Wed, 29 April 2015
The one about the 3-step letter success strategy for your contracting business! Episode 66
Quote of the week Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value. –Albert Einstein
Thanks for stopping by and taking time out of your day to get some more insight on making your business .More purposeful and profitable,
Today I want to take a short trip through the 3 step mailing process and leave your with some key elements that will move your contracting business forward. The 3 step letter is a great strategy for residential and commercial .And later in the podcast I’ll give you a great resource that will help you get this process moving easily. This works great especially if you’re a newbie, or on a fixed budget, targeting a particular group of businesses, neighbor hoods. Even targeting specific types of professions.
The reason behind 3 steps is so that you increase your chances of getting in front of the customer and each time your potential customer has something worthy to open. You are being strategic and persistent. Your prospect realizes that you’re not like everyone else that takes only one shot and hopes that the marketing piece works.
If done correctly this mailing process will increase your return on your investment. I like lumpy mail myself it cuts the clutter of everything it actually moves to the top of the A pile it will bypass the trash every time. Guaranteed to get looked at that’s what you want it to get noticed Imagine getting a pair of dice in the mail with the head line on the mailing piece Are you betting on the cheaper prices hoping to get the quality you want? What about a letter in a small garbage pail, I’ve saved you the time I crumpled it up and threw it away for you. I know of a marketer who got his product on QVC by using this one strategy. Another one I know using this particular strategy with the garbage pail is a commercial real-estate agent he had a vacant building and got a 45% response rate off this particular mailing.
You can use it to get in front of those people that have been on your afraid to contact list in your contracting business. This weekend I went to a podcast event here in Tampa one of the speakers told how he took a bright yellow volley ball wrote a message on it and mailed it to Seth Godin and got an interview with Seth Godin for his podcast. Oh he didn’t wrap it. He mailed it as is. You can use this to get in front of you existing customers to introduce a new product line or new service why not your customers like you trust you and already have done business with you. This one is a no brainer. Another way to use this strategy, remember a couple of weeks ago I did a podcast about increasing your business by 40% you could also use this to implement that particular follow p system to keep those prospects in your funnel system.
Here is the info I promised you earlier go to 3d mail results it will be in the show notes And meet Travis Lee when you get to the website sign up for their free guide to 3d mail marketing campaigns. It’s a free guide that will come with a cd with about 33 template letters you can repurpose for your business and you can go through their website and look at all the tools they have put together to get you more business . The nice thing about 3dmail results is they also have 3 step campaign items put together and they tell you how much they cost to mail also.
Here is what I’d like you to do if there is something you would like me to cover or to cove more in detail Shoot me over an email at info@contractorssectretweapon.com
Direct download: The20one20about20the203-step20letter20success20strategy20for20your20contracting20business2120Episode2066.mp3
Category:pod cast -- posted at: 6:30am EDT
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Thu, 23 April 2015
The Good, Bad the Ugly of Purchasing Leads for Your Contracting Business Episode 65 Quote for the week BREAK FREE BY NO LONGER CHARGING FOR WHAT YOU DO, START CHARGING FOR WHAT THEY GET.
Let’s talk about the good the bad and the ugly of purchasing or getting leads for your business. Seems like every week there is one or two new lead services that want to help us get more business and more coming on line every week all to help me with my contracting business. All under the pretense of helping you he business owner to get more leads, So let’s take a look at a few of the big ones and see what they really have to offer. We’ve got groupon , living social, amazon local all right there to put you in front of potential customers more than you could possibly dream of all for a price seemingly innocent because there is NO out of pocket expenditures just revenue sharing that sounds awesome until you really look at the whole package. They will only approve your deal as long as it will really attract your new found customer so they suggest at least a 50% savings deal on that deal and then they will revenue share 50% because they don’t want to burden you with an out of pocket upfront fee so they usually share 50% so let’s run the numbers. You have a 100.00 product or service you run a deal at 50% savings sale price the customer pays 50.00 and the deal is presold now you get half of the 50.00 which is 25.00 from every item presold all you have to do is deliver and you pray that you can up sell or your new customer will purchase form you again in the future. Unfortunately these type customers are only shopping theses sights for deals not relationships. Let’s move on to some of the sites that actually generate leads and sell these to you in hopes that you can grow your business. They actually make their money by selling the same lead to multiple contractors or make you bid on the project. Some of the ones that I know about are Angies list, Houzz, Thumbtack, Home Advisor, they all do provide a good service. But is that service good enough for you. Are you just chasing that shiny object. Are these companies targeting your target market or theirs? Are you comfortable just competing on price? Are you comfortable being sole a lead that has been sold to 4 others? One of our biggest challenges as contractors is we live under the false impression that we need more leads. I know for the most part that is not true we need more conversions from the leads we do get. We treat leads as sales now if they don’t purchase now, we write that prospect off and go get more leads that are low hanging fruit that want to buy now. And throw away the names of the ones that don’t close today. We should be in the lead generating business and work the leads until you can’t get anything more out of like juicing an orange. With your leads be like the company that juices the oranges they get all the juice thy can out of the orange then they get all the oils out of the rinds bottle it up and sell it off then they talk all the orange rinds and sell them off for feed for animals they get everything out of that orange that will make them a profit. Why not do that with your leads?
