Testing your ideas (2)

Yesterday, I received a solid reminder of the costs and challenges of surveying and testing marketing ideas, especially when you engage in intrusive communications. The question, always, is whether the intrusion's reward is worthy of its cost.

The question is whether our special advertising-supported editorial feature concept, the backbone of our existing print business, could be adapted effectively to leads generated from this blog in the new Design and Construction Report (http://www.dcnreport.com).

You can see the original posting explaining the concept here.

Out of 1,419 survey invitations, 15 answered the question, but disturbingly, six people reported my email as "spam" -- the highest number of spam complaints I've received for a single mailing since I began using Constant Contact about two years ago. (The spam complaints may have resulted in part because I inadvertently selected one of my employees as "sending" the email, and the recipients may not have known her. (She got a surprise on waking up to find dozens of 'bounces' in her email box!)

However, while nine people responded by saying they would welcome publicity only without any cost at all to their organization (hardly of value for our business), three said "yes" to the question of whether they would be willing to pay for the service with a "satisfaction guaranteed or there is no cost" fee, and three said they don't know whether publicity would be of value to them.

Later in the day, Chase observed in an email to me:

"Three leads where people would pay a fee is promising.

"The real question is to determine if the people responding are the real decision makers or not.

"I suspect we would see an average of five per cent close rate from the blog leads. I have no problem working these and as more issues are published the close rate will increase."

The results, obviously biased with responses from people who have a relatively close connection with our business, suggest there is some interest in the concept, but we don't have overwhelming or obvious demand. In other words, I certainly have not hit a home run.

And, to get the answers, I pushed myself into the face of busy people who don't really need nor want the intrusion.

But it isn't a dead loss either. As Chase points out, if we can achieve a five per cent close rate in the early going (that is one in 20), without being a pest or spending too much sales energy on weak leads, we have a viable market -- because this blog and its high Google rankings generates upwards of 20 to 30 inquiries a week. With our average revenue per feature, this indicates a market potential of upwards of $100,000.

In marketing, sometimes we need to push out a little to see what is happening, and sometimes we need to be a little in the face of our current or potential clients. This is certainly not the "Permission Marketing" advocated by Seth Godin, but I think a totally passive approach with no assertion or invitation/call to action is asking for silence when you try out new things.

As well, I appreciate that our business idea probably requires the effective intervention and co-ordination of intelligent sales representatives. The editorial publicity/special advertising feature concept is reasonably simple, but may not lend itself to the "check the box, 'I'll take it'" attitude.

Nevertheless, I'll be respectful and careful before rushing to generate another survey. I need to respect that far too many people resented the intrusion.

Putting the Permision back into "permission marketing"

Today, our email list is enduring the most dramatic pruning of names since it started about two years ago. Then, we had a few hundred names; yesterday at 5 pm. there were about 11,500. This morning, the list is down to 8,500 and dropping.

In addition to the 126 "Opt outs" recorded so far by Constant Contact, I've received several dozen emails responding "no" to my question: "You are on our email list for construction news, ideas, and information. Do you want to continue receiving these emails?" Fortunately even more said "Yes", and some said it enthusiastically.

I also cleaned up bounces, blocked emails and invalid addresses (about 1,300), and removed names from lists where the person on it hadn't requested our communications, but had simply belonged to a group or organization where we had a legitimate but temporary marketing objective.

By the end of the day, I expect the list will be pared even further.

Short term, this is good because it saves us some money on list management fees. These aren't back-breakers --Constant Contact is truly an inexpensive service -- but $75.00 a month is still wasted if it doesn't provide business value.

Longer term, however, the list paring is as sensible as any house cleaning (perhaps even more) in appreciating that you should only send email when people want to receive it from you, or when you are sending indivdiual, personalized and highly relevant communications.

Sure, spam "works" if you are selling stuff that many individuals desire or where there is a huge margin for a universal market with only a small number of "yeses" despite many thousands of rejections and much irritation to the majority occur. But is this the story within the architectural, engineering and construction industries? Are you really going to succeed by bombarding people who don't to receive your message?

In a few weeks, we will embark on a new electronic publishing project where the relevancy and value of what we are promoting will depend directly on the willingness and interest of readers in the topic. So the list will grow again. But now, and then, you will only receive email from me if you want it, not because I think I have some right to push it on you.

More on Permission Marketing

Seth Godin's Permission Marketing provides insights into the concept of obtaining permission from your clients and prospective clients to receive marketing messages, rather than forcing yourself into their space. He offers four chapters to the book free (as a device, of course, to obtain your permission to receive other materials -- and ultimately to purchase the entire book.)

Here is the Wikipedia definition of Permission Marketing:

Permission marketing is a term used in e-marketing. Marketers will ask permission before they send advertisements to prospective customers. It is used by some Internet marketers, email marketers, and telephone marketers. It requires that people first "opt-in", rather than allowing people to "opt-out" only after the advertisements have been sent.

Marketers feel that this is a more efficient use of their resources because advertisements are only sent to people that are actually interested in the product. This is one technique used by marketers that have a personal marketing orientation. They feel that marketing should be done on a one-to-one basis rather than using broad aggregated concepts like market segment or target market.

In the United Kingdom, opt-in is required for email marketing, under The Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003. This came into force on the 11 December 2003.

