I hear excuses everyday why some contractor doesn’t want/need/like to advertise. Everything from “I don’t have any money” to “Everyone knows me”. Well, I’ll tell you what, you are full of shit and lying to yourself, your spouse and your workers, you just don’t know it.
Why do I say that? Well, let’s break down the excuses
The “I am too busy now” excuse
Well isn’t that just great, you already have more business than you can handle. Then get the hell out there and grow your business! You are holding everyone in your organization back because you don’t want to get off your ass and do a little extra work. If this is how you feel right now, let me ask you one question…why did you go into business if not to grow?
The “everyone knows me” guy
For those of you out there with big enough egos to think that everyone already knows you…no they don’t. Your market, whether you want to believe it or not, turns over 15%-30% a year due to people dying, moving or getting pissed-off at you and not telling you. So how are you replacing these people? If you aren’t advertising you are not, but your competition is!
Here are a few more excuses reasons I get along with my Gut Check response:
Economy is bad – Independent studies have shown that businesses that continue to advertise during tough economic times are MUCH more likely to come out in better shape than their competitors. So, what are you doing right now to take advantage of the fact that while there may be fewer clients, there are also fewer aggressive competitors?
Advertising costs too much – I get that you need to watch every dollar in today’s economy, but cost is a relative term. If the return on your advertising is high enough then the cost is worth it right? I know that advertising to buyers brings in a rate of return that exceeds the cost by 100’s of percentage points. Do you have a percentage return on investment in mind with your various advertising programs? Do you have different expectations for different types of media?
And to go back and touch on the “already have enough business” excuse again – How about replacing some of the low margin business with jobs that bring in more money?…Or are easier to do?…Or just better for your business? Would having more of these types of jobs improve your business? Of course it would, you are just making excuses.
I hope you are a little pissed right now!
I want you to be shocked by this post, and maybe even a little pissed off at me for calling you out for not doing what you know you need to do to secure the future of your business. That was what I was going for because sometimes we need to be shaken from our comfort zone and forced to really think about our businesses before we take action, and now I hope you take action!
Photo Credit: SaintBob