If you’re serious about getting to $10MM, you’re going to have to Master internet marketing.

That’s Master, with a capital M.

Like Steph Curry is the Master of the 3-point shot.

But honestly, most remodelers are more like a fat kid hoisting 3’s in his driveway. They’re just not very good at internet marketing

But Mastery is non-negotiable—if you want to get to $10MM. Here’s why:

1.    Every lead you ever get from any source is going to check out your website. All of them. And if you’re not careful, your website will scare them off—without you even knowing it.

2.    There are a TON of prospects wandering around the internet just waiting to be captured by you… or somebody else who is better at doing so.

To learn more about the Make The Jump Event click here.

In terms of websites: yours MUST be fresh, clean, and current. It has to turn LOOKERS into BUYERS. You have to build a case for why you’re different and better than your competitors. You have to show them plenty of evidence. You have to be convincing.

Especially considering your prices are going to be 50% to 150% higher than your competitors.

Fat kid in the driveway isn’t going to cut it.

Want to see what your website SHOULD look like? Click here, here, here, or here.

If you want to learn more about what goes into a great website, watch this webinar.

Now let’s shift gears and talk about SEO & PPC.

These are two of the least understood weapons in the remodeler’s toolkits—because sellers of SEO & PPC have been ripping remodelers off for well over a decade now.

Everyone has stories of failure and doom. And most of them are true. You do have to be careful when wading into these waters.

But flushing SEO & PPC down the toilet because some company ripped you off makes no more sense than homeowners flushing remodeling down the toilet because contractors have a bad reputation.

Get over it—there are hundreds and hundreds of leads just WAITING to be captured.

Obviously, you have to have a killer website or else the prospects that land on your site are going to draw the natural conclusion that you suck. Airball.

But beyond that, what are the rules? How does it work? What should you do?

For SEO, it’s simple. You have to add TONS and TONS and TONS of relevant, interesting, and well-written content and add it to your site.

Every. Single. Month.

Content can mean articles, blog posts, videos, geographic-specific pages, product-specific pages, case studies, project photos, online reviews—just to name a few.

Google sees all that stuff and rates you higher than your competitors who don’t put in the time and effort to do so. It’s just that simple.

But still, most SEO companies try to shortcut the process. The key words above were “relevant, interesting, and well-written.” Most companies settle for poorly written, irrelevant, and uninteresting.

Fat kid hoisting 3’s in the driveway.

And they wonder why Google keeps crucifying them.

SEO to the level you need to get to $10MM is going to cost you about $1,200 to $3,000 a month—and it strictly depends on how aggressive and good your competitors are (at SEO).

Most of our clients are on a $1,200 a month plan and are riding first page (and many #1) rankings… and rising. A few of our clients pay double that because they are in super competitive markets, or they have a few really bad reviews that we have to bury. (note: bad reviews does NOT necessarily mean they are a bad company. It often means that some idiot jack-wagon has a vendetta against them. You also need to actively manage your online reputation and reviews).

Not doing SEO is not an option. It’s 100% mandatory.

But what about PPC?

To be a $10MM company, you’re going to want to Master this one as well.

To learn more about the Make The Jump Event click here.

Google recently changed the way its search results look. The top FOUR spots are now ads, then a map, and then the “organic” (SEO) results.

Take a look:

Let me give you the short course on PPC, then give you some links to read more if you want.

PPC providers are worse than the SEO guys. There are a TON of them that have ZERO clue what they are doing. Most of them are simply taking your money and putting it on an online automated bidding platform that takes a huge chunk of the money you paid to use. You never know this except when you get crappy results. I want to emphasize—they literally have no idea what they are doing. None.

Fat kid in the driveway trying to shoot a medicine ball.

The few that don’t use an automated system have SOME clue, but almost always are generating fewer leads than you should be getting.

To get to $10MM, you have to find a great PPC company, then once you’re satisfied they’re good, SPEND AS MUCH MONEY AS POSSIBLE WITH THEM!

Why? Because every dollar they spend is going to bring you leads.

But not just leads. Leads from the people who are actively trying to find somebody to buy from!!!!

Once you have a great website and you’ve Mastered SEO & PPC, you’re ready to talk about MEDIA advertising. Radio and TV.

