Marketing your trade through networking

Marketing through making contacts

It's all about who you know! have you ever heard someone say this to you about your business? Well they are wrong, it's all about who knows you, who

remembers, likes and trusts you and that they know you care about them and their business. This sort of relationship tends not to be built overnight and this is what networking is about, building relationships. This way when they need their electrics sorting out or an extension built or more importantly people they know need work doing you are the person that gets the call! 

Of course then, the more people that know, like and trust you the easier it is to grow your business!

What is business networking?

Business networking is where business owners meet on a regular basis to make contact, meet other business, share knowledge and refer each other business by using each others products or services or to refer to other people.

Can this form of marketing work for me?

Soon after I started my electrical business in 2005 I started going to business networking events, I went to lots of different networking events and I mean a lot, The main one I joined was BNI or Business Network International (more on this later) from BNI alone in that first year I had £23k worth of business, networking in general works exceptionally well, so long as you do it right.

How do Networking meetings work?

There are a wide variety of networking groups around the country, there does seem to be an inordinate amount in Hertfordshire though! we have about 12 groups in Hertford and Ware alone! If you're willing to travel a bit you could probably network Morning to night Monday to Friday.

Groups meet either weekly, bi-weekly or monthly and either in the morning,

afternoon or evening and some you get fed and some you just get coffee and tea.
Personally I've found that the monthly events don't work as well as you don't see the members/attendees often enough to build relationships.

Some of the groups have structured meetings where you get to market your business by doing a sixty second talk about your business and the sort of business referrals that you are looking for or who you would like to speak to. Some meetings are informal gatherings where you get to mingle, these are usually the monthly meetings.

I've found the best meetings to be the structured ones where you get 60 seconds to let people know what you want. 

How does this BNI work?

Business Networking International has been running for over 20 years and is the oldest networking organisation of it's type in the world. I've had the best return on investment for all of my businesses from BNI hands down.

It is a weekly meeting, it is a structured meeting and there are weekly commitments such as you are expected to bring either a testimonial for the other members, a visitor or a referral, some people don't like this however it's what makes it work! 
BNI has a philosophy of 'Givers Gain' so if I refer you business, you'll want to find me business, this is also known as karma - what goes around comes around.

Once you join a BNI group (They call chapters: Yes it's American, but who cares!) you lock out your competitors from joining therefore only you get referrals to jobs.

Build a marketing referral team

If you focus on just building really strong relationships with a few people you'll create a fantastic team that consistently will refer you to people, but remember a relationship is a 2 way thing so you always need to be on the lookout for business to refer to them too. 



So get out and network your business, search for business networking and try out the different groups to see which ones work for you.

To your Success
Paul Jennings

Ps. To read my top tips for networking visit my site and go to the Top Tips section here

Why is consistent marketing important?

Marketing is just one of the keys to running a successful trade business, so why do so many trades either stop doing their marketing when they are busy or they stop doing it when times are tight? Usually it's the first thing that goes and this just makes things worse.

Do more marketing!

When things are tight, trades should be doing more marketing to increase the business coming in. Lets imagine our marketing to be like a car, if times are tight but you need to get somewhere, you wouldn't stop putting fuel in (different marketing tools) because you wouldn't get to where you want to go.

Also likewise if you were on a long journey (building a business) you wouldn't not stop to refuel on that journey just because you're making good time, otherwise you'd run out of fuel at some point and not reach your goal destination,well this is just like stopping marketing when you're busy.
Marketing is so important and you should be refuelling on a regular basis to keep your business going.
On this basis I believe we should be doing a bit of marketing each day to fuel our businesses otherwise we get out of the habit and before we know it we've finished our last job and oops have no work next week. 

You started your business, it's your responsibility to build it!

Too many business owners think that it's their job once they have started a business to do the work - As Michael Gerber puts it in E-myth 'be the technician' when really it their job to work on their business and grow it so they can either move out of the business so it can run on it's own or to franchise or sell it!