Permission based marketing is believed to have been developed by Seth Godin, a well-established international marketing guru at the turn of the century. A key element of "permission" based marketing is that you are in essence, purchasing someone's time and getting their "attention" which has become increasingly valuable in what may be termed the 90-Second Economy.

Seth Godin offers four free chapters to his book on Permission Marketing here. I'm also participating in (an at present closed) group he started at Triiiibes.com.

Clearly, the highest degree of Permission Marketing occurs when you enjoy great relationships with satisfied clients, who welcome further marketing communications from your organization. This should not be confused with pestering 'follow ups' -- I'm referring to the situations when you treat your clients so well they want to do business with you, and your follow up materials and offers provide real value in themselves, not just as come-ons to purchase more stuff.

Of course Permission Marketing is at the opposite end of the marketing frame of reference from hard-rock cold calling, telemarketing and canvassing, where the prospective client (or not) has no choice but to respond to the marketing inquiry, if only to (in anger) slam the door or phone!

In practice, we find a polarity in marketing between Permission Marketing and the other extreme -- intrusive marketing -- with less room for the other formats, primarily advertising, where you hope to attract attention through paid messages and cause people to contact you. In general, I expect you are in the best position if you can rely on Permission Marketing for virtually all of your marketing initiatives, but respect that in some cases you simply don't have enough stuff in the pipeline -- and you need to reach out and pull the business in. Then, the other, intrusive, alternatives, have a valid place in the picture.

The marketing paradox: The less you 'try', the more you succeed

If there is an irony in marketing, it is this: The greatest results seem to come from the least effort. You pick up your phone, and a former client calls you and invites you to bid on a job -- or even better, you are told a competitor is bidding, and the client really wants you, so could you come in with a proposal of your own, with the expectation that you will win. (In the AEC world, this is called "wired" proposals -- with qualitative as well as quantitative measures, fairness is often in the eyes of the beholder -- and the business that wins (and thinks things are fair) usually has an inside track from the beginning.)

Clearly, you have good reason to feel good about the progress of your business when this sort of thing happens in less-than-buoyant economies. I'm sure it is happening for some of this blog's readers -- others, however, are in a more difficult situation: Their flow of repeat and referral business seems to be drying up; as low-cost competitors and aggressive marketers fight for the smaller pieces of the pie that remain available. "What should we do," they ask, sometimes floundering, sometimes reaching desperately for lead services, or faulty and ill-planned advertising campaigns.

I continue to believe the best approach in marketing, always, is to give value -- to current, former, and potential future clients. In the new environment of Permission Marketing, you need to create resources and services to win and sustain your clients' good-will. But if you have to put food on your table to survive, while you build your package of services and gifts to your marketing community, you may have to get down and dirty -- calling in favours, asking old clients for some special help and, in some cases, engaging in hard-to-do cold calling and canvassing. (In the next few months, I expect to study canvassing closely with canvassing consultant Joseph Needham to gain a better understanding of how to effectively implement this methodology.)

What can you give to your clients that creates value and memories? A simple gift basket on the completion of the work might work wonders (and a hand-written Thank You card is always helpful.) Straightforward and simple to implement do-it-yourself maintenance tips may be worthy; (coupled with marketing where appropriate for maintenance contracts.) Informative, insightful ideas, maybe some humour, maybe contributions to local homeowners associations or business improvement groups; maybe support of relevant trade associations within your commercial marketing community. And of course you can consider the blog and e-letter.

Of course, getting the basics right: Courtesy, respect, and truly competent work will go much further than fancy marketing campaigns. You really win if you connect with centres of influence, community leaders, and others who carry weight beyond their obvious status. But you'll connect with these leaders best if you treat everyone you do business with the same fairness, respect and dignity.

Then, if all goes well, the fun begins. Your phone rings, or your email pings. The caller or emailer is ready to place a huge order, sign on for a major project, or invite you to bid on a job (telling you that you will win it.) It seems just a little too easy and simple -- but of course it isn't -- you've paved the way and prepared yourself for the opportunity. You've found the magic marketing formula.

Banning marketing intrusions

University of Ottawa professor Michael Geist has introduced the website ioptout.ca to help Canadians stop unwanted telemarketing calls. Geist's site allows users to simply register and say, effectively, don't bother me -- to a large list of organizations, many of whom are exempt from existing do-not-call legislation (but not privacy regulations). Geist's website simplifies the process for those of us who do not want to be bothered by intrusions from businesses, survey companies, charities, and political organizations. Instead of having to look up each organization individually and register with them our wish not to be bothered, we simply click on the website, and voila, if the organizations call us after our registration, they will be in trouble.

Ok, I've repeated on several occasions that intrusive marketing often works effectively. Canvassing, especially, can really attract profitable business, quickly. But marketers need to realize that if you enter people's space uninvited to push your wares on us, you risk a backlash.

There is a better way -- and no, it doesn't involve wasting money on conventional advertising, leads services and the like. It involves respecting your potential clients, understanding what matters to them, and them setting yourself out as the company/organization that really understands and will help them solve their problems.

So, say, you are a roofing contractor. You could send a canvassing squad around to neighbourhoods and look for houses with crappy roofs, and knock on the doors, and you might get good results. (And, frankly, I wouldn't find that kind of canvassing that offensive, if your guys really could see the problem and knew the service is required.)