And radio and TV is what is going to make you a millionaire.

Next post, I’ll explain how.

Happy Marketing! For info about the upcoming 2-day seminar, click here.

P.S. Here’s a great webinar I did on SEO & PPC called “The No BS Webinar On SEO & PPC”

Click here to read more posts in my “Make The Jump” series:

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Early in my career, I thought I would perform a noble service for my clients by helping them minimize their advertising expenses.

Specifically, I was consulting with an $8MM sunroom and window company in Savannah, GA, and helping them manage a $100,000 a month advertising budget.

About 2 or 3 months into the relationship, I nipped and tucked different parts of the budget, and got it down to about $85,000. I was excited to have “saved” my client a significant amount of money.

At the end of the month, as I reviewed the results with my client, he saw the reduced budget number and went berserk.

And not in a good way.

“I have to spend the money to buy my leads!” he chastened me. “Every dollar you don’t spend means fewer leads and less sales. From now on, spend EVERY. SINGLE. DOLLAR.”

Point taken.

So with that as a backdrop, consider these 2 important points as you ponder growing your business to $10MM in sales (or more):

1. You need to budget a bare minimum of 10% of sales to marketing. 12% would be better.
2. You’re probably going to have to find new ways to spend that money.

The 10% rule is iron-clad. You can’t fudge on it. As you grow, you can’t say “we’re getting big enough now that we can scale back and pocket the savings.”

If you want to do $5MM next year, you need to plan AND SPEND $500,000.

If you want to do $10MM next year, you need to plan AND SPEND $1,000,000.

The problem is—lots of smaller companies are only spending 5% or less right now. They’re doing $2.3MM in sales on $9,240 in advertising a month. Or something like that.

I’ve seen it a thousand times. Invariably, those companies are relying heavily on repeat and referral business. There’s nothing wrong with repeat and referral; it’s just not scalable to $10MM a year. There’s a reason they’ve been in business for 33 years and haven’t ever cracked $3MM.

You have to spend money to make money. There’s no way around it.

I covered in an earlier post the urgent need to raise your prices. Your prices need to be high so you can afford to do things the right way (materials, people, business practices), and so you can afford to spend the necessary money on marketing.

Commit to it. If you can’t/won’t/don’t, we have no need for further discussion—you’re dismissed.

Assuming you’re still reading, now you have to figure out where to spend all that money.

Here is the answer, in order of importance:

•  Your Bread And Butter: Whatever you are currently doing that is reliably generating leads at a reasonable cost… keep doing that. In fact, investigate if it’s possible to spend even more money on it. I don’t care what “it” is—if it’s working, keep doing it.
• SEO: You should be spending $1,000 to $3,000 a month on SEO & online reputation management. It’s mandatory. If you’re not, you are willingly passing up juicy leads. Cheap, juicy leads.  Lots of them. Plus, you’ll bury negative reviews and remove buyer skepticism.
• PPC: Spend every single cent you can on PPC—Every. Single. Cent. One of my big clients was spending PPC on a budget; in other words, $15,000 a month or something… then they’d run out of budget on the 15th or 20th of the month. That’s insane. Don’t spend a specific amount—spend as much as you possibly can every month! This is low-hanging fruit—people who want to buy RIGHT NOW! Get a good PPC company and buy every single lead they can give you.
• TV And Radio: With very few exceptions, you’re not going to get to $10MM without TV and radio. I’ll cover this in more detail in a future email, but for now, trust me—it’s mandatory. And it’s a huge part of my upcoming 2-day seminar in Dallas (April 26 & 27).
• Other Stuff: Try other stuff like direct mail, home shows, Val-Pak, and so forth. Set a budget to try things that, if they work, can become part of your bread and butter category.

That’s it—80% to 90% of your budget should go to the above categories—it will make 80% to 90% of the difference.

And if you want to nitpick with me about “well we did this or that and we grew to $10MM,” keep it to yourself. I’m not interested.

There are lots of factors in marketing. I’ve seen one company grow to $40MM with practically no TV and radio. And another grew to $30MM on the strength of direct mail. But guess what—they both came to me for TV and radio expertise to get them to $100MM. And guess what else? They were both in top 10 (size) markets. The scaling is a little different. But the principles remain true.

