Trade associations -- different values for different businesses

Hundreds of people packed the banquet hall for the September meeting of the Ottawa-Carleton Home Builders' Association; the largest gathering for a regular meeting (not the annual Christmas extravaganza) I can recall since I started attending these events in 1990 or 1991. The reason for all the interest: The introduction of new Customer Service Awards, and the presence of J.D. Power in Ottawa.

I'll cover the J. D. Power story in a future blog entry. This time however, I am thinking about the remarks of a fencing contractor who has been a member of the association "off and on" as long as my business.

"Yes, we get real value from our membership, but the value is different than if we were a newly established business," the contractor said. A new business -- one without experience or connections in the marketplace -- can gain significant marketing position through association membership, especially in the home building community, with the association's motto: "Be a member, Do business with a member". For an established business, however, the company already knows who is who in the local marketplace; the direct marketing value is therefore less dramatic.

(The focus here is on supplier or affiliate memberships -- neither my business, nor the fencing company are home builders. We supply services to them, in my case, especially, we supply marketing/information services to the trade suppliers.)

Here, the advantages of association membership are more subtle; membership can in part provide a degree of protection from interlopers; active association membership (with executive committee or board membership roles) plugs you in closely within your community and helps you preserve market position or respond to competitive threats; and of course you still gain the market insights and intelligence -- and ability to use the association to voice concerns you couldn't otherwise express.

However, you will receive even more value -- and power -- from your association membership if you are new to the business, or marketplace. Here, you can immerse yourself in connections and relationship development and the potential for new market development is immense. Just beware, you won't necessarily crack the association 'code' right away -- I sense it takes between two and four years before you are connected enough for trust and acceptance to reach the stage where you will gain the hidden insights and gems of understanding (and marketing power) that a good association membership can provide you.

Small world, big world
Facebook.com recently introduced an application which allows you to show on a world map where you have visited, lived, and wish to see. Thinking myself rather well traveled (especially to some truly arcane places in Africa) I thought I had spanned the globe in experience. But when you go to the map
http://facebook.whereivebeen.com/fullScreen.php?sID=3234549-1m97ihx4m26kpgoeq2v0xuui64cd8e9x
you'll see that, indeed, I've only been to a fraction of the places on earth -- even in my favourite continent (outside of home base), Africa. (A few entries are invisible without great effort because they are indeed dots on the map, such as Singapore and Hong Kong.)
I write this posting to encourage you to put yourself in perspective. What do you know about other cultures, other lands, and other perspectives? Is this knowledge valuable in construction marketing? I would say 'yes', especially with the globalization of the economy, with migration and (especially in the U.S.) immigration issues of vital importance to the construction industry.

Authenticity
There is an irony in marketing. The most successful technique to attract new clients and profitable business occurs naturally. You do nothing, and the clients arrive. Your business is successful, it seems, almost without effort.
The reason you are successful has much less to your marketing methodology than your authenticity. Your business rings true with clients in such an effective and evocative manner that they love doing business with you. They tell their friends, who try you out. And these friends are so satisfied, they tell their friends. Your restraint on growth is not a lack of clients -- it is your capacity to administer and oversee the right kind of employees who will ensure your business model and standards are maintained.
Compare this approach to the "traditional" marketing concepts which involve quite a bit of gaming and manipulation. In the worst excesses, you pound enough people with your message, in the most abrupt and least costly manner possible, so that even if a few decide to try your service out, you can make some cash. Hmm. Think spam. Or telemarketing calls. Or, worse, computerized telemarketing calls telling you "you qualify for a mortgage". Fun ... not.
Or think about publicity, blogs, and communication techniques designed to get you to buy something. Sometimes this stuff works, really well. Just don't be caught running a mine in Utah. People can often see through though your BS. If they don't, they may fall for your gimmick once or twice; but will they buy more, permanently.
So, is it really true, the saying: "If you need to sell it, why would anyone buy it?" Partly, I think. If, for example, you are in the business of designing hospitals, or building post offices, or if you are a renovation siding contractor, you had better be darn good at what you do for the natural marketing to take place. (Or, at least, the only one anywhere nearby designing hospitals, or installing siding. Think post-Katrina Louisiana.)
The partly is that you CAN use marketing skills and techniques to enhance, encourage, and amplify the natural processes, if you are authentic, sincere, and your underlying values are clear. You can justify the marketing costs in an incremental, logical manner. Your payback from effective marketing can far exceed your existing business structure, and take you to a new level of success.
Be real.

