Upselling is everywhere

I stopped in my local Starbucks the other day to grab a latte. I like (and always order when I go) a grande latte. I don’t go often because I have a hard time paying so much for a cup of coffee. But I decided to treat myself.

The person taking my order immediately asked me if I’d like a venti (large) instead. I said no. She then asked if I wanted a flavor. No, I replied. Finally, she asked me if I’d like to add a pastry or muffin. No, just the coffee.

Upselling is everywhere these days. I’ve been noticing it more and more. There’s the perennial upseller, McDonald's, with their now famous phrase, would you like to supersize that? Annette told me she went into Yankee Candle, a retail store that sells scented candles and accessories, the other day and the clerk gave her several options for buying up.

If you pay close attention, you will see it. And, if it’s done well, you will hardly notice it. Pay attention to the upselling that’s going on all around you. Try to incorporate it into your own sales. Offering a few more options with any job is a great way to give your customer additional value and increase the price of the job. But remember you only want to give upsell options that your customer may want to purchase or would benefit from. Simply trying to get your customer to spend more money with you is no way to go about upselling. If you know your customer, you will know what options are most valuable.

Good business is built on strong foundations

A strong successful business is built on a strong foundation.

Think about our industry. Whether it’s a one-story ranch or a 100 story skyscraper, the foundation must go in first and it must be built to last.

If the foundation is off just a bit or there is a small crack, there will be problems with the building. But start with a strong foundation, and the structure can last for years.

Build your business on a strong foundation and it will serve you well for years to come.

A small business' unique position

As a small business owner, you are in a uniquely powerful situation. You have the ability to implement an idea very quickly. In most cases you are the board of directors, owner, and manager all rolled into one. You make the decisions while larger companies must run those new ideas through the proper channels.

Immediate action can help you turn your company quickly in the proper direction.

A common factor for success

Can you guess what the one common factor in successful people might be?

If you guessed education or experience or money, you’d be wrong.

Give up?

The one common factor among successful people is speed of implementation.

When successful people get an idea, they begin working on it! They don’t run it by their spouse or friends or co-workers. They don’t think about it and mull it over for a couple of weeks.

They begin working on it – immediately.

Needed boost for the remodeling and home improvement industry

OK remodeling and home improvement company owners. Our stimulus package has arrived!

The federal government just gave the remodeling and home improvement industry a huge boost in the form of modifications to the energy efficient improvements credit.

For 2009 and 2010 homeowners can receive a tax credit of 30% of the cost of specific energy efficient products added to the home up to a lifetime cap of $1500. Those products include electric heat pumps, central air, water heaters, gas furnaces, exterior windows, doors and skylights, just to name a few.

Check out this article in Nation’s Building News or the Congressional Record for the actual bill.

Past studies have shown that existing homes, especially those built more than 20 years ago, are responsible for a large amount of our nation’s energy consumption. Retrofitting these existing homes with energy-efficient features is more effective in reducing energy consumption than making changes to new housing energy efficiency requirements.

The bill is very specific about what products qualify for the tax credit. For example, not all Energy Star rated replacement windows qualify. Qualified windows will also need to meet an additional requirement that the window is equal to or below a U factor of 0.30 and SHGC of 0.30.

So study up on which of your products qualify. Contact your suppliers and manufacturers to get factual, precise information. Get some marketing together and get it out there to your past customers and targeted new customers. And get back to selling.

Your customer wants to connect with you

You may think that customers want to do business with your business. But what they really want is to do business with you.

Customers are individuals and they want nothing more than to connect with other individuals.

Give your customers that close personal attention and make a personal connection

See life from your customer's view

Take a moment to daydream.

Close your eyes. Think about your customer. Who is he? Where does she live? Work? Play? What is he or she looking for?

Next (and here’s the hard part) step into your customer’s shoes. I mean really see yourself as your customer.

And then imagine the world through your customer’s eyes. What are the unique problems that he or she faces? Really see their point of view. If they are frustrated, why are they frustrated? If they are angry, why? Sad? What is it that makes them so?

Understand their emotions and their desires.

Now step back into your shoes and fill the needs of your customer.

Multi-tasking is not your friend!

You’re probably a multi-tasker. I know that I am. I write an e-mail while talking on the phone. I switch from task to task as a thought enters my mind.

I thought I was pretty good at it. And I thought I was getting more done. Turns out, I’m probably not.

Switching rapidly from one task to another creates interruptions and down time. Interruptions cause me to not fully finish the task at hand. And then I put it aside for later. Each time I start a task, there is some up-to-speed time. That’s the time it takes me to re-acquaint myself with the task and get myself back into the mind-set needed to finish that task. So if I add up all those little bursts of time spent, it can be much more than if I completed the task immediately.

Better, say experts, to block out chunks of time (usually 1 – 2 hours) to work through and finish tasks uninterrupted. Then take a short break, 10 – 15 minutes, to recharge. Stretch, get a drink of water, eat a small snack. Use a kitchen timer to help.

I’m still a multi-tasker at heart but I’m trying to finish each task I start before going to the next.

High levels of stress require downtime

If you are experiencing high levels of stress in your business (and who isn’t today with the current economic environment), it is important that you create periods of rest and relaxation for yourself.

You probably don’t feel much like resting, but turning our minds away from our problems for awhile can help us to look at the situation from a totally different angle. Many times, we find a solution or an idea that takes us in a totally different direction.

