Your successful construction marketing foundations

Here are three foundations for successful construction marketing

You need to be really good at what you do, and really enjoy it.  In other words, work needs to be fun (most of the time) and so good that your clients know they really are achieving the results they are seeking.

(Come on, you might say, I'm just a big cog in some machine -- in any case, I need to work to make money.  Yes, and the point is that if that is where you are at, you might do okay, but you are unlikely to achieve really good results.)

You need the basics:  A decent website, the ability to seek and encourage testimonials and referrals, and a simple but clear plan with some guidelines on where and how you will spend your marketing dollars.

Nothing fancy here -- and note, you don't need a huge budget.  In fact, in many cases, you can achieve really good results for a cash budget of $500 or less.  However, you need to have some control -- especially to know how to answer the calls offering you "marketing solutions" for a fee.

You need focus, specialization, and commitment

You can't be everything to everyone.  Successful marketing depends largely on leadership and perception -- and if you are one of many (competing against already-entrenched players) you will simply be one of many.  You need to be different -- so you need to figure out some aspect of your product or service or some market segment that you know others aren't doing.

Then go for it.  You'll succeed.  And you won't waste your money on marketing bs.

The fabric of business: Discovering a consultant to become a consultant

Today, I had the opportunity to be creative -- working on two problems, one immediate, and the other longer-term.

The immediate challenge is discovering an economical and reliable method of generating interesting and relevant editorial content for a revitalized network of U.S. construction websites -- the foundation for our business regrowth south of the border.

This project dates back in original concept to 2005 -- when I registered a diversity of domains, contracted with offshore developers to design a content-management system, and envisaged soft-touch site maintenance with revenue from Google AdSense.

The project then never succeeded.  The Pakistani and Indian-built sites (yes, I actually had sub-contractors in both 'warring' nations working on the project), produced sites minimally to my specifications, but utterly useless in quality and design.  In any case, I didn't have any useful content to put on the sites, so they languished.  Foolishly, I left the AdSense code in place -- earning virtually nothing from the horrible under-construction sites, while I made a modest income from my active blog and core sites associated with our printed publications, which we maintained reasonably well.

Then, Google lowered the boom, disabling my business account with a "significant risk to AdWords advertisers message."  I didn't know at the time how the fact that I continued to have a valid personal AdSense account tied to my blog would change my life, and result in me becoming something of an AdSense expert a few years later (though the money from AdSense is still insignificant in the overall business.)

Well, now we are planning to restore these defunct domains to life, but we will take a gradual approach, building some useful content, looking for qualified local representatives, and tying the sites into creative and well-respected industry-specific live networking events (especially co-ordinated by the Design and Construction Network (mydcn.com).  We have a plan for a high-quality (but not wildly extreme) design update to increase the sites functionality and cross-media usefulness.

The unanswered problem, though, is content.  The sites need current news, updated with some frequency, and solid features to attract and retain readers (and ultimately local advertising representatives and advertisers.)

Accordingly, I've been casting my net for qualified writers to take things forward.

I started with the job board at our local Carleton University, receiving two applications.  I also posted on the Service Canada job bank -- so far no responses.  This afternoon, I tried another service, odesk.com, which provides an employee-type independent contractor system, where work is billed by the hour.  (You can also bid by project at fixed rates, but here, odesk competes against well-established project services such as elance.com).

The service attracts workers/contractors from around the world.  Not surprisingly, hourly billing rates are far lower for offshore suppliers than North American ones.  However, we need writers who can understand the nuances of the North American construction industry, write clearly and effectively in English, and generate relevant content geared for specific local communities and regions.  It is a tough challenge.

So far I've received six applications.  I'm taking a simple approach.  Each applicant will receive a three hour paid assignment at the rate the individual specifies (whether it be $3.00 or $22.00 per our.)  I want the writers to suggest three locally relevant stories, and write one 500 word piece.  I give some optional additional assignments, as well, without hourly compensation, to see if any of the writers will go beyond the minimum.

I'm not sure what results we will achieve, but at an average cost of less than $15.00 per hour for, effectively, 18 hours of work, the research budget is about $250.00.  If all goes well, I will have six decent stories, at a cost of $45.00 a story, relatively inexpensive compared to the usual freelance rates.  Of course, it is quite possible that the contractors will deliver garbage, or "work" without producing any valuable results.  This is a risk I am prepared to take.

The larger picture relates to our overall business strategic direction, succession planning, and growth, of which the U.S. expansion project described above is just one example.  The consultant had been recommended by another successful business owner.  He told me that he gets all of his business from referrals (something I think you can understand from your own experience).  However, he hit the right nerves when he suggested that one route for me to go as I advance in age and prepare to relinquish day-to-day responsibilities for the business is to become a consultant -- one who can and should earn upwards of $300,000 a year.  Not bad for a part-time "job".