Here’s how you do it, practically speaking:

1. Determine your budget using the 10% method. If your goal next year is $6MM, that’s $600,000 a year. If your business is seasonal, adjust the monthly spend accordingly. Don’t worry—if your prices are set correctly, you can afford this.
2. Spend as much money as you can (profitably) on your bread and butter advertising.
3. If you have money left over, spend it on SEO & online reputation management.
4. If you have money left over, spend it on PPC.
5. If you have money left over, start buying TV and/or radio with at least 50% of the extra money (80% would be better).
6. If you have money left, spend it on other stuff. But you may just want to spend it on TV and radio.

This formula can get you from $3MM to $10MM in less than 5 years.

And yes, you can get to $10MM using “Bread and Butter” and “Other Stuff”—in fact, that’s exactly what the typical remodeler does—and it’s why most of them max out at less than $5MM. But even those who do get to $10MM take 10 to 15 years to get there. Maybe longer. And maybe never.

But to get there FAST (2 to 4 years), you’ve got to start harnessing the magic power of TV and radio as soon as possible.

It’s the grand key to quick and sustainable growth.

Why?

It’s a combination of things: TV is the most credible medium, with radio a close second. It’s inexpensive in terms of reaching a TON of people at a reasonable cost. And it’s a great medium for communicating with power, precision, and passion.

Nothing beats TV. Nothing.

I’ll prove it to you in an upcoming post.

For info about the upcoming 2-day seminar called “Make the Jump to $10MM” click here.

Until then, happy marketing!

P.S. Before I get to TV, I’m going to circle back around and cover PPC and SEO in my next post. It’s a sure thing that you’re not getting the bang for your buck that you should—I’ll help you fix that.

Click here to read more posts in my “Make The Jump” series:

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In my last post, I promised I would tell you how to raise your prices, even though you’re probably CHICKEN to do it.

I’ll actually get to that in my next post.

But first, I need to address some important questions I got from readers after my first couple of emails. Here they are:

•    Why would I want to grow my business to $10MM? I make plenty of money now.
•    I’ve been in business for 22 years and I’m only at $3 million—sounds like you’re selling magic beans.
•    Nobody in this market does $10MM—I don’t think it’s even possible.

I already answered the reason WHY you would want to grow to $10MM in a previous post. The short recap is:

You can afford to do everything right in your business, and you have enough money to buy pretty much whatever you want.

How’s that for motivation?

But if you don’t want to run a $10MM company, that’s your business. Nobody’s putting a gun to your head to do so.

As for the “is it possible” question, it depends:

If you’re running a roofing company in Coffeyville, KS (shout-out to my 91-year old grandpa, population 10,295), you probably can’t do $10MM. There’s probably not $10MM total in the entire town including change in the couch cushions.

But if you run a remodeling company in any city of any size at all, it’s not only possible—it’s practically inevitable if you just follow the formula I gave you the other day:

1.    Sell awesome stuff that people genuinely love.
2.    Charge high prices.
3.    Use TV advertising.

Think about it for a minute. How much business is there, IN TOTAL, in the city where you sell stuff?

If there are two companies doing $3MM, five companies doing $2MM each, and 100 smaller companies doing $15MM in combined sales, that’s $31MM.

You only need to capture a third of that.

Yes, if you take a full third of the sales in your market, other companies are going to suffer and go out of business.

But what do you care?

You’re already better than them, right? Good grief, if you don’t think so, why are you even reading this?

You already genuinely offer the best value in the marketplace (not price—VALUE), right?

Then it’s not a sack of magic beans. It’s just math.

The business is already being sold. Why not just sell most of it yourself?

Remember a few days ago, I told you about a company I helped take from $40MM in sales in 2011, to $130MM in sales last year?

Some of that growth came from spreading into new markets.

A lot of it came from OWNING the markets that they’re already in.

They have over 20% market share in 4 of the counties they service, including an astounding 37% market share in the county they’ve been in the longest.

And because they follow the 3-step formula (great products, high prices, TV advertising), they are the most expensive company in the area—by a long shot.