Stop by our resources page we have some items that will help your business grow and become more profitable.
Direct download: The20Good2CBad20The20Ugly20of20Purchasing20Leads20For20Your20Contracting20Businesss20Episode206520mp3.mp3
Category:pod cast -- posted at: 6:30am EDT
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Thu, 16 April 2015
Part 2 Having Other Businesses Help Sell for Your Contracting Business. Episode 64 Host Beneficiary Relationships I know last week’s creating strategic partners could have been a little daunting for some it is a lot of work bust so is pushing a car from a dead stop but once you get it rolling you can keep it going with minimal effort. However the host beneficiary is a little easier for your contractor business. Campaign that pays for itself can be considered successful. Before getting started, there are a few things you need to think about in depth Always test and measure your results called Testing & Measuring Again without drawing it out 1. Work out your costs 2. Know your margins Lifetime Value. Don’t view each new customer that your campaign brings in as a once-off-sale
If you know these you give something away of perceived value to the potential customer way To get them as a lifelong customer. Remember profit right now is nice but future profits build longevity in your company. It can be a service a report a multiple purchase like buy 3 get 1 free. It’s your business As long as you know your numbers you just need to be creative and test it. And keep testing different offers with different host beneficiaries.
And guaranteed you will need to know what type of clientele you are making an offer to what are their wants, needs, desires in the arena you service.
Again you will need a host beneficiary that has the right attitude, has a targeted list and could his list benefit you and could your list of client benefit him Strong offers something that is going to capture their attention. It can be a service a report a multiple purchase like buy 3 get 1 free. It’s your business As long as you know your numbers you just need to be creative and test it. And keep testing different offers with different host beneficiaries.
Support from the host if they have the right attitude to begin with this should easy. But it all needs s to be laid out in the plan.
The 7 Steps to Creating Host Beneficiary Strategies first you will have to come to a conclusion later is this is even for you. Host beneficiary is ideal when you have a specific group of people you want to advertise to, and there are other noncompetitive businesses already dealing with them. Here’s a perfect example - a plumber who does a lot of new kitchens and baths can use a painter to Basically refer to his clients the plumber sends out a letter of introduction to his clients (you will write and input the offer) something like this. Dear Mary. Thanks so much for doing business with our company it was our pleasure helping you beautify your home with your new plumbing fixtures. Even though we had to make changes to your walls and sometimes you want to or need to paint after we leave .I would like to give you this gift voucher of $100.00 To be applied to any painting you want to complete the beautification for your home. We have purchased this for you from our favorite painter Dave we have known and trusted Dave and his company. The customer thinks the plumber is giving up 100.00 as a gift to help one of his favorite clients. If you wash windows you can use a painting company the same way. If you are a roofer you can work something out with an insurance agent and offer a free roof inspection valued at 199.00 The customer thinks the host plumber has purchased as a gift to help one of his favorite clients.
Remember, host bens work best because the potential customer thinks the offer is a gift from the other business. They believe the business has gone out of its way to find this offer, and pass it on. Because of that, they feel some obligation to take it up. You need to find businesses who are willing to get behind the idea 100%, or else forget it. That brings us to the other consideration - are there any businesses out there who are willing to open their minds enough to run with the idea. Of course, it depends how you bring up the idea. If you say ‘listen, I want to use your database and sap it for all it’s worth’, you’ll have a bit of a battle closing the ‘sale’ from there. On the other hand, you could try an approach like ‘Hi there, I’ve got a way we can help each other - I’ll get some new customers, and your current customers will think you are the greatest most generous person on the planet. Then, later down the track, we’ll swap’ - it’s certain you’ll get a better response from this method. 2. Who (Are Your Target Market)? It goes back to finding a host beneficiary that has a similar target or one that you are looking to connect with. By now you should know how to pinpoint your target if not go episode 9 and 10 and 25.
