good. Why is that. Why is that. Because you're not emotionally invested in it and that's why it's so hard for any individual to do it all on your own. To think that you can see your own business the way you need to. And that's why there is outside people that you know they're the doctors. That's really what it is. Right. I know that you do a lot of consulting and if someone wanted to learn your 7 signatures or your power your signature or seven power contractor system, how do they get a hold of you? How do they reach you? Oh, the best thing they could do is to go to my website which is www.7powercontractor.com . And there's two things, there's a, and you'll see plenty of videos and testimonials from clients. Not because I needed for my ego but I know you need to hear from other people that it's been done right. I don't do one to one consulting like I did before. What I'm doing now is you have two things. When it comes to me is One you can go there to the shop and but this book that's 7 power Contractor System. There's an e-book $9.99. . Link on the website. I wrote it, and I made it short for a reason, for who are incredibly busy I'm asking you for more hours and if you're a quick reader two hour of your life. OK. Because it changed my life and it will change your life. Not because I wrote it and I had a good editor that helped me do it. We really worked hard to make it less. It's easy to make it fat. It's way hard to make it thin and effective. I know it's amazing isn't it. Yes. I created a 39 second video. And that's what I call that thirty-nine second video. It took me two hours to create it. Oh yeah. I know that. I know that. Exactly. And the other thing is I am feeling starting It's really the best thing that you can do to get the systems in place because without it you're going to be stuck in a. You know it's because of trying to write it on your own. If you could take your chances of getting it in the right way and getting buying. I've been up the mountain. What I see myself is a trivial guy. Yeah and you've done it. You know what it takes and I think that for the most part most people are. All right let me buy fill in the blanks and we'll go from there. Well you know to a certain point. You always have to put in you know what's apropos to what's your complete system is. But for the most part it's you know it's cutting time out is what it's doing. The military cannot possibly know what are the books that they're holding out and more that we spoke about way back when they told me you got to read this book, and it was in the 90's it was Michael Gerber's E-Myth. Yeah that book told me why things weren't working and what to do. He didn't tell me how, but it was the first time that I heard that you go if you're only working in the business and never working on it nothing is going to change. And that was what I set about in creating this system. Now that really the catalyst for the manuals that you describe this hotel that work like all automatically and he said that's where I want my business be. Right. So that's what I set off to do. So, it was one of those books that really changed me. That's really kind of the essence of it but it wasn't out there so I had to create it. And the good news is I hired somebody to help me and its way better than it was 15 years ago. What I left on was it not those it was on a thousand dollars all the hours we paid all of that back in two years. In my company. Oh, I'm sure just in two years. Yeah. That's amazing. So whole activity then will call backs, insurance claims. All of the things are now getting better. So, we started to build on top of it with the organizations and better meetings a lot with things that go into it. But that's really kind of back bone essential that you want. Cool. That's awesome. This has really been awesome. I think we're going to put all of your contact information on our Web page when you want to write off. Must have been great. It was really fun talking with you about everything and will look forward to getting you back. You can a copy of his book click here to go to his website https://www.appleseedbusiness.com/ You can contact Al https://www.appleseedbusiness.com/contact/
There are so many ways to do almost free marketing you just have to think about it or you could just go to the web site and pick up the free download. 4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business with Customers If you have a story to tell and would like to be a guest on this podcast email my assistant Shell at Shell@contractorssecretweapon.com and she will send you our guest sheet.
Our sponsors Would you like your phone to ring more with qualified buyers people looking to buy now? Then let’s make that happen. Best Home Services Leads is dedicated to making your phone ring with qualified buyers wanting to buy now. Go to and fill out the form to get more information. http://contractorssecretweapon.com/money How about 100 free postcards sent out to your best prospective customers. Radius Bomb sends out hyper targeted, laser focused postcards using a map while sitting in your under ware at your kitchen table then go to http://contractorssecretweapon.com/radiusbomb Painting Contractors, get up to a 24% better response rate just for having the right memorable telephone number 1-800-PRO-PAINTER.Check out your area before someone beats you to it and it’s not available. https://www.1800propainter.com/ |
Wed, 27 December 2017
Want more profits? Want to build better relationships and build a better brand? With the year-end here, I decided to review all the podcasts for this past year to see which were the most popular. Based on number of downloads, this was Number 1. In fact, this podcast had double the listens and downloads of all the others. On this podcast, I’m speaking with Gregg Burkhalter. Gregg is a recognized authority on Personal Branding and LinkedIn. He has helped countless professionals in the U.S. and abroad define and grow their Personal Brand using LinkedIn. Gregg is known by many as “The LinkedIn Guy”. During our conversation, we discussed numerous topics including:
If you have any questions not covered in this interview, please reach out to Gregg. He provides Personal Branding Coaching and LinkedIn Training via one-on-one and group training sessions, corporate presentations and webinars. Connect with Gregg Burkhalter (770) 313-2385 https://www.linkedin.com/in/greggburkhalter/ There are so many ways to do almost free marketing you just have to think about it or you could just go to the web site and pick up the free download. 4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business with Customers If you have a story to tell and would like to be a guest on this podcast email my assistant Shell at Shell@contractorssecretweapon.com and she will send you our guest sheet.
Our sponsors Would you like your phone to ring more with qualified buyers people looking to buy now? Then let’s make that happen. Best Home Services Leads is dedicated to making your phone ring with qualified buyers wanting to buy now. Go to and fill out the form to get more information. http://contractorssecretweapon.com/money How about 100 free postcards sent out to your best prospective customers. Radius Bomb sends out hyper targeted, laser focused postcards using a map while sitting in your under ware at your kitchen table then go to http://contractorssecretweapon.com/radiusbomb Painting Contractors, get up to a 24% better response rate just for having the right memorable telephone number 1-800-PRO-PAINTER.Check out your area before someone beats you to it and it’s not available. https://www.1800propainter.com/ |
Fri, 22 December 2017
The Art of Asking for Google Reviews with Jonah Canter. Owner of Canter construction in Charleston, South Carolina. They are premier company that does remodeling, it's a fun talk we had together we talked about how he grew his business basically with zero dollars. He's shares how he get’ s so many google reviews and what his results have been with us today going to share that with us today.” Hey welcome to contractors secret weapon. Today, we've got a great day, we got a great guest. And you know, I it's just fun when I have an opportunity to talk with other contractors about their successes and the things that make them grow. And today I have Jonah Canter. He owns Canter construction company in Charleston, South Carolina. They are premier company that does remodeling. So, it's a fun talk we had together with talked about how he grew his business basically with zero dollars. And so, he's going to share that with us today. And so, that you can help your business grow and maybe the same way that Jonah did his. And so, let's get into and Welcome Jonah Canter from Canter construction in Charleston South Carolina. Jonah, I am so glad that you're with us today. It's a really special treat for me because I don't get to talk to many contractors and it's really exciting. So, thanks for being with us today. Dave, I appreciate it as well and thanks for having me on the show. For those of people who don't know me out there my name is Jonah Canter. I'm the owner of Canter construction and also a co-owner of Oceanside construction and design located here in beautiful Charleston, South Carolina. And, I've been in the construction industry for probably over 20 years but actively with my companies for the past 10 years and deeper capacities from being the guy that you know the hammer on the nail all the way up to you know being the owner now and having to make a lot of the hard decisions and business decisions that come with it. So, all that fun work. Now, before is be mindlessly just go to work do this to this to this. And now it's like, I got to think about stuff. Yeah, it's a-- I am the organizer of chaos. That's what I tell my wife and whenever anybody ever questions, I have an employee, a long time ago, say to me "Well, you know what do you get paid to do". And I looked at him dead in the face and I didn't embed it I said "I get to do the hundred dollar an hour stuff. You get to do the 14 dollar an hour stuff". So, we'll just keep it at that. But, no. Seriously it's-- I've had kind of a very interesting background. As a kid I grew up in Columbia, South Carolina. Went on a soccer scholarship to all male private school and Sidney in Virginia went for a year. Hated it. Dropped out. Didn't know what I was going to do. I moved down to Florida. To Fort Lauderdale area and ended up working on boats. That was when you're young and you can kind of be stupid not know what you really wanted to do. And, I slowly made my way back up. And my family is from the Charleston area and ended up getting a job with my brother in law. Believe it or not as a shipping manager for a startup company. And, if you don't know me one thing that I'm very proud of is that if you hand me a shovel and tell me to dig you a trench, I'm going to dig you the best trench you've ever seen. I've just always had a really strong work ethic so, when they put me in that role as a shipping manager I was trying to find ways of making things better faster cheaper for the company and that kind of I guess guest caught the eye of some of the business owners and they kept promoting me within that startup company. To the point where I ended up moving overseas to the Netherlands. And what's their point man for opening up a print facility. So, that was a whole fun time of my life and by this time I was only about 22 years old. Had hair down to my shoulders. You know, still a dumb kid just trying to figure it all out. But when I moved overseas to the Netherlands, I gained that whole business since that operation since like hey they're counting on me and there's people under me who were counting on me. I have take the serious. So, that was a fun part of my life where it kind of, I tell people I grew up very fast at 22 or the rest of my friends were waiting tables drinking and doing whatever they wanted. I was negotiating print contracts with Dutchman and Belgian people at the time. So, anyways the whole point of that is that Amazon ended up buying that company and I ended up working for Amazon and for a while in the same capacity. Opening up these print facilities in various locations other fulfillment centers. I got my business background from working at Amazon. And Amazon's a place if you've never worked for them. It is a really tough environment. They expect the world, they expect, blood, sweat, tears and almost your first-born child will work. And I lasted about three years and my wife said I'll I'll divorce you if you don't quit because I wasn't sleeping and all that. But what it did teach me is it taught me a lot of things that I apply to my business now and in a couple of those things is the customer experience has to be the most amazing thing on earth right. It has to be something that they're not getting because if they can just get it anywhere, well, you're one of a million. But if you supply something they don't have or they are not seeing, that makes you you know, the one-eyed man is king of the land of the blind kind of situation. So I really when I when I came back from all that I started my company and at first it was a cabinet company and House of round 2007. I was old. Now it's feeling good to have not. And then this year of 2008 hit and all hell broke loose as everybody knows now that's going into 2007 was a millionaire and 2008 they lost it all. And in the words of Richard Branson they asked them they said "How do you become a millionaire?" And he said "Well, you start as a billionaire. And then you buy air and company of which is true". But, anyway bottom tanked that I had to shut that company down. Lucky for me the same guys who had started that other startup. I literally was walking down the street and saw them and they were like we are pros and they were like "What are you doing" and I was like struggling and they're like we're getting the band back together. And so, I just as soon as I stepped in my construction light I step right back out of it and I ended up working for those guys for a long time and another software startup until this past year they allowed me to own my construction company and be their point guy at the software company. Yeah, it was amazing situation for me that's why I took it on. Great guys. I have great respect for them and I slowly but surely left that business altogether and focused on my business. But, I guess I'm giving you a little breadcrumbs to show you. You know sometimes you don't know where your life is going to take you but you need to take pieces your life and apply them to the next part of your life. Well yeah. And a lot of the interesting things that I think that nobody really thinks about is that you are here today because of what you went through in the past. Yeah. And the person you're going to be because of what you've learned in the past. Yeah. So, it's important. It really is that when you when you take it into that perspective. Yeah and it's one of the things when I when I got serious about my construction company the one thing that I wanted to do was I wanted I look at things at work. Let me take you back. I was at a conference one time giving a speech and this kid stood up and he said "Hey Jonah you've been an entrepreneur. What--What are you. How do you look for the next new technology or next new thing to land a business in?". And I looked at him and I said you don't. I said you take something that exists now and you make immensely better. So, Uber did that to the taxi industry and Amazon is doing that to almost everything right and right now. So you don't have to be some super smart guy. And the next technology but you have to do is look at businesses that are not being run well as a whole or as a general philosophy and make them better. So, when I came into construction, that's the first thought and I started to look at it. I know you're laughing because you know and everybody is probably listening knows that the construction industry is rife with just idiots. Be honest with you. I mean Darrell is bad business people you name it. And one of my fond jokes that I tell my customers today, just get a laugh but it's true, as I said who knew the minimum bar to success was having all my teeth and showing up on time. I'm going to be rich. And anybody that doesn't have teeth I'm not making fun of you about that but there is a little bit of a stigma there was that I was I was in the paint store when Nana and I was tied to the representative and even talking about my stuff like this. And he goes you know because of that bench and more they have to have training seminars that are painters in different parts of the country. And he said the trainer come in and there's like 100 guys in a room and say Frank's in his book he says probably six eight 10 inches. And he holds it up and then he puts it down and he goes OK well we're going to make this simple today. How many people want to become wealthy in the contract painting contracting business like a bunch of guys raise their hands. It goes OK. He says it's not in this book he said. Answer your phone and return phone calls. So true. So even today I get calls and that's another thing of mine. I pick it up. I try to be responsive and people will pick up and go oh my gosh. I didn't expect you to pick up and I'm like well I'm not like everybody else. I'm going to talk to you because I mean I have the ability in my current role to make sure that every car-- it calls me is answered. And so, there's little things like that that people miss. But the idea I had was focusing on things like that that are I look back now are very small details and very simple and don't cost you money and are simple but mean the difference of the world it changes you completely different from the other guy. I don't care what kind of car you roll up in or truck. I don't care what you look like. I'm bearded with tattoos right. I care how you respond to me. I care about your personality how you react things and so you can be mentally better than everybody else. In that case you're going to be successful so that's what I did with this company. Canter construction and it's really helped me keep myself grounded, keep a good head on where I want my business. It's been very successful for my business as well. But one of the stories I think I came here today to kind of talk about is trying to help contractors who are typically good at being contractors. Their skill sets. They're good carpenters or whatever but they fall short when it comes to the business side. They didn't get the training they don't have the know how whatever. And in that sense a lot of what is left out I think is you know trying to figure out how to keep your phone ringing without paying money. Right. That's the biggest thing for your phone ringing. So, a while ago, I was getting my domain name which is www .Canterconstruction.com . I was trying to get that domain name because it's my last name. And low and behold this other company popped up and they they're like they happen to be related to me 14 cousins or something. Right. And I looked out No. No problem I'll do Canter construction SC for SouthCarolina.com and roll on. And as I started to become successful I started to get these comments from people saying hey I looked up your company and your Web site and there's some old man not a Wilkesboro North Carolina or wherever it was. And I said Really. And I started to look at this and I realized wow these people were looking for me in Charleston and this other companies popping up. Are they going to get my business now or that business.?-- No because they're not in the Charleston area. But it led me to go you know what they are. The Web site didn't look fresh. It looked like it was old PHP. And I said you know they may not care about this. I'm going to call them and we're related so I'm going to ask him to tell us that they'll let me buy the domain. So, I called in a nice lady answered and I just I went in and said hey I'd like to potentially talk to you guys about buying your domain. And she literally went nope and hung up the phone. Oh right. And I was like gosh you didn't even know I'm going to offer like 2 million dollars. I mean I wasn't but you just she cut me off and to this day I even tell people I do not hold anything against those guys. They did nothing wrong. I wouldn't I wouldn't sell my domain right now. Somebody asked me but what if it was it. All of a sudden lit this fire. And I always used the term you know hell hath no fury like me scorned when she scorned me on that. I decided enough is enough. I want to figure out how I would my people search for my name and trolls and how I can be the topless and Google them and so one of the things that I did and going through that is I learned all this on the fly and people listening that know a little bit about that are already thinking he's learning Seo or search engine optimization. That is the goal at the end of this and it's a bit of alchemy and smoke and mirrors. We'll talk more about that. But what I tried to do was how do I get myself in front of people when they do a search for my name? That's how I started. Now, I look at ways of when you look at contractor Charleston how am I the first one. So that's a little bit about what I'm going to talk about. First thing that they may not do well you are. I mean that's one of the things like you know I come up if you're looking for my name or my business but you know you like you're saying if they're looking for your name under your or your business find that to look for contact on an animal and you want to come up there you want to be trained from their face as best you do and that's the harder of the two things that nobody knows you as your or they get your name from somebody else. But people serendipitously finding you that's what you want. Right. Because I'm searching for this. And your result for that. So, one of the first things that I teach people to do is there's a lot of free web sites out there. that allow you to have free listings where you can put your company logo your Web site pictures it's free to do. You can go out there spend some sweat equity in a six pack of beer watching TV and put yourself out and on as many sites as possible. Now will these sites try to back sell you like oh by subscription of course. But the point being there is ignore them. Put them in junk whatever. But you just-- you're starting to build relevance in multiple listings because instead of your name being just on a Google business listing now it's on mana, now it's on porch, now it's on house. So, your kind of like throwing seven eight fishing lines out there. And what you'll probably find when you do that is not much is going to happen with your business and it shouldn't. Really, it's just getting you out in the world. Now the thing that I learned was that after I keep in mind I was doing this hoping for big expectations I didn't see. And I was like huh. So, I went to phase two. And what I initially did was porch was a company that I had listed on and they had to deal with Lowe's where they had a kiosk in a Lowe's and you could buy any of the windows installed or a fan installed. And here's preferred contractors. Gorgeous Web site. So, I went on porch and just had a bunch of people review me and I had maybe 21 reviews and all of a sudden, I went back to that search for Canter construction and lo and behold those people-- nice people-- that they are in North Carolina were third or fourth on google in my area. I was like OK I see what's going on here. And so, the third phase of this chapter having a little bit of success there was I started to look at my Web site and pictures a little more closely. Now keep in mind I have Google Analytics on the backside of my web site. I look at those all the time to see where people coming from when they get to my website what do they do. The thing that I realized from looking at those business analytics was on my first web I went Wow they're popping in and popping out right. I didn't have my number friends center. It wasn't a you know a beautiful like a spider web of capturing them and to them digging in deeper. So, I cannibalize my first web site came up with a brand new clean slick web site. Same one I had today and started to watch the business analytics again and I started to realize that people were then popping in and searching around. They're spending more time when they do get to my Web site. So little bit of just to backtrack as you get yourself out there and as many places as possible prime you then try to focus on reviews which initially I did poor reviews and we're going to get into the google reviews in a second and then you look at your Web site and you're listing even those listings that I mentioned. You always want to have fresh pictures fresh updates to it you may not cannibalize the whole Web site but Google does backtrack and look at things and it notices when things are updated and says oh well you've updated pictures so it gets back into relevance when somebody's searching for contractor and it can help you down the road saying oh we think you're looking for Canter construction. So, I did that for a little bit and then was still not seeing. I wanted to honestly have those people off the first and think page stuff. My wife always jokes she says Jonah if you had a boat I'm pretty sure you would name it. Never satisfied. And that's so true. And I wasn't. So, what I did next was I shamed myself today for not focusing on this but I had a Google business listing and I started to do what I call the art of asking and not asking for Google reviews is very simple and it had the most immediate and profound effect on my business and the business elite that I ended up getting. You have to keep in mind Google is something that not a hundred percent of people have but almost everybody on earth has a G.M. account right. So, the things that you're looking when you're asking for a favor which is what you're doing when you ask for a review you don't want it to be convoluted and step through hoops or to sign up for something that's junk. Nobody's going to do it. It's going to stop the process. But if you make it one click an easy you're going to get reviews. So, what I started doing was I would do work for clients make sure they were totally happy. Jonah you’re the best thing since sliced bread. Awesome it. And then I would send him a follow up e-mail and say hey for people like you who found me on line or found me through a review of through a referral. Google Reviews are a good way of saying I do top quality work. I'm a good guy I'm honest. All of these things. Do you mind providing me with a five-star review and then I would send them a hyper link for the Canter 5-star review right there in the e-mail. What that would do is boom they clicked that hyperlink they go right to the review and they're typing away 5star sin and done. And it's you have to as a contractor you have to understand that you are asking for a favor so keep it simple but Google who runs one of the biggest if not the biggest search sites. Why was I not kidding reviews from Google to begin with? I look back and I want to hit myself from heaven. But what that did was as a couple of things it kept me in check to make sure that my business was running correctly. I was offering good services good customer service good skilled services to clients because I was I wasn't just done when the job was done and the check was in my bank. I wanted something more. Right. So, it's a good check and balance for contractors to keep them. If you want to grow your business you've got to be good at it. You've got to be the best at it and you do that by being able to ask for as many reviews as possible. So, I asked for these reviews over time. And the next thing I realized was it was quiet. And then the phone started bringing. And then the phone kept ringing and I would pick it up and they'd go yes just Kaner construction. I'm like yes. And they're like "oh yeah, I found you online" and I was just ear to ear smiling because up to that point my life-- 75 percent of my business was referral from realtors, friends, whomever and made a good living on that. And, you know, the 25 percent was, somebody just randomly found you and I don't even know if I got the work from home at that point. Fast forward to the day, 90 percent of my work comes from online and 10 percent is referrals. So, that's an amazing flip. And what happens there is, I talked about the alchemy of it. Nobody truly understands as SEO and if they do tell you that they're a snake oil salesman in the fold because Google is always changing their spaghetti algorithm of search relevance and results in everything. So you're always chasing a ghost. But if you know where that ghost is going to appear you can try to target yourself to figure out how to be there at that time and so that's where I'd like to recap and say fundamentals here. Get yourself out in as many places as possible cannibalize. Update your Web site. Make sure that you're asking for reviews. Get it. I don't want to say that you ended up like kind of whoring yourself out there but you really have to promote yourself as much as possible on the Internet. And if you know if you have five google reviews don't even act like that's enough. Right. I have. I thought I heard you got fifty-five. Google reviews Yeah and I'm constantly asking every day for people when we close our jobs. Will you give me a review? Give me review because that's free marketing that I don't pay for I don't use Google Ad Words. I don't pay for any of that and never seen any results. Blood sweat equity which is what we all need in Kontra. I found out ways to keep promoting myself to the point where if you are in the geography of Charleston and you look up contractor Charleston now I'm one of the top guys in fact I come up there against commercial giants in the area. I'll be the 4th guy and the biggest thing is up to 5 to refuse you get your revelations irrelevant and you Cito up your pictures so there's constant upgrading of your gear. Your Web site which is really not a big deal. It's not really done take you all the time but these are the little things you know that Google looks for and there are little things that most your kids can do. It's correct. Now it's funny as people who may start say they're in Florida or somewhere else you might get different results because it does look at your area a likelihood that you want so it doesn't mean you'll look up contractor by me but I don't really care about people necessarily Charleson as much as I do about the greater Charleston area right. But the thing that it's a star that shines the brightest about the reviews and I've had plenty of people telling me this is we saw some other contractors and they had four reviews a new head 50 by 5 star reviews. We called you because we're like oh my gosh you can't have any brothers or cousins that are out there. And so that's a that's a testament to a person who does not know you right somebody who finds you organically doesn't know you from Adam right already knows that they don't trust contractors by very nature. You build that trust before they even pick up the phone and call because they look and go wow. People like this guy and seems to do good work. So, there's tons of benefits not only to getting your own leads and whatnot but also in securing deals and in adding a layer of comfort for particular clients that they're trusting you right off the bat because they like what you say you make it easy for them. Yes. And it's you know it's like you're selling yours. You're doing everything for him like I had and I just did that with one of mine because I said you know she was just rain and rain. She says your mom you don't understand how my mom usually throws contractors off the job the first day like she goes. She thinks again pay by the hour or taking too long. Yeah. Now it's true. So, I should never have a contract to you pay by the hour. That's terrible. I know that so I said so. So, she was you know at my house were thinking about selling and I go. So, we got through. You know as I said my mom loves you guys she goes You must love your job or your work. And I go Why did she say that. Because you're doing all the little stuff the meticulous stuff and she said I said you write a review on that which is good. Absolutely. So, you know I did and I provided was the link and a lot of times that will do. I don't have anywhere near 55. But I'll give him the link and I will get this is what I heard you say change it if you are you know just so they can cut and paste it. Yeah, I thought about doing that but I kind of like that kind of off the cuff because sometimes I get reviews that are comical to me but they're a testament to my crew. So, I have a guy named Pete who is a phenomenal phenomenal guy. I pay him a lot of money but he's an OCD neat freak. You'll never find another man like Pete. And somebody wrote this company is awesome and Pete is the cleanest person I've ever met on a job site. But you think about that. You were both laughing and it was funny. But to a client who that's important to that's going to be a selling point to them. Right. Yeah because that's what I hate is when I got to clean up after someone come into work and my house absolutely. So, there's you know when it gets back to the review part of it I think you know people just need to understand how reviews are actually hidden money in it and a great example is and I've done this several times as contractors will get into situations where there's a wall and you're doing some work and you don't know what's behind it. You can't rip it up before your a contract with them. You get into it and you're like hey I'm going to charge 2000 dollars for whatever it is. And you open up the wall and you go oh man this isn't as bad as we thought. Yeah, we can do that two. Whatever. It's only about 15. Hunter Well you know what I do. I'm not greedy. I go back to that client. I go Hey Guy Lady whatever we were going to charge you to I'm going to reduce this to 15 because it's less work. And I think I think you'll be happy with that. And it's a fair price at that one. I don't want to overcharge you. And the look on their face is like oh my god Jonah I would have honestly, I would have never known that. And you could have just taken my money. That's amazing. I appreciate it. What does that build absolute trust that this guy now forming. Oh yeah because the next thing I'd say is hey you know what. Since I saved you five hundred dollars. I'd rather be a five-star review that's worth tons of money to me. So, it's got to be you know in that sense you've got to be a guy that you know you're shifting and understanding that I may be taking 500 dollars out of my pocket but what am I gaining I'm gaining a five-star review or referral and somebody who 100 percent trust me. And if anybody goes Man I need a contract or I'm going to be the first person in their mind. So, there's important. You know having values in this industry and not being shady can get you positive results and not being shady of simply charging people for what they should be charged. And when you see something like that you know help them out. So, you know don't be afraid to charge them. But given the value that they're expecting. Absolutely So that's really awesome. You know all that free stuff that you can do it takes time and it doesn't happen overnight but it does take time but everything works that takes time anyways. It does I mean if you think you're going to get into a business and make a million dollars tomorrow you'll be sadly mistaken. The truth of this business is you need to be able to weather anything that comes out you. I'm building my business so that when the next bottom drops I keep on rolling through it with a smile on my face while everybody else is selling their 80000-dollar trucks and houses on the water and they're screwed. I'll be buying up those properties from them and that's what you're really trying to do is you're trying to futureproof your business and you do that by getting in the trenches and doing this kind of small nuanced work and doing it right so that when it does come time when everybody starts to fold you'll have plenty of guys trying to do work for pennies on the dollar because they're struggling. And I just have work coming in you know. So that's I think that's a you know important value to have. That's really been very very interesting especially with the reviews you've got 55. So that's just that's just being consistent all the time always asking because here's what I read an article not too long ago. And it just blew me away that when you ask somebody for review or testimony that was really astronomically low I'm going to say 50 percent of people actually do it but 90 percent of the people check it. Yes. Yes. And that's why you have to be diligent but not too pushy. I've sent I sin no more than two reviewer a review requests. I'll ask them. Do you mind right. Yeah, no problem. I'll send him an email with a link. Nothing happens I'll send them a follow up e-mail and say hey just want to make sure you got this. Do you mind giving us a review. If I don't hear anything I move on because I'm not going to be pushy about it because it feels forced at that point. But you are right. And for that very fact. Keep in mind what people typically write a review about negatives. They 100 percent write you a negative review but they very rarely will write you a positive review. So back to the 55 google reviews I take that as a testament when people see that some people know that and go wow. I mean it's like when you're on Amazon you buy a product you can see people who are complaining about the shipping of the product and you're like That's not a product review. You can't do that. I don't care. You screwed it up but Binda two and three stars. Those are the ones you're paying attention to because people were looking and they'll write about hey it broke down after two weeks or didn't work out to ship it back it was damaged. Those kinds of things are a valid product reviews. And so, when you have a product that's got a five star review I don't even read all of them like done. So, you are going to buy it whatever. I trust that through the social media aspect of this that that the group hive mentality works and it's a good thing. Any last thoughts on the google reviews and I know the end here just I just want to tell people you know just take what I've told you and put your own kind of spin on it. You may find results in your area depending on your geography north south east west wherever it is may vary. Just keep in mind if you're the best person at doing this and you're doing it without paying a company to do it for you you're going to win. You've got the tenacity. Ruiz is the hundred percent of keeping. And also, just expect that results may vary but they may take some time but they will start to see the fruits of your labor if you will. So, and I also Dave I also like to tell people feel free to reach out to me with questions or comments any kind of feedback I'm a very open book. I like people to respond. I like helping people and I have a couple of different ways you can do that. First you can email me directly. This is my direct e-mail is Jonah jJonahcanter@gmail.com That's my direct e-mail. Feel free to send me any comments there or if you want to have a more fun aspect of our company and you're on Instagram. I'm a huge Instagram or I love it. I think it's the best thing on earth. You can find me at Chuck town which is my personal account or Cantor construction which is the business account and you can see pictures of us goofing off on the job sites. In general, having some fun. Feel free to reach out and either way you can be a voyeur and just look at the pictures. Or you could feel free to ask me any questions. I am an open book and I want to be able to help people so please do reach out. Cool. That's awesome. Thanks so much for spilling your guts and sharing this. It's really been fun we're going to have you back again. Talk about something else. That sounds good you know always do it Dave. I appreciate it. Everybody listening.