But what about another approach; perhaps leaving some informative literature at the door outlining effective options (without ringing the bell) ; perhaps contributing to a community organization helping low-income people with roofing problems, or perhaps creating some kind of helpful resource/website with all the answers about roofing that anyone could ever want, free, and easily accessible. Maybe you could strike a relationship with relevant retail businesses or organizations where people ask questions; maybe you could write a regular column for the weekly newspaper on roofing issues; maybe you could lead a campaign within your community to curb canvassing and telemarketing -- and sponsor it!

The point here is there are ways to connect and show respect for people and while sometimes in-your-face marketing is effective, and valid, it only is that when there is thought and respect for the person to whom you are marketing. Too much door-to-door and phone stuff is mindless crap, insensitive, and disrespectful of the privacy of the person to whom you are marketing. Think before you call or knock on the door -- or beware of the retaliation from do-not-call systems such as Michael Geist's.

The new polarity in marketing

The Diversity Visa program is the distant offspring of the old NP-5 program. Of course, Immigration consultants market these services -- at high fees -- when the rational thing to do is follow the instructions at the U.S. State Department site.

More and more, evidence is growing that traditional 'interruption' media is failing. People are tuning out of television, at least the conventional broadcast type. Conventional print media, especially the daily newspaper and Yellow Pages, are dying under the weight of the Internet. Overwhelming volumes of marketing messages are finding their way into the garbage pails, either figuratively, or literally.

So, as marketers, we are faced with two choices -- push ourselves even harder (and more intrusively) in front of our prospective clients, or find a way to get prospective clients to WANT to receive our marketing material; to desire to do business with us.

I've enjoyed correspondence with canvassing consultant Phil Needham who advocates the former approach. He would argue that canvassers are simply retracing the old steps before the mass media; where door-to-door salespeople were common, along with delivery people who actually brought milk, vegetables, and eggs to your home. And he has a point, within reason. Well-trained canvassers certainly can do good business, and quickly, but I'll never enjoy the experience of answering my home door and finding some guy with marketing message waiting to 'inform' me of something I had never requested nor wanted.

The other side of the equation is more challenging. How can we get people to really want to do business with us? If you can pull it off, great media publicity -- the free type, where reporters interview you and put you in the newspaper and on the air -- is best. (Of course, now that traditional media advertising is dying, so are the conventional media publications and broadcasters.)

I still remember a marketing success which proved the value of publicity. It also validated my instincts as an entrepreneur.

Back in 1986, the U.S. Congress approved a new immigrant visa category -- the NP5 -- designed to allow people without family connections or business interests to qualify for the much coveted "Green Card". To handle the volume of applications, the government set up a kind of lottery -- but (at least in its earliest version) with some really unusual entry rules.

The authorities announced they would issue 20,000 visas to the first 20,000 qualified applicants. To apply, you needed to mail a single sheet of paper to a Washington, D.C. post office box. Letters which arrived before the 'opening' deadline on midnight one day would be discarded. So would all applications after the initial batch. The rules said you could not use courier or personally deliver your application to the State Department, but you could mail as many applications as you wished.

I thought this is a really strange way for a nation to manage its immigration system, but came up with a rather wild idea. What if I found the postal station in Washington and, over several hours the day before the deadline, mailed dozens of applications? Eventually, chances are, one would get through the postal processing system and into the correct bin at the right time.

Then I took things a step further. I discovered that since the applications didn't need to be signed, I could provide the same service to others -- and take orders over the phone. So I placed a few ads in personal columns of newspapers across Canada, saying "increase your chances of winning the NP5 visa".

A few calls, and orders, trickled in. Then things got interesting, when the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and a reporter for the Edmonton Journal took an interest in my little business. The reporter, especially, was skeptical -- he thought we might be running a scam. But I explained that we of course weren't guaranteeing a visa; we were simply providing a service to increase chances of winning, following the rules set by the U.S. government. The reporter called the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa, and a spokesman told him that our idea, in fact, was legitimate. So he wrote the story.

Our phone line started ringing (I was doing this with a partner, a woman who later went on to marry someone else). As things peaked, you could hear the phone lines crackling. We would put down the phone with one order, only for the phone to immediately ring again. Hundreds of people were trying to reach us -- giving us money and eagerly hoping for their visa dream to come true.)

We indeed went to Washington D.C. I wasn't the only person with this idea -- in fact, the U.S. Postal Service reported they had never processed so much mail in a single day at any post office. Crowds milled around the Brentwood postal station, as people pushed stacks of mail into the slots and the huge mail bins rolled out to handle the volume.

When we recovered from a few sleepless nights, we added up our profits, a few thousand dollars for a rather intense week's work.

A year later, incidentally, I received a letter from the U.S. consulate in Montreal. I had indeed been selected for a visa. I obtained the visa, but never actually moved to the U.S. and allowed it to lapse. Later, with the North American Free Trade Agreement, I obtained another type of visa - the L1A, which allows me to work and grow my business in the U.S. while remaining a Canadian resident/citizen.

I still long for a repeat experience; the exhilaration of having an idea so much in demand that people are practically begging to do business with us. I've read this sort of publicity coup has happened to others, and it can be the most amazing experience of your business life. You can't of course build a business plan around the hopes for this type of free media attention -- but when it happens, you'll know you what it is like to really succeed at marketing. And I would argue that even lesser publicity successes are worthwhile, and far more valid and enjoyable than sicking uninvited canvassers or telemarketers at your 'prospects'.