I'm a long way from there.  In the meantime, we'll continue to build, experiment, grow and seek out better ways to find employees and contractors, develop content, and enhance and build the business.

I enjoyed the day.

The new Canadian Design and Construction Report website

We've just flicked the switch on the relaunch of the new website for the Canadian Design and Construction Report.  This site will set the template, as well, for the U.S.-focused Design and Construction Report and is built on our successful North Carolina site designs.

Our websites are certainly not leading edge; we probably could do better to incorporate more bells and whistles and advanced interactive features.  Equally, however, we keep them from getting stale and periodically review and rebuild them to ensure they are relevant and useful to viewers.  I think in the current era, you should certainly review your website design at least annually and contemplate a major update/revision at minimum on a three-to-five year cycle.

Discovering a potentially effective website marketing template

Grant Harris of plumbermarketing.com communicated with me by email yesterday. He asked for his email to be "off the record" so I cannot discuss its content, but, with his identity verified, I Googled Harris's name and arrived at the PM Plumbing and Mechanical Magazine website, and this fascinating article about Don Paz's success as a 24-year-old entrepreneur in running DrainPro Plumbing in Phoenix.

The article, relating to the "Truck of the month" (I won't reproduce it here as I haven't received copyright permission yet), observes:

At such a young age, Paz is enjoying his role as entrepreneur. But he understood early on that a successful business needs a solid marketing team. He found a proper promoter at PlumberMarketing.com, a niche advertising agency that offers strategies to plumbing businesses around the world.

“If we didn’t have them, I don’t know what we’d do,” Paz tells me. Through his exclusive relationship with Plumber Marketing and its rep Grant Harris — who Paz calls “a machine” — DrainPro is able to compete with much larger and established drain cleaning companies in its area.

Plumber Marketing handled Paz’s complete marketing package: from truck wrapping to logo branding to the company’s professional Web site. “They’ve made us look like a million-dollar franchise, when in actuality it’s a small but growing family-owned operation,” Paz says.

I visited the DrainPro Plumbing's website. Notice the distinct template similarities to plumbermarketing.com, including the moving imagery, the video testimonials, and the like.

You may also wish to review the feature we produced for Multi-Drain Inc. in Ottawa.

The editorial feature in Ottawa Construction News, Building a thriving business by understanding the space underneath, (which did not require any financial investment from Multi-Drain), shows how the business has grown to be a successful enterprise here.

Video ads reviewed

This professional-style video posted on contractortalk.com resulted in an interesting thread on the topic. Is this television-style video better than home-made testimonial content; or would both be effective?

How good can good video be?

I'm seeking some answers to that question, observing this contractortalk.com thread and the observations about the video of Mr. Mikes' Painting in Louisville, KY. Hopefully I'll be able to speak with Mike Smith there in a few days to learn more about how much the video has helped business, if at all.

My sense is the video is fine, and the overall website is excellent, but the most powerful video would not be the "television ad" design, but some human, real, and substantiated testimonials. (Mike has great written testimonials on his website.)

Are contractors willing to pay for video services? It seems the market may be a little slow. Jeff Uecker at Big Time Productions in Burbank, CA, for example, sought some publicity in this blog in March, but by June, he had sent me this email:

Thanks for the email Mark. We didn’t have a lot of luck with contractors in these challenging times….the site has shifted focus on other small businesses for now, but we will be redesigning the contractors section….lowering the price and giving options on how the contractor might want their commercial to look like, rather than a more custom one currently featured. I will keep you posted!

I think one challenge for most of us is that video, even with the simplest camera and uploading resources, still requires significantly more time and energy than other online communications formats. Then again, we have webcams on our computers and handheld video cameras are only a couple of hundred dollars these days, so maybe there is no excuse not to include at least some simple video on our sites and in our marketing materials.

Note: The Design and Construction Report (http://www.dcnreport.com) includes some effective video.

See the clip on the Page 4 of this reprint, or more accurately, "eprint" of the special feature about Homestead Renovations in Northern Virginia.

Yesterday, Sebastien Lessard of Newhomeassociation.ca, a website/portal to facilitate marketing for new home builders and renovators in Ottawa,sent me this email:

Moving forward, we feel that print advertising will continue to play an important role in any marketing strategy but that media groups will have to position it as a complementary solution to on-line advertising services. Until that day arrives, we hope NHA can provide our print partners with additional visibility by featuring their publications to our users, as they can leverage our targeted audience in their sales pitch to sell their print product.

. . .I want to personally thank you for the great blog that you write. You've inspired me to continually reflect on the strategy and direction our business should and could take by sharing your experience and insight on successful business philosophies. What I've retained most of your writing is "make sure your services represent the solutions your clients need". I always thought our service was doing exactly that but my message or presentation was not clear. I've racked my brain for a long time to figure out how I could convey this message and it finally hit me after seeing one of your post on the use of videos for communication strategies.

