OK, it’s a dumb title. If you’re in the home improvement industry, you either learn how to sell your services, or you go out of business. Here is the key point – some contractors do this better than others. In this market, with all the changes taking place, sales is something you better be good at. John Henry is good at selling himself. He credits Michael Stone’s book entitled “Profitable Sales, A Contractor’s Guide” with giving him the direction he needed. He has learned how to sell. John runs Majestic Fences and Decks just outside Austin, TX. He is staying busy. Very busy. I called him to ask him about his ability to sell so successfully, and here are some things he reviewed with me.

Let’s begin by reviewing the standard rules of remodeling. What are they? When I ask this during seminars, I let about 15 seconds pass and no one says a thing. In reality, it’s a trick question. There are no standard rules of remodeling. That’s one of the reasons that the remodeling industry has some of the problems it has. It’s one of the reasons that consumers are never really sure what they are going to get. But there’s one person who steps in to choreograph this dance that we call remodeling. That person is called the general contractor.
You’re the Coach

Marketing is a numbers game. The more people you can talk with, the more work you will sell. It’s a simple numbers game. You want to leverage and optimize the relationships you already have with homeowners, trade contractors and suppliers. You already know that. What I want to highlight here is the opportunity to work with additional home service professionals who provide a raft of additional services to homeowners.

Believe it or note, a housing shortage is looming. That’s not common knowledge, but it’s coming. Consider the following:
In July 2008, the U.S. Census Bureau released some incredible population projections. Take a look at these numbers:

David Lupberger Remodel Force Contrator Connection Win Rates

I have a wonderful story about good marketing. It’s about a barber, who has a successful barbershop until a discount hair salon moves in next door, and offers haircuts for $10. After building a business for over 20 years, the barber feels he’s going to lose what he has developed for over 20 years. As several of his customers begin to sample the services of the discount barber next door, he calls a marketing expert. He explains what is happening, and the marketing expert says “I know what to do”. The very next day, the marketing expert shows up with a new sign that is posted in the barber’s front window. It says “We Fix $10 Haircuts!”

In the middle of this economic downturn, this is not something you may want to read. You know how hard things are, and you may be tired of this kind of rhetoric. You may also be familiar with the old saying “when one door closes, another one opens”. What I want to review this week is a simple fact that in any economic downturn, there are new opportunities are being created for those that are nimble enough to respond.

Welcome to 2013. The economic downturn is slowly getting better, and many remodeling contractors are beginning to see signs of a recovery. It has been a challenging 4 years. With lower real estate values and all the financial uncertainty, homeowners have been scared, and they have had reason to be:

Lower real estate values

I’m going to give you a valuable “tip” that will pay you not only for the time you spent reading this article, but provide you with thousands of dollars of ongoing value if you implement what is noted here. What I’m referring to is the use of a carbonless memo form to document meeting notes every time you meet with the homeowners you are working with. Let me explain what I mean.

If you’ve been reading this column for any amount of time, you already know I’m a big fan of Michael Gerber, author of the book “The E-Myth.” He summarizes the small business owners’ dilemma well: when any successful small business grows, and an owner finds themselves doing more and more things just to keep up, they inevitably find themselves at the point where they don’t own a business, their business owns them.

Marketing is a numbers game. The more people you can talk with, the more work you will sell. It’s a simple numbers game. You want to leverage and optimize the relationships you already have with homeowners, trade contractors and suppliers. You already know that. What I want to highlight hereis the opportunity to work with additional home service professionals who provide a raft of additional services to homeowners.