Note: I searched for 'cover art' after writing this article, and discovered this page link to Authenticity: Simple Strategies for Greater Meaning and Purpose at Work and at Home by George and Sedena Cappannelli. Is the book the real thing? Can't be sure -- haven't read it yet. No Amazon.com reviews, either. But there is nothing negative, either, and their points (at least the ones I can see in free previews) ring true to me.

What skills are you seeking in your employees?
Seth Godin's blog posting "What are you hiring for?" resonates with me. Great cover letters, interviewing skills, resumes, and all that stuff are absolutely useless when it comes down to the skills and traits we are looking for in employees. What really matters is, can the prospective employee do the work required excellently, with good integrity, and in a manner that supports rather than destroys the overall enterprise.
Of course, it is never easy to find truly great employees. We've been advertising for some time now, and have received hundreds of initial applications, but even now we haven't committed to hiring anyone (though there are a few serious candidates). Our hiring system is challenging but fair.

1. We don't read nor screen resumes at the initial stage. Virtually everyone who applies is sent a questionnaire. It describes the work, and asks a few questions that give us an idea of whether the candidate is suitable for the work.
2. We only review resumes for people who answer the questionnaire. At that point, we compare the resume with the answers; and look for understanding and comprehension, and (if appropriate) relevant experience and proof of qualifications. We also review our "are there any skeletons in your closet" question -- we aren't checking references at this stage, but invite candidates to tell us if there will be any problems when we do.
3. Then we have a phone interview. This is brief, allows us to probe a bit deeper, and then determine whether the matter should be reviewed further.
4. For sales candidates we administer an online sales aptitude test. This tells us a lot; failure on the test is a yellow flag -- we won't say 'no' necessarily, but certainly will not pay any money for the candidate to prove him or herself.
5. Next stage is the working assignment. Usually a couple of days or maybe a freelance task, this is compensated, and is our way of sizing up the prospective employee -- and allows the candidate to size us up as well.
6. Finally, we check references, thoroughly, before preparing the written job offer/employment contract.

So, what counts is whether the prospective employee can prove he or she can do the job, not whether the candidate can write a nice resume and cover letter; or 'interview well'. In fact, we don't even bother with interviews -- we'll meet local candidates for the work assignment, and out-of-town candidates, if they pass all the tests and are ready for a contract offer, we might have a visit or informal meeting. But why bother with the phony show-and-tell exercises. They don't help us find the people we are really seeking.

References vs. referrrals

This intriguing blog entry on Bnet.com (a useful collection of general sales and marketing resources), Reference accounts can be headaches, clarifies that references are much less useful and valuable than referrals in the selling process. With references, things can go very wrong, at the very last minute, the writer notes.


Of course the converse can be said on the buying -- or hiring -- side. Reference checking is an important resource, both in negotiating purchases, and hiring employees and contractors. As the poster notes, sometimes the reference will point out discounts or deals available to you that you may not have known about, and of course, you can often (if you listen carefully) discern potential problems if you listen carefully.

Image from voicestar.com, provider of the back-end technology for the go! Local directory

Thud!

It's as thick as the Yellow Pages -- and the pages are mostly yellow, but this directory published by Canwest Global (which owns our local daily newspaper, The Ottawa Citizen) is definitely not the venerable and well-established directory. While the publishers of the traditional Yellow Pages have come up with their own solution to the Internet marketing juggernaut, this go! Local product could (if successful) revolutionize the print directory business.

Why? Well, if you look at the ads, many full page, you'll see almost all of them start with the 212 exchange (not to be confused with NYC's 212 area code). These are in fact "pay per response" ads, much the same as Google Adwords, but here, you pay only if someone phones you.

