kevinw
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Posts posted by kevinw
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It's interesting to see what works in different areas...and what doesn't. When I started my company, I decided that I was going to create a marketing company that restores decks...that may hit some of you the wrong way, but it means a different model for your business. We focus on doing a great job, and making sure customers are happy, but my day to day emphasis is on getting the phone to ring. Doing a great job falls into customer fulfillment for me.
That said, I use metrics for managing my business that evaluate the cost of getting in front of each potential customer, the conversion rate (closing rate), and the marketing cost of each sale. Advertising is a very large portion of my budget.
I said all of that to say this, when you're evaluating advertising medium it is critical that you understand the demographics of your customer base...what does your customer look like? What is his age, marital status, average income, etc. When I have that pretty well figured out, then I use the advertising medium that works best for that demographic.
I use several different advertising mediums because I learned a long time ago that there is no single "silver bullet". No single medium is going to get the job done, advertising is about gaining "mind share" which requires the customer to see your name a number of times in different places before they mentally store the information. We use post cards, advertising magazines, radio, home shows...and more. The result is a lot of phone calls, and a budget that has to be actively managed to make sure you're getting the best return on your advertising dollars. Surprisingly, many of the customers can't remember where they heard about us...but they called.
There are some simple tricks that work quickly and are pretty cheap. A good flyer, or door hanger. When you do a job, put the flyer out to every neighbor you can see from the front door of the job you just finished. "We were in the neighborhood..." or "We just did your neighbors deck at...". It gives you an instant referral, and the neighbors likely know each other. Always a fast turn around.
One of my reps goes to each of these line of site neighbors every time he sells a job, tells them that we're going to be doing a job at "Smith's House right there" and thought they might be interested...since we're already in the neighborhood, we might be able to save the some money if we could get extra jobs while we're in the neighborhood. He gets surprisingly good results.
Just a suggestion. I've found that there are media buyers out there that are very good at developing these programs, and they don't cost any extra. They usually can get a better price than you can, and they are paid their commission by the companies that do the work. Mine gets a great price, and makes her income from the commission she's paid by the company that sends the mailers, magazines, radio station, etc. She's also very good at evaluating the different options and making recommendations.
It's real easy to spend a lot of money fast in advertising, so I suggest evaluating all options carefully. Getting your name out in a lot of places, with consistent frequency is the name of the game.
Kevin Whitley
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We tried the tiered approach some time ago. I thought it would help us pick up more biz from customers that balked at the price of premium service. I found out it was like the old saying about passing in football...3 things can happen and 2 of them are bad.
Some customers were just confused. We offered pictures, graphics, etc. and they couldn't seem to make up their minds. Closing rate went down.
Some customers called after completion to complain that their deck didn't look like they were wanted it to look, even refused to make payment. Call backs went up and we wound up staining/sealing for free just to keep customers happy.
Some customers tried to use the lower tier pricing to negotiate down the premium service..."I'll let you do my deck if you'll do the Gold level for the Bronze price." We starting giving out the name of the guy that hangs his flyer on the phone pole by the stop sign..."Seal Your Deck for $400.00".
Closing rate went down, call backs went up, profits went down. We stopped offering a tiered approach. For us, KISS works really well. Show the customer what you're going to do, what it will look like, give references, show up on time, under promise/over perform...and return calls promptly. It works every time.
Kevin
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Okay...I need to put a "duh" on that.
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How 'bout ipe? Didn't see it on the poll?
Kevin
Credit Cards
in Documents, Forms & Proofs
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I started taking credit cards about 3 years ago, it's made a big difference and now about 75% of my business is credit cards. I've never used paypal, and really don't know anything about them other than that's what you find on ebay.
When I started, I called my bank and asked them for a recommendation. They offered to process my cards for a fee, and gave me the name of a broker that could set me up to process cards directly. I started with the broker (better pricing structure) and, as the volume grew, I realized how much I was paying in service fees and discount fees...too much.
So, I called each company (Amex, Visa/MC, and Discover) and told them they were charging me too much. If they didn't give me a better price, I was going to change service providers. They ALL gave me a better price!..much better!
Amex is pretty snobbish, harder to work with but they will work with you if you keep on them (I threatened to stop taking AMEX and they decided to cooperate). Discover folded like a blanket, and Visa/Mastercard was in the middle somewhere.
My customers prefer to use cards for mileage points, no interest financing, etc. End result for me is an easier sale because the customer has more options.
If you use Quickbooks, they have a pretty good program for processing Visa/MC and they're also flexible on pricing. If you're just getting started with cards, you'll have to bite the bullet until you build a history/volume record, then you can negotiate.
Kevin Whitley