The Power of Referrals

Andrew Leslie is a man they don’t make anymore. Hard-working, Cajun born, duty driven. If the deep caramel skin (that’s about as smooth) and the tell-tale accent reeling quick witted tales didn’t make you question his age, his overbooked work ethic would.

Though just days from an age 65 retirement, I’d suggest training if you tried to keep up with him. I’ve seen his own shadow almost give up in frustration.

He had a full time career with J.R. Smith, helping assemble a few million specialty plumbing products, then moved into receiving, spanning as he told me, “23 years, 5 months, 2 days and about 6 hours… or thereabouts.” Andrew is rarely without supporting evidence.

Yet his “other” full time job was being a father to son, Eric, who’s with the Federal Railroad and daughter Rachelle, vice president of a bank. Andrew also unhesitatingly calls his nieces Kerry and Kimberly – both business owners – his “daughters” since they raised them as well. His wife, Eva, was equally active, but Fibromyalgia and Arthritis had other plans, enlisting Andrew as supportive caretaker for the last 14 years.

And his other full time job was lawn maintenance. He probably did other things, but I am getting tired of listing them all. Yet atop all this…

He was also a master of generating referrals, as many as he wanted, when and where he wanted. At the price he said, and here’s how he did it.

He was our lawn maintenance guy. Did it by himself too. Pulled a neatly-crafted and packed trailer behind his trusty silver Dodge Ram truck. Weed eaters, blowers, and a Snapper Mower than was more an extension of his hands and feet than a separate machine. Many a Saturday, I’d see Andrew, turning a zero radius circle around one of too many pine trees, never dropping a shaving of bark nor the ash of his Kool, with the fluidity of an ice skater, (yet thankfully in khaki instead of spandex.) Where he willed, the Snapper went.

And if our yard wasn’t enough, he had the neighbors to the left. And the right. And two doors down, plus the next one, and a couple more he’d hit on his way home. Master of efficiency, he had to “disengage” from one customer who was well off the route. “I had to tell her the drive was too much for an old man” he said to me once, adding “She wasn’t all that darn nice either.” I laughed, but he wasn’t done. “I hope she doesn’t move to a yard that’s more convenient”.

You can tell by the ‘connection’ to customers that if Andrew got one job, he’d get all the other ones he wanted, where he wanted, at the price he said. Shopping was over. Why? Because Andrew’s referrals were so enthusiastic you’d half question if there was some pyramid scheme of sudden riches coming to the referring party.

He got jobs – at will – in our neighborhood of yard-crazy people (historic neighborhood in the deep south, need I say more?) that is regularly patrolled by the ‘big’ companies. Their postcards were tossed, their TV commercials rendered us blind, the radio ads made us deaf. All we knew when prodded was, “Andrew does our yard,” usually recited like unwavering, slobbering robots. And we were.

Until Andrew retired from us.

Finding his “replacement” will be in word only. Oh sure, the “new” guy may have a little more bounce in his step, some more “moderness” to the approach, and potentially more eagerness for additional clients. But he ain’t gonna be Andrew, and that’s a fact. The beauty of Andrew’s legacy, only briefly shared herein, has a marketing thread of fascination for me in that he scored 100% of the jobs he wanted, sans price-shopping.

He “Advertised” his work while doing his work. A neat truck, parked out front, with good well maintained equipment was better than an interstate of billboards. If you’re NOT doing this, plus yard signs, and/or parking pylons, and/or door hangers, and/or windshield signage, how are the neighbors to know you’re ‘endorsed’?

Focused marketing efforts. Andrew controlled his jobs instead of the other way around. Sure, he could’ve gotten jobs in multiple inconvenient locations, but he focused on a particular customer, in a particular area, and “owned” that area.

Pricing insensitivity. Andrew could price a job since he had to move his truck a few feet, spreading the ‘windshield time’ over the adjacent yards, where others had to quote from a ‘rate sheet’ that unwisely assumed a trip charge regardless of relative proximity. Smart.

Established a Referral chain. Each new job came with a blessing and endorsement from the previous. This was the ‘first step’ in a three step process that followed with…

Asked a simple question of the potential referrer: “If I introduce myself to your neighbors, is it okay if I tell them that I do your work?” Who’s gonna say ‘no’ to that? No one did. Thus the near simultaneous 3rd step…

Qualified Introduction: Andrew would introduce himself as being the lawn maintenance professional for and wondered, “I love this area and these great lawns. If you’re looking for someone to take care of it, I’d be honored. The said it’d be okay to call them to ask anything you’d like about my service.”

Generally a phone call would ensue, which began the blathering, which ended in “SOLD!”

Regular re-endorsement and relationship building – We got an invoice monthly, sometimes with a hand written note (bill stuffer anyone?) and a Christmas card every year. It’s the small stuff that can make the strongest glue.

