“Never too late” is what many of you told me about the last editorial. Indeed it isn’t. It’s never too late to teach your children, nor to learn from them, nor to be a kid again.
Got some fabulous responses from you, including Mark Onuffer who said,
“I think the biggest thing my children have taught me is that you can have children today with their morals, thoughts, and direction in the right place. They have developed into an upstanding young man and woman, by making the right choices, using their minds and their common sense. I am very proud of them.”
Good to hear. If you watch much VHI, you’ll find that Mark’s first comment is a well-grounded concern!
Offering encouragement to those with children about to leave the nest, Deborah Strafuss said,
“Communication happens across many miles, without words. Stay connected, stay open, be accepting, always be who you are – they will always come back to connect and check in.”
Great advice. And with any luck, they’ll remember where to send the checks.
Yet, in a response mostly likely to cause a grown man to well a tear, came this…
As I leafed through dozens of kind responses, I came across this one. Stopped me cold, which turned into warmth. You’ll see.
“I learned from my son it is okay to be different. When he was 3 months old, he had a brain tumor removed that was about the size of an orange.
I was still in the Navy and the doctors said Ernie would never be this, and would never be that. They said he’d ‘always be dependent on someone else, that he’d always need someone to take care of him.’
He had it tough. Other kids picked on him. And all those things a father wants to teach their sons… to throw a ball, shoot some hoops and pass along what my father did for me, such as working with my hands. I could not do those things.
Yet I will say, the doctors were wrong on a couple points.
He is now 36 with children, working on his 2nd or 3rd Masters and working full time. He can look at a column of numbers and add them in his head faster than I can on a calculator. He may not walk or see well, but he has a good life and is happy.
He lives away now. He is independent. We talk often, but it is never enough. I first heard the song “Cats in the Cradle” bringing Ernie home from the hospital.
What a blessing it has been to have this gentle soul in our lives.
As fathers never really let go; but we must. I feel your pain and pride Adams; every day.”
Thank you, Dean Soliday for sending that message to all of us. I feel I’ve already unwrapped my present.
And lastly, it sounds like Kurt Wessling’s daughter may have the key to life when he wrote...
”My nine year old daughter is teaching me to relax. Not everything is so important. We we will get through the ‘stress’ in our life. Her advice to me is good: ‘Smile every day!"
When I think of children and Christmas, it brings a smile. For some, that smile changes from one based on the giddiness of an old man with a fantastic story named Santa, to the godliness of a young baby with an even more fantastic story named Jesus. Gifts from both, no matter your belief.
And part of our gift to you is to ask you to give something away, today. Give thanks to someone who’s not expecting it. Give encouragement to someone who needs it. Give time to listen to someone who feels they’ve run out of listeners.
Wherever you are, its’ never too late. Merry Christmas.
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
School’s Never Out for the Learner
This can’t be right. My son is not really going off to college next year. Heck, it was only a year or so ago I was coaching him in baseball, when “winning” a game meant less than the snow cone that followed. For the record, I stopped coaching when the 9 year-olds had better strategy than I did.
Nope, he can’t be going off to college. Because it was only a few months back that I drove he and a friend to a dance, filled with anticipation and anxiety about actual dancing, or perchance a kiss. Giddy expectation, largely unspoken, filled the car.
Men – though deemed to have the emotional capacity of cauliflower – can sense these things. We just don’t talk it to death.
Surely, we’re not selecting colleges for my boy. Not the one for whom I was just shopping for the used truck that’s been in our driveway now for 2 years.
Fathers know, but find it hard to swallow. Those who work at working, selected to slay the dragon of financial stability and craft creation know: the time comes too quickly. We were even repeatedly warned, “the time will come too quickly.”
But as with our universal inability to ask directions when clearly lost, we admit and accept not. Our inner pioneer is either comparatively blind or comparatively naïve, “It’ll be different; We’ll figure it out. I’ve got time.” It kind of was; we sort of did; time is up.
Now, with swelled pride I watch this accomplished high school senior weave through the college maze. Yet I also hear faint strains of Cats in the Cradle in the background. A man knows.
Here’s hoping he becomes famously wealthy in record time so he can support me and my eternally-patient wife in a lifestyle to which he’s become accustomed.
Click for: 3 Lessons My Children Taught Me, 2 Lessons I hope I taught them, and 1 We All Keep Re-Learning
3 Lessons My Children Taught Me
1. “This isn’t your childhood; you already had yours.” We have all seen other parents “living vicariously” through their kids, which – to me – is a nice way of saying, “Hey, I was a loser, so I’m going to FORCE you to correct my mistakes!” This of course, renders them a bigger loser. Will they ever learn? I once found myself attempting to create a museum-quality display “with” my son for a 5th grade project. I reeled back, seeing my own horrifically ill-designed volcanoes, and decided: it’s his grade, not mine. Thankfully, this extracted me from all future projects, except for the semi-regular mad dash to Hobby Lobby 7 seconds before they closed because the project was “just remembered”.
2. “The degree to which you object now is likely the identical degree to which your parents objected then. So how’d that work out?” Oh shut up. Next question please.
3. It is possible to learn new levels of love, understanding, and patience. Gandhi would be proud. When you’re young, you love your mother, and probably your dog. Then you love your spouse. And you think that’s it. Then your children come along, and a whole new wave of capacity appears. If you’re really fortunate, you recognize that God loved you enough for any of this to happen in the first place.
2 Lessons I Hope I Taught Them
1. It’s good to experiment. No, not with drugs or seeing if pregnancy will REALLY happen, but combine things that are not often combined. The “norm” really isn’t. Poke at an old problem with a new solution; who says you “shouldn’t” wear a t-shirt under a short-sleeved shirt? Try the oysters for crying out loud (my son once tasted dog food, of his own volition, when we were actually cooking steak that same night). Kids are going to experiment. I say let ‘em. Better with clothes and hairstyles than with car keys and alcohol.
2. Persuasion, Influence, and Decisions form your life. Maybe you should learn how to direct them, instead of being directed by them. This is a gray matter subject at best. I hope my children know what is trying to get “sold” to them and more importantly, how. Further, strong stands are often for movie heroes only, so I hope they understand that deftly-guided influence works as well, at a lower blood pressure.
1 Lesson We All Keep Relearning
1. Other people are really strange. Good thing we’re perfectly normal.
Yes, my son really is going to college. He’s naturally smart, handsome, comes from unflawed genetics, all that. So if you head the endowment at a high-caliber college where scholarship money flows onto the manicured grounds, send a link to your application. I’ll get back with you, soon as I face the fact that this is really happening.
Your Turn:
What Lessons Did Your Children Teach You?
Do any of your children work with you? What lessons are YOU learning from that?
Nope, he can’t be going off to college. Because it was only a few months back that I drove he and a friend to a dance, filled with anticipation and anxiety about actual dancing, or perchance a kiss. Giddy expectation, largely unspoken, filled the car.
Men – though deemed to have the emotional capacity of cauliflower – can sense these things. We just don’t talk it to death.
Surely, we’re not selecting colleges for my boy. Not the one for whom I was just shopping for the used truck that’s been in our driveway now for 2 years.
Fathers know, but find it hard to swallow. Those who work at working, selected to slay the dragon of financial stability and craft creation know: the time comes too quickly. We were even repeatedly warned, “the time will come too quickly.”
But as with our universal inability to ask directions when clearly lost, we admit and accept not. Our inner pioneer is either comparatively blind or comparatively naïve, “It’ll be different; We’ll figure it out. I’ve got time.” It kind of was; we sort of did; time is up.
Now, with swelled pride I watch this accomplished high school senior weave through the college maze. Yet I also hear faint strains of Cats in the Cradle in the background. A man knows.
Here’s hoping he becomes famously wealthy in record time so he can support me and my eternally-patient wife in a lifestyle to which he’s become accustomed.
Click for: 3 Lessons My Children Taught Me, 2 Lessons I hope I taught them, and 1 We All Keep Re-Learning
3 Lessons My Children Taught Me
1. “This isn’t your childhood; you already had yours.” We have all seen other parents “living vicariously” through their kids, which – to me – is a nice way of saying, “Hey, I was a loser, so I’m going to FORCE you to correct my mistakes!” This of course, renders them a bigger loser. Will they ever learn? I once found myself attempting to create a museum-quality display “with” my son for a 5th grade project. I reeled back, seeing my own horrifically ill-designed volcanoes, and decided: it’s his grade, not mine. Thankfully, this extracted me from all future projects, except for the semi-regular mad dash to Hobby Lobby 7 seconds before they closed because the project was “just remembered”.
2. “The degree to which you object now is likely the identical degree to which your parents objected then. So how’d that work out?” Oh shut up. Next question please.
3. It is possible to learn new levels of love, understanding, and patience. Gandhi would be proud. When you’re young, you love your mother, and probably your dog. Then you love your spouse. And you think that’s it. Then your children come along, and a whole new wave of capacity appears. If you’re really fortunate, you recognize that God loved you enough for any of this to happen in the first place.
2 Lessons I Hope I Taught Them
1. It’s good to experiment. No, not with drugs or seeing if pregnancy will REALLY happen, but combine things that are not often combined. The “norm” really isn’t. Poke at an old problem with a new solution; who says you “shouldn’t” wear a t-shirt under a short-sleeved shirt? Try the oysters for crying out loud (my son once tasted dog food, of his own volition, when we were actually cooking steak that same night). Kids are going to experiment. I say let ‘em. Better with clothes and hairstyles than with car keys and alcohol.
2. Persuasion, Influence, and Decisions form your life. Maybe you should learn how to direct them, instead of being directed by them. This is a gray matter subject at best. I hope my children know what is trying to get “sold” to them and more importantly, how. Further, strong stands are often for movie heroes only, so I hope they understand that deftly-guided influence works as well, at a lower blood pressure.
1 Lesson We All Keep Relearning
1. Other people are really strange. Good thing we’re perfectly normal.
Yes, my son really is going to college. He’s naturally smart, handsome, comes from unflawed genetics, all that. So if you head the endowment at a high-caliber college where scholarship money flows onto the manicured grounds, send a link to your application. I’ll get back with you, soon as I face the fact that this is really happening.
Your Turn:
What Lessons Did Your Children Teach You?
Do any of your children work with you? What lessons are YOU learning from that?
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Social Networking: Business Builder or Time Waster?
Last time, I mentioned the frightening reality of seeing 191 Facebook invitations. Even scarier than that many people pretending to be my friend is that many were people I’d not heard from since we “accidentally” swirled their head in the toilet in 7th grade.
I’d suggested ‘splitting’ the Social presence to a) Friends, family and b) Business. Then, my marketing mind and all 3 of its neurons went a step farther:
Seemed wise to take a poll on the contractor business case for Social Networking. And we got the responses. Oh man, we got responses. Some were a little ‘heated’. At least one was likely from toilet-swirl head himself.
Controversy forces truth and helps affirm belief. So, among the contractor readers out there, one thing came through loud and clear.
And that was a general belief that Social Media is a big ol’...well, you can insert your own word there.
Not so fast. There are a couple warnings - -
Do not defend the personal case for Social Media after reading this. I get it. Totally valuable within limits, each can define their own.
If connecting with family, linking with old friends, or a video of you going into a spasmodic fit after shooting Dream Whip up your nose “works” for you, go for it.
Yet if you disagree with the assessment or have an angle to share, we’d love to hear it. Link below.
The Results Are In. And they aren’t that pretty…
Here are the questions and the answers.
1. I think Social Networking is a great way to stay connected and I do not distinguish between business and personal. We’re all one big happy wedgie.
Agree: 11%
Disagree: 82%
Other: 7%
2. I think Social Networking is a great way to stay connected and I DO try to maintain distinctions between business and personal.
Agree: 73%
Disagree: 21%
Other: 6%
Conclusion Questions 1 and 2: Clearly, a separation of personal and commerce exists, should exist. Recommended: Create user groups for your business.
3. I believe Social Networking has brought us/the company more business.
Agree: 14%
Disagree: 46%
Other: 40%
Conclusion Question 3: A full 85.5% said they either ‘did not’ get sales or what they got was a waste of time.
Worthy pursuit from this conclusion: Find those who get sales without spending disproportionate time.
4. I believe Social Networking is mostly a colossal waste of time, brain cells, a contributor to A.D.D., and possibly a drop in GNP.
Agree: 34%
Disagree: 51%
Other: 15%
Conclusion Question 4: Between 50% and 100% more respondents felt Social Networking was either a waste of time or virtually impossible to determine.
5. I’d like to see how to engage Social Media for my business with a good ROI relative to money AND time spent.
Agree: 88%
Disagree: 6%
Other: 6%
Conclusion Question 5: 8 times more want this ‘ideal’ but are unclear how to get it. We’ve already got the solution framework laid out. “Automation” without mind-numbing input and resource waste is critical. We’ve hired a couple experts and vendors to complete. Contact us if you have input for this.
What is most obvious: Contractors ‘want’ to engage, ‘see’ the need to engage. Yet sort of like going door-to-door and ‘effectively engaging’ with the entire city, the time investment is currently unvalidated.
Therefore: have a presence, link between Facebook and Twitter accounts, change your pages daily, spend less than 20 minutes per day on this.
I’d suggested ‘splitting’ the Social presence to a) Friends, family and b) Business. Then, my marketing mind and all 3 of its neurons went a step farther:
Seemed wise to take a poll on the contractor business case for Social Networking. And we got the responses. Oh man, we got responses. Some were a little ‘heated’. At least one was likely from toilet-swirl head himself.
Controversy forces truth and helps affirm belief. So, among the contractor readers out there, one thing came through loud and clear.
And that was a general belief that Social Media is a big ol’...well, you can insert your own word there.
Not so fast. There are a couple warnings - -
Do not defend the personal case for Social Media after reading this. I get it. Totally valuable within limits, each can define their own.
If connecting with family, linking with old friends, or a video of you going into a spasmodic fit after shooting Dream Whip up your nose “works” for you, go for it.
Yet if you disagree with the assessment or have an angle to share, we’d love to hear it. Link below.
The Results Are In. And they aren’t that pretty…
Here are the questions and the answers.
1. I think Social Networking is a great way to stay connected and I do not distinguish between business and personal. We’re all one big happy wedgie.
Agree: 11%
Disagree: 82%
Other: 7%
2. I think Social Networking is a great way to stay connected and I DO try to maintain distinctions between business and personal.
Agree: 73%
Disagree: 21%
Other: 6%
Conclusion Questions 1 and 2: Clearly, a separation of personal and commerce exists, should exist. Recommended: Create user groups for your business.
3. I believe Social Networking has brought us/the company more business.
Agree: 14%
Disagree: 46%
Other: 40%
Conclusion Question 3: A full 85.5% said they either ‘did not’ get sales or what they got was a waste of time.
Worthy pursuit from this conclusion: Find those who get sales without spending disproportionate time.
4. I believe Social Networking is mostly a colossal waste of time, brain cells, a contributor to A.D.D., and possibly a drop in GNP.
Agree: 34%
Disagree: 51%
Other: 15%
Conclusion Question 4: Between 50% and 100% more respondents felt Social Networking was either a waste of time or virtually impossible to determine.
5. I’d like to see how to engage Social Media for my business with a good ROI relative to money AND time spent.
Agree: 88%
Disagree: 6%
Other: 6%
Conclusion Question 5: 8 times more want this ‘ideal’ but are unclear how to get it. We’ve already got the solution framework laid out. “Automation” without mind-numbing input and resource waste is critical. We’ve hired a couple experts and vendors to complete. Contact us if you have input for this.
What is most obvious: Contractors ‘want’ to engage, ‘see’ the need to engage. Yet sort of like going door-to-door and ‘effectively engaging’ with the entire city, the time investment is currently unvalidated.
Therefore: have a presence, link between Facebook and Twitter accounts, change your pages daily, spend less than 20 minutes per day on this.
Thursday, October 21, 2010
The Anti-Social Network
Just in time for Halloween, I re-activated my Facebook account. Talk about scary. Since I’d “forgotten” to post anything for the last 8 months, somehow 191 invitations piled up. And we’re not even to the scary part.
While wading through invitations, I attempted efficiency. And in my first ‘re-post’ announcing my new-found efficiency method, I ticked off the Facebook community.
What I meant to do was separate my business life and personal life.
