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Quick Tips For Contractors

Quick Tips for Contractors #4 – 5 Reasons to Read the Paper

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Here is a short one today to make up for yesterday’s long post…

Read – read the NY Times, the Wall Street Journal or the Washington Post. Read as much as you can to stay on top of the news, and then read some more. Specifically, I want you to read your local yocal paper from front to back every time it is published. This will keep you up to speed on everything going on locally that you sometimes miss while running your business.

The benefits are:

1. You stay informed on a personal and professional level about what is going on in your backyard.
2. There are plenty of business opportunities in those pages, you just have to pay attention.
3. You may discover a marketing opportunity that others miss, therefore gaining 1st mover advantage.
4. It makes sense to know as much as possible in the market you do most of your business in.
5. You get to know who the local movers and shakers are in business, politics and civic activities associations.

So get reading today…

Quick Tips for Contractors #68 – Use Classifed Ads

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I knew a guy that lived in a castle (literally) here in Philly from the money he made advertising his business in the classified section. He has since lost the castle because he failed to pay his income tax, but that’s a different blog. The point I want to get across here is that classified ads are still a great way to advertise on the cheap, but there are some tricks to it. But do it right and the upside is huge. So here are the 5 things you want to make sure you do when marketing for your construction company in the classified section:

1. A phone number that is indigenous to the local market-Not only the area code, but the prefix too. Your brand new cell phone number with a new area code isn’t going to cut it!
2. An interest-creating remark-What’s in it for the reader? Classified ads are all about them, and nothing about you!
3. A Offer-People are looking in the classifieds for a deal. If you don’t have one in your ad, why did you place it in the first place?
4. A Call to action-As I always say, people are sheep, they need to be told what to do. As a matter of fact, they WANT to be told what to do.
5. Answer the phone when it rings – If I have to teach this one, then we are not communicating!

Now, do this in as many papers in your market as you can afford. And make sure you do it repeatedly since booking business with classifieds is based on people who have a specific need at a particular moment in time and are looking in the classifieds to hire, not tire kick. So make sure you are there when they are ready to buy!

 

 

 

Quick Tips for Contractors #2 – Pick a Number, Any Number

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Contractors ask me all the time how much they should spend on marketing, and I have answered the question in a couple of posts here at Darren’s. But this time I am going to make it simple – just pick a friggin’ number and start!

If you haven’t decided to set aside any amount of your gross sales to apply towards building your business, then what the hell are you waiting for? Pick something; $100 a job, 5% of gross a month, something. Just start doing something to assure your business is around not just next week or next year, but 5 years from now.

Quick Tip For Contractors #27 Hire Some Help!

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Jordan had Pippen, Montana had Rice, You need to have a team of people who can help you beat out the competition in your market. If you plan on staying around for a while, you should consider having the following professionals on speed dial:

  1. A solid accountant
  2. A great bookkeeper…there is a difference
  3. I am afraid to say it, but an attorney too
  4. A great relationship with the bank manager
  5. A marketing guy (or girl)

Being able to pick up the phone and talk to one of these people can really help you out in a jam, so reach out and make some calls!

 

Quick Tips for Contractors #7 – Get Out of The Forums

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You know who you are. You’ll be the first one to tell me you don’t have time to worry about social media, marketing or promotion, yet you have 5,000 posts on some contractor forum site.

Don’t get me wrong…

I understand the need to blow off some steam and hang with like-minded people. I even get it that participating in a spirited debate helps you relax. At the end of the day, you have a business to care for, and just like the kids, you can’t put some of them to bed without being fed. You have to feed all the kids every day, and that means your business too!

So spend the time you would have spent in a forum updating your Places page, or adding your site to another local directory, or reviewing your ad campaign, or reading blogs like this one and extracting the information you read here and put it to use on your business.

Quick Tips for Contractors #6 – They Like Me, They Really Like Me!

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Sit down and call, write or email 10 clients you have had in the last 6 months and ask them specifically what it was about you, your business or your offer that made them hire you. If you start to see a common theme, then you know you are doing it right.

If you get 10 different reasons, ask each of them to give you another reason (if any). If these 10 or 15 people are any barometer to your overall marketplace, you can use these answers to fine-tune your sales call process as well as your marketing.

Quick Tips for Contractors #5 – Be Maxwell Smart

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Since I have had some longer than usual posts this week, I thought I would end the week with a Quick Tip for Contractors post. Hope you like, and have a great weekend!

Good old Max was a bumbling knucklehead, but he always knew who was doing what around him. With that in mind, I want you to start collecting all the competitive material you can get your hands on. Sales material like ads, brochures, websites printouts, YP ads, newspaper ads, flyers, door hangers, radio spots, television spots…you get the idea. I want you to find everything you can find from your competitors and then compare it to your own stuff. If you don’t have any of your own stuff, now is a good time to create a swipe file.

Make changes where necessary, but not the kind where you fall in line with what everyone else is doing. I want you to make changes that are bold and stand out from your competition!

Quick Tips for Contractors #1 – Do Something to Grow Your Business Everyday

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You have to put gas in the truck, go to the supply house or pay a vendor. These are all things you have to do to make your business hum along.

There is an old saying, you are either growing or you are shrinking, you ARE NOT staying the same. So make sure you spend time each day marketing your construction business. Incremental growth is still growth, and it all rolls up to more business. So make it a point to DO SOMETHING everyday to help promote your business.