Marketing bit by bit

The only way to grow a business is to do some marketing and make some sales, marketing done bit by bit each day is the best way to go, as by doing it this way is like an avalanche it's starts with a tiny bit of snow but as it goes down the mountain it gathers momentum taking more snow with it as it goes to become an unstoppable force.


I was speaking to another electrician about marketing a while ago and he commented how it was either really busy or dead and was scratching around for work, now with some consistent marketing activity he would just be busy, ever heard the old saying 'don't wait until you're thirsty to dig your well'? The marketing we do can take time to kick in so by time you need more work it's too late to start.

Consistent marketing

So diarise each day your marketing activities even if it's 20 minutes per day and do it and make it an unstoppable force in your business to grow it. Of course if you can't manage 20 minutes a day consistently to build your business you can always give me a call and I could do it for you! :-)


To your success.
Paul

Can Flyers make your trade business fly?

Marketing with flyers has been a long term strategy for many trades people and can be a great way to promote your business in the local area if done properly, however marketing your trade business in this way needs some consideration and there are a few factors you should take into account;

1. Expect a less than 1% return on your campaign 
2. Not everyone will need your service at that particular time
3. Your Flyer needs to grab attention
4. Consider the time they go out
5. Go for a call to action that will make them engage with you longer term.

Expect a less than 1% return on your flyer marketing campaign

It is widely know that flyers often give little return, generally less than 1% very few get above this, I've done flyers a few times and had this result, That said if you get a couple of jobs from it....well that will easily cover the cost. I always say expect nothing and consider the money you invest in this marketing as gone, then when you get a return it's a bonus.

Not everyone will need your service at that particular time

I think it goes without saying that not everyone will need their boiler serviced or replaced, an extension built or their house decorated. Also think about the area you have targeted if it's an area where there are lots of let property or it's council area then they may never be able to use your service so your time and money will be wasted. Do a little research before you start!

People often need to see something up to around 18 times before it's sunk in and they are ready to buy, so you'll be better off targeting a smaller area and doing it a few times, once is not enough and on that basis you'd be better off targeting better properties.

Personally I would also not try to promote all of your services or all the things you can do for example for a plumber/ Heating engineer - I would target your campaign coming up to winter when people have had their heating off all summer and come to winter they turn their heating on and it's not working! you can of course add your services in a smaller font at the bottom right hand corner, just don't make it a focal point.

Your flyer needs to grab attention

Make sure your flyer isn't taken up by your logo, people don't care about your logo or business name, they care about their needs, you need to show them that you can help them and this is where your Unique Selling Point comes in, make sure it's the first thing that is seen. 

Consider the time your marketing flyers go out

Most flyers get delivered during the week day, if using a delivery service, so they just get picked up and thrown out, Flyers almost never get delivered during evenings or weekends, so this is unusual and breaks the expected pattern, therefore people will pay more attention to them, The best time to send them out is early Sunday morning, most people are home and if going out, don't go out until later, also they are more relaxed and will take time to read it.

Go for a call to action that will make them engage with you longer term.

Obviously you need to have your phone number on the flyer, I think it's best to have a local landline number, but only do this if you know 100% you can answer it or have someone answer it for you. If you have to have a mobile number I'd have a landline number under it but in a smaller font size.

You can also add your social media link address, I would only have one and that would be to your facebook page (so you need to make sure it has content on) I would have this because most people who are your target market are on there at the moment (I expect Google+ to take over). It may also be worth having a QR code on there to take people to your FB page on their phone although QR codes haven't taken off quite yet!

As I said at the beginning flyers can be a great way to market your trade, whether a interior designer, electrician, flooring contractor or other trade it does cost money and is one of the more expensive ways to reach your audience, so considering there are cheaper and free ways to get your name out there this should be done after you've exhausted those marketing methods

To your success

Paul Jennings

Get more customers with a USP...

