The Simple Marketing Secret Most Contractors Overlook

Let’s say you meet someone for the first time, and during that meeting, you have a great conversation and realize you have some common interests.  You seem to look at things the same way. 

You just get a feeling that this is a good person, and you may think, “You know, we could be friends.” 

“Could be” is the key phrase, of course.   Because, I’m sure you realize, it would take some specific actions to move from “we could be friends” to “we are friends.”  And one of the things you’d have to do is stay in touch.  You’d have to talk again.  You’d have to be in contact with each other. 

Now, if you’re starting to ask yourself why I’m telling you something so obvious, it’s because experience has shown me that a lot of contractors act as if “staying in touch” is a principle they've never heard of. 

And frankly, that’s scary. 

In most cases, it costs you in marketing expenses around $275-$325 to gain a new customer.  If you don’t keep that customer, you've spent an awful lot for a “one-time” service call.

Each name in your database only represents “could be” customer potential.  No, they’re not active customers any more than a one-time meeting with someone qualifies them as a friend. You've got to take action for that to happen.

The simple fact is this:  regular contact keeps customers.  That involves a number of tried-and-true techniques, such as:

•  Follow-up visits with thank you cards, calls, or emails: This simple act speaks volumes of your company and can boost your image. Have your techs keep a stock of thank you cards with pre-stamped envelopes and they can fill them out right after the service call. This two minute task will let your customer know that you appreciate their business.
• Offer maintenance agreements: How great is it to have a customer pay to remain a customer? This loyalty program is a mutual investment between the consumer and the provider. In a maintenance agreement a customer could get a higher level of service, exclusive discounts, special treatment, or even guarantees. What you get out of this is a reliable income stream. Maintenance agreements can even out your cash flow and provide a year round income.
• Reactivation Letters: Never throw away a list of names. An ex-customer will reactivate and spend money if you say the right things. Tell them that you miss them and if you've done something that might have offended them that you want to make it right with something free or a discount. By getting a response from this list you've saved money that was headed straight for the trash.

Equally important are holiday cards, “customer only” direct mail offers and a customer retention newsletter. 

If done correctly, that last item – the newsletter – is the centerpiece of a well-run customer retention program. In fact, if you only do one thing, make it a newsletter that goes out at least twice a year. 

Fill it with interesting “home care” tidbits so it’s not perceived as “advertising,” and thus forges a far better image and strengthens the relationship. Better relationship equals better retention. 

How to Get a Customer Newsletter

1. You can do it yourself. If you’re prone to writing, designing, graphics, editorial layout and have experience crafting an informative newsletter that can also sell, then go for it! Many times I speak with contractors who do it themselves the first time, then “run dry” for info on subsequent efforts. Therefore, there’s option 2…
2. Hire it out. An ad agency or newsletter creation service can create a special one for you, customized exactly as you want it. Unless your database is over 10,000 or so, the costs can be significant. This is why there’s option 3…
3. Use a “syndicated” newsletter. This is also known as “semi-custom.” It is very fast since the template for the newsletter and most of the content is already done. This also makes it far less costly. Some companies offer ‘ads’ for your company. Stay away from the overly slick fluffy ones since they don’t appear “local” enough to consumers.

A good syndicated customer retention newsletter costs less than $6 a year per customer, including postage!  Not a bad return on investment, especially since it involves returning customers.  Every customer who has written you a check or swiped a card in the last 48 months should be receiving your newsletter. 

All high performing newsletters will have an online component. A QR code can link your printed newsletter to your online version. Hudson, Ink can provide Newsletter customers with an online newsletter portal that is updated monthly with new content and offers for your customers. This improves your online presence, gives you content you can share on your social channels and provides even more helpful and useful information to your customers.

Sending a Newsletter to your customer is like having a cup of coffee with your customers at regularly specified times each season. It’s low pressure and keeps your company at the top of your customers mind.