I'm happy to say that because of this post, NHA is introducing a service to builders we'll call "Virtual Guided Tours". I realized that I enjoyed having the opportunity of seeing and hearing videos instead of reading, and that I probably wasn't the only one who felt this way. So, NHA.ca will be presenting to their users "virtual guided tours" of models homes from all our builder members. THese videos will feature the sales representatives guiding the viewer through a tour of model homes. NHA staff will shoot these videos at no cost to the builders and present them on www.nha.ca and in its "FACEBOOK" group. Builders can also export these videos from our site directly to their own website. THe big kicker is that viewers will also have the ability of "chatting" with that sales representative while viewing the video on nha.ca. We'll literally be bringing the model homes to the home buyers. Because traffic on our site in rapidly increasing while traffic in sales centers is decreasing, NHA offers the "solution" to remedy this problem for builders.

Your posts inspired this solution and that's why I thank you again!

Sebastien has harnessed the power of business alliances and multi-media marketing to build his effective website and service. His observations of how you can introduce video into your marketing picture are worthy of review. Anyone can do simple video productions these days, and if you wish to go to more professional standards, you can use services such as yourwebads.com highlighted in a previous posting.

contractorblabblog.com

A promotional video from the contractorblab.com site

Glen Kohlenberg of Absolute Aluminum in Venice, Florida has started contractorblabblog.com which is one of the bases for a paid contractor advice/forum service, contractorblab.com. Kohlenberg has shown the ability to innovate and create worthwhile marketing initiatives, most notably his supplier-supported magazine. (I am not sure of the business relationship between Kohlenberg and contractorblab.com.)

You will find many interesting and rewarding elements in his blog, though I disagree with his posting advising readers to turn off the mainstream media.

Here goes. First off shut off all main street media in your life! That’s right no TV or radio or newspaper or anyone else that sounds off about the economy or how bad things are or anyone being negative around you.

If this means finding a new place for breakfast, lunch or dinner then find it.I cannot express to you how important this is. As a matter of fact if you decide not to do this then just put the for sale sign or going out of business sign on the door now!

Why do I ask so much of you so soon. Have you heard the term garbage in garbage out?

See the garbage that goes in affects your thoughts, so if you choose to listen to said garbage then your mind and thoughts will affect your outcome.

I've heard this stuff many times before from various self-improvement gurus and certainly believe that your own thoughts and perceptions define your place in life, and how you progress.

The challenge, frankly, is not to shut out the mainstream media and the world around you, but to adapt the knowledge and understandings from it to your own circumstances. If you can connect your business and interests to the flow of mainstream perceptions, you can capture market share and adapt your approaches to your environment. Of course the best way to adapt may be to be different and go against the grain of what others are saying. (I realize my biases are shaped here by my own career choices. I enjoy journalism so much that I ended up starting my own publishing business.

Nevertheless, Kohlenberg has an interesting and worthwhile blog, worthy of permalinking. Behind the scenes, I think his magazine is one of the influences behind my decision to proceed with the proposal for Ottawa Renovates magazine, which we successfully distributed yesterday. And his fee-based service will likely be worth the money to contractors once he launches it.

Bill Thomas and his effective online marketing approach

One of Bill Thomas's Youtube videos, which help explain to homeowners how his service works -- the videos and website marketing enhance trust, reduce inconvenience, and cut marketing costs -- allowing him to 'over deliver' to consumers, and thus expand his business further. Seems, however, the previous blog posting about his business has resulted in some unintended consequences. . .

Bill Thomas Jr. of Mechanicsville, MD, called me today to apologize for the delay in responding to my initial inquiry about his intriguing website, www.homerestorationsmd.com, and his intriguing approach to online marketing and roofing service sales. He said he had been on vacation, and his administrative staff did not give my call priority (and for some reason, my emails to his address did not get through to him.)

You can read the previous blog entry about his business here.

Regardless, he elaborated on how he has built a seven-figure business using Internet marketing techniques that other contractors would be wise to consider and emulate. (However, local competitors are not happy, he says; following the publicity about his business on contractortalk.com and this blog, he says he received at least seven "threatening calls.")

So how does his system work?

Lets start with the email he sent to me today:

Thanks, Mark. Truly a pleasure for me to speak with you. Your site is a great asset to the community.

I read the thread on ContractorTalk.com. Pretty neat. Some of the guys seem to "get it", and that's very cool.

I'll send you some links when I get back in the office.

Again, our system works like this:

The website develops the "know you, like you, trust you" automatically, saving both us and the customer MUCH time . . .

We over deliver on the education and the trust aspect, and back it up with social proof (testimonials, public video)

We know immediately what they're looking for and present them with an irresistible offer.