The question is, how do you do it? You can hire media relations and public relations consultants, but in the end, you are going to have to have a creative and innovative idea -- or spin on an 'old' idea and make it work. With our own advertising clients, I am always willing to spend some time creating and developing media-sensitive ideas. (This service is free, but you need to be one of my current customers to receive it!)

So, maybe canvassing or push marketing is the way to go. But maybe you can leverage a good story and get publicity, and have people banging down your door to do business with you. I'll take the latter approach, any day.

A canvasser's perspective

Joseph Needham of Needham Canvassing Consultants took exception to some remarks in today's eletter where I stated: "Notably, these consultants don't canvass themselves."

The correction is that my Consulting firm actually does canvass for our customers . . . . Customers can hire my firm to canvass for them, however when we are out at a Customer's location building them a canvassing team of their own, we actually go out with the canvassers and canvass with them.

I believe that I am the only Consultant that actually puts their money where their
mouth is. When other consultants are just offering lip service (meaning telling best practices) we show our customers best practices. We take them into the street and go with them door-to-door showing them how it is done.

When we are out at a location typically the leads we generate while we are there more than cover any costs associated with the building of their canvassing team.

It is my company's goal to raise the bar when it comes to canvassing. We are setting new industry standards with the generating of a qualified appointment through canvassing.

Actually generating leads for my customers is how I differentiate myself from my competition.

I wrote back and explained that my intent in saying "canvassers don't canvass themselves" in relation to their own businesses -- that is finding commercial clients for the canvassing services they are marketing. Needham responded: "I do a little telemarketing when I need a couple of customers. It usually takes one week on the phone to keep me busy for a month or two."

Needham also corrected an error in one of my earlier blog postings.

I just noticed when reading one of your articles about American Dream Vinyl that you wrote the name Doug Holland. I know the owner of American Dream Vinyl. He is a customer of mine and his name is Doug Hillyard.

My bad. I failed to double check Hillyard's name spelling before publishing the original posting. At least, with blogs, there is one big advantage over other media when you make a mistake of this sort. Corrections can be entered within seconds, and no one would know (except for my admission here) that I had it wrong in the first place.

I asked Needham where he thinks canvassing makes sense.

As for the types of business that could benefit from canvassing would be (of course) any construction company, also I've seen success in the real estate market, I've often wondered what it would be like to canvass for a car dealer. Would they pull up in a driveway in a new car, knock on the door and ask the homeowner if they would like to buy the car?

For any business to be cost efficient for canvassing they would need a high unit sale
amount to offset the costs associated with canvassing.

Needham also asked me, in another email, why I hate canvassing. Here is my response.

It's basic -- the canvasser intrudes on my space. I don't give him/her permission to enter it. It's a matter of respect for my privacy and right to enjoy my home without unwelcome distractions.
Recognize the intrusion element. I am doing something I enjoy (or maybe some work, or maybe spending time with my family.) The door bell rings, and someone is there to sell (or gather leads, or whatever) for something I neither requested nor wanted. The entire process takes time away from something I would rather do. Your canvasser is certainly not paying me for the inconvenience which I wish not to happen.
Canvassing is worse than telemarketing, which is so irritating, you know, that laws were passed to establish do not call registries.
Please don't misunderstand, I respect canvassing works from a marketing perspective. But I don't want to be bothered. I want to choose who and how I do business, especially at my home.

More and more, I fear, marketing is polarizing between honorable permission-based initiatives (you certainly are not forced to read this blog, and you can choose how and when to view it), and extreme intrusion, whether it be canvassing or phoning. Notably, it looks like the former owner of my Skype number has a few organizations trying to reach him/her (perhaps collection agencies). I get several calls a week with a recording saying "this is not a sales call" but to phone back a certain number. I imagine how irritating these calls are to the people who actually receive them. The intrusion-type marketing probably is 'necessary' because people are shutting off the other forms of conventional advertising and selling -- we're flipping the channel, surfing the net, and refusing to read the mass of fliers dropped on our doorsteps. Since it is harder and harder for marketers to reach our targets, we are resorting to more intensive in-your-face strategies.

Residential canvassing and b to b cold calls -- the yuck in marketing

I discovered this video at Seth Godin's blog -- Seth advocates Permission Marketing and I think would be aghast at the idea that marketers should send squads of canvassers through residential neighbourhoods, or sick telemarketers on your business. But the story is never so simple.

Two threads at contractortalk.com relate the challenges and opportunities of outbound 'push' marketing. I've waded deeply into the debate about the merits and risks of residential canvassing, while another thread-starter has asked the question: How should she handle a list of more than 600 potential b to b clients for fencing services. In the later thread, Susan Betz from Fences of Distinction in Ocala, Florida, expresses her fears and discomfort about making cold calls -- and receives suggestions, advice, and warnings from others.

The canvassing debate with Doug Holland of American Dream Vinyl of central Pennsylvania has grown heated at times. I've argued that door-knocking to sell services is wrong -- it is unfair for anyone selling stuff to intrude into the private space of our homes, whether or not it is legal or effective. However, I also concede that canvassing is probably quite effective and may have a place if your business is either in urgent need of a boost or in start-up mode.

