Say No to Overpriced, Ineffective Advertising!

This Buzz tip may ring a bell - it's a topic we've covered before, but certainly bears repeating. The service industry is a heavy player in phone book advertising. How can you make the most of your advertising dollars in a highly competitive market? Well, let's take some things into consideration before we tackle that question.

First, phone book usage (particularly in the yellow section) is on the decline. If their own launch and heavy promotion of a dot com doesn't indicate their print division is hurting, here are a few facts from a recent report in PHC magazine that look to further backup the fall of phone books:

Overall advertising page count is dropping 8% a year
Phone book usage has dropped 25% since 1999
Usage continues to fall around 5% a year

So what options are available to help you maximize the impact of your yellow book business listing? There are numerous avenues to take to achieve advertising bliss, let's take a look:

Run a smaller size ad - It's not always the full page or double truck ad that gets the most attention.
Test this for yourself, open your phone book to the yellow pages and look up auto dealers. Did the biggest ad catch your attention or was it one that was designed better, had more effective use of color or a catchy call to action? Take the time and effort to have your ads designed better with a clearly defined call to action and you can have more impact in less space.

Don't pay extra for front placement - When you looked up that auto dealer, was it the first ad in the section or did you find your choice in the middle? Phone book salespeople will typically try to upsell you on that front placement, promising better results, but the fact is few people start at the front of the section!

Have your ads professionally designed - Phone book salespeople are not designers, and generally their "design team" back at the office is already behind the eight ball on production of the book, limiting the amount of time they can spend on your ad. If you decide to do a display ad in your local phone book, hire a design professional or agency to draft your ad for you. It may cost a little extra up front, but the results from having a jam-up ad will payoff in the long run through increased calls due to a more professional appearance, clearer calls to action and being able to reuse your ads across multiple medias.

Don't buy a special phone number just for your Yellow Page ad - This is simply an add-on service with no real return. Don't buy into the "metering" game for your ad. Now... that said, it's important as marketers we find a way to track everything. Having a phone number dedicated to your print ads is a great idea IF you're actually going to take the time track the number of calls to see what's being effective. If this is a metric you're interested in monitoring contact your phone service provider about setting up a separate number. Their rates are likely to be much cheaper.

Use a Border - It may sound trivial, but make sure your ad is designed with a border around it to help it stand out from the other ads around it. Ads without borders typically have a "floaty" and "unfinished" look.

Make your Phone Number the Primary Focus - Remember, the primary purpose of any directory ad is to have prospective clients call you, make sure your phone number is the main attention grabber in the ad. Use one phone number and make it large!

With these few tips, you can easily maximize the impact of your ad space and even save hundreds or more a month in advertising dollars which can then be utilized elsewhere - like newspaper ads, new vehicle graphics, printed marketing collateral, call back tools or even a website!

Take Back Control of Your Company

No one readily hires a "bad employee." All new personnel are selected with the highest hopes and the best qualifications needed to help move the company along a desired path. During the course of employment though, many forces can change an employee's feelings about the company and subsequently have a negative impact on their performance.

For business owners and managers, balancing personalities and work habits among multiple employees can be a difficult task. Dealing with lack-luster enthusiasm from techs, installers who are chronically late to work, laborers who frequently damage client's property, employees who punch out at five with more precision than they practiced during their previous eight hours- leaving after-hours calls for "someone else" - can easily corner the entrepreneur or manager into a scenario where employees are running the company more so than the people intended to be in charge.

With less-than-optimal employees running the show, the entire company can quickly lose sight of management's vision and even spiral its way out of business. Here's a couple of ideas to help instill the desired company culture in your employees and put you back in the driver's seat when it comes to running your operation.

Fill Your Truck's Empty Passenger Seat

The best asset any service-based company has is the passenger seat in their trucks. To get on the fast track to regain control of your company, assign assistants to your prized veteran techs. When picking assistants for your techs, it's important to focus on individuals who are motivated, eager to learn and positive. An assistant may not be able to do your most complex jobs initially, but will be eager to learn what needs to be done to earn a veteran tech's respect and pay levels.

Having an assistant ride along side your model techs will teach them how you expect the company to operate and soon add another valuable member to your team. This type of on-the-job training helps instill the values you want to promote within the company. Assistants will be able to tackle smaller jobs quickly, allowing their mentor tech to focus on the more challenging work at the jobsite. Also, with this type of training in place, your work force will be able to recover quicker when a problem employee decides to cut and run. Let your competition deal with those employees for a while, your company will be a stronger one because of it!

