Are you using the Energy Efficiency Tax Credits to your advantage?

By now you’ve probably heard about the Energy Efficiency Tax Credits. Those are the credits that consumers can take for buying and installing energy efficient products in their homes. The products include replacement windows and doors, insulation, roofing, HVAC, water heaters and bio-mass stoves. (In addition, there are some geothermal and solar products that qualify for credits, too, but we will limit the discussion to retro-fit products).

If your remodeling or home improvement company specializes in any of these types of products, you are missing a big boat if you are not offering products that qualify for the credits. Just about all manufacturers in every one of these product lines are now offering products that qualify.

To learn more about the tax credits and what products will qualify, check out the government’s Energy Star website.

Remodeling magazine has a great section about the entire stimulus package. Check it out at http://www.remodeling.hw.net/green/stimulus-tax-credits/ for a comprehensive guide about the credits.

And you can check out our remodeling company’s blog, Manassas Remodeling Contractor, to see how we have been promoting the credits to our own customers.

But don’t wait for your customers to ask you about the tax credits. Bring it up in your sales presentation. I am still amazed by the number of consumers who are not aware of the credits or don’t know what products qualify.

Regards,
Annette

Here’s a no cost way to get work for your remodeling business

Today, I had an appointment for a bathroom estimate in the next town over from my remodeling company’s office. It’s about 15 minutes away, tops.

A past customer lives right around the corner from my appointment. This past customer had called in last week with a concern about a water leak. They thought they had a crack in their foundation. Now we don’t do any type of foundation work but, since they are a great customer and I was in the area, I thought I’d stop by and give it a look. Maybe I could pinpoint the leak for them and refer them to a contractor who could help them.

Turns out, the water is leaking from a broken washing machine hose. We scheduled some handyman work and we’ll take care of it for them right away.

If I had not taken the time to stop and help them out, I would have missed out on some additional work. I know changing a washing machine hose is not a big deal. But once we are in there, many times customers find more projects for us to do.

Giving your past customers some personal attention can bring additional work to your doorstep. Just a quick stop when you’re in the area and a hello can get your past customers thinking about more remodeling work and keep you and your remodeling business at the top of their mind.

Do You Know Who Your Buyers Are?

Demographics are the characteristics of populations. You’ve probably heard that word thrown around a lot. Maybe your yellow pages rep came in and asked you what the demographics are for your remodeling or construction company’s market. Or you might have read an article that talked about your market’s demographics.

The truth is it’s an extremely important statistic for you to know. And if you don’t know who your customers are, chances are you are wasting an awful lot of time and money trying to get customers for your remodeling or construction business.

Because once you know who is most likely to buy your remodeling or construction services, the easier it is for you to find them.

Now your demographics are not the same as ABC Construction down the street or XYZ Remodelers up the block. Every business is different.

Find the demographics for the jobs that are in your sweet spot. The ones that are produced on time, on budget and with the least amount of problems. The ones where your company makes the highest gross profit.

So what do you need to know? Here are some items to get you started:

Where do they live?
Are they male or female?
Are they married, single, divorced?
What is their economic status?
What problem are they trying to solve?
Or what pleasure are they trying to gain?

Add to your list.

To Your Success,
Annette

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

Post your ad on craigslist

Here’s a free lead source for you: craigslist.

You can post an ad there for free. Using html, you can even post your logo, photos, and create a nice graphic. Although you don’t even have to use html if you don’t want to.

Oh, and did I mention that it’s free?

Make December One to Remember!

When I first started selling remodeling, I did not look forward to the holidays. After all, nobody buys remodeling during the holidays! I might as well save my time and breath and not even see anyone. From the week of Thanksgiving to after the first of the year, sales were dead, dead, dead! We shouldn’t even waste our money on advertising or marketing during that time. After all, everyone knows that consumers don’t buy remodeling during the holidays!

Wait! What if that’s not true?

I started thinking about that. What if I changed my belief system? What if instead I thought that I could sell a lot of remodeling during the holidays? After all, people are thinking about their home, their families. They might even be off work.

And that change in my belief system started me on a December sales record. One of my top 10 sales months in company history was a December. And out of the last 10 years, I have blown out my goal more than half of those years. The others were pretty darn close.

So this year, try changing your belief system about selling remodeling during December. You may be pleasantly surprised to find that there are definitely buyers out there.

Happy Selling!
John

Ask Your Remodeling Customers For Referrals

Here is one marketing idea that won’t cost you anything! Ask for referrals.

Of course, you should always ask for referrals, regardless of whether the economy is up or down. But in case you haven’t, now is a great time to start. Why? Because customers who come to you through a referral are often already sold and ready to use your company. That makes it all the easier to close the sale!

It is important to create a formal referral generating system. Create a system and assign someone to complete the steps. And then follow up to be sure it is being done.

One of the most important things you can do is to acknowledge the referral from your customer. Immediately send a hand-written thank you card, signed by you. Your customer needs to know that you acknowledge and appreciate his or her efforts.

Once the job is complete, you have a perfect opportunity to ask your customer for referrals. Don’t be shy. If you’ve done a great job, your customer will be happy to send people your way. Be sure to mention referrals in your customer newsletters and subsequent mailings.