Who is going to make a good Host Beneficiary? They are non-competitive (they don’t sell what you sell) but have the same type target.
This is an important one: THEY HAVE A DATA BASE names, addresses In order for this to work you are going to need one also, that is a data base of customers. If they just have it on paper offer to put it into an excel spread sheet for them for the future.
Same as last week there customers have to like and trust them if they don’t it’s a waste of your time ultimately this is to be set up as a win, win
What do you want to say to the host business customers we went over that a little before but here is another example. The letter could come from their painter and say
Hi there, I know a great window washer called Bob . As a special gift from me, I’ve arranged for you to have the windows on the front of your home for FREE. Really call Bob at xxxxxxxx to take him up on his offer . It’s really that simple. It’s not brain surgery
You write have the host sign it and mail it. I know of carpet cleaning companies that still offer 1 free room of carpet cleaning with a healthy home audit. Average sale is like 305.00. You don’t have to be afraid of free but you are I’ve talked about this in earlier podcast there is the law of reciprocity. You cannot take something for nothing you have to give back by buying, or referring. Its weird. The purpose of your letter has to be clear A, B, 2 things A is your headline B is your Point. Just make sure you know who you are writing to –You do not have to be a great writer to make this happen. Great offer I mean really great offer- think about what would move you. People are not going to remember how well you articulated the offer they are only going to remember the great offer. As long as your message is clear, quick and targeted well, your letter will work.
Make it easy to read I like Courier font (typewriter font ) for us old folks it’s easier to read .
If you, as a business owner can see the benefit in this, then remember that when you approach the host businesses. If you want to start sending your own customers gifts, you have to go out and find someone who will offer a free gift. It’s harder than you think. You’re making it easy - you’re fronting up with a free gift the host businesses can present to its customers. You’re the one putting yourself out. In order for this to work affectively you may have to pay for the postage you may have to do everything. Stuff the envelopes, print the material. You may have to do everything. I do it all I want to make sure that my potential new customers are contacted correctly.
Next when do I mail these out try to make sure they get them Tuesday Wednesday or Thursday? If you are seasonal or your offer is seasonal that’s when you mail it out. I know that sounds like an easy one believe me it has happened a pool company sends out a mailer in the winter?
Writing ‘Killer’ Headlines The best headlines do 3 things - identify the right target market, provide Benefits and generate enough interest to get them to start reading.
How to write killer headlines go to google and put in killer headlines .Really go do it. What kind of offers great offers really great offers? Time limited offers, guarantee offers, And the magic word FREE offers.
Here is the over view Find Host beneficiary that has same market as you are one you want to move into They have a customer base that likes them and respects them They have a great attitude and see the potential. They could really like the idea and watch and learn from you to find a host for themselves. Later offer to teach them. Create the offer a really great offer. Write up the letter and have the host sign the letter you mail them out mail them out.
Direct download: Part20220Having20Other20Businesses20Help20Sell20for20Your20Contracting20Business.20Episode2064.mp3
Category:pod cast -- posted at: 6:00am EDT
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Thu, 9 April 2015
A strategic alliance is when you and another business go into a loose partnership, and help each other make extra profits. That’s a good word For example, a handy man and a painter may refer each other and give each other a referral fee or vice versa.
Suddenly each has a sales person working for him no wages no salaries, no additional insurance or vehicles. There are many types of strategic alliances we will go through a few and toward the end I’ll go into detail how I’ve set up one of mine alliances. So what is a successful Strategic Alliance? What a strategic alliance is not it is not selling at wholesale Answer is simple - if you make more money from the strategic alliance than it cost you, it’s been a success. Before getting started, there are a few things you need to think about in depth... 1. Know your cost of doing business. This includes the cost of printing, envelopes, phone calls, schmoozing with the other business owners and more. 2. Know your margins. You need to know the net profit you make from anyone who buys your product or service. By understanding how much you actually make from each sale, you’ll be able to work out the % response required to make your campaign profitable. Factor in everything. At the end of the day, many businesses fail because they don’t count on the little things. What looks like a great profit margin is whittled down to nothing by the little things like gas, lunches, miscellaneous expenses... The more accurate you can be, the better the decisions you’ll make. On how to set up your alliances. 3. Lifetime Value. Each customer has a life time value. If you view each customer as a single transaction you are thinking short term. You are setting up your business on a short term basis without realizing it.