We over deliver on service, do something extra that's a benefit (not in the contract) then present them with before/during/after photos and video for total proof, peace of mind)

We encourage them to send their links to their friends and family that need our services.

Most of our marketing and follow up you don't even see unless you're a qualified prospect or a client.

It's all about the customer, and we're always trying to improve . . .

Thomas says a surprising percentage of his clients conduct the entire business relationship online. They feel trust and confidence in his services, and appreciate the convenience that they don't have to wait around their home while his employees complete the inspection to prepare the online proposal, then the final work. (A few clients speak with him on the phone, but direct sales calls and visits are not needed, he says.)

Thomas isn't a kid -- he's 52 year's old. The website is only part of his marketing system. "We know the 'hot' (potential clients), how to market to them . .. we do direct mail, we have a list database that is proprietary to us."

He says his company is set up to repair roofs, and this creates future business for more significant jobs.

"We get a lot of leads through videos, Google Adwords and search engine optimization," he said. "We're not blowing off a lot of money on our keywords -- we're right on our target."

He says the money saved on client acquisition -- he says his competitors may spend upwards of $85 per lead -- is used to over deliver to clients; to give them more than they expect, and thus build the reputation even further. Thomas declined to discuss his cost-per-lead, and the online sales approach certainly would reduce the direct sales costs, but he declined to get more specific.

He says he is ready to share his ideas and methods with other contractors elsewhere in the country, and is not seeking money for consulting services. He attributes much of his online success and knowledge to Mark Hendrick's internet-success-system.com.

Thomas added a PS to the email which is especially revealing (and shows the power, I suppose, of this blog!)

PS. I purposely try to communicate with my customers electronically rather than by phone. People that come to my site are usually highly focused local prospects, and when I DO talk to them by phone, we establish e-communication immediately. The idea is to save time on the phone, and I reward them by passing along the savings.

Since you published my phone # on your site, I'm now getting TONS of spam calls, sales people, and others -- and since I roll the calls to my cell -- it's become a little disruptive. I've gotten 25 calls or so since you and I talked this morning that are non prospects, and I usually don't get many of those per day. It's a testament to how well your highly ranked site (#1 for contractor marketing in my area) is working.

Would you consider removing the # from your post so I don't get international attention?

I know it's "fair game", but it's kind of time consuming, and maybe if you helped me out, I could write an article or shoot you a link from another site that could be helpful to your cause as a return favor.

All in all, international attention is good, but my focus is on my clients, and I hope
you understand . . .

I'm removing the phone number from the previous posting, as he requested.

Below is another example of his youtube videos:

The Construction Exchange

One of the most interesting aspects of The Construction Exchange is its member-generated image library. Brad Torres writes:: "The Bagger 288 built by the German company Krupp is used for strip mining operations. It is 312' tall, 705' long and weighs over 13,500 tons. This piece of equipment comes with a price tag of 100 million and a 10 year lead time (five years to design and five years to assemble). The most amazing thing about it though is that it only requires 5 people to operate according to the article that I read. It also has the capability of removing over 240,000 tons of material each day."

Bobby Darnell referenced me to a site worthy of permalinking in the special place for forums and relevant sites -- The Construction Exchange (constructionexchange.com.) Lots of interesting information here, including connections, images, and even jokes.

A news article in the Santa Rosa, CA Press-Democrat observes:

The niche social networking site, which beta launched in August, is the brainchild of Santa Rosa-based Western Water Constructors, a 49-year-old construction company specializing in water treatment plants.

While construction companies aren't known for launching Internet start ups, its 33-year-old vice president and 28-year-old IT director had a vision.

"We wanted something that catered to our industry," said Josh McGarva, vice president of Western Water. "Our industry is known for being overly competitive. We wanted a place where people could share ideas, and be more collaborative."

This site certainly is worthy of a permalink.

The We We Calculator

George Zarogiannis, president of Ecopainting Inc. in Toronto, introduced futurenow's "We We Calculator" in this contractortalk.com thread. This image above is from Ecopainting's own web site. How does your own website score?

One of the basic principals of marketing is your message must be client rather than self-focused. So the "We We Calculator" is a nifty, if somewhat sobering, tool. The idea is to see how much your website is client rather than self-centric.

Take the test and see how you do.

Here are the customer focus rates among some of the blogs reviewed here.

Ford Harding -- 72.39%
CofeBuz (Tim Klabunde) -- 52.78%
Markup and Profit blog (Michael Stone) -- 64.53%
PSMJ Resources, Inc. blog (Ed Hannan) -- 76.11%
Yours truly (the banned word goes here, you know who it is!) -- 38.72%

Ouch!

"You speak about yourself almost as often as you speak about your customers. Might you improve that?," the test results note.

