September 2018

by Tom Woodcock, Seal the Deal

I’m regularly asked by clients and contractors to help them develop a sales and marketing strategy. They want to know what magical recipe will have clients breaking down their door. Then they’ll tell me they don’t really want to spend a lot of money and have no extra time to work on it. Really? Being a good contractor and knowing how to run a project doesn’t get you business, it allows you to keep it. Before you even think of developing a strategy you have to understand that it is going to cost you and you’re going to have to invest time. Cheap, effortless marketing usually produces disappointment. You end up relegated to bidding public projects and never get asked to perform projects that never see the public bidding venue. Those projects tend to be the most profitable and require the greatest sales effort.

To assume that simply throwing money at your Web site or doing a weekly Facebook post will supercharge your sales effort, is simply sophomoric. To secure the best opportunities available, your sales and marketing have to contain specific critical success factors. First marketing:

1. Attractive Brand—What good is a brand if people can’t engage with it? Is it interesting? If you put your logo on a cap will people wear it? What good is giving Koozie cups away if they’re flat out ugly? Would someone wear you golf shirt? If you don’t invest in the workmanship of your image, how can the customer trust your workmanship on the project? Create a top-flight image.
2. Where You’re Marketing—Where are you showcasing that image and the message behind it? Are they customer-rich environments? Will you stand out? Be strategic where you’re going to gain the most effective exposure—including which digital platform you choose to saturate.
3. Carry the Brand—Have your marketing materials on you at all times. Be the brand! There’s no reason to craft a stellar image if you’re not going to carry it with you. To get people to fall in love with your brand, they have to see it!

Secondly, the sales side.

1. Competitive Separation—Those that know me or have worked with me will tell you I eat and breathe this principle. If you cannot convey value that separates you from your competitor, why should they use you? Even more important, spend more to use you. This factor is rarely researched and developed. Most contractors gravitate to how well they service their customers. Snooooooozola! This is a fast-moving, information-driven and user-accessible generation. “I do a good job” isn’t a sales position anymore. It’s expected.
2. Time Investment—You must invest time into a sales strategy. Mapping out a plan and targeting customers is useless if you don’t get out and actually do it. Blocking consistent time out for sales work is paramount to a sales effort’s success. If sales is the most important aspect of your business, shouldn’t it merit the highest percentage of your time? Argue otherwise … please!
3. Get Sales Educated—The sales education process is never ending. Most people in the construction industry have never been properly sales trained. They assume their industry is so unique it simply doesn’t apply. Big mistake. If you don’t invest in training seminars or classes, buy sales materials and read. Self educate. Do it and be constantly improving. Adding new technology, approaches and innovations while maintaining tried principles will drive a sales effort.

There’s no doubt that every good business person wants to improve in the area of sales and marketing if they’re worth their salt. A key to remember is those are two separate words. You can’t expect marketing to sell for you and sales to market. Each has a role, but ultimately sales brings home the bacon. Marketing is much more tangible and gets the greater attention in most cases. That’s because it’s physical in nature and there’s a plethora of consultants out there selling marketing services. They all seem to have great ideas and appear to be the answer to weak revenue as well as profitability numbers. So, thousands of dollars get spent. Such as a Web site upgrade that customers spend a minute and a half trying to find a phone number or email address. People still like to deal with people. Don’t believe me? How much do you love that automated phone service? See, that’s what I mean. Someone thought that was a good idea and a great cost savings. Probably pitched by a sales “person” selling you phone service. The irony is startling.

The concept of using technology to replace true sales work actually negates the need for a sales strategy. This is because you won’t be selling. Think of it in painting terms. Imagine if you put paint on a brush, put the brush on a wall and waited for the wall to move. That’s like expecting your marketing to sell for you. You have the tools for the image you want, but without the work there will be no change. Then you get frustrated with the can of paint and the brush! A true sales and marketing strategy requires movement. Setting a call and event schedule, then keeping that schedule. The easiest aspect of your business to skip when things get busy is your customer sales contact and event attendance. They are not always Point A to Point B opportunities, so many write them off. They’ll hope their marketing fills the gap. It can even go as far as your marketing damaging your business as you make bold statements and commitments via your marketing with no responsive action—claims such as, “We always answer the phone” or “We are available 24/7.” I’ve seen countless marketing campaigns making such claims when I know they’ll never keep their word when things get a little hectic.

Setting a sales and marketing strategy requires definite goals, a willingness to commit time and resources as well as professional assistance putting the strategy together. Often, contractors will try and design their own marketing pieces, manage their digital footprint or create their Web site internally. The majority of the time this collapses in on itself. When it’s discovered the time and creativity it takes to complete this task, it’s usually abandoned mid stream. It directly affects the sales effort as the marketing support isn’t there to spread or reinforce the brand. Proper sales tools are missing and the sales job cannot be effectively done. Make sure you’ve engaged someone that can help design a brand vehicle or campaign that hits your target customers directly. They need to be able to maximize the dollars spent in setting the stage for sales. Once marketing is in place, ease of maintenance should be the result. Then developing a sales strategy defining your approach to that targeted customer pool is critical. Where does that customer type congregate? How many contacts in each target are involved with making a buying decision? What’s the total number of effective targets can you go after and still protect your existing customer base? These are basic questions that need to be answered on the sales side of your strategy. Then it’s a matter of setting up a time management system that allows you enough time to pursue new sales opportunities while cultivating existing relationships. There’s a balance between the two that needs to be struck. Any strategy that focuses on one but not the other will create a revenue ceiling. That’s why many contractors have that treading water feeling. A two-pronged sales attack is the most vibrant. It spurs growth and increases profitability at the same time. Understanding that the quickest way to grow revenue AND profitability is the expansion of the percentage of business you get from existing customers. Obviously, they would need to have recurring opportunity. If your business model lends to single transactions with customers then the maintenance portion is to primarily cultivate a referral network. In either case, a balanced approach is required.

Sales and marketing strategies can be a challenge. Though most individuals in the construction industry realize its importance, those strategies are rarely built effectively—if built at all. Setting aside time to develop and employ a good strategy will bring results. Truly, how could it not? That’s what amazes me about the wonderful world of selling. If you actually do it, it actually works. Problem is it takes work to actually do it!

Tom Woodcock, president, Seal the Deal, Manchester, Mo., is a speaker, trainer, and author of the book You’re Not Sellin’, They’re Buyin’! He can be reached at (314) 775-9217 or www.tomwoodcocksealthedeal.com.

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