Remember, a new and loyal, referring customer will make you a healthy income over the course of your lifetime. Hence lifetime value. This is where long term thinking comes in knowing what your average sale is. let’s say 200 and your customer buys from you 2x a year and your average customer has stayed with you for 5 years that customer is worth 2000 in business plus any referrals There are actually companies that will acquire customers and know they will not make any money till the second sale. So if you know your numbers the future is yours.
What are some things that make an alliance successful?
The Right Attitude ... One thing you’ll discover is that you are doing the other business a service as well this is totally a win, win situation. You need to understand that they’re getting as much benefit as you are. When you approach them, do so from a position of power. Your attitude should be ‘I’m going to help you out. This is a great opportunity, and I’m going to be selective’. You are going to look for businesses that operate with the same ethics and principals as you do Of course, if your offer to the other businesses is not strong, you’ll be fighting an uphill battle from the outset. Targeted Lists ... You don’t want to deal with businesses and customers that are unrelated to your line of work. You need to choose businesses that deal with almost identical customers to you. For example ‘people who own high end homes ’‘people who are absolute music fanatics’, ‘people who have pets that do not have children. Single professional women who own homes over 300k Your customers need to be definable in terms of age, sex, interests or income. Offer ... A strong offer will make all the difference without. Like Pete Mitchell says what bait will they bite on. Support From the Other Business ... If your ally business gets right behind the idea, you’ll have a far better chance of success. If they go into it with an ‘alright then – I don’t like the idea but I’m willing to give it a try’, you’re fighting an uphill battle. You need to get them on board from the start, and make sure they approach the project with a ‘this is going to be great’ attitude. $$ Follow Up ... Once you’ve set up the alliance, you need to maintain it . You may even have to train some of their sales people, create scripts. Keep regular contact with the ally business, And keep giving them reasons to help you out. Obviously, if you’re working hard for them, they’ll work hard for you. Don’t expect it to be all your own way - there has to be give and take. Of course, this is a small price to pay for a strong alliance - you are gaining a new source of customers, Which will undoubtedly cost you less than advertising, direct mail, flyers or Yellow Pages? Better yet, the customers come ‘referred’, which means they come with a good attitude. They will look for the good things about your service, and be less suspicious. They are also unlikely to go shopping for better deals. They’ve heard ‘good things’ about you, and that means they want to give you every opportunity to please them. As you’d be aware, these customers are pretty rare. It’s worth working hard to develop an alliance that provides you with a steady stream of them. I know you’re saying this seems like a lot of work it is however the rewards far out way the work
1 Why would you even consider it, is it for you by the time we are through you will have that figured out? 2 A strategic alliance is ideal when you have a specific group of people you want to market to, and there are other non-competitive businesses already dealing with them. Or like in my case my partners have a service to sell their clients as an add on. Remember, strategic alliances work best because the potential customer thinks the other business is doing them a favor and giving them a tip - ‘deal with these guys and they’ll really take care of you’. The customer believes the business has gone out of its way to make a recommendation which will help them. Because of that, they feel some obligation to take action. You need to find businesses that are willing to get behind the idea 100%, or else forget it altogether. That brings us to the other consideration - are there any businesses out there that are willing to open their minds enough to run with the idea? Of course, it depends how you bring it up with them. If you say ‘listen, I want to use you and steal your customers. That’s probably not going to work.
However if you propose to them you have a service that compliments their business and you have figured a way for them to make pure profit from what you do no added employees ,no added insurance, no added over head, just pure profit. This usually will get their attention.
They have a data base that they will send out a series of marketing material to you work out the details on who pays preferable have them am send out the materials you can work out a higher commission for no out of pocket expenses now.
I’m really going to emphasize that you are only going to approach companies that are like minded to the way you do business. You are not interested in your new alliance having customers that don’t like them if they don’t like them they are not going to like you it will be a waste of time.