Referrals can be a simple and cost-effective way to add more leads.

Why We Don't Always Choose the "Best" Option

As I was driving home from my remodeling business the other day (a 15 mile drive that takes me approximately 25 minutes), I was thinking about why I always choose the same route. After all, I have lots of options. I could take the interstate which is shorter and may take me more or less time, depending on the traffic. I could take a shorter local route that would send me past the industrial area. But no, I seem to favor a route that is a little longer in mileage and time but winds me near a national park and through some areas with pretty landscaping. I thought about why I do that. And it dawned on me. I actually like the slower more circuitous route because it is a prettier and more relaxing drive. I enjoy the drive more.

This is exactly why prospects and past customers will use your service, even if you are more expensive. They know and like you! You make the process easy for them. They enjoy using your services!

Thinking about cutting your advertising until the economy improves?

Don’t do it!

For many business owners, including remodeling company owners, the first reaction to a tightening economy is to cut costs. There is nothing wrong with that in theory. But be careful which costs you choose to cut.

For example, advertising. Advertising gets your name out to your potential customers. Without it, how will those potential customers find you?

The trick is to concentrate your marketing dollars on advertising that brings in leads rather than advertising that builds brand awareness. You want a name, contact information and permission to make contact.

Concentrate your marketing budget on activities that generate actual leads for your remodeling business.

100% Referrals? Hmmmm . . . . .

“I don’t advertise. All of my leads are referrals.”

That is a myth that many remodeling contractors buy into. It is a great idea, one happy customer refers another. That happy customer refers two more. It’s the law of compounding that works great when it comes to interest on your savings account but not so great for a business.

Why? Because you have no control. If you rely on others to tell their friends when they feel like it, you may be waiting for quite some time. Life happens and, although your happy customer said she would tell Aunt Sally to call, it completely slipped her mind.

And anyway, Aunt Sally’s bridge buddy already told her about her experience with another contractor, your competition, and she called him.

Now, this may seem like a contradiction but you should be asking for referrals from your customers at all times. Why? Because a referral lead is golden. Your happy customer has already warmed up the lead for you by telling him or her of their wonderful experience working with your company. And there are definitely methods you can use to guide the referral process.

But relying on referrals to bring in one hundred percent of the leads to your remodeling business is a mistake.

Ask for referrals and follow up with them. But include referrals as one element of your well-rounded marketing plan.

Need some new customers? Look to your past customers first.

Chances are if you have been in business for any length of time, you are sitting on a potential goldmine of work.

That’s right, your past customers have more work for you to do. And they have friends and family who have work for you to do.

That’s assuming that you did a bang up job the first time around. And that is all the more reason to make sure that you do!

Past customers always have more work. Remodeling is funny like that. Once a customer remodels one area of the home, the remodeling fever has been ignited.

It’s your job to keep the fire burning and to keep your name in front of your past customer. How do you do that? By establishing personal relationships with them.

Send them thank you’s, anniversary cards, newsletters, we miss you letters, Christmas or Thanksgiving cards, Valentines Day cards, e-mails. Or just stop in to see them or give them a call on the phone. The idea is to keep that personal relationship going.

Staying in touch with happy, satisfied customers will bring you more work.

Regards,
Annette

Build Your Own Field of Dreams

The other night I couldn’t sleep (a result of too much on the mind), so I aimlessly flipped through the channels until I came across one of my favorite movies, “Field of Dreams.” The premise, in case you’ve never seen it, is that an Iowa farmer receives messages from “the beyond” to “build it and they will come.” He proceeds to plow over perfectly good fields of corn (a cash crop) and erects a baseball field, complete with lights and stands for visitors. His wife thinks he’s crazy, his family thinks he’s crazy and his community thinks he’s crazy. But then other people start seeing the ball players who have come to play at Ray’s Field of Dreams – ballplayers from the past long since dead. And his wife and young daughter start to believe. He is sent more messages from beyond and Ray sets out on several adventures, picking up a famous writer and then a doctor who once played with Shoeless Joe Jackson.

Many ascribe the “Build It and They Will Come” philosophy to how not to build a business. There is a valid point there. Many businesses have failed because the owner did not find out if his or her product or idea is a viable one.

But in the movie, the voice beckons, Ease His Pain. And isn’t that exactly what we try to do in our businesses. We are trying to ease someone’s pain.

But easing just one person’s pain will not get you very far in business. Hopefully there are others with the same pain that need the same service.

And in the movie, that premise plays out at the end. Ray’s pain of having separated from his father at an early age is healed. At the dramatic conclusion, we then see a column of headlights as far as the eye can see down that rural Iowa farm road. These are others with the same or similar pains, coming to be healed.

Now I know it’s just a movie, but the similarities are there. We find someone with a problem. We solve it. We test to see if there are others with the same or similar problem. We find them. We tell them about how we can solve their problems. Only then will they begin to come.

You can build your own field of dreams. But don’t expect your business to flourish just because you’ve begun a new enterprise. There is a lot of work involved in getting those people to know you are there and to believe in you enough to buy from you.