Marketing your trade with a USP

A USP or Unique Selling Point (sometimes called a Unique Selling Proposition) is something you should have in your business, it creates attraction and it's possible that when your prospective customer is looking for your particular service, you may be the only company they call.

What a Unique Selling Point is not

A USP is certainly not a strapline like Gillettes 'The best a man can get' although it can be, a strapline is an attention grabber like one of my favourites from a plumber I know - 'If water runs through it, we do it'. Many people think Straplines and USPs are the same thing, however a USP is something much more powerful.

A USP is also not 'We turn up on time' or the famous 'No job too big, no job too small' or any of the other lines that are used by about every other trade.

If you have a line like this and it can apply to any other business or any other business could do it, then it's not unique.

'We will beat any quote' is also not a USP and is the quickest way to go out of business, please don't market your business on being the cheapest.

What is a Unique Selling Point?

A USP for your electrical, plumbing, building or other trade business is customer focused it should tell them why they should trust you, call you for a quote and use you, then potentially refer you. A USP is a great marketing tool to get more customers for your trade business. 

A lot of people when they look to use a trade have probably have never hired a tradesperson before and with all the horror stories on the TV programs and in the news there will be a certain amount of fear, like 'is my property going to get damaged', 'will they not do the job properly' or 'will they run off with my money?' 

You can alleviate this fear with a great USP - do this and as I've said you'll be the one to get that call. If you've got a great USP and you stick to it, you can even charge more because you'll be giving a better service and people pay more for a better service.

If you create a really great USP, you don't have to worry about your competitors using it, like they may do with a strapline, because they won't, they'll be too afraid to, well at least 80% of them anyway.

How to create a USP for your trade

When creating a Unique Selling Point, you need to focus on what your customer wants beyond the actual work that you would be doing for them. Think of the negative emotions that your potential customers will be experiencing and then create a USP that gives them the opposite emotion.

Giving a great guarantee is a great USP such as 'We'll do x or you'll get y' or 'Broken x?, Call us, we guarantee we'll have it working in 2 hours or you pay nothing'

Once you've created your USP make sure you add it to your business cards and other marketing for your trade, it should be something to shout about. You'll know you have an amazing USP when you tell people your USP and they say wow!

If you need help with your marketing and creating a great USP then get in touch.

To your Success

Paul Jennings

What does marketing mean for trades?

Marketing to me means so much, but for most businesses marketing is just about getting your name out there to get more leads to business, but to me it's way more than just getting a lead to a potential customer.

Marketing in your construction business is a combination of everything you do, yes it is your website, the advertising you do, the networking, all the stuff you do online such as your social media marketing and your brand.

It should also include everything after you've had that call and gone to look at the job to do a quote.

It is the way you are with the customer at the initial survey, it how you present the quote and how you communicate with that potential customer after - do you call to follow up see that they've got the quote? (there are ways of knowing that they have got the quote - but that's another post) do you ask them if they have any questions? If they say they've had a better quote at this point, because you've called it's possible you could still win the business. Do you keep in contact after you've finished the job? if you don't you're potentially losing out on future work for them or getting a referral and imagine if they referred you to a friend and it became a big commercial job.

Marketing is all about your pricing too and I don't mean you have to be the cheapest, you just have to be the best and offer the most for their money, we call that value, despite what most people think people do not buy on price alone it's not their first concern, if that were true we'd all be driving around in a Dacia Sanderos and wearing clothes from Primark. (sorry if you drive a Sanderos and wear clothes from Primark, there is nothing wrong with that).
  
Something that will make you stand out is if you offer guarantees, like my 'Money where my mouth is Guarantee' that states if I don't get a return on

investment for my clients after 12 months then I'll work for them for free until I do. So do you guarantee that your customer will get what they want or will get a return in some way?