If Andrew had been a “company” of more than one, I’d have recommended all these, but using media to broaden the message. The message remains the same…

Your referrals will not “just happen” in the numbers you could get if you “made them happen”. Andrew made his happen. You must target, ask, follow up, and perform as promised, then repeat. If you do this for 23 years, 5 months, 2 days and about 6 hours… or thereabouts, you can grow your referrals and retire happy too.

Happy retirement Andrew. Me and my overgrown yard already miss you.

Questions for You:

■ What “ACTIONS” do you take to ensure that one customer leads to many? I’d suggest a 7 step follow up procedure, beginning on the first day following a new customer contact, spread over the next 120 days, with 2-4 ‘programmed’ contacts until they moved, died, or told you to go away.

■ What “SYSTEM” is in place to make sure the actions don’t get “forgotten”? This is a biggee. Our “Endless Referrals” program is designed to be just that, putting a single person in charge of this (should take 20 minutes a month) to enact.

Calendar Marketing

I don’t like it when contractors read the weather page to see whether they’ll be busy or not. To me, an utter loss of control. Yet in the 5 “Ms” of marketing, “month” is number 4 and thus mightily important. (This week’s poll: What are the other “M’s”? Guess and you may win fame, shame, or something in between.)

There is great validity to marketing within a known field of “timing” relevance. That is, chocolates during valentines, anti-depressants during the evening news, stuff like that. For another example…

At last report, it had rained 732 times in the past 4 days. It’s so wet, the fish are complaining and I’m going to see if Al Gore can arrange some “Global Drying”. This is neither politics nor weather.

This is about relevant timing and opportunity. In the past 45 days…

We have called a plumber for persistent drainage problem. A roofer for small leaks in two buildings. An HVAC contractor about dehumidifier in one of those buildings. An electrician for a leak-related fault in some track lighting. A neighbor about his gutter system (that he couldn’t see). A landscaper about a diverting berm and French drain.

There were 2,600,000 homes (NOT including commercial) affected in the recent high rainfalls in the southeast alone. Though I’ve occasionally felt like it, I trust I’m not the only one who needed a contractor. Multiply that by at least 6 trades, that’s lots of service calls.

Question: You want them Google searching or YOUgle Searching? Thought so.

This applies to the first cold snap. Most lightning strikes. Most burglaries (for home lighting and security). Most rain, hottest, driest. Energy prices up, energy prices down. And for you, your slowest months need the most attractive off-season offers. (See “Swimsuits in the Winter” ads in your PowerPack and many others, for example.)

All have a timely relevance in the mind of the homeowner, and YOU need to be in their mind when the need hits.

So, while other contractors are scanning the weather page, crime reports, or moaning about how energy prices have risen, you’re forcing your way into their conscious mind, up front and out front of the others leaving it up to chance.

Look at your calendar right now. There is your ‘map’ to marketing relevance. Each month, a wave of consciousness overtakes and replaces the previous. Your job is to be in front of that wave to get the call, as opposed to behind it waiting and hoping. Big difference.

• Did you get your free 12 Month Marketing map yet? We publish about 2,000 per year, and give all of them away, with ZERO chance of “reprinting” once they’re gone. Friendly advice: Make a polite request and get one now. You are now in competition with 12,000 other contractors.

Aside from getting into prospect’s minds ahead of the need, you’re also ‘programming’ your marketing, sometimes up to a year in advance. Think of the load off you, your staff, your budget, and your media contacts. You can use your calendar or ours, but use the season as the reason to program your marketing plan.

If your “negative” voice is saying, “Hey, WHAT IF I market for an item in a month that does NOT produce the highest need for that product?” Then what have you lost?

Was it second highest? Did it only make new 3 times instead of 5?

You may wonder, “What if something just HAPPENS and it was not on the calendar?” Then you readily and aggressively market that.

Quick Case Study: Tornados had stricken an area, resulting in much insurance-covered roofing work. Yet HVAC contractors started getting calls for repairs that should’ve been part of the now-released coverage. Our tactic: Created newspaper, postcard, and radio scripts that began, “Do NOT settle with your Insurance Company until you read this”. And that my friends, landed millions in necessary, legitimately covered work for hundreds of happy homeowners.

The market has a barrier of relevance and you want to penetrate it, with consistent regularity. Be the company who’s “there” in their consciousness as the needs arise. Lead the market, don’t trail it.

Questions for you:

1. What are the TOP ‘calendar driven’ items coming up in the next 90 days?
2. What products and services help solve problems related thereto?
3. What marketing pieces do you have exactly relevant to that solution?

The opportunities are there. Are you? Contact us for help.

Crack for Clunkers

Maybe I missed something. Just read that the Government Used Car Lot traded in 700,000 soot factories on wheels they call ‘clunkers’. Good that we got some unsafe and/or vile vehicles off the road to save Americans from our dependence on foreign oil. Read on.

