I’ve been talking about using TV (and radio) advertising to grow your business to $10MM and beyond.
In this blog post I’m going to give you a quick overview of how and why it works. I’ll cover all this in more detail in my upcoming (April 26& 27) 2-day seminar in Dallas, “Make The Jump To $10MM.”
But for now, the thumbnail sketch:
To grow at a rapid pace, you’ve got to get more customers. A LOT more customers. And to get more customers, more people have to find out about you somehow.
The key is getting in front of a lot of people—without spending a ton of money.
It’s kind of funny that I would use the phrase “without spending a ton of money” about something I routinely have my clients spending over a million dollars a year on.
But you can’t focus on the raw dollars spent. Instead, you have to consider how much it costs to reach each person. Or more specifically, how much it costs to reach a thousand people.
In advertising, we’re concerned with COST PER THOUSAND (aka CPM; M being the Roman numeral for 1,000).
Take direct mail as an example. Let’s say it costs $0.50 per piece of mail you send out. That means it will cost you $500 for every 1,000 people you reach… or a CPM of $500. Even if your mail is cheaper–$0.35 per piece—that’s still a $350 CPM.
By contrast, TV and radio can be bought for between $2 and $10 per thousand.
That doesn’t mean you should never use direct mail. Direct mail has the benefit of being highly targeted. There are lots of situations where it makes perfect sense.
But when reaching out to the masses, TV can be up to 250 times less expensive.
That’s what you call SIMPLE MATH.
Which leads us to the next advantage TV has—its inexpensive enough that you can afford to hit people with the message again and again and again and again. And again.
Let’s say you’re paying $8 CPM on TV. For the same $350 to $500 it would take you to reach 1,000 people via direct mail, you can reach a person on the TV about 40 to 60 times.
FORTY TO SIXTY TIMES.
FORTY TO SIXTY TIMES!!!!!!!!
This is how you gain traction in a market—and fast.
In my upcoming seminar, “Make The Jump To $10MM,” I’ll show you scientific proof that massive repetition is the key to marketing success.
But you don’t need a rocket scientist to tell you that more is better when it comes to advertising. That’s also SIMPLE MATH.
Think about it—if you are on 2 or 3 TV stations and a couple of radio stations… and your competitors ARE NOT, you’re going to win.
Your lead flow will go up—and not just with any old leads. TV leads are the best kind—these people already KNOW you and TRUST you.
And it’s not just direct leads. Your web traffic will jump. Your referrals will jump. Your PPC and SEO will work better. When you are on TV, EVERYTHING gets better. Everything.
And the good news: you can start small.
You don’t have to spend a million dollars and be on 2 or 3 TV stations to start.
We can start with one radio station. Or one TV station. I’ll discuss the pros and cons of each media in my course. But for now, who cares—just know that you can start small.
I just put a $4MM in Milwaukee on one TV station for $2,600 a week. They’ll be on that station about 35 weeks out of the year—that’s all the budget they have available right now.
You have to start somewhere!
The key is to dominate that station. Own it. And if you can’t afford to own the entire station, own one day of the week on that station. And if you can’t afford to own one day, own part of one day.
Whatever budget you have is enough to start.
But your ultimate goal should be a million dollars. ONE MILLION DOLLARS spent on radio and TV. Because that’s going to be the catalyst to getting your company to $10MM, and what is going to give you all the financial freedom you hope for and dream of.
Now, a few FAQs:
Q: I don’t even watch TV anymore. Does anyone watch TV?
A: More than enough to get you to $10MM.
Q: What about DVRs? Don’t people just zip past the commercials?
A: Some do, but we have strategies to minimize it… and as long as it’s working, who cares?
Q: We tried TV and it didn’t work. Why would it work now?
A: You almost certainly were doing something wrong. Call me and let’s talk about it. I can probably identify the problem in about 60 seconds.
Q: Isn’t it expensive to make TV commercials?
A: It doesn’t have to be. And if it is, who cares? As long as it’s making you money, that’s all that counts.
Q: How long does it take to achieve success on TV?
A: You need to commit to the long term. 12 months at least.
If you have other questions, or want to discuss your situation, just email me here.
The course will only be open to the first 10 companies who register—I want to be able to handle individual dialogue during the course. If you haven’t registered yet, you can do so by following this link.
Let’s get you to $10MM.
P.S. The ads you run make a huge difference. In my next post I’ll give you some ideas on how to write killer ads that really work.
About a year ago I got a call from a former client—the owner of a $65MM exterior remodeling company.
Something was a “little off” in his sales presentation. He wasn’t sure exactly what it was, so he wanted me to take a look at it.
A couple days later, he flew to my home office in Texas with his top two executives, and paid me $15,500 to let them give me the sales presentation, and then have me give them suggestions to make it better.
Over the course of 6 hours, I identified two or three dozen (mostly) teeny-tiny adjustments that I felt, collectively, would move the needle.
After the meeting, I typed up the notes and created a 17-page document that gave an analysis of all 48 pages of their iPad pitch book, and where the changes needed to occur… as well as specific things the reps should say as they talked through any particular slide.
All in a day’s work.
What impressed me most about this was the owner’s willingness to open up and ADMIT he didn’t know everything.
The guy was doing $65MM a year and he made his VP of Sales sit there and listen to ME.
In other words, he’s open to suggestion. He values an outside opinion. He wants to double- and triple-check his own thoughts—and the thoughts of his staff.
Which is a characteristic I see far LESS OFTEN in far smaller companies.