I just felt that the business community didn’t really care about seeing a photo of me wearing a cute but overly large cowboy hat while in my underpants. Especially since I was 32 at the time.
Let this be a lesson to all those who “thought” the job interview went great, but the call-backs went strangely silent. That video of you on stage at the Marilyn Manson concert holds a clue to your spate of unfruitful interviews.
Anyway, when I posted about separating the two worlds, and my ‘limited’ acceptance of friends, some were annoyed. Yet I believe there are…
4 Facebook ‘Friend’ Segments:
1. People who you’ve lost contact with, and are sincerely happy to have them ‘linked’ into your life.
2. People you’ve lost contact with, that you frankly don’t miss.
3. People you sort of knew, but considered anti-social, weird, a little too into Star-Wars, and most likely to be wearing footed pajamas well into their 30’s.
4. The Unabomber
I really only want to stay in touch with Group 1, and might stretch to Group 2 for entertainment only. Yet some users “collect” friends, like baseball cards or matchbooks (with similar emotional investment) so they can proclaim, “I have 7,812 friends on Facebook!”
This elicits jealously among those in footed pajamas, causing them to rewatch the entire Star Wars trilogy – or my preference, its eulogy – during which they begin “friending” people they haven’t seen since the entire 5th grade gave them a wedgie of galactic proportions.
Thus the reason I got so many invitations.
I half considered starting an Anti-Social Network where those with fewer followers are revered.
Now to the business sector. Mixing B2B and Social Media (aside from LinkedIn) is often viewed as handing out business cards at a funeral: you just don’t do it.
Yet there are clever ways to achieve social networking goals and business goals simultaneously without revealing too much “Personal” and without being an overly promotional buffoon.
Next time I’ll share the Business Side of Social Networking.
While wading through invitations, I attempted efficiency. And in my first ‘re-post’ announcing my new-found efficiency method, I ticked off the Facebook community.
What I meant to do was separate my business life and personal life.
I just felt that the business community didn’t really care about seeing a photo of me wearing a cute but overly large cowboy hat while in my underpants. Especially since I was 32 at the time.
Let this be a lesson to all those who “thought” the job interview went great, but the call-backs went strangely silent. That video of you on stage at the Marilyn Manson concert holds a clue to your spate of unfruitful interviews.
Anyway, when I posted about separating the two worlds, and my ‘limited’ acceptance of friends, some were annoyed. Yet I believe there are…
4 Facebook ‘Friend’ Segments:
1. People who you’ve lost contact with, and are sincerely happy to have them ‘linked’ into your life.
2. People you’ve lost contact with, that you frankly don’t miss.
3. People you sort of knew, but considered anti-social, weird, a little too into Star-Wars, and most likely to be wearing footed pajamas well into their 30’s.
4. The Unabomber
I really only want to stay in touch with Group 1, and might stretch to Group 2 for entertainment only. Yet some users “collect” friends, like baseball cards or matchbooks (with similar emotional investment) so they can proclaim, “I have 7,812 friends on Facebook!”
This elicits jealously among those in footed pajamas, causing them to rewatch the entire Star Wars trilogy – or my preference, its eulogy – during which they begin “friending” people they haven’t seen since the entire 5th grade gave them a wedgie of galactic proportions.
Thus the reason I got so many invitations.
I half considered starting an Anti-Social Network where those with fewer followers are revered.
Now to the business sector. Mixing B2B and Social Media (aside from LinkedIn) is often viewed as handing out business cards at a funeral: you just don’t do it.
Yet there are clever ways to achieve social networking goals and business goals simultaneously without revealing too much “Personal” and without being an overly promotional buffoon.
Next time I’ll share the Business Side of Social Networking.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Midterm Mindlessness
With midterm elections just around the corner, the political rhetoric has been ratcheted up a few billion notches. And in case you missed it, the focus seems to be on our still-lagging economy. If I hear one more political ad promising the complete and total turnaround of the U.S. economy within 24 hours of electing Joe Schmoe, I may just have to start a campaign of my own. Why?
I’m as sick of the economic non-news as you are. (Part of the reason its called “NEWS” is something in it should “NEW”.) I’ll go so far as to say the following, which could cause a flurry of hate-mail being sent my way.
There’s no point in crying about the newest Economic non-news, especially if…
1. We start looking at what’s more important in life than money. How can it be bad to return focus on family, simplicity, and doing without meaningless clutter? Gosh, we might read a book instead of forking over $50 to go to the movies. Which one could “enrich” you in two ways?
2. We remember that if we weren’t selling our stocks or homes when they were “up”, why in the world would we become anxious in contemplation of doing so when they’re down?
3. We recognize that the “value” of our gains was merely “potential” value, only becoming realistic if sold. Big difference between “potentially” and “realistically”. Potentially your service van can compete in the Indy 500. Realistically, you’d be better off on foot.
4. Embrace the “C” word. I’ve yet to see homeowners go without heat, or plumbing, or electricity. Be very thankful you’re in your field of work, and that commodity is not a four-letter word. And more importantly…
5. Just be thankful, period. You’ve got health, or the hope of improvement, plus family, friends, and faith in better days ahead. Even what Americans call “poverty” materially dwarfs 70% of the rest of the world. We need to show less attitude, more gratitude.
6. All this stuff is God’s anyway. We’re just renting it. (Some of us a little behind on the payments perhaps.) Regardless of your faith or belief, there’s a pretty decent chance you believe someone other than man made the earth, its resources, its glory. Further, I’ll imagine you’ve yet to figure out a way to take it with you when you’re gone. Want what you have.
If THIS is what the economic turmoil brings us, bring it on. It’s here anyway; neither you nor I caused it; we can only control how we respond.
A choice, as I see it. Now go share some good news. There’s plenty enough to go around.
Thoughts and considerations –
1. Do you have ONE PERSON you’d like to thank? I bet more than one. Why not ‘pay out’ with some thanks to somebody who could use it? Pretty darn easy to. Click here to get started.
2. Do you have a whole BUNCH of people you’d like to thank at one time? Like, um, maybe YOUR CUSTOMERS? We have contractor Holiday Cards available again this year.
3. Would you like to triple your market penetration for pennies? Check out the radius marketing program through Express Copy.
I’m as sick of the economic non-news as you are. (Part of the reason its called “NEWS” is something in it should “NEW”.) I’ll go so far as to say the following, which could cause a flurry of hate-mail being sent my way.
There’s no point in crying about the newest Economic non-news, especially if…
1. We start looking at what’s more important in life than money. How can it be bad to return focus on family, simplicity, and doing without meaningless clutter? Gosh, we might read a book instead of forking over $50 to go to the movies. Which one could “enrich” you in two ways?
2. We remember that if we weren’t selling our stocks or homes when they were “up”, why in the world would we become anxious in contemplation of doing so when they’re down?
3. We recognize that the “value” of our gains was merely “potential” value, only becoming realistic if sold. Big difference between “potentially” and “realistically”. Potentially your service van can compete in the Indy 500. Realistically, you’d be better off on foot.
4. Embrace the “C” word. I’ve yet to see homeowners go without heat, or plumbing, or electricity. Be very thankful you’re in your field of work, and that commodity is not a four-letter word. And more importantly…
5. Just be thankful, period. You’ve got health, or the hope of improvement, plus family, friends, and faith in better days ahead. Even what Americans call “poverty” materially dwarfs 70% of the rest of the world. We need to show less attitude, more gratitude.
6. All this stuff is God’s anyway. We’re just renting it. (Some of us a little behind on the payments perhaps.) Regardless of your faith or belief, there’s a pretty decent chance you believe someone other than man made the earth, its resources, its glory. Further, I’ll imagine you’ve yet to figure out a way to take it with you when you’re gone. Want what you have.
If THIS is what the economic turmoil brings us, bring it on. It’s here anyway; neither you nor I caused it; we can only control how we respond.
A choice, as I see it. Now go share some good news. There’s plenty enough to go around.
Thoughts and considerations –
1. Do you have ONE PERSON you’d like to thank? I bet more than one. Why not ‘pay out’ with some thanks to somebody who could use it? Pretty darn easy to. Click here to get started.
2. Do you have a whole BUNCH of people you’d like to thank at one time? Like, um, maybe YOUR CUSTOMERS? We have contractor Holiday Cards available again this year.
3. Would you like to triple your market penetration for pennies? Check out the radius marketing program through Express Copy.
Friday, September 24, 2010
In Proverbs we are told that the wise learn from the mistakes of others. Using this method, I must be a fantastic teacher.
Mistakes are powerful lesson builders. Nowhere is this more evident than when you a) Measure everything, b) Are in the “Marketing for ROI” business, and c) Have teenage children in your household.
Email marketing inherently brings mistakes. Since it’s free and everyone can send an email, you see both wise and idiotic marketing side-by-side. Usually the higher the media cost the higher the research and testing.
Yet the wise have certainly learned from the mistakes, testing multiple email methods to maximize results.
Here’s what a 4 year study from the minds of MarketingSherpa in a multi-million dollar test updated June 2010 says are do’s and don’ts that are costing you big time. There were dozens but I condensed it to The TOP 9 EMAIL MISTAKES from Contractors. A few of these are shockers.
• The “From” line: How many emails do you send with your company in the “From” area, thinking, “Hey, they know me and my company, so this is a good, trustable source?” WRONG. One of the primary strengths of email is being “personal”, so making the “from” box appear personal is the exact same advice behind “blind” or “shielded” Direct Mail envelopes. (As your PowerPack advised you years ago!) Personal emails get read first, many company ones are trashed instantly. Get in that first group.
• Remain consistently “known”: Often a company will send an email from the salesperson, then from the CSR, then from accounting, then back to the the tech to confirm an appointment. BAD IDEA. Finally, the branders ‘win’ one, but we knew this one anyway. It is better to have either a) consistent spokesperson communicating in the ‘from’ line by name, OR b) “customer service”@, OR c) Something creative like, “TheDreamTeam@”.
• Watch the “Subject Line” Branding Attempts: Have you been told by the “experts” that putting your company name in the subject line is a good branding idea? WRONG. Findings from the research team indicated, “This single mistake sends response rates tumbling.” Another shot in the ‘branding’ vs. ‘direct response’ marketers mini-war.
• Subject Lines RULE Open Rates: Are you sending emails without thought to the Subject line? Are you ‘salesy’ sounding things like, “Check this out” or “We have some great deals”? KISS OF DEATH. Fact: the highest paid group in all of marketing are Direct Response copywriters. Within that, are the elite “headline” writers whose fees can be in the thousands per hour. Yes, per hour. Their trade has ballooned by writing emails that get opened, and that dear friends is from “Subject Lines” since they are the ‘headline’ of your email. I save the emails I get with the best ‘Subject’ lines, and have for years.
A Hint: Novelty, entertainment, intrigue, question, controversy ALL outpull the corporate ego schlock everyone else is sending.
• Subject Line Brevity: I got a subject line this week that said: “Come By Our Booth at Comfortech to See the New” Really UnSmart. Due to the various pane previewers out there, most can’t even SEE more than about 30 characters. Keep Subject lines under 40 characters.
•Formatting Nightmares: We all get emails in two basic forms: HTML (graphics, formatting) and plain text (plain and legible). But which is better? This battle has raged on like, “Is it Lady Gaga or Lotta Gaggy?” The answer is finally here.
Send in HTML but with very plain graphics. Why? The test showed that high graphics – though nice to see – slowed emails, reduced opens, and appeared as ‘blanks’ more often. And thought Plain Text gets read more often, it does NOT share stats like HTML. Thus, the “hybrid” model. (If you send in MIME format, your emails will be sent in both formats, but you’re still cautioned against high graphic emails.)
• Common Link Mistakes: Lazy marketers or unaware contractors often send links that are more than one line long, causing it to slip to the next line, rendering unopenable except by cutting and pasting. Response Killer. Avoid link-wrapping and long tracking links.
• Prefix Disaster. Lots of email senders think its “old fashioned” to include the http:// because you don’t need it. HOGWASH. Include the ‘http’ because larger providers won’t present your link as “live” without the URL. Give the full prefix or expect a far lower open rate.
• Readership List Death. Many business owners felt that “cheap” or “free” meant “smart” in their corporate communications. So many swapped out product announcements, home show appearances, and newsletters from hard mail or traditional “paid” media to email. The study showed two things happened, both bad.
First, email is to be short or linked to a longer subject like we do in SMI. When the email was long, it was summarily discarded. (We reported this in SMI over two years ago.)
Second, since email is known to be cheap and fast, customers saw company information delivered this way as cheap, thus deletable. (How “warm” do you feel when you get an e-birthday card vs. a mailed one? Just checking.)
Research shows that mailed vs. emailed gets higher open rates, better branding, imaging, and most importantly higher response rates. The study showed between 4 and 22 times the response rate for a variety of items from the same company, for same product, to same list. Pretty good test.
Hudson, Ink recommends (this was not in the study) that you send short, content-rich emails to your broad “free” list, linking them to a longer article or product info within that email. Then supplement your email communication to your “paid” list (customers) with real mail. This way, you’re communicating both ways to the higher value list members.
We have seen response rates actually increase over the past 2 years with traditional “real” mail. (Same as the now-famous Wall Street Journal article on Direct Mail versus Email response.)
So if you’re going to use email – and you should – use it well.
So there you have it. Keep this list. Forward to a friend. You just saw how to make all the emails you send get opened more, read more, and pull better.
Mistakes are powerful lesson builders. Nowhere is this more evident than when you a) Measure everything, b) Are in the “Marketing for ROI” business, and c) Have teenage children in your household.
Email marketing inherently brings mistakes. Since it’s free and everyone can send an email, you see both wise and idiotic marketing side-by-side. Usually the higher the media cost the higher the research and testing.
Yet the wise have certainly learned from the mistakes, testing multiple email methods to maximize results.
Here’s what a 4 year study from the minds of MarketingSherpa in a multi-million dollar test updated June 2010 says are do’s and don’ts that are costing you big time. There were dozens but I condensed it to The TOP 9 EMAIL MISTAKES from Contractors. A few of these are shockers.
• The “From” line: How many emails do you send with your company in the “From” area, thinking, “Hey, they know me and my company, so this is a good, trustable source?” WRONG. One of the primary strengths of email is being “personal”, so making the “from” box appear personal is the exact same advice behind “blind” or “shielded” Direct Mail envelopes. (As your PowerPack advised you years ago!) Personal emails get read first, many company ones are trashed instantly. Get in that first group.
• Remain consistently “known”: Often a company will send an email from the salesperson, then from the CSR, then from accounting, then back to the the tech to confirm an appointment. BAD IDEA. Finally, the branders ‘win’ one, but we knew this one anyway. It is better to have either a) consistent spokesperson communicating in the ‘from’ line by name, OR b) “customer service”@, OR c) Something creative like, “TheDreamTeam@”.
• Watch the “Subject Line” Branding Attempts: Have you been told by the “experts” that putting your company name in the subject line is a good branding idea? WRONG. Findings from the research team indicated, “This single mistake sends response rates tumbling.” Another shot in the ‘branding’ vs. ‘direct response’ marketers mini-war.
• Subject Lines RULE Open Rates: Are you sending emails without thought to the Subject line? Are you ‘salesy’ sounding things like, “Check this out” or “We have some great deals”? KISS OF DEATH. Fact: the highest paid group in all of marketing are Direct Response copywriters. Within that, are the elite “headline” writers whose fees can be in the thousands per hour. Yes, per hour. Their trade has ballooned by writing emails that get opened, and that dear friends is from “Subject Lines” since they are the ‘headline’ of your email. I save the emails I get with the best ‘Subject’ lines, and have for years.
A Hint: Novelty, entertainment, intrigue, question, controversy ALL outpull the corporate ego schlock everyone else is sending.
• Subject Line Brevity: I got a subject line this week that said: “Come By Our Booth at Comfortech to See the New
•Formatting Nightmares: We all get emails in two basic forms: HTML (graphics, formatting) and plain text (plain and legible). But which is better? This battle has raged on like, “Is it Lady Gaga or Lotta Gaggy?” The answer is finally here.
Send in HTML but with very plain graphics. Why? The test showed that high graphics – though nice to see – slowed emails, reduced opens, and appeared as ‘blanks’ more often. And thought Plain Text gets read more often, it does NOT share stats like HTML. Thus, the “hybrid” model. (If you send in MIME format, your emails will be sent in both formats, but you’re still cautioned against high graphic emails.)