The debate here revolves around a fundamental question about marketing which has gone on for eons. With all the clutter and noise out there, and all the challenges in gaining attention of our potential clients, how can we best work our way through the 'mind clutter' and achieve top of mind awareness. This problem is clearly outlined in the "this is an awareness test" video posted on Seth Godin's blog.

Here, we come to a fundamental question about marketing. If an intrusive, irritating, and downright offensive methodology -- to many, or perhaps the majority of potential clients -- 'works' for the minority, to the extent that it is utterly effective, is it wrong, especially if, once you have the clients in your system, you treat them well and with respect? In other words, if you have people banging on doors, or calling cold, and nine-tenths of the people out there want nothing to do with you and in fact are downright irritated with your intrusion, if you find the 1/10th real clients, and then convert them to loyal followers, have you done anything wrong?

These are good questions, and remind me of an experiment I tried some years ago with a fax information service for construction data and information.

I thought, why not send a free sample to everyone on a large list of construction association members. And I did, with a test sample. Out of a hundred people, I received two complaints, and two orders. The ratio seemed reasonable to me, so I rolled out the list, and picked up some 20 to 30 clients out of 1,000 names.

Fair enough. I thought, why not extend this further, to other lists; and then received the chilling awareness that when you go "in your face" you had better be careful about relevancy. Nothing but complaints -- including from people using third party fax services, who had to pay by the page for the data I dumped on them. (If I had tried this in the U.S. I would also have run into FCC regulations highly restricting fax advertising -- if you are thinking of doing any kind of broadcast fax marketing in the States, be aware, you can easily be snared in some very expensive litigation!)

The broadcast fax situation got out of hand a few years ago when, under public pressure, the FCC tried to strengthen the anti-marketing fax legislation even more to close some 'loopholes' for trade associations and prior business relationships. Fortunately, a coalition of trade associations and marketers rallied to have these rules modified -- ironically, this type of fax advertising is now hardly intrusive nor expensive for most businesses, since faxes generally feed into computers and in any case, are easy to discard without intruding on your space or time.

Canvassers, meanwhile, ran into problems with local ordinances as communities tried to restrict the nuisance of door-to-door selling. But this one found its way to the Supreme Court, and canvassing is indeed legal and cannot be stopped. So now the floodgate is opening as canvassing consultants ply their trade and sell their services -- of course not by canvassing, but by Internet and relationship-based "pull" marketing.

We can argue this one up and down and around and around but it seems to me the marketing space is polarizing, between really heavy intrusion marketing (canvassing and telesales) and really good permission marketing (PR, electronic newsletters, search engine marketing), with the more conventional advertising approaches, whether they be print, direct mail, or radio and television, struggling with costs and the challenges of breaking through the attention-getting clutter. In this environment, perhaps the best approach indeed is to find a combination -- systematically using canvassing or telesales to generate leads, even as you work to deliver your product/service with such high quality that you don't actually need to do that type of marketing, because you have so much repeat business and referrals from satisfied clients.

Of course, that is the rub of the situation. If our businesses are well enough run that permission marketing generates most of our business, why would we want to engage in practices which we find distasteful and irritating? I won't solve this problem anytime soon.

Canvassing works, but . . . (2)

Contractortalk.com poster "Vinylguy" appears to be associated with American Dream Vinyl Company in Central Pennsylvania. This company's outbound canavassing system is combined with an effective website -- useful both for recruiting canvassers and reinforcing the company's credibility in the selling process.

This current thread, Canvassing Does Work, on contractortalk.com reinforces the potential and immediate lead-generating power of door-to-door canvassing. Tbe powerful, immediate impact of hard-rock, in-your-face marketing is hard to deny and I suppose is undoubtedly a better way to go if your business is struggling than conventional advertising, leads services, or waiting for your phone to ring.

However, someone else posted in a separate thread: "Does anyone know how to obtain a do not call list. Also, I have trouble motivating my telemarketers and canvassers, anyone have any advice?" Susan Betz, of Fences of Distinction in Ocala, Florida, responded:

I dunno about motivation. I hate cold-calling. I think most people find it one of the most depressing, soul-less ways to sell. I understand the statistics of it, but it's still not the way I like to do things.

I agree -- both with the thread-starter who urged businesses to consider canvassing, and Susan. The challenge is to find the right balance between assertive and permission-oriented marketing and the answer, for most of us, is an effective system of client referral/qualification with outbound selling and marketing initiatives that are respectful of the people to whom we are trying to reach. The balance depends on what we are selling, and our objectives.

If your product/service has a wide consumer-market range, and you play the numbers game, cold calling and canvassing of course are effective. But this seems a really dumb way to go if you need to reach/serve a much more modest group of powerful decision-makers and influencers, especially in the business and government sectors. Blasting through lists with a canned presentation is hardly the way you are going to win multi-million dollar commercial contracts.

As an example of this balancing differentiation, consider the process of marketing canvassing consulting services. Are these best sold by cold calling, or by references on internet forums like contractortalk.com or , for that matter, this blog?