Given that the average clunker got 12 miles per gallon and the pristine ‘new’ car (with a pristine payment book for our formerly non-spending shoppers) gets 25. Driving 12,000 miles a year, the deathmobile uses 1,000 gallons; the bluebird of vehicular happiness uses 480. Love it.

That’s 520 gallons saved per vehicle. We are geniuses! For the 700,000 vehicles, we just saved 364MILLLION gallons of fuel. We are even more smarter than geniuseseseses! Since we get 23 gallons of automotive fuel from one 55 gallon barrel of oil, that’s about 16MILLION barrels of oil we don’t have to buy!

Take that, Oily Mongers! Since we’re currently gulping down 6million barrels of your crudeness a day, we just saved nearly 3 days worth! HA! Go find another customer!

For my next to last calculation (because my abacus is smoking) at $75 per barrel, that’s a savings of $1.2billion dollars. The savings are racking up like crazy now! The only slight negative here is that it cost us $3billion to save the $1.2b.

If anyone in the health care debate brings up “Cash for Cankers,” I’m moving to New Zealand.

By the way, this is not political commentary, policy debate, or assailing the effort to save fuel or car dealers. This is about shallowness and mismanaged relationships.

Though the Clunker program brought great throngs of people trading in $500 cars for $4500 and the ensuing “great news” of heavy spending surge, I have a fairly dire prediction for the next couple months: ain’t nobody trading in any more clunkers unless you pay ‘em handsomely. Sorry. Get ready for really ‘bad’ car sales numbers. We’ve built an expectation we can’t continue, and it was NOT based on loyalty.

The best relationships may start with an inducement, an urgency, a ‘reward’ (faster service, discount coupon, tax credit offer) but will not last unless one of two things happen. Whether a car dealer or a contractor, the same rules apply:

1. Offer another incentive, equal or better than the last. This shallow “gimme” based relationship is why I caution that over-using Direct Response is like crack, i.e. ‘more is better’. This is a downward spiraling, profit robbing model.
2. Build a solid (preferably programmed) plan of contact that deepens trust, instills confidence, reinforces value, and requires cooperation from both sides.

The first one is easy to offer, harder to maintain. The second is harder to start, easier to maintain. And the second one kicks bootie every time.

You wanted something more glamorous? You wanted me to talk about getting more leads for less dollars, or how to guarantee differentiation in your market? You’d rather learn how to turn one sale into many? You feel our time would be better spent discussing the nuances of phone-melting headlines?

Well, if you practice the rare art of “active” customer retention, all of those things can happen. It is truly, the “X-factor” in a contractor’s marketing arsenal.

Of course, this is already known by a small, well-rewarded group of contractors who’ve held a tight lid on this weapon.

In fact, a few years ago, I began polling contractors on “Who uses customer retention?” and only about 6% did. Now that figure is nearer 11% - and growing.

Given that contractors don’t spend where there’s no result, I’ll let you conclude why this number has nearly doubled in three years. This is also the marketing method that has gotten most of the credit for “saving” contractors in this recession. The profitability among “those who do and those who don’t” seems to be widening as well. Makes sense.

Regardless of which group you’re in, you may find the following useful.

If you already have a Customer Retention program:

• Increase your aggression for maintenance agreements in stand alone mail/email and in your newsletters. Do not limit newsletter mailings to MA customers only, since you want to increase the natural ascension from “normal” customers to MA customers.
• Push for greater differentiation through IAQ initiatives, which, due to a high-tech nature and health slant, can elevate your marketing position considerably. (Request a free IAQ Marketing Report from us if you want to read more.)
• Stealth pursuit of web-based lead generation allows “customized, flexible lead flow” largely under the befuddled noses of your competitors. Those who get in early tend to maintain an advantage. This is inexpensive and fast.
• Continue to wean yourself from Yellow Page addiction to fund and extend your newsletter, thank-you campaigns, and follow-up referral sources. Allow your remaining YP ad to be a pure lead generator – small, fast, and uncluttered.

For New Retention Marketers

For those who have just recently begun a customer retention campaign, allow it to build momentum. Too many contractors get the instant differentiation benefit and positive comments from customers, yet have a tendency to jump to the next thing. These sporadic efforts lose the momentum and bring confusion to your staff. Remember, retention is a program, not an event.

Also, realize that the effect of retention marketing is like compounded interest – the true benefits requires continued application. It builds on itself, multiplying the effects, allowing low-cost marketing advantages for the earned loyalty, shorter sales cycle, easier upsells, more referrals, and a greater response rate.

For the “I’m Still Thinking About it” Group

The remaining 89% of contractors who leave their customer base at risk are either “hoping” their customers come back or must regularly initiate an incentive to generate new leads. Doubtless if you’ve read this far, you’re looking for change.