• Common Link Mistakes: Lazy marketers or unaware contractors often send links that are more than one line long, causing it to slip to the next line, rendering unopenable except by cutting and pasting. Response Killer. Avoid link-wrapping and long tracking links.
• Prefix Disaster. Lots of email senders think its “old fashioned” to include the http:// because you don’t need it. HOGWASH. Include the ‘http’ because larger providers won’t present your link as “live” without the URL. Give the full prefix or expect a far lower open rate.
• Readership List Death. Many business owners felt that “cheap” or “free” meant “smart” in their corporate communications. So many swapped out product announcements, home show appearances, and newsletters from hard mail or traditional “paid” media to email. The study showed two things happened, both bad.
First, email is to be short or linked to a longer subject like we do in SMI. When the email was long, it was summarily discarded. (We reported this in SMI over two years ago.)
Second, since email is known to be cheap and fast, customers saw company information delivered this way as cheap, thus deletable. (How “warm” do you feel when you get an e-birthday card vs. a mailed one? Just checking.)
Research shows that mailed vs. emailed gets higher open rates, better branding, imaging, and most importantly higher response rates. The study showed between 4 and 22 times the response rate for a variety of items from the same company, for same product, to same list. Pretty good test.
Hudson, Ink recommends (this was not in the study) that you send short, content-rich emails to your broad “free” list, linking them to a longer article or product info within that email. Then supplement your email communication to your “paid” list (customers) with real mail. This way, you’re communicating both ways to the higher value list members.
We have seen response rates actually increase over the past 2 years with traditional “real” mail. (Same as the now-famous Wall Street Journal article on Direct Mail versus Email response.)
So if you’re going to use email – and you should – use it well.
So there you have it. Keep this list. Forward to a friend. You just saw how to make all the emails you send get opened more, read more, and pull better.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
The Real Wealth in Contracting
Hallelujah. We now have a kitchen. Or most of one. At least I have a sink where I can wash my coffee cup without first having to remove some ladies' undergarment apparatus from Woolite. (Once it took me nearly two hours to untangle a halter top that had some origami kind of twisted front. I still don’t know if I got it right.)
We can now cook food in something other than a microwave. Since my teenagers eat roughly 11 meals per day, our home – when viewed from Google Earth – looks like a glow stick.
My refrigerator is no longer stylishly perched in the entrance hall, seemingly saying to guests, “Hi, welcome to our home. Please have some butter.”
And tracing my 12 weeks of family torment back to where it all began, we are once and for all…
Formica-less.
I hadn’t realized the kitchen design embarrassment my wife had endured all these years. The indestructible Formica had served us well, though it was potentially more suited to the Space Shuttle belly pan.
We now have quartz and marble countertops. Yet with manufacturing cleverness, they could be reconstituted Formica made to look like other materials, only priced 400 times higher. In fact many “hardwood floors” are really Formica with different names, same as many politicians.
Though my first home cost less than this renovation (I have no idea if that’s true, but you must make this type comment so others will do the “renovation gasp”) my wife is happy. And that counts for everything (unless you’re attracted to misery, punishment, weeping, gnashing of teeth, and sleeping in the yard).
You should be excellent at a) getting and creating “happy” customers, and b) committed to keeping those customers. Sure, you can have a “satisfied” customer and “hope” they call you back, but that’s so yesterday, so basic, so not you.
Though your job skills are important, no skill is more important than getting and keeping the customer. Why?
What value are your skills without customers? In this economy, not much. A fantastic plumber with no work is heading toward being broke. An “okay” plumber good at keeping customers and with a constant 2 week backlog is heading towards wealth.
You’ve got to be more than “just” skilled. Things have changed.
Here’s How The Contractors Fared, And Who Is Most Likely
To Take Their Business To The Next Level…
• The GC – Stayed in touch after he did a smallish bathroom job for our daughter’s room. He stayed busy while others moaned, and remembered to keep the pipeline full by treating ‘past’ jobs as ‘current’ customers. Smart. He scored this job and has a nice backlog of work. 2009 was his best year ever. Grade A
• The Plumber – Did fine work. However, he never said his name, never left a card, never asked to look at other plumbing issues in the house. We had to be reminded he was the plumber on the previous bathroom job. Guess he doesn’t care that we have plumbing in rooms other than the kitchen, or neighbors, all in 100 year old houses. He just does his work, disappears, hopes. Hard to call or refer a phantom. Grade D-
• Electrician – Did fine work. Uniforms, truck signage, left a card on every visit, we get his newsletter, postcards. Also called behind the work to check. Subsequently (and I’m no big customer) this company has done Hudson Ink’s 3 commercial properties, a warehouse, another house, and neighbors on both sides. Grade A
• Floor Dudes – Did ‘fair’ work. Has the people skills of a bruised turnip. Swept sawdust into our new floor vents, like we didn’t notice. Lucky they didn’t come on while the floor was wet. Fast, rushed, left zero company info, never called back to check or make good on the misstep. Our house and offices all have hardwood, as do all our neighbors. Oh well. Guess they don’t need more customers. Grade D
• Painters – Neatest painters I’ve ever seen. Cleaned up daily. Left swatches, mixed custom batches, really exceptional. To their discredit, never checked to see that we have other walls, or that I was planning to repaint our office façade, like I do every year. Even the company that did that job last year disappeared too. Never called, emailed, recontacted, nothing. I have no idea who it was. Guess I’ll just Google for painters. Grade C
• Countertop/Cabinet Contractors – Fabulous work. My wife’s birthday was during this time, asked if the marble could at least be ‘set’ while she was away as a surprise. They willingly complied, did an excellent job going “one step beyond”. I won’t forget that, nor them. They left company info and called after both jobs, Recontact works folks. Grade A
You may notice that the grades have little correlation to the quality of work. They have everything to do with getting called, referred, or remembered by a good “retained” customer. Recontacting customers means you’re keeping them by keeping yourself relevant.
A message from your customers to you: We’re paying customers. You paid to earn us. We want to remember you, call you, refer you, buy more from you, but need your help. Please don’t ignore us.
Once you’ve gotten a customer, your most important job is to keep that customer.
We can now cook food in something other than a microwave. Since my teenagers eat roughly 11 meals per day, our home – when viewed from Google Earth – looks like a glow stick.
My refrigerator is no longer stylishly perched in the entrance hall, seemingly saying to guests, “Hi, welcome to our home. Please have some butter.”
And tracing my 12 weeks of family torment back to where it all began, we are once and for all…
Formica-less.
I hadn’t realized the kitchen design embarrassment my wife had endured all these years. The indestructible Formica had served us well, though it was potentially more suited to the Space Shuttle belly pan.
We now have quartz and marble countertops. Yet with manufacturing cleverness, they could be reconstituted Formica made to look like other materials, only priced 400 times higher. In fact many “hardwood floors” are really Formica with different names, same as many politicians.
Though my first home cost less than this renovation (I have no idea if that’s true, but you must make this type comment so others will do the “renovation gasp”) my wife is happy. And that counts for everything (unless you’re attracted to misery, punishment, weeping, gnashing of teeth, and sleeping in the yard).
You should be excellent at a) getting and creating “happy” customers, and b) committed to keeping those customers. Sure, you can have a “satisfied” customer and “hope” they call you back, but that’s so yesterday, so basic, so not you.
Though your job skills are important, no skill is more important than getting and keeping the customer. Why?
What value are your skills without customers? In this economy, not much. A fantastic plumber with no work is heading toward being broke. An “okay” plumber good at keeping customers and with a constant 2 week backlog is heading towards wealth.
You’ve got to be more than “just” skilled. Things have changed.
Here’s How The Contractors Fared, And Who Is Most Likely
To Take Their Business To The Next Level…
• The GC – Stayed in touch after he did a smallish bathroom job for our daughter’s room. He stayed busy while others moaned, and remembered to keep the pipeline full by treating ‘past’ jobs as ‘current’ customers. Smart. He scored this job and has a nice backlog of work. 2009 was his best year ever. Grade A
• The Plumber – Did fine work. However, he never said his name, never left a card, never asked to look at other plumbing issues in the house. We had to be reminded he was the plumber on the previous bathroom job. Guess he doesn’t care that we have plumbing in rooms other than the kitchen, or neighbors, all in 100 year old houses. He just does his work, disappears, hopes. Hard to call or refer a phantom. Grade D-
• Electrician – Did fine work. Uniforms, truck signage, left a card on every visit, we get his newsletter, postcards. Also called behind the work to check. Subsequently (and I’m no big customer) this company has done Hudson Ink’s 3 commercial properties, a warehouse, another house, and neighbors on both sides. Grade A
• Floor Dudes – Did ‘fair’ work. Has the people skills of a bruised turnip. Swept sawdust into our new floor vents, like we didn’t notice. Lucky they didn’t come on while the floor was wet. Fast, rushed, left zero company info, never called back to check or make good on the misstep. Our house and offices all have hardwood, as do all our neighbors. Oh well. Guess they don’t need more customers. Grade D
• Painters – Neatest painters I’ve ever seen. Cleaned up daily. Left swatches, mixed custom batches, really exceptional. To their discredit, never checked to see that we have other walls, or that I was planning to repaint our office façade, like I do every year. Even the company that did that job last year disappeared too. Never called, emailed, recontacted, nothing. I have no idea who it was. Guess I’ll just Google for painters. Grade C
• Countertop/Cabinet Contractors – Fabulous work. My wife’s birthday was during this time, asked if the marble could at least be ‘set’ while she was away as a surprise. They willingly complied, did an excellent job going “one step beyond”. I won’t forget that, nor them. They left company info and called after both jobs, Recontact works folks. Grade A
You may notice that the grades have little correlation to the quality of work. They have everything to do with getting called, referred, or remembered by a good “retained” customer. Recontacting customers means you’re keeping them by keeping yourself relevant.
A message from your customers to you: We’re paying customers. You paid to earn us. We want to remember you, call you, refer you, buy more from you, but need your help. Please don’t ignore us.
Once you’ve gotten a customer, your most important job is to keep that customer.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Getting Perpetual Traffic to Your Website: Google’s New Little Secret That Has Changed the Rules
Were these the good ol’ days? Back when Yellow Pages were the dominant marketing resource for contractors (around the Paleozoic era, just before Larry King’s birth) basically all you had to know is –
How big of an ad can I get for how much money?
After that, the Yellow Pages would design an ad that looked shockingly like every other ad in the book, and overcharge you mightily. If you paid more for more years, you got closer to the front of the section (whoopdee!). If you resisted, they would break your legs and call you names. It was a simpler time.
Though Yellow Page lookups have plummeted (down 24% in last 48 months, a precipitous decline – the online SuperPages not doing much better), they’re not dead. Yet a good bit of their viability has been drained by…
The internet. Okay, let’s call it Google. (You can suggest Yahoo, Bing, or Ask, but Google has 71.63% of the market according to Hitwise.com.) When you own the cards and the chips, you get to make the rules. Enter SEO.
Before the internet, we had to go based on “who was reading or watching what”. Now, we must get psycho-graphic and determine “What questions are prospects asking before they find me?”
In essence, this is Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
So, everyone began looking at keywords, search strings, relevance, and recency as methods to be “found” on the internet. Changes here are near constant. Case in point - -
There are 3 hugely popular SEO myths that DO NOT WORK anymore, and one ‘secret’ Google revision that has really changed rankings.
3 Popular Phrases that are Totally False today:
1. If you build it they will come. No they won’t. Let me rephrase this. “If you build it, you will be charged.” Basically, you can build the Taj Mahal of websites but if no one can find you, what was the point? Do not let your web designer “forget” to include SEO as one of the main reasons you’re investing.
2. Content is King. Content used to be King, but has now become a second Lieutenant. It is still very attractive, but can be overwhelming. Content per site is actually shrinking. The new “King” is activity (thanks Google!). More in a moment.
3. Being ranked first means you have the best site. No, it means you have the most “findable” site in that search string. I’d rather finish 3rd-5th in ranking (still top half of screen, first page) and have the most conversions. Even though I’m a lead junkie, I’d rather have closeable leads than window shoppers.
With that out of the way, what is working now?
Through Google Analytics, find how people are finding you. Easy to go to www.google.com/Analytics and see where you rank in your chosen words.
Keyword Check: Are your ‘best’ words used throughout your site? In your Title, Meta Tags and Head tags? Now check density of word usage. If “Plumbing in Sacramento” is a search string, then use that phrase early per page, and up to 3 times per 300 words.
Keyword tip everybody misses: DO NOT just post an image on your site with some undecipherable code. Place keywords in the ALT Tags for all your images. You’ll thank me later.
Video is more “active” than text. Label your videos, title it for relevance among hopeful viewers.
What are the top pages on your site now? Look for commonalities on those pages to see why they get more visits. Apply these tactics to your conversion pages.
Index Status: Check whether your website has been indexed by major search engines. If it is not indexed, all this SEO focus is pointless.
Are you socially acceptable? Put links to Twitter and FaceBook on your website, and cross link from them back to your site. Completely fill out your profiles, again using keywords as appropriate.
Blog your little fanny off. A weekly ‘editorial’ is really a blog, and that can be posted on Blogspot.com
Backlink check: When a link to you starts on another site and points to you, that’s a backlink. Getting quality backlinks is critical. So get listed in directories, post on related forums, get quoted in blogs and submit your articles to directories. Check backlinkbuilder.com. I do not recommend ‘buying’ backlinks. Dangerous territory.
Google’s Most Recent “Change” that will put money in your pocket. Get ready. Where you used to be able to get ‘found’ on static content, now Google ranks “activity” on your site. This means as you gain popularity… you gain findability. I know, it’s the chicken and the egg thing. Easiest thing to do is stay active. Add links, add articles, add posts, add customer reviews, update news, change dates, Tweet like an over-caffeinated canary, add video, post your printed newsletter on your website.
How big of an ad can I get for how much money?
After that, the Yellow Pages would design an ad that looked shockingly like every other ad in the book, and overcharge you mightily. If you paid more for more years, you got closer to the front of the section (whoopdee!). If you resisted, they would break your legs and call you names. It was a simpler time.
Though Yellow Page lookups have plummeted (down 24% in last 48 months, a precipitous decline – the online SuperPages not doing much better), they’re not dead. Yet a good bit of their viability has been drained by…
The internet. Okay, let’s call it Google. (You can suggest Yahoo, Bing, or Ask, but Google has 71.63% of the market according to Hitwise.com.) When you own the cards and the chips, you get to make the rules. Enter SEO.
Before the internet, we had to go based on “who was reading or watching what”. Now, we must get psycho-graphic and determine “What questions are prospects asking before they find me?”
In essence, this is Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
So, everyone began looking at keywords, search strings, relevance, and recency as methods to be “found” on the internet. Changes here are near constant. Case in point - -
There are 3 hugely popular SEO myths that DO NOT WORK anymore, and one ‘secret’ Google revision that has really changed rankings.
3 Popular Phrases that are Totally False today:
1. If you build it they will come. No they won’t. Let me rephrase this. “If you build it, you will be charged.” Basically, you can build the Taj Mahal of websites but if no one can find you, what was the point? Do not let your web designer “forget” to include SEO as one of the main reasons you’re investing.
2. Content is King. Content used to be King, but has now become a second Lieutenant. It is still very attractive, but can be overwhelming. Content per site is actually shrinking. The new “King” is activity (thanks Google!). More in a moment.
3. Being ranked first means you have the best site. No, it means you have the most “findable” site in that search string. I’d rather finish 3rd-5th in ranking (still top half of screen, first page) and have the most conversions. Even though I’m a lead junkie, I’d rather have closeable leads than window shoppers.
With that out of the way, what is working now?
Through Google Analytics, find how people are finding you. Easy to go to www.google.com/Analytics and see where you rank in your chosen words.
Keyword Check: Are your ‘best’ words used throughout your site? In your Title, Meta Tags and Head tags? Now check density of word usage. If “Plumbing in Sacramento” is a search string, then use that phrase early per page, and up to 3 times per 300 words.
Keyword tip everybody misses: DO NOT just post an image on your site with some undecipherable code. Place keywords in the ALT Tags for all your images. You’ll thank me later.
Video is more “active” than text. Label your videos, title it for relevance among hopeful viewers.
What are the top pages on your site now? Look for commonalities on those pages to see why they get more visits. Apply these tactics to your conversion pages.