George Zarogiannis at Ecopainting Ltd. in Toronto introduced this calculator and its source, grok.com in this Contractortalk.com thread.

Future now, a proponent of persuasion architecture, has a nice little tool.
It analyzes the "about you" or "about the customer" focus of a webpage.
Type in a url and find out. Ours needs work just found out.

Also, on that topic, Bryan Eisenberg, the authority on that subject has some interesting points:

"It's the Customer, Stupid"

http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=843281

Lessons learned here -- look at Ford Harding, Michael Stone and PSMJ's results -- Impressive, eh. Can (bleep) do better?

Getting your (initial) marketing signals right

Middle Tennessee isn't Malibu, but it certainly is beautiful. Ironically, and unrelated to this posting/question, I have a sixth sense we will be working in Tennessee ourselves in the not-to-distant future.

Yesterday afternoon, a contractor responded to my Construction Marketing Ideas e-letter offer to provide answers to this question: "What is your number one construction marketing concern?"

I did have a question that you might help with. It may be a little basic, but here it goes. What is the most effective way to distinguish my company from the rest of the competition here locally? I am a builder that has spent 25 years in a very high end residential market (Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, and Malibu, Ca) and moved to an area (Middle Tennessee) that has a lot of “builders” that don’t even build to code (no code enforcement in the counties).

The demographics are thankfully changing with people moving in from parts of the country that are more demanding. How do I then get the message out to potential clients that there is a difference in quality and that the additional costs of building a quality product will result in a net gain for them? Many of these clients hire the “locals” thinking they are getting a good price only to find they were really buying an education in who not to hire. Any ideas that you can offer will be appreciated.

Fair question, so I took my first step in answering any question -- seeking a little insight into the person making the inquiry. I Googled the contractor's name and found a couple of tiny references, including one to what appeared to have been an expired or cancelled free ad posting. No website, and the person who had written me had used a regular personal Internet account.

So how does he expect to find any business? Has he taken even the first step to differentiate himself from the local folk whose marketing probably succeeds even if it is as bad as the now-infamous handwritten scratch note we found at our door in Canada some months ago?

Now, it is important this contractor not rush to put up a crappy website -- this requires thought, effort, and planning (or a worthy consultant who knows how to set up contractor websites!) But I think the stuff you could post here would include testimonials from previous clients (even out of state, if they are willing to stand behind their testimonials), some basic images showing the quality of his work, and if he wishes to get more sophisticated, some other differentiating marketing material. You don't get in the game unless you play on the web these days -- especially if you are looking for clients willing to pay a little more than the bare minimum.

Here is a relevant thread on the Contractortalk.com forums describing: What makes a good company website?

Note, simply having a great website still won't solve the problem here, which is even deeper. Marketing to the high end takes reputational excellence -- word of mouth is going to define success here -- and of course you can't get much word of mouth unless you have some clients in the first place.

So, it seems, he may have the classic chicken-and-egg problem. "I"m good but don't have local experience/reputation. But no one will give me that experience/reputation without my needing to beat my head against the wall on price. So what should I do?" Well, you could go on price, selectively, if you sense your early client(s) would be true centers of influence -- but the danger here is you are setting yourself up for more of the same. The other solution is theoretically really smart marketing differentiation/planning, but I doubt this contractor is anywhere near that level -- at least from what I can see of his non-website. (Unless of course he has this in mind and is actually planning and working on his strategy.)

So, is there anything else I can suggest? One possibility is joining the local Home Builders' Association. Membership fees are likely not that high, and the contractor will gain a network of contacts, the opportunity to tie in with additional resources and, if he really works at it, assume a leadership role.

Finally, the letter writer needs to be realistic. He is in Tennessee, not Malibu. Although marketing principals are consistent everywhere, markets are not. He may be able to differentiate his place in the market by selling to new immigrants to Tennessee wishing the higher level of service/quality from his former West Coast location, but is going to need to communicate to these new arrivals his expertise, professionalism, and that his pricing, while a little above the norm locally, gives a whole lot more in quality. But he needs to dress the part. Where is his website, business phone, well appointed/decorated company van/truck . . . where are the signals to the potential client that he will indeed deliver what he says he will deliver? In the long term, the delivery is always the most important thing, but at the start, you have to have your signals right -- if you don't have a pre-qualified and ready-to-go client base, that is.

The old websites (gone, for something better)

As we move forward in building new, high-quality websites, we've decided to discontinue the old sites associated with our publications' Internet domains. These sites, originally built in 2005, haven't been maintained or updated properly in recent months and, I believe, now add little value to anyone. In their place, we've provided a referral link to this blog and key contact information so people can find us if they search or click on the old sites.

I'm looking forward to our new site format developed by Web Empowerment Solutions, which, I believe, will provide a solid and effective Internet experience.