I met the people selling the technology engine used in the Canwest product, voicestar.com at the Future of Online Advertising conference in New York City in June. For publishers, the concept is surprisingly inexpensive, and creates a solution to the challenge conventional media is facing with the new Pay Per Click models on the Internet -- how do you monetize a print product so that you can satisfy the advertiser's desire to pay only if the ad 'works' and still make some money?

I'm not sure of course whether the go! Local model -- which also combines an Internet directory with the printed publication -- will work. It obviously depends on both the advertising rates and the responses. Are printed directories like this finding their way into t he round basket, unread? Is the useful shelf life of the directory long enough to cover the production costs?

One thing is certain, however. If a local publisher offered this service and you are conventionally advertising in the Yellow Pages, I would jump at the opportunity to try the Yellow Pages ad in the new medium. Why not? You'll only pay the publisher if your phone rings, and presumably (and hopefully!) you know your conversion rate average based on the number of initial inquiries you receive from your ad. You'll quickly be able to tell if the cost-per-lead is profitable for your business.

Marketing commercial tenant fit-ups
Over at contractortalk.com, Darren Beck of Beck Construction and Remodelling in Clarksville, TN, posted this question:

Hello everone,I've noticed a lot of strip malls going up around my area lately. The individual spaces stay empty a month or two then get finished out. I would really like to get involved in some of this finish-out work. Have any of you tried specific things to target these commercial tenant finish-outs? I've tried calling the real estate agents listing the units a few times to no avail.
I wonder if it would be worthwhile to track down the owners? I've been kicking around the idea of making some flyers and just sticking them to the doors of empty spaces. Kinda like door hangers for commercial work!

Response is still light, but one contractor said he found business simply by sticking a business card in the door of the unfinished commercial unit. "Crash" wrote:

I have got many projects just by placing a card in the door. Many time the gc is from out-of-town and actually needs local contractors to do these jobs. About two years ago I placed a card in the door for a proposed bank location, in a strip mall. I have been doing banks all over the state every sense-just from that one card.......

But perhaps the most interesting answer to this question is one I uncovered that may also give clues to what you should be doing, overall, to develop your marketing program for commercial construction work. It is a job posting (perhaps now expired) for a Director of Marketing and Communications for Columbia Construction Company in North Reading, MA.

External Marketing and Communication
Regularly distribute press releases
locally on project wins and key personnel moves and/or hires
Meet with editors of local papers to get our name and message published
Develop and Place Ads in targeted community organization publications or regional/local business journals
Develop articles for use in local/regional trade publications
Oversee scheduled mailings to key existing and targeted clients
Mail segment brochures to relevant existing/potential clients with letter
Participate and create client/architect events twice a year
Assist in the development of in-house seminars targeting specific market segments to our clients
Work with BD to target industry events for possible sponsorship, speaking engagements etc.
Ensure job site signage is prevalent on all projects
Assist in development of a project performance scorecard and send to clients at end of job to gauge performance, solicit feedback.
Internal Marketing
Supervise firm’s RFP protocol process including responding to RFPs from clients and overseeing all proposals for new business
Participate in planning and presentation sessions.
Manage Employee newsletter highlighting key activities, initiatives, wins, etc.
Assist with all- staff meetings
Routinely visit jobsites
Develop e-mail “Flash News” to highlight brief announcements, wins or congratulatory notes
Develop a Reward & Recognition program that recognizes best efforts of practices reinforcing Company’s operating principles, etc.
Post Company “theme” and develop internal poster campaign to highlight initiatives, such as Safety etc….

This is a fascinating and revealing list of 'to do's' for marketing . . . but maybe, indeed, the simplest solution in this case is to stick your business card in the door.

Image from http://www.ideabook.com/store_creative_advertising.html

The advertising paradox


Our business earns 99 per cent of its revenue from advertising. Yet the services that we provide which generate the highest degree of value don't cost recipients a cent. Our advertisers, it seems, pay freight for a whole lot of great free stuff for the majority of readers, yet the question that has always challenged me is: "How can we be sure our advertisers receive real value for their money."


This is something you need to think about in your own business, both in terms of the overall framework question, and the specific issues of advertising expenditures within your marketing budgets.