The first one is to change your mindset. And since it’s my job to be your personal tour guide for guilt trips, check this mind-shift:

• The “normal” contractor gets a customer in order to make a sale.
• The “marketing” contractor gets a sale in order to make a customer.

Admittedly, that sounds odd, and the scarcity of those who actually understand this mind-shift is almost the point. But this should make it clear…

The contractor who is wisely counter-intuitive in marketing wins the marketing. Period. Those who think, act, and do like everyone else get results just like everyone else. I’ve also noticed that his or her complaints are just like everyone else’s too.

So, by really understanding and applying the contractor marketing mindset, you’re automatically in the small segment that has differentiated from the pack. No matter how you initially get your leads and customers, make sure your effort to keep them proves you value them. After all, they’re customers, not clunkers.

Request a free Customer Retention Report and Fall customer newsletter sample.

Corduroy Pillows Are Making Headlines!

Get it? HA! Okay, that was bad, but it got you here. (Marketing Lesson #1: Your headline's main job is to get your prospect to your next statement.)

So, what got you where you are now, and where are you going next? I mean, humans are presumably the only of God's creatures who think of the 'future', though someone needs to tell me how we know this. (Did scientists poll wolverines and platypuses with questions about living out their dreams?) Regardless, the past is an awesome teacher about the future.

The core of every survey, the reason we "apply" for loans, insurance, jobs, etc., is to allow the past to be a vaguely reliable predictor of future behavior. (The sub-prime mortgage research teams apparently overlooked this fact. Too busy interviewing wolverines.)
I get calls from contractors who say they're 'stuck' at a certain sales level. As an overpaid consultant, I'm trained to ask, "And what have you done differently in the past 24 months?" The highly predictable answer is "Nothing much." No changes equals no change. And why was there no change? The core cause - usually unspoken but obvious - is fear.

During this "R-word" economic time, contractors more often call to get marketing 'suggestions' to get out of their financial calamity and make the phone ring. We make suggestions, by the dozens, in both broadly publicized media and to private coaching clients. Results shared, stories retold, strategies revealed.

Oddly, the ones who never did anything different during good times are just as resistant to change anything during bad times. Why? "Fear", plain and simple.

The past behavior weaves its nasty way, right into the future. Goes both ways.

The hyper-active, hyper-achievers seem to relish in differentiating behavior. (Marketing Lesson #2: Market leaders, by definition, don't copy and can't wait on the crowd. However, they often sensibly "reformulate" based on proven criteria.) Those stories, new successes, and "breakthroughs" carry them into the future. They tend to see a wave coming and prepare to ride it ahead, while others frantically splash about.

Which way are YOU going next?

5 Things the Super Successful DO NOT Do

1) Accept the Norm – A few examples: If “normal” contractors spend over half their budgets in the YP and perennially complain about the sorry results, the leaders shun same. Our top clients spend about 20% in the yellow pages – less if we can make a business case for it. Likewise, the “normal” ad is a stupid, puffed up, ego-driven and ridiculously ineffective ad designed for “Free!” by the staff whose design criteria is to “not stand out too much”. Leaders advertise with customer-focused direct response ads that DO stand out.

Likewise, if the “crowd” is not having success with Maintenance Agreements, the leaders find a way to pile them on. If the “crowd” is not getting publicity, the leaders focus on it. If the “crowd” doesn’t want to invest in customer retention, the leaders quietly amass legions of devoted fans by using it.

2) Resist Outside Advice from Qualified Experts – The “fear of change” aspect again. Leaders typically hire specialists in finance, estate/succession planning, insurance, legal, marketing, sales, personnel, and technical training. They see these as “investments”; the crowd sees them as “unnecessary costs”. In time, the gap between the investor and the fearful non-spender widens. The “crowd” calls them lucky. The leaders would call the crowd names, but they have bigger things to focus upon.

SIDE NOTE #1: Our Coaching Clients typically say things like “just having someone on my side, giving advice and urging me forward is worth several times the fee”. That was NOT a plug to join OUR Coaching Program, but to find someone, some place, where you get a regular “sense of mission”. Looking at the same walls, the same employees’ blank faces, generally will not do it.

SIDE NOTE #2: This month’s Coaching Call is with none other than sales superstar Joe Crisara, who had one of THE most provocative (and successful) short sales videos I’ve ever seen here. Coaching Clients WILL get a double earful of Joe’s “Triple Your Sales” magic on this call. Be ready. (Not in Coaching? Click to find out how to join.)

3) Refuse to look at the “Hole in the Bucket”. If the website visits are going down, there’s a reason. If the response to direct mail has sunk, there’s a reason. If your ‘old’ customers aren’t calling you back, there’s reason. If you regularly hear people ‘not’ requesting a certain tech of yours, there’s a reason. All are costing you. Turning the other way doesn’t make it go away or get better.

