The busy holiday season is now behind us and, if you're like me, you're starting to look ahead at 2007 and figure out how you're going to meet your sales and profit goals. Getting where you want to be takes hard work, diligence, and a great contact management process. In December's newsletter, we talked about the tools for organizing your contacts, the first step in any good sales process. Once all of your contacts are in one place, only then can you get to the real work -- communicating and mining those contacts for business.

And the way we do that is with good, consistent communications (for a sneak preview on communicating with clients, click here for a sample Customer Status Report communication form). This month's article reviews some great ideas for how to manage your contacts for the upcoming year to help you realize your goals.

Mitch Lapides, Executive Editor
HomeTech Business Building Ideas

P.S. The 2007 HomeTech Remodeling and Renovation Cost Estimator book is now available; click here for more information about the 42nd Annual Edition of this critical resource for accurate regional pricing. And, the 2007 HomeTech Handyman Cost Estimator book is now available at http://www.hometechonline.com/handyman/. Get your copies today!

In This Issue

• Feature Article: Effective Contact Communications
• HomeTech ADVANTAGE Tip
• Did You Know This Remodeling Industry Fact?

Effective Contact Communications

One of your greatest assets (and sets of contacts) is your customer base. Not just the people who spent money with you during the past twelve months, but the people who spent money with you 2 years ago, 3 years ago, even 5 years ago. Why? These previous customers already know you, know the work you do and trust you. And, with a little reminder from you, they will work with you again and recommend you to their friends.

Your customer list is a great group of contacts to communicate with for future business. Now it is time to manage them. You first need to decide

• how you are going to communicate with them,
• how often you are going to communicate with them and
• what you are going to communicate to them.

In a previous issue of this newsletter, we discussed how direct mail can be a very cost effective way to communicate with a group of customers or prospects. You should pick a method of communications that you can easily do. If you are overwhelmed by producing a direct mail piece, telemarketing might be right for you. If you don’t have email addresses for your customers, direct mail might be for you. However you decide to communicate with your customers, make it easy for you to create and implement.

Reach out to a customer too often and they may find it annoying. Communicate with them too infrequently, and you will not stay “top-of-mind”. Determining how often you communicate with your customer base is a delicate balance between the type of work you do and the type of customer you have. If yours is a handyman business, you might communicate more frequently as those types of projects generally tend to be smaller in nature and more often done. If you are a full-service remodeler, chances are your customer base is not looking to take on a remodeling project every 3 months. Whatever you determine to be the right timeframe to communicate, make sure you commit to that timeframe. If your goal is to communicate every three months, don’t let it slip to 6 or 12 months.

What you say is as important as how you say it and when. Do your customers know your full scope of services? If not, then a periodic communication about all the services you offer is appropriate. Do you have a slower time of year? Maybe a communication with a “Customer Offer" is appropriate. One remodeler I know writes a brief newsletter, prints it out, and sends to their customer and prospect list. A newsletter can include announcements of any awards your firm has won, recent projects completed, or anything else you want to highlight to your customers. This should remind your customers about what else they might hire you for. It also helps to keep you “top-of-mind" if your customer is recommending services to a friend.

Tip: Communicate with existing customers regularly, and they will remember you, and they’ll become your champions! How? Decide on some sort of “form” you can use to communicate project status. It doesn’t have to be complicated - show initial time line, change orders (outstanding and approved), what’s completed vs. what’s not. Finally, indicate any outstanding issues that still need to be worked out with the customer (e.g., paint colors, cabinet choices) and when they’re due. It’s unlikely that your competitors are providing written project status reports, and this can really set you apart! We’ve created a sample form that you might find helpful. Download the Customer Status Report communication form and feel free to use it to communicate with your customers.

Communicating with Prospects
Communicating with your prospects, in some respects, is more challenging. Why? They have heard of you, but they have not yet done business with you. Your goal is to convince them that you are the right firm to do their work – but not with a hard sell. Through your communications, you are creating a relationship with your prospects, and that can take some time, especially for larger jobs. The types and frequency of the communications you have with your prospects, will convince your prospect that you have a reliable organization, one worthy of earning their business.

Initial Interactions
With prospects, there is an initial interaction – they called you to find out what you do, you submitted a bid to them, etc. You first need to identify when and what your next communication with them should be. Decide your process for follow-up with initial inquiries – make a commitment to your prospects (and yourself) on how quickly you’ll respond to initial inquiries.

Tip: If you can, respond to initial inquiries immediately, but ALWAYS by the end of the business day, even if you have to say you’ll get back to them within another 1-2 days if you’re busy. Your competitors are notorious for being slow to respond, and responding quickly can set you apart.

Proposals
If you submit proposals to prospects, you need to decide how you will follow up, every time, after delivering a proposal. Will you use email? Will you send a typed letter? Will you or someone from your office call after a set amount of days? How many times will you call? Many times business is lost only because a proposal is not followed-up. By determining a consistent communication plan for submitted proposals, you are giving your prospects and yourself an opportunity to discuss the proposal, overcome any issues and move toward a commitment to the work.

Do you communicate even if your proposal is rejected?
YES! The prospect turned to you in the first place because they believed you could do the job. It did not work out this time, but it could in the future. By following-up after a proposal is not accepted (e.g., a thank you letter for their consideration, a call with a brief survey on how you did in the proposal process) you are letting the prospect know that you would value their business -- and that speaks volumes especially if their first choice in a vendor turns out to be a big mistake. Don't be afraid to ask the prospect what drove their decision. You may learn something about how you handled the sales process. Perhaps you just hadn't explained something clearly enough. Always be respectful of their decision, and, who knows, they just might call you again soon.

Keep Your Records Straight
Whether you are communicating with customers or prospects via email or on the phone or by any other method, it is very important to make sure you establish a procedure to keep records of your contacts. You will deal with many customers and prospects each day and having accurate notes on these communications, will only help you in future communications. Your prospects will be flattered that you remember them and will appreciate your attention to their account.

Staff Up for Success
You will spend a fair amount of time determining and documenting the right communications plan for your customers and prospects. And, implementing this plan will take time. You do not need to do all of the implementation yourself. Have others on your staff help or outsource to a reliable associate or part-time staff to handle the follow-up and documentation according to your written plan. They can send out letters or emails for you, make follow-up phone calls and leave messages freeing you up for the new business you'll gain!

So, take a few minutes today and decide how you’re going to communicate with your customers and prospects this year. You’ll be amazed at how a little discipline impacts your top and bottom line.

Additional Resources
Check out these great resources for some additional ideas:

• Customer Status Report communications form: Download.
• Close the Deal: 120 Checklists for Sales Success
  
• Marketing and Selling Construction Services
  
• Marketing Construction

Get Complete Control of Markups for Your Estimates in HomeTech ADVANTAGE

HomeTech ADVANTAGE allows you to set the specific markup amount in your estimates. You can set markups individually for specific line items, you can also control markups for the estimate Overhead, and the estimate Profit. Click here for more.

The average General Contractor generates revenue of $71,300 per year per employee, the highest among contractor types. Plumbing, HVAC and Electrical contractors average $60,900 per employee. Painting contractors average the least revenue per employee: $45,100.

Source: Unpublished tabulations of the 2002 Construction Census Joint Center For Housing Studies, Harvard University

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