Always remember, your company’s current customers are the absolute #1 source of your future sales. Loyal customer will end up spending 33% more with your company and sending 107% more referrals to your business than non-loyal customers. And speaking of referrals, newsletters are a great place to utilize referral requests. Most contractors think that referrals “just happen” but that’s usually not the case. If each of your customers referred one other then you would double your customer list right now. For free. 

When you lose customers, you lose all of their future business and all of their referrals to your competition.  When you keep customers, you keep that pool of sales for yourself.  And isn’t that a scenario worth considering?  

TRUE STORY: How to Not Win Customers

Next year we’re celebrating our 30th wedding anniversary. That is, if she’ll start behaving soon. (Camera cuts to me pleading, “No dear, I didn’t make any snide remarks in a public forum. May I peel you more sunflower seeds?”)

Since we’re going like way out of town, I headed to the post office to update my passport. Funny, my kids have been to Europe twice since my passport expired. Something is seriously wrong here.

And something is equally wrong with the United States Post Office. Yes, I realize they spent all their lunch money when Reagan was prez, but if you’ll look at this stupid sign at the entrance, you’ll see this is one of dozens of things very rotten about their message. And this same thing applies to you in your business. Check out the dumbest greeting sign ever…

The parking lot, by the way, holds 80 cars, and I never see more than 5-6 there. And are the words, ‘…or less’ really needed here?

Imagine this idiotic sign in front of any place that might want customers. Or might want them to linger. Can you imagine Starbucks doing this? There’d be bedlam in the social media streets. Baristas would leap from drive through windows.

So, they have serious sales problems, and are doing their best to curtail their nonexistent customers to 30 minutes. Got it.

I pick on this sign, not for the lunacy it is, but as an indicator of systemic failure. Yes, the problems persisted indoors.

The place looks shabby. Soaked ceiling tiles, half drooping. Hand scrawled signs haphazardly taped to walls with friendly notes like, “Don’t let your children play on the rails,” and “Stand behind yellow line until next teller motions.” (Motions? Motions for what… a pardon?)

This Conversation Actually Happened

ME: (After being properly motioned), “I’m renewing my passport and…
ZOMBIE LIKE PERSON in grayish blue, to match her blood: “He’s not here. He’ll be back at 1:00”.
ME: “Uh, he? (I’m struggling already.) “He, the Passport specialist?”
ZLP: “Yeah. He takes the pichers. He’ll be back at 1.”
ME: “It’s 5 after 12. Can I get the forms to fill out and come back?”
ZLP: “You can do that and take it to CVS or Walgreens. They’ll do the photo. You pay them the $35 fee.”
ME: (Thinking) Did she just send me to the competition?
ZLP: “Here’s an envelope. I think they’ll sell you the postage too.” Yells in back. “Hey Mike! Won’t they sell him the postage after they take the picher?”
Mike, avoiding the menace of photography during lunch: “Yeah, they can do all that.”
ME: (Dumbfounded that photo-boy was there the whole time. I’m sent away without a passport, photo, or postage from the very place you’d expect THAT at a minimum.)

I leave stunned, with a touch of zombie-itis setting in as I pass the stupid sign on the way out.

At the CVS, there was no customer repellant signage. No “he” eating an egg sandwich, unable to help. A very helpful 4 minutes later, my photo is taken, the form reviewed, postage affixed, and process begun. I bet every CVS trainee in America can click the camera button, especially for the $35 Passport fee, plus the $110 for the processing, including $8.90 for the postage. How much did CVS keep?

Then she kindly asks for an upsell: “Do you want to look at some travel-size toiletries while you’re here?” That type behavior will probably get you kicked off the Customer Repellant team at the Post Office.

A Question that leads to Wealth:
Are you adding or reducing friction with your customers?

With every customer contact, you’re doing one or the other. The Post Office was solid friction. CVS was like ball-bearings with Z-max poured on them.

• Is your CSR trained to advance the call? Or to put people on hold? My friends at CallSource tell me that the average appointment set rate for contractors is a painful 64%. That’s like 36% of the people being sent to the competition, eager to buy.