Index Status: Check whether your website has been indexed by major search engines. If it is not indexed, all this SEO focus is pointless.
Are you socially acceptable? Put links to Twitter and FaceBook on your website, and cross link from them back to your site. Completely fill out your profiles, again using keywords as appropriate.
Blog your little fanny off. A weekly ‘editorial’ is really a blog, and that can be posted on Blogspot.com
Backlink check: When a link to you starts on another site and points to you, that’s a backlink. Getting quality backlinks is critical. So get listed in directories, post on related forums, get quoted in blogs and submit your articles to directories. Check backlinkbuilder.com. I do not recommend ‘buying’ backlinks. Dangerous territory.
Google’s Most Recent “Change” that will put money in your pocket. Get ready. Where you used to be able to get ‘found’ on static content, now Google ranks “activity” on your site. This means as you gain popularity… you gain findability. I know, it’s the chicken and the egg thing. Easiest thing to do is stay active. Add links, add articles, add posts, add customer reviews, update news, change dates, Tweet like an over-caffeinated canary, add video, post your printed newsletter on your website.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Kitchen Nightmares
As some of you may know, we’re redoing our kitchen. Someone forgot to tell me that when contractors remove your kitchen, the upheaval is only slightly less than if you sold your vital organs.
Rethinking that, since I’ve now consumed more than 300 of each variety of microwave dinners (said appliance on a piano bench in my living room), I would gladly trade my spleen for a completed kitchen.
Since we’ve no provision for doing dishes, which I’d initially thought was a huge benefit, we invested in plastic utensils. One package contains enough flatware to satisfy all the spitball shooting fourth graders in America until 2012.
Note to the plastic utensil manufacturing industry: they don’t work. A photograph of a knife and fork actually outperforms this stuff. The spoons work on room temperature items only. They snap attempting to move one shaving of ice cream and melt in soup like Uri Geller stared at them. The fourth graders have discovered the only true use for your products.
So, as a family, we now eat scalding microwave synthesized food with our hands. This means we scream and growl during dinner. This renovation has erased millions of years of evolution in eight weeks.
Also realize that this “no dishwashing provision” means that plates, glasses, and the occasional serving dish must now be cleaned in our laundry sink. I have now actually seen some type of ladies undergarment apparatus soaking with a piece of pasta and ricotta floating nearby. I almost gave up Italian food on the spot, but regained my senses. Further, I could easily gross you out with the little fudge ripple incident, but I won’t.
Now, onto the contractors.
The General Contractor has been great. I keep wanting to say something small-minded and bitterly satirical (my specialty) but – darn the luck – he keeps doing good work. Yet some subs have had slip ups. In no order, here you go - -
Electrical – As mentioned earlier, this is the ONLY company that landed on all three “lists”. (See the SMI, May 12, 2010 editorial). I also shared how they did it (See the SMI, May 24, 2010 issue.) These people’s prices make most jewelry stores look like thrift shops, but they’re good, reliable, fair and – here’s the kicker – highly professional. Quite unlike the…
Floor People – Far as I can tell, our hardwood floors needed sanding, staining, and clearing. Not exactly nuclear fusion. The only real skill test was matching the color to the other floors in the house. When they arrived at 8:02 one morning, bucket and brushes in hand for this step, I asked one question, “Is that the same color as the rest of the house?” This person, who appeared to have been tossed out of a Wolf Mother concert, never looked up and said, “I think its close.” That’s a quote. By 8:12, he’d left and I’d yet to reattach my jaw. The floor didn’t match. They promised their next coat would. We’ll see.
HVAC guys – They had to move a couple floor registers and build some new ductwork. They came on time, were orderly, but flubbed up one hole. Instead of making excuses, they fixed the problem. They did outstanding work, and impressed me mightily with this: they quoted me on an equipment upgrade using the tax credit, plus have re-contacted me twice to pursue once the kitchen was complete. Excellent selling by these guys. This professional upsell is worth about $6 grand of pure genius. In contrast to the…
Plumbers – Great technicians, but their business manner makes me wonder if they were raised with bi-polar jackals. They’d measure and cut perfect holes for their feed and waste lines… then ream them beyond recognition to fit the pipes. They put gorgeous copper piping behind the walls… then put a USED PVC as the trap line we’d see under the sink. (Honestly, it looked like scrap that washed here from Katrina.) They watched as the contractor gingerly slid a 650 pound oven over protective plywood as not to scratch the floor. Yet they dragged the new dishwasher over the same floor like a reluctant pit bull. The parallel grooves in our ‘new’ floor resemble the tri-oval at Darlington.
So they get to pay to redo the floors. In so doing, they’ll “throw away” half their net profit because they failed to put down a piece of plywood. Ridiculous. My wife was fairly sick about this.
If you’ll read closely, you’ll see that the “problems” were often not the craft; nor were the “solutions”. Neatness matters. Professionalism matters. Showing up on time counts. Accepting a mistake is remembered. The bare minimum is for you to do your craft well. What sets you apart is crafting yourself well.
To paraphrase long-time sage consultant Ron Smith: You don’t just fix the problem; you fix the customer.
Stay tuned.
Questions for you:
What can you do, starting today, that proves to a homeowner that you are different? (Think neatness, clarity, protecting property, cleanliness and proving it.)
What do other professionals in your town do – in any trade – that demonstrates true professionalism? What can you model?
Rethinking that, since I’ve now consumed more than 300 of each variety of microwave dinners (said appliance on a piano bench in my living room), I would gladly trade my spleen for a completed kitchen.
Since we’ve no provision for doing dishes, which I’d initially thought was a huge benefit, we invested in plastic utensils. One package contains enough flatware to satisfy all the spitball shooting fourth graders in America until 2012.
Note to the plastic utensil manufacturing industry: they don’t work. A photograph of a knife and fork actually outperforms this stuff. The spoons work on room temperature items only. They snap attempting to move one shaving of ice cream and melt in soup like Uri Geller stared at them. The fourth graders have discovered the only true use for your products.
So, as a family, we now eat scalding microwave synthesized food with our hands. This means we scream and growl during dinner. This renovation has erased millions of years of evolution in eight weeks.
Also realize that this “no dishwashing provision” means that plates, glasses, and the occasional serving dish must now be cleaned in our laundry sink. I have now actually seen some type of ladies undergarment apparatus soaking with a piece of pasta and ricotta floating nearby. I almost gave up Italian food on the spot, but regained my senses. Further, I could easily gross you out with the little fudge ripple incident, but I won’t.
Now, onto the contractors.
The General Contractor has been great. I keep wanting to say something small-minded and bitterly satirical (my specialty) but – darn the luck – he keeps doing good work. Yet some subs have had slip ups. In no order, here you go - -
Electrical – As mentioned earlier, this is the ONLY company that landed on all three “lists”. (See the SMI, May 12, 2010 editorial). I also shared how they did it (See the SMI, May 24, 2010 issue.) These people’s prices make most jewelry stores look like thrift shops, but they’re good, reliable, fair and – here’s the kicker – highly professional. Quite unlike the…
Floor People – Far as I can tell, our hardwood floors needed sanding, staining, and clearing. Not exactly nuclear fusion. The only real skill test was matching the color to the other floors in the house. When they arrived at 8:02 one morning, bucket and brushes in hand for this step, I asked one question, “Is that the same color as the rest of the house?” This person, who appeared to have been tossed out of a Wolf Mother concert, never looked up and said, “I think its close.” That’s a quote. By 8:12, he’d left and I’d yet to reattach my jaw. The floor didn’t match. They promised their next coat would. We’ll see.
HVAC guys – They had to move a couple floor registers and build some new ductwork. They came on time, were orderly, but flubbed up one hole. Instead of making excuses, they fixed the problem. They did outstanding work, and impressed me mightily with this: they quoted me on an equipment upgrade using the tax credit, plus have re-contacted me twice to pursue once the kitchen was complete. Excellent selling by these guys. This professional upsell is worth about $6 grand of pure genius. In contrast to the…
Plumbers – Great technicians, but their business manner makes me wonder if they were raised with bi-polar jackals. They’d measure and cut perfect holes for their feed and waste lines… then ream them beyond recognition to fit the pipes. They put gorgeous copper piping behind the walls… then put a USED PVC as the trap line we’d see under the sink. (Honestly, it looked like scrap that washed here from Katrina.) They watched as the contractor gingerly slid a 650 pound oven over protective plywood as not to scratch the floor. Yet they dragged the new dishwasher over the same floor like a reluctant pit bull. The parallel grooves in our ‘new’ floor resemble the tri-oval at Darlington.
So they get to pay to redo the floors. In so doing, they’ll “throw away” half their net profit because they failed to put down a piece of plywood. Ridiculous. My wife was fairly sick about this.
If you’ll read closely, you’ll see that the “problems” were often not the craft; nor were the “solutions”. Neatness matters. Professionalism matters. Showing up on time counts. Accepting a mistake is remembered. The bare minimum is for you to do your craft well. What sets you apart is crafting yourself well.
To paraphrase long-time sage consultant Ron Smith: You don’t just fix the problem; you fix the customer.
Stay tuned.
Questions for you:
What can you do, starting today, that proves to a homeowner that you are different? (Think neatness, clarity, protecting property, cleanliness and proving it.)
What do other professionals in your town do – in any trade – that demonstrates true professionalism? What can you model?
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Sales Meets Marketing
Marketing is a method by which sales opportunities are created. Marketing can bring you the leads, but if you can’t close ‘em, what’s the point?
I interviewed a young man for a marketing job the other day. He contended that his sales experience translated into marketing prowess. Not so fast…
I told him, without attaching superiority to either skill, it was like comparing a tournament fisherman to a commercial fisherman. One is more event focused; the other more process focused; both generate fish, or in this young man’s case, sales.
For the best salespeople, their skills are not natural. They’re trained – and train others – to sense when a buyer is in suspended disbelief (a good state by the way) or when they’re eager for you to get to the price. They’re trained to recognize when they’ve pushed internal ‘buy’ buttons, and need to bring out the proposal that second. The transition to the proposal should look as natural as breathing. Yet it’s ordered, intentional, and studied.
You can’t get this good by “winging it.” Training is the only way. It helps improve our marketing to homeowners and it’ll help you close more sales, at higher prices. Here’s how:
Share your Summer marketing promotions with the entire staff at a weekly meeting. For July it could be your Summer Postcard Retention campaign. August can be an end-of-season Replacement Lead Generation. A simple plan is better than no plan.
During the meeting, all must know where the ads are running. Make sure to “offer” details and deadlines (if you don’t use deadlines or limits, you’re losing lots of leads). Nothing is worse than a customer service representative (CSR) getting a call from an excited homeowner grasping a hot letter and responding, “I don’t have a clue what you’re referring to.” Buzz kill.
All techs, salespeople, and CSRs must know your intended upsell for each offer. For example, water filtration from a leaking pipe, or an IAQ inspection that’s included with any service, or the maintenance agreement package included with an equipment upgrade. The logic is that if they enter the home with no upsell then they’ll either leave with either a standard or no sale. If given an upsell, they get one more level to raise average transaction size.
Whether these sales close or not, you must follow up. Your CSRs and eager salespeople will follow up with a planned script to make sure needs are met, more information given, and referrals requested. The credibility gained by doing this – sale or no sale – guarantees your differentiation and future calls.
Extra Sales Bump: The last sales follow-up comes back to marketing. This is where you send what I call the “unclosed prospect letter” to all fitting the description. We’ve offered this to clients for the past few years – though you can create your own – and their average sales rate from sending it is 4%.
See, it’s an intentional system. Whatever you’re offering this Summer, marketing and sales must work like a team. When they’re unified, the effect compounds to maximize leads, closing ratios, transaction sizes, and referral rates.
As you go through this Summer, you’ve got some economic jitters to contend with, and those are more easily overcome with planned sales responses. Likewise, your marketing can allay those fears, and as discussed here before, your marketing – not your retreat – will be more important this Summer than ever.
Let your sales and marketing combine its muscle to bring you more leads, richer sales, and happier customers. It’d be our pleasure to help you do that, now it’s up to you to do the rest.
I interviewed a young man for a marketing job the other day. He contended that his sales experience translated into marketing prowess. Not so fast…
I told him, without attaching superiority to either skill, it was like comparing a tournament fisherman to a commercial fisherman. One is more event focused; the other more process focused; both generate fish, or in this young man’s case, sales.
For the best salespeople, their skills are not natural. They’re trained – and train others – to sense when a buyer is in suspended disbelief (a good state by the way) or when they’re eager for you to get to the price. They’re trained to recognize when they’ve pushed internal ‘buy’ buttons, and need to bring out the proposal that second. The transition to the proposal should look as natural as breathing. Yet it’s ordered, intentional, and studied.
You can’t get this good by “winging it.” Training is the only way. It helps improve our marketing to homeowners and it’ll help you close more sales, at higher prices. Here’s how:
Share your Summer marketing promotions with the entire staff at a weekly meeting. For July it could be your Summer Postcard Retention campaign. August can be an end-of-season Replacement Lead Generation. A simple plan is better than no plan.
During the meeting, all must know where the ads are running. Make sure to “offer” details and deadlines (if you don’t use deadlines or limits, you’re losing lots of leads). Nothing is worse than a customer service representative (CSR) getting a call from an excited homeowner grasping a hot letter and responding, “I don’t have a clue what you’re referring to.” Buzz kill.
All techs, salespeople, and CSRs must know your intended upsell for each offer. For example, water filtration from a leaking pipe, or an IAQ inspection that’s included with any service, or the maintenance agreement package included with an equipment upgrade. The logic is that if they enter the home with no upsell then they’ll either leave with either a standard or no sale. If given an upsell, they get one more level to raise average transaction size.
Whether these sales close or not, you must follow up. Your CSRs and eager salespeople will follow up with a planned script to make sure needs are met, more information given, and referrals requested. The credibility gained by doing this – sale or no sale – guarantees your differentiation and future calls.
Extra Sales Bump: The last sales follow-up comes back to marketing. This is where you send what I call the “unclosed prospect letter” to all fitting the description. We’ve offered this to clients for the past few years – though you can create your own – and their average sales rate from sending it is 4%.
See, it’s an intentional system. Whatever you’re offering this Summer, marketing and sales must work like a team. When they’re unified, the effect compounds to maximize leads, closing ratios, transaction sizes, and referral rates.
As you go through this Summer, you’ve got some economic jitters to contend with, and those are more easily overcome with planned sales responses. Likewise, your marketing can allay those fears, and as discussed here before, your marketing – not your retreat – will be more important this Summer than ever.
Let your sales and marketing combine its muscle to bring you more leads, richer sales, and happier customers. It’d be our pleasure to help you do that, now it’s up to you to do the rest.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Think You Got Some Bugs in Your Customer Service?
For the most part, our other copywriter Jessica is easy-going. She’s very contemplative, enjoys verbal jousting, has a great sense of humor and a quick wit. The best of copywriter traits.
That said, she’s not exactly a pushover. Once a very thin line is crossed, her inner calm turns into an enraged lion with venomous snakes for hair. (Did I mention Jessica was female too?)
Fortunately – for national safety – this rarely happens. Yet in what is turning out to be the “Best Worst Customer Service Story of 2010” (no applause yet, we’re only half way through the year, and we’re renovating our kitchen, remember?), Jessica’s line was crossed.
Oh, and I think you’ll be more than a little entertained to hear what happened next, in her own words. Customer Service lessons in abundance.
How NOT to Do Customer Service
By Jessica “I ain’t taking this anymore” Knight
My sister, brother-in-law and I woke on a beautiful Saturday to go to the “big city” for shopping and massages. A few hours later, not only were our muscles gloriously melted from the spa treatment, but our arms were filled with clothes, and most importantly, fabulous new shoes.
Since shopping and massages are so tiring, it was obviously time to hit our favorite Italian restaurant. Side note: I cannot eat pasta. So going to an Italian restaurant may sound like the dumbest idea since the doggie Snuggie (it’s real – look it up), but this restaurant will substitute pasta for grilled vegetables. Plus, the food is always fantastic. Decision made.
We walked in and were quickly seated by the overly-perky hostess who proceeded to knock a full bottle of olive oil onto my shirt. As I watched my shirt soak up enough oil to blame BP, I looked up for her response. It was one word long: “Oh”.