Here is another key the businesses you want to approach are also the ones that are business owners big emphasis on that they are looking for profit and are interested in leveraging to make that happen. What (Can You Offer the Ally Business)? Remember, this is business ... not something based on friendship. You need to work out precisely how much you can offer these businesses. You need to work out what you’ll sacrifice in order to make this arrangement work. Here are some ideas ...Commission ... the old stand-by. This tends to work well in any situation. There are very few people who would turn down extra money in their pockets. If you are going to sell the idea on this basis, give the potential ally business owner an idea of how much they will be making a week. If you say ‘I’ll give you 10% of every job I sell form what you send me, people don’t tend to get very excited. 10% doesn’t sound like much. Why not phrase it like this ... ‘you deal with about 50 customers a week, don’t you? If you refer one in every ten, that’s 5 customers a week. My average sale is 600.00 per customer. That adds up to 300.00 extra profit in your pocket a week. And all you have to do is give them this voucher and say a couple of good words about me’. Big difference? Why not be a bit more generous when thinking about how much to offer. Consider the lifetime value of the customer. You’d be better off just covering your costs, and banking on the customer coming back to you. Of course, it depends on your business.
There are so many ways to set up your strategic alliances from an offering that gets mailed out to their customers on your behalf, you will write the letter and put together the offer. To the ,your alliance partner they incorporate one of your services into their business. By doing it this way you really have to have a trusting relationship because they will bill their customer, you will invoice your partner and they will send you a check. Sort of like a subcontractor just not wholesale.
In my business it has worked out tremendously and very profitably This is how I do it My partners are roofers. One of my divisions does roof cleaning. For the most part most roofers know nothing about roof cleaning which is good for me it is much easier to educate one businessman who owns a roofing company than to educate 25 home owners on the benefits of roof cleaning. Although I love HOA’S because they are forcing owners to keep their homes looking good in the neighborhood. Back to the roofers It’s an easy add on sale for the roofer. Mrs. Jones we are here to give you an estimate on repairing your roof. I’m sure you are aware that the repair is going to look newer than you old roof would you like you old roof to look like your new repair? Oh you can do that yes I would like you to price it out Notice the roofer is the expert on the roof not the roof cleaner hoe ever I have made him more professional with the knowledge that I have supplied him. It is the perceived notion by the home owner that the roofer is the expert on all facets of the roof so have a perceived expert sell for you. Just teach him right. So this is what is happening The roofing salesperson has just sold a roof cleaning to someone who was not looking to price out a roof cleaning.
This why this particular program works so well for me I don’t ask for referrals from roofing companies I ask them if they would like to make profit from me.
I look at asking for referrals from people that don’t know me or experienced our stellar service is begging Let me run through what I do for my partners. 1 st I contact them by mail with a series of letters or I am introduced to an owner by someone they respect.
2 Once we meet and they are interested in learning more. I go over a marketing program that I have put together for them to use in their business to sell my services roof cleaning. · From the introduction on roof cleaning or our frequently asked questions hand out. · Why they want to keep their roof healthy looking and the benefits of having a heathy roof. · Why a roofing company would even suggesting having their roof cleaned and maintained. When their main objective to replace roofs. · A bonus certificate to the home owner for signing the paperwork to have the roof cleaned with in the 7 days. · All the material we leave the homeowner that makes them responsible for damaged plants. · A copy of the healthy roof guarantee. · The thank you letter we send along with the certificate of the guarantee. · All the material has their logo and contact information.
It works real well so well I have roofing companies call me now and I now ask them if they are business men or roofers. You should hear the responses I get. It fun then I go through do you want to make profit from my services or a measly referral fee. I give them the choice. This system will work for any contracting business you have to decide where and what to plug into.
This system I will make available for a modest fee from the letters to the roofing companies to the final thank you letter and guarantee along with the correct word usage.
If you email me at info@contractorssecretweapon.com and put in the subject line I want to have others sell my services and I’ll contact you. If you live within 20 miles from me sorry you won’t qualify. You will have to try to get my customers some other way.
Direct download: The20one20about20having20other20businesses20sell20your20contractor20services20CHA20CHING20episode2063.mp3
Category:pod cast -- posted at: 6:50am EDT
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Thu, 2 April 2015
Actually this week I want to talk about two things if we have time I will but first is about making money with anniversary dates and how you can use anniversary dates to get more business from your customers.
The other thing and I want to talk about gearing up and planning for your slow season next year .I know this sounds absolutely crazy because many are gearing up for your busy season for most people right now we're getting ready to going to the spring season winters over and you gearing up for the busy season. And if what is going here is any indication of what’s going on in other parts of the country you are busy now. For some reason people are spending money, everyone I’m talking to is busy busier than their projections. So get the money.