What lead sources are working?

An image from the Sylvain Contracting website. Marc Sylvain says he gets 7.7 per cent of his business from the website -- but why is his referral/repeat business so much lower than industry norms?

Marc Sylvain of Sylvain Contracting in Salem, New Hampshire, has started a Contractortalk.com thread, "What lead sources are working?" with a frank report on his six month stats.

Home Shows $290,569 (38.1%)
Referrals $111,257 (14.6%)
Internet Lead providers $97,861 (12.8%)
Direct Mail $88,714 (11.6%)
Past Customers $59,813 (7.8%)
Our Website $58,920 (7.7%)
Site Signs $28,376 (3.7%)
Newspapers $23,717 (3.1%)

Sylvain's business focuses on vinyl siding, replacement windows and three and four season sun rooms.

Several other contractors responded; some surprised how much his business depends on home shows. Others may be surprised by the extremely open disclosure of business information -- you can quickly calculate, for example, his total business volume over the past six months from these numbers (something some business owners would prefer to keep under wraps). As well, notably this open posting in a contractors' forum on the surface has little 'value' in reaching the end user/home consumer market in New England.

Of course, the numbers show other things -- Sylvain knows his business and has solid measuring and tracking systems; he truly can calculate where his leads are originating and (significantly, though it doesn't show up here) his true cost per lead. With his numbers, he can manage his marketing a whole lot more effectively than others. And of course, he doesn't lose any business by sharing with others in the industry -- even if his direct competitors read and analyzed the numbers, they would be several steps behind him in business development and strategies.

You may also notice a couple of other interesting points here:

• One contributor expressed surprise that referrals and repeat clients generate surprisingly low lead volume.

"Marc, how can you increase your referrals and past clients? I would think this could be easy for you with a special program. Do you have a newsletter? e-mail address?

Home shows are a lot of work and time yes you do show they work but I think with a little polish you could come up with some boost on the other 2.
Just some thoughts. Good luck."

• Another thread contributor explained how he is reaching beyond networking to find business:

"OK, I did only networking to date. Starting two weeks ago I installed a kitchen display in a local bank.

Friday I am buying a 14' cube van and will put a nice kitchen in it, with an espresso maker built in. All the choices I can fit will be in the van, catalogues, quartz, fixture books plus cabinet doors ect.The van will be my billboard and will be parked at busy intersections all over the Twin Cities.

I will bring many choices to the homeowner for kitchen and bath remodeling. I am partnered with a bank for loans, an interior designer, a local appliance dealer and an architect and painter. I have my own line of cabinets for semi-custom and I'm a dealer for the same cabinets.

Either I'm a genius, or I'm an idiot, time will tell. What do you think of that?"

My sense is that Marc is having to work awfully hard to feed the dragon; he has systems and processes in place which result in a steady volume of business and he knows his stuff, so he can maintain a reliable and effective business in hard times as well as good. But I'll share my concern of the other successful contractor puzzled by the relatively low ratio of repeat and referral business. My own ongoing poll (admittedly it isn't scientific, but it certainly 'feels right' from the subjective measuring I do every day), says that contractors overall receive a whopping 77 per cent of their business from repeat and referral sources, compared to Marc's 22.4 per cent.

Could it be the cultural 'push' of selling aggressively at home shows and the like is actually turning off clients; or they aren't 100 per cent satisfied with the value they are receiving? Is Sylvain's product line suited to one-time clients who don't network or communicate with their peers and neighbours? Are there process improvements he can make to achieve more "Wow, this is great" responses among his current clients to attract more referrals and repeat orders? And, finally, is he working on the alliances and unconventional/creative marketing approaches to transcend the obvious and expand/build on relationships, like the other contractor with his fit-up van and banker's relationship?

Jeffery Gitomer and puke

This is probably the least flattering picture I will ever have the opportunity to post in this blog. But Jeffrey Gitomer is using the plastic puke intentionally to remind us that most of what we consider 'normal' in business and sales practice is, well, puke. We need to think with imagination, creativity, and distinction -- and have fun while we are doing our work.

Sales guru Jeffrey Gitomer visited Ottawa today with his plastic puke. His message: Most of the standard stuff salespeople do in their work -- and businesses practice in day-to-day life, is, well, puke. Boring, irritating, garbage. Brochures, 'marketing department trash', thoughtless cold calls, "customer satisfaction" and all that standard jargon of business -- including the typical dry recital voice mail messages most of us (including myself) leave is . . puke.

So how does Gitomer do things differently? He markets himself effectively, practically, with visibility and imagination -- and that causes people to call him, and people to pay him for his services.


He came to Ottawa at the behest of a headhunting business seeking to develop its niche within the technology sales sector. Smart move. Set up a not-for-profit organization (The Sales Leadership Initiative) to create networking and business development opportunities, bring in the big name speaker, and ride on the coattails of his publicly recognized name reputation and identification.