Self Admission Time: Though our ‘renewal’ rate for newsletter clients had gone up, I still wondered about those who did NOT renew. So we launched a 3 part mail/email/call campaign to all who – for any reason at any time – didn’t renew. It’s amazing. Many new phone calls, old clients feeling “appreciated”, and new orders came in. The hole in the bucket, now smaller.

There are negative habits, practices, trends in your company NOW that are reversible. Take a hard look at them. Be the leader who a) Admits b) Takes corrective action c) Measures and repeats accordingly.

4) Being ‘Hurt’ by Criticism. Sorry, but we’ve become wimpy, politically-correct, crybaby prone fence-sitters concerned about everyone’s self-esteem. This is, to me, the ‘fear’ behind change. We fear resistance, reluctance, ‘making a wrong move’ (so we make NONE) or offending. Respectful leaders forge ahead without bullying but also without regard to slings and arrows of sideliners. Most critics do little other than criticize. So, if you have something you’ve “been thinking about doing” for awhile, there’s a God-given reason it won’t leave you alone. Apologies to Nike, but just do it.

5) Expect New Results from Old Habits – The “old” model has died. This economy just gave it a not-so-respectful funeral. Those who change are going to manifest their destinies accordingly. Yet following the same marketing pattern, sales presentations, going to the same discussion boards and same industry events with the same speakers, are NOT going to bring change.

Best thing you could do is buy a plane ticket to visit a business you want to become and find what they did. Ask whose advice they sought, what ‘systems’ they have. You’ll find that they were never afraid to change. Emulate that.

Watch for these 5 nasty habits in your business, and pick one thing you can change now. You’ll soon make far more headlines than corduroy pillows.

Questions to consider:
1. Which of the above 5 are most damaging to you now?
2. What people can you involve to change it?
3. What’s the FIRST step you can take to change it?
4. What day will you do that? Now, go do it.

The Pricing Spiral

My son is 16, which of course means that I have been downgraded in intellect to somewhere between a sponge and a dead moth. My “inclusion” in many of his activities is often restricted to no closer than 3 zip codes. I remember being a teenager too. So, imagine my elation when he suggested a summer trip and I got (sort of) invited!

What was his idea of a trip with Dear old Dad? A roller coaster tour. Yes, a tour of the best parks in Ohio, whose new state motto is, “Come Hurl in a Loop-D-Loop!” Sounded like fun to me. Let me back up a sec.

First, he’d never been a wanton, crazy thrill seeker. Second, I’ve scarcely mentioned a desire to go 100 mph upside-down in a spiral either. Third, Ohio? Are you nuts?

Turns out I was wrong about Ohio. The drive was beautiful. I mean, 'Get out of the car and take a picture' beautiful. Gorgeous green rolling hills, picturesque farms, Amish Cheese flowing out of Amish Cheese wells. Unreal.

So, we went to two terrific parks: King’s Island near Cincinnati and Cedar Point in Sandusky. These are not your normal amusement parks with people with questionable hygiene – and a low inventory of teeth to prove it.

These parks are immaculate. The rides are incredible and the focus of their incredulity is on “Roller Coasters”. If you’re thinking “up the clickety hill, down the other side, ‘Whee’, ride’s over,” you’d be criminally mistaken. They’re rocket launchers on tracks. They hurtle into outer space, narrowly missing other planets at speeds that actually put you into the future.

>> Click here to read if Adams still has most of his organs AND the marketing lesson in PAYING someone to make you go upside down at warp speed >>

Value Lesson: It may be worth noting that the average attendee spends $50 to enter, is totally on their own to navigate, figure out ride choices, and spends – on average – 90 minutes per ride standing in line. This means, in 8 hours, with eating, walking, and required bathroom visits, they can ride 4 rides, 5 if they forego food. (Not the worst idea.) My son and I rode 19. Our average wait? Under 2 minutes. Lunch? Free. How’d we accomplish such a thing?

Given that I only plan on doing this once, and Cleveland is 1070 miles from my house so I can’t really “drop by”, we did what’s called the VIP tour. Our personally-appointed guide knew exactly which rides did what. She also got us in through the “exit”, meaning no wait. Ever.

One ride, called “Top Fuel Dragster” was new to Cedar Park. It was so popular that the wait was – get ready – just under 3 hours. The ride lasted 40 seconds. Lest you feel that was being gypped to Madoff like proportions, please know a couple fun facts - -

It was 41 stories tall. Not a typo. You start off, strapped into a padded car that renders you paralyzed from the eyelids down. Then it shoots horizontally, from 0-120 mph in just under 4 seconds. When your eyeballs almost hit the people behind you, the thing turns 90 degrees straight up said 41 stories to give your thoughts time to catch up. But no, they over shoot and merely orbit with space junk among other thoughts, many of which are just two words, starting with “OH”. You turn around at a navigational satellite next to Ursa Major and head straight down 180 degrees – in a spiral – to make sure your spleen comes out smoothly (no one knows from where) and clears the horrified onlookers below. By the time it stops at over 1g, you know exactly what snorting Red Bull laced with LSD must be like. Before you exit, you check your pants for potential waste fluids, and stagger away.