Marketing is also about how you interact with your employees or subcontractors to get the best out of them, what do they get when they perform well?
You know there is an old saying that 'you get what you look for or focus on most' so if you look for the bad in people you'll certainly find it. 
I once heard of a local electrical company that had tracking devices fitted to all the vans without his employees knowing, So he knew when they weren't where they were supposed to be, however as he hadn't told them he couldn't confront them as it's illegal to have them fitted and not tell the staff. 

Now how this works is that when he would then see the particular employees he would be mistrustful of them and have to keep his knowledge inside, what happens is, he would be thinking about this and his body language would be giving off little signals that were mostly un-perceivable, the employees would then subconsciously pick up.
They would un-be-known to them, not like their boss and probably not be sure of why, they would then not work at their full potential and when they could, skive off.This is called a self fulfilling prophecy (A bit like the papers have done with recessions) the boss got what he was looking for!

So how do you treat the people working for you?, how about looking for the good stuff and rewarding them, it'll be cheaper than the cost of fitting tracking devices. Do you have a referral scheme in place? so they can get commission for bringing in work rather than doing it as a private job?

What about what you do for other businesses and the community do you actively look for business for other business people you're connected with? not just in another trade but all industry's and do you look for ways to help out in the community? too, you know if you help enough people get what they want you will automatically get what you want.

When I work with my clients, I look at the whole business marketing, because if one part of the marketing isn't working well, it's pointless doing anything else!



To your success
Paul Jennings

Don't waste your time.........Why social media doesn't work for tradespeople

Doing the wrong things on social media will waste your time

I've been using social media with success since 2008 and although what I'm about to talk about has been happening since I've been around and it seems to be an increasing occurrence, I've recently been looking more in depth at the social media accounts for some trades on facebook and twitter etc and have had some follow me, all I see are posts about their business, posts such as we can service your boiler for £xxx, leaky pipe - give us a call on 07000 xxxx etc and there is always a logo for their profile picture. 

Social media such as twitter, linkedIn, Google+ and facebook doesn't and never will work for a lot of trades people, simply because....they get it wrong. 

The worst thing that they do is when people do follow them they send an instant direct message back telling them about their service, Or recently I had a plumbing company send me a message out of the blue which is called an @reply, if you add someones twitter profile and then write a message they will see it, the @Reply message went like this '@Paul_Jennings When did you last have your boiler service, we can.......' you get the picture, now when trades people use social media this unsolicited way, it simply will not work! Let me just say this...

Social media is not an advertising platform  

If it were then this would be okay behaviour, Social media is a 'social' platform, a place to network, to stay in touch with people, to make friends/ connections.

This advertising social media style may work for large faceless corporate companies like Sainsburys, McDonalds or JD Wetherspoons or though in my opinion they should consider taking the social approach and the top people, CEOs directors etc should get involved and make it more personal.

Still need proof?

I like to put it like this, imagine walking in to a pub to meet some friends and wearing a mask of your business logo and speaking at people, with no conversation and telling them what you can do for them, how much and to call you on..... how well would that work for you, imagine being on the receiving end, how would that feel.

Social media is just like a virtual pub. There is an old saying that people buy from people and it's true, so when we're using social media be just that, a person.

So some top social media key tips from me would be 

• Use a profile picture of yourself
• List what you like to do, sports, music, films
• Interact with other users through conversation
• Look for ways to help them that isn't to do with your business

When you use social media this way it just works! behind every tweet and profile there is a real person, one of the keys to social media marketing is to build up a following of people who want to know you and are interested in what you say, the main way people are interested in what you have to say is if they know you are interested in them. So search for people that are local, follow or friend them and look for ways to interact so they follow you back.

When you build up a following of people that have got to know you over time (Sorry I forgot to mention it'll take time you're not going to get a response in just a couple of posts or tweets) Who do you think they're going to call next time they need a boiler service, an extra socket installed or an extension built? 

To your success

Paul Jennings