Don’t tell them it’s magic beans. It’s calculated; it’s systematic; it’s expected.

Do yourself a favor. Don’t let anyone else define you. You can do whatever you want. And if that includes growing your remodeling or home services company to $10MM in sales, then go for it.

I’ll teach you how to do it in my new seminar, “Make The Jump To $10 Million” being held in Dallas on April 26 & 27.

To find out more, click here.

Happy marketing!

P.S. Don’t worry, I promise to show you how to raise your prices even though you’re probably CHICKEN to do it in my next post.

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Last Monday I took my wife to lunch at Panera Bread.  I ordered half a sandwich and a bowl of soup; she got a salad and a Diet Coke.

The total bill: $24.95. For two people.

As we sat down to eat, I couldn’t shake the thought that I had just paid over twelve bucks per person. For lunch.

I’m not cheap, but still. $9.49 for a salad? $5.29 for a bowl of chicken noodle soup?

Wendy’s was only 100 yards away—we could have been in and out for around $10 total.

Oh, well. Happy wife, happy life, right?

Later that evening while half-watching the Texas Rangers game on TV while reading stuff on my phone, my wife suddenly and enthusiastically shouted, “Hey, I LOVE that salad! This is the commercial that made me want to go to Panera and get one!”

I looked up, and sure enough, there was the $9.49 Strawberry & Poppyseed salad that my wife had from Panera sitting on my TV, tempting women (and a few men) all over the Dallas-Fort Worth area to want one.

And in that stupid little story, my friends, is everything you need to know to grow your business to $10 million in sales. Or $20 million. Or $70 million. You name it.

Three crucial ingredients:

1.    Sell awesome stuff that people genuinely love.
2.    Charge high prices.
3.    Use TV advertising.

In that order.

One of my clients started his kitchen and bath remodeling company in Kansas City in 2008—right as the recession was just getting started.

Despite that, in just four short years they had topped $10 million in sales (Year 1 – $1.5MM; Year 2 – $3.5MM; Year 3 – $6.8MM; Year 4 – $10.1MM). Now they’re edging toward $15MM, and possible national expansion.

They are the clear #1 kitchen and bathroom remodeler in KC—the next closest competitor only does something like $2MM.

Here is their formula for success:

1.    Sell awesome stuff that people genuinely love.
2.    Charge high prices.
3.    Use TV advertising.

In that order.

I won’t go into detail about everything they do to build AWESOME kitchens and bathrooms that people genuinely love. That could be an entire book. And I’ll touch on it in a future post.

But I will tell you this: They have raised their prices by 15% an astounding FIVE times since starting the company.

That means a bathroom that used to be $10,000 is now something like $20,100.

Which is basically like charging $9.49 for a salad. Or $5.29 for a bowl of soup.

I’ll also tell you that they poured all of their profits for the first few years of the business into TV (and radio) advertising. All. Of. It.

They were spending $1 million a year on advertising long before they were doing $10MM in sales.

And now the owner, John, drives a Maserati. I’m not really into cars—but he drove me to the airport in it after shooting some TV ads last year and I have to admit, it’s a pretty sweet ride.

The formula is simple—but like anything else in life, there are details you need to know.

Which is why I’m offering my new 2-day seminar.

In the seminar, I will walk you through everything you need to know to break out of your current comfort zone and double, triple, quadruple your sales.

It’s not pie-in-the-sky BS. It’s what companies hire me to do.

John hired me because he wanted to go from $10MM to $20MM.

Also:

•    I took an HVAC company from $40MM in 2011 to $130MM last year.

•    I’m just now starting year 2 of a 5 year plan to grow a company in California from $30MM to $100MM.

•    We’re about to start working with a $10MM company in MSP to get them to $30MM by 2020.

•    A window and roofing company in the Midwest got stuck at $65MM and hired me to consult with them to get to $100MM.

•    An east-coast window company has recently hired me to help get them from $80MM to $150MM.

It’s what I do. I’d like to show you how to do it.

To find out more about the Make The Jump seminar, head on over here.

P.S. In my next post, I’m going to tell you why you’re probably CHICKEN to raise your prices, and how to go ahead and do it anyway.

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