People waited 3 hours for this. We rode it twice in 6 minutes. But I had the time of my life, albeit now sans spleen.

So the questions for you, oh seeker of the truth, are…

Q: Am I cheap?
A: Yes. But I like to call it “value oriented”.
Q: Am I easily sold?
A: You ever read these editorials?
Q: How much is the VIP package worth?
A: You tell me how much it’d be worth it to you to ride the rides, on a once in a lifetime trip with your child, building far more memories than standing in line having to go to the bathroom for the last half of the wait. Send your guess here.

This is about “price elasticity”. You think your drain cleanings are ‘x’ because that’s what people charge. You think your services should be ‘y’ because that’s what people charge. Price elasticity exists in all markets, for all people. You must locate the ‘value’ for them and charge accordingly. Next issue will explore that.

Part of my value – and one clearly known by the amusement park people – is that a vacation is typically not repeatable. The “best time” means making the most of that time, with price an often secondary consideration. I assure you, I never once considered price while spiraling upside down, out of control wishing I’d never heard of blue ice cream.

Finally, I don’t know about you, but time with my children is special and moving by faster than any ride at the park. Now where are those seat belts?


Questions to consider:

1. What do you charge for a “normal” service for the top 3 most common services you do?
2. What would customers pay extra for to make this extraordinary? Name 3 things.
3. What would they pay? Ask around. You’ll be surprised.

Love Hurts

I love contractors – seriously. That’s why you get to read exploits with the various good, bad, and ugly varieties out there, hopefully learning along the way. Today, we’ll look at a bad and a good, while I play the role of the ugly.

Now, this may be a shock, but the deep south is hot. This causes electrical panels to erupt, irrigation systems to work overtime, and hvac systems to burn their little bearings up. Contractors love it here.

A couple weeks ago, a tenant at our old office (we still own) called the property manager to say, politely, that she thought the ac vents were blowing hotter than the ‘bad place’. (No, not Cleveland.) The property manager suggested his “ac guy” take a look, and I agreed. Told him, “Whatever he says, I’m probably fine with it. Just get the system and her cooled down.”

After about 3 hours for him to actually make it out to the property, he checked the outdoor unit (without announcing himself to the tenant – take a note) and surmised that it was too small for the building. This was made more astonishing since I later found his company had done the installation. He also said the duct system (which they didn’t do) was “a mess”.

I waited for him to give me a suggestion, or options, but he said nothing else. So I just asked, “Then your only recommendation is to replace the system? That’s it?”

His response? “Yeah, that’s about it. If you’re interested, I can go back, do some more measurements and give you a quote.”

Let's see, it's 103 ̊; this is Alabama; it's late July, I have a tenant who is about to ignite, and his statement, in case you missed it, is: "If you’re interested, I can give you a QUOTE."

Not terribly impressed, I felt stuck, so I answered “Sure, I’d like a quote, but in the meantime, can you do SOMETHING, like make sure the charge is up, the system clean, or even let me rent a couple window units to help her out?”

“Nope, I don’t do that. Plus, I'm kind of shorthanded right now. I’ll try to get back by there in a couple days.”

Maybe I expect too much. But my blood pressure was just under the level required to boing your eyeballs out on cartoon like springs.

Mr. "Get a Quote in Days! Not Hours!” seemed a little lacking in the customer service department, and perhaps a couple pounds shy of coolant himself. Given this, I made my way to the dreaded Yellow Pages, called another company I had used in the past. Can’t remember now why I didn’t use them again. (Take another note.)

Says they’ll be there in about a half hour.

Wondrously, he’s early. The tenant lets him inside (note). He handles her very professionally, apologizes for her inconvenience (note #3), takes a look and calls me. “The unit probably is a quarter ton too small, but mainly just dirty, both of which are exaggerated by the heat. BUT, we’re gonna clean it up, reduce some flow to the storage room she’s hardly using, pump that to her office (note) and I recommend you install some solar tinting on the back of the building. I don’t do this but have a pro who can” (note)

Whoa. Not bad for the first 20 minutes. “How about the duct system?” I ask.

He replies, “Beautiful. All hard pipe, well-crafted. Not sure who did it but it’s first class.” (note)

Credibility of Contractor #1 goes subterranean. “Can you help her out a little now, and then go ahead and schedule whatever repairs will make the unit work for her?”