Or, as another example, consider Destination Clubs, the recurring vacation offshoot of the timeshare. My wife signed up for the High Country Club because of communications on this Internet Forum; she also used the forum to find the rental car company, and we received consistent advice on how to avoid the pushy timeshare salespeople in their special room (through which you must pass) at the Puerto Vallarta airport. In our household, at least, door-knocking canvassers, telemarketers, and virtually any form of 'in your face' marketing will have the exactly opposite effect desired -- we'll close our minds to doing business with you if you try it with us. (And yet, I receive surprisingly few really valid and thoughtful inbound sales calls; ones where the person with a product or service truly relevant to me actually takes some time to know/understand my business before making the inbound call; to which I will listen with courtesy and respect.)

Yes, canvassing works, but I urge you to consider the overall framework and attitude of your business in setting up this kind of (literally) in-your-face outbound system. I tend to share Susan Betz's attitude -- It's simply not the way I like to do things.

The rules of the game for Internet marketing

If you send out "e-blasts" you may end up in The Spamtrap. The person who invented this device grinds up all the spam he receives, and then sends out automatic notices to spam-watchdog sites; causing more problems for the spammers. To stay out of this pile, you need to monitor and watch promotional emails: I would use them sparingly, and only in conjunction with real value-added content and/or with highly targeted and specific lists.

This weekend, my leading sales representative asked me to send two"email blasts" to former advertisers of our publication, to encourage advertising in a couple of future special features. As I set to work to fulfill his request, suddenly, I realized that we were entering dangerous territory.

Yes, these are former and current clients, and they may be more receptive to marketing emails than conventional third-party clients. But I sensed we would not achieve our objectives -- blatant e-selling rather than sharing and giving invites spam complaints and doesn't generate much worthwhile business (with some notable and valid exceptions.) Especially dangerous, I thought, is the fact that we would be sending two promotional emails to roughly the same list, in short order. This is absolutely the opposite of the Permission Marketing advocated by Seth Godin and other new-era gurus.

I asked the sales representative to rephrase things; to suggest things we could give our clients without pushing them aggressively to advertise any more. He came up with some suggestions, which I will adapt and modify. The new "e blast" will be a gift; it will have valuable information and allow our clients to benefit from their previous relationship with us, whether or not they elect to advertise any more.

In fact, the more I study the new rules of the game, the more I am impressed with the simple principal that you only "sell" on the Internet by unconditional giving; if you do, and you thereby establish a positive relationship and brand, you'll get the order -- at your price.

These qualities, especially valid for bulk emails, also apply to blogs and websites, of course. My goal in writing this blog is to share insights and marketing ideas with you whether or not you respond, request a newsletter, or even have any interest in purchasing anything from us. Frankly, most readers are outside our current service areas, anyways, but we're happy to keep in touch -- especially as the business grows.

You might look at your own email and website strategies in this regard, as well. Of course, include your essential information; the website is a truly impressive 'e brochure' and it doesn't hurt to tell the audience how good you are -- sharing testimonials, excellent graphics and the like. But I think you'll gain an extra edge if you share useful insights and ideas with your viewers; your expertise, if you wish, without worrying about whether you are giving away your trade secrets. I think this advice should be sincere, open, and perhaps if you feel confident enough, you could defy some of your own industry conventions. Then, with your sharing, you can invite readers to respond, either directly or (more softly) for an e-newsletter which again should be soft on promotion and high on reader value.

Aha, but you noticed at the beginning of this entry, I referenced there are exceptions. Here is one we use in our own business. When we arrange a supplier-supported feature, and have a list of qualified potential clients, we'll fax and email the invitation to do business with us. Many people respond to one or another of the invitations; even though the communication is purely a selling message. Why does this work? First, the message is highly specific and relevant -- it is to a modest list, tied to a specific project and existing relationships. We aren't doing an 'e blast' here -- we are emailing to a very focused group. Secondly, we only send the e-letter where there is a valid and relevant relationship already established and clearly defined.

P.S. If you would like me to review/critique your proposed emails or websites, please email me at buckshon@constructionnrgroup.com. Unless you give permission, the observations will be confidential -- but if we agree publicity is worthwhile, I'll post the relevant story on this blog.