Connect Brain to Pocketbook

Many companies reward employees for working above and beyond normal calls of duty by paying commissions for upselling while on the jobsite or completing a certain number of jobs within a given time frame. Use a similar principle with any accidents that may occur as well. Hold techs, installers and other employees accountable for any damages they cause to company vehicles, tools or (even worse) client property while on the job. Keep inventory on company owned tools and hold your techs responsible for missing tools or tools damaged through obvious abuse. In some cases like vehicle or property damage, the company insurance policy will cover the bill; have the employee repay the company for any deductibles or increases in premiums resulting from their actions.

Showing employees the costs associated with their clumsiness or inattention to detail will certainly stick with them next time they're in a similar situation and they will surely use more caution to avoid having to fork over additional money for repeated mistakes. This management style may temporarily increase turnover, but you're really only losing the prima donna attitudes and unqualified employees not willing to conform to your company's commitment to excellence - these are the exact employees who were holding your company hostage in the first place.

Utilizing these simple practices will put the reigns back in your hands and your company back in line with your original visions of quality, excellence, growth and success.

Increase Closure Rates

Doom and Gloom attitudes don’t make sales. It’s more important now to focus on the tips and techniques that will ensure business survival as ever!

Avoid “The Grimy Handshake” – Always make sure to offer a solid handshake when approaching your customer, but avoid doing it with dirty hands. ShuBee offers a full line of disposable and specialty gloves to keep hands clean while working. Keep a tub of ShuBee Quickies™ in your truck to keep hands and work surfaces scrubbed.

Clean Outsells Dirty – A clean technician will stand out in an industry where dirty is considered the norm. Improve your tech’s presentations throughout the day with ShuBee’s Five-Pocket Coveralls. Using coveralls guarantees your tech’s uniform is as clean on the last call as it was on the first. Our coveralls are designed for people who work for a living – with a heavy duty zipper that won’t stick or rip when you’re done and an extra-long torso design to allow for more freedom of movement while you work plus five large pockets to hold your stuff.

Keep it Outside – Use ShuBee’s Original and Waterproof Shoe Covers to keep dirt out or your customer’s homes. Take the extra effort to show customers your commitment to not tracking mud and dirt in their house by putting on your shoe covers after you’ve introduced yourself, but before you enter the house.

Thank you, thank you, thank you – The customer is the reason you have a job today. Make sure they know how much you appreciate the opportunity to solve their problems. Follow your service call up with a quick thank you card in the mail a few days later. People remember what they don’t expect.

Expect a Callback – Use a combination of call back tools to ensure you get the call when the customer has another need. Place a magnet on the refrigerator on your way out or put a valve tag and sticker on any new appliances you install.

ShuBee is an industry leader and innovator dedicated to growing the Plumbing and HVAC industries to new heights by offering products, services and free consulting that’s proven to help the independent contractor, franchise owner and business leader to close more deals, brand their business better, increase customer confidence and ultimately grow their business. ShuBee knows what works because we’ve built our own successful Plumbing/HVAC companies using the same products, services, tips and techniques as we offer today.

Apples to Apples

There’s no secret to overcoming price objections. In fact, to say that we can "overcome" them may not be the best wording - there are many solutions to help you justify your prices. The ultimate goal is to eliminate the customer's price concern by helping them to understand the value of your goods and services so they will have an easier time accepting the final ticket price.

There are several solutions for combating price objections when a customer claims that your competitor will do "exactly" the same work or provide the "exact" same goods for a smaller ticket - and they all hinge on one simple priniciple: know exactly what you're competition is offering.

• Significant price differences usually means a difference in product. Know the ins and outs of your competition's sales and services and leverage this information to your advantage by having rebuttals ready for customers. Be prepared to justify your price through the use of superior components, better technician training, impeccable service records, etc.
• Quality vs. Price. Many consumers aren’t aware of the costs associated with higher quality parts or components. Take time to explain the differences in the equipment you use or are installing and the overall benefits that the customer will see because of these better technologies.

There are numerous reason a consumer might balk at price, by knowing your competitiors offerings you’ll be able to explain why yours is a better value even though the price tag may not be the cheapest.

What Economic Downturn?