To connect with Jonah Canter Gmail: jonahcanter@gmail.com Instagram: @canterconstruction @chucktown (personal account...me being goofy)
There are so many ways to do almost free marketing you just have to think about it or you could just go to the web site and pick up the free download. 4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business with Customers If you have a story to tell and would like to be a guest on this podcast email my assistant Shell at Shell@contractorssecretweapon.com and she will send you our guest sheet.
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Thu, 21 December 2017
"Keep from crippling your business with these 20 marketing mistakes" and today is our last day. It's true, Marketing Mistake number 16: Using catchy tunes, jingle, slogans and mottos instead of real solid reasons to have people buy. Do you monitor your competition? How about just asking your What they want? But here's one. It's using-- number 16 is using catchy tunes jingle slogans and mottos instead of real solid reasons to have people buy. Say you've heard them, they're everywhere, they're on the radio or in a television. In fact, you probably catch yourself seeing your humming at least a couple of different jingles or tunes throughout the course of the day. You know, you can't get that crazy thing out of my head. You find yourself quoting some catchy slogan or motto you've heard or read the question you can ask is if they're so catchy. And I find myself singing them, humming them or quoting them. Aren't they working? Aren't they doing their job? And the answer is yes, of course. They're working and yes, they're doing their job. So, if jingle slogans and tunes are working and doing their job, then why not use them? It all depends on what you're trying to accomplish with your advertising. And, here's the key one, your marketing dollars. So, if you want new customers, you want more customers, people who can and will come to your place or business or pick up the phone and call you for services willing to give you their money then these tunes jingles and slogans may not be the best use of your money. Why is that? OK, listen. Here's a funny thing and I've read the article not too long ago-- it could have been a long time ago. But what's the difference? You know the Eveready battery? Bunny did it. He's been around going around and now they have a new furry guy. There's millions of dollars, and I mean millions and millions and millions of dollars, on that one stupid thing. Having let it go back and forth. Now if you asked people what's the battery associated with that bunny. More than 50 percent can't tell you. They just think it's a cute bunny. So, what has been the purpose of spending millions and millions and millions and millions of dollars? I don't know but I know you don't have millions and millions and millions of dollars to spend on marketing like that to get you were. You want people, you want instant credibility, you want instant access, you want instant results right now. And that's why we're talking about direct response marketing and all we do. So as a business owner, you have to decide whether you want your dog on your postcard, you want a pretty song to go along with your marketing or not. Really, that's the basic thing. So, you know your letters, your ads, your promotional campaigns, need to be treated like commissioned employees. Yeah, you wouldn't send employ out singing a jingle or tune or say "hey here's my dog. See how cute he is on my card."-- No! You want results. So, that's what you need to do. They need to be--there needs to be an accountability to the results that you want. So, you wouldn't allow your Sales people to go call on prospects and customers and like you said sing us the jingle, research a slogan, you want results. Silly? --sounds silly, doesn't it? It does. Yet day in and day out, you hear all this type of advertising. But remember here is the key: your ads and letters, your marketing should provide information about your products and your services, make an enticing offer, give compelling reasons why they should buy and why they should take action now. And remember, you know from our discussions about accountability and testing previously, each ad should be able to be measured as to its effectiveness. It's all about being effective and getting the results, you want. So, number 17: Not monitoring your competition. You know a lot of people say "Well, I don't have competition". Listen, everybody has competition. So, you learn a lot from your competition. Sometimes, they can be your best source of what to do and what not to do. And you should set up a system to periodically research your competition to see what they're up to. Some of the things that you should consider are:
You know this is kind of important. How many salespeople do they have? Who their sales people call on if they call anybody at all? Say I know I have my roofing contractor. He doesn't allow his sales people to go call on people. All the leads are generated through the company. And so, he gets to monitor them as they continue to grow. And he knows exactly where they're going and how they're doing. So, he controls everything and you know what? We're glad. Matter of fact, a lot of times you know they'll get some and they'll be you know doing a neighbor's house and they will come by and say "hey can you give me an estimate" and he goes I can bet you're going to have to call. "I can't do it today because I have this huge schedule of things that have to be done. But if you call my assistant then she will put you on a schedule.". See, it has to go back to the company before they can't do anything on their own, which is a great way to monitor things. Yes. Monitor your competition so that you can become better and you know, in your competition that mean you guys have to be enemies. In fact, your competition to be one of your greatest allies of sources for additional untapped income. You know, maybe things that you do that they don't do or things that you do that they don't do and you can cross-reference the sales say, you know, like I don't do commercial paper. So, I would refer that to a commercial painter. So, I mean just because I do painting it doesn't mean anything. So, here's this and here's one that I'm going to give you is a bonus. I don't think I've ever talked about this before and they may have. But I don't remember. Listen go through Google go through all the people in your Web pages. You know, they come up first, second, third, or fourth, whatever's on the first--first page and call them. See how they answer their phone. Now, there's going to be surprising things to see even if they call you back, would be one. And here's an intro you, want to actually see how many people that are on Google that are not no longer in business. Yes, really. No longer in business. And you're going to want to get their phone number and have a read directed to yours. That's a whole other marketing strategy altogether. But, if you pick that up man it's going to be worth mega mega bucks to you. Marketing mistake number 18: Failing to ask your customers what they want. So, number 18 are getting down to the wire here. Failing to ask your customers what they want. That's an interesting one. What do you mean by that? Well, listen, everyone in business from insurance companies to computers, cars, clothes, stores, service businesses, they all respond with something like: low price. Well, that's not true! Because if you take a look around and what people spend their money on, what they drive, what they wear, what they live, where they live, what were they doing now? Even quickly come to the argument that that goes right out the window. It's not all about price. So, yeah, nearly every business, if you exhibit hesitation in buying, the salesperson and that's you, too, the owner, will, you know, always try lowering the price as the first resort. That's because we are so conditioned to price-- cheap prices. But it doesn't have to be that way. So, let me give you an example of what happened to me one day. It was kind of funny. I had a lady and I went over. She wanted a painting and she wanted everything painted. The walls, the ceilings, the doors, the door jams, the baseboard. And so, I put together a price on everything. Because I always try to give them what they want. And then later on, give them what they need per say. So, we get all done and give the price she comes out and she goes "wow! that was a lot more than I anticipated or was expecting to spend." I said "OK. So, you know, you asked me for a price to pay everything. What-- let's go over from what I see that does not need to be paid and why? can we do that?" She goes "Well yeah sure." So, we took a look at everything and actually the ceilings you painted maybe one did in the whole place. So, I said well that's going to save you a tremendous amount of money. And then we would there's a couple of little things that didn't need to be done and we just had it from there. But did I lower the price. I did, but I didn't. I didn't give her a cheaper price. I gave her price based on what we were going to do. We just lowered the price in essence by what she really needed to have done or wanted to have done. And so, when someone comes to you and says "Wow! it was a lot more than I anticipated", then you know, then you need to work from there and not just go low as I can give you a discount. Because that's not necessarily what we're looking for. They're just not sold on what has to be done. So, I always ask, well, you know, what don't you want painted? or what don't you want cleaned? You know, the way this is everything written in stone this is exactly what you want. So, we can go back and take a look at what you really want and sometimes we don't listen. Sometimes we do and we give them. But, we just need to go back and really go back to and say "What do you really want me to do?" What are-- you know. So, and, you know, from the amount of time that you've been in business, you have a tremendous amount of experience and expertise on what you've seen will work with what, or what won't work with a lot. And so, just be-- forget about the price issue. Be more concerned about giving them the value of what you have and maybe not charging as much, not by lowering your price but by lowering the amount of services you're going to do. Does that make sense? And, you still get your--you still get your margins, which is what you really need, is your margin. Now, that's just a particular sales situation. So, there's other ways. There's lots of ways to find out that you can determine on the wants of your prospects or your customers and that's just surveys and questionnaires. Whether by phone or mail or some of the easier and most effective ways to do that. So, you can follow up after purchase. Find out how they liked the product or service they bought. See if there's any questions on how to use it and ask if there's any other products or services that they might be interested. See, you're opening up that door. Remember, we talked about it before. They're into buying mode. They just bought that they want to buy some more. And they said "Well, you know I had thought about this after you left". So, that's another thing. Here's a couple of reasons why people won't spend their money with you. You know what? We've already discussed that people buy what they want before they'll buy what they need. Think about that. They'll buy what they want before they'll buy what they need. There's no trust. You haven't established a level of credibility, trust or believability. They need to make a purchasing decision. And of course, there's no value. You haven't created enough value or perceived value in their minds equal to, or to exceed the value with money that they're willing to exchange for your services. What is perceived in the customer's mind is reality. So, perception is reality and there's a nobility. Some people, genuinely, don't have the ability to pay for the item. They have financial problems or loss. And, see those aren't your customers. So, once you've established the level of trust, people believe you and they can afford it, then you'll be able to make a bigger sale by selling them wants to the needs. Remember, it's what they want, it's not what they need. So, just take the word "need" out of the vocabulary and you'll actually be much better off for it. Marketing mistake number 19: It's not working with joint ventures. This one. Number 19 is one of my favorites. It's not working with joint ventures because I do work with joint ventures. That's why it's one of my favorites. So, what is a joint venture? It's a teaming up with another business can be one of the most profitable things you can do. And they, in turn, become a win ,win situation for the both of you. So, here's how it might begin. Let's say-- I'm going to tell you what I did and I've done it numerous times and it works great. And I have the ability to do marketing so this helped me out a lot, too. So, I have roof companies-- roofing contractors who sell Roof cleaning for me and for them. And we've created a joint venture. I do-- I put the marketing material, I put together their "Thank You's", I put together their warranties--the warranties I have and I send them out. So, the only thing they have to do is sell them. Sell the service and I'll get a call or I'll get e-mails and say "Dave, this has got to be done". And, I also just did that with a new one the other day I was out and about. And, as I was doing some painting at a house and they were having the screens removed during the hurricane here. It wiped out the guy's screen enclosure, and it was torn down and these guys were there. So, the owner was there and I noticed on the side of his truck, you know, we do pressure cleaning. So, my question was to him: "Do you guys do fresh cleaning or do you sub it out and use other people to you know to do that for you?" So, he says we-- because I don't do pressure cleaner 'cause we don't do that anymore as we've just been too busy replacing screens and doing repairs and stuff like that, he says. But I do have, you know, people that I refer out. And I go "Can I ask you a question?" he goes "Oh yes, sure". I say" Would you rather make money by referring them out? Or would you just rather refer them out? “He goes "Explain to me Lucy." I say here's what we do, is we pick it in marketing programs. We do route cleaning, we do pressure cleaning and we do, you know, know painting. So, what we've done in the past is we've worked with business owners-- who would be in our marketing materials for them. And, then they could just refer us to their customers, or you know, you guys do the proposals. Send me, you know, it needs to be done and I'll schedule it and I'll do it. And then you collect the money and you keep, you know, the markup. I'm going to tell you it's X amount of dollars for me to do this. And your upcharge it and you keep the profit and you send me a check. He goes "Oh, I liked that idea". He goes "Send me some more material". I said "Awesome. We'll do that". So that's-- it's just that simple-- joint venture. Now, do I have to go out and get his customers? --No, he's got his customers. He's going to either sell them or refer them and I said I even put down I said: Listen. if you guys are too busy, I'll go do the estimate and I'll do it on your paperwork. It doesn't matter to me. Because we both win. So, I have two customers now. I have him as a customer and I have his customer, who becomes my customer in the interim after we've done business. So, is that a unique-- that's a great way to get customers. If you've never thought about it before, it needs to be part of your arsenal for getting and keeping business because it's like gravy. You don't want to spend any money in marketing because you've created a relationship. And that relationship will grow and continue to grow forever. So, do you have to stop at one? -- No! You can do as many as you want! And it always becomes a win win for everyone because it's something like this guy, he doesn't want to do it anymore. And he would rather make money then referred out. So, always appeal to the pocketbook.
Marketing mistake number 20: Risk Reversal. So, this is one of a lot of guys are afraid of. I mean literally afraid of and that's risk reversal, not using risk reversal. So, suppose that customers are not happy with a purchase that they made from you. Do you have to give him a 100 percent money back guarantee? -- You don't have to. Could you offer it? -- You could. Do you think they'll take advantage of you? -- in your mind you're saying yes. Listen. I'm going to tell you from past experiences over the 26 years. Well, I'm going to just go for the last nine because this is what I actually put on all my proposal. We have a tear up your check guarantee. If we can't make you completely satisfied with our work, then we're going to tear up your check. Has anyone ever take an advantage of me on that? -- No. So, but why do I do it? Because it's a risk reversal. The people would say "Well, if he's willing to do that, then I can trust him hopefully to do the right thing at the right time, give me everything he said he's going to do". Now, even-- and I try to give to you with everything. We'll do with our painting. We'll give it a 10-year warranty guarantee on painting for certain things. Now, do other guys do that? -- No! That's why I do it. I've seen five years, I've you know, do a ten year to press the point that I'm going to stand behind everything I do. Have I ever had to go back and do a warranty call? -- No but it's there. I've done-- you know, it's a crazy thing even. I know there's a lot of guys who claim they won't give a guarantee I'll give you two thousand days. And I dropped it down because of the humidity and the heat and the rain in Florida. The 24 months. Do I ever get called back on a warrant for that? -- Yes. Do I go back? -- Absolutely. Because I am-- I honor my word, first of all. But, I charge enough in there to figure that into an hour. That's going to take me an hour to go back and catch up. So, why not do more than when everyone else is willing to do. And when you do that, you create that risk reversal. You want them to be able to feel good about doing business with you. So, if all the risk is on them, that hey I'm going to let all this money and there's nothing in it for me, then they are going to be a little hesitant. You want to take as much hesitancy away from them as possible. So, it could be a money back guarantee. I am not saying it has to be. I mean, I just saw something that was kind of interesting the other day it was on the TV. Certain plumber for every minute they're late from their scheduled time or their appointment. I believe that they'll knock five dollars off the bill. So, if they're 10 minutes it's 50 bucks. After 20 minutes that's a hundred bucks. So, it sort of makes them-- how do you say-- So, it makes them accountable is because of what it does. And, me calling as a person who wants the service done. If that's out there, then dude I'm going to call them before I would call someone else because people showing up on time in the service industry is rampantly bad. So, these guys have overcome that with, you know, with this particular guarantee that they're using. And there is another one of them a carpet cleaner I knew who didn't answer his phone all the time. You know, because you try to answer your phone when you can. And so, what they did was, to get the people to leave a message, he would say listen "I'm so sorry that we could not answer the phone at this particular time. But, if I don't call you back in ten minutes-- within ten minutes-- then I will give you a 25 percent discount or 25 dollar discount off of the service that we're going to give you. How's that?" So, you know, the sky's the limit. You just have to be creative on what you're going to do to do that risk reversal and remember it is risk reversal. So, I'm excited that we finally got to finish this up. If you did not get your free download on the-- this whole report that they put together for this series, then you can do it on this show notes page also. And we're making it available to you for free. I mean, normally, it's probably-- I'll not even tell you what I charge for it. So, it's a material. It's FREE. I want you to have it for free. I want you to grow your business. I want you to be the best you can be. And I want you to grow your business to-- it being a lifestyle business for you. And not that you run the business and the business doesn't run you. So, until the next podcast. Be profitable. If you didn’t get the down load yesterday get it now Keep from Crippling Your Business with These 20 Marketing Mistakes Here is your download There are so many ways to do almost free marketing you just have to think about it or you could just go to the web site and pick up the free download. 4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business with Customers If you have a story to tell and would like to be a guest on this podcast email my assistant Shell at Shell@contractorssecretweapon.com and she will send you our guest sheet.
