Posted by Rich Harshaw on March 12, 2015.
Homeowners Unlucky Enough To Request Quotes Via Online Lead Services Are Going To Get Swamped By Contractors.
Homeowners Unlucky Enough To Request Quotes Via Online Home Improvement Lead Services Are Going To Get Swamped By Contractors
There’s A 95% Chance You Should Just Stay Away.
But There’s A 5% Chance You Could Make A Ton Of Money….
By Rich Harshaw
You know a company is in trouble when they feel compelled to change their name.
Amway became Quixtar to disassociate itself from cheeziness. Andersen Consulting became Accenture to avoid being identified with the word “scandal.” Philip Morris changed its name to Altria because, well, you know. And Kentucky Fried Chicken hoped that KFC would obfuscate their finger lickin’ origins.
So it shouldn’t have come as a surprise to anyone in the remodeling industry when online lead seller “Service Magic” decided to get new letterhead and business cards as they updated their name to Home Advisor in 2012. According to the official company line, the reason had more to do with a dissatisfaction with the word “Magic” in their name, and a shift to a focus on home maintenance.
In a related story, in my decade-plus long career in contractor marketing, I’ve yet to find a single business owner who claims to actually like the company.
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Posted by Rich Harshaw on March 10, 2015.
Why Make Prospects Fill Out A Form To Get Info… When You Can Just Give Them The Info They Want?
Should You Direct Your Online Prospects To A Lead-Capturing
Landing Page…
Or Should You Direct Them To Your Full Website?
By Rich Harshaw
Note:
About once a month I answer questions that come to me via email or via one of my call-in webinars. If you have a question, please email it to me at rharshaw@mymonline.com.
Hey Rich:
I attended one of your webinars where you discouraged using landing pages for capturing home improvement leads. You suggested just using your regular website instead. But almost everyone else I talk to says the exact opposite; they say I’m better off having multiple landing pages for various lead generating campaigns. Would you mind explaining your rationale in more detail? I’m starting to get a lot of pressure from some of these people (including my business partner), and I need to decide one way or the other soon.
Scott H.
Hi Scott,
I hear you! This is a thorny subject, and one that’s subject to quite a bit of debate. You’re right; I’m a staunch supporter of driving all your web traffic into you main website instead of splintering the traffic into multiple landing pages. I’ll explain why in just a minute… but let’s start this discussion by exploring WHY most people are proponents of the landing page approach:
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Posted by Rich Harshaw on January 27, 2015.
Post Category: Don't Do This.
The First Step Is To Realize You’re Holding The Poo Poo Platter. The Second Step Is To Do Something About It.
You’d Never Tolerate A Terrible Salesperson.
So Why Put Up With An Underperforming Website?
Don’t Do This: Contractor Websites
By Rich Harshaw
Note: This article is part of Monopolize Your Marketplace’s ongoing “Don’t Do This” series. Sometimes it’s just as helpful to know what to avoid as it is to know what to do.
Imagine for a moment you were in the market to hire a new salesperson.
After checking around, you luck out and hear about a guy who’s been in remodeling sales for fifteen years. He recently moved here because his wife got a promotion at her job, and he’s looking to get back to work. He comes in for an interview and says all the right things; he looks the part; he clearly knows the industry. You call his former employer and get a good report—this guy knows how to close. You negotiate a modest base salary and generous commission package and he signs on. You put him through your closing methodology training and he quickly absorbs everything.
In other words, everything is perfect.
After a few weeks of training and shadowing your top producer, you hand him ten home improvement leads… and he comes back with one sale. Your company’s historic closing ratio is 32% first-call close, and 40% after reeling in stragglers.
Yikes.
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Posted by Rich Harshaw on October 9, 2014.
Marketing Success Is Just As Much About Spending Enough Money In The Right Places As It Is About Messaging…
If You Don’t Know Your Numbers, You Can’t Possibly Master Marketing.
By Rich Harshaw
Three-thirds of everything worthwhile I learned about business I learned from my dad.
As a longtime real estate guy, he taught me at a young age the value of knowing your numbers. He dropped me off for my freshman year at BYU and gave me (or should I say, ‘bestowed’ upon me) the handheld calculator I still use 25+ years later—an HP-12C financial.
I don’t mean I still use the same kind—I mean I still use the exact same machine my dad gave me all those years ago, with my name and SSN scratched on the back. If you know anything about financial calculators, you know they calculate everything “backwards” and confuse the heck out of uninitiated users. Always good for a laugh.
Regardless of the kind of calculating device you’re most comfortable with, hear me loud and clear—your calculator is your most important marketing tool.
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