I paid for my $179 seat with my Amex card. A query to Gitomer's office for a media interview resulted in his standard truly effective put-off response. He is available, but you will need to pay him $500. Sorry, I don't pay anyone to be interviewed.

So how can you escape from the puke? Build your personal brand with imagination, creativity, publicity, and a great website. Start an e-letter, affiliate yourself with big names (presumably like Gitomer), and fix your voice message to make it distinctive and interesting. Trash your conventional 'mission statement' and make it something you remember and identify with (something I need to think about, now). Create genuine value and give this away -- you'll get it in return multi-fold. Most importantly, have fun doing what you love doing -- you must not be in the work for the money, but the money will arrive if you enjoy your work.

So, with this blog, I have the opportunity to show Gitomer at his best -- with his plastic puke. Do you get the message?

Making publicity and the web your focus

Focus on PR/media relations and an effective web presence -- these are the marketing priorities of successful architects such as Kasian Architecture.

What are the most effective marketing resources available for professional service firms serving the AEC community? Media publicity and effective use of the Internet, says Erin Isberg, a marketing manager with Kasian Architecture in Vancouver. I interviewed her last Friday as I prepare to write a story on the AEC Marketing/Economy in Canada for the SMPS Marketer. Erin is one of the few Canadian SMPS members; we don't have the wonderfully effective network of vibrant local SMPS chapters in most major U.S. cities, but Erin believes it is important to advance her knowledge and professional capabilities -- and so soaks up the information and resources provided through SMPS publications, online programs, and its website.

Kasian is growing rapidly -- with new offices in Shanghai, Mumbai and Dubai -- it is finding business in part because clients are comfortable with the quality of the practice's work and its Canadian identity. (The practice also has offices in Calgary, Edmonton, and, in our Ontario neck of the woods, Toronto and Waterloo.)

"In February, I went down to New York City for a conference on Return on Investment, and how to look at it from services firm perspective," Isberg said. While in New York, she visited the director of public relations for a major U.S. architect. "They didn't find any value in a huge mix (or marketing techniques)," she said. "They don't advertise, they don't do any direct mail pieces -- they stick to public relations and their website."

"My firm does that as well," she said. "We don’t put huge investment in advertising, we focus on niches and we’ve appointed someone to do public relations full time, to get out our key message; to have our firm name come up from that."

"(And) we’re also going a lot more in terms of the web, with an E-newsletter program and a website designed with a lot of care in mind." She also said the Kasian is making use of interactive mini sites. "When we've created a larger project, we send an E-postcard about them to anyone interested."

I think Erin has it right. For external marketing, focusing on the web and PR/communications will produce much higher returns than any conventional advertising and outbound marketing for AEC firms, and this makes sense whether you are in Canada, the U.S. or anywhere in the world.

Updating the story: The evolution of successful construction industry marketing

The reactone.com team in St Louis, MO, referenced in the previous blog entry left The Lawrence Group to start their own company, Atomic Dust. They also continued with their experience, knowledge and connections with the construction industry; as an example designing an ad series in the local Business Journal for Kozeny Wagner, a full service general contractor, construction manager and design builder.

Here is the response to my email to the Lawrence Group regarding yesterday's posting and question about reactone.com.

I know Verne Harnish’s work. I attended two of his sessions about 8 or 9 years ago, with our CEO, when I was the director of marketing here (I’ve since become more focused on communications, i.e., public relations and advertising). I need to track down the book you’re sighting. I’d be interested in the copyright date on the one you’ve got, and whether or not he has a more current revision out there. The information you have on us is out of date.

Here’s an update (and thanks for your interest):

ReactOne was a media company that we developed in house specifically, as you said, for client focused Web sites that were more vanguard almost a decade ago.

Technology changes quickly, and the ReactOne team was (and still is) a really cutting edge group of young media types, who were hungry to let their ponies run. They left here amicably as a group (the same way they came in) and established a company called Atomic Dust. They are thriving in a downtown St. Louis location, and of course, everyone who knew and worked with them here is thrilled for their success.

http://www.atomicdust.com/ I would guess, then, that the name ReactOne and the Web site of that name was sold to someone else several years ago—but that’s just my guess. I’m copying James Dixson, one of Atomic Dust’s founders, on this reply. He would actually be an excellent resource for your blog on all this.

I hope that answers your questions. Let me know if there’s anything else I can help with. I will be glad to add you to our media distribution list.

Here’s my contact info, attached.

Best regards,
Donna J Gamache, Director of Communications, Lawrence Group

I have sent another follow-up email to Verne Harnish's organization and look forward to hearing from Atomic Dust, who may, indeed, provide worthwhile resources for construction marketing. A visit to their website uncovers some wonderfully creative construction advertising materials designed for their local market. I expect (after receiving their permission of course), you may find value in adapting this material to your own market.