Our sponsors Would you like your phone to ring more with qualified buyers people looking to buy now? Then let’s make that happen. Best Home Services Leads is dedicated to making your phone ring with qualified buyers wanting to buy now. Go to and fill out the form to get more information. http://contractorssecretweapon.com/money How about 100 free postcards sent out to your best prospective customers. Radius Bomb sends out hyper targeted, laser focused postcards using a map while sitting in your under ware at your kitchen table then go to http://contractorssecretweapon.com/radiusbomb Painting Contractors, get up to a 24% better response rate just for having the right memorable telephone number 1-800-PRO-PAINTER.Check out your area before someone beats you to it and it’s not available. https://www.1800propainter.com/ |
Wed, 20 December 2017
"Keep from crippling your business with these 20 marketing mistakes" Mistake number 11: Not calculating the lifetime profit value of your customer. And there's really no question about it. Our customers are the most valuable assets that we have. Get your free repot today I don't want to rub in any mistakes into you because it's not your fault, honestly, of the things that you may or may not be doing because you didn't know better. And we're here to help you take these items--these 20 items. And of course, don't get bogged down with the 20, really. When you go through these and you get a workbook, which today is number five. And we're going to do one more day of the series, but I promise you on day five that I'm going to have the download for this report--this book that we put together for you on these mistakes and how to overcome them. The key is overcoming them. And don't think about having to do all 20 at the same time. Pick two or three of the ones that you think that would be the most effective to your business right now. And then once you get those done, pick the next three and go through those. And, you know, if you just do three, you're going to be so far ahead of your competition that it's just going to--you're going to get excited, honestly. About the different and the amounts of profit you're going to make and the things you'll be able to do with your business because you're finally tuning and you're making your business better. So, let's go into mistake number 11 and how are you going to overcome that. You know what. This has really been one of my pet peeves because you hear me talking all the time about transactional business and many of us are set up for transactional business. But, one of the biggest challenges that I see, many of us, and including myself from the very beginning, is not calculating the lifetime profit value of your customer. And there's really no question about it. Our customers are the most valuable assets that we have. And since we've already purchased them from, you know, as as leads and they've already purchased from you previously and then experience the benefits of doing business with you and presumably they're pleased with those experiences and they're likely to purchase from you again if given the opportunity. Oh, that's the key if given the opportunity. So, we need to do that. And they're likely to be free to others who may need or watch your services or what you sell. So, nearly every business allots more money, time and effort to the acquisition of new customers. They do to keeping their existing customers. And I love what Dan Kennedy says in years and years ago: "You need to build a corral around your customers so nobody gets access to them". And that's done by numerous things that we've talked about in these podcasts. So, it's been proven time and time again that it costs you five times more to bring out a new customer does to retain an existing customer. Think about that, five times more. What if you could spend half as much or spend as much? Take that budgeting dollars and cut them in for new customers, cut them in half. Get new customers and, you know, keep in touch with your old customers on a continuing basis. So, determining the lifetime profit value of a customer, it's simple and it's the most profitable thing that you can do for your business because what you're doing is you're setting your sights out. You're really laying down the groundwork and you're projecting out and it really is numbers man. They can get really exciting. So, I want to take a look at how most business owners take a look at transactions. Let's say that you have a customer that you just, your average ticket sales is two hundred dollars and you're thinking about them in the form of "Well, I'm just doing them today. It's a 200 dollar profit it costs me X amount of dollars to acquire them". You know, whether it be through a referral or whether it is a marketing piece, it costs money to buy customers however you want to put it in whatever frame you want to put it. So, we have a tendency to look at that customer as a 200-dollar transaction. Let's say for the fun of it: it's a hundred and seventy-five-dollar profit that we walked into that transaction today. I want you to take one step further and look at it this way. Now this chart is going to be in the Workbook. So, look at it this way: You got to the average sale and we're going to say it's 200 dollars. The number of sales per year for that particular customer or let's say it's three times a year. So, that's six hundred dollars a year that you're going to get from this customer. Now, how many years are you going to keep that customer? Let's say 10. Just for make it nice and easy to figure. So, now that customer is worth what? Six thousand dollars! So, with this going into the mindset, your mindset of walking that door of that 200 hours, is no longer a 200-dollar transaction but it's a six-thousand-dollar transaction. But let's take another step further, just a little bit further and this can really get exciting. Let's say that you get one customer that is referred to you each year by this customer and let's say that only 50 percent do business with you. So, now you have three customers that are doing six thousand dollars a year and that's a year, but over the course of a 10-year time. So, now you've got your six thousand dollars from your original customer, and then eighteen thousand dollars from your referrals, so that's twenty-four thousand dollars. And that's only in the first tier of referrals. It can grow exponentially. But, I'm just trying to keep this simple. So, if you get three customers from that person and you keep them for 10 years, plus that customer, you have twenty-four thousand dollars for the business. So, it's no longer a 200-dollar transaction, but it is a 24-thousand-dollar transaction. Now, that gets exciting. And it gets passed--you pass the whole home of everyday business because now you're looking towards the future of all your business. It's no longer a transactional mode of the one day: one-dollar profit, but it's the future profits for the future. So, listen. I've had customers for 25 years. I've had--and I've even taken some of them and one day I was running through and I had a lifetime value of-- from one customer was over fifty-five thousand dollars in business. Man, that's just plain exciting. So, you can get past the transactional thought. You just have to think way ahead and plan way ahead. Mistake number 12: Failure to calculate the costs of losing a customer. So, here we go, number 12 Failure to calculate the costs of losing a customer. And I don't want to take too much time on this. It is very important. And it's more important if you have been losing a lot of customers. So, I really want you to think about this. But, it's the numbers are just staggering. So, you know, we calculate the lifetime profit value of a customer. So, let's take a look at what it cost you, if you lost a customer instead of gained one. So, let's suppose for a minute that: One of your employees got a customer upset with you and they stop doing business with you. No big deal, right? I mean there's a lot. They're just one customer. It's not difficult to get another one to replace them. So, how much would you lose if they never returned? So, let's take a look at our previous example. We talked about that one customer, ten years is worth six thousand dollars and--but, I'm not going to--we're going to negative effects ripple, more than positive talk in effect especially today with the Internet. So, let's say you have an unhappy customer. Then they were to tell 12 people about that bad experience because they always tell more people about bad experiences and they do good experiences. And let's say those 12 were to tell six others. Total number of people that are affected by one bad experience-- just one would be like eighty-five people. Can you imagine that? Somebody posted something: A company this company ABC something sucks and they really did a bad job and bought all that other stuff. Now, it's only 25 percent of those people chose not to do business with you that comes to 21 people. So, 21 people times six thousand dollars is what? 120000 dollars with a business--just from one bad experience. Now, once you get too uptight about this this is just one thought on, you know. Yeah, getting rid of or losing a customer somehow. So, you say how to--"What do I do about that?", "How do I not lose a customer?", while you need to have really good trained employees, you need to be able to be diplomatic about things but, you know, there's tons of stuff you can do. And the best way to do that is to give your customers all the love, the care, the attention, the service you can. To kill them with service, you go overboard, you make it nearly impossible for them, even consider doing business with anyone else. Regardless of the price, location, convenience and any other reason become, not only the preferred place, preferred person to do business with, but the only one that your customers will consider doing business with. So, over perform. Wow them. Kill them with kindness. Because you're talking about thousands and thousands of dollars of future profits. We're not talking about today's profits, we're talking about future profits. And, if you don't have to work hard, because you've already got them. The hardest you have to work is to keep them happy and excited and let them know that you love them and care about them.
Marketing mistake Number 13: Not selling to your existing customers. Oh, didn't we just talk about cross-selling and up selling and all that stuff? Yeah, we did. But this is another item-- another sideline here. So, the best prospects are the people that we've already-- purchased from us before. So, they've already experienced the products and the services that we've offered, as well as, you know, all the great stuff that we have for them. So, they know us, they liked us, they trust us. At least they did when they first bought from you and they gave you money. Hopefully things haven't changed. And ideally, your relationship with them has improved. And how will it improve? By you continually keep in touch with them on a regular basis. So, if nothing else makes good financial sense, to attempt, to sell your customers before looking outside for new prospects. But, what do you mean by that? Have you ever come up with a new service? Or, here's one that really, that I think a lot of times we overlooked and we don't think about. A lot of times our customers call us for a particular item. So, I'm going to use myself as an example. I would do, before I would do a lot of drywall repair and I would get pigeonholed into, well, they've only done drywall repair. So, I would have to continually-- educate them on the other things we did. And I would do it in different ways other than just direct selling to them. I would tell them: "Hey, did you know that we did this or we did that?". And then of course, you all know that I had a monthly newsletter that goes out every month and each month I would put in a-- project of the month. And it would be something else we did. So that they would know that we did more than what we've been pigeonholed for. So, I mean that's just one way to sell them on a regular basis. Other things that you do. So, I just mentioned a newsletter, and I'm going to say that's the best way to sell them without selling them. You know, if you have a referral rewards program, for your customers for referring one to another, you can publish those results in a newsletter. This reminds your customers about your program and entice them to participate in another. And one thing that I would do is, I would always thank. I had a column, thank the people that referred me. People--man, I'm telling you, it's exciting when they say: "Hey! I saw my name in print!". But, honestly, people are not going to care about you unless they know that you care about them. So, always think of ways to sell your existing customers more of your services and products. And honestly, and any time you're thinking about adding on something? RUN IT BY YOUR CUSTOMERS FIRST. Because like I said: They know you. They Like you. They trust you. And, if you're looking for that service, then they're going to purchase it from you because: they know you, they like you, they trust you. number 14: Changing your marketing even though it's working. Wow, that's a big one! A lot of us get bored with our marketing. And even though it's working, we want to pizzazz it up a little and we're really not paying attention to it. So, that's one of the most common mistakes that we make with our marketing, is to try something out, find out it works. Then stop doing it and then try something else. So, really, a better approach would be: to find something that works, tweak it--a certain part of it, try it again, tweak it again keep on doing. Remember that we discussed with regard to testing previously. As long as something continues to work, man, don't give up just keep trying to prove it so it will work better. Guaranteed, it will not work for ever. That's why we always talk about testing and measuring. But there are several reasons why people change--or most of us business owners changed from marketing even though it's working for us. Number one: we don't test our ads promotions and we don't monitor the results. So, we don't know what's working, we don't know what's not working and how well it's working and how well it's doing or even if it is working. I know I just said a lot. We're not really sure whether it works or not. Was it because we don't test it? That's really the main thing. We get tired of doing the same old thing every time and change her ads just for the sake of change. Now listen, I have to tell you this: Sometimes boring is better and that's boring on my side. Remember that when you're attracting a customer that that customer is a new person with new eyes on that one marketing piece that is working. The only one that gets bored with it is you! But if it's working, DON'T STOP DOING IT! Continue to do it. So, they hear about something someone else is doing and they want to see if it were for them. Usually, very little thought because that decision. "It looks pretty, so I'm going to do it!". Don't do it, don't be tempted to do that. The only reason you would ever want to change at any ad, campaign or promotion is to see if you can make it perform better. Any other reason shouldn't even be considered. That's it.
Marketing mistake number 15: Taking advice from the wrong sources. OK number 15. This is a big one. Taking advice from the wrong sources. You know, it seems like everyone is an expert nowadays. An advice is so freely given and offered even if you have no intention of seeking or asking for it. We have friends, we have family, we have co-workers, we have associates, we have other people in the trades and neighbors. Nearly, every person you come in contact has something to say or some advice to offer. And for the most part-- it's well intentioned. Except for-- listen, I'm going to be really honest with you on this one. If you go to some of the Facebook groups and stuff like that, and you ask questions, there's a lot of people on there that it will automatically give you bad information on purpose. So, you know, be careful on where you go to get your information from. Hey, when you seek information, check it out. See if it's a credible source. Other information comes from self-- can't even say that right. Self-proclaimed gurus and experts. Some who've never even been in business. That's the amazing thing. It'll pay you big dividends to carefully consider the source of any and all information that you receive. You know, check it out on your own. Just don't blindly do it too often. Testimonials are used to relate the work done in a field or a project that beats absolutely no resemblance to what you're involved in. While, the principles are constant and specifics can and will always change. Here's what I mean: "A principle is timeless that never changes". For example: in advertising, a principle would be that you get more readership from an ad using a headline, a specific, on the other hand is the application of a principle to a unique situation. So, in our advertising example that we've used, how the headline is used, may vary from one type of business to another and some headlines. Like an autobotic shop for instance may run headline that relates to their business. A Printing Company will still-- while still using a headline, will want to tailor the headline to a need of the printing customer and prospects. The point is this: Make sure the advice you get, whether it is volunteer or sought out, comes from a credible and reliable source. And make sure that someone has specific knowledge of the business or at least they can relate to the specifics of your business. Test it and timeless principles that apply to all businesses. So, just be careful of who you listen to and the people they give you free advice is probably the most costly advice that you will ever get. So, next one, we're going to pay for it till tomorrow. Marketing mistake number 16. But, I just want to let you know that I have downloaded. It will be on the page-- show notes page. I promise you the workbook and the for this whole series. On day 5 but I've got 5 more quick ones that go through and that will be tomorrow and it will be the last part of the series. However, I get it. I have promised to I'm going to have the workbook on there so you can get a go to the shows page and get your workbook. I promised you on day 5 , I would give you access to the Report Keep form Crippling Your Business with These 20 Marketing Mistakes Down Load it right here There are so many ways to do almost free marketing you just have to think about it or you could just go to the web site and pick up the free download. 4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business with Customers If you have a story to tell and would like to be a guest on this podcast email my assistant Shell at Shell@contractorssecretweapon.com and she will send you our guest sheet.
Our sponsors Would you like your phone to ring more with qualified buyers people looking to buy now? Then let’s make that happen. Best Home Services Leads is dedicated to making your phone ring with qualified buyers wanting to buy now. Go to and fill out the form to get more information. http://contractorssecretweapon.com/money How about 100 free postcards sent out to your best prospective customers. Radius Bomb sends out hyper targeted, laser focused postcards using a map while sitting in your under ware at your kitchen table then go to http://contractorssecretweapon.com/radiusbomb Painting Contractors, get up to a 24% better response rate just for having the right memorable telephone number 1-800-PRO-PAINTER.Check out your area before someone beats you to it and it’s not available. https://www.1800propainter.com/ |
Tue, 19 December 2017
Day four of our series on 20 marketing mistakes: "Keep from crippling your business with these marketing mistakes". today we are on mistake number eight: The failing to use testimonials. "How do you get testimonials?" Okay, so testimonials. And so many people say: "How do you get testimonials?", "How do I get testimonials", "Why do I get testimonials?" but more so-- "How do I get testimonials?" Well, I'm going to tell you the importance of them and we're going to show you how to get them in this series- In this episode today. And of course, remember that on week 5, which is next week, I'll have the whole report ready and upload it onto the show notes page so that you can get your copy of everything we talked about. And there's a ton of worksheets in there. Like here's a testimonial letter that we put together. So, testimonials is one of the most powerful tools that any business owner can use. But it's also one of the most underutilized. They're not limited to any one type of advertising or any promotional media. So, you can put them in your ads or in radio announcements, if you get newspaper layouts. Especially, if you're doing stuff on a large scale but you can put them in your postcards, on your Web site, in your-- in all of your marketing because they are your silent sales people and actually they're not really so silent because they're there. People really take notice that you have someone that gave you a, you know, a testimonial but it's an endorsement. Rather than a testimonial. But the principle is pretty much the same. It happens when another person makes a positive statement or recommendation about a certain product or service you did in marketing. Sometimes known as creating herd mentality. Robert Cialdini talks it about in principle of consciousness that is if other people who are like me say this product or service is good it improves the probability that it'll be good for me too. See, the psychology behind it. Celebrity endorsements are simply another form of testimonial and are very, very effective for certain well-known actors celebrities say something is good, then it must be good. Therefore, I should give it a try. So, most people know that in like commercials or endorsements of the actors reading prepared script. Written by, you know, professional cop writers saying you pay to do that but still in a certain amount of credibility when the actor says you know in sufficient numbers that you know this product is good. Well, your own clients become the best sources of your endorsements that you could possibly watch. Especially, if they're known to those you're marketing to or if something else is in common with them. People that live in the same town have similar businesses, belong to the same organization or association, same neighborhoods like in your postcard or your mailing say "hey we just did Bob Jones". I was very happy and he said to reach out to all of the people in this neighborhood to let them know that. So, you have to get his OK to do that. But you see where I'm going with that. And even in community, now in so many communities, they have Facebook groups and what you want to do is you want to get that customer to not only give you a review maybe, you know, google reviews page or local listings but it's more powerful if they can write you a testimonial and put it in your local you know Facebook community page because everyone in the community knows that you've been working there. That is an awesome. If you haven't thought about that, do it because that's where you're going to get a ton of work. Especially if you want to own a community. So, there's only three reasons people don't buy from you. They have no use for your product or service, they can't afford your product or service or you haven't developed a level of trust and believability with them in you to do business with you. So, there's so much you can do if a prospect can't use or pay for your service. There's nothing you can do about that. But there is a lot you can do to wipe away the underlying layers of skepticism and that's through personal testimonials. Because really, no one likes to be the first person to do something, no one likes to be the first person to try something, you know, because we feel like we're the guinea pig. So, you know and really testimonies are not hard to get. One of the most effective ways it is to send users of your products or service a questionnaire. And I've got an example in here in this in this workbook for you. And that's what I've always done as I've always sent you know a question here. You know, "Did we do the job that you thought we what you expected us to do?", "Did you. What were some of the things that you were afraid of beef when signing up?" Because that's really a big thing. "Did we do things to your satisfaction or beyond" And so, basically when you send them a customer survey --and I always do it by mail because it's more personal. And I know that they get it. So, what I would do is I would create the form I would send it to them in a self-stamped envelope that's going to increase your rate. And then a lot of times too is if you do an e-mail you want to e-mail them also it's up to you. Some people are lazy I would rather get the personal touch. But for some people, um, and I've done it this way too is I will write the review, based on what they said to me about how they liked their service, something special we did for them that they liked. And I will put it in an e-mail with a link to my google reviews page and say you know, "Thanks so much for doing business with us.", "We really appreciate you." And "Would you be so kind as to click this link and give us a Google Review?". And this is below being what I heard you say. Feel free to change it any way you want and makes it easy for them the easier that you can make it for them: by putting together the testimonial, by putting a self-addressed stamped envelope are going to increase your odds so much for getting that review. And so, the cool thing is, now when you get to testimony's back, and when you get to google reviews, you can just cut it and paste it onto a piece of paper and bring it with you when you're doing proposals. Say, "Here's what some people said about us"., "Here's some of what some other people said about us" and a lot of times now I'll take those and I'll stick three or four of them together in a section like if I'm doing painting I'll do, you know, like painting surveys that I've had, and we do some pressure cleaning --it will be some pressure clean surveys and how we did, and you know and so on. So, you see where I'm going with this, so and then I'll put three or four of them when I give them the proposal it's in there so that they know, "hey how are other people like me?" and they may know them specially if they're in that area. OK another cool way to get testimonials is you can call your customer and record it. Just let them know you're recording it and ask them, you know, about how you did, and stuff like that and then put that on your Web site or have a transcribed even. Which is kind of easy. And then you can put them wherever you want you put it in your your proposal package, you can put it on your Web site you, can do whatever you want with it. These are just different things that really you can do to exponentially grow your testimony base. OK,one more thing on testimonies. If you're in an interaction with them, don't, you know, you don't want a-- They did a great job. They were very good. Better than they expected. You want to play a little bit of detail in there like they saved me five 500 dollars. Not necessarily. But you see where I'm going with that. They did the extra things above and beyond whatever we expected them to do. Now that's an awesome testimony. You know I just had one. We just had this lady's house and I asked her for testimony because you just raped and not because you know we did a great job. Yes, but she was excited that it was her mom's house and her mom who had always throw people off the property because she thought they were there too long. She didn't realize that she thought they were being paid by the hour. We weren't getting paid by the hour. She totally gave her a contract price and we were going to stay there until we got it done and the lady was excited. And one day the daughter who is take care of the project said to me she's my mom really loves you She says you really love your job. And I go "Why did she say that?". "Because you're just taking so much time to be meticulous". And I said Isn't that kind of funny because she was throwing everybody else off the property because they were taking too long and we just loved that for some reason which I'll take it and she wrote an awesome review. Google reviews page. So, use testimonials. Get them and make them and make them part of your standard operating procedure. Because those reviews, those testimonials are like cash in the bank. Those are your sales people who are going out for you and bring giving you credibility to whatever you're doing whatever business you're in. OK, we're marking steak number nine: failing to establish and obtain referrals. Man, this is such a big one that most people just miss it. You know getting referrals from users of our services and our products is one of the quickest and most painless ways to get business. Now granted that it's not consistent but it's like I always call it gravy money. You know if you can get a bunch of them to come in on a regular basis you don't depend on it. But it is added growth to your revenue. So, but if you don't have a system and that's how everything grows and your business is through systems then you're just going to suck behind one. So, you know referrals are simply happy and satisfied customers telling others about that are a positive experience with you or giving permission to contact other people in their name which is kind of cool in a lot of times if I would have someone call and introduce me and then I'll contact them. So, it doesn't have to be hard. It's just a system. And if you don't have a system in place like I said before then you're really stuck in a Heinl. Because this is a revenue builder for your business and so many people are really missing it. So, there's a forceps system and it could be more --but we're going to cut down the forces-- earn, earn the right to referrals by providing exceptional service, not great service, not good service but exceptional service. You know, you, in order to have a raving fan you have to do things differently than everyone else. You have to go the extra mile and give the extra whatever it may be an extra tweak to what you're doing. I know one guy has a crew that does remodeling and handyman stuff. And what he does is he devotes the last half hour that day to doing things for the customer that just wasn't on the list. Man, we got an extra half hour again paid. Bob says that you know what is there that we can help you with to just get some a couple of little things out of the way. Now that is exceptional service and even. Here's another an exceptional thing that you can do is send him a gift thanking them for doing business with you. No one does that. Almost no one does that. Matter of fact the the percentages are so low we can basically say that no one does that. But I know your competition doesn't do that. So the next one is ask for the referral from your satisfied customer. Hey, let me just simply ask. You know, who might be candidates for your service. Now, I know that you might feel a little awkward about asking for a referral but you know what, you've done a great job. You should be happy with what you've done and you should be looking at it this way. I do a great job and anyone who use my service will be greatly benefited by what I do. So, why wouldn't I want others to lead me in the direction that they could help their friends? Also by the use of my service it's that simple. It's just really looking at it from a different point of view. You could send a campaign and a postcard campaign every couple of months of asking say hey do you know anybody that's looking for our you know for our services or type service whatever you're doing. So, reward is another one. Man, I'm telling you this is really, a kicker that no one had let me go. No one but the percentages are so small. That most people don't even think about this. Someone gives you a referral, you need say thank you it could be a real estate agent, could be a past customer or a client. It could be a friend. You just need to either call them and say thank you so much for for referring us to your friend because, listen, they're giving they're giving--they're telling their customer when they refer you that hey I trust Dave and he's going to do the best job he can for me. So that's a big step for them to even refer you but send them a gift too. Send them a thank you card. I know that one of the things that I do for fun when I get a referral from a non-customer, I'll just send them I thank you card. A handwritten thank you. "Thanks so much for trusting us with your client's best interest. I want you to thank you with this Starbucks card you get a cup of coffee on us and I'll even give them a lottery ticket and say: "Hey! We haven't got the job yet but hopefully you'll win some money out of this and maybe you can take us both out to dinner. Just have some fun with it. " Really. So there has to be rewards, can be discounts, or free merchandise. One of the things about your customers is, you know, for referrals sake you could give a discount to any new customers that they refer you. However, they will also get the same discount. See, I'm always thinking about the person who's referring me to. However, you want to do it. But just think about ways that you can be different than everyone else. That simple extra steps that makes you outstanding service that gives you outstanding service. So, really with everything reward is, it doesn't have to be grand or costly, it just needs to be sincere and timely. You know and show that you really do appreciate the confidence that they put in you to refer you and show to gift and name the person that you can contact. So, I always say "Thank you Bob for referring Joe. I really appreciate you trusting us with your friend and we promise to treat him as well as we did you." Something to that effect. So, number four part of this is next. You know, you've earned the right to ask for the referrals from your customers or clients then have asked them and follow up with a reward for their help. You're in the perfect position to ask them for more help. Ask them is help. But you know what, something we probably didn't even touch on and as far as the mindset goes it's that you've earned the right to do it ask them for a referral because you did give them, and they let you know how well she did. Remember you have to be X potentially great. You have to go above and beyond what everyone else is doing. And you know in this marketplace that's really not a whole lot. So, after all if you are in your client's shoes and you've gotten great service from someone you've done business with you'd like people to know and receive the same service once you of course you would especially if you've been thanked in some way and shown that you were helpful and appreciated. Listen competition is fierce in the marketplace today. You know that. And you have to get past the price. So, there's often a little difference between competing products services and prices but getting referrals from your clients can no longer be considered a luxury. A nice thing to do. It is a must to help you build your business. So, listen we did. I did get some more stuff on referrals go to episode 177. Stacy Brown Randol. She was awesome. First year business did a hundred and twelve referrals without even asking for them. And I actually just had a weapon or not too long with her and for another business I used. And so, she said we can put it up on the website so after the first of the year we'll get that up and ready. Okay now our marketing mistake number 10 not cross-selling or up swelling or having a back-end. So, this is so important. You know sometimes we get stuck and then we give them the proposal and we don't try to sell anything else or we don't notice anything else that needs to be done around the house and or we cross-sell or have other products or services that we can sell in conjunction with Tolar offering says. So, you know when we're marketing or doing promotion for our business it can be costly. For some businesses, the money it takes to get a prospect in the door to get you in the prospects door. and get them to respond to our ads sometimes is more than the total profit for the sale. Now, by design, lots of companies do that. I'm not going to recommend that. But you know if you have too much to think about the long-term benefit of them doing business with you which would cover lifetime value. And we're going to talk about that next. I think so. So, a lot of businesses look at spending money on marketing as a negative or a wash so they don't end Gresley engaging in marketing doesn't have to be a business costs blurrily an investment and anything that costs you for your business is really a bad way to look at it in a negative way to look at it as most other things that we do for our business. And I'm not going to say all but most are investments into the future of growth of our business. So, we have to look at what kind of return, are we really going to get on it. . So, there's four primary ways to build the business.