Slow economy, unstable market, high gas prices, economic bailout plans - what all does this mean to us - the business owners, purchasers and marketers responsible for keeping the business afloat during these uncertain times? First response to times like these is to cut the marketing and advertising budget.

Sometimes budget cuts are justified, but in most cases they're a big mistake, here's why:

Marketing Equals Revenue.

Research has proven time and time again that a business' marketing budget is directly proportional to the profitability of a company. Cutting resources to your marketing and advertising campaigns will simply not benefit the business. Period.

Budget cuts and a reduction of advertising allow the smart and creative businesses to recapture a bigger share of their market while their competitors are trying to save money. Essentially, with few advertisers present to promote their products and services, the less competition there will be fighting for business. From the customer's viewpoint, this is perceived as fewer choices to purchase the same product or service. This makes it all that more important to keep your campaigns going through times like these! With few competing advertisers, it only makes sense that those who are still promoting and staying in front of their customers will see an increase in their ROI.

Here's a couple of ideas to help you boost your business' market share during this economic slump to help guarantee you come out on top with things do finally turn around.

• Networking - Join professional organizations in your community, particularly those that pertain to your industry. Become active in their discussions and events. List your name in their member directory. Ads placed in an industry specific membership directory are more likely to reach an audience who are more apt to purchase your product or service.
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• Train Sales Staff - During slow times, the strength of your sales staff becomes even more important. Include training on products, services and sales pointers (see our previous article on how to close a deal). If times are slow, it's important that your sales team be at the top of their game in order to make the most of every opportunity.
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• Attend Trade Shows - Take these opportunities to learn first-hand about current industry trends, new products and technologies. Many companies cut back trade show attendance during slow times, but this isn't good business practice. In a slow economy, it's important that you know what resources are available to help differentiate you from your competition.
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• Utilize Co-op Advertising - Many corporations will help subsidize your advertising project if you feature their product or mention that you're one of their authorized dealers. This is a highly effective way to stretch your ad budget, allowing you to launch a broader campaign with the same amount of money.
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• Shift Your Marketing Dollars - It's important to know where your money comes from. If you find that 80% of your revenue comes from 20% of your customer base, this 20% can more easily be encouraged to purchase your products and services again than the remaining 80% who may not be inclined to use you as often. Focus your advertising efforts on the top-buying 20%. The best way to encourage those regular customers to purchase again is by steadily making contact with them through outlets such as direct mail, email newsletters or even a simple phone call. The more times you're able to connect with your customers the better information you'll be able to get from them regarding their purchasing habits, needs and trends in their industry. This also allows for a more personal relationship between you and you customers, allowing you to convert customers into fans.
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• Public Relations - Proper PR is a great way to jump out ahead of your competition and usually costs less per lead than traditional advertising means. Has your company had any major changes, purchased new cutting-edge equipment or developed a new technique of doing a job that may save customers money? Write up a brief press release any time your company does something newsworthy and submit it to your local publications (or even national publications if it's a big enough story). This type of exposure increases your company's credibility in the public eye because the articles that your press release may generate are written by unbiased, third parties.
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• Diversify - Think outside the box. Are there any industries or markets you're not exposing yourself to that could use your products and services? New markets can be an untapped gold mine for your business.
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• Expand Your Web Presence - Past economic swings have shown us that Internet Advertising tends to be more recession proof than traditional advertising and typically is cheaper than print. Take advantage of industry-related advertising opportunities. If you run a Pay Per Click (PPC) campaign like Google's AdWords, use their geographical features to advertise outside your normal areas of business. Target the areas to which you would like to expand your business.

Simple logic tells us that if a slow economy has others pulling their advertising from the marketplace, that leaves us more opportunity to gain sales by reaching their customer base. Always keep marketing!

Clover Leaf Your Way to Bigger Business

How many marketing opportunities do you utilize that can easily add an additional 20% to your bottom line? Whatever your answer, it's not enough! This issue of ShuBee Business Tips, we're taking advice from ShuBee founder, Steve Stone on a simple and inexpensive, yet highly effective way to grow your business.

Steve explained a technique called "Clover Leafing," which he used to gain new customers when he was operating his plumbing/HVAC business. The concept is simple; after he would finish a call with one of his clients, he would go to the house to the right and left of his service call as well as to the house across the street (making a clover leaf pattern) to drop off a leave-behind advertisement such as a door hanger, business card, magnet, etc. with his contact information. By taking these simple steps to introduce his company to potential clients, he guaranteed himself new sales every day! While the effects of a campaign may not be as immediate as some other forms of advertising, its long-term impact can help grow your business exponentially.