Here is the note from Atomic Dust's web page describing the Kozeny Wagner campaign, where you can also see some additional print ad examples.

Construction company Kozeny Wagner approached us with the task of creating a series of ads that would run in the St. Louis Business Journal. A majority of the ads in the Business Journal are underwhelming and Kozeny Wagner really wanted to stand out. The campaign was to achieve several goals including increasing awareness of the company, showing that they are proud of their work and, through the visuals, showing a broad range of what they do. As a result we used humor, which is not often found in Business Journal ads and clean, open visuals that would draw the viewer in. The first three of the campaign are shown here, with more to follow.

The right way

This image is from the website of Baker Roofing Co. in North Carolina. I came across the company in little comment in Ed Fako's not-ready-for-public viewing blog, and queried my North Carolina publisher Bob Kruhm about the company. He said: "They are the largest roofing company in the state…and perhaps the entire Southwest. Very tough competition for every roofing company that bids on work here." I sense someone at Baker Roofing was doing a little Search Engine Optimization by linking to Fako's virtually invisible blog. Guess I'm going to help them some more here, with a link back from my rather highly ranked blog.

In the last couple of days, I've enjoyed a rewarding email exchange with Ed Fako of Right Way Roofing Co. of Carpentersville, Illinois (a Chicago suburb). Fako is a frequent and incisive poster on contractortalk.com threads. He sought out my advice on web links and some aspects of Internet marketing.

The challenge right now, as far as the Web goes for Ed , is that he doesn't have an active website attached to the domain he registered, and a blog he started would not reflect well on his business. I told him in emails that it wouldn't make sense to draw any attention right now either to his domain or his blog -- he needs to fix these things. I hope he does, soon, because his useful and intelligent postings on forums are of real value -- and with just a little work, he can connect these postings (that show his knowledge) with new client business development through the website, blog, and the magical power of search engine marketing.

Nevertheless, I would like to share some of Ed's gems.

This posting on Inspecting the World (International Association of Certified Home Inspectors) takes a shot at "The Rationale for Getting 3 Bids or the Risks of Only Using That Method?"

Ed also has advocated a mentorship program within Contractortalk.com, "Mentoring an Underpriced Contractor".

So why should Ed Fako waste no time in completing the other steps to build his web presence?
First, with a little technical support, he can build a content and information-rich site/blog, one which could (after a few months) attract astounding search engine rankings. Then, with co-ordination, potential clients will be predisposed to call him and not two, or 10 others, for a quote. He won't need to spend a fortune on advertising; organic traffic to the website will get his phone ringing for estimates. And his solid reputation within online forums will really help his business.

But how can he set up a great site, quickly, and without too much cost? One option (probably one that won't work in the big Chicago area market because of exclusivity issues), is to use Footbridge Media, which I've recommended previously. But there are other specialists in contractor-focused web design and in a future issue of this blog, I'll list some of them.

This is NOT a do-it yourself project, unless you are comfortable and reasonably knowledgeable about these matters -- yes, Blogger and Wordpress can give you a virtually 'instant' blog (at no cost), but you need to follow some basic guidelines and processes to do it right. As I explained to Ed Fako, I would make a terrible roofer!

The renovators' website

Further to my last posting, here is another suggestion from Michael Stone's newsletter on how to promote your business. He quotes a note from Mark Ashton of Ashton Renovations in Toronto and Richmond Hill, Ontario. At $2.00 per lead, he clearly is doing something right.

Regarding our leads, we obtain 100 percent of them by way of the Internet. http://www.ashtonrenovations.com/ reaches our prospects through Google and by us advertising on a construction portal www.gopro.ca. We do not advertise in Yellow Pages, telemarketing, door-to-door, print in magazines, or newspapers. They are much too expensive per lead. And by the way, when prospects see a nice ad regarding services they need, what do our prospects look for: a web address for more information. Our advertising budget is $100 per month plus cost of site. We pay on average $2 per lead, some for jobs $100,000 to $150,000.
Our site, which is a year old, is now being updated to reflect newer technologies. Our project gallery page will have over 1,000 photos. It will also have video testimonials and a blog.
Advice regarding site:
1. Copy-writing is important and done ONLY by someone who can write;
2. Fill site with valuable info i.e products used, detail of services, process, extremely detailed info regarding your management and crew;
3. Photos during and after, with info about products and installation methods;
4. Crisp clean design. If your site looks bad, what does that say about your work?
5. Logo should have .com beside it;
6. Form page to fill out leads short and sweet;
7. Site may post Free Estimate depending on your market, which gets the lead. But never give free estimates! Explain only for simple small jobs, and given over phone.