Google and Craigslist have, for example, caused havoc within traditional advertising markets. Both provide powerful, free services. As an example, today, I found that my evaluation period for winzip had expired and they wanted me to pay for the software. I don't like wasting $30 if I can get around the problem, legally, so I googled "free winzip", saw a reference to an advertising-supported website listing alternatives, read the editorial comments, selected my alternative, downloaded it, and, voila, the alternative open source (and not advertising loaded) freeware is doing the job. You can find this at http://free-backup.info/free-winzip.html


At various times in the process, advertisers were available for me to 'buy' but since I was looking for something totally free, I declined to click on any of the ads.


Clearly, this use of Internet resources is distorting markets and causing havoc to traditional practices.


But there are ironies here. I sought a free decompression software to process a data file from Dun and Bradstreet that I had paid $1,000 to purchase. Almost all of the data is freely available and I could have most of the information on the file for no cost -- but D&B had one piece of critical information, available possibly from public sources, but for which I have no easy access. I analyzed the costs for the information and determined that the data -- with the crucial information to our business -- is worth every cent. (And yes, since the application of how we are going to use this data is proprietary, I am not going to share it on this blog!)


So, how do you plan your advertising and marketing budgets, and determine the right way to proceed:

• If your advertising as it is currently conducted works -- that is brings in measurable business in a systematic and logical manner -- then of course continue -- but be careful, you may find better and free alternatives. For example, if you are using the Yellow Pages, consider the Internet options especially with the search engines directly rather than through intermediary providers.


• If you are invited to spend money on advertising by sales reps, ask yourself if the advertising is justified and fits within your budget framework. If it doesn't, pass. (Note your budget framework may be "Keeping our current clients satisfied and loyal is the most important thing, and they w ant us to advertise to support them," in which case, yes, advertise! (Self serving plug: That is how we sell most of our advertising.)


• If you are thinking of longer range issues like brand protection and soft marketing issues, can you obtain some extra value and benefits from your current advertising media partners? Most will be happy to help you -- if only to enhance your loyalty and commitment, and willingness to spend more on their media.


• Finally, consider non-advertising options to promote your business. The highest and best promotion is through great connections and service to your existing clients, followed by effective publicity and media relations.

So, indeed, we give away most of our valuable services for free, but for advertisers (who ask for it!), we go out of our way to provide consultation and advice especially on media relations and publicity. This blog, in fact, originated from that perspective. If you are a non advertiser and are reading and enjoying it, that is great, as well.

The spam blog . . .

On turning on the computer to update the blog this morning, I received this notice from Google:

This blog has been locked by Blogger's spam-prevention robots. You will not be able to publish your posts, but you will be able to save them as drafts.
Save your post as a draft or click here for more about what is going on and how to get your blog unlocked.

This is really good newes, actually. Although I don't know how google's alogrithms could define this blog as a possible spam site, I'm glad they take this kind of abuse seriously.
Here is Google's explanation of the problem, and the process of correcting things:

http://help.blogger.com/bin/answer.py?answer=42577#whatwedo

When you can read this post, you'll know the problem has been resolved.

The weekend off....

Just as I regained the ability to post here, I'm embarking on a brief long weekend trip to New York and New Jersey. Won't have my usual Internet access, so you won't see updates until Tuesday -- but then will resume with fresh material and insights. Thanks fo reading.

Newsletter today
Writing energy that usually goes into this blog went into the bi-weekly newletter today -- along with content for our printed, Canadian products. More later . . .

The new, powerful person

These thoughts of Carl Rogers quoted in Raymond Aaron's "Insight of the day" are worthy of consideration.

In his excellent book, On Becoming a Person, Dr. Carl Rogers spelled out some of the characteristics of the new, powerful person who is emerging in our culture today...and the vital, different set of values he both maintains and lives. "I stressed," he writes, "his hatred of phoniness, his opposition to all rigidly structured institutions, his desire for intimacy, closeness and community, his willingness to live by new and relatively moral and ethical standards, his
searching quality, his openness to his own and others' feelings, his spontaneity, his activism and his determination to translate his ideals into reality. I am talking," he wrote, "about a relatively small number of people.
But I believe that these people constitute the change agents of the future. When some part of a culture is decayed at the core, a small group with new views, new convictions, and a willingness to live in new ways, is a ferment that cannot be stopped."