No apology, no wet nap, no oil boom, nothing. Mentally, I registered her disregard. So, greasy but undaunted, I spent the next 10 minutes in the bathroom drying the oil so I wouldn’t ignite when they lit the table candles.
Soon enough, our food comes. Oh joy. After a few bites I grab for my water, and there bobbing in the ice cubes, is a bug. We’re not talking about a gnat…we’re talking about an actual roach doing the backstroke in my water. This ain’t good.
Given my recently dismissed oil issue and now this, I politely and calmly called for the manager.
Now contractors, put yourself in my new, fabulous, shoes for a moment. A customer has a setback, then another, and now he or she is asking for you. You can either shine and be their hero… or you can spiral this thing out of control.
When the manager arrives, I explain the situation about the bug and the uncapped oil spill. As a repeat customer, my only “intention” was to a) Alert him to the problem(s) and b) Get a new glass of water. His reaction?
If you’re expecting an apology and, “Let me get you another drink and some napkins,” or even comping the meal, prepare to be shocked. His real response was to shout, “You’re not getting your food for free!” He was inching toward the line. Snakes were indeed beginning to grow out of my newly coiffed hair.
I gathered enough resolve to re-explain the oil slick and roach, and that I only asked for a glass of water. Once I had, he escalated his own crumbling position with, “I think you have an attitude problem.”
Unleash the lion.
In as good an Al Pacino as a lady can do, I said, “You think I have an attitude problem? Nope. I’m about to demonstrate an attitude problem for you.”
That’s when I stood and walked to the six tables surrounding ours, to start six conversations that all began with:
“Do you see this roach in my drink? The manager (my attitude induced finger pointing) doesn’t think this is a problem. Do you?” Snarls and gaggery ensued.
Half the tables got up and left, including a party of 9. I sat down, my performance now over. We gathered our things and as I departed I mentioned to the properly horrified manager, who’s repulsive non customer service attitude had just cost him at least $1500, “Now that was an attitude problem.” And we left, never to darken his door again, all because of a glass of water.
Let’s be sane here. People – your people, my people, others – are going to make mistakes. But the response is what makes all the difference.
In this case, the manager could’ve replaced the water, shared my feelings, and offered to pay for whatever laundry bill to clean the shirt. I’d have been happy. If he’d also offered to comp my meal (all of $17) I’d have been overjoyed. A wise manager would’ve done so instantly.
Yet the greedy and uncaring manger lost 3 additional tables, wads of Saturday night revenue and lost customers forever. As Adams has written many times, unhappy customers will tell 12 others their story. And that was before Social Media and the internet. Ooops.
Now your reputation is a few clicks away from being broadcast. An exponential increase to the damage can result in moments.
So if you leave a customer’s house a wreck, or don’t show up with the right materials, or have a dreaded “call back”, your reputation is on the line based on your reaction.
The lesson? Don’t be afraid to over correct. Spending more to save a customer and stem the bad word of mouth can save you (and make you) tons of money in the long run. Investing in your current and repeat customers generally has a better ROI than trying to replace them.
Bon appetit!
That said, she’s not exactly a pushover. Once a very thin line is crossed, her inner calm turns into an enraged lion with venomous snakes for hair. (Did I mention Jessica was female too?)
Fortunately – for national safety – this rarely happens. Yet in what is turning out to be the “Best Worst Customer Service Story of 2010” (no applause yet, we’re only half way through the year, and we’re renovating our kitchen, remember?), Jessica’s line was crossed.
Oh, and I think you’ll be more than a little entertained to hear what happened next, in her own words. Customer Service lessons in abundance.
How NOT to Do Customer Service
By Jessica “I ain’t taking this anymore” Knight
My sister, brother-in-law and I woke on a beautiful Saturday to go to the “big city” for shopping and massages. A few hours later, not only were our muscles gloriously melted from the spa treatment, but our arms were filled with clothes, and most importantly, fabulous new shoes.
Since shopping and massages are so tiring, it was obviously time to hit our favorite Italian restaurant. Side note: I cannot eat pasta. So going to an Italian restaurant may sound like the dumbest idea since the doggie Snuggie (it’s real – look it up), but this restaurant will substitute pasta for grilled vegetables. Plus, the food is always fantastic. Decision made.
We walked in and were quickly seated by the overly-perky hostess who proceeded to knock a full bottle of olive oil onto my shirt. As I watched my shirt soak up enough oil to blame BP, I looked up for her response. It was one word long: “Oh”.
No apology, no wet nap, no oil boom, nothing. Mentally, I registered her disregard. So, greasy but undaunted, I spent the next 10 minutes in the bathroom drying the oil so I wouldn’t ignite when they lit the table candles.
Soon enough, our food comes. Oh joy. After a few bites I grab for my water, and there bobbing in the ice cubes, is a bug. We’re not talking about a gnat…we’re talking about an actual roach doing the backstroke in my water. This ain’t good.
Given my recently dismissed oil issue and now this, I politely and calmly called for the manager.
Now contractors, put yourself in my new, fabulous, shoes for a moment. A customer has a setback, then another, and now he or she is asking for you. You can either shine and be their hero… or you can spiral this thing out of control.
When the manager arrives, I explain the situation about the bug and the uncapped oil spill. As a repeat customer, my only “intention” was to a) Alert him to the problem(s) and b) Get a new glass of water. His reaction?
If you’re expecting an apology and, “Let me get you another drink and some napkins,” or even comping the meal, prepare to be shocked. His real response was to shout, “You’re not getting your food for free!” He was inching toward the line. Snakes were indeed beginning to grow out of my newly coiffed hair.
I gathered enough resolve to re-explain the oil slick and roach, and that I only asked for a glass of water. Once I had, he escalated his own crumbling position with, “I think you have an attitude problem.”
Unleash the lion.
In as good an Al Pacino as a lady can do, I said, “You think I have an attitude problem? Nope. I’m about to demonstrate an attitude problem for you.”
That’s when I stood and walked to the six tables surrounding ours, to start six conversations that all began with:
“Do you see this roach in my drink? The manager (my attitude induced finger pointing) doesn’t think this is a problem. Do you?” Snarls and gaggery ensued.
Half the tables got up and left, including a party of 9. I sat down, my performance now over. We gathered our things and as I departed I mentioned to the properly horrified manager, who’s repulsive non customer service attitude had just cost him at least $1500, “Now that was an attitude problem.” And we left, never to darken his door again, all because of a glass of water.
Let’s be sane here. People – your people, my people, others – are going to make mistakes. But the response is what makes all the difference.
In this case, the manager could’ve replaced the water, shared my feelings, and offered to pay for whatever laundry bill to clean the shirt. I’d have been happy. If he’d also offered to comp my meal (all of $17) I’d have been overjoyed. A wise manager would’ve done so instantly.
Yet the greedy and uncaring manger lost 3 additional tables, wads of Saturday night revenue and lost customers forever. As Adams has written many times, unhappy customers will tell 12 others their story. And that was before Social Media and the internet. Ooops.
Now your reputation is a few clicks away from being broadcast. An exponential increase to the damage can result in moments.
So if you leave a customer’s house a wreck, or don’t show up with the right materials, or have a dreaded “call back”, your reputation is on the line based on your reaction.
The lesson? Don’t be afraid to over correct. Spending more to save a customer and stem the bad word of mouth can save you (and make you) tons of money in the long run. Investing in your current and repeat customers generally has a better ROI than trying to replace them.
Bon appetit!
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
8 Wise Things That I Have Learned, Some of Them Just Yesterday
Having had a birthday this week, I decided to assemble my list of wise sayings and observations. When you start seeing gray hair, you can do this too. This article has very little to do with marketing, except for the last one, so consider yourself warned.
- If you don’t think birthdays are worth celebrating, try skipping one. Same goes for every day, including this one.
- If your wife of 25 years asks you before you go out, “Are you wearing that?” this does not mean she’s been stricken blind. She essentially means “You look hopelessly unkempt, inappropriate, and stupid.” Your options are to a) change clothes or b) prepare to not stand next to her for the duration of said event. Either option can have advantages. I did not just say that.
- The next time a company worth $40 billion asks for a permit to drill a hole in the earth, please ask if they can fill the hole they make. My sheetrock guy, carpenter, auto bodyman and dentist – who aren’t worth $40 billion - make holes and know how to patch them. They consider it part of their job, and would be insulted if you thought otherwise. Related to this…
- I wouldn’t order any oysters until 2025. Or later.
- When your teenage children drive you nuts because their moods are governed by tides on an evil and distant planet, remind yourself of this: Your tolerance of them now is in direct proportion to the tolerance they’ll have for you later when you’re telling them about gall bladder surgery. Again.
- If you feel the need to make a smarty pants comment to a waiter or waitress, don’t do it until after your food has been served. If you are with someone who forgets this rule, make sure you order something significantly different from them. For instance, if you order soup and the rude person does too, you should immediately say, “I have a sudden craving for the flaming lamb kabobs instead.”
- If you’re caught napping at your desk, the all time best response is, “… in his name we pray, amen.” Though a good response, if false, you may be punished more discreetly and severely that just being honest with your boss.
- If you are Nike and your trillionaire client with a squeaky clean image seems to have misplaced his wedding vows, it is in poor taste – marketing or otherwise – to try and buy back public sympathy with an ad campaign featuring his deceased father. My advice: drop him. Just do it.
And so, since I’m sure there are tens of thousands of cards in the mail wishing me so, I’ll wish myself a happy birthday. See? Wisdom is knowing your audience.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Idea. Tools. Action. Results.
I know tons of idea people. I generally like them, but when they say they’re “going to” do something, I don’t hold my breath. Before long, they’re onto the next thing, having talked themselves out of the idea’s implementation with any of the 467 reasons their last idea never got implemented either. Their inability has nothing to do with the merits of the idea, or their skill.
I know several tool people. They love gadgets, hardware, software, tools... doesn’t matter. “Things” are fun to research, consume, read about. They have deep, specific knowledge of skill. Many have closets and book shelves filled with the next thing that’s gonna change their life. Except life often gets in the way of using the tool for that purpose. Their inability has nothing to do with the tool or their recognition of its value.
I know far fewer action people. Some act first and think later, but as long as no one gets killed or fortunes get evaporated, no real harm done. Sometimes they confuse action with results. Experience often (but not always) guides them to get better at choosing opportunities. Their ability often comes with little core talent of the “craft” required to succeed, yet a great talent in confidence, persuasion, and team building.
Then there are the rare “results” people. They love outcome, feedback, improvement, measurement from before and after. They’re un-fun to be around if results are weak, but when the results “matter” (choose your definition) their joy and elation is contagious. The best don’t mind a fair critique, but their determination often overrides or makes them relatively immune to criticism. Their wisdom is often copying others’ proven results using similar input; their failure is thinking all the good results are ‘theirs’.
If the first two groups don’t recognize their need for the last two groups, inactivity becomes a death sentence. If the last two groups don’t see the value in the first two, they turn into opinionated, reckless blowhards. (Often setting them up for a career in politics.)
My Pollyanna point: It takes all these traits – rarely ever found in one body – to generate a model by which successes, fortunes, and world changes are formed. Sometimes just hearing about results inspires the rest of us to action.
I know several tool people. They love gadgets, hardware, software, tools... doesn’t matter. “Things” are fun to research, consume, read about. They have deep, specific knowledge of skill. Many have closets and book shelves filled with the next thing that’s gonna change their life. Except life often gets in the way of using the tool for that purpose. Their inability has nothing to do with the tool or their recognition of its value.
I know far fewer action people. Some act first and think later, but as long as no one gets killed or fortunes get evaporated, no real harm done. Sometimes they confuse action with results. Experience often (but not always) guides them to get better at choosing opportunities. Their ability often comes with little core talent of the “craft” required to succeed, yet a great talent in confidence, persuasion, and team building.
Then there are the rare “results” people. They love outcome, feedback, improvement, measurement from before and after. They’re un-fun to be around if results are weak, but when the results “matter” (choose your definition) their joy and elation is contagious. The best don’t mind a fair critique, but their determination often overrides or makes them relatively immune to criticism. Their wisdom is often copying others’ proven results using similar input; their failure is thinking all the good results are ‘theirs’.
If the first two groups don’t recognize their need for the last two groups, inactivity becomes a death sentence. If the last two groups don’t see the value in the first two, they turn into opinionated, reckless blowhards. (Often setting them up for a career in politics.)
My Pollyanna point: It takes all these traits – rarely ever found in one body – to generate a model by which successes, fortunes, and world changes are formed. Sometimes just hearing about results inspires the rest of us to action.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
At This Moment I Was Doomed
We’re finally doing it. We’ve committed to ‘the deed’. And though I’ve been dreading it like getting an amateur colonoscopy, we’re finally redoing our kitchen.
When we moved into our lovable and creaky 1911 house, it had been ‘updated’. But that was when Seinfeld was the rage, most women’s hairdos appeared to be the result of electrocution, and cell phones were the size of microwaves. (Little known fact: Early models did cook bacon.)
Like most guys, my kitchen needs were limited to a 48 quart cooler and toaster oven, so I didn’t really “notice” any urgency to the cause. Yet after some nagging threats knives being pulled discussing this with my wife, I finally admitted that Formica – an indestructible product first used in Jane Jetson’s kitchen – may be slightly out of style.
At this moment, I was doomed.
Within seconds, designers and contractors swarmed my house. My silly question: How did countertops trigger a major renovation?
Because, you idiot, the cabinets upon which the Formica is cryogenically fused are stupid and clash with everything in the world. The new cabinets will then horribly outclass the wretched appliances including Harvest Gold HotPoint Double Oven which has grease stains older than Larry King. That’s how.
This is when you get a look that basically says, “I’m surprised you still remember to swallow after chewing.” I was dying a slow death here. A tip to those of you who still have Formica: Move. Save your marriage and just move.
When the swelling went down, we met with a registered Kitchen Designer. Of course, the “UN” registered ones are all in jail – or should be - for putting the trendy farm sink outside of the “preparation triangle”. You just don’t do this.
Within moments, the Designer had suggested moving doorways, installing thousands of can lights and updating to a stove bigger than my college apartment. It had big red knobs. Something called a “Pot Filler” was mentioned (a second uninvited college reference resurfaced. I kept it to myself). Lastly, white marble was to cover every surface, I think including the windows. I glanced at my wife who was in full kitchen lust. Tiny but appropriate froth formed at the corner of her mouth. I began scanning the classifieds for a night job.
Cue The Contractor
Last summer, we added a bathroom for my daughter and the contractor was excellent. Good quality, on time, on budget. We “mentioned” the kitchen then. Wisely, he was semi-regularly in touch, even though he stays booked when many contractors weren’t.
(Make a note people: “Call me if you decide to do something” isn’t good enough anymore. He knows there are many skilled contractors around; several prowl our neighborhood.) Once the appropriate lip froth was wiped away, he got the next phone call.
After he saw the initial plans it was determined that we’d need every subcontractor in the tri-states area, including those for trades that hadn’t been invented yet. Then things got interesting.
The designer had her list of subs, clearly influential here. (Take another note.) The contractor had a list. (Note again.) Now if your note-taking hand isn’t cramped… we did too.
Only one subcontractor was on all 3 lists. Guess what this contractor did differently than the others? Put your best guess in the comments section.
Yet there will be a parade of subs, some below $2,000 in work. At least 2 over $20,000. Not big money for many of you guys, but multiply it by all the work going on in your town now. Somebody’s getting it, because somebody’s on “the list”. My advice:
Be On “The List”
Over the next few issues, we’re going farther into the “referral chain” than I’ve ever revealed. There are free jobs in this methodology, but most contractors overlook it or think they “just happen”. They don’t. Coaching members, expect an upcoming call on this topic.
You can also TWEET the living heck out of me, where I give random updates as they happen… as long as my wife doesn’t kick me out of the house during 8 weeks with no kitchen.
When we moved into our lovable and creaky 1911 house, it had been ‘updated’. But that was when Seinfeld was the rage, most women’s hairdos appeared to be the result of electrocution, and cell phones were the size of microwaves. (Little known fact: Early models did cook bacon.)
Like most guys, my kitchen needs were limited to a 48 quart cooler and toaster oven, so I didn’t really “notice” any urgency to the cause. Yet after some nagging threats knives being pulled discussing this with my wife, I finally admitted that Formica – an indestructible product first used in Jane Jetson’s kitchen – may be slightly out of style.
