Internet bullies be gone!

Do you research a product or service before you make the purchase? Most Americans do and a bad review of the product or service will cause most of us to find a different product or different provider of a service.

As a remodeler you know homeowners have a plethora of opportunities to check your bonafides on the internet. So let’s say some local self-appointed genius blogger happens to not like you and pumps out a litany to wit: you’re a liar, scoundrel, cheat, and totally without any moral character or redeeming values. What are your options? Without getting in the way of anyone’s 2nd Amendment rights . . . murder’s out, you could try to sue him, or wait for him in the bushes after dark with a 22 ounce framing hammer.

Odds are the genius blogger is little more than an Internet bully, but there is the chance he is being paid to spew negativity and suspicion about you and as the opportunity presents itself, other competitors as well. Unfortunately there is little you can do about that.

Let’s say genius blogger expounds endlessly about the virtues and excellent character, as he views it, of your competitor. Let’s say this competitor is an unlicensed, uninsured, miscreant of disrepute. Let’s also say genius blogger has received some form of compensation from your competitor. Now you’ve got him! According to the Associated Press, The Federal Trade Commission is in the process of creating new guidelines that would allow the agency to go after bloggers (and the companies that compensate them) for any false claims or failure to disclose conflicts of interest. We can write little more about this topic as the FTC has not released any specifics.

The moral of this story is simple, don’t run down your competition or have someone do it for you. Always refer to them as worthy, but certainly differentiate your services from the competitions.

Kick-Starting Leads

What was true in Sept 2003, is true today too. Remodeling Magazine published the following, under Stephen Wilson’s byline on Sept. 29, 2003

Link to actual article

So your phone isn’t ringing, and you want a quick fix. These steps will make people call, perhaps not with cherry jobs, but with jobs that keep cash flowing. Then, when the cherries come, you’ll be in business to capitalize on them.
* Determine your budget. If you can’t find a few thousand dollars for a campaign, your cash flow will sink you anyway.
* Develop an ideal-for-now job around what’s popular. Ask the pro desk at the DIY warehouse about what projects consumers are buying materials for. Visit your permitting authority. Thumb through six months of permits. These two sources will help pinpoint what’s selling.
* Develop shopper/coupon book ads. Negotiate the best deal with shopper’s guides.
* Create ads that speak to that ideal-for-now job. Run ads in weekly papers. Local readers read weeklies faithfully. Ads in them are relatively cheap.
* Develop a direct marketing postcard that speaks to your ideal-for-now job. Print enough for mailings over the next few months. Consider that “more is better” — in other words, cards are cheaper the more you print and the more you mail (via business class bulk mail).
* Put your message in front of as many prospects as you can, then you’re in your potential client’s face as often as twice a month.
Remember, this shouldn’t eliminate any branding efforts or other marketing components key to winning business over time.

So your phone isn’t ringing, and you want a quick fix. These steps will make people call, perhaps not with cherry jobs, but with jobs that keep cash flowing. Then, when the cherries come, you’ll be in business to capitalize on them.

Determine your budget. If you can’t find a few thousand dollars for a campaign, your cash flow will sink you anyway.

Develop an ideal-for-now job around what’s popular. Ask the pro desk at the DIY warehouse about what projects consumers are buying materials for. Visit your permitting authority. Thumb through six months of permits. These two sources will help pinpoint what’s selling.

Develop shopper/coupon book ads. Negotiate the best deal with shopper’s guides.

Create ads that speak to that ideal-for-now job. Run ads in weekly papers. Local readers read weeklies faithfully. Ads in them are relatively cheap.

Develop a direct marketing postcard that speaks to your ideal-for-now job. Print enough for mailings over the next few months. Consider that “more is better” — in other words, cards are cheaper the more you print and the more you mail (via business class bulk mail).

Put your message in front of as many prospects as you can, then you’re in your potential client’s face as often as twice a month.

Remember, this shouldn’t eliminate any branding efforts or other marketing components key to winning business over time.