• Are your techs versed to advance the sale or relationship? How many mention the Maintenance Agreement and the discount they could’ve gotten? Do they ask for a positive online review? How many mention your other services?

(Two different consulting clients told me this month that their ‘other’ services fall behind when one is super busy. My question: “HOW CAN THIS BE when they are in MORE HOUSES?” Blank stares and silence ensues.)

• Does your follow-up contact ask about satisfaction? Referrals? Other services they wish you offered? Gather the email address? Bump to an Agreement?

• Does your outbound marketing only tout ‘sales’? (Fastest way to lose credibility.)  Only 55% of your marketing balance should be Direct Response, and I’m aggressive. The other should be Image, TOMA, and Retention. (Call your coach.)

• …Or vague generalities, with nothing unique?  “We’re fast, reliable, and honest!” Oh really? My clients are slow, unpredictable, and steal constantly.

While pondering the New Year, make some new changes to reduce friction everywhere you can. You’ll find far more business will slide your way, along with referrals, reputation, and more reasons your customers will grow blind and deaf to the competition.

They’ll be the ones eating the egg sandwich, wondering where all the customers went.

- See more at: Sales&MarketingInsider.com

Marketing Lessons from My Dentist

Like many who are fond of their teeth, I go to my dentist every 6 months for a check-up. Basically, this is a $320 detail job and they don’t even shampoo the carpet.

The dental hygienist lady has a habit of referring to me as “we”. She’s either aware of my multiple personalities or lives a parallel life as a pre-school teacher. “How are WE doing today? Are we having any trouble with our teeth?”

Worse, she half sings these questions, which is – or should be - punishable by death in many states, all of which I’d like to now live in.  Soon she has at least three hands in my mouth, and I can barely make out ‘Don’t Worry Be Happy’ straining through a 5” speaker covered in tooth dust.

Then she says this, which is a lesson in sales and marketing of the highest order. (You may want to floss before reading.)

See, I used to dread the dentist. As an 8 year old, I hid behind a sofa until my appointment had long passed. Then, incorrectly assuming the coast was clear, was spotted by my frantically searching mother. My rear-end took the pain originally intended for my molar regions. It was a good swap.

I mean, dentist dude had seriously hairy arms, a syringe borrowed from the zoo, and a drill that sounded like mosquitos on crack. He focused all his activity in my mouth, which was just fine when it was me and the Three Musketeers. But no, Der Drill Meister had to spoil my fun and talk about gumlines, flossing, and keeping my teeth. What a killjoy.

As a result of my dental defiance, by age 12 I had enough silver in my mouth to effect the currency market in Bolivia.

Yet by college age, modern dentistry was here. Gone were the torture rituals of old, no longer did they use pulleys and horse drawn carts to extract teeth. “Oh darn Mr. Crumpley! Wrong one! We’ll just saddle ‘er up again to get the right one. Here, chew on a bullet.”

The bullet, I might add, remains preferable to the People Magazine featuring anyone who has known or married a Kardashian.  

Yet we all learn that Preventive Maintenance is key. And it leads to…

Salesmanship for Non-Salespeople

Today I am in a comfortable chair (like a La-Z-Boy with handcuffs and a rinse cycle) while micro-abrasive cleaning tools gently erase a subtle hue of coffee and red wine. “We” are being sung to, sort of, and I’m caught by the following –

“And todayyyy…”, sounding like she’s about to announce recess, “We’re due for our X-ray as part of our routine.” I make a noise like I have a whole baked potato in my mouth which she correctly interprets as approval.

Soon, a machine suitable for Darth Vader selfies is aimed at my check, a gentle buzz emanates, and she says, “Now we’ll do the other side”. ZZZap. In 40 seconds, I’ve just spent another $240. But remember, this is part of our routine.

“So while we wait for the Doctor, let’s get your appointment scheduled. I’ve got you down for 6 months out, and I see you prefer mornings, right?”

“Yes, that’s right”, I mumble, rinsing out the cleaning cocktail in the little swirly sink.