So decide what you like to do to help your mind and body relax. Remember, that your body is feeling the stress, too. Schedule yourself and then follow through.

History guides us in the remodeling industry

The other day, I stumbled upon some old Census Bureau statistics that may give us a little hope for our industry.

The Expenditures for Residential Improvements and Repairs statistics for 1966 to 2007 shed some interesting information. The report measured Total Expenditures, Maintenance and Repairs Expenditures, and Improvements Expenditures which up until 2004 was broken down between Improvements, Additions & Alterations, and Major Replacements. Starting in 2004, the Census Bureau dropped Additions & Alterations and Major Replacements from the Improvements category.

In the 60’s, both the Maintenance and Repair category and the Improvements category remained relatively unchanged and were both pretty modest.

In the early 70’s, improvements began to pick up, followed by Maintenance and Repairs in the late 70’s. That makes sense as all of those new additions and improvements now needed some attention to keep them well-maintained.

Along came the early 80’s, a recession hit and Improvements went down. But Maintenance and Repairs went up! The recession officially ended in November of 1982 and by the late 1980’s both Improvements and Maintenance and Repairs exploded.

That puts us into the early 90’s and our economy again suffered a recession from July 1990 to March 1991. Not surprisingly, Improvements again went down while Maintenance and Repairs increased in 1991 and decreased in 1992. But beginning in 1993, Improvements began their ascent while Maintenance and Repairs remained pretty steady through the rest of the 1990’s.

But wait, around 2003, Maintenance and Repairs again began to rise, due in part to (once again) work needed on all of those Improvements that had been built in the previous decade.

Unfortunately, the Census Bureau no longer keeps statistics on Maintenance and Repair so we can’t track that information after 2007, but if history were to be our guide, Maintenance and Repair would rise as Improvements fall during our current recession.

Does that give you some hints as to the type of work to be going after right now?

Looking for some good news in recent remodeling data

The Joint Center for Housing Studies released their Leading Indicator of Remodeling Activity in January and, not surprisingly, the news wasn’t good. The Indicator points to a decline in remodeling activity through the third quarter of 2009.

But if we dig deep, we may find some positives. Prior to 2008, the LIRA was based on numbers from the US Census Bureau that included Maintenance and Repairs expenditures along with improvements such as additions and alterations. But the Census Bureau discontinued the Maintenance and Repairs Statistics which also meant that the Center for Housing had to re-benchmark their Indicator.

Looking at the Expenditures for Residential Improvements and Repairs by Property Type between 2003 and 2007 provided by the Census Bureau, it’s interesting to see that Maintenance and Repairs held steady or continued to increase over that 4 year period.

Unfortunately, the Census Bureau no longer tracks this information. If they did, I think they could find that Maintenance and Repairs continue to hold pretty steady. Why? Because people take care of their homes. The home is an investment and if a homeowner wants to get the money out of the home, it needs to be in good shape and well maintained. Sure, we all see homes that are in disrepair every day, but these are not the people we are looking for as our customers.

Here’s what you can do today. Travel through your target area. Make note of the subdivisions and areas where the homes are well-maintained. Get back to your office and devise a way to reach those homeowners.

Sales is about the relationship

The other day the owner of one of our favorite restaurants in our little town left me a phone message just to say hi. She hadn’t seen us in awhile and just wanted to make sure that we were all ok.

My first thought was, how did she know my phone number? We’re friendly at the restaurant but that’s about the extent of it. And then it dawned on me that she kept my phone number when we’ve made reservations. There’s a smart business owner. She keeps as much information as she can about her regular customers.

Her concern was genuine and very much appreciated by me and my family. I called her right back and assured her that we were all ok, just busy. And I also made a reservation. One for this Friday when I’m taking two of my customers who just referred me for a bathroom job that I sold.

Do you call any of your past customers just to say hello? Do you stop to chat when you see a customer out on the street? Or at the mall? Or in church?

Selling is about making and maintaining relationships. It’s always been like that. Salespeople who can make those connections usually sell more. Why? It’s no mystery. Because people want to buy from those that they like!

On The Level Consulting Offers BASICS Business Coaching for your Remodeling or Home Improvement Business

OK, I'll admit right now that this is a shameless plug. This blog is all about our new BASICS Business Coaching for small home improvement and remodeling businesses. If you don't want to read it or you are not interested, you can stop reading right now. Check back with us on Wednesday for another (non-commercial) blog post.

I know from experience that being the owner of a remodeling or home improvement company can be really overwhelming. I wear many hats in my remodeling company's business - marketer, bookkeeper, supervisor, dish washer, file clerk, errand runner, admin assistant. John has even more roles with sales and production.

And I know how easy it is to get caught up in all the day-to-day challenges of running a business. Sometimes you can't see the solutions that are right in front of you. There's just too much going on.

But I also know from experience that you don't have to face these challenges alone. Years ago, I hired a business coach and it was the best money we ever spent! The coaching helped us get clear on what we wanted and how to go about getting it. And, yes, even coaches get coached. I remember our coach back then telling me about his business coach.

Because that coaching was so powerful and so life-changing for us, we know that it can be for others, too.

That's why we created BASICS. That stands for Business, Advertising and Sales Individual Coaching Sessions.

This is not general business advice. This is coaching specifically for the remodeling and home improvement industry. You know that there are lots of little peculiarities in our business. You really need someone who is familiar with this industry.

If you would like to find out more information about BASICS coaching, just click here and sign up for one free coaching session.

And if you've read this far, thanks for doing so.