“Sure thing. I don’t have window units, but I have a bunch of desk fans I picked up at Harbor Freight and left her a couple. She seems appreciative. I’ll call the window tinter now and give him your info…”

“No need to,” I interrupted, “just have him do it and bill me”. (Please note, sales occur quickly with a trusted referral.)

One day later, Contractor #2 does the work, drops the temps in the office, re-calms the tenant, reclaims his fans. Calls me to give the update.

He then quotes on a Maintenance Agreement for the building. Done. Asks what else I need. He’s installing a new system at a warehouse as I write this. We’ll see how that goes.

Funny thing. A little turns into more, long as you keep the momentum with some customer service and good sense. Don’t make doing business with you too hard. Rivers of money are forged with the path of least resistance.


Questions for you:
1. Is solving your customers’ problems your first concern?
2. How much income do you lose a year if this scenario is repeated in your business just once a month?
3. Once your image is shattered, it’s hard to repair. How are you using service to keep a higher image in your market?

Death of a Salesman

“Billy Mays here, for Oxy-Clean.” Wow, we won’t hear those words again, unless his near clone of a son, Billy Mays Jr. does it. At the moment, unlikely.

Those of you in our Coaching Group have heard me laud Mays’ show, “Pitchmen”, regularly due to the background of how products were positioned, priced, and pitched. A fascinating introspection into the world of influence on a mass level, quite applicable on the individual level.

I’ve also encouraged you to pay attention to most any oft-repeated infomercial since it was a) Successful and b) Worthy of study for the ‘sales triggers’ and sequence of pitch to apply to your own business.

Billy Mays had a sixth sense about such things. Getting to ‘know’ him through the show allowed us to see past the tightly groomed beard and over-zealous voice affectations rising and falling under the blue starched shirt.

To him, and to those who do any craft well, their zeal is real, thus credible. We knew without any pretense, that he was there to ‘sell’ us something, something new, amazing, wonderful, and probably something we could live without.

Do I really need to Mighty-Putty a hose reel to the wall in 4 minutes flat? Didn’t matter, nor that this product (plain old two-part epoxy) wasn’t ‘new’ at all. When Billy Mays pitched it, “For the incredibly low price of just nineteen ninety-five… here’s how to order”, over 10 million orders poured in.

That’s $199,500,000 from a 1 minute commercial folks. Not too shabby for a product that had sleepily laid in bins at auto parts stores, hardware stores, general merchandise stores, grocery stores, and drug stores for nearly 20 years. And therein lies at least 1 part of the sales epoxy: the ability to ‘see’ the opportunity others miss.

These sales masters clearly don’t “need” a new product, only a new way to package or angle the product, re-aim it to a different audience, remove the mystery of its use, while maintaining the mystery of its miracle (very important). And the second part was the Mays’ epoxy – we’ll call it the hardener – is the beauty of the pitch.

There are 5 parts to a well-crafted pitch, as old as PT Barnum, as cutting-edge effective as the iPod, and as copyable as a slow dance. Here they are –

“The 5 Step Pitch of SuperStar Salespeople”

Anyone who says, “A pitch is a pitch,” may as well be talking about baseball, because neither is true. There is art, craft, timing, skill, indelibly linked to a single emotion of persuasion. If you’ll watch the infomercials closely, you’ll see they all start at the same place, which is precisely where you should start…

1. The problem. Be it weight loss, wrinkles, an overcrowded purse, no time to go to the gym, acne, flabby abs, halving meal time preparations, or by golly needing that darn hose reel to stay stuck on a brick wall, the “problem” is framed harshly.

No one cares about solving a minor problem, so the “old” method of trimming the dog’s toenails (which seemed fine only moments ago) will now cripple him and get you turned into the SPCA. Those “old” pants you used to fit in would be great if you didn’t have a rear end the size of Missouri. And that wrinkle on your forehead that TO YOU seemed small is actually making strangers on the street call hospice for you or have you carbon dated.

There’s no time in direct response for minimizing the issue, and actually there is no point. You either agree or you don’t, and are welcome to change the channel, unless of course…

2. The Proof convinces you. Whatever you “thought” or “suspected” is now confirmed. A dude in a lab coat with an unpronounceable last name tells you so. The Swedish Sleep Institute has confirmed it, NASA took that crap into outerspace, the 4 half-drunk neighbors think YOUR Magic Bullet Margaritas are the best, and Tony Horton – whose biceps actually won the Kentucky Derby – swears you’ll be able to bench press a building by Friday if you’ll just watch the DVD.

Billy Mays showed Magic Putty pull a Naval Carrier; Oxy Clean turned a vat of red dye clear; he erased stains, greened lawns, and uprooted weeds right before our eyes. What other proof does a person need?