So, for now let's limit our discussion to item number two. How do you get customers to buy more? Well we've already established that the most cost-effective way to do business. And so, if you want your business to grow-- really grow -- and do and least painful way then with maximum results and minimum costs you need to establish a systematic way to get people to upgrade their purchase or to buy additional products. So, it's going in with one thing and upgrading to another not to switch bait and switch. But just progressive increase. So, people go through the variety of emotions prior to, during and after a purchase especially a large purchase. So, in a time leading up to the purchase they go through a phase of excitement. You've been through there the anticipation. What the service is going to are prof's going to do for them. And then sometimes they even go through periods of skepticism or doubt but that's if the person really wants are offering those feelings are pushed aside and excitement anticipation will take over. So, the only time most of time you're going --to get one were kind of a buyer's remorse here-- because when you force them into the sale but if you've done such a great job that they've sold them self then there's never going to be buyer's remorse. So, in feeling you know a lot of times that can be overcome when you talk about the benefits of using your products as a service. So, buy at the end of that sale, your customer is probably the happiest and the most pleased with you and your relationship than at any other time. See that's kind of weird because you would have thought it would have been after you did the services but they're excited. Now they've got you've. You're solving the problem and you're the man or the woman that's going to take care of that. So, they're so happy that they've said yes to their offer and they've even reached into the pockets of the person to open up their wallets check and give you some of their hard-earned money as a deposit. Or so depending on the size of the purchase. It could be a lot of their money. So, you've just south of a problem for him like I said. So, this is the ideal time when they are most pleased with you. And when you've come to the rescue for you to recommend other options or additional purchases. OK, so here's what it isn't and that's show someone to just purchase from you or they they made an agreement to pay for you buy your services or pay for your services order it however you want to say it. This is really the best time because to upgrade the service to sell them something else because they have already mentally in the buying mode. So, you can opt sell. So, if you're just painting walls you might suggest painting trim if you're doing pressure cleaning the driveway you might do pressure cleaning the house or the pool cage. You know simple add ons that because they've called you for one thing doesn't mean that they're not willing to do something else because they're in a buying mood. That's the cool thing. So, any upgrades or additional sales that you make now are just pure profit since there's no advertising costs there's no overhead expenses that were create use create sell. You're already there. There's no going back. You see where we're going with that. So, if it's really in their best interest to purchase from you then you have a moral obligation to see that they get the very best use of that product or service and that means you may have to make other products available for them to purchase. How cool is that? So next one is market number 11 and that is tomorrow too. Yes, tomorrow we're going to talk about mistake number 11 and a couple others but not calculating the lifetime profit value of your customer. Man, this is so, so missed by so many people because most people are transactional and which want to get you past that we want to get you into making a profit today tomorrow or the next day and forever with the same customers. So, come back tomorrow and will-- the next episode and we will start the day five of the series. There are so many ways to do almost free marketing you just have to think about it or you could just go to the web site and pick up the free download. 4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business with Customers If you have a story to tell and would like to be a guest on this podcast email my assistant Shell at Shell@contractorssecretweapon.com and she will send you our guest sheet.
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Mon, 18 December 2017
"Keep from crippling your business with these 20 marketing mistakes "Mistake number four: Not taking massive action. An old Chinese proverb goes something like this--Confucius say: "Hungry man sitting with mouth open waiting for roast duck to fly in have a long wait". Hey this is Dave Negri with Contractor's Secret Weapon. We're still continue our series "Keep from crippling your business with these 20 marketing mistakes". Today we are on day three. So why am I doing these series on these marketing mistakes? I don't want you to make the same mistakes I did. These are painful mistakes that I've gone through in my past 26 27 years. And I want you to have a better start, a better life and a good finish -- a good ending to your business. Mistake number four: Not taking massive action. An old Chinese proverb goes something like this--Confucius say: "Hungry man sitting with mouth open waiting for roast duck to fly in have a long wait". So, it is with marketing. So many businesses have great ideas and plans, but they fail to take action. They're waiting for things to be just right before they do anything. To some extent, that's understandable. But you're not going to get the perfect marketing piece. You need to, like we said before, a test and measure but considering that most businesses-- especially small businesses-- are tied for money. They want to make sure that their advertising pieces are laid out just right. The message is clear and that they're getting the very best deal on the advertising rates. Or they're getting the biggest bang for their buck in the market conditions are favorable and make no mistakes. All of these things are important. They are very important but it's critical that we don't get paralyzed into not taking action because of them. So, let's take a look at Apple Computer for instance. Back when Apple was first getting off the ground, articles were written about them and how they were--they use the ready aim fire--well actually the ready fire aim approach--and that's is they get the product ready. It wasn't perfect. They fired they got it out into the marketplace. They aimed, listened to the customer feedback and made the modifications and got back out there again. This is no different from the way many small-- even mid-sized businesses run their marketing campaigns today. They get an ad a promotional letter or campaign ready. They sit back and analyze it for months and then they may or may not actually run it for whatever the reason it could be. No one's buying now it's the holidays. Well that's the misnomer. Some of my best contracts have been during the holidays. So, what holds people back? Why don't they take the chance? Why don't I take the chance when I was younger? Why don't you take the chance now? Why not get the ad out there and see what happens? That's what Apple Computer did. Who knows? Maybe the ad or the promotion will be successful, maybe it won't. But they will never know unless they tested to see it. If they continue to wait and wait and wait, Apple would not be in the position they are today. Because they acted upon everything that they did. So, I'm not advocating wisely spending money and blindly running ads promotions just to see if they'll work or not. You certainly must put a lot of thought into the market that you want to target. The message that you're going to send to them and the offer that you're going to make to them. This makes careful and calculated consideration. But any business--even your business, even my business--can learn exactly what Apple Computer found out--that the market will tell you if your product is right or wrong for them and whether or not your prices are too high. And they'll tell you exactly what you need to do to make it saleable to them. Not only that as a bonus so tell exactly how much to charge for. Isn't that amazing? So, how do they do that? You ask. It's simple. When you run an ad a promotion, if a lot of people respond to take you up on your offer, it's obviously work. If the response was too great, it means that your offer was way too good and your prices were probably too low. On the other hand, if you get no or very few responses, then something is wrong. Either your marketing went to the wrong target, the message you're sending it's not clear, and the offer that you have made isn't attractive enough for them to justify parting with their money. The price could be too high. But if you conceptualize the ad design it lay it out and spend months on and analyzing, you won't learn nothing. Except that your procrastination has cost you a lot of unnecessary time and a lot--a lot of missed income. Better to get the ad out in the marketplace and find out if it works or if it needs improvement. Don't second guess it. Let your market evaluate it for you and tell you what corrections that need to be made but do it carefully--testing as we discussed earlier. Once you find out what works and take massive action, roll your ad or a mailing can't pay out and let it bring you the profits you've worked so hard to earn. OK, number 5-- Marketing mistake number 5: Using institutional or image advertising. Okay, what is advertising? It's simply a process of letting others know about your product or service. Institutional or image advertising is a type of advertising that most companies--large and small--use most often. Not really good, not really bad. Well, this type of advertising can alert the market to the fact that a product exists. It does very little to create a desire in the minds of the buying public to own the product or at least inquire more information concerning the product or services. So, it's sort of like image advertising. Well, what is that? It's sort of like Coke--you know Coke is they show you the bottle. People want it you think they're going to drink it but they spend billions of dollars in marketing over the years. So, a better, more effective cost-efficient form of advertising is called "Direct response advertising" and we talk a lot about this a lot. The idea behind this type of marketing and promotion is to get the reader or the viewer looking at your ad to take some specific action. Either they make a call, they pay a visit to the website, or where the product or service can be seen or purchased. And perhaps, I'll in a reply. So, you want to get them to react to your marketing. But when you consider the fact that your client or prospect couldn't care less about your company, or the fact that you want to sell them something, that adds up to a big waste of time. Makes waste of your money, and money that can be utilized to other places. It's true that institutional or image advertising can be build brand awareness and that's okay for large corporations who have millions and millions of dollars to spend but you don't have that. Most small or medium sized businesses simply can't afford to spend advertising that way. You need instant results or as close to it as possible. So, most institutional advertising is not customer focused and instead, it promotes how great the company are paying for the ad is. And since there's no call to action, at best the results of that kind of advertising produces--are bad or deferred results. For the most part, people don't care how great your company is and we've said this over and over and over again. They really care more about what particular product or service that she can do for them. Remember the old WIIFM? What's in It For Me? Well, that's all about direct marketing--direct response marketing. You see, customers have their own wants and needs that want to be satisfied. They will only buy what you're offering if you can show them how your product or your service satisfies those wants and needs. That's where direct response advertising and marketing comes in. So--the type of advertising this type of advertising actually shows the viewer, the reader -- the advantages of your product, the advantage of your service. When it can provide for them let them know exactly what step they must take it to either get the product or service or to get more information about it. So, it's designed to present enough information, to give a compelling immediate reason for the viewer of the ad to take a specific action. So, to tend--that to send a coupon: pick up the phone and call an order for more information or to stop by your place of business. Well, for most of us are not going to stop by our place unless you've got a showroom. But most contractors don't, but some do. So, direct response marketing will bring in more response, more inquires, more dollars than any other type of advertising or marketing and is trackable--it is measurable. You know exactly where your money's going and if it works or not. That is you'll be able to quantify exactly how many dollars you pay for marketing efforts, how much does it cost for lead, how much is the cost for sale. You know, this is where your results come from. So, direct response advertising is simply the most effective type of marketing for most businesses and effectively use can bring in immediate profits to your bottom line. It isn't that what we're all looking for? So, moving right along. Marketing Mistake Number 6: Not identifying your ideal or your target market. And if you know me, I'm really--really hot about target market and I don't waste your time or your money by going elsewhere. Because those are the people who are spending money with you. So, the question is: "Who do you market to?" Should you be marketing to the same people? Are all the people the same types of people? If so, was it a plan to strategy? If they're not the same, then why aren't they the same? See, your target needs to be really well-defined and you can go back to some of the other podcasts we had. Actually, a whole series on just the target market can go back to that and you'll find out more about target market. So, you see you, can have the very best product or best service on the planet. You can have the most attractive offer to the lowest price, lots of bonus, personal attention and the best service available. But, if you offer the wrong package to the wrong market, guess what? That marketing is going to fail. On the other hand, what if your package or your total offer isn't that good? Let's say it's just average. Let's also assume that your prices are not the lowest but they're at least in the ballpark. You've really got nothing special that the rest of your competition can't offer. But if you have a great list to market to--a well-qualified, highly motivated prospects with the authority and the ability to buy, and many case home owners, and who's-- who's your target on the homeowners. Most of the time it's the women. Now with that kind of market you just about can't lose. Target your marketing efforts to the right people can make or break the entire advertising or the marketing campaign. And if you're a small businessman, you can't afford to have that happen too many times because it will drive you right out of business. One of the best ways to make sure that your marketing is to the right group is to go back over your records and listen. Create that list of your best customers, your best past clients. You know the people in that group and these are the ones or the right people to market to because they've purchased from you before. You want to know who their neighbors are, who their friends are, the types of circles they are in--even in the cool thing, even if they have in a community group-- let's have them in a subdivision-- there are some awesome strategies for that, too. If everyone who inquiries about your products or services or makes a purchase from, you should go on that list. You should capture at least--the very least--their name, their address or phone number, their date of purchase, what they bought, how much they spent. If they're using the Internet, you should also try to capture their email. And there's other ways to capture their email if they become your customer, you just tell them you're going to have to email him the proposal so you always have their email. So, the cool thing about all this information-- I'm sure you've heard it before from many other people in different industries-- there's money in the list. So, you can run promotions, so you can keep in touch with them on a regular basis like with a newsletter or something like that. Remember, all things being equal. People would rather do business with people or businesses they know, they like and they trust. So, another thing you can do is send out a customer questionnaire --when I think we're going to put that in this program for you later on and when we give you the free report when it becomes available. Because-- now, here's the cool thing. Send it to him by mail with a self-addressed stamped envelope. You'll get more that way and then there's other email techniques that you can use a few other emails and they have a Gmail then you can send them a link to your, you know, Google pages refuse and stuff like that. But, the question here is great to send in the mail because it just lets you know the service you did, what they expected. And now, it becomes a testimonial letter for you--that you can keep in your packet and send it out with your proposals. So, you know this is-- this is pretty cool and you can--and there's tons of things you can do with it. So, really the cool thing about having your list and marketing to your list on a regular basis is that you have no competition by advertising and promoting to your own customer list by direct mail. No one knows what you're doing but the recipients. Your competition doesn't know. It's sort of like stealth marketing at its best and that makes you more professional and it makes you go to guy because you are continually keeping in touch with them. Yes, it's more work but the rewards are well worth the work. Especially, if you if you put it into an automated-- automated process. Marketing mistake number 7. Not using headlines. Think about how you read the daily newspaper or how you do news feed on the internet. If you're like most people, you read it by using a headline search, you scan, you pursue and you go through what you're looking at and reading only the headlines. And if one happens to catch your interest, you may read the accompanying article. So, what is that doing? The sole purpose of a headline is to catch the reader's interests and create a desire for them to read for. That's why they call headlines and that's why they're printed in large bold type--So they grab your attention. So, the best place to see good headlines is in a newspaper or like to inquire. And one of those papers they have some headlines because they write those headlines so they'll grab your attention so you read the article. The worst place? -- a lot of marketing material: yellow pages. I mean look some of the full-page ads under the heading of insurance in the Yellow Pages. Tell you what not to do. See if any of these headlines compel you to read further or want to find out more. Here's a few headlines that I found in the insurers section and I'm just going to use the old pages for an example here because it's the easiest automobile insurance. Really, I'm in the automobile section of the book. I would hope you sold auto insurance. "Western Pacific Agency". So, who cares? What benefits that to me? Sorry but the name of your company doesn't excite me or make me want to read further. So, your headline it's not your company business. Better things to do than shop for insurance? Well, answer: Of course, I do. And that's why I've got better things to do than answer that dumb question or read your insulting ad any further. "Insurance shop”: What's the benefit to me? -- Insurance, Computer codes, so what? Any one of the number of companies can do the same thing. Why should I call or read any further? See, none of these are great headlines. They don't compel me to go any further, they don't compel me to check out the service any farther. And, you know, so this sort of sucks. So, the example isn't only limited to insurance companies either.
Look in your category of your business in all the marketing piece. Go to the head, go to the yellow pages and look under the headlines. See if they don't make the same mistakes. Go into, you know, pull up painting and Google and see what it says. Painting company: "We do painting", "We've been in business for 25 years". Who cares? But see, that's the problem. You want people to care. You want people to read further. So, you need to really, (be) compelling, headlines that are closed with catchy headlines like: "Teeth lead to man in money con", "Boy, 10, recovering from dog attack", "Zerok cuts 5000 local jobs". So, these are attention grabbing headlines that are going to make you get your attention day in rush to weigh. Interrupt to whether you're thinking and you want to actually figure out why. Matter of fact, there was a really good one the other day that I found on linked in post. Believe it or not. So, here's the news feed isn't linked to any other day I got an e-mail that says: "These jobs will go away by 2030". Heck yeah! I'm going to go see with it is. "Navy wants smaller warships that pack a bigger punch". So, here's another one that's pretty cool: "10 signs they're going to hire you and treat you like dirt". Are you going to read that article? Well, you're going to certainly think about it. So, here's how, so you see where I'm going to is you got to create an interest to grab their attention so their eyeballs are peeled. So, here's one for maybe just your business. You redo it the way you want. "Local home owners save thousands using contractors proprietary services". I mean you can go wherever you want with that one. So, here's another example. We're going to use a computer company: "East Valley computers" --or here's their ad: "How to sit at home and make twelve hundred hours a week with your computer even if you don't know how to use it."-- Would you read that article? Absolutely. So, I want to get your creative juices flowing. Don't think about being a plain Jane or a plain Bob. Whatever. And I think about what can I do, what can I use headlines for, and how am I going to get them so that they'd grab-- actually grab m potential client’s eyeballs? That's really Chuah and you know 500 dollars off it's not going to do it because everyone offers 500 dollars. So, let's continue-- just a hair more. Hey, we're getting to the end of our time. I just want to thank you for being here. But tomorrow is: Number eight: Failing to use testimonials. How do we get testimonials? So, tomorrow we'll let you know. Hey, have a great day and we will catch up on the backside tomorrow. Be profitable. Have fun. And enjoy your business and your profits. There are so many ways to do almost free marketing you just have to think about it or you could just go to the web site and pick up the free download. 4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business with Customers If you have a story to tell and would like to be a guest on this podcast email my assistant Shell at Shell@contractorssecretweapon.com and she will send you our guest sheet.