Aaron's "Insight of the day" is a solid example of a simple, viral, and easy-to-maintain daily email.

My error
Yesterday, I published a negative post before giving the person involved an opportunity to communicate and respond. This is not right.
Here, I failed to follow the 24 hour rule: If you have something less than positive to say, either in a blog or an email, rarely will it hurt to save it for a day of thoughtful reflection.

The patient quest
Marketing in the construction industry, at least for the big stuff, is an agonizingly slow and complex challenge. Clients do not decide to build and then give out orders for $500 million hospitals, or even $2.5 million commercial building renovations, by waking up in the morning, walking into the nearby convenience store, and saying "Give me two."
While there are obviously critical moments -- RFP deadlines, presentation meetings, assigned site visits, and the like -- the marketing process can seem to move like molasses, and you can, at times, wonder if you are making progress. This may be especially the case if your boss is breathing down your back for results, or if you are the boss, you are looking at your monthly overhead, and wondering what your next project will be after current work winds down.
Of course, if you are a larger business, you can systematize the process -- you will measure your success over many initiatives, perhaps from several locations, and you will have tracking and control systems in place to assess your results.
It is more difficult -- but not impossible -- to use similar principals if your enterprise is smaller.

1. Start with an annual (or bi-annual) planning meeting/retreat. Bring in your key people from ever where, and key does not just include a small core of marketing people and executives. You may wish to engage outside consultants for this service, at least until you have established the routine. We use Caswell Corporate Coaching Company.
2. This will give you a marketing plan and budget; and help you decide your priorities, allowing you to track and measure your achievements. Don't worry. The plan often doesn't 'work' in practice -- but you will find you are far better off knowing the direction you want to go before setting off wildly; the planning process also creates a built-in discipline (and keeps you from going wildly off track on irrational wild-goose chases
3. Listen to your 'gut' -- does it feel right, are people sending out signals worthy of response; is there something you need to deal with, now. This is especially important with current client relationships. You can usually catch early signs of dissatisfaction if you listen. You want to keep your current clients; if they are showing signs of not informing you of future plans and projects, you risk losing your most important advantage -- your inside knowledge and good relationships with the people you are doing business with, now.
4. See if you can build into your plan some 'smaller stuff' that can be systematized and marketed with less of an all-or-nothing approach. Of course, the smaller stuff could be a headache -- a lot of little pesky jobs with finicky clients could quickly get you in trouble (remember the 80/20 rule -- most your good business -- and big problems -- are going to come from the 20 per cent at the top, and bottom.)
5. Finally, and most importantly, spend at least 20 per cent of your time learning and gaining insights into your market and best marketing practices. Your edge will come from your combination of personal relationships (primarily with current clients) and your ability to seize and adapt trends and respond to the changing environment, providing you manage the process -- listening to your instincts, while respecting the need for thoughtful planning approaches.

From Left: Labourcorp Temporary Labour Services administrative assistant Tammi Laidiaw, general manager Paul Desousa and owner operators Nick and Sarina Caravatta.

Smart, simple marketing

Nick and Sarina Caravatta operate a temporary labor service from an almost invisible location on one of Ottawa's poorest streets. Their business, providing temporary workers largely for the local construction industry, certainly lacks glamour or ostentatious wealth -- don't expect to see the likes of Conrad Black in their establishment -- but they understand the basics of sales and marketing; know your business, differentiate, and don't waste money.

They first came into the picture back in the spring, when a former employee sold them on a modest advertising feature in the internal newsletter of the Ottawa-Carleton Home Builders' Association, which we publish under contract. Their Labourcorp Temporary Labour Services business is an OCHBA member -- and I could see from their dispatch board that several prominent member firms use their services.

Our proposition: If you purchase a modest ad in this feature, we would write a modest story about your business in the theme issue. They accepted.

Well, we ran the ad, but didn't write or publish the story. I realized the error shortly afterwards, and offered a make-up ad and story. My bad -- we screwed up again; in fact I completely forgot my commitment. Nick didn't. He called to check in and remind me.