At this moment, I was doomed.
Within seconds, designers and contractors swarmed my house. My silly question: How did countertops trigger a major renovation?
Because, you idiot, the cabinets upon which the Formica is cryogenically fused are stupid and clash with everything in the world. The new cabinets will then horribly outclass the wretched appliances including Harvest Gold HotPoint Double Oven which has grease stains older than Larry King. That’s how.
This is when you get a look that basically says, “I’m surprised you still remember to swallow after chewing.” I was dying a slow death here. A tip to those of you who still have Formica: Move. Save your marriage and just move.
When the swelling went down, we met with a registered Kitchen Designer. Of course, the “UN” registered ones are all in jail – or should be - for putting the trendy farm sink outside of the “preparation triangle”. You just don’t do this.
Within moments, the Designer had suggested moving doorways, installing thousands of can lights and updating to a stove bigger than my college apartment. It had big red knobs. Something called a “Pot Filler” was mentioned (a second uninvited college reference resurfaced. I kept it to myself). Lastly, white marble was to cover every surface, I think including the windows. I glanced at my wife who was in full kitchen lust. Tiny but appropriate froth formed at the corner of her mouth. I began scanning the classifieds for a night job.
Cue The Contractor
Last summer, we added a bathroom for my daughter and the contractor was excellent. Good quality, on time, on budget. We “mentioned” the kitchen then. Wisely, he was semi-regularly in touch, even though he stays booked when many contractors weren’t.
(Make a note people: “Call me if you decide to do something” isn’t good enough anymore. He knows there are many skilled contractors around; several prowl our neighborhood.) Once the appropriate lip froth was wiped away, he got the next phone call.
After he saw the initial plans it was determined that we’d need every subcontractor in the tri-states area, including those for trades that hadn’t been invented yet. Then things got interesting.
The designer had her list of subs, clearly influential here. (Take another note.) The contractor had a list. (Note again.) Now if your note-taking hand isn’t cramped… we did too.
Only one subcontractor was on all 3 lists. Guess what this contractor did differently than the others? Put your best guess in the comments section.
Yet there will be a parade of subs, some below $2,000 in work. At least 2 over $20,000. Not big money for many of you guys, but multiply it by all the work going on in your town now. Somebody’s getting it, because somebody’s on “the list”. My advice:
Be On “The List”
Over the next few issues, we’re going farther into the “referral chain” than I’ve ever revealed. There are free jobs in this methodology, but most contractors overlook it or think they “just happen”. They don’t. Coaching members, expect an upcoming call on this topic.
You can also TWEET the living heck out of me, where I give random updates as they happen… as long as my wife doesn’t kick me out of the house during 8 weeks with no kitchen.
Are You Running The Business – Or Is It Running You?
My 16 year old daughter and her team just snagged a spot in the state track meet, and I, by proxy, am feeling pretty accomplished. My thinking is that those speedy genes came from somewhere and there’s at least a 50% chance that they came from me. Of course, just thinking about all of that running has me panting with exhaustion. So maybe the genes came from her mother’s side…
At any rate, running a contracting business gives you a great feeling of accomplishment and sometimes a great feeling of exhaustion! One of the biggest risks is that your attention is pulled in so many directions that you lose sight of the things needed for your survival. Like with a lot of things, the secret of success is no secret at all. To excel in business you will have to do the following three things (or your failure is relatively assured):
1.Technical proficiency: 78% of contractors come from trade or on-the-job training. Getting more training is needed to improve your technical proficiency AND to improve your ability to solve your customers’ problems. But your expertise here is useless in realizing your business goals without…
2.Effective Business Systems. This is about a little thing called money. Your financial and operations picture dictates how well or if you’re being paid well enough to stay afloat. Yet without sales, it doesn’t matter. Here’s why:
3.Marketing runs the machine, not the other way around. Your sales are directly related to your leads, which ARE your ads, and comprise much of your marketing efforts. If you have a problem with your sales, you must determine: is it a presentation problem, closing problem… or a problem with lead generation?
Good marketing brings in leads. But don’t let your understanding stop at that point. Marketing is not about getting more leads.
Wait a minute – did I hear myself correctly? Yes, I did. Effective marketing is not necessarily about getting more leads. It’s about getting the right leads. To know whether you’re getting the right leads, here are some other things you should consider:
•Cost per lead is paramount. Who cares if newspaper placement costs you $100 more if it brings you more leads per dollar? Don’t freak out about bigger postcards, first-class mail, or a bigger Yellow Pages ad. Review what the expense brings you. It’s an investment, remember?
•Fewer shoppers is very cool. When you do creative marketing, you are – by definition – making a creative offer that is typically not duplicatable. Thus, it’s unshoppable. Thus, you’ve just put yourself out of the “discounting” business to “get the job.” Please don’t make me write “thus” again, except for thus…
•Higher margins. Fewer shoppers and unique offering means you can ask and get more for your goods. Try 2%, or 5% more to start. My guess is that you won’t lose one single customer except for Mickey McCheap, and you’ve been trying to dump him for years. The rest is yours to keep. We write lead-generation ads that openly tout increased benefits without saying a word about how “cheap” the service is.
•Success through seasonal dips is what most contractors want. With great marketing, you can turn your leads off and on like a switch. HVAC, Electrical or Plumbing Agreements, system offerings during mild weather can generate repeatable income each year. Start with a tune-up or service ad first, never attempt to sell a Maintenance Agreement in broad-market media. That’s a loser. (Believe me, I know!)
•Better Ad rates, Better Top of Mind Awareness (TOMA), More “Me, too” customers all result from a steady stream of good marketing pieces. Everything from a newspaper presence, yard sign visibility, lead-generating Yellow Page ads, postcards that stand out, Newsletters people actually read – it all adds up to smart marketing, real profit and, ultimately, a successful contracting business.
In this way, you run the business instead of it running you. Isn’t that the goal?
At any rate, running a contracting business gives you a great feeling of accomplishment and sometimes a great feeling of exhaustion! One of the biggest risks is that your attention is pulled in so many directions that you lose sight of the things needed for your survival. Like with a lot of things, the secret of success is no secret at all. To excel in business you will have to do the following three things (or your failure is relatively assured):
1.Technical proficiency: 78% of contractors come from trade or on-the-job training. Getting more training is needed to improve your technical proficiency AND to improve your ability to solve your customers’ problems. But your expertise here is useless in realizing your business goals without…
2.Effective Business Systems. This is about a little thing called money. Your financial and operations picture dictates how well or if you’re being paid well enough to stay afloat. Yet without sales, it doesn’t matter. Here’s why:
3.Marketing runs the machine, not the other way around. Your sales are directly related to your leads, which ARE your ads, and comprise much of your marketing efforts. If you have a problem with your sales, you must determine: is it a presentation problem, closing problem… or a problem with lead generation?
Good marketing brings in leads. But don’t let your understanding stop at that point. Marketing is not about getting more leads.
Wait a minute – did I hear myself correctly? Yes, I did. Effective marketing is not necessarily about getting more leads. It’s about getting the right leads. To know whether you’re getting the right leads, here are some other things you should consider:
•Cost per lead is paramount. Who cares if newspaper placement costs you $100 more if it brings you more leads per dollar? Don’t freak out about bigger postcards, first-class mail, or a bigger Yellow Pages ad. Review what the expense brings you. It’s an investment, remember?
•Fewer shoppers is very cool. When you do creative marketing, you are – by definition – making a creative offer that is typically not duplicatable. Thus, it’s unshoppable. Thus, you’ve just put yourself out of the “discounting” business to “get the job.” Please don’t make me write “thus” again, except for thus…
•Higher margins. Fewer shoppers and unique offering means you can ask and get more for your goods. Try 2%, or 5% more to start. My guess is that you won’t lose one single customer except for Mickey McCheap, and you’ve been trying to dump him for years. The rest is yours to keep. We write lead-generation ads that openly tout increased benefits without saying a word about how “cheap” the service is.
•Success through seasonal dips is what most contractors want. With great marketing, you can turn your leads off and on like a switch. HVAC, Electrical or Plumbing Agreements, system offerings during mild weather can generate repeatable income each year. Start with a tune-up or service ad first, never attempt to sell a Maintenance Agreement in broad-market media. That’s a loser. (Believe me, I know!)
•Better Ad rates, Better Top of Mind Awareness (TOMA), More “Me, too” customers all result from a steady stream of good marketing pieces. Everything from a newspaper presence, yard sign visibility, lead-generating Yellow Page ads, postcards that stand out, Newsletters people actually read – it all adds up to smart marketing, real profit and, ultimately, a successful contracting business.
In this way, you run the business instead of it running you. Isn’t that the goal?
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Driving Me Crazy
Who could imagine that my ‘baby’ girl just turned 16? I remember when my wife told me ‘we’ were pregnant with this, our second child. I was driving the trusty Chrysler minivan (legally mandated for all young parents back then) on a heavy switchback road in western North Carolina called ‘tail of the dragon’ to give you an idea of the curviness.
In a car with sporting pretense, this is a dream road. A minivan on this road was like wearing a burlap bathing suit to the Queen’s coronation. Hardly appropriate. For several seconds after she told me, I was in stunned silence, mouth agape, almost plummeting into several ravines. A little personal aside:
We’d tried for 5 years to ‘finally’ get pregnant with our first child. Yet that little miracle was 10 months old in his car seat when she told me of the second. And this little girl has been regularly surprising ever since.
She’s an accomplished pianist, outstanding student, and has a smile that could melt cast iron. And like all dads of teenagers, I am stupider than a turtle on crack. (I’m waiting for that to change, hopefully before I’m too senile to appreciate it.)
Yet the real surprise of the day, is she is now a legal driver, piloting her very own (used) car. Wow. Another shocker was shopping for this car. Double wow.
Let’s just get this out into the open: Car dealers used to have a reputation slightly lower than most sewer rats or even plaintiff attorneys. Some of this was undeserved, but mostly it was because they were conniving, lecherous, money-grubbing deceitful organisms in snappy outfits.
In those days, you’d walk onto a car lot, looking for say, a nice used Caprice in the $12 grand range. An hour later, you’d drive out in a bent Cadillac Brougham with the Wayne Newton package and a payment book totaling $48,724. In your review mirror, a guy with a Televangelist hairdo and a white belt would be counting money that used to be yours.
Not any more.
Possibly due to being sued every 30 minutes for 20 years, car dealers wised up. Then CarFax came along, and the internet happened, and ‘reviews’ started. Then ebay, traderonline, cars.com, yahoocars and craigslist all illuminate the ‘global car lot’. (Hint: Same with your business today.) Prices, options, and reviews could be relentlessly shopped. Reputations got earned or lost far faster. (Ditto.)
My daughter narrowed her search to a particular year, color, and body style of Jeep. Mean old dad gave her a firm “do not exceed or bodily harm could ensue” price range. Luckily, this necessitated a diligent search. She’d come home from school and zero in on 3-4 cars daily that ‘fit’ most criteria, saving links for me to contact
Dutifully, I emailed each (24 in all) with the same message, same parameters. The responses and reactions varied wildly. (See Bonus article at end.) This gave me a cross-section of sales and marketing methods, with suggestions for you on each.
What the Smart Guys are Doing Right
1. Systemized Yet Personal – The top-tier guys use the information gathered online to ‘aim’ a personal email message, in sequence. The call was equally personalized, effectively scripted. Additional links in emails in case I “upsold” or “cross-sold” myself. Pure genius. They realize people aren’t making inquiries for fun.
Suggested: Have a sequence of 3 personalized AutoResponders, give options to contact, and that you’ve assigned a specialist to them. Use links back to your site, suggest upgrades or accessories. Give options to get your mailed newsletter (forces them to give address and another opportunity for relationship.) If people are inquiring, they’re serious.
2. Transparency and Disclosure – The top tier guys are making sure you’re hyper informed. Just ‘offering’ a CarFax and a Consumer Review whether people get it or not (often free) earns huge credibility points. People are nervous out there, for good reason.
Suggested: Inform prospects on your website – not just about how great you are – but about product comparisons, energy costs, reviews, testimonials. Your mailed newsletter will also contain product and service cross-selling. Today’s buyer wants to ‘know’ you, and that’s often done through multi-media, smart marketing.
3. “Cheaper” isn’t Better – Interesting. If I didn’t bring it up, the dealers I considered ‘best’ did not force ‘cheap price’ down my throat, yet the old school cheesy guys did regardless. To me, this cheapened them. The better guys talked of reputation, warranty, options to make this car what I wanted. The top guys told me they could add a sunroof, leather interior, navigation, and a host of ‘cost plus’ upgrades. The cheap guys only talked cheap.
Suggested: Don’t assume all your buyers are in bargain mode. Assume they want quality, then go from there. Good to have bundled pricing ‘tiers’ for all, naming them accordingly. Cross-selling and upselling other benefits typically has a far higher margin, thus a worthwhile part of every script, communication, newsletter, follow-up.
In all, I ended up buying from the guy who was probably 2nd most impressive dealer, but had the car. Credit to the most impressive guy: When I told him what I’d found, he said, “If I were shopping, I’d buy that one too.” Yes, I kept his contact info as well.
The least impressive dealers, probably the bottom 10, never called back, never emailed again. Four of the top dealers have sent me follow ups – automated thus zero cost – just as impressive as the first.
The difference between ‘top’ and ‘ordinary’ is huge in image, sales, and reputation. But doing the ‘right things’ versus ‘hardly anything’ isn’t much – a few well-worded emails, some excellent sales training and the shockingly rare ability to listen to prospects and help them spend their money.
In a car with sporting pretense, this is a dream road. A minivan on this road was like wearing a burlap bathing suit to the Queen’s coronation. Hardly appropriate. For several seconds after she told me, I was in stunned silence, mouth agape, almost plummeting into several ravines. A little personal aside:
We’d tried for 5 years to ‘finally’ get pregnant with our first child. Yet that little miracle was 10 months old in his car seat when she told me of the second. And this little girl has been regularly surprising ever since.
She’s an accomplished pianist, outstanding student, and has a smile that could melt cast iron. And like all dads of teenagers, I am stupider than a turtle on crack. (I’m waiting for that to change, hopefully before I’m too senile to appreciate it.)
Yet the real surprise of the day, is she is now a legal driver, piloting her very own (used) car. Wow. Another shocker was shopping for this car. Double wow.
Let’s just get this out into the open: Car dealers used to have a reputation slightly lower than most sewer rats or even plaintiff attorneys. Some of this was undeserved, but mostly it was because they were conniving, lecherous, money-grubbing deceitful organisms in snappy outfits.
In those days, you’d walk onto a car lot, looking for say, a nice used Caprice in the $12 grand range. An hour later, you’d drive out in a bent Cadillac Brougham with the Wayne Newton package and a payment book totaling $48,724. In your review mirror, a guy with a Televangelist hairdo and a white belt would be counting money that used to be yours.
Not any more.
Possibly due to being sued every 30 minutes for 20 years, car dealers wised up. Then CarFax came along, and the internet happened, and ‘reviews’ started. Then ebay, traderonline, cars.com, yahoocars and craigslist all illuminate the ‘global car lot’. (Hint: Same with your business today.) Prices, options, and reviews could be relentlessly shopped. Reputations got earned or lost far faster. (Ditto.)
My daughter narrowed her search to a particular year, color, and body style of Jeep. Mean old dad gave her a firm “do not exceed or bodily harm could ensue” price range. Luckily, this necessitated a diligent search. She’d come home from school and zero in on 3-4 cars daily that ‘fit’ most criteria, saving links for me to contact
Dutifully, I emailed each (24 in all) with the same message, same parameters. The responses and reactions varied wildly. (See Bonus article at end.) This gave me a cross-section of sales and marketing methods, with suggestions for you on each.
What the Smart Guys are Doing Right
1. Systemized Yet Personal – The top-tier guys use the information gathered online to ‘aim’ a personal email message, in sequence. The call was equally personalized, effectively scripted. Additional links in emails in case I “upsold” or “cross-sold” myself. Pure genius. They realize people aren’t making inquiries for fun.
Suggested: Have a sequence of 3 personalized AutoResponders, give options to contact, and that you’ve assigned a specialist to them. Use links back to your site, suggest upgrades or accessories. Give options to get your mailed newsletter (forces them to give address and another opportunity for relationship.) If people are inquiring, they’re serious.