Aside from my playfulness here (done to dramatize their universal existence) the preponderance of proof is what takes you from mental query to mental acceptance. This is the exact step they want you to be at, and as your mind enters this “what if” stage, out comes…

3. The Probe. These are deeper questions that ask your subconscious for a “yes”. Once asked for and gotten, you’re just millimeters from whipping out your Visa, but not yet. You must now ask yourself, “Could it be that I’ve gotten that out-of-shape?” or “Wouldn’t it be fun to scrapbook?” or “Can I get my vitality back?” and “Why do I pay the exterminator when that plug-in thingy will electrocute any bug that even considers coming to my house?” The probe appears to be an impartial judge, merely an internalizing of a fair question. This is the same thing you’d do presenting your prospects with your contracting offer.

“Why put up with that leak any longer? Why not be comfortable in your own home? Shouldn’t you lower your energy bill?” Get your prospects to probe and make their subconscious seek you as a solution. This bring us to…

4. The Presentation. Ta-da, here’s the solution. You asked, and here’s the answer that supports your very own conclusion! “I am sick of my partner wanting a ‘too firm’ mattress, so check it out – a SLEEP NUMBER BED!” Or “Man, I do need exercise, but don’t like the confines of the gym, so that Tryke thing is for me!” And “Yes, I hate hours of back-breaking labor or paying a detailer hundreds of dollars, so the ‘Miracle Wax’ is the answer!”

Each presentation is indeed the rabbit-out-of-the-hat syndrome. Your contracting offer must ‘answer’ or ‘solve’ the initial problem you handed your customer. I don’t care WHO handed it first, your job is to make it stink to the rooftops (at least) and present your solution as the fragrance from on-high.

This step also contains the price and the negating thereof, known as the guarantee. There must be an offsetting acceptance where the gain far outdistances the pain (price) and IF that is just hype, there’s always the fall-back (guarantee).

Your presentation is not separate from the price; price is a merely a trivialized component. The dollar amount is ONE element within a well-crafted presentation, minimized to nothingness. “Sure, you COULD throw all these hopelessly stained clothes away, or eliminate the stains and save hundreds!” Or “A private fitness coach is $200, $300, $400… but you get 28 sessions of P90X, each like a one-on-one private lesson, for just $90.”

The dollar amount is then dropped again in one of several ways. Payments are extended. The amount of product is doubled at the last second. The last payment may be dropped entirely. In any of these, the lingering pain of payment is dropped to a non-issue. But if a molecule of hesitancy remains…

The guarantee saves them. It is the safety net of perceived risk. The bolder the better. “We guarantee you’ll save 25% on this 16SEER system, or we’ll write you a check for the difference.” “We guarantee this water heater will be the last one you ever buy for this house, or we’ll give you a new one, all you pay for is minimal labor.”

Billy Mays’ presentation helped turn Oxy-Clean into a $300,000,000 soap. How? It was safer, faster, worked better, less harm to your clothes, less toxic than the competitive (bleach), worked ‘naturally’ (a great distrust over the unnatural in case you wondered), was cheaper (more loads due to concentration), and who could argue with what they saw?

Once you’re nodding, or salivating, the final frontier is upon us.

5. The Push. Also called the “Call to Action”. In this, a sense of urgency pervades. “Operators are standing by for your call, but you must order in the next 7 minutes to get all the bonuses mentioned.” I don’t need to elaborate here, we all know them, and they do work.

In contracting, you don’t use these enough. Inventories run low, and people HATE to wait, so why not use it? Price increases do happen, but few contractors use that as an incentive to act. Crews get busier in the summer, so a return to normal NON discounted pricing is expected. The Tax Credit rebate ends in 2010, but who knows when they could pull this program? We can schedule you in for Tuesday, but if you wait, it could be another 10 days. All of these are legitimate “pushes” to help make the decision, and to make it faster.

In fact, using the 5-step pitch can radically change your business. Too many contractors focus on “product” which you’ll notice was NOT one of the “P’s” covered. Why? Because no one wants a drill… we just want the hole. Focus on solving the problem, with convincing proof, and a credible presentation filled with price and pain minimizers. Then gently push toward the acceptance.

Billy Mays showed that sincerity coupled with a gift toward the dramatic, we all wanted cleaner clothes, better lawns, sharper knives, and better glue. And we’d buy any of it from someone we trust.

So relaying that homeowners want safer, more efficient, cleaner, and more comfortable homes shouldn’t be too hard. But wait! There’s more! Because since they trust you to help them make good decisions, it should make both of your lives easier.

Questions for you:

What problems do I solve for homeowners?
What 3rd part proof do I share with them to support the solution?
What probing questions do I WANT them to ask themselves?
Is my presentation convincing? What are the steps I take to convince. (If you answered ‘none’, you’re NOT convincing, you’re hoping.)
How to I incentivise action? How do I follow up to help?