It is one thing to screw up twice; it is another to take responsibility. Since the original mistake occurred several months ago and it is not practical now to write the story in the Impact! I told him we would simply treat this as a regular news feature in Ottawa Construction News; forget the advertising element. (When you own the publishing business, you can occasionally bend the rules, though I am generally extremely careful about meddling with editorial integrity.)

Well, regardless of the source of the story, there is something really genuine here because the Caravatas' business operates at the extremes of the economy, and therefore is of real interest to anyone in journalism.

How do you create a viable business at the bottom end of the labour market -- the environment where drugs, poverty, and downright destitution are the norm rather than the exception? I wondered about these things as I got out of my car on the seedy street where their business is housed, carefully checking to ensure I had locked my car doors and nothing valuable could be seen through the windows.

Walking into the less-than-elegant (but clean) waiting area, where day labourers are reminded not to wear muscle shirts or torn clothes, I met the Caravatas. They explained how they make things work.

• Their workers are paid weekly not daily as is common in the sector. This means the employees have some degree of reliability and stability -- it also means that they aren't rushing to get off work right on deadline each day to get their pay (the office stays open late on Friday, payday, to ensure the money flows when it is due, and if you work on Thursday, your pay will be ready on Friday, however.)
  
• Workers are treated with respect. There is a counter, but no glass wall; no peepholes, no "us or them" attitude -- Labourcorp realizes its employees may be among the working poor, but they are working, and that is what matters. (There are incentives and recognition for reliability and stability, as well.)
  
• Employers are also treated with respect. They get the workers they need -- who are shuttled by Labourcorp to the job sites, often at difficult-to-reach locations.

As for marketing, the Caravatas don't spend money on fancy digs; or a highbrow image. They have a simple website (I would can the music, but otherwise it does what it should do), and they don't waste money on careless or indiscriminate advertising -- but know the value of advertorials, especially when the marketing is geared to their intended audience.

Most importantly, they appreciate the importance of differentiation and distinctiveness; in this case, by rethinking some of the conventions and stereotypes of their sector, they attract better and more reliable workers -- and thus can charge slightly higher fees (and pay their employees slightly more than the norm). These principals, I believe, are valid for any type of marketing, even if your business doesn't operate at the edge of poverty.

Getting seven out of eight right is pretty good

I like seven of the eight suggestions in a recent promotional email from construction marketing guru Henry Goudreau, so will share them here.

Here are eight things you can do to find business in a tough market:
1. Look for new prospects to call. Call on prospects you never thought of calling
before. Get on the phone ... make a deal ... make some money! Stretch your imagination. Go out and generate some positive activity.
2. Spend at least ONE HOUR a day on the phone telephone calling these people. If business is slow, you've got plenty of time on your hands to accomplish this. Start calling people ASAP. There's a huge difference between being busy and being productive. Your assignment is to look for customers. Don't think about it, JUST DO IT!
3. Create a dynamic USP and Elevator Speech. (Editor's note: See this entry on the "Elevator Pitch" from May, 2007.) If your calls are ending in less than 10 seconds, you're doing something wrong. You might not be peaking their interests. Go to Volume Two and review how to develop a great USP and Elevator Speech and learn to ask the right questions.
4. Expect voice mail. That's right, everyone is using it, probably you too. Note the time of this call and try another time either at the beginning or end of the day. Meanwhile, move on to your next call.
5. Expect rejection. No one is waiting for you to call so they can buy your services. Expect rejection. Your job is to find the decision maker who makes the decisions, qualify them and develop them.
6. Ask great questions. Don't talk about yourself learn to ask the questions that will reveal to you what it is they really want. Try to discover their problems and what they need.
7. Identify decision makers. Only work with decision makers, find a way to get around the gatekeepers.
8. Always ask for commitments. A commitment is a commitment, big or small. Ask for the deal or ask for another appointment face-to-face so you can get more information that will lead you to "wet ink." Always ask for a commitment.

The only point I disagree with is his observation: "Only work with decision makers, find a way to get around the gatekeepers." In the sense of not trying to actually 'pitch' to gatekeepers, I agree, but the fact is, gatekeepers are there for a reason -- and they are actually decision-makers of the highest order since they control access. Ignoring that, or regarding the person (or voice mail) that screens calls or 'denies access' is inviting perpetual frustration.