In this post I’m going to cover four bad habits that you might have picked up along the way that could be hampering your ability to “make the jump” to $10MM.
Bad habits that you probably don’t even realize that you have.
It’s kind of like going to the DMV to renew your driver’s license… only to realize that your vision has gotten bad in the last few years. The change happened so slowly, however, that you didn’t even notice—until you had to take that eye test. Then when you get glasses, you can’t believe how much you’ve been missing.
Don’t worry, I’m not trying to beat you over the head here.
But at the same time—there are reasons why companies stagnate in this industry in the $2- to $5MM range. To make the jump to $10MM, you have to be willing to critically examine EVERYTHING.
I think the first bad habit is pretty clear from the opening story:
Bad Habit #1: Not Willing To Take Advice
Obviously, not everyone has an opinion worth listening to. But for starters, I’d seek out advice from companies that are bigger than yours. From people who have been there, done that. Both inside and outside the industry.
But it could also be consultants, trainers… or even your own employees.
Recently I sat in a meeting with one of my $10MM+ clients. We pulled their top 2 sales people in and grilled them for a full hour about what they are experiencing while selling in the home. I asked them if they thought THIS would help or if THAT would make a difference. These two guys combine for $4MM a year in sales—their opinion is worthwhile.
You get the point.
Bad Habit #2: Only having ONE Go-To Marketing Tactic
Most people grow their companies by having success with one (or maybe two) marketing tactics. It could be direct mail… or home shows… or telemarketing… or newspaper.
I don’t mean that they don’t TRY other things. And I don’t mean that they don’t have some success with multiple things.
What I mean is their bread and butter is usually just one thing.
Which is dangerous in two ways: First, what if that one thing quits working for some reason? The home improvement industry is littered with guys who crashed when the telemarketing rules changed. And other guys who flamed out when newspaper quit working. Or who are struggling to hold onto the glory days of canvassing.
And second, it’s dangerous because it’s usually stagnating. You do your “thing” as much as you can do it—but that “thing” can’t generate $10MM worth of business. It maxes out at $2MM. Or $4MM. Or whatever.
To get to $10MM, you’re going to have to have more than one thing. If you’re open to suggestion about new things, then you’re killing two birds with one stone.
Bad Habit #3: Losing Focus
Man, this is common. You try to add sales by selling and installing something other than what you’re good at selling and installing.
I’ve seen it a hundred and one times.
It goes like this: “Hey, we have this customer base, but nothing else to sell them. What if we started selling X, then we could get more sales from the same customers!”
It makes so much logical sense that it’s hard to refute. And it’s not like it’s a death sentence to try to sell something new. Staying completely stagnant isn’t necessarily a virtue.
But the way to get to $10MM is simple: Raise your prices so you’re the highest in the market, make sure you’re really, really good at delivering on your promises… then find a TON OF PEOPLE TO BUY IT.
That’s my real expertise: showing you how to find a ton of people to buy what you are good at selling—at very high prices.
If you try to sell some other thing, inevitably, you’ll be kind of crappy at doing it. And people will notice. And that’s a problem.
I’d recommend critically examining what you already sell and NARROWING it, if anything. FOCUS. Be genuinely world class at what you choose to focus on.
Bad Habit #4: No Reverence For Leads
Leads are the lifeblood of any company. But, of course, you know that.
Except I’ve seen a lot a lot a lot of remodeling companies who don’t respect their leads at all—even after spending a fortune to generate them.
How does this bad habit manifest itself?
Failure to use pre-positioning to price condition, pre-sell, and gain prospect trust.
Failure to follow-up on cancelled appointments.
Failure to follow-up on sit-no-sales.
Instead, it’s easier to just shrug your shoulders and generate more leads. Why spend time and effort doing the 3 things above? In the case of #1, they’re going to buy from you anyway, right? And in the case of #2 and #3, they don’t want to buy from you anyway, right?
WRONG and WRONG.
I’ll cover all of these bad habits—and explain how much money you are losing—in my upcoming 2-day seminar in Dallas (April 26 & 27). I’ll show you exactly how to solve these problems, and how to increase sales by about 10% to 15% by simply respecting your leads.
At $10MM, that’s an extra million dollars in sales. Or more.
There are more bad habits—but I’m out of time to write them, and you’re probably out of time to read them. But I’ll cover this in detail in my upcoming course “Make the Jump to $10MM.”
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Here is the video if you don’t feel like clicking the link:
Want over 160 more articles, videos, and webinars that will help you attain unqualified marketing success?
Then you are in the right place. To find a specific topic, use the search bar or Topics menu on the right side of the page.
Trust me. If you’re looking for a specific contractor marketing topic, odds are it’s in here.
Happy reading!
P.S. If there is a marketing topic I haven’t covered in the MYM blog that you’d like to know more about, email me and let me know. If it’s something enough people want me to write about, I’ll be more than happy to. Promise!!!
You Think They’re Not Interested, But They’re Actually Just Busy.
About 6 or 7 years ago, I was driving home from work one day and trying to figure out what to do with my kids.
It was nearing the end of October, and it was getting to be that time of year where it would be dark by 5 or 5:30… and it was starting to get cold outside. For the sanity of both my wife and myself, we needed to find something to keep them occupied in the evenings.
Lifetime Fitness.
It just popped into my mind. I pulled a U-turn at the next stoplight and drove straight to the exercise mega-complex known for as much for its family-friendly facilities as its gargantuan size. Read More