Our sponsors Would you like your phone to ring more with qualified buyers people looking to buy now? Then let’s make that happen. Best Home Services Leads is dedicated to making your phone ring with qualified buyers wanting to buy now. Go to and fill out the form to get more information. http://contractorssecretweapon.com/money How about 100 free postcards sent out to your best prospective customers. Radius Bomb sends out hyper targeted, laser focused postcards using a map while sitting in your under ware at your kitchen table then go to http://contractorssecretweapon.com/radiusbomb Painting Contractors, get up to a 24% better response rate just for having the right memorable telephone number 1-800-PRO-PAINTER.Check out your area before someone beats you to it and it’s not available. https://www.1800propainter.com/ |
Fri, 15 December 2017
We're on day two of keeping from crippling your business with these 20 marketing mistakes. So, we're on day two. mistake number two is failure to monitor your results. Don't track. In other words, your tracking sucks. Results -- That's all that counts in business-- is results. You want to track results. We're going to have day three, four and five but today marketing mistake number two. Before I get to that, remember if you stick around 'til day 5, the end of day five we'll have the 60-page free report for you. It's not just report, it's a workbook to help you get through everything that we talked about this week in this series, to help you make your business better so that you can have the lifestyle that you have been working for to make it easier. You want to automate it and grow it. So, let's just make that happen. So today marketing mistake number two is failure to monitor your results. Don't track. In other words, your tracking sucks. Results -- That's all that counts in business-- is results. You want to track the results. Any promotion worth putting your time into -- your money, your effort behind -- is worth measuring how well it performs. That's tracking. Only by knowing what kinds of results a certain marketing effort produces can you determine whether or not to run it again. You don't want to throw good money after bad or what you may need to do to change or tweak in order to make it more creative. So, in order to make it more creative, you have to know how it works. Remember, I think it was a couple episodes back. The numbers will set you free. This is part of those numbers is tracking. So, it's absolutely amazing how many business owners don't understand this simple concept. "Well, it takes too much time. I don't know to do it." But you'll know how to go out of business when everything comes crashing down though what the Yellow Page advertising salesperson sell them an ad in their local phonebook or better yet they'll have some coarse Yellow Pages is really coming back. Some people are using great abundance. So, don't laugh when I said Yellow Pages but in other ways some social media expert will tell you that you need to spend thousands of dollars on Facebook ads. Why? You need to track them to find out why and how they work. They're in the business of selling advertising. You're in the business of selling your business. Your goods and your services. That's what we're trying to do is teach you some of the things about marketing so that you can effectively learn how to not necessarily do it yourself but know the background and the core differences and what it takes to do it. But we're going back into I'm getting away from things. Whether or not, you want to know whether or not, a prospect call or customers obtain is a result of a particular marketing had. The ad has no accountability and or measurability. So next year, at the same ad gets run, the same results are had and the business owners continued complaining about how poor business is. But you're not going back to find out why how the reasons why business is so bad. And it's saying the same thing happens when we do any magazine ad. Welcome the magazine ad or direct mail campaign. I know some guys are doing Val pack and successfully and other. There's all kinds of types of marketing. The key is that an astute business person, you should never ever, even consider, running an ad or executing a mailing campaign or promotion without having some type of response mechanism to measure the results. My philosophy is I can't track it. I don't do it. It's as simple as that. You wouldn't think of ordering and paying for product--any kind of product--and then not checking to see if it was received. Well, that's the same thing when you're marketing. You're ordering a product, you're sending it out but you're not seeing how well it was received. So that's what the tracking is all about. Many business owners in the whole run ads and their papers, magazines, money mailers, whatever the case may be, sent out a mailing and never bother to see what kind of results the ad produced. I know. I know it's crazy but it happens every day and millions of dollars are wasted because of it. And maybe you've done it. In the beginning I did it. I don't do it anymore. I said if I can't track and they can't get down, I refuse to do it. Some people even go as far to say "Well, my advertising isn't to bring in customers right away." Well that's kind of stupid. I'm sorry to say that. Its purpose to keep my name in front of our prospects, trade top of mind awareness, so that when they're ready, they'll remember me. You are not Coca-Cola. You are not Wal-Mart. You don't have billions of dollars to spend and throwing your name out into the marketplace. You want trackable results today. As soon as it goes out. Top of the mine awareness is important. But you know what, you're top of mind awareness--I'm going to be honest with you--Needs to be to your paying customers so they remember who you are on a consistent basis so that they don't go to your competition because they forgot who you are. There's no question that you need to have top of mind awareness but you can't afford to operate your business on deferred results. And that's what that is. So, you want top of mind awareness? Let's go back to your current customers or even people you've given a proposal to. Keep them top of mind. Keep them in your funnel. Maybe we'll do business with you in the future. Each one of your ads and mailings got to have to have a definite targeted purpose. And each ad must be measured to see that it is in fact does accomplish that purpose. And we'll talk more about that and later section. But for now, here's the simple forced system you can go and set up to measure the results of each and every advertising promotion campaign you run from now on. Put together an advertising promotion results analysis book. Simple three pages bind you can work well for this or just to make up a spreadsheet but put it into a binder. On one side of the binder, insert a few clear plastic page redactors. Print up some copies advertising and promotion result analysis forms found on the page of the report that we're going to give to you in episode number five. But make up your own right now and every time you run an ad or promotion, print a copy of the ad or the promotion and put it in and tape it to the page facing in the opposite direction analysis form--how many calls did you get? What kind of response? What the sales were for that particular ad?" Then in one Binder, place all your ads and sales letters. That is the as polls the best. And another binder place ads and letters that goes to marginal results or at least broke even. And then a third binder put all the losers. These are ads and letters that absolutely bombed. They sucked. They didn't get no responses. Then when you get ready to do another promotion or mailing you know which ads or letters that you can depend on or at least which ones you can model the next promotion after. Now, regarding the third binder. Well stay away from the ads and then Binder. Those ads have already proven to you that they you won't want to run them again. So, stay away from. But in the second binder--the one that has a marginal break even adds or letters--That's the one that you may want to experiment with. Look over the ads and see what may have gone wrong. It could be spelling just the way words are worded in a particular order. Just one little tweak could make a big monumental difference just because they as a nose didn't make a big profit or get the big response that you would have liked. Of course, and hardly ever is there anything to get the response that you would like. You have to continue to tweak and make better because it's a continual process. Once you get it to where it's pulling then you'll leave it then you may want to test another section or another targeted area. But the sometimes a little tweaking like that and adjusting can turn a mediocre ad into the real result producer. So, by doing this, I hope you see the advantage of doing this by having a copy of the ad or the promotion or the results they produce in a central place. It makes developing your next promotion so much easier. No more guessing, no wondering, what has to be done but keep track. Tracking is everything. Not only will you save time but it will be a proven winner. And make life so much easier. There's a 2 percent response 3 percent response. The difference will make all the difference in profits to you running the ad and promotion costs the same while it pulls 2 percent or 3 percent. But the actual one percent is a 50 percent increase response rate. Let me say that again the difference between a two percent response rate and a 3 percent response rate is a 50 percent increase in response rate. Don't think of it's just a 1 percent is a 50 percent increase and that 50 percent increase can mean tons of profit. A marketing mistake number three, not testing your marketing strategies. One of the worst things that we as business owners can do is a form of our products or our services or even our marketing strategy. Oftentimes we spend so much time developing the ideal program are the ideal strategy that we get so close to it that our objectivity goes right out the window. It's important not to get blinded by how well we think our marketing efforts will pay off. Even with all the necessary research in place nothing is certain. The real key is how the market responds to our efforts and our offers. So, before you invest at any significant amount of time, money or effort in any marketing or promotional effort. It's smart and wise to test the effectiveness of your campaign that way if it doesn't work the way you thought it would or should have said necessarily or unnecessarily resources. Here's a couple of examples to illustrate that point. Let's say that you want to do a direct mail campaign to 20000 homes in a certain radius around your business so you read a list of home owners. You print up all the pieces, have someone stuffed the envelopes, fix the postage, haul them down to the post office. Then you sit back and wait for the calls and orders come in. Same thing with eddm. You're going to go through the same process. It's just not going to be as labor intensive but after a couple of weeks you look at the results and you find that you have only received 19 responses and you quickly take out the calculator you figure out how figures that you just pulled whopping point 0 0 0 9 5 percent. At that point I would be angry and frustrated. But it doesn't sound like a good return on your investment does it. Well it's not but sadly that's the way that most businesses operate. But now let's suppose instead of all those 20000 pieces being identical you melt at the same time you decide only to mail 5000 the first time and let's say you came up with five different approaches or five different ideas and you can even bring it down to hundreds. You know you want to do deal 500. But I've found that when you are measuring and testing the it's nice around a thousand. So if you do you know 200 200 200 and 200 you will get your results. But that's just what I found. You might be able to do better with less. I don't know. So now you go to the printer you have let's say you're going to do the 5000. Let's see. You go the printer and you have 1000 of each idea printed and then you mail them and after a couple of weeks by monitoring the results you noticed that idea number three had the best response. You had 12 orders. So, it's not--so not a great response--but far better, then the other's letters combined and you have not, only not spent a ton of money on your marketing campaign but you haven't tipped your hand to the other people that wanted to send out with an ad it doesn't work. So, now let's go back to the drawing board and find tune the letter that pulled the best response and make the headline more attention grabbing the benefit, the reader and gain more appealing and the offer more attractive then sent it to another thousand names. Ah, this time you get the letter. The post 47 responses or the postcard that's four-point seven percent response. Not bad in anybody's book. But you've only used six thousand of your original 20000 names you have 14000 left. Now the interesting thing--and we're probably going to is at a later time. But if you send out a three-step letter, it'll increase your odds. It'll increase your percentage of your response rate. But let's go back to staying on task here you still have 14000 left. Now you have a control letter by tweaking the letter again and you may find that it pulls even better. If it does, then this letter or postcard or marketing piece becomes what we call the control. Just because you got 20000 names doesn't mean you have to mail the same piece to all of them at the same time. That's what most businesses do. And that's why so many of them have given up on direct mail because they haven't dissected it. They haven't taken a look at it. They haven't played with it to get the responses they want. So, once you get a letter that's pulling well, keep mailing it. In short run, always trying to be the control letter. So, don't slam bang it. But do it in control runs. Do you see what has just happened? -- By monitoring the results, by testing your mailing, you were able to come to a complete flop of promotion into a huge, huge success. You're testing is never complete. Just because you run a couple of different tests doesn't mean you stop testing. Should always be testing something different to see if you can be the control. So, I know right now a lot of you are saying "Man! That's a lot of stick in work that I have to do." Well, you know it's work is going to bring business. And if you don't, it'll put you out of business. I know it's pain, but we've got to keep on things too. We've got to create a system so the business the system systems run our business. That's really what it's all about. You want the lifestyle that you were dreamed about when you created your business and you haven't gotten there yet. These systems will help you get there faster, more productively and more in a straight line than it will if you just throw mud up against the wall and that's what most people do with their marketing is throw mud up against the wall. That's without testing and measuring. So, like you said your testing is never complete. For instance, suppose you're doing a direct mail piece of residents and you want to know whether you should use an envelope with teaser or a plain white envelope. The answer can be found by testing. And here's one way you might do it splits your audience into two--group A and group B that can be arranged by zip codes. Group A will be consisting of an address and services group who will have addresses in different steps group A will have teased or copy on the envelope and group B will have in a plain white plain white envelope. So just for the fun of it to let you know I've used paper bags. I just want to get it open so it works. You just have to keep testing and see what works. It's important if the content in the envelopes be exactly the same because if the test is going to be accurately measured you can only have one verbal at a time. And in this case, it's the different envelopes. Now when your responses or orders come in you simply keep track of the zip codes that they came from so you'll know very quickly which envelope pose the best. This is assuming of course the various zip codes are consistent with similar demographics--similar demographics the same type of people. Once you've determined which delivery system is best you can go on and test other components of your mouth. Some things that are worthy of testing-- just a couple of things-- Headlines, sub headline, super heads or press headlines bold body capping bullet points or statements the offer of the price guarantee a return policy whether or not you use graphics which graphics pull best drawings. The list goes on. Pictures of people I knew one guy that used pretty people in all this marketing and he was a window cleaner and got excellent results. If your marketing can't be segregated by zip codes you can use specially coded coupons or response card. Use different codes for different variables for testing. You might even use different phone numbers and we've talked about that in other podcast some businesses have responded. Ask for a specific person or department. So, for instance you asked for Susan, you'll know that they're responding to one particular offer. If they ask for Heather, they are inquiring about the same offer but with a different variable being tested. So, just keep testing when the phone is answered in the car d says ask for Susan. Please say "I'm sorry, Susan it's not available right now. But, can I help you?" So, you told the truth she isn't available and if you are able to keep them, what what's more you've identified which offer is calling and I don't what piece of marketing that you're responding to. Testing is everything. These are just simple strategies here. What you do ever-- Or whatever you do -- don't fall in love with your project. You need to be objective. Don't spend too much time trying to analyze and figure out why a particular thing works or why another doesn't, simply doesn't matter why. What matters is what works. A small test can run into the marketplace and let your customers tell you what works and what doesn't. So again, don't make the mistakes. Don't fall in love with it. Just test it and measure it. And then you want to follow. Tomorrow we're going to go into number four. Not taking massive action. So, and 5 and 6 if we've got time. Remember, on day 5 stick around we're going to have the hole. Actually, the whole workbook and free report for you guys keep keeping from crippling your business with these marketing mistakes as a download on day 5. So, you'll get this whole thing. You can walk through it. You can take notes you can scribble on it. So, it will help you grow your business much farther. There are so many ways to do almost free marketing you just have to think about it or you could just go to the web site and pick up the free download. 4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business with Customers If you have a story to tell and would like to be a guest on this podcast email my assistant Shell at Shell@contractorssecretweapon.com and she will send you our guest sheet.
Our sponsors Would you like your phone to ring more with qualified buyers people looking to buy now? Then let’s make that happen. Best Home Services Leads is dedicated to making your phone ring with qualified buyers wanting to buy now. Go to and fill out the form to get more information. http://contractorssecretweapon.com/money How about 100 free postcards sent out to your best prospective customers. Radius Bomb sends out hyper targeted, laser focused postcards using a map while sitting in your under ware at your kitchen table then go to http://contractorssecretweapon.com/radiusbomb Painting Contractors, get up to a 24% better response rate just for having the right memorable telephone number 1-800-PRO-PAINTER.Check out your area before someone beats you to it and it’s not available. https://www.1800propainter.com/ |
Thu, 14 December 2017
Keep for crippling your business with these marketing mistakes, There's about 20 marketing mistakes that many of us have gone through in the past maybe some of you are doing them right now Dave Negri here with Contract Secret Weapon. Thanks so much for being with us today. I'm excited to start a new series that we're going to be going through over the next five days. And I'm in the process right now of writing the report and it's looking like it's almost finished at about 60 or so pages of this report are going to be doing this podcast on over the next five days or so. Oh, the title keep from crippling your business with these marketing mistakes. That's right. There's about 20 marketing mistakes that many of us have gone through in the past maybe some of you are doing them right now and we want to give them to you as a gift, but they won't be available to episode number five. So, stick around episode number five series and we'll have this 60-page report ready for you in the show notes page so that you can take advantage that goes for the workbook and revisit the podcasts if you want or just go through the show notes. An old sales trainer Reed Motley said nothing happens until something is sold. And of course, he was right selling or the process of getting goods and services into the hands of consumers and having them exchanged money for those goods and services. Our whole economy is really built on and the mere selling of a product or service someone does what is suggests that a job has been created in order to make manufacture or produce that thing that was sold and in order for that item to be purchased. Another job. Produced and sold product are offered a service of some type had to be in existence in order for the buyer to have the money to exchange for that item. Well it's that process that process what we call marketing is the bringing together of potential customers or we can call them prospects and certain products or services. So that a person seeking agreement can be reached. Now that purchasing agreement is a sale so just not just regular marketing, but effective marketing is critical to the success of a business. Of course, any business and in fact your business and mine with ineffective marketing our prospects may never find out about the product or service that you have to offer and that they may need. They may want or that they could even benefit from and consequentially a sale has never been made. That really sucks when you don't make a sale because no one knows who you are. So, the statistics tell us and you've heard it over and over again 80 percent of small malt businesses will go out of business in the first year that are in business and those that remain 80 percent of those will not be in business five years from today so make no mistake These are alarming statistics. Yet even with those incredible numbers people still. Take their dreams into the marketplace with little or no planning. That really is where we get hurt and with little or no regard to the harsh harshness and cruelty of what the market place can bring without proper planning. So, it's all about planning. Common sense coupled with resistance for others have done in the past should tell us that if a business is going to expect to succeed in today's competitive market then that business is going to have to do a number of things right or at least better or perhaps differently than most other businesses that have gone on before. You need to have your head above the crowd waving your hands. However, that may be so it takes more than low prices. We've said this over and over again for business to remain competitive in today's market because even the person with the lowest price gets beat by someone who is even lower. I don't know how they do it but that really sucks, and it makes no sense at all. So no longer is a possible for a business to maintain their competitive advantage for an extended amount of time because of the products or services they offer or the prices they charge. The availability and affordability for many businesses to take advantage of cutting and take cutting edge technology. Low Price skilled labor and more efficient delivery and distribution systems makes it possible for increasing number of businesses to enter and compete in the market place. This just wasn't that way just a few years ago. So even if a business can offer a unique product or a unique service or perhaps even lower prices on similar products or services that are currently being offered it won't be long until competition finds a way to duplicate that or at least pretty closely match that business's performance. And that puts an end to the competitive advantage of the original business help. So if a business can't depend on its products its services or prices for their competitive advantage if they expect to survive and thrive that business is going to have to perform acts potentially in a number of critical areas. Marketing is a major key to success in business. Unfortunately, most people take their dreams harder and life savings into the marketplace in the form of a small business are not even aware of some of the most important factors that contribute to and can even sure their success. If you're like me when you first went into business, you just got an idea. I can do it. I've done it before. I'm going to go do it for myself I'm going to make more money and boom go do it. But luckily, I learned along the way before I went out of business. So contrary to public belief and much misconception designing creating and building and growing successful and proper enterprise that commands a dominating position in the marketplace doesn't automatically require hard work. Frustration and enormous costs there's no question and you probably won't get much debate that there more competition is stiffer competition than ever before in nearly every industry and profession. I see more and more people in the line of work that I'm in new trucks better looking trucks new driving around on a road that I'm sure you see the same thing. But there's also been even though there's more competition and it's more demanding. There are more opportunities especially for business businesses whose owners and interests understand a few basic fundamental concepts. You can get the edge. It really doesn't matter if you head up the largest corporation in the country or if you run a weren't one person home based business. Or contracting company or window cleaning company is immaterial. There are just a handful of things you need to know to gain a competitive advantage in your marketplace. And mastering just three of the most important of these things will enable you to write your own ticket to success. So, you and I both know that this year in this country is Grace and most prosperous time the world world's ever known a huge number of businesses and even large and well-established businesses are closed their stores never do business or provide the products or services to their customers. Again, there are so many businesses billion-dollar businesses that have gone out of business overnight. Others say it's because of poor business management practices. Another there's another school that teaches that some businesses are started by the wrong people that certain people lack entrepreneurial skills and it would be better off working in their respective businesses as technicians or employees rather than trying to run a business. That's funny but when you get right down to it for a business to even be a business in the first place that business has to have customers some want to exchange for dollars for the products and services that the business sells. You can have all the funding in the world you can have great management skills you can have a tremendous entrepreneurial mindset but unless and until you have someone new purchase what you have to sell in the form of products and services in sufficient numbers you'll never have much of a successful business enterprise and you only generate an average income at best. So here's a fact worth considering. So most businesses fail because they don't have enough customers buying from them on a regular basis. Most businesses don't attract a sufficient number of new customers or they let their existing or current customers slip away. That's a no,no. In most cases it isn't always because of the owners, managers or operators of those businesses didn't try. Quite often it's a result of not understanding and implementing effective customer getting and customer keeping strategies. Let me repeat that quite often it's a result of not understanding and implementing effective customer getting and customer keeping strategy. The bottom line is if you really want your business to be successful you have to make getting and keeping customers your number one priority. Let me put it another way. When was the last time you heard a company going out of business because they had too many happy satisfied customers buying from them? My guess is never. On the other hand, you can probably name quite a few businesses that are no longer around because they didn't have enough people buying from them coming back for more. And referring others to them. And that's where marketing comes in. But others know about what you have in such a way that they are compelled nearly force to find out more and then ultimately to buy the products and services you offer from you not your competitors. Most businesses know, not most every business makes mistakes with their marketing efforts some mistakes are worse than others. Some can even be deadly and if done often enough or severely enough can put the very business out of business. But so much for other businesses. What about you. What about your business what about your enterprise. How are you doing. What mistakes are you making that could be holding you back from making the income and enjoying the lifestyle you've always dreamed about. Matter of fact that's probably the reason you went into business. So, we're going to take a look at these 20 critical mistakes most businesses make. And as you go through them think about your business and see how you're going see how you're doing and each one of these areas remember marketing or the ability to get your message to others about the goods and services you offer in such a manner that it can Pelz them neutrally forces them to do business with you in one of the most fundamental yet misunderstood areas in business today. Properly you'd utilize effective marketing can skyrocket the business to new and dreamed of heights not understood or utilized. The business can sink like a lead weight if you can get control of your business and avoid mistakes these costly mistakes you can expect. Outstanding results if you can get a handle on just a couple of them. You will still get much better results from your business than you're getting now but if you fall short on any of the items that we're going to talk about and your competition masters them watch out the lead you into dust and you can afford to have them do that. You need to be number one in your marketplace. OK. Let's go. Mistake number one marketing mistake number one failure to let your prospects and customers know the unique benefits they get from doing business with you and not your competitor. This question that goes through each of your prospects mind before they choose you to do business with you and through each of your customers mind before they return to buy from you again. And it's a question you must take time to form an answer to. Without such an answer you become like every other business who sells the same product or service that commodity it doesn't matter what product or service is being offered your customers can go nearly anywhere and find the exact same or very similar products or services offered for the same price perhaps even less money than what you charge. Okay think about yourself for a minute. Why do you shop at the same stores or eat at same restaurants over and over again? Most likely just because they offer you something you can't get from their competitors. Maybe they're closer to where you live or work or maybe you like the way a particular restaurant prepares a certain meal. Perhaps it's the environment or the people who work there or maybe you just feel comfortable almost like you're at home while you're in their place of business. It may not be one single thing that influences you but rather a combination of several factors. Nevertheless, the businesses you continue to frequent give you something special something unique something you just can't get anywhere else. It's that uniqueness that keeps you coming back. Over and over again and most likely has nothing to do with the price if you expect people to do business with you rather than your competition. It's imperative that you have something to offer your competition doesn't have preferably something your competitors can't offer something that sets you and the products or services you offer. From everyone else in your type of business that's what's known as your unique competitive advantage. Or you ca you have heard the concept refer to the USP unique selling proposition U.S.A. Unique Selling advantage to PTF personal differentiating factor unique personal appeal that keeps going on and on for just descript. In any case the name or what you call it is not important no matter what you choose to define your unique factor is the most critical, yet most often overlooked marketing tools in business today without a clearly defined factor that difference you and sets you apart from a warehouse who offers the same or similar products or products prospects will encounter. There will be no reason for others to do business with you. Rather than your competition why on the other hand a well thought out carefully identified U.S.A. which we said was unique competitive advantage doesn't have to be difficult. It's simply a matter of identifying what you have to offer to your clients your customers and your prospects beyond what the products or services you can provide. Let's say you're involved with a product or service that is so similar to others in the marketplace that there's no significant difference between them. You're a window washer painting contractor pressure washer in that case here U.S.A. must be something you or your firm or business can offer. Exclusive of the features or benefits of the products or services you sell even if even if the advantage you offer has to do with quality service dependability convenience professionalism cetera just to say those facts are not enough. You must find ways to quantify or identify specifically how those items benefit are provided Fannings is to the end user. When you use phrases like top quality the best most reliable service is dependability delivery. We offer top of the line products the best service and the lowest prices. They ring hollow in the ears of your prospects and clients. They've heard them over and over and over again and they are vauge. If they're vague they are meaningless. Not only can most of your