The hidden part of marketing

An important challenge/opportunity in marketing is standing out from the crowd. Sometimes the language is "What is your unique selling proposition?" -- but this belies the issue, to some extent. Some say you need to "break through the clutter" to get your marketing message out there, but do you?
So, why is it that, when you go to meetings of your local home builders' association, you can sit with successful contractors who say their biggest problem isn't finding enough work -- it is scheduling things so that clients who must wait months for service aren't too frustrated by the process.
Or, when you meet a successful local general contractor, their marketing materials are, well, out of the stone age. Worse, because of their apparent lack of marketing sophistication, they appear to be suckers for marketing 'garbage' -- overpriced advertising in "police journals", trashy pseudo charity telemarketing solicitations, and the like. (Of course, even better, these suckers have money -- and retained earnings -- to suck because their overall businesses are so successful.)
One answer -- and a good one from a marketers' perspective -- is these contractors have a great brand. They are so in tune with their market that it responds favourably, with powerful word-of-mouth recommendations, and an abundance of business. (As I noted earlier, you could argue these businesses simply need to look at pricing and operating systems -- if they get these parts right, as well, they can grow to huge enterprises or, if they wish to remain small, become even more profitable for their owners.)
So, does "standing out from the crowd" simply mean doing your work so well, and to such high quality, that your clients -- knowing all the crap and risks out there -- simply must have more? Maybe.
But what if you chose to evolve this quality standard into your employee/sub-contracting recruiting process, developed your marketing resources effectively using inexpensive services or truly high quality consultants, and build sustainable operating/management systems so you can liberate yourself from day-to-day headaches; instead doing the work you enjoy while having plenty of vacation and personal time?
Then, follow this strategy:
Read one of Michael Gerber's E-Myth books, and read it again. Just don't rush to sign up for any of his expensive programs. I'm not convinced they are of great value. His concepts are -- but he is so into systematization that he must use junior employees for the work. You will get McDonalds-type food/service from his organization -- it is "edible" but you can do better.
Review the free resources out there, looking at the marketing/entrepreneurial style of Seth Godin. This is the "give without worrying about receiving" philosophy; setting the stage for Permission Marketing.
Join relevant industry associations and participate in their chapter activities. This may be SMPS, your local home builders' association, or affiliated professional group. Look especially to the associations that link you closely to your existing client base.
Contract with a good consultant to help you. When we get our website redesigned (I'm using high quality but not overpriced local consultants for this) you might wish to use some of the ones I will recommend in a new permalink section -- and no, the recommended consultants won't be paying me for the recommendations! Alternatively, find a general local business consultant who you can work with. The challenge in choosing a consultant is to be sure that you are getting value -- not easy, there are a lot of BS artists out there! Finding a good consultant is much like finding a great general contractor or renovator -- you know you have it when you see the results! And that will be the topic for another column.

Michael Stone's e-letter, some words about direct marketing lists

Michael Stone speaks with Gordon Clotworthy of the Information Refinery, http://www.constructionlists.com

Michael Stone's Markup and Profit eletter is a wealth of free information -- He provides much of this stuff publicly on his blog and website, but has wisely chosen to restrict some of his best suggestions to the e-letter (that way he starts building the relationship with you for his other consulting services). Unlike most eletters and websites, however you don't feel that the whole thing is about selling you something -- you'll be able to implement his advice without paying him a cent. This of course is the essence of "Permission Marketing" (see also Seth Godin's useful free blog). Again, I'm stretching copyright here (and will immediately remove these observations on request) but don't think Michael will mind because this blog, which also works on the Permission Marketing principals, is generating and sending significant traffic and positive references to Stone -- ultimately good for his business. This attributed exchange will also presumably help The Information Refinery, which provides mailing list and contact data services.