Dave does that mean birthdays, wedding anniversaries it could be and we will come back to that thought a littler later. So let's talk about making money with anniversary dates in your contracting business this week.
So let’s talk about the anniversary dates here is an example I got a new ac unit put into my house recently one of those units that has the whole house filter and it that has to be replaced once a year so I put in my calendar to remind myself and then when I saw my AC guy because I just had to know. I asked him hey did you put my anniversary date in your calendar so that you could remind me that you're coming by to install my new filter next year and my friend the roofer was standing there and he started laughing he's going what are you doing I said I was just helping Dean with creating another profit center for his business and Dean started chuckling he said I got it all taken care of you are on the list to get your filter installed next year. I said awesome and I just wanted Dean my AC guy to realize that he could create a profit center from just replacing filters that’s future business.
I know that’s what I do is when I’ve pressure clean someone's place then I'll put them in my system, I'll send them out the card in about 12 or 13 months reminding them that last year about this time you had your house or the exterior pressure cleaned and I just wanted to let them know that that now is the time to do it and if you schedule with the next week or so we will charge you the same price as last year even know we have going up on our prices so why would I do that give it to them for the same price as last year ,because they're good customer number one two it didn't cost me anything to get them to do business with me stamp on a card they were acquired last year . Then reminding them that it was done and he needed to redo it again. Its set in motion scheduled to go out what if you didn’t have a system and got busy you would forget about them. Honestly your customers are busy people and like being reminded it’s time to get something done they really welcome the reminders and if you could set them up on a maintenance system that it do you do every six months or once a year whatever business you're in that it's even better .
Now I have to do have regular yearly maintenance customers that I have set up on a yearly basis were we at keeping he roof clean house all way out to the road we do minor repairs if they want them done painting touchup so I'm sending those customers a 30 day advance notice , I'll send them a card with the Starbucks card in and say we are coming on such a date to do your regular yearly maintenance just wanted you to go out and grab a latte and sit down and make a list of all the extra things that you would like done while we are there to keep you home beautifully maintained so we know what you want done when we come by this year. This works out great because of that card and Starbucks cards they do actually make up a list of additional items and usually adds 50 to 60% to our yearly maintenance one we'd send out these posters I'm on the anniversary date.
So depending whatever type of business you're in with the electrician what you're a plumber with your air conditioning guy there's all sorts things that you could come up with that you could get into your clients home on extra time during the year as an anniversary you know you did service on this date we just want to let you know that we were at your home last year is there anything else that you have any concerns about any plumbing issues or offer a free audit on that anniversary date.
Let’s say you're Plummer go for a free audit on the pipes and hot water heater, dishwasher diner the one of the big things that goes is the water lines to the washing machine go through and do a check of the valves underneath the sink so the traps the P-trap are all tight and tie something into the audit may be a special for your good customer. A special that you might be running for that month to that quarter the spring the fall however that may be if your electrician safety check go safety check. Or safety audit. Of course you need to be honest I our dealings there are all kinds of things that you could do to just. You just have to be creative and fill a need.
Carlton Sheets the famous guy who sold real estate investor courses said there are 10 solutions to every problem the first 3 are easy. Think hard.
Okay so now we can really into the anniversary dates like the wedding, birthdays let’s go to the wedding anniversary the birthdays and special things that go on in your customers life.
One of the greatest marketing techniques that I've seen in a long time and are fun to do if you can get your customers birthdays is half birthday card yeah that's right you send a half a birthday card on their half birthday a half birthday card and a half an envelope and on the writing of your half birthday you make an offering you give them a half discount on a special you may be wanting to run for that time of the year or you can save this to your real birthday and use the whole discount.
How you want to do it you just have to be creative to get your customers engaged into doing more business with you the anniversary could even be their wedding anniversary. I’ve seen restaurants use the half birthday cards all day long to get a new customer by offering a by one get one free for the special. So one of the biggest challenges the most this is owners have like us is we get so in the trenches of making and doing the work that we don't step back and think about working on the businesses instead of in our businesses, so as like we said before in the beginning of the series podcast that you're actually in marketing business however you can get your client to open up whenever piece of information getting making a killer deal like what bait with they bite on.
We need to be different these are the things that needed to be different about and see how they work for you and it's okay to copy somebody if you think it's a good idea but test it first before you do it on a big scale it could really sucks.