2. Transparency and Disclosure – The top tier guys are making sure you’re hyper informed. Just ‘offering’ a CarFax and a Consumer Review whether people get it or not (often free) earns huge credibility points. People are nervous out there, for good reason.
Suggested: Inform prospects on your website – not just about how great you are – but about product comparisons, energy costs, reviews, testimonials. Your mailed newsletter will also contain product and service cross-selling. Today’s buyer wants to ‘know’ you, and that’s often done through multi-media, smart marketing.
3. “Cheaper” isn’t Better – Interesting. If I didn’t bring it up, the dealers I considered ‘best’ did not force ‘cheap price’ down my throat, yet the old school cheesy guys did regardless. To me, this cheapened them. The better guys talked of reputation, warranty, options to make this car what I wanted. The top guys told me they could add a sunroof, leather interior, navigation, and a host of ‘cost plus’ upgrades. The cheap guys only talked cheap.
Suggested: Don’t assume all your buyers are in bargain mode. Assume they want quality, then go from there. Good to have bundled pricing ‘tiers’ for all, naming them accordingly. Cross-selling and upselling other benefits typically has a far higher margin, thus a worthwhile part of every script, communication, newsletter, follow-up.
In all, I ended up buying from the guy who was probably 2nd most impressive dealer, but had the car. Credit to the most impressive guy: When I told him what I’d found, he said, “If I were shopping, I’d buy that one too.” Yes, I kept his contact info as well.
The least impressive dealers, probably the bottom 10, never called back, never emailed again. Four of the top dealers have sent me follow ups – automated thus zero cost – just as impressive as the first.
The difference between ‘top’ and ‘ordinary’ is huge in image, sales, and reputation. But doing the ‘right things’ versus ‘hardly anything’ isn’t much – a few well-worded emails, some excellent sales training and the shockingly rare ability to listen to prospects and help them spend their money.
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Victors, Victims, and Volunteers
SAFETY TIP: Do not try to remove a 10-pound fire extinguisher from its bracket with your head. You really should just use your hands.
I was minding my own business, really. I’d leaned down in my garage to see if I – a mere mortal with a flawed sense of mechanical aptitude – could remove the front bumper cover off my needy car to get to the horns.
See, it had wimpy horns. And in the intelligence of the Dodge Viper assembly team who likely considers honking inferior to just lighting up the tires to escape harms’ way, they’d stuck the horns in a thoroughly unreachable area. I knelt all the way down to see the dinky little horns beside the radiator. Then I stand up abruptly.
Major ouch. At my height, I don’t bump my head very much, so I made up for several lost opportunities.
Two very loud ‘clonks’ rang through the building – the first being my head removing said fire extinguisher from the bracket, the second being the extinguisher hitting the floor, scattering tools about the cement floor.
I got to my feet and poured a bottle of water on my aching head, clearly needing stitches. I contemplated going to the emergency room, but images of waiting behind gunshot victims and those with various communicable diseases coughing in my general direction made me to reconsider. (Avoidance of additional pain, a sales lesson worth noting.)
So, with icepack on head, I watched Americans in Idle with my sweet wife and marginally concerned teenagers. The next day I went to the doctor who did his embroidery and sent me on my way. Got me to thinking.
Stuff happens. Quickly and without notice. There are ‘accidents’ so named because there’s no one to blame for their occurrence. I guess I could’ve gone ‘victim’ and sued the contractor who installed the fire extinguisher, the fire extinguisher company for not ‘softening’ the edges of said unit. Plaintiffs and the tapeworms posing as their attorneys have gotten paid for more preposterous things, I assure you.
In this economy, we’re hearing more about “victims” of its wrath. For the guy or lady who lost their jobs due to plummeting sales (which govern the economic machine, lest you forget) out of their control, “victim” could be apropos.
Or for those whose livelihoods have taken an epic-sized belt tightening due to skittish customers or the collectively paranoid lenders that used to keep the pipelines flowing, the “victim” word accepted. Yet for many hoping for a Victim card, might I suggest a different word…
Such as “Volunteer”. You make the call:
Case Study: A contractor who had been doing well in the go-go economy, was seeing his agreement renewal rate slip, his closing ratios tilt downward, and his margins erode to get the jobs. “This is the economy” he told us.
We suggested circling the wagons and protecting his customer base first, locking down renewals, beginning a low-cost referral campaign, then getting aggressive with Direct Response acquisition strategies for better-heeled, less price sensitive new customers.
In essence, he responded “Nonsense”, and promptly spent $60,000 on a radio campaign that was more about his ego and price-cutting than existing customers. Failure ensued.
During the past 12 months, he’d actually reduced his Customer Retention campaign to fund the “new” marketing. In time, his “old” customers heard the “new” offer, saw it as superior which generated two responses: a) Cut me the same deal or I’m gone and/or b) If that’s how you treat loyalty, I’m gone. Thus, his respondents became a mix of current customers seeking a concession and cheapskates.
Immediate margin erosion and accelerated customer exodus sent our contractor into a tailspin. Most profitable leads dried up. Ninety days later and half a staff later, he still has $15grand a month due in radio, his YP budget was never trimmed (suggested for 3 years, “couldn’t give up the priority placement” said his ego), many current customers and their agreements defected due to inequity and inattention. Some defectors commented on a blog site and reflected same in Google Rankings. Not good.
He admitted that he’s very likely a couple pay cycles from the “B” word if things don’t improve. Called his company a “victim” of the economy. Your assessment?
Send responses to editor@hudsonink.com. Hottest strategies for ‘Joining the Victors” next issue.
There are victors, victims, and volunteers. This economy is making their distinctions very clear. Joining the victors is mostly a choice to do so.
NOTE: A discussion of “Victor” strategies in lead generation will be covered in a one time webinar hosted by the NEWS on April 14. Called, “Phones Not Ringing? Top 7 Ways to Generate More Leads”. Very limited seating remains. More here: https://event.on24.com/eventRegistration/EventLobbyServlet?target=registration.jsp&eventid=198591&sessionid=1&key=5239ED983DFE7328DF1AA7EC49A026DB&partnerref=hudson&sourcepage=register
I was minding my own business, really. I’d leaned down in my garage to see if I – a mere mortal with a flawed sense of mechanical aptitude – could remove the front bumper cover off my needy car to get to the horns.
See, it had wimpy horns. And in the intelligence of the Dodge Viper assembly team who likely considers honking inferior to just lighting up the tires to escape harms’ way, they’d stuck the horns in a thoroughly unreachable area. I knelt all the way down to see the dinky little horns beside the radiator. Then I stand up abruptly.
Major ouch. At my height, I don’t bump my head very much, so I made up for several lost opportunities.
Two very loud ‘clonks’ rang through the building – the first being my head removing said fire extinguisher from the bracket, the second being the extinguisher hitting the floor, scattering tools about the cement floor.
I got to my feet and poured a bottle of water on my aching head, clearly needing stitches. I contemplated going to the emergency room, but images of waiting behind gunshot victims and those with various communicable diseases coughing in my general direction made me to reconsider. (Avoidance of additional pain, a sales lesson worth noting.)
So, with icepack on head, I watched Americans in Idle with my sweet wife and marginally concerned teenagers. The next day I went to the doctor who did his embroidery and sent me on my way. Got me to thinking.
Stuff happens. Quickly and without notice. There are ‘accidents’ so named because there’s no one to blame for their occurrence. I guess I could’ve gone ‘victim’ and sued the contractor who installed the fire extinguisher, the fire extinguisher company for not ‘softening’ the edges of said unit. Plaintiffs and the tapeworms posing as their attorneys have gotten paid for more preposterous things, I assure you.
In this economy, we’re hearing more about “victims” of its wrath. For the guy or lady who lost their jobs due to plummeting sales (which govern the economic machine, lest you forget) out of their control, “victim” could be apropos.
Or for those whose livelihoods have taken an epic-sized belt tightening due to skittish customers or the collectively paranoid lenders that used to keep the pipelines flowing, the “victim” word accepted. Yet for many hoping for a Victim card, might I suggest a different word…
Such as “Volunteer”. You make the call:
Case Study: A contractor who had been doing well in the go-go economy, was seeing his agreement renewal rate slip, his closing ratios tilt downward, and his margins erode to get the jobs. “This is the economy” he told us.
We suggested circling the wagons and protecting his customer base first, locking down renewals, beginning a low-cost referral campaign, then getting aggressive with Direct Response acquisition strategies for better-heeled, less price sensitive new customers.
In essence, he responded “Nonsense”, and promptly spent $60,000 on a radio campaign that was more about his ego and price-cutting than existing customers. Failure ensued.
During the past 12 months, he’d actually reduced his Customer Retention campaign to fund the “new” marketing. In time, his “old” customers heard the “new” offer, saw it as superior which generated two responses: a) Cut me the same deal or I’m gone and/or b) If that’s how you treat loyalty, I’m gone. Thus, his respondents became a mix of current customers seeking a concession and cheapskates.
Immediate margin erosion and accelerated customer exodus sent our contractor into a tailspin. Most profitable leads dried up. Ninety days later and half a staff later, he still has $15grand a month due in radio, his YP budget was never trimmed (suggested for 3 years, “couldn’t give up the priority placement” said his ego), many current customers and their agreements defected due to inequity and inattention. Some defectors commented on a blog site and reflected same in Google Rankings. Not good.
He admitted that he’s very likely a couple pay cycles from the “B” word if things don’t improve. Called his company a “victim” of the economy. Your assessment?
Send responses to editor@hudsonink.com. Hottest strategies for ‘Joining the Victors” next issue.
There are victors, victims, and volunteers. This economy is making their distinctions very clear. Joining the victors is mostly a choice to do so.
NOTE: A discussion of “Victor” strategies in lead generation will be covered in a one time webinar hosted by the NEWS on April 14. Called, “Phones Not Ringing? Top 7 Ways to Generate More Leads”. Very limited seating remains. More here: https://event.on24.com/eventRegistration/EventLobbyServlet?target=registration.jsp&eventid=198591&sessionid=1&key=5239ED983DFE7328DF1AA7EC49A026DB&partnerref=hudson&sourcepage=register
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
7 Steps to Lead Generation Riches
I don’t know who said “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing,” but it has never been more true. Every week of this ‘new’ economy, contractors call or question, “How can I get more leads?”
Yet, in that decidedly ruthless way that shocks the inquisitor, we are trained to respond: “What are you doing with the ones you have now?”
By that we mean 7 ‘main things’ to extract full, cash-rich value from your current lead flow. It’s right there under your nose…
1. Where’d they come from? (Market source via media.)
2. How big is this target source? (What we call “universe”.)
3. How many bought what? (Closing ratio per item.)
4. What did they pay? Upsell offered? (Transaction size per ratio.)
5. Do they have friends? (Referral follow up chain.)
6. What about the ones you didn’t close? (Follow up closing efforts)
7. What system will keep all these customers and prospects coming back to you?
Because to us, we can make the phone ring again. But if you’re not maximizing the lead value, then it’s only marketing heroin. More is not always better.
Those questions are in order too. The top one is the most important. A mediocre ad to the best target will outperform the best ad to a mediocre target. Yes, as an overpaid copywriter, I just said that. Truth is, we can usually kick your mediocre offer AND help you find the best list because that serves both of us.
Then “target” in to wherever your offer is aimed. From your customer list to your web visibility, which includes SEO, AdWords, and even your radio demographic, Cable reach, and in house prospect list. These are ‘segments’ you can define and have a reachable quantity. That leads to #2.
Is this your current list, dated list, big ticket buyers, referrals, church bulletin, little league parents, chamber of commerce? I mean, you’ve got to know the size of the pool. To answer whether its even worth fishing the pool, #3 comes into play…
Do they close well? Or are they a bunch of mealy mouth price shoppers? Maybe they’re affluent, rabid for image and product ‘z’ supports that image. Closing ratio must intersect with ticket and gross profit to be meaningful. Then to #4…
Are they high transaction sales that can make your month? Or low transaction that must sustain volume to be profitable? On either, is there a more profitable upsell you’re not offering? Before you leave them…
Number 5 relates to finding a better ‘target’ than going back to the ‘pool’ again. Plus, no marketing dollars to find their referrals. The neighborhood, church members, business people in same category, seek commonalities and target your presentation accordingly.
And for #6 and #7 that most contractors miss severely…
What happened to those who didn’t close? You think they were window shopping you for fun? Find out why they didn’t buy and that’s the key to a fortune right there. Resolve that, go kick bootie with a far higher result from #3 - #6.
For #7, this is my age-old but more solid-than-ever (thanks to the economy) “Retention” message. The commonality among contractors doing well and those, um, “not” is powerful retention. Those who didn’t fill the pipeline and then build a high-sided inescapable pool into which it flowed are quite sorry. They had customers in there, but they escaped. Now they get to go back to #1, spending new marketing dollars to recreate what was lost. Not exactly ideal.
Yes, that’s how we multiply your efforts and results from your “existing” incoming leads. And you thought we were magic. All we can really do for you is a) Create a better message to make the phone ring, b) Make sure we aim it at the better targets, c) Let you extract full measure of the results.
Sound like a plan? Go back to your list of incoming leads now. Ask yourself the 7 questions. If you need us to help you fish them deeply, regularly, and to extract full value, that’s why we’re here. Otherwise, you’ve got plenty of bait in this article to catch a boatload.
Yet, in that decidedly ruthless way that shocks the inquisitor, we are trained to respond: “What are you doing with the ones you have now?”
By that we mean 7 ‘main things’ to extract full, cash-rich value from your current lead flow. It’s right there under your nose…
1. Where’d they come from? (Market source via media.)
2. How big is this target source? (What we call “universe”.)
3. How many bought what? (Closing ratio per item.)
4. What did they pay? Upsell offered? (Transaction size per ratio.)
5. Do they have friends? (Referral follow up chain.)
6. What about the ones you didn’t close? (Follow up closing efforts)
7. What system will keep all these customers and prospects coming back to you?
Because to us, we can make the phone ring again. But if you’re not maximizing the lead value, then it’s only marketing heroin. More is not always better.
Those questions are in order too. The top one is the most important. A mediocre ad to the best target will outperform the best ad to a mediocre target. Yes, as an overpaid copywriter, I just said that. Truth is, we can usually kick your mediocre offer AND help you find the best list because that serves both of us.
Then “target” in to wherever your offer is aimed. From your customer list to your web visibility, which includes SEO, AdWords, and even your radio demographic, Cable reach, and in house prospect list. These are ‘segments’ you can define and have a reachable quantity. That leads to #2.
Is this your current list, dated list, big ticket buyers, referrals, church bulletin, little league parents, chamber of commerce? I mean, you’ve got to know the size of the pool. To answer whether its even worth fishing the pool, #3 comes into play…
Do they close well? Or are they a bunch of mealy mouth price shoppers? Maybe they’re affluent, rabid for image and product ‘z’ supports that image. Closing ratio must intersect with ticket and gross profit to be meaningful. Then to #4…
Are they high transaction sales that can make your month? Or low transaction that must sustain volume to be profitable? On either, is there a more profitable upsell you’re not offering? Before you leave them…
Number 5 relates to finding a better ‘target’ than going back to the ‘pool’ again. Plus, no marketing dollars to find their referrals. The neighborhood, church members, business people in same category, seek commonalities and target your presentation accordingly.
And for #6 and #7 that most contractors miss severely…
What happened to those who didn’t close? You think they were window shopping you for fun? Find out why they didn’t buy and that’s the key to a fortune right there. Resolve that, go kick bootie with a far higher result from #3 - #6.
For #7, this is my age-old but more solid-than-ever (thanks to the economy) “Retention” message. The commonality among contractors doing well and those, um, “not” is powerful retention. Those who didn’t fill the pipeline and then build a high-sided inescapable pool into which it flowed are quite sorry. They had customers in there, but they escaped. Now they get to go back to #1, spending new marketing dollars to recreate what was lost. Not exactly ideal.
Yes, that’s how we multiply your efforts and results from your “existing” incoming leads. And you thought we were magic. All we can really do for you is a) Create a better message to make the phone ring, b) Make sure we aim it at the better targets, c) Let you extract full measure of the results.