To wrap up our series, "Getting Your Phone to Ring", we interviewed Gordon Clotworthy, CEO and President of The Information Refinery in Mahwah, NJ. The Information Refinery (http://www.constructionlists.com/) has been in the direct marketing business for over 23 years, and is the #1 source in the world for construction-related marketing lists.
CPR - It's great to talk with someone who understands direct marketing and construction. Can you give us the rundown on direct marketing options for contractors?
Gordon - There are four basic approaches to direct marketing - postal (or snail mail), email, telemarketing and faxing.
Direct mail is by far the best method of direct marketing. It's affordable and, with a well-designed mailpiece and a well-defined list, it can prove to be the most economical and effective method for both immediate sales and future sales.
CPR - Where do you get your lists from?
Gordon - We manage over 100 construction related response lists which for all intents and purposes cover the entire marketplace. We also have strategic partnerships that provide us direct access to all of the consumer and general business-to-business lists and data bases available. Due to the high volume we purchase on a daily basis, we are able to obtain lists at the lowest possible price and pass the savings on to our customers and clients. We also have the ability to merge various lists together and append data in order to build a list that meets the best meets the target audience.
CPR - How many ways can you define a mailing list?
Gordon - There is a great deal of information that can be selected to develop the best possible mailing list. For example, you can select homeowners based on their income range, age of their home, time they've lived in the home, whether or not they have children, the ages of their children, the value of the home, single parent or married, handicapped . . . the options go on and on.
For example, if you specialize in bathroom remodels, you may want a list of homeowners within a certain area with an income over $100k living in a home that's over 20 years old. If you build new homes, we can provide a mailing list of apartment dwellers, with two or more kids and with whatever income level that suits your project.
CPR - How expensive is a mailing list?
Gordon - You can get a decent consumer list, sliced and diced to meet your target market, for about $65-$70 per 1,000 names, minimum of 3,000 names. For a few dollars more you can use the names over and over - in a year, for a very nominal fee, we will clean and refresh it for you.
For $10 more per thousand, we'll include phone numbers in case you want to follow up on your mailings with a telemarketing program.
Buying a mailing list is like shopping in a grocery store. You can buy prime steak which you know will be delicious, or you can buy a lesser grade and grumble all through dinner about how bad it tastes and how tough it is. But hey, you saved a whopping $3.00 on dinner for two, forget the fact that no one really enjoyed the food. You get what you pay for.
We see people shoot themselves in the foot every day. They come to us for a price quote and then shop it all around. They then come back and say they can get the list for $5.00 less per thousand elsewhere.
Unfortunately it usually is apples and oranges. The lesser price list is not even close to the quality list we quoted them on. So what happens? They "save" $25 bucks on their list purchase of 5,000 names and then gripe and moan about the dismal failure their mailing was. But hey, they saved $25 bucks.
Ask your mail list provider how deliverable the list you plan on purchasing is - will theyguarantee deliverability? When was the last time the list was "cleaned" by the post office? (On average, one third of all businesses and consumers move or make a change to their address each year.) If a mailing list isn't kept current you'll end up wasting up to 1/3 of the total cost of your
mailing and more importantly your response rate drops through the floor. We guarantee our lists to be at least 93 percent deliverable - some lists are guaranteed 100 percent deliverable.
CPR - What about commercial names?
Gordon - We have a database of over 13 million businesses. If you want to know owners of strip malls in your city, we can provide it. Facility managers, property managers, owners, we have it. Decide what kind of commercial construction you want to do and we'll match it to the prospects most interested in what you have to offer. Think out of the box. If you can pick up work from
strip mall owners there will always be work to do. If you are a painting contractor and gain the business of a few good sized apartment complexes you know that the end of the month and the beginning of the month will be booked solid.
One of the great things about direct marketing is that when you start the process, you begin to expand your thinking and realize other ways to tie your ongoing search for new business together. You develop plans. And plans always work better than just throwing precious money here and there because "it sounded like it would work".
CPR - What makes your business different from others?
Gordon - I come from the same background as Michael - building my business from the ground up. In my case I've had my share of trying to meet payrolls and working 16 hour days seven days a week. Those experiences helped me develop our corporate philosophy. I've known Michael for some 20 years or so and it didn't take me long to realize we think alike. We know the importance of each and every client and we treat them all with the same respect and desire to do what is best for them.
We actually consult with our prospects and clients. We let them know all of their options and guide them into making the right decisions. If someone wants to do something that we think might be a mistake, we let them know. We're the furthest thing from "yes" people you'll find. Our goal is to serve our clients best needs. Not to sit back and let a customer buy the wrong list just so we can make a sale. It's what separates us from our competitors. Every client matters to us, that's simply the way we like to do business.
CPR - What about the other avenues of direct marketing?
Gordon - Everyone thinks email is the greatest thing since sliced pizza, but it's not a great marketing approach. It can be dangerous - if you do it yourself and get complaints, there is the risk you'll have your website shut down. If someone offers to sell you email addresses, those are spam addresses. You can't buy or sell an email address, because they are owned by the person who holds them.
Currently we are discouraging our clients who wish to do email marketing. It's just not effective anymore and although everyone is under the misconception that it doesn't cost nearly as much as a postal campaign they are dead wrong.
Here's why, the vast majority of the emails sent aren't read because they end up directly in a spam folder. Because of viruses and scams people just don't want to risk opening emails from someone or some company they do not know. When you sit down and actually calculate the costs and the sales derived, you'll find that your cost per sale compared to a postal campaign are off the chart.
However, if someone is hell bent on doing it we'll grudgingly oblige. We take their message and do the email broadcast for them. Our email lists are from those who've agreed to receive advertising, and we follow all the laws. But, as I said before, it's not effective and you won't be happy with the results.
CPR - Do any contractors actually do telemarketing?
Gordon - Yes, usually large companies who've been in business for a long time. They realize the need to use all avenues available. Companies will buy a list of people in a neighborhood around a job they are working or a list in their service area and put their telemarketers to work. Our lists are cleaned through the "Do Not Call" database so they comply to the laws, but the telemarketers still have to follow federal guidelines.
CPR - What about faxing?
Gordon - Don't do it. Unless you have prior agreement from the party you are faxing you are breaking the law. You can get a $500 fine for each fax complaint. There are lawyers who advertise hoping to reach people and companies who've received junk faxes so they can go after the company involved.
CPR - How about lead suppliers,
companies that promise to send you qualified leads?
Gordon - I'm not impressed with them. If you want to know more about them, we have a number of those businesses listed on our website http://www.aecsalesleads.com/. Unless you are getting a 1 on 1 lead - a lead that is given to you or at most two others - it just doesn't make sense. If the lead provider is selling it to a slew of other contractors in the area, by the time you call that lead, they are sick of hearing from contractors. You might be the 20th contractor who's called them that day and you can be sure they don't want to talk to you. But you still have to pay for the lead.
That being said, I see a glimmer of hope on the horizon. A new site has just started and they will be working on the premise of providing leads on an exclusive basis. And get this, the leads are free. It's based on a reciprocal concept. The site is in beta format but you can find details here: http://www.leadpatch.com/
If you spend the money you'd spend on a lead supplier on direct mail instead, you'll get better leads. Your potential customers will know who you are when you call. You aren't just another contractor, you're that guy on the postcard who builds beautiful jobs. When a lead comes in, be sure to ask how they heard about you. Keycode your direct mail pieces so you know which are effective and which aren't. You want people to hear your name from a number of sources. And remember to use testimonials. When you can say, "We do great work - but don't ask us, listen to what Susie said", you'll go much farther. The bottom line is that there are a lot of avenues for advertising, and the successful company does a mix of all of them.

There is much excellent information here -- and this is a fraction of the content of one week's newsletter. Again, I think you can obtain much value from Michael Stone by signing up for and reading his newsletter, but you'll get even more by contacting him and paying for his services. (I'm not selling any consulting services myself -- at least for the next five or so years and, for my own business, this blog primarily is used for follow-up service and support to existing clients, and to help on our own staff recruitment and training, so consultants and services referenced here don't need to worry about competition at this end.)

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