So you probably say these sounds really, really good how do I get all this stuff into a system so that they can go out automatically. That's really what needs to be done is it always be automatic and all needs to be in your system to go out on the days for the weeks that you wanted to go out way, way, way in advance so you're going to have to sit down and create a system for these cards these envelopes these in some the gifts to go out and not this next couple weeks I will go over my system on how I actually send everything out how I set it up so probably in about two weeks ago over that.
Okay so enough about the anniversaries I think you get the idea on how to put those together. Whether it be an anniversary for service anniversary for birthday however you want to do it just really make it happen be that guy be that contractor that standout out amongst the others because when you stand out amongst the others you no longer a commodity business.
Let’s get into the other topic for today
Its spring business is gearing up Many are coming off a slow or reduced business season for the winter I know some contractors listening s are living different areas that actually have snow living in Florida I forgot what that is like. So by not having snow basically my business is fairly consistent all year.
But I realize it that there are somethings you contractors out there just aren't able to do because of the weather and I want to actually think about that for next year to start planning for that for next year. So that when you're slow time or season comes up . You're no longer slow.
So talking about next year’s slow time is a crazy thing to be talking about right now because everyone is getting ready for the busy season I really, really want to talk about being prepared for your slow season and creating ways for it not to be slow. Now that it's over you don't have to think about it I know you're going to be busy anything about getting more customers are getting really ramped up for the new the busy time but really not time to really think about your slow season for next year.
There are 2 situations you can work your butt off until it slows down again and have put money away to get you through and not have to work or you can plan ahead. Let's kick around a few ideas on what you can do next year to help prevent that from happening.
Why do it now
Well because one you are getting ready for next year ,2 when things are stressful you brain does not work in a very creative way, so now as things are picking up and flowing smoothly your brain will actually work more freely and creatively without the stress.
So I really challenging time relating to working in the snow it’s been over 30 years since I moved from the north. that's why I moved to Florida so I would have to deal with that but I think about it every once in a while about how and what I would do if I were in that position, this really took a lot of thought and preparation to come up with what I would actually do as a painter I would actively market for interior work, you actually have to think outside the box of what could you do to grow your business in the winter months and am thinking about you and actually think about is the trade that I'm in and what I would do to help myself during the winter months if I couldn't actually work on the outside and it be challenging any inside .
When I first went back to business when my slowest months was February 1 two years I realize that February was my slow month so basically had do was I had to create and ramp up my marketing in November December and January .February is no longer my slow month . if I were in it and a different climate I knew I was being a different climate I would basically as I'm thinking about it I would advertise more for our market more towards preparing for the winter in the fall and during the winter I would put together some type of home audit for the homeowner on spring cleaning to the spring repair sort of like what I do with my maintenance items now I would just do up free in home audit. In the winter and start writing audits and start getting that work schedule for the spring, I would definitely stay in the high-end and I would probably have to collaborate with decorators more now just do it homeowners I would really ramp up my availability to realtors who dealing high end homes really become their good friends so that I could be referred as much as possible create an really awesome referral rewards program. First I would build their trust that might do that through more networking this would be an awesome time to get out there and network and be more out there turn slow times into relationship building times. Sort of planting your farm and getting ready for the harvest. Those are just a couple things I know that I would do. I would create joint ventures more than I do now with the other businesses that have the same type of customers that I do that would benefit from my services and I might do a mailing with that company that has the same customer base type I have and pay for a mailing having them introduce you to their customers and pay them a small percent of revenue for them letting me borrow their customers the first time.
These are some awesome ideas for anybody who goes into a slow season and goes into a funk because of he added stress, plan ahead way ahead so that you don't run into the slow seasons they are not fun. Like I said before the biggest challenges with stresses that when you're stressful because business is slow then do your brain just doesn't think right it's not creative doesn't open up to the possibilities of what can happen so really now is the time when you're busy to think about how can I get more business how can I get more business what can I do to attract more people in the slow times and you'll be surprised at how your brain thinks accordingly, these are some great ideas that anybody can use it anytime but mainly if you're slow I would go through these and make a check list of things that you want to start implementing to get stat business often running steadily during a slow time. Now that you have your mind thinking in this abundance of getting business start your list for the future.
Next week I want to go over strategic partners what they are how to put them together how to have them sell your services and why they would even consider it.
Direct download: LetE28099s20Talk20About20Making20Money20with20Anniversary20Dates20in20Your20Contracting20Business20Episode2062.mp3
Category:pod cast -- posted at: 12:50am EDT
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