Using a quality leave-behind in a technique like this does several things:

• It introduces your company to new potential clients
• Promotes word of mouth advertising - the best kind
• It keeps potential clients out of the yellow pages and away from your competition's ads

How effective can clover leafing be? Well, let's do some math...

The average service-based business has three trucks. Each truck serves five calls a day with an average ticket of $280.00. Each day's business comes to $4,200.

Assuming that you're not taking calls on the weekend (just to keep things simple), that's about $21,000 in business per week or just over one-million per year.

Not too shabby. Now let's add a clover leafing campaign into the mix.

Let's say that all your drivers reach out to just three potential new clients after their service call using this clover leaf technique. If each service team can gain one new client per day, that's an additional 15 calls per week. Based on the same $280 average ticket price, total sales for the year just went up $201,600!

Let's say my math is off and your return rate is only half of what we've projected here... Couldn't you stand to gain an additional hundred thousand or so?

To help make the program even more effective, consider adding an incentive to your customers. Advertisements that utilize customer savings are generally three times more effective than ones that are simply an advertisement for your business. Consider offering these potential new clients a discount for responding to your clover leafing campaign by waiving their travel charge on this call since you're already in their neighborhood.

Use promotional items you already have in hand such as your business cards, door hangers or refrigerator magnets.

Make this program worth while for your employees as well by offering a spiff. Let's say you include a $50 bonus to your drivers for each new customer they pick up using this clover leaf campaign. This may sound like large spiff to pocket, but if you figure that on average it takes around $230 of advertising to close a new client, wouldn't it be nice to pick up a few up for $50 or so?

Six Tips to Get Your Mail Read

You've already spent money putting together a flyer, promo package or other mail piece to send to your customers, this week we're going to go over a six pointers on how to make sure it doesn't end up filed away in the trash can.

Stuff It - If you're sending a sample or other trinket to a client or prospect, find a way to make it puff the envelope. This makes it harder to stack other mail on top of yours which means your mail is more likely to end up at the top of the stack - making it the first to be read.

1. Hand Write Your Addresses - Computer generated mailing labels can certainly be a time-saver, but they also make your mail look more like everyone else's junk mail as well. Hand writing your mailing label adds a personal touch to your message and shows your recipient that you've put time and thought into your mailing.
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3. Use Colorful Wrap for Packages - Mailing departments, shipping and receiving or even the small mom and pop shop receive numerous letters, boxes and brown paper wrapped packages daily. Packages wrapped in colorful, festive papers stand out to the delivery team (and the recipient) and are more apt to be delivered to the right person in a timelier manner. Also, bright colored packages are more likely to be opened instead of sitting on a desk for days.
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5. Use a Clear Call to Action - Tell your reader exactly what you want them to do and by what time. "Save 10% if you call by 9:00 a.m. Tuesday." This seems like common sense, but you'd be surprised how many advertisements are ineffectively written by not including a call to action. If you're advertising a new product or service, make sure to include a line informing the reader that this is a new item. If you're promoting a sale or special, be sure to include the sale price and valid dates for the offer. And in any written correspondence, always, always,always, include a way for your readers to get back in touch with you! The best call to action ever written will do you absolutely no good if there's no clearly identified way for a customer to get back in touch with you.
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7. Validate Your Recipients - The USPS receives 5.4 billion pieces of undeliverable mail every year. Why? 2.4 percent have moved; 4.1 percent have missing or wrong apartment numbers; 6 percent have missing or wrong directionals or suffixes; 0.4 percent have wrong route or box numbers; 5.9 percent have wrong street names or numbers; 4.8 percent have the wrong ZIP code, city or state. Make sure you have the correct delivery information on your mail piece. If you're unsure, call your customer to verify you have the correct information. This is a perfect opportunity for you to introduce yourself or merely touch base and let your customer know you have an important piece of mail you'd like to send them.
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9. Don't Send "Junk" Mail - We all loathe junk mail. It's important to stay in front of your customers, but make sure your mail has a purpose! Don't overwhelm your customers with mail every other day and don't include irrelevant information in your messages. Keep you mail short, to the point and action-oriented.

Follow these tips and your mail stand is sure to stand a better chance of staying out of "File 13!"