“And what day of the week do you not prefer, knowing that we don’t take Friday appointments?”

“Uh, Tuesdays and Thursdays are fine.”

“Okay, we’ve got you down. If there are any changes, let us know ahead of time. Here’s your written slip, plus we’re sending you an email and a text reminder to put into your Outlook calendar.”

I’ve just committed a morning 6 months from now to spend a few hundred more dollars having “our” teeth media blasted. The scheduled visit after that? “We” get our X-ray.

There was no selling, only assumption. There was no, “Do you want to do this again? I sure hope so! Mandy will send a card then call you to set something up.” None of that.

Are you listening, oh ye filled with ‘How to sell and renew Maintenance Agreements’ woes? Go re-read her script.

There was no scheduling meltdown.  No, “The office will get back with you later.” It was scheduled plus Alternate of Choice.  a) It’ll be 6 months. b) Morning or afternoon. c) Which day of week. Oh, and they don’t do Fridays. Smart limitation, creates mild scarcity.

There was no upselling “Do you want me to (check ductwork leakage; adjust your water heater; do a fuse panel test)?” It was, “As part of our routine, the X-ray (upsell) is included.”

Here’s an assumption for you: Your customer has you out. You tell them Preventive Maintenance is the cure for the equivalent of their painful drillings and fillings. You tell them of your automated routine, happens like clockwork, they don’t even have to think to keep their home system maintained and working like new. Just check here, you’ll get a reminder, plus a call as it nears.

Too many contractors give too many customers the “option” to opt-out. To forget. To intend to call you again, and to use you next season, but – by darn – they got busy and didn’t. Now they use someone else. Or Mandy calls to schedule the appointment this week and you know, the darn washing machine went out, so we’re going to have to wait. Until never.

See folks, this “Retention Mission” I’ve been on is not just some esoteric marketing mantra. It is a way to virtually eliminate competition, to reduce the rigors of ‘selling’, to quit having to prove and reprove yourself every time. And I’ll not turn this into a commercial; I’ll accept a nod of agreement. In fact,

Every home with heating, cooling, plumbing, and electrical should have an agreement. Just like those of you with teeth might want that twice a year check-up. Don’t we?

Adams Hudson

1.      Do you have a Maintenance Agreement Program? 

YES, works perfectly.      

YES, has some issues    

NO, but I’d consider one    

2.      My Agreement program ‘Auto Renews’?  YES    NO

3.      I offer an Agreement to every customer.   YES    NO  

4.      I’d like to learn more about Maintenance Agreements in an upcoming Coaching Call.     YES      NO

Print vs. Online Newsletters: Five Factors to Consider in Your Customer Mailings

Contractors who want to keep their customers understand the importance of staying in touch. After all, that’s how customers remember you, appreciate you and know to call you the next time they have a need. The tried-and-true way to keep this connection strong is the customer newsletter.

By getting your name in front of customers two to four times a year with helpful tips for the home, you’re building your relationship and your image. There’s no question about that. But the question that does keep coming up is this one: “Should our newsletter be sent through the mail or by email?” Adams Hudson, president of Hudson, Ink, a marketing firm that designs lead-generating marketing programs for contractors, points to five factors to help you evaluate:

Yes, the costs are different. Both email and print versions have the same upfront costs in concept development, article writing and product design. “From there, email edges out print in this category, obviously, because it doesn’t require physical materials and you save on printing and mailing. But some people stop at that fact alone when there are others to consider,” Hudson said.

People have to physically handle your print newsletter. Your customers have to decide what to do with your print mailing rather than leaving that decision to their inbox filters. And because there’s a chance they’ll place it on a counter or coffee table, they’re more likely to hold onto your newsletter – especially if they’ve noticed the coupons and want to save them for later use.

People are more likely to remember what they read. University researchers a few years back determined that readers who read The New York Times in print form remembered significantly more news stories as well as more points from those news stories than those who read the paper online. You can make the same case for your print newsletter.

