UnTamedContractor

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Shooting at Your Clients with a Shotgun; Why Sharon Should Blog

Traditional marketing is like shooting with a shotgun; you’re not sure you’ll hit the target.
I get passionate about stuff after I talk to people about real-world applications. I read my client Sharon’s email and Web site. I was inspired to address this blog to her.

Sharon
is a housing designer who is working to develop her Web site. She has offered me a free mention on her web site as her preferred electrical contractor. I have written this article in blog form to persuade her, and you that blogging is an excellent way of getting and keeping good clients.

The job of marketing for your business is to keep you on the top of your client’s minds. Imagine this example:
Think into the future, six months from now. The Jetson family want to build a large addition to their 3 by 1 home. Who will they get, ah Sharon the designer …

If you start a blog now Sharon, you will be sure to be top of the Jetson’s minds in six month’s time. They would have digested a constant steam of your articles about planning and building their home. In their minds you are the expert.

What they could have received from you

• Two blog posts each week, short and sweet, tailored to prospective builders. Of these fifty, the Jetsons found thirty mildly interesting, ten really interesting, and two so hot they printed them out and stuck them on the fridge (these posts could be received as email newsletters if they struggle with blog readers).
• Two free reports, desktop published in a easy to read fashion, and in PDF form ready to print out
• One Ebook they purchased from you by credit card for $9.95
• Answers to a dozen emails they sent to you

By the time they ready to build they know a lot more about building,

and they will know these things about you

• You are reliable (you said you’d blog weekly and you have)
• You are honest (you explained the good and the bad about building)
• You are knowledgable (you explained many points in your articles that only an experienced designer would know)
• You are approachable (you replied candidly to their emails)
• They had a successful and troublefree financial transaction with you (their $9.95 Ebook)
• You have a sense of humour (this came out in the style of writing your articles)

Blog benefits

1. A blog is cheap, ranging from free to less than $100 each year
2. Your efforts are directed at a potentially huge audience, you don’t have to keep rewriting
3. You are only writing about what you already know (or should know).
4. You can write a heap of stuff ahead of time in case you are unwell, or on holidays
5. Blogs can stand alone, or be attached to an existing Web page

Will You Be Tuckered Out by This?
NO. The beauty of blogging is that it is personal publishing to the world. The world in this case is all Perth families who want to build. This is a large group and is your dream market, Sharon. These families are eager for information. If you give it to them in a timely and palatable fashion, they will be yours for life.

The Cost to You

• A computer; you probably already have one
• An internet connection preferably broadband; you probably already have it
• A blog Web site; Free to $100 per year
• Your time; Write drafts and list blog ideas (20 minutes per day), polish drafts (20 minutes per day), produce email newsletter monthly from existing blogs (2 minutes per day), write reports every two weeks (10