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Keep Your Friends Close – But Your Competition Closer!

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This is a guest post by one of my clients, Chris Spoerl at Magic Pool Services in Orlando. Chris took my post a few weeks ago on paying attention to your competition to heart…to say the least! What would you do if you were in his shoes and thought your competitors were duplicating your efforts?

“All war is based on deception.” – Sun Tzu

Marketing is a tough business, and if business is tough, people will do whatever it takes to succeed.  I am referring to your competition folks, and sometimes if you are not careful, they will try to get the best of you.

This weekend we attended the 2011 Orlando Pool and Spa Show, which is basically the pool-a-palooza for the pool industry.  Vendors from across the United States and the world display the newest products and technologies and there are also continuing education courses and training seminars. [Read more…] about Keep Your Friends Close – But Your Competition Closer!

Who is Your Daddy, and What Does He Do?

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This is a guest post by Chris Spoerl, owner of Magic Pool Services in Orlando Florida. DISCLAIMER: As it will become obvious in a paragraph or two, Chris is a client of mine. Why I don’t know, since Chris has some pretty serious marketing chops himself. But none the less, I am happy to say he is a client and now a friend. While I appreciate his comments, I think the takeaway here is that once you actively engage in social media, many doors open that were once closed. Enjoy his post!

My kids ask me all the time what I do for a living.  I tell them that I clean pools.  This is a very simple answer to a complex question,  What I do, is market my business Magic Pool Services so that I can get more jobs, so I can keep growing my business.  A lot of small business owners get tied up in “working in their business” as opposed to “working on their business”. [Read more…] about Who is Your Daddy, and What Does He Do?

Building a Family, Then a Company

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I had a consult with a 30-person remodeling contractor last week and I just have to share the story with you because it was unlike a meeting I have had for some time. While we walked the grounds of the shop the owner turned to me and mentioned that they had had their first baby last week.

Now, my guy is in his 60’s (not to say that matters) but I said he was going to have his hands full with the new arrival. He politely corrected me by saying that the baby wasn’t his and his wife’s, but that the company had had its first baby.

I thought that was really cool

He went on to say that not one, but two couples have met and gotten married at his company, and that he was very proud of that fact that people where secure enough with him and his business to “grow” themselves – first with a relationship, then a marriage and finally children.

As a business owner, it feels good when your people decide to take root and make a “home” away from home at your place.

And there are economic realities to consider as well

Having happy people who are content to call your company home should result in better production, higher profitability and lower costs. If you are creating an environment where everyone is “family” is more than a marketing slogan, then you should feel good about yourself and the opportunities you are offering people besides just a steady paycheck.

So my question is…

What are you doing to foster a climate in your organization where people feel good about staying with you? Even if you don’t have any employees, I am sure you have a family who certainly has a vested interest in your success!

Which is it?

Let me know in the comments below if you are trying to make your company one where people want to stay for years, or do you think this is too touchy-feely and everyone should just get back to work.

Testimonials Aren’t Just For the Web

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I write a lot about testimonials and user reviews because they are more important now than ever. At no time in advertising history have peer reviews and opinions had as much power to sway the general public as they do today.

Sure, we all know the stat; make one person happy with your product or service and they tell three people, piss one person off and they tell ten.

Today, those figures are on steroids!

If you piss someone off today, they tell 100, 300 or 500 people in their social graph at the push of a button. If Mrs. Jones isn’t completely satisfied with your work, she can ruin your day by telling everyone she interacts socially and professionally that she had a bad experience with you. And guess what happens to your referrals?

What’s it all mean?

It means that you need to give as much social proof offline as you do online. If you have followed me for any length of time, you know that I want you to have your testimonials prominently placed on your website. It’s great that you have 10 reviews on your Places page and 15 reviews on your local YP page, but you know that YOU NEED TO HAVE a specific tab in your nav bar on your own website specifically dedicated to all the nice things people say about you. And you also know that you need to beg or bribe clients or customers to give you testimonials to continue to build up your social proof for others.

But you also need to expand the reach of your testimonials

You do this by including a few short, solid testimonials in all of your advertising offline; print, radio, direct mail, whatever you do to market your construction company should have one or two short testimonials included.

Why?

Because people depend on social proof (testimonials and recommendations) that you are good at what you do, and they pay more attention to what their peers say about you than what your advertising says about you, and that hurts me to say, but it is true.

So dust off your reviews and testimonials and get them into the hands of the people who need them most…your prospects!

An Inside Look at 5 Things That Make Customers Crazy

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Part of what I do here at Darren’s is research. And part of that research is finding out what made people do business (or not do business) with you in the past. I typically do this through a series of phone interviews with former clients or leads that never closed. And the things I uncover when people feel they can speak freely will make your head spin.

But you can’t fix it if you don’t know it’s broken right?

I always try to explain to the homeowner that by not making my client aware of their displeasure, they had a 100% chance of their issue going unresolved and that if it was a simple fix, could we just get in there and get it done for them to make them happy. This usually does the trick, and we are even able to build referrals, testimonials and sometimes new jobs from the effort. [Read more…] about An Inside Look at 5 Things That Make Customers Crazy

Pricing and the Economy – How much is Too Much?

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I was reading an article the other day discussing pricing your services in a down economy versus a growing economy, and the takeaway was to try to maintain your current pricing. Well duh, that’s pretty friggin’ obvious right?

But the last couple of years have taught us a few things: [Read more…] about Pricing and the Economy – How much is Too Much?

Kill Them With Care!

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Serving the customer – This has been the foundation to a solid business approach since the dawn of time. There have been examples of solid customer service that go beyond the everyday care and feeding of clients. Companies like Zappos, Southwest Airlines and Trader Joe’s have set themselves apart making people feel good about doing business with them.

So what are you doing to make people love you?

If you are getting by with low prices and showing up on time then you are only scratching the surface. There are a million things you can do to turn the customer experience on its ass. And no amount of help from me or any other person can do it for you, and do you know why? [Read more…] about Kill Them With Care!

Capitalize on Your Competition’s Misfortunes

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In Philly, there are some pretty serious home improvement companies, and they all beat each other’s heads in everyday with their marketing and advertising. A few weeks back, one of those companies went belly up, taking deposits on jobs up until the week before they shut their doors with them.

When your enemy is weak, attack!

Words from the great Sun Tzu, which are still pretty fitting for today’s business combatants. And that is exactly what another major home improvement company did. They attacked on all fronts: television, radio, print. Everywhere they could tell the public about their company they did it. [Read more…] about Capitalize on Your Competition’s Misfortunes