competitors say the same things they do say them instead you want to be very ,very clear about how the advantages you offer will benefit your customer. Tell them exactly what they can expect from you. It may be that you only offer your customers clients and prospects the highest quality. The top headline products. If so great but tell them in a very specific definable quantifying terms so that they understand exactly what the highest quality the top of the line means for them and how they will benefit. Maybe you have the lowest price in the industry or your market area if so that's good but how much lower are you. How much can your prospects of customers save by buying from you. Perhaps the support you offer them in terms of education or service or marketing assistance is superior to that offered by your competitors. Maybe you go a step further than your competitors in your services. Let them know. Here's a really cool example. That was used for years and years and years go by. Schlitz brewery,they wanted to become they were number four in the marketplace and they wanted to become number one. They really didn't know how to do it. And so, what happened was they brought in. I can't remember who the copywriter was they brought him in and they wanted him to go through their plan put a marketing campaign and when he went through the operation they went through where they were they were I think a fresh body of water all the water was filtered five or six times it came in all the bottles were made and then they were steam clean and pasteurize whatever the case may be and it went through a long list of what they actually did to get that beer out and McCaskill and this is pretty awesome. This is really amazing. And the owner goes everyone does this. He says Yes everyone does this but no one knows that you do this. You have to tell your potential customers exactly the step by step process and what they did that and it was a short matter of time that Schlitz became number one in the marketplace and held them for like four or five years. Unbelievable because they took the simple things and they let their customers know what they did. Yes every painter basically does the same thing every window cleaner does the same thing. But if use pacifically line it out item by item every carpet cleaner does specifically. Probably the same thing. But if you let them know Step 1 remove all your furniture. A lot of whatever the case maybe you give it to them so that it looks like that you are very meticulous and tedious and it's a benefit that they're not taking from somebody else. You need to be the number one person in your marketplace. So you know it could even be course better trained people. You could have certified people Sales people or sales advisors you know great things to offer but in themselves they don't say much to use these features. Like I said to their fullest advantage you must quantify them burning them out lay them out so that it yes, it's a pain in the neck for you. But to the customer they think they're getting something more than they're getting from someone else it becomes a benefit. We try to shortcut to many things spelled exactly clearly and specifically what advantage and benefits your customers will gain. Whatever you choose to make your U.S.A. remember it must be perceived as desirable to your prospects and customers in other words they have to consider it to be of value to them. So you can make your proposition that's something exclusive to you and your business operations the most. A more exclusive or proprietary you can make it less competitive competition you'll have even by changing the name of a process that you do to make it your own process instead of industry standards. You can do that. There's something then. Oh whatever it is becomes your unique competitive advantage. U.S.A.. That's the thing. The reason the advantage that will make not only worthwhile but beneficial and advantageous and advantageous even desirable for others to do business with you. Now here's what you can do. Make a list take out a sheet of paper write it down every fantasy you can think of on why someone should do business with you. Get a big list don't worry about whether or not your competitors can offer the same advantages or not. At this time just get some points on the paper thinking in terms of how your business might fit in the following categories. The name of your business has a say what you do. The proposition in such a way that there can be no mistake can't be any doubt about the type of business like remember the hair club for men. What is this was the hair club for men. So what does your business does your name tell what you do and as another example if you didn't know it was meant men's clothing. What would you think of the Men's Wearhouse sold men. What about your business. Can you use the name to your advantage in exclusive niche? Are you trying to be all things to all people or do you occupy and dominate or at least have the potential to dominate a certain market? A tighter group that you can cater to more control you'll have and the more opportunity you can have to dominate and control it. Expertise do you have some type of specialized understanding of the particular market segment, so you can become recognized a recognized expert. If you do when people look for you for help and expertise they can't get anywhere else. You'll have a tremendous advantage. Okay guarantee if you have an unusual guarantee you can use that as a competitive advantage. We'll discuss later on the concept of risk reversal and guarantees later your marketing position. How are you viewed in your marketplace? How do you stack up against your competition? What is your market perception of you versus other competing businesses? Domino's didn't go ahead to head with other pizza shops trying to make a better pizza instead they went after the quick in-home delivery or delivery and nearly completely dominated the market in a very short time. Because they changed how other people saw them and last price. How are your prices compared to those charged by your competitors? Do you have the lowest price for your product and operate as a discount operation or do you take the higher price point position and operate at a more exclusive level either position can be an advantage depending on how you position your business and the products and services that you sell around them. These are just a few of the areas that you may want to consider as competitive advantages. Of course there are more but at least this will get you thinking. So, step 2 segregate your list into three groups those exclusive to you and your firm something your competition cannot offer be those that can be offered by both you and your competition and see those currently offered by both you and your competition but which they are not capitalizing on presently. So, if you know they do but they don't advertise it could be a plus for you. The best advantage you can gain will be from choosing to group a exclusivity. Those areas in which your competitors cannot perform these are the things that you can do for whatever reason and you will want to capitalize to your foolish advantage. Group B. There's things that are offered by both of you. The last group can be used to real advantage, but you have to be careful on how you do it formulates your UPC develop that effective UPC and tomorrow will go into mistake number two on your marketing. Remember stick around till day five. We're going to go through the rest of these pretty quickly and on day 5 we're going to give you free download this whole 60-page report that will help you be grater you see and grow your business more effectively. There are so many ways to do almost free marketing you just have to think about it or you could just go to the web site and pick up the free download. 4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business with Customers If you have a story to tell and would like to be a guest on this podcast email my assistant Shell at Shell@contractorssecretweapon.com and she will send you our guest sheet. Our sponsors Would you like your phone to ring more with qualified buyers people looking to buy now? Then let’s make that happen. Best Home Services Leads is dedicated to making your phone ring with qualified buyers wanting to buy now. Go to and fill out the form to get more information. http://contractorssecretweapon.com/money How about 100 free postcards sent out to your best prospective customers. Radius Bomb sends out hyper targeted, laser focused postcards using a map while sitting in your under ware at your kitchen table then go to http://contractorssecretweapon.com/radiusbomb Painting Contractors, get up to a 24% better response rate just for having the right memorable telephone number 1-800-PRO-PAINTER.Check out your area before someone beats you to it and it’s not available. https://www.1800propainter.com/ |
Wed, 13 December 2017
Google pay per click instant gratification with your marketing. One Click Lindsey is a Web strategy expert with small businesses and helps owners to utilize the web to produce more traffic and traffic leads. Today we talk about
Check out the show notes below I'm really excited for you to be here today. I have a truly and energetic guests with me today. Her name is Lindsay Anderson. Actually, we also know her as one click. Lindsay as you you'll see a little bit in a few minutes. She is a Web strategy expert with small businesses and helps owners to utilize the web to produce more traffic and traffic leads . That's one of them for Web sites or Web company name is Web impact. And I hadn't met Lindsay for real in person and back in September at a seminar we were both at. And I just wanted to have her on the show because we had brought her on our team and she built our new website. Her and her team and I am thrilled. And you'll hear that our conversation. But I just want you to welcome one click Lindsay today and we're just going to have a blast. So hey today I have got the one click Lindsay in the house or we got Lindsay Anderson and they're both synonymous they're the same person and I'm just Lindsay I'm just excited to have you here with us. speaker: I'm excited to be here. Thank you so much for letting me be. speaker: I know I'm excited. Well let’s just so you know when we talk in September it was kind of cool to just get to meet you because you had become a part of our team and developing our new Web site. And that was exciting. So that's a shameless plug for Lindsay that she created our Web site so you guys have a tour of, so you need to go there. You can see what kind of work she does. speaker: Its really awesome but you mostly want to go there for the awesome content that Dave is dishing out over there on his daily podcast. speaker: Great. I love it. So, give everyone a little bit of background story about you and how you got to be called one click Lindsey. speaker: Yeah. So, my specialty Dave is to get people to make that one click on your Web site which typically means you get some contact information from them because quite often people are not ready to call you and they're just kind of looking around at a contract like if they're looking for a plumber or a painter they're kind of looking around see what their options are and quite frequently they're not ready to call you and sign up. So, the best thing you can do is try to get that come that contact information at a minimum get their email address at a maximum you can get. Trying to get their phone number their name and their email would be super awesome. Obviously the more you ask for the harder it is to get. But back to my story I have a specialty in driving people to these pages. speaker: Getting them to hit that button and getting their contact information. Why am I called one click Lindsey because I had a chiropractor client that we were working with and he actually shared an office building with me and we both ended up showing up for work on the. At the same time every single day. But he wanted me to run a traffic in Leeds campaign for him and I gave him the Build-A-Bear approach, I was like you know online marketing it's kind of a long-term game you have to do some AB testing. speaker: I just can't go out there and make ads and bring in the leads like it just it's a process. And throughout the whole time we would walk in every single day and I'd be like duck because you kind of gave me a hard time as I got my money where's my leads you know. speaker: Awkward. speaker: And I was like Doc, Doc you just gotta give me time once if I can get them to make that clear because you are operating on some Facebook ads and some paper click ads and the landing page. I just got to get them to make that click. And once I do then you'll have like this never-ending funnel of traffic and leads for our practice business. And finally, one day I made some changes to the landing page one evening and I came in the next day and we had about 20 e-mails for him on the list. Things started working. Yes. And I must say he was mocking me so because I must have said the word one click ,one click to him a hundred times and he said well if it isn't one click Lindsay finally made magic happen. And there you are. And I was like Oh I like that and so being the marketer that I am Dave I picked it up and I was like my name now is one quick one because it's so much easier to remember than Lindsay Anderson or your business name right. speaker: Yeah although www.trafficandleads.com is a pretty sweet business name. It speaker: is. It is. But if you notice today it was kind of. Now here's an interesting thing. speaker: And it's kind of funny because I went to google images and I put in Lindsay and Lindsay Anderson. Yeah. OK. And I think it was like two pictures of you there. OK. Well when I put it in one click Lindsay. speaker: You DOMINATED. Yeah. speaker: Maybe I should name a couple of my images Lindsay Anderson, so I can do a little better on google image search but honestly a lot more people call me one Click Lindsey to be quite frank with you. speaker: I know that's pretty cool. And it's really easy just one click your name comes up your address comes up and bingo you're there and you've got the whole story. speaker: I do. There you go. speaker: So that's an awesome name. So not though. This is kind of interesting. And I didn't plan on going there with this but I'm not going to throw you under the bus or anything but. speaker: No, I wouldn't do that. speaker: But you know how just you found out what were for you it's like the one frequency. How important is it for contractors and every other business owner to find that one thing that would work for them? Give them the name recognition that they need. speaker: And I think this actually I think this actually wraps perfectly into the topic we were going to cover today so I'm glad you brought it up because in the world of contractors a lot of you can be really in that situation that you know they're all the same. And people are just comparing by price. I as a web developer and an online marketer I run into that all the time. And so, it's so important to figure out that one thing that will get people to remember you or recognize you so you can be different from the rest of your competitors and I don't care if it's cheesy because you know what One Click Lindsey is cheesy. Definitely my husband totally thinks it's cheesy but whatever it is like you can't just be Joe Bob's painting and like you know without any anything distinct. Like maybe you specialize in X Y Z that's something distinct or your name is distinct. It's so important. Otherwise you're just grouped in with the rest of them and you'll just get those people who are price shopping, and nobody wants to run a business based on lowest bids. speaker: But yeah. So, I know one of the things that we talked about in September and now is that I've never really been a huge fan of Google Pay per click. But I'm becoming more interested and more interested and I think that's why I want to talk about today because with Google pay per click mobile it really changes the game for contractors. speaker: Yes, it does. Pay per click. I mean it is especially for contractors. I feel like it's so important and I know this is not an interview about you Dave but why do you not like paper click. speaker: Why were you turned off on it originally because we had done other a lot of it has to do with and experience in knowing you know yeah. speaker: And another challenge I had with pay per click they didn't do it right. And not to say so of a small fortune to navigate. But there again that wasn't my fault. Pay per Click is more as direct result marketing. It's just a different form. If you do it correctly right. speaker: Yeah I mean and if I may explain why pay per click might be even a better option than Facebook ads and I would also like to talk about how you can use those in conjunction for a superstar type of campaign. So, when you think about it when people are looking for contractors they're like quite typically literally in the market in ads. And so they're going on Google and they're typing in roofing contractors Idaho or Portland or wherever you're at in this whole list comes up. speaker: Now the very best place to be Dave is in the google maps or the organic listings like those are clicked on. Eighty percent of the time. And that's where you want to be. So I always recommend to contractors to always be running and SBO campaign in the background because if you can get up there to the top seven of the Google Maps and also inorganic you're going to get all of the leads. And so, it's so worth it to run a campaign. But if you are not up there and even if you are I still recommend running a P.P.C. campaign because people are actively searching for these on Google versus when we're running a Facebook ad campaign you like what are the chances you're going to be able to get in front of somebody who's literally looking for a roofing contractor that's going to be a little bit more difficult versus someone actively searching and you coming up on a page and that's why you'd want to run a PPC campaign. speaker: And I also want to mention to folks when we talk about Google ad words it's an amazing platform and you should totally do it. But don't forget about being you can get less expensive clicks and you can run campaigns over there to see which one does better. I've literally had people that have killed it on being and we've spent as Dave said a small fortune on our words and we shut all the outwards off and we're just running everything on being. speaker: Wow. That's pretty amazing. speaker: Yeah. Just because it's a little less competitive over there. Yeah but that's kind of interesting and you have to remember Internet Explorer is installed on everyone's PC laptop that's the default. That's the default browser and everything so people who aren't even that technically like interested in downloading Chrome or who even care about what browser you use they're going to use Internet Explorer and that will default to being. speaker: So, here's the other thing about Google Ad Words. Let me yet. So, here's the thing. This is kind of what else we're doing. So, the other thing we're doing on Google outwards is we're going to we're going to run a really awesome Google AdWords campaign. We're going to be driving people to a website. And maybe it's an opt in or maybe it's just a landing page whatever it is that you're driving people to. There's a hundred different ways to do this but you drive people through clicks through longtail keywords on Google PPC and then you got to make sure your Facebook Pixel is there or on your landing page. OK. speaker: And your Facebook Pixel everybody who came from a PPC campaign and then you turn around and you start running ads to them on Facebook. speaker: And so you're basically getting, like you're getting a really active audience because obviously they were on google searching for roofing contractors and then you can retarget them there on Facebook. So that is a really great way to get even more value out of your PPC campaign. speaker: Wow. Not yet. Double Exposure. speaker: Exactly, exactly where as I mentioned before sometimes on Facebook it can be a little bit difficult to find that audience of people who are actively searching for a contractor since it is a very like immediate need you know. speaker: Yeah, I mean I've found some groups where guys are just you know some guys are doing are doing Facebook advertising further their services and stuff like that and then are complaining that they're not getting any business. A lot of money and I'm going well you know you can't go out and upsetting the flow of things for the most part when you're on Facebook and you're advertising because people are there to just interact socially and you know they're not it's not a go to place to find yeah I mean and like you just put yourself put yourself in just a regular Facebook type of person situation you're looking at you're looking at these ads and like an ad for some you know roofing contractor flows through like you're just going to skip right over that because you're not in the business for a roof if you were you've already gone to Google and kind of tried to figure out who you were going to go with at that point. speaker: Like it's gonna be really hard to target that audience and part of Facebook like the wonderful part of Facebook that you can create these wonderful lookalike audiences and stuff like that. And that may or may not work for you but it's still going to be really difficult. speaker: Yeah ,yeah. Because they're not they're not actively buying. I mean I would think that if you were going for as a contractor let's say if you're going to try to run an active campaign on Facebook then you'd have to make it look like a social thing. speaker: Yes like homeowners saves thousands by blah, blah , yes like an info ad. speaker: Yes. Or of course on Facebook. You can always play the long game which is have your Facebook page you keep you know you update your Facebook page three or four times a week with whatever it may be. And so you are always you know kind of top of mind for folks when it comes time for them to select a contractor. speaker: The long game it's a long shot of real long, long game and it's kind of funny because it's in the society now people go everywhere to look to see if you're even a viable company. speaker: Yes, so you see what you do after you do that too. speaker: I know it's one of those necessities, before you know years and years ago when doing Web sites came out it was and there was no real necessity for stuff like that per se. People would do it as a trying to think as we were just certification in the sense that yeah you're you're a viable business. Yeah. And now it's like I've actually I've been to places for my pain because have gone and done painting estimates and it's kind of funny because some of them that they already picked me to do it. speaker: Yes. So I go there and I go through the whole thing and they go OK give us a color chart. Now I know you know from all the years that people don't ask for a color chart until they're ready to buy and I didn't even give them a price yeah but yeah, they checked me out and checked everything out. speaker: So that’s when you know its’seally important to have your presence on the web. speaker: It is. And this is a whole other episode Dave, but having those reviews on your Facebook page getting clients to review you on Facebook and Google really important and I know it's super annoying for small businesses but you gotta do it. You got to do it. speaker: Just one of those things that you know it's one thing I've got to do. Well no it's not. You need to take that vocabulary. Not one more thing I've got to do is one more thing that has to be done. speaker: Yes. You have to you have to ask those customers to review you. Yeah. speaker: Yeah. Not only that but you don't have to do. You're going to have somebody else do it. speaker: Yeah that's true. You know there's a system for almost everything. Yup. speaker: I want to add one more thing My good buddy Dave and I are recording this December 1st of 2017. So, Facebook is getting so like this may not even applicable in a year right because Facebook is getting super smart. I don't know if you've heard these rumors or tested it yourself Dave but pretty much your phone is listening to you. So let me give you an example my brother in law and I were talking we were my phone was sitting on the kitchen counter and we were talking about this new insta pot and it's basically like a pressure cooking crockpot. OK. I've never heard of it never talked about it. He was literally the first person that was telling me about it. I kid you not. speaker: I go to Facebook and there is literally an ad there for it. I'm not kidding. And so Facebook is listening to us. They're getting smarter. And like in theory they'll be able to serve ads because you're going to be sitting there talking about pink color and painting your walls and then then an ad like that would be applicable to you. And Facebook is listening to you like this is happening right now. speaker: Kind of freeky isnt it? speaker: Yeah but I'm like you know what. On one hand it's like that's creepy but then on the other hand it's like yeah. Because my brother also that the spots I totally clicked on the and went and bought it. So, it was extremely effective. speaker: Oh, wow that was pretty cool. speaker: There you go. Yeah because it was actually ended up being like an Amazon deal of the day thing. So, I had to pick it up. speaker: Wow. Awesome true story. speaker: That is cool. speaker: So, know I heard about a little bit about pay per click mobile as opposed to just you know basically it's simply different animal or does it get use from you and with your paperclip it get it gets used in conjunction. speaker: And I mean it is really important because like 85 percent of the people now 85 I'm sorry 70 percent of the people that are doing searches on Google are definitely coming in from a mobile device. And so you definitely want to make sure that you have all of that set up and add words correctly. And when you send people to a landing page that you're not just sending them to your home page but you're sending them to a mobile friendly landing page like that's one part that people really mess up with on Google Ad Words is they kind of just send people to their home page for you. Yeah like that you're just going to waste and spend at that point. Now here's a helpful little hint for those just getting started either on mobile AdWords or regular AdWords. You can go in. speaker: This is what I recommend you go in and you set up an account for ad words you put your credit card and you do all that you give afterwards your very best shot at creating an ad and your keywords your locations and everything like that. And you basically pause that campaign at that point and then either see a phone number on Google they change every day you'll either support phone number or shortly after you do that Google actually sends you a coupon for 50 dollars free AdWords credit and they will ask you to meet up with a representative to talk about your campaign. So I highly highly recommend that you take them up on this because what will happen is that lovely person in Google on the other side of the phone will offer to basically set up your campaign for you which you want to do because AdWords is so complex with negative keywords and match types and budgets and links and all of these things like it's a monster. speaker: So, let her set up the ad for you. Put in your 50-dollar ad words credit and run it and see what happens. So that's a free way that you guys can try and see if you can get any phone calls or clicks for free on ad words. I highly recommend it. Speaker 21: Cool that’s great way to get started. speaker: Yeah. And why does Google do that because Google wants you to be successful on outwards because then you'll continue to put money into the system. If they can help, you'll be successful and it works for you. You'll continue putting hundreds of dollars into the system. speaker: Yeah. So, do it. All right. speaker: I'm going to for the fun of it. Yes. Yes. Have something else someone want to form. speaker: Yeah there you go. There you go. Do you talk a little bit more about issues with outward campaigns? speaker: I would like OK I'm going to get everything I came out of you know within an amount of time. speaker: OK. So we can do another one someday. Yeah, we came to. Yeah totally. Because there's so many things to talk about but now I mention one of the biggest things that happens with speaker: They send people to a non-Facebook pics old website. That's not a good idea because you could be retargeting them on Facebook. The third is you just go out and you write a super generic ad and hope for the best outcome. speaker: What's that again is that I call home flyers. Yeah. speaker: And like that like you got to be. We talked about at the top of the show. You've got to like to give them a reason to click on that ad make it unique. Put something in there and see if it's going to work. So, don't just do a super duper generic ad. speaker: And finally, as I mentioned before Google is Google AdWords is a really complex monster and there's things like negative keywords which mean like for example, like let's say you're running ads for your painting business you can go in and say OK Google this is what's called a broad type keyword. Anyone who types in house painting you don't like. speaker: Have me show up unless they type in the words house painting jobs because then all of a sudden, you're just going to have all of these people who are looking who are painters looking for a job. And so you have what's called a negative keyword list where you can basically exclude like a whole lot of key words to make sure you can get rid of certain searches like that. Now there are lists out there you can go to Google and you can type in Google Ad Words negative keyword list and they'll give you a lot of ideas like people who are doing research or taking a class or want it for free or all of these negative keywords so before you do any keyword Google AdWords make sure you have your negative keywords set up there. Speaker 21: Because. Yeah. Because and you know you put into your painting and yet to be a host of different things like painting colors. speaker: Yes. You don't want painting color. speaker: You don't want paintings or how to do well maybe they're just looking for how to video. speaker: You don't want to how to. speaker: Then daily you can go into the AdWords you can look at this report and it will actually tell you the keywords that your ad came up for that was clicked on. So, you're going to go want to interview those reports and if like some like maybe you didn't include a specific negative key word and someone with entering painting jobs showed up and you forgot to put jobs in there. You can go and continually add to your negative keyword list. Speaker 21: So it's like any other campaign or any other Marketing campaigns going you tweak it so you get it,So, everything you want to do in that space. speaker: Yes. And I all I'll tell you what. Like I'm literally six weeks in on a outwards campaign for a client of mine and we are finally getting it down to the cost per lead that we need. Like this is and we've gone through hundreds of revisions. We've had hundreds of keywords you know yeah like it's just it's a process and I cannot stress enough that words he can't just go in like put a thousand dollars in there and hope for the best because it won't work out. It just works. It's too competitive. speaker: Yeah that's kind of funny. I had somebody once who are kind of what do Facebook ads. And I know it's a little different but it's just funny. We said you know you need to do a couple ads. They said OK, so they win they go. We put 100 dollars into the ad and I go OK. speaker: And it was on like that and I go yeah, I know this is what I mean I don't know a whole lot of off Facebook ads but where did you did you tell them to just spend it all at once or five dollars a day. Oh, we didn't know you could do that. Did you tell them to go somewhere what do you mean tell them to go somewhere? I said them you could give me 100 bucks I would always take me out to dinner. speaker: Right. That's right. speaker: Oh, hey this is cool. Really awesome. All of us need information is all these little tidbits these gold nuggets that they will help people with their Google ad words. But let's say that they don't want to they want you to do it for them. How do they get in touch with you? speaker: Yes. Thank you for allowing me to say such a thing so you can check me out at all my blogging is at One Click Lindsey.com. You can spell that however you want. With or without a wand or spell it out I don't care. It's www.oneclicklindsey.com or my name of my company is www.TrafficandLeads.com So you can reach out either way and we can set up a time for a consult and then we can get you over a price quote because we can set up funnels where we set up your landing page and your email sequence and we nurture that email list or we are or we also can do all ala cart where we just run add words campaign or we have a monthly program where over 6 months we just improve all of your online marketing system. So, by the end of the six months you have a well-oiled machine of dependable traffic and leads for your small business. speaker: Wow that's pretty awesome. Now yeah. Yeah. That is really cool. speaker: The whole program I like because most people don't. They're thinking I'm going to spend a fortune but if you put them on a program and say we're going to do this this this and this and this which you expect then that makes it more fun. speaker: Yes, well and I think a lot of people I guess the reason why I came up with that last program Dave is because people get really overwhelmed. I mean we've talked about 100 options here just about SEO and PPC and Facebook ads. I mean just online marketing there's just so many options so that monthly program we pretty much planned it out and because I know what I'm doing I'm able to say this is where you're going to get the most bang for your buck. We're running Seo campaign in the background. We're running you know Facebook ads in month one or maybe Facebook lead ads or whatever it is and kind of just plan it out. speaker: That's really cool. Thank you. Yes. So, do it again tell us how do we get to you again. speaker: Yeah. ww.oneclicklindsey.com Yeah. or www.traffic and leads.com or of course you can reach out to Dave because him and I are pretty good friends anyway. speaker: And really got to go to my Web site and take a look. But it got all her stuff. I mean she's got a ton of stuff and it's good day. Thank you. speaker: It's so neat to you know to be able to get to share you with our audience and see you at our Web site. And I'm really excited. speaker: Thank you. It has been so much fun to be on your show today. Cool speaker: . I'm excited. Thank you so much for being with us. speaker: It is my pleasure.