You need a list either way. “If you’re sending newsletters to current customers, your data collection may be so superior that you have both physical and email addresses for everyone in your database. More power to you. But if you’re buying lists for certain markets, the physical addresses – with demographic breakdowns and such – tend to be better for targeting certain markets than email addresses,” Hudson said. Also, he added, email is affected by CAN-SPAM legislation, which requires you to offer everyone on your list an opt-out option. Direct mail doesn’t have that restriction.

If you want the relationships, resales, referrals and recurring revenue that come from retention marketing, visit www.customerretentionprogram.com or call 1-800-489-9099 for a free sample newsletter packet. And be sure to ask about the one factor that matters most…

You can balance both. It doesn’t necessarily have to be one or the other. You can double your retention marketing by integrating your print newsletter with an online newsletter portal.

-END-

There’s a Hole in the Bucket

Some of you may remember the ridiculous song by this title. It involves holes, buckets, and some poor lady named “Liza” who is dealing with the lazy, unmotivated and repetitive Henry, who may in fact be a current member of Congress. This song got stuck in my head and wouldn’t leave. I nearly resorted to power tools.

I do this often with songs, and wonder who else shares my sickness. For the past few weeks, it’s been Jackson Browne’s Here Come Those Tear Again. Before that it was Chris Isaac’s Wicked Game. Before that, Foo Fighters’ Times Like These. At least my inner DJ hasn’t chosen anything from Alvin and the Chipmunks or Lady – and I use that term loosely – Gaga.

Yet “There’s a Hole in the Bucket” showed up just after reading Dr. Frederick Reicheld’s latest piece on “…the most crippling problem with small business growth in America”.  The appalling numbers he shows affect home service contractors more than all but ONE other business category. 

Dangers in the Marketing Arena 

I hear a lot of so-called marketing “experts” advising contractors on all sorts of schemes. Any of these sound familiar?

•  “Buying” their way up the SEO ladder to achieve great Google rankings… that lead to a dead website. Great. Now you’ve spent a pile for traffic that CAN’T convert. Then I hear of
• “Mega posting” on FaceBook that are deviously disguised payback for “posting farms” that just exchange likes for the sake of falsely running up your audience/follower count. As long as you like disinterested strangers on your FB page, that’s great. Then you have the
• Fake video farms which “names” videos that have nothing to do with you and posts them on YouTube en masse. Also great for site traffic that has way more interest in spamming you to death than buying HVAC. And two old classics are re-emerging…
• The “targeted email” lists (do NOT do this; end of warning) and the
• “Mass postal mailing” to dead addresses with no accountability. So they promise you a “10k piece mailing for just $2,000!” which miraculously only goes to about 2500 or so, with no results, darn the luck.

Basically – and perhaps you’ve heard it before – there’s no free lunch. The money wasted chasing the lead-generation phantoms leaves contractors tired, frustrated, spent. That money could’ve gone toward something far more valuable. Proven.

I mean a “tried, tested, and proven winner” year in and year out. But many contractors COMPLETELY overlook this method because they’re out chasing ghosts, using their credit card as a flashlight.

After we looked at the numbers from “The Loyalty Effect” and researched our top-tier contractors (more than $7million in residential at 10%+ net profit) we found a common element that we too had overlooked. I could’ve kicked my own rear, but instead - -

We made a 2-Part video about it. The “Hidden Path to a Contractor Fortune” shows you the hole in the bucket. Big time. I mean, it’s leaking AS YOU READ THIS. And that ain’t water you hear: it’s cash.

This video GOES LIVE on March 11^th. We opened up about 350 seats for this, so I’d register soon. (No charge.) If you DO NOT get in, don’t worry, you’ll go on a waiting list ‘til the next airing.

When you watch these videos, I think you’ll see something toward the end of Video 1 that NO ONE has ever shown you. I was more than a little surprised.

Tell your friends. This is going to be fun, and big. Plus, once it airs maybe I can get that stupid song out of my head!

Adams Hudson