Sound like a plan? Go back to your list of incoming leads now. Ask yourself the 7 questions. If you need us to help you fish them deeply, regularly, and to extract full value, that’s why we’re here. Otherwise, you’ve got plenty of bait in this article to catch a boatload.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Answer to the Marketing Brain Teaser from Last Entry
Help me. I posed a question to all readers, got a ton of responses, some of which were actually correct and devoid of curse words. ALL were interesting. Very cool to get different perspectives.
Summarized question: “There are four elements in your ‘Marketing Equation’. Two mentioned in the article were ‘incoming leads’ and ‘conversions’ (or commonly ‘closing ratio’). What are the other two?”
Before you read the answer, my intention was to gather the four BIG elements for those of you not running your marketing by formula. I said in the article, “other numbers are just fluff”.
Since I uttered that statement, I’ve been asked to step down by Democrats, Republicans, and the Sham-Wow guy, who is now the Slap-Chop guy. I regret any convenience I may have caused and humbly apologize to everyone except the Yellow Pages.
Admittedly, there ARE other meaningful numbers and I’ve given credit where due.
Here are the winners AND numbers to know in your Direct Response marketing formula, plus another highly insulting remark to the Yellow Pages.
1.Leads generated– only attributable to Direct Response marketing. Direct Response ads have – as their name implies – a lead generation component and are accountable thereto. If you sent out a Holiday Card or TOMA or Retention piece and were hoping to count “leads” as a result, you may as well plant a strawberry vine and start looking for cumquats.
2.Leads converted – Often based on #1 per campaign, but also as a general measure of closing ratio for all leads. I do NOT like blending “all leads” together since a customer calls in as a lead with a 70-80% closing average vs. a ‘first time caller’ with a 30% closing average.
3.Cost per lead – This figures in the media and fulfillment costs and as such, gives you a baseline for measurement. Advertising during the SuperBowl might get you 1,000 leads, but the CPL will likely be rotten. This figure generally runs between $75 and $200, still a potential loser at the lower price (insolvent unsellable prospects) or very profitable at the higher figure. Has to do with transaction size and of course…
4.Profit per sale (I’d have accepted ‘transaction size’ too, since that’s way easier to figure, is more part of marketing than operations.) People often ask, “How many leads should I expect from this campaign?” and there are general numbers (1% from Direct Mail a long accepted but now shrinking ‘standard’) yet even these overlook this more revealing figure. Not only is the list smaller for an $8000 bath remodel for example, it’d take far more $79 drain cleanings to make them equally profitable.
The above is why it is very important to know and use the “Break Even Rate” in direct response marketing, which is revealed below, but FIRST…
The Winners Circle:
There were several correct answers yet the most concise AND correct answer goes to Chris Kowalski who had a 7 word email that said, in its entirety:
1.Cost per lead
2.Profit per closed lead
I like it when people get to the point! All who submitted a correct answer will get a copy of Marketing Secrets. Hope you’ll write us a review!
Yet since I’m completely unfair, biased, and make up the rules as I go along, I’ve decided to award 2 honorable mentions –
The Runners Up:
1.Keith Calicoat wrote, “Decrease acquisition cost per customer and raise the frequency of transaction per customer”, which gets partial credit. Keith also put in, “If I win, I don't want the hot dogs!” Fair enough. That makes two of us.
2.J.S. Woolery from Home Energy suggested “raise average order size”, which is a great way to increase profits NOW from virtually every sale. I still contend that most contractors could increase prices by 10% today, not lose one customer (okay, the cheap ones) and put the entire bump on your paycheck.
BONUS feature today is the Break Even Rate Formula:
A/B = C
(C/D) x 100 = E
(E/F) x 100 = Break even response rate
A= Cost of Direct Response campaign
B = Profit per job/service offered in ‘A’.
C = Minimum job/services needed to break even
D = Average conversion (closing rate) on leads for this type job
E = Number of total leads needed to break even
F = Number of pieces mailed/audience
Obviously, the goal is to exceed “D” and “E” by the largest number you can. Now you know why the combination of these factors rules your fortunes.
I recommend a break even rate on ALL Direct Response ads you do for 2010. But then again, I recommend the slap chop, but only if the Yellow Page ad rep’s finger is in close proximity.
Have an awesome day. Let us help you make it even more of one!
Summarized question: “There are four elements in your ‘Marketing Equation’. Two mentioned in the article were ‘incoming leads’ and ‘conversions’ (or commonly ‘closing ratio’). What are the other two?”
Before you read the answer, my intention was to gather the four BIG elements for those of you not running your marketing by formula. I said in the article, “other numbers are just fluff”.
Since I uttered that statement, I’ve been asked to step down by Democrats, Republicans, and the Sham-Wow guy, who is now the Slap-Chop guy. I regret any convenience I may have caused and humbly apologize to everyone except the Yellow Pages.
Admittedly, there ARE other meaningful numbers and I’ve given credit where due.
Here are the winners AND numbers to know in your Direct Response marketing formula, plus another highly insulting remark to the Yellow Pages.
1.Leads generated– only attributable to Direct Response marketing. Direct Response ads have – as their name implies – a lead generation component and are accountable thereto. If you sent out a Holiday Card or TOMA or Retention piece and were hoping to count “leads” as a result, you may as well plant a strawberry vine and start looking for cumquats.
2.Leads converted – Often based on #1 per campaign, but also as a general measure of closing ratio for all leads. I do NOT like blending “all leads” together since a customer calls in as a lead with a 70-80% closing average vs. a ‘first time caller’ with a 30% closing average.
3.Cost per lead – This figures in the media and fulfillment costs and as such, gives you a baseline for measurement. Advertising during the SuperBowl might get you 1,000 leads, but the CPL will likely be rotten. This figure generally runs between $75 and $200, still a potential loser at the lower price (insolvent unsellable prospects) or very profitable at the higher figure. Has to do with transaction size and of course…
4.Profit per sale (I’d have accepted ‘transaction size’ too, since that’s way easier to figure, is more part of marketing than operations.) People often ask, “How many leads should I expect from this campaign?” and there are general numbers (1% from Direct Mail a long accepted but now shrinking ‘standard’) yet even these overlook this more revealing figure. Not only is the list smaller for an $8000 bath remodel for example, it’d take far more $79 drain cleanings to make them equally profitable.
The above is why it is very important to know and use the “Break Even Rate” in direct response marketing, which is revealed below, but FIRST…
The Winners Circle:
There were several correct answers yet the most concise AND correct answer goes to Chris Kowalski who had a 7 word email that said, in its entirety:
1.Cost per lead
2.Profit per closed lead
I like it when people get to the point! All who submitted a correct answer will get a copy of Marketing Secrets. Hope you’ll write us a review!
Yet since I’m completely unfair, biased, and make up the rules as I go along, I’ve decided to award 2 honorable mentions –
The Runners Up:
1.Keith Calicoat wrote, “Decrease acquisition cost per customer and raise the frequency of transaction per customer”, which gets partial credit. Keith also put in, “If I win, I don't want the hot dogs!” Fair enough. That makes two of us.
2.J.S. Woolery from Home Energy suggested “raise average order size”, which is a great way to increase profits NOW from virtually every sale. I still contend that most contractors could increase prices by 10% today, not lose one customer (okay, the cheap ones) and put the entire bump on your paycheck.
BONUS feature today is the Break Even Rate Formula:
A/B = C
(C/D) x 100 = E
(E/F) x 100 = Break even response rate
A= Cost of Direct Response campaign
B = Profit per job/service offered in ‘A’.
C = Minimum job/services needed to break even
D = Average conversion (closing rate) on leads for this type job
E = Number of total leads needed to break even
F = Number of pieces mailed/audience
Obviously, the goal is to exceed “D” and “E” by the largest number you can. Now you know why the combination of these factors rules your fortunes.
I recommend a break even rate on ALL Direct Response ads you do for 2010. But then again, I recommend the slap chop, but only if the Yellow Page ad rep’s finger is in close proximity.
Have an awesome day. Let us help you make it even more of one!
No Private Investigator
One of the biggest complaints I hear from contractors is, “I just need more leads.” And for the most part, the more leads you get the better. (There are negatives to “too many leads”, but I’m getting ahead of myself which isn’t that hard to do.)
Anyway, absent the need for more leads, we’ll assume you’re getting leads at rate ‘x’ and converting ‘y’ to sales. Ridiculously, MOST contractors focus way harder on the ‘y’ (closing or conversion rate) than increasing ‘x’.
The trick to massive sales growth is increasing both.
NOTE: There’s a ‘third’ and ‘fourth’ element in this equation that are the ONLY numbers worth following in your sales stream. Most everything else is just fluff. The next 10 people to tell me EITHER of those will win either a) A pack of unrefrigerated hot dog wieners or b) A first-class marketing book that I just happened to write. If you choose ‘a’, I’ll assume you have a copy. The email link to send your answer is found after the ‘click’.
So, delving into your current leads – the ones you’re getting today, right now - there are two questions to consider:
1. Where did they come from? (Media source, which includes your own database.)
2. What happened after the call?
About 70% of contractors DO NOT gather the source. Since all marketing should have an ROI, this is like not asking the bank about the interest rate. This economy rewards prudency. The days of “guessing” with unproven marketing are over.
As far as “What happened” after the call, slightly more than 70% only know TWO things: It sold. It didn’t sell. And that boys and girls, is flat out silly.
I’ll get right to it:
The five things are –
1.Sold: Transaction size? Previous/new customer? Attempted upsell? Attempted Agreement sale? Equipment survey? (That is, do they need IAQ, adding a bath, discuss security lighting? etc.) The survey alone is free, leads to far more gold from the database in this ONE step.
2.Sold: Follow up procedure. Thank you call with referral bump. Thank you letter with referral bump.
3.Sold: Relationship and referral procedure started. (Added to hard copy Newsletter, ezine list.) A 30 day schedule of recontact becoming more prevalent, but if you have none, every 90 to start.
4.Didn’t sell: Reason? Elimination of reason? Set follow up appointment? Incentive to call YOU back? Clearly state next action step.
5.Didn’t sell: Result of follow up contact. (Minimum of 3: >Phone call plus email. >Letter/postcard. > Phone call. If remains unsold, then low cost relationship procedure started. Email reminders, always included in direct mail campaigns.
If you can just change your response to the outcome, you can generate far more sales with very little effort or out of pocket costs. You’ve already PAID for the lead, why not extract full value? (Yes, I’m cheap.)
And now for the promise to improve your CSR’s performance today -
Tracking leads is important because if not, you might be wasting money on dud ads. It’s so easy to do. All you have to do is instruct your customer service representatives (or whoever answers the phone and fills appointments) to simply ask the customer how they found out about you.
You may be shocked by what you discover. What media brings the best ROI? How strong is your word of mouth? How many referrals are you getting now? How can you triple that?
Even better, you get a chance to prove your superiority on the phone. First, I make no secret that I hate automated attendants. The world in fact, would like to strangle the next auto attendant they see.
Yet even if your callers aren’t forced to press buttons for five minutes or aren’t on hold for listening to some top 40 station – a CSR can still blow it. Here are 3 things your customer service reps should always avoid saying:
1.“Well, you’re going to have to…” No. The first thing the customer is going to think is, “Come on! I don’t have to do anything!” Ask nicely. Try, “In order for us to provide you the best service, would you mind…” or “Could you please provide me with this information so that we can be sure to omit any possibility for a mistake?” Let the customer know that he or she is helping to facilitate the fixing and they’ll be much more likely to respond with something other than a quick hang-up.
2.“I’ll try…” Don’t try. Either say you’ll do it or tell them no. If you don’t give huge discounts on new systems, then say you can’t do that at present. Don’t say you’ll try to get them a discount if you know it won’t happen! Customers resent a lack of commitment, so don’t show that weakness.
3.“It’s against our policy.” It’s hard to dodge this for one main reason. The company policy is there because it needs to be followed. Just don’t use this phrase. Customers can’t stand to hear it and it has become one of those horrid business clichés that CSRs use as a scapegoat to avoid extra work or explanation. You owe the people who pay your bills (your customers) an explanation. At the very least, substitute this worn out phrase with words like “our best procedure” or “proven approach”.
Okay, I’ve given you more than your money’s worth for today (especially considering the price) and ask you to pick an action to go implement.
Soon you can be reading a profitable book or have a nice lunch to send your competitors.
Anyway, absent the need for more leads, we’ll assume you’re getting leads at rate ‘x’ and converting ‘y’ to sales. Ridiculously, MOST contractors focus way harder on the ‘y’ (closing or conversion rate) than increasing ‘x’.
The trick to massive sales growth is increasing both.
NOTE: There’s a ‘third’ and ‘fourth’ element in this equation that are the ONLY numbers worth following in your sales stream. Most everything else is just fluff. The next 10 people to tell me EITHER of those will win either a) A pack of unrefrigerated hot dog wieners or b) A first-class marketing book that I just happened to write. If you choose ‘a’, I’ll assume you have a copy. The email link to send your answer is found after the ‘click’.
So, delving into your current leads – the ones you’re getting today, right now - there are two questions to consider:
1. Where did they come from? (Media source, which includes your own database.)
2. What happened after the call?
About 70% of contractors DO NOT gather the source. Since all marketing should have an ROI, this is like not asking the bank about the interest rate. This economy rewards prudency. The days of “guessing” with unproven marketing are over.
As far as “What happened” after the call, slightly more than 70% only know TWO things: It sold. It didn’t sell. And that boys and girls, is flat out silly.
I’ll get right to it:
The five things are –
1.Sold: Transaction size? Previous/new customer? Attempted upsell? Attempted Agreement sale? Equipment survey? (That is, do they need IAQ, adding a bath, discuss security lighting? etc.) The survey alone is free, leads to far more gold from the database in this ONE step.
2.Sold: Follow up procedure. Thank you call with referral bump. Thank you letter with referral bump.
3.Sold: Relationship and referral procedure started. (Added to hard copy Newsletter, ezine list.) A 30 day schedule of recontact becoming more prevalent, but if you have none, every 90 to start.
4.Didn’t sell: Reason? Elimination of reason? Set follow up appointment? Incentive to call YOU back? Clearly state next action step.
5.Didn’t sell: Result of follow up contact. (Minimum of 3: >Phone call plus email. >Letter/postcard. > Phone call. If remains unsold, then low cost relationship procedure started. Email reminders, always included in direct mail campaigns.
If you can just change your response to the outcome, you can generate far more sales with very little effort or out of pocket costs. You’ve already PAID for the lead, why not extract full value? (Yes, I’m cheap.)
And now for the promise to improve your CSR’s performance today -
Tracking leads is important because if not, you might be wasting money on dud ads. It’s so easy to do. All you have to do is instruct your customer service representatives (or whoever answers the phone and fills appointments) to simply ask the customer how they found out about you.
You may be shocked by what you discover. What media brings the best ROI? How strong is your word of mouth? How many referrals are you getting now? How can you triple that?
Even better, you get a chance to prove your superiority on the phone. First, I make no secret that I hate automated attendants. The world in fact, would like to strangle the next auto attendant they see.
Yet even if your callers aren’t forced to press buttons for five minutes or aren’t on hold for listening to some top 40 station – a CSR can still blow it. Here are 3 things your customer service reps should always avoid saying:
1.“Well, you’re going to have to…” No. The first thing the customer is going to think is, “Come on! I don’t have to do anything!” Ask nicely. Try, “In order for us to provide you the best service, would you mind…” or “Could you please provide me with this information so that we can be sure to omit any possibility for a mistake?” Let the customer know that he or she is helping to facilitate the fixing and they’ll be much more likely to respond with something other than a quick hang-up.
2.“I’ll try…” Don’t try. Either say you’ll do it or tell them no. If you don’t give huge discounts on new systems, then say you can’t do that at present. Don’t say you’ll try to get them a discount if you know it won’t happen! Customers resent a lack of commitment, so don’t show that weakness.
3.“It’s against our policy.” It’s hard to dodge this for one main reason. The company policy is there because it needs to be followed. Just don’t use this phrase. Customers can’t stand to hear it and it has become one of those horrid business clichés that CSRs use as a scapegoat to avoid extra work or explanation. You owe the people who pay your bills (your customers) an explanation. At the very least, substitute this worn out phrase with words like “our best procedure” or “proven approach”.
Okay, I’ve given you more than your money’s worth for today (especially considering the price) and ask you to pick an action to go implement.
Soon you can be reading a profitable book or have a nice lunch to send your competitors.
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