Thanks to one of my builder clients, Dan for this post. He sent me a link to a very interesting infographic about modern trends in marketing, and I have included that link below. One aspect was not new at all, but maybe is coming back into vogue a bit. Focusing on customer satisfaction. Why? The…
A recent study for the construction industry by Hinge, a US based branding and marketing firm, found that buyers listed good reputation as the most important criteria for purchasing, and the good news is that most sellers already recognize this fact. www.hingemarketing.com They also asked buyers about the best way to market to them (Figure 1).…
The customer is always right. Correct? Wrong! The RIGHT customer is always right for your business. Unfortunately most of us don’t know who the right customers are for our business. So we take on board anyone who has a heart beat, without ever identifying the right customer profile for our business. But who is the…
Your “purple cow” is also known as your unique selling position, or USP. It is a sentence or phrase that explains what makes you special. It gives your prospects a reason to do business with you rather than your competitors. A good USP that is properly used makes your marketing a lot more effective, because…
I started this blog with the intention of focusing on ways in which a business can improve its competitive advantage. To keep on this track this post is about one of the fundamental strategies that provides the cornerstone of developing a sustainable competitive advantage over your competitors. That strategy is, FOCUS. Jim Collins in his…
Details matter. Maybe they don’t matter to you, but chances are they matter to your clients, or your prospective clients. And frankly, that’s more important than what your opinion is. Will they notice that typo on page 3 of your proposal? Will they notice you turn up 10 minutes late for the appointment without calling…
The use of an “education based” marketing and sales process can be way more effective than the traditional quotation/negotiation process. This is especially true when your customer is in the residential market and so more emotionally involved with the outcome. By “education based” marketing I mean giving away useful information and advice in the earliest…
I read with alarm the headline in the NZ Herald business section on February 8: “Slump in orders hits building industry”. Surely not, I thought. We are supposed to be on the up, not the down! Reading a bit further I soon discovered that the article was referring to Australia, not NZ. Phew! But it…
Need your car serviced? Don’t go to Just Autos in Takanini, aka Auckland Mobile Mechanics 24/7, unless you are feeling brave. The only positive thing to come from my experience with Just Autos was a great blog topic of how NOT to run a company. I recently purchased a second hand Mazda RX8 on the…
I am being lazy this week and presenting a blog article by a fellow contractors coach, Joseph Hughes of Contractor Dynamics. I really like a lot of what this guy has to suggest for contractors as he shares many of the same ideals and ideas that I do, particularly in the marketing area. Although he…