Connect with One Click Lindsey https://www.facebook.com/moretrafficandleads https://www.linkedin.com/in/oneclicklindsey/
There are so many ways to do almost free marketing you just have to think about it or you could just go to the web site and pick up the free download. 4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business with Customers If you have a story to tell and would like to be a guest on this podcast email my assistant Shell at Shell@contractorssecretweapon.com and she will send you our guest sheet. Our sponsors Would you like your phone to ring more with qualified buyers people looking to buy now? Then let’s make that happen. Best Home Services Leads is dedicated to making your phone ring with qualified buyers wanting to buy now. Go to and fill out the form to get more information. http://contractorssecretweapon.com/money How about 100 free postcards sent out to your best prospective customers. Radius Bomb sends out hyper targeted, laser focused postcards using a map while sitting in your under ware at your kitchen table then go to http://contractorssecretweapon.com/radiusbomb Painting Contractors, get up to a 24% better response rate just for having the right memorable telephone number 1-800-PRO-PAINTER.Check out your area before someone beats you to it and it’s not available. https://www.1800propainter.com/ |
Tue, 12 December 2017
Ever think about selling your business or buying a business, I get to talk to day with David Barnett helping business owners prepare to sell or buy a business this is his expertise. Preparing today for tomorrow. David Barnett has been working with small and medium sized businesses for over 20 years. He's been a business loan broker and a business broker. He's sold over three dozen businesses for others and has worked as a consultant on over 200 more sale transactions. David works with people trying to buy and sell businesses all around the world and has authored 7 books. 3 of them have been Amazon Best-Sellers. David maintains a YouTube channel with over 250 videos all about buying, selling, managing and financing small businesses. Some of the things we talk about are real eye openers when it comes to
This is what David talks about when he does his seminars. Great so in your business do you write yourself a paycheck that is equal or greater than what you would earn doing the same work for somebody else. to because to me if you have a business you have your salary or your wages which should be equal to what you would earn someplace else and then you have a profit right and if you have a profit above your wages that your time and effort is worth that's a business if you're working for yourself and you're just taking the same amount of money out as you would if you work for somebody else then you do according to me. I don't actually own a business you own a job right. There's a lot of people out there who like the flexibility of calling their own shots and they want to own a job even if they have to work in harder to earn that profit they'd rather go fishing when they want to and that's fine if that’s what they want to do and then there are the people who work all week and they take home less than what they would if they work for somebody else and those are the challenging situations that I call hobbies because a hobby is when you put time in and don’t make any real money. The main reasons business owners put their business up for sale is
I'm always telling people that they need to be running their business as though it was going to be put up for sale tomorrow all the time because quite frankly something could happen tomorrow that might make you want to put the business up for sale and you won't have time to get it ready or you'll end up for example selling it for far less than you could if it were properly prepared and you know what's funny is when you when you actually prepare your business for sale implementing systems policies procedures getting everything down on paper having the tools to manage it except for a miraculous thing happens. In almost every case the business has become easier run. And more profitable. And running your business actually becomes a greater pleasure and more lucrative in the present even though you're not selling it because you've gone through the steps of getting ready to go. Always being prepared.
Connect with David Reach him at www.DavidCBarnett.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidbarnettmoncton/ There are so many ways to do almost free marketing you just have to think about it or you could just go to the web site and pick up the free download. 4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business with Customers If you have a story to tell and would like to be a guest on this podcast email my assistant Shell at Shell@contractorssecretweapon.com and she will send you our guest sheet. Our sponsors Would you like your phone to ring more with qualified buyers people looking to buy now? Then let’s make that happen. Best Home Services Leads is dedicated to making your phone ring with qualified buyers wanting to buy now. Go to and fill out the form to get more information. http://contractorssecretweapon.com/money How about 100 free postcards sent out to your best prospective customers. Radius Bomb sends out hyper targeted, laser focused postcards using a map while sitting in your under ware at your kitchen table then go to http://contractorssecretweapon.com/radiusbomb Painting Contractors, get up to a 24% better response rate just for having the right memorable telephone number 1-800-PRO-PAINTER.Check out your area before someone beats you to it and it’s not available. https://www.1800propainter.com/ |
Mon, 11 December 2017
Scott Hansen Shares with us today about reigniting your passion. Some great tactics and strategies. To move us from the ho hum of our lives back to the passion of why we started our journey. Scott really wants to help the entrepreneur the business owner move to what he calls turn the lights back on in their business to help them get to the next level of success because we only get this thing called life once there are no redo’s in life. Why not become the best version of yourself in order to do that and have the kind of business or have the kind of life that you truly, truly want. Being passionate with your passion, lot of guys you know they get into the normal everyday stuff and they forget I think you'd probably say they forgot about that why they just do the things they do. They forget about the why. How do you get re inspired, how do you get re motivated if you're going through life and it feels like Groundhog Day sometimes. I would suggest to anybody that feels like their challenged they're stuck or they have plateaued. Getting reinvigorated this is going to be an interesting answer but let’s go with just two answers.
Why, a lot of times Groundhog Day does kick in you get up the same time you have the same breakfast you see the same people you do the same type of business you leave work at the same time you take the same way home you eat the same dares the same three to five dinners and then you watch the same T.V programs. And then you do it all over again kind of sort of all the time. Change it up, go join something, go do something else outside of your norm I don't care what it is if it's going to join a book club if it's going to you know go to a different gym if it's going to take a different path during your running whatever it is do something anything that's different that's outside of your comfort zone.
Now that sounds obvious Well OK if I want to have a million dollars revenue let's go for ten million dollars. If you really want to get reinvigorated again is not only set a goal but goal set a maybe even a materialistic goal So for example let's say you're driving a Camry, maybe a stretch for you is a Lexus. Set some huge massive goal that at the end of that carrot stick is something that you can actually tangibly touch maybe it's a trip with your family maybe it's a new car for yourself. The reason why we're not inspired by our goals is because we set goal three and a half percent more than what we did last year, and we hope and pray we hit it. That it's not even fun and it doesn't get you out of bed jumping right. You say how many people can I inspire and help today, that can open you up to a lot of different things in your business. The short answer is well if you're obviously a contractor and you do you typically deal with a set of clients every day if you ask yourself Who can I serve today, how many people can I help today, that's automatically going to have your brain think wait a second I'm currently doing business with five or ten clients but if the question is how many people can I help today that opens the parameters to more than ten clients. That means I have got to go out and talk to more people that's going to excite me more about my business and that means I'm going to help them. Potentially with our products or services. In the short of it reigniting your passion is going to move you to new heights in your life and your business. Scott Hansen has a special gift for our listeners A sixty-minute break through session Free to our listeners A 12-month growth plan he is waving the $2000. Fee for our listeners.
www.sixtyminutebreakthrough.com
connect with Scott http://scotthansenconsulting.com/ https://www.facebook.com/creatingyourreality1210 https://www.linkedin.com/in/thescotthansen/
There are so many ways to do almost free marketing you just have to think about it or you could just go to the web site and pick up the free download. 4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business with Customers If you have a story to tell and would like to be a guest on this podcast email my assistant Shell at Shell@contractorssecretweapon.com and she will send you our guest sheet. Our sponsors Would you like your phone to ring more with qualified buyers people looking to buy now? Then let’s make that happen. Best Home Services Leads is dedicated to making your phone ring with qualified buyers wanting to buy now. Go to and fill out the form to get more information. http://contractorssecretweapon.com/money How about 100 free postcards sent out to your best prospective customers. Radius Bomb sends out hyper targeted, laser focused postcards using a map while sitting in your under ware at your kitchen table then go to http://contractorssecretweapon.com/radiusbomb Painting Contractors, get up to a 24% better response rate just for having the right memorable telephone number 1-800-PRO-PAINTER.Check out your area before someone beats you to it and it’s not available. https://www.1800propainter.com/ |
Fri, 8 December 2017
Stop pre-judging your customer in the sales process Listen we've all done it and some of us more than others. We do not know what our clients can afford or not afford, want or don’t want or how they will react because someone else didn’t do that before, so don't put that roadblock on your path to success so stop prejudging, Do you think you can predict the client's reaction with hundred percent accuracy let me tell you a story I love this story Zig Ziglar one of my heroes Stories that were just awesome, but you know he started out selling expensive pots and pans and one day he had to go up to this house where he had an appointment When he entered the house, it was a real tiny house had five or six kids and they didn't look like they could afford anything. Zig prejudged the whole situation He starts going through his presentation and he talks himself out of the sale. He is telling himself that these people are poor, living all cramped up In this little house he's going these people will never, never be able to afford this pots and pans set. So, just in the middle of the presentation he packs up and he walks out the door then say we're just packs up and walks out the door and the guy goes chasing Zig out the door and says to Zig where are you going with my cook ware set. Talk about pre-judging. So, from that day on he never pre-judged anyone Lear form the master NEVER prejudge any one on what their ability to purchase their ability to figure out what they wanted he would just present the facts give it to them and let them make their own decisions So today when you go out to do a presentation be you best, do the best presentation of the facts and let them make the decision. Because if you make the decision in your head for them you have automatically lost the sale. STOP IT. There are so many ways to do almost free marketing you just have to think about it or you could just go to the web site and pick up the free download. 4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business with Customers If you have a story to tell and would like to be a guest on this podcast email my assistant Shell at Shell@contractorssecretweapon.com and she will send you our guest sheet.
Our sponsors Would you like your phone to ring more with qualified buyers people looking to buy now? Then let’s make that happen. Best Home Services Leads is dedicated to making your phone ring with qualified buyers wanting to buy now. Go to and fill out the form to get more information. http://contractorssecretweapon.com/money
How about 100 free postcards sent out to your best prospective customers. Radius Bomb sends out hyper targeted, laser focused postcards using a map while sitting in your under ware at your kitchen table then go to http://contractorssecretweapon.com/radiusbomb
Painting Contractors, get up to a 24% better response rate just for having the right memorable telephone number 1-800-PRO-PAINTER.Check out your area before someone beats you to it and it’s not available. https://www.1800propainter.com/ |
Wed, 6 December 2017
Let’s talks about getting past front-end profits we think about going out and getting new clients all the time and more and more on how can we get them into our funnel or get them as clients, the front end is making money today but what about tomorrow the future? When we think about the most it's making that first sale with the prospect that's called the front end that's the first sales subsequent sales are, back end sales. So, we'll talk a little bit about that but why are we so engrossed in the front end of the process? Well mainly because most of us are transactional we want it to happen today and today only many contractors are not thinking about tomorrow per se mostly or the future and so let's talk about how we all think. We need more clients and so that's what we concentrate on. But do we need more clients, yes, we do obviously need to think about getting new clients is very important but there's another very important profit center. It's called the backend profit center.so the front end has to carry all of our advertising costs for example let's say you run an ad let's say you wanted to add vail pack or you do some EDDM postcards and it cost you three thousand dollars. And you only get three clients out of it, first that sucks because you probably have a bad marketing piece but it costs you one thousand dollars to get each one of those clients Now if your average job for those three clients is let’s say twenty-two hundred, twenty-three hundred dollars then you made out OK, but if your average job was under one hundred fifty bucks you lost money big time. Some big companies intentionally lose money and on the first sale that may sound ridiculous but it's not to a point. They know that they can afford to buy a customer basically this is what they are doing with this strategy by offering the first sale as a lost leader, they know that what they're doing it's figured in the whole crux of things that means they're willing to lose money on the first sale just to get that person as a client, so they can buy over and over and over again. There is a lot of profit in future sales. Weather it be new products, or repurchasing the same product. It could also be up sells and cross sales to a different product category. I think you get the point. Get past front-end profits. Include a plan to create future profits, back end profits in your sales cycle. There are so many ways to do almost free marketing you just have to think about it or you could just go to the web site and pick up the free download. 4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business with Customers If you have a story to tell and would like to be a guest on this podcast email my assistant Shell at Shell@contractorssecretweapon.com and she will send you our guest sheet.
Our sponsors Would you like your phone to ring more with qualified buyers people looking to buy now? Then let’s make that happen. Best Home Services Leads is dedicated to making your phone ring with qualified buyers wanting to buy now. Go to and fill out the form to get more information. http://contractorssecretweapon.com/money How about 100 free postcards sent out to your best prospective customers. Radius Bomb sends out hyper targeted, laser focused postcards using a map while sitting in your under ware at your kitchen table then go to http://contractorssecretweapon.com/radiusbomb Painting Contractors, get up to a 24% better response rate just for having the right memorable telephone number 1-800-PRO-PAINTER.Check out your area before someone beats you to it and it’s not available. https://www.1800propainter.com/ |
Tue, 5 December 2017
Why you want to respond to complaints fast, turn the negative into a positive. We all get phone calls and the phone calls we get for getting new customers are the ones we love, but you know the ones that complain are the ones that we hate I mean literally hate. When we see the number on the phone we just cringe so today I want to talk about how to respond to complaints fast, why you want to respond to complaints fast, so you know it's kind of funny as we sit down and we look and we get all these calls of people who complain and hopefully it's not too many, but if it is a lot then that's a whole other area that we need to work on. And that's service and probably the need to raise your prices because you're cutting your service short. We're just going to go into responding to complaints fast. Keeping an even enhancing client relations is to respond to complaints quickly and efficiently never ever leave a client unhappy even if they are a bad apple, and you want to get rid of them. The best way to get rid of them is to make them happy even if you have to give them part or all of their money back. You say are you crazy I've done all that work why would I want to give him the money back? Yes sometimes you need to give them a portion of money back just to get them off your back and you know they can say bad things about you today with the Internet. It’s called webtribution, retribution on the web it's more likely that they will then they won't so if you don't they'll go to and tell everyone they know what a terrible company you are thinking of as money well spent from bad publicity and write it off as advertising because it is a marketing expense when you. Get to the point where you've got a customer’s complaining and whining and just, make them happy however you can whatever you can do to make them happy do it, because you know what really happens they’re going to complain to all their friends and tell them how bad you are and if your name comes up to your company's name comes up they're going to say you know I had a problem with them. If you take care of it quickly and honorably this is what will happen with your customer. I had some problems in the beginning, but they took care of everything. And therefore, made me a happy customer and I'm glad to endorse them and refer to them. Think of it as an advertising expense to create a happy customer , a loyal customer, a raving fan. If they are a bad customer them take care of them and don’t so business with m again. It’s like this never, loose a customer. They are 5 times expansive to replace than keeping s good customer. There are so many ways to do almost free marketing you just have to think about it or you could just go to the web site and pick up the free download. 4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business with Customers If you have a story to tell and would like to be a guest on this podcast email my assistant Shell at Shell@contractorssecretweapon.com and she will send you our guest sheet.
Our sponsors Would you like your phone to ring more with qualified buyers people looking to buy now? Then let’s make that happen. Best Home Services Leads is dedicated to making your phone ring with qualified buyers wanting to buy now. Go to and fill out the form to get more information. http://contractorssecretweapon.com/money How about 100 free postcards sent out to your best prospective customers. Radius Bomb sends out hyper targeted, laser focused postcards using a map while sitting in your under ware at your kitchen table then go to http://contractorssecretweapon.com/radiusbomb Painting Contractors, get up to a 24% better response rate just for having the right memorable telephone number 1-800-PRO-PAINTER.Check out your area before someone beats you to it and it’s not available. https://www.1800propainter.com/ |
Mon, 4 December 2017
It’s all about Helping you become the better leader we need leaders and we need great leaders. First class leadership is and starts with three pillars of unique qualities. Who are those first-class great leaders the greatest leaders on earth? for example, Martin Luther King, John F. Kennedy, Benjamin Franklin, Nelson Mandela much more Gandhi.
And then they day loved what date did they were you know they had passion you know what why is it important to have passion to love what you do every day.
Having courage to push the red button knowing you are making the right decision which gets you closer to your final goal. The guts to make to do the painful unpopular costly decisions which you have to make to get you closer to your goal, your dream, your vision. “Never Give Up“ A quote from another great leader Winston Churchill.
Great leaders analyze where am I in my journey. Like playing chess. You have to know where what position you have and what position the other person has you know that that determines your next move.
Hamid Safaei is best known for mentoring on leadership, personal development, and conflict resolution, Hamid Safaei is a certified executive coach who helps leaders, senior managers, and budding entrepreneurs discover and cultivate their potential. Hamid is passionate about helping both individuals and teams to always be at their best. He has led successful business transformations for a number of Fortune Global 500 companies. He has developed ImOcean Academy, a unique institute where he applies first-class coaching tools and techniques combined with best practices. He regularly publishes learnings on www.imoceanacademy.com and www.first-class-leadership.com on subjects such as leadership, realizing goals and dreams, the Wheel of Life, stress management, target setting, and bringing potential to fruition. His passion is to create a better world by and with better leaders. His biggest dream is for peace in the Middle East, which he sees as a fundamental step for the peace in the world. Hamid aims to achieve breakthrough results in the peace process in the Middle East by 2025. There are so many ways to do almost free marketing you just have to think about it or you could just go to the web site and pick up the free download. Connect with Hamid www.first-class-leadership.com http://www.firstclassleadershipbook.com/ get his book on leadership 4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business with Customers If you have a story to tell and would like to be a guest on this podcast email my assistant Shell at Shell@contractorssecretweapon.com and she will send you our guest sheet.
Our sponsors Would you like your phone to ring more with qualified buyers people looking to buy now? Then let’s make that happen. Best Home Services Leads is dedicated to making your phone ring with qualified buyers wanting to buy now. Go to and fill out the form to get more information. http://contractorssecretweapon.com/money How about 100 free postcards sent out to your best prospective customers. Radius Bomb sends out hyper targeted, laser focused postcards using a map while sitting in your under ware at your kitchen table then go to http://contractorssecretweapon.com/radiusbomb Painting Contractors, get up to a 24% better response rate just for having the right memorable telephone number 1-800-PRO-PAINTER.Check out your area before someone beats you to it and it’s not available. https://www.1800propainter.com/ |
Fri, 1 December 2017
We're going to talk about one of the things that everyone really wants to run away from conflict. Dr. Clete Bulach boils that down to a commonsense approach to Four Techniques to Keep You from The Conflict. And each one of them has a win or lose. When there's a conflict you can win, lose and you can lose, lose and you can win, win, The secret of being a good leader is knowing when to take on the conflict, when wait till another time to take it on. The competitive style. When we win you lose tends to be disruptive? The win,win in a win, win you try to find out what the other party wants. And you try to give it to them, so they can win also, in a win, win you try to find out what the other party wants. and you try to give it to them, so they can win also. When you can't find a win when you go to lose, lose and that's compromise When you compromise you have to give up something, you give something up and the other party has to give something up also in order to get the deal done. In Lose, lose you get something right so lose, lose compromise is a valuable tool in dealing with conflicts, if you can't get to a win, win you go to a lose,lose right and it's not it's not that everyone you lose and actually you lose and to win. Yes, you're losing something to get something you wanted. The other one the most intriguing one is avoidance, when do you avoid a conflict? Listen to the podcast in its entirety and you will really from Dr. Clete Bulach wisdom in this area of conflict. Dr. Clete Bulach has been on over 100 radio talk shows on topics ranging from leadership, school improvement, bullying behavior, character education, use of power, school culture and climate, If you listen to this podcast and find areas, you might need to change that is great! There is nothing wrong with being the best you can be. Connect with Dr. Clete on his web site and look at his books! http://www.westga.edu/~cbulach/index.htm E-mail: cbulach@comcast.net There are so many ways to do almost free marketing you just have to think about it or you could just go to the web site and pick up the free download. 4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business with Customers If you have a story to tell and would like to be a guest on this podcast email my assistant Shell at Shell@contractorssecretweapon.com and she will send you our guest sheet.
Our sponsors Would you like your phone to ring more with qualified buyers people looking to buy now? Then let’s make that happen. Best Home Services Leads is dedicated to making your phone ring with qualified buyers wanting to buy now. Go to and fill out the form to get more information. http://contractorssecretweapon.com/money How about 100 free postcards sent out to your best prospective customers. Radius Bomb sends out hyper targeted, laser focused postcards using a map while sitting in your underwear at your kitchen table then go to http://contractorssecretweapon.com/radiusbomb Painting Contractors, get up to a 24% better response rate just for having the right memorable telephone number 1-800-PRO-PAINTER.Check out your area before someone beats you to it and it’s not available. https://www.1800propainter.com/ |
Thu, 30 November 2017
Are you over paying your taxes? … more than likely, so Diane Gardner wants you to STOP overpaying your taxes! Going through I0 Expensive Tax Mistakes Contractors Make. Diane shows each of us how to keep more of our hard-earned money. Diane Gardner is an expert tax coach, Quilly award recipient, and best-selling author whose proactive planning approach gives clients a leg up on Uncle Sam and helps them dodge the tax bullet. Diane saves small business clients between $5,000 and $50,000 in as little as 60 minutes! Today we get a chance to spend some time with Diane Gardner a certified Tax coach and go over some outstanding ways to keep more of the money that we make in our business the legal way going over strategies about actually, keeping more of the money by legal means, in reality, being able to keep more poof our hard-earned profit. More profit and isn’t that what we all go in for is to make a profit. In our interview Diane spills the beans on some rather unique ways we, as business owners, can keep some of that money we’ve been paying maybe needlessly to the government.
Get Diane’s free Book Below for the other 6 ways And why do we do that? Pay more than we should. Maybe it’s because we are afraid it’s going to cost us money to hire a professional, it’s a good thing none of our customers feel that way or all of us would be out of business. Now on a serious note we are spending a fortune on taxes doesn’t it make sense to have someone on your team, yes, your team, that help you plan and in many cases, redirect that out go of money to a better place your bottom line. We always talk about increasing your profits and marketing to get more business, raising your prices to make more profit. Now we are talking about profits in a different way and actually keeping those profits with the proper tax planning using a proactive tax preparer like Diane Even if you raise your prices, if you don’t have the proper tax planning in place, then all you are doing is giving more to the government and by-passing your bottom line. Stop the madness, check with Diane Gardner and see how she might be able to help you keep more of your money and pay less taxes legally! She will take a look at your taxes to see if you are paying too much Connect with Diane Get your free book 10 Most Expensive Tax Mistakes That Cost Contractors Thousand$! http://www.taxcoach4you.com/books/10-expensive-tax-mistakes-cost-contractors-thousands/ There are so many ways to do almost free marketing you just have to think about it or you could just go to the web site and pick up the free download. 4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business with Customers If you have a story to tell and would like to be a guest on this podcast email my assistant Shell at Shell@contractorssecretweapon.com and she will send you our guest sheet.
Our sponsors Would you like your phone to ring more with qualified buyers people looking to buy now. Then let’s make that happen. Best Home Services Leads is dedicated to making your phone ring with qualified buyers wanting to buy now. Go to and fill out the form to get more information. http://contractorssecretweapon.com/money How about 100 free postcards sent out to your best prospective customers. Radius Bomb sends out hyper targeted, laser focused postcards using a map while sitting in your under ware at your kitchen table then go to http://contractorssecretweapon.com/radiusbomb Painting Contractors, get up to a 24% better response rate just for having the right memorable telephone number 1-800-PRO-PAINTER.Check out your area before someone beats you to it and it’s not available. https://www.1800propainter.com/ |
Wed, 29 November 2017
How do we get chosen over the competition? We must stop thinking about comparing apples to apples. We really need to set up our proposals so that our customer only has to choose between you, you and you. By giving our potential customers options, that’s how we get them to compare apples to oranges and pick you, you or you. Many of us come in to this sales process and we say we need to compare apples to apples. If you can't compare apples to apples and you know that you may lose, why not move the process and make the whole process into your favor? We want to compete on value not price and we've talked about this many, many times before you want to compete on value. Let's take it another step further let's say. We're going to offer more than one way to get the job done so we're going to give him multiple options on pricing. If you have one offer then the potential customer will have two choices, your competition or no. And you don't want to do that. How do I make my proposal more attractive? You want to give them choices, we will use my painting business as an example. 3 choices never 4 choices that is too many however if they want to modify between two choices that you have. Now you have a winner because they are moving in a forward direction to doing business with you. So, let’s say we give them the 3 choices.