Respecting their role, and having a clear understanding of your purpose and the legitimate basis of communicating with the 'boss' is vital -- if you don't have it; if you are just banging out the calls with a rote process and not much thought -- you will (especially in a smaller market) quickly burn up your leads and end up with little to show for your efforts.

The team at Sylvain Contracting in Salem, NH

Sharing the numbers

In an intriguing thread on contractortalk.com some business owners are sharing rather central business numbers -- specifically:

How much is your average sale amount?

How many jobs do you do per year?

What is your average gross profit percentage?

Marc Sylvain at Sylvain Contracting in Salem, NH provided the answer to his own questions:

$11,800

275

42.8%

He then explained why he doesn't mind sharing with the world (and competitors) what might seem to be vital, confidential business data.

"I like to network a lot. The folks I really like to network with are those that are doing better than me. Lets face it. I f you want to be a millionaire you don't hang out with bums. You hang out with MULTI millionaires. I do a lot of financial mastermind groups and we are always sharing our info. How else would someone know how to help me if they didn't know my situation? How could I possibly help anyone unless I knew theirs? Sorry.........Didn't think this was a secret that I needed to keep to myself."

To me, this is sound thinking, and good marketing. Others are also sharing their data on the thread. I think it is worth reading.

Working through local market rules
Yesterday morning, I flew to Toronto, picked up a rental car, and spent a couple of days visiting developers, association executives, and building product manufacturers to gather materials for our upcoming editions.
These trips are always useful for insights. One of the most interesting observations occurred at the head office of a successful building products manufacturer and distributor. (As my interviews were conducted for an advertising feature, and the company has not cleared these observations for publication, I will not identify the business or specific product.) The company has innovated and patented a product with a special feature that truly reduces costs.
A good idea, indeed. But the company, which has a large share of the market in the Greater Toronto Area, hasn't sold much if any of its innovative product in Ottawa (just five hours away by car), even though it owns a successful related distributor and manufacturing facility in the second Ontario city.
Why can this product, then, sell so well in Toronto, but not Ottawa, I asked. It turns that in the Ottawa market, larger sizes of this product are in common use. These are uneconomical to ship from Toronto -- and in the price-sensitive market, where just a few cents makes all the difference, the transport costs are great enough that the manufactured product in Toronto won't sell well in Ottawa. Why not manufacture a similar product in Ottawa? (The company has a manufacturing facility in Ottawa.) Turns out the production runs wouldn't be economical in the smaller market.
Why does Ottawa use the larger product sizes than Toronto? In the normal market conditions, the larger product sizes can be less expensive, special patented feature or not, and in Ottawa, houses are generally built to order, with enough room nearby to store the larger pieces, while in Toronto, the subdivisions are built as a single block, and space on the work sites is small -- thus precluding the use of the larger sizes.
There are other issues, including the work habits and procedures of local tradespeople.
Why was I asking all these questions? I wanted to know why something both innovative and effective and truly well-liked by users (lots of repeat business) could sell so well in one market, and not in another, close relatively geographically and economically. And the answers I received reminded me that the construction industry, despite globalization, standard practices, and common values and traditions, is still in many ways very much a local and regional business.
So, if you wish to expand outside your 'home' market, be careful, research carefully, and don't bet your business on the expansion (but don't necessarily give up -- you may just blow the local competition away with better practices, more efficient processes and lower costs.)

Your opportunity to express your viewpoints in a special survey

Image from facilityplanners.com (Brailsford & Dunlavey)

The high cost of bidding and RFPs

How much does it cost to prepare bids and RFP responses? Are there problems with owners and consultants either downloading bidding costs on your business; or are the requirements to prepare the bids increasing your costs substantially?

These are rather important questions because in the construction industry and allied professions, the ultimate point of marketing is to win the opportunity to bid on projects you have a good likeliness to win, and profitably conclude. So we've set out to find some answers to the bidding cost questions with a special survey, which you may have received if you are a subscriber to the Construction Marketing Ideas newsletter.

You can complete the survey by going to this link. I welcome your comments.

This image is from Good Storm:Capitalism Done Right, selling Craigslist apparel, apparently in support of the Craigslist Foundation

Resolving the Craigslist challenge and dilemma

Craigslist is revolutionizing the methods people use 'classified ads' to purchase, sell and rent things. It is destroying the bedrock of revenue and relevancy for daily newspapers and local "buy and sell" publications, and is defying the principals of economic 'magnetization' (in simple words, it is giving away its services at a price far below the market is willing to pay).

In fact Craigslist is entirely free, except in a few major cities like New York and San Francisco, where there is a modest fee for job postings and certain property rentals. And these fees were driven not by Craigslist, but by legitimate advertisers and users, who could not see the real offers through the spammy-scammy junk posted on the sites there.

But even in markets (the great majority) where Craigslist is free, it has a unique set of rules. You cannot post more than one offer at a time, and your listings under the given category are upstaged by newer listings as they are posted. These rules, and some others, of course are designed to prevent spam from overtaking the sites -- and because of this, the sites have attracted a loyal following and work for advertisers better than many expensive fee-supported services.

This generally means that you will, if you are going to get a response at all, receive a flurry of inquiries when your listing first appears; then things will stop. Of course this flurry is usually enough to sell anything where there is some high demand or interest. Craigslist also allows you to post photos of the things you are selling.

Does it work? I've primarily tried the service for Help Wanted listings (we are looking for sales representatives, with a decent starting salary). When I post in Ottawa, I receive usually two or three legitimate applications right away, plus a few solicitations for third-party leads or telemarketing services (even though I click the box on the form saying that third party solicitations are not welcome.) I need of course to compete for attention with various commission-only opportunities. At least in my market, Craigslist doesn't really work for me -- the free government employment listing service is much more effective (people can easily screen out the commission-only opportunities, and do), but I probably would try it in cities where Craigslist charges the modest listing fee.

My good friend, who sold his community newspaper business a couple of years ago, is breathing a sigh of relief that he has his capital gains in hand -- after trying Craigslist to rent an apartment he owns. Within a day, and without a cent of money, he had found just the right tenant; with no problem (after renting) with all the nuisance calls from people wanting to rent the already-rented property.

Some contractors on Contractortalk.com using Craigslist say it is a great resource for them; others say they get very poor results, or only 'tire kickers' or extreme bargain hunters.

Others are frustrated by the service's limitations designed to overcome spam challenges. For example, even though you might have an opportunity in multiple cities or variations in your offer, you can only post one at a time-- your additional listings will be rejected either right away or after users discover the multiple listings and report them.

Not surprisingly some entrepreneurs seeking the loopholes to give an advantage, have come up with work-arounds, including software to allow you to design your multiple postings to escape Craigslist filters. I am not about to recommend these products or to rush to encourage another possible solution -- enlisting offshore or low cost services to manually post the entries systematically for you. But these resources may be tempting in markets where traditional free Craigslist rules apply.

Image from Business Week: Niche Networking by the Numbers

Social Networking: Revisiting facebook and linkedin

Today, after renewing a friendship with one of my university student newspaper colleagues (after about 30 years), I appreciated even more clearly the power of the new social networking sites such as facebook.com and linkedin.com. Yet I also realize while these are very important resources, you should not misconnect your perceptions of these resources with conventional marketing methodologies.

In essence, the web networking sites work effectively because of their built in screening systems; you really need a valid relationship with someone (or some group) to properly connect. You won't get far trying to spam your marketing message by broadcasting it across the network (though I see efforts, including the usual Multi-Level Marketing 'opportunity' gunk.)

The more I review these sites the more I realize they are simply able to help you within the framework of your traditional networking and connections; in other words, your friends and friends of friends may help you find leads and opportunities, but unless you have business there, you won't be overly warmly welcomed by just barging in. And I don't think these groups are substitutes for the appropriate trade and professional organizations, either peer or client based, especially ones with local chapters in your area like the Society for Marketing Professional Services (SMPS).

Nevertheless, I am learning more as I discover these sites potential and I'll share further observations later (and certainly welcome your comments and suggestions on how to make use of these sites.)