I going to say the important thing here is when you list out the actual scope of work you put everything in, how many square foot of wall space to be painted all the preparation, everything to the smallest detail. There are 2 keys here the detail in the scope of work, so they can actually feel the work being done and refrain from putting the price next to the proposed work. I know this is different but hear me out. Create the proposal without the price, a, b and c on page 2 do an overview and put the price there. Why you ask? So they can choose what they like before looking at the price. We all tend to look to the right and decide on the price before we even look at the scope of the work. Let’s change it up, let’s get them deciding what they want done before they see the price and then the price may not really be a factor. What if you closed an extra 10% of your proposals by changing it up. Go figure out what that would mean to the bottom line of your profits. Just one small micro change can add thousands of dollars to your bottom line, There are so many ways to do almost free marketing you just have to think about it or you could just go to the web site and pick up the free download. 4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business with Customers If you have a story to tell and would like to be a guest on this podcast email my assistant Shell at Shell@contractorssecretweapon.com and she will send you our guest sheet.
Our sponsors Would you like your phone to ring more with qualified buyers people looking to buy now? Then let’s make that happen. Best Home Services Leads is dedicated to making your phone ring with qualified buyers wanting to buy now. Go to and fill out the form to get more information. http://contractorssecretweapon.com/money How about 100 free postcards sent out to your best prospective customers. Radius Bomb sends out hyper targeted, laser focused postcards using a map while sitting in your under ware at your kitchen table then go to http://contractorssecretweapon.com/radiusbomb Painting Contractors, get up to a 24% better response rate just for having the right memorable telephone number 1-800-PRO-PAINTER.Check out your area before someone beats you to it and it’s not available. https://www.1800propainter.com/ |
Tue, 28 November 2017
TRADES UNITED RECLAIMING FUTURE (T.U.R.F.) In 2017, Chris Hinkle was hired to restructure a local plumbing company. Once inside the company he was mortified at the tremendous disadvantage small TRADES EMPLOYERS face in the daily operation of their businesses. He instantly formed T.U.R.F. to give a layer of protection for ALL TRADESMEN. That led to the development of the T.U.R.F. CONCEPT that is revolutionizing our American Wealth System and will ultimately TRADESMEN on top. T.U.R.F. allows TRADESMEN to CONTROL industry COSTS. Chris Hinkle is passionate about the construction trades industry because he believes the construction industry is really the backbone of the US economy and the construction trades are really treated poorly from the Government labor laws to the insurance providers to the manufacturers and suppliers of goods to the construction trades. Economy magazine says in in twenty sixteen real estate construction contributed one point two trillion dollars to the nation's economic output which is total six percent of the U.S. gross domestic product. And he would argue that it's much higher than six percent because at the top of that there are seventy percent is consumer spending but where the consumers get that money to spend are appreciating values of real estate but take out loans of credit they refinance their homes they sell whatever they're going to do but they have that infusion of class of cash that stimulates our economy. To begin with. So, you take this this group of people all this industry that make up this industry and you look at the overall impact on the economy is caused by the construction industry in one form or fashion. In fact, you can make a further argument that this country was founded upon skilled labor people coming to the New World in order to learn and hone their craft and make a living, and nobody appreciates them. It’s the trades that made America great and built everything from the ground up and we area as a country loosing because no one is training for the trades to keep America great. Connect with Chris Hinkle Join the quest to make the construction great and profitable on a level playing field. There are so many ways to do almost free marketing you just have to think about it or you could just go to the web site and pick up the free download. 4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business with Customers If you have a story to tell and would like to be a guest on this podcast email my assistant Shell at Shell@contractorssecretweapon.com and she will send you our guest sheet. Our sponsors Would you like your phone to ring more with qualified buyers people looking to buy now? Then let’s make that happen. Best Home Services Leads is dedicated to making your phone ring with qualified buyers wanting to buy now. Go to and fill out the form to get more information. http://contractorssecretweapon.com/money How about 100 free postcards sent out to your best prospective customers. Radius Bomb sends out hyper targeted, laser focused postcards using a map while sitting in your under ware at your kitchen table then go to http://contractorssecretweapon.com/radiusbomb Painting Contractors, get up to a 24% better response rate just for having the right memorable telephone number 1-800-PRO-PAINTER.Check out your area before someone beats you to it and it’s not available. https://www.1800propainter.com/ |
Mon, 27 November 2017
Peter Mehit has recognized that every successful business owner has this one thing in common they all know their numbers without a doubt, that’s why he says the number will set you free. Peter Mehit has worked across many industries worldwide as a professional consultant. He has also been intimately involved in the startup of four different companies either as a member of the launch team, or as owner and team leader. He has held positions of trust from senior manager to vice president and has acquired a broad base of experience as a result. He expert in process and workflow optimization solutions, Mr. Mehit can quickly and clearly communicate this information so you will be able to easily implement the necessary solutions in your business. There are 3 things that you got to focus on that’s in Peters book Killer Business plan which you can get on Amazon the link is below. The real things you need to focus on being a small business owner is
These three things increase your odds of success and go from being nil to about eighty percent. If you set up the perfect business and nobody buys your stuff, then you are what they call in the technical term is screwed you are screwed The first thing is the customer, so everybody is has got to be just like hitting a note on a piano everybody's got a natural customer that that matches their vibration that will buy from them just because they see themselves in you as a person. Everything comes down to the value whether it's real value or proceeded value. So, the customers the first thing then the second thing is really an off shoot of the customer. The second thing How do I attract my customer? One of the most important questions you can ask your customer is “How Did You Find Me” Peter says I would actually tell people like for example say you're say you're a carpenter, and you're just starting up, drive two towns over to somewhere where you won't be a competition for somebody and start talking to people in carpentry businesses. Find out what works what doesn’t Remember we as business owners are the loneliest people in the world, so you can relate to them. you're going to start forming a circle of people that you could talk to. Get to know who your competition is and what they offer. Other business owners and they're going to tell us what works and what doesn't work. The third thing is keep track your money. In the beginning keep it simple Get a three-ring binder, that's divided up either in three tabs or five houses college rule books that are by subject. and then in the first on the first tab is you're right the word revenue and that revenue is you just record everywhere where money came in and then the next tab is expenses. And then the next tab says just expenses that are expenses for running the business. If you do your notebooks with you all the time as you spend stuff you just date what it was and how much it costs Then at the end of the week you total up those amounts and you take it you take a separate piece of paper in the fourth tab and you take, here's the revenue, here’s what it cost me to do the job here's what my expenses where you subtract the two the expenses and the job costs from the revenue and you see whether you made money or not. It’s really a simple to do it in the beginning. Start to pay more closely more attention to the numbers.And then they're going to grow and learn and graduate into some kind of real accounting system on their own. But what most people do is they go I have money in my checkbook therefore I'm doing great THE NUMBERS WILL SET YOU FREE! The thing about it is the people who have become great the people become millionaires the people become wealthy in any kind of business know their numbers they know they know their numbers for sure. Connect with Peter Mehit today 800-741-8444 call to get your free 15 minuet consult on any business problem you are having. Go to the contact page and put in there Send me the Book he will send you a free pdf of his book. Killer Business Plan.
There are so many ways to do almost free marketing you just have to think about it or you could just go to the web site and pick up the free download. 4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business with Customers If you have a story to tell and would like to be a guest on this podcast email my assistant Shell at Shell@contractorssecretweapon.com and she will send you our guest sheet.
Our sponsors Would you like your phone to ring more with qualified buyers people looking to buy now. Then let’s make that happen. Best Home Services Leads is dedicated to making your phone ring with qualified buyers wanting to buy now. Go to and fill out the form to get more information. http://contractorssecretweapon.com/money How about 100 free postcards sent out to your best prospective customers. Radius Bomb sends out hyper targeted, laser focused postcards using a map while sitting in your under ware at your kitchen table then go to http://contractorssecretweapon.com/radiusbomb Painting Contractors, get up to a 24% better response rate just for having the right memorable telephone number 1-800-PRO-PAINTER.Check out your area before someone beats you to it and it’s not available. https://www.1800propainter.com/ |
Fri, 24 November 2017
Never star tomorrow till it's finished I know that we all make plans we all set our goals, but can it be done better? Our weekly plan and our daily plan we set out what we've got to do for the week we'll set out on Monday and know what time we start our business let's say or what time our crews go out and when they come back, you’ve got that crew list of who's going out who's go where, and you've got one for yourself. And if you don’t things just get crazy. If you haven’t got here we go again having it pre-planned out. We are in big trouble. Years ago, I had a mentor that was very wise. He said NEVER START TOMMAROW UNTIL IT’S FINISHED. Our minds like structure, we really do perform better when we lay out everything and have a plan to execute. If you plan your day as you go you live in utter chaos because you are allowing, allowing to give up control of you day to circumstances. Who is in control your circumstances or you. The only way for you to be in control is for your day, your week, your month to be planned, Only in a perfect world will all of your plans go unscathed. But when you have it all planned out you have control of weather you allow yourself to become interrupted. You gage the importance of the possible interruption. Now for me I personally like google calendar to plan out my day and week and I like to print out and take it with me and write in the changes for the day or add in for the week It really doesn’t matter how you do it as long as you do it, that is make that schedule up in advance. And get as detailed as you need especially when it comes to making appointments, name, phone number, address, time to be there, and important talking notes about the job or estimate. Another famous saying is set your goals in concrete and you plans in sand. Having a written plan for the day or week the saying means be flexible. Of course, the only way you can be flexible is by planning ahead. Make sure you stop by the website and pick up your free audio book 4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business with Customers Maybe you'd like to be on our show if you have a story to tell on how you overcame maybe a big hurdle in business or something you feel like you'd like to share with other business owners to help them grow, Just email my assistant at Info@contractorssecretweapon.com put in interview in the subject line and I'll have her send you out one of our guests sheets to fill out and then we can go from there. info@contractorssecretweapon.com Our sponsors Would you like your phone to ring more with qualified buyers people looking to buy now. Then let’s make that happen. Best Home Services Leads is dedicated to making your phone ring with qualified buyers wanting to buy now. Go to and fill out the form to get more information. http://contractorssecretweapon.com/money How about 100 free postcards sent out to your best prospective customers. Radius Bomb sends out hyper targeted, laser focused postcards using a map while sitting in your under ware at your kitchen table then go to http://contractorssecretweapon.com/radiusbomb Painting Contractors, get up to a 24% better response rate just for having the right memorable telephone number 1-800-PRO-PAINTER.Check out your area before someone beats you to it and it’s not available. https://www.1800propainter.com/ |
Thu, 23 November 2017
Becoming consistent on the important stuff, what is important stuff, what’s not important stuff? How do we do that become consistent. Did you know that it takes twenty-one days? To create a habit and it takes two days to stop a habit, well it seems like it takes two days. If you stop really quick if it takes like forever to get started up again. It's sort of like pushing that car you know takes it two hands and it and you puff and you push to get that car rolling and you're pushing it and then as it rolls you could probably push with one hand well that's what consistency is like once you get it going on a steady pace its almost effort less but once you stop, you have to go through all effort to get up and running again. One of my favorite sayings I live by is Never Give Up. Why because its much easier to get up after the fall thane it is to start over again. What makes us inconsistent?
So, keep doing it until it becomes comfortable, like walking what do you think would have happened if every time you fell down when you started walking your mom put you back in the crib and said I guess you’re not ready to start walking. Sounds crazy doesn’t it?
In order to grow we have to embrace being uncomfortable, embrace change or we will get left behind our businesses won’t grow. We won’t grow. John Maxwell put it this way paraphrased no one can grow past the leader if they do you are in big trouble. He calls it the law of the lid. Jim Rhone one of my favorite speaker talks about his boss telling him he need to make a million dollars Jim agreed whole heartily. But his boss’s response to that, was not for the money but what you will learn and become along the way> So, grow Create your systems for marketing, for follow up for being profitable create your goals and be willing to change and grow to get there. By getting consistent on the important stuff it will come together for you. Make sure you stop by the website and pick up your free audio book 4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business with Customers If you have a story to tell and would like to be a guest on this podcast Email my Assistant at info@contractorssecretweapon.com Our sponsors Would you like your phone to ring more with qualified buyers people looking to buy now. Then let’s make that happen. Best Home Services Leads is dedicated to making your phone ring with qualified buyers wanting to buy now. Go to and fill out the form to get more information. http://contractorssecretweapon.com/money How about 100 free postcards sent out to your best prospective customers. Radius Bomb sends out hyper targeted, laser focused postcards using a map while sitting in your under ware at your kitchen table then go to http://contractorssecretweapon.com/radiusbomb Painting Contractors, get up to a 24% better response rate just for having the right memorable telephone number 1-800-PRO-PAINTER.Check out your area before someone beats you to it and it’s not available. https://www.1800propainter.com/ |
Wed, 22 November 2017
As contractors we tend to do things halfway so today is about completing the task. Why do we do things half way? We get excited and distracted by some many things that are going on in our business like add new strategies, new thoughts, new tools, new products that we take them all in at once and we get so excited and distracted by them about it that we. And we don't get it we do it half way because there's just too much to do and we haven't created a system to do it so like if you've been in business for five years there's no reason that you should be waiting around for the phone right. You should have five different goals systems in place that you're working on. Going beyond five really is a recipe for disaster if you have picked the top five most important things that you want to happen within your business. And you really want to get down to three things especially on a daily basis. Have you ever read Eat That Frog by Brian Tracy that's super book on getting things done in in the way that you want to get them done but it will be the hard things first? Get a free audio down load at of eat that frog at the bottom of the page We all have a tendency to get distracted and I know I do to have a little A.D.D. We are always putting out fires and this is one of many reasons why we don't stick to the task at hand of the things we want to do because we're always putting out fires we need to be the fire chief. Not the fire department so the fire chief points people in a right direction he directs the process. Sit back and look and see what are the important things, what are the tasks that I need to do that are important to keep my business running so that I can create a step by step system in place. We're going back to plans again of how to get this done so that it gets done in the proper fashion so that we stay on task and we get things done and there's nothing worse than starting a project getting something half-finished and then putting it aside half complete with no end in sight to completing the tasks. The key to completing the task, finishing the project is to make a plan then follow the plan step by step. Keep it simple Free audio down load of Eat That Frog click here no email requried Make sure you stop by the website and pick up your free audio book 4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business with Customers If you have a story to tell and would like to be a guest on this podcast Email my Assistant at info@contractorssecretweapon.com Our sponsors Would you like your phone to ring more with qualified buyers people looking to buy now. Then let’s make that happen. Best Home Services Leads is dedicated to making your phone ring with qualified buyers wanting to buy now. Go to and fill out the form to get more information. http://contractorssecretweapon.com/money How about 100 free postcards sent out to your best prospective customers. Radius Bomb sends out hyper targeted, laser focused postcards using a map while sitting in your under ware at your kitchen table then go to http://contractorssecretweapon.com/radiusbomb Painting Contractors, get up to a 24% better response rate just for having the right memorable telephone number 1-800-PRO-PAINTER.Check out your area before someone beats you to it and it’s not available. https://www.1800propainter.com/ |
Tue, 21 November 2017
Your Future Without Planning is no future at all! We don't set goals when we should, we don't plan we should, just a lot of things we don't do but we should. The reason we don’t do all this stuff is because we are busy, or we get busy and the busyness dictates our life. And that really sucks. So why don’t we? We don't set goals when we should, we don't plan when we should just a lot of things we don't do. But it's not because we don't want to, man we want to we always want to I find myself a lot of times doing stuff and getting stuff on my mind and I go making notes I got to get this done again get this thing get this I got to set my goals. I’ve got to make time to do that and there's always something that gets in the way I'm sure that you can relate to this. Doing nothing is not going to increase my business. I love what Zig Ziglar says “if you aim at nothing you will hit it every time” If you don't set the goals you can't be disappointed where you end up At the outcome you can't be disappointed that there's no business now we just finished up a whole series on goal setting you can go to the tab or the series on goals your blueprint to success there’s a bunch of great stuff in there that will hope you get through the goal-setting process. Why do you want to set the goals? How do you set goals? First of all, you need to set aside time. It could be an hour, could be two hours of uninterrupted time. During that time, you must make out a list of the things that you want to do so you can set your goals and figure out what do you want to do or where you want to be. Set it up in 90-day increments actually for me I like to set it up in six months that is 2 /90-day increments. Want a very simple process of goal setting? Go listen to the podcast 6 figures in 6 Months with Ron Douglas he lays out the simplest straightforward way to plan out your next six months. There are 3 things that hold us back in our goal setting
Go figure who would have thought fear would be a big one. It boils down to what do I want to do, where do I want to be this time next year to set my goals, how much money do I want to make ,how much time do I want to spend with my family, do I want to work six days a week maybe I want to only work 4 days, how much revenue do I have to do in order to work four days a week? Because no one says you have to work sixty, seventy, eighty hours a week no, one says you have to work forty you have to create income. Profit remember you are the one in control or you are supposed to be. Make sure you stop by the website and pick up your free audio book 4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business with Customers If you have a story to tell and would like to be a guest on this podcast Email my Assistant at info@contractorssecretweapon.com Our sponsors Would you like your phone to ring more with qualified buyers people looking to buy now. Then let’s make that happen. Best Home Services Leads is dedicated to making your phone ring with qualified buyers wanting to buy now. Go to and fill out the form to get more information. http://contractorssecretweapon.com/money How about 100 free postcards sent out to your best prospective customers. Radius Bomb sends out hyper targeted, laser focused postcards using a map while sitting in your under ware at your kitchen table then go to http://contractorssecretweapon.com/radiusbomb Painting Contractors, get up to a 24% better response rate just for having the right memorable telephone number 1-800-PRO-PAINTER.Check out your area before someone beats you to it and it’s not available. https://www.1800propainter.com/ |
Mon, 20 November 2017
We are going to talk about why some of us do nothing and then talk about how to get past doing nothing. You might think that doing nothing is a new business owner scenario but it's not a new guy problem because it catches up with us as we grow our business and we get complacent. We don't do anything at all because we're expecting things to happen. Let's go back to new guys so you start off a new business you have got a great trade you're actually good at what you do. You get some business and the customer is happy with what you have done for them. And you're hoping that they will refer you, so you stick around, and you wait for your phone to ring. And therefore, it's not ringing because you don't any marketing in place so that's what this whole podcast is built around was doing marketing how to do it how to get into a system. If you're a new guy here's a couple things that you can do to get you off and running join a networking group you know we talked about this a lot of times before but networking groups will get you involved with other people that are like minded who are trying to expose their business to other people, so you can help each other out. Forward motion is what needs to be done what do I mean You need to be doing multiple things, marketing strategies and there are a lot in the beginning you can just use your time to get known out there. Another terrific way helps each other out one of the things that I one of the things that I did and in the very beginning I would make up flyers and staple to a piece of wood and throw a thousand in an evening. It would take about 2.5 hours. It’s called moving forward and keeping yourself moving so that something is going to work.
Another fantastic way is to get a hold of real estate agents. Listing agents and Buyers Agents. This strategy can work great on both sides.
And they give it to their client as a Signing gift to help the seller spruce up the house to get it ready to sell. No marketing expense and you get to play with the pricing, so you make a profit. Now if they are moving local you have a new customer for life.
There are so many ways to do almost free marketing you just have to think about it or you could just go to the web site and pick up the free download. 4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business with Customers If you have a story to tell and would like to be a guest on this podcast Email my Assistant at info@contractorssecretweapon.com and we’ll send you our guest sheet.
Our sponsors Would you like your phone to ring more with qualified buyers people looking to buy now. Then let’s make that happen. Best Home Services Leads is dedicated to making your phone ring with qualified buyers wanting to buy now. Go to and fill out the form to get more information. http://contractorssecretweapon.com/money How about 100 free postcards sent out to your best prospective customers. Radius Bomb sends out hyper targeted, laser focused postcards using a map while sitting in your under ware at your kitchen table then go to http://contractorssecretweapon.com/radiusbomb Painting Contractors, get up to a 24% better response rate just for having the right memorable telephone number 1-800-PRO-PAINTER.Check out your area before someone beats you to it and it’s not available. https://www.1800propainter.com/ |
Fri, 17 November 2017
A forgotten secret to success, what is it really, I believe it’s something that is not talked about much in the business world. And when we are done today it may set you on an extended path to your success. Success without fulfillment is empty I just want to talk about so what does that mean, we all strive for success we all work hard we work probably harder than we want to build a type of business we want so I just want to go over some things and say that I think that is not talked enough about and you hear in dribs and drabs. On one of the other podcast episodes it was EPISODE 136 WITH Kellen Kautzman about using Philanthropy this goes beyond using this as a part of your marketing, it’s really creating an extension of yourself. I really want to talk about giving not just in the marketplace and not giving back. I'm sorry that's just one of my pet peeves I just really hate that word. Giving back And I'm really not a huge fan of being politically correct but when you talk about giving back is sorta makes me feel like I've stolen something, and I'm obligated to give back as some sort of act of doing wrong. I'm not obligated because I haven't stolen anything. See where I’m coming from. And now giving is another thing I think that you know there are so many people that feel empty from their success and I'm not saying this is the main thing that will fulfill your emptiness because, for the most part, an emptiness is. Is a spiritual void but we can get into that another time, today we are just talking about giving and again and not giving back because you haven't stolen anything why should you feel guilty about giving back. I believe that there's a portion of each one of us that deep down inside there is that part that we want to give we really do when we don't know how to do it or what to do. You hear about people like Tony Robbins who feed thousands of people every year. And you think that is awesome. I’ll bet you, he started with one. You are saying, I wish I could do something like that, but I don’t have the money. I have a friend that he says man I would love to be a philanthropist and I go What's stopping you he says so I don't have any money. You have a dollar don’t you. You have time,
Here is a little secret I’m going to share with you Money Magnifies who you are. It all starts with a thought it gets placed into your yearly goals. On what you want to achieve. As I think about it really balances out who you are and who you want to become. I had a conversation with a real estate investor the other day and we were talking about this subject about giving and he picks up properties and sometimes they are full properties with clothes, furniture, dishes the whole works. For the past few years, he takes all the good stuff and packs it up and brings it to a place that gives this stuff away to people in the city who can use it. I asked why he did this and the answer that came back was, I could take and sell this stuff and make more money but in reality “it just makes me feel good it sort of makes me feel whole by thinking about others not just myself and my needs. That’s why I give it away.” I’m going to challenge you today as you contemplate your journey to success that you consider others in your goal plan and ad this portion to your goals. If you are already doing it awesome. If you have thought about or this is a new concept for you There is om much to gain it is actually unexplainable,the experience will knock your socks off. Our sponsors Would you like your phone to ring more with qualified buyers people looking to buy now? Then let’s make that happen. Best Home Services Leads is dedicated to making your phone ring with qualified buyers wanting to buy now. Go to and fill out the form to get more information. http://contractorssecretweapon.com/money How about 100 free postcards sent out to your best prospective customers. Radius Bomb sends out hyper-targeted, laser-focused postcards using a map while sitting in your under ware at your kitchen table then go to http://contractorssecretweapon.com/radiusbomb Painting Contractors, get up to a 24% better response rate just for having the right memorable telephone number 1-800-PRO-PAINTER.Check out your area before someone beats you to it and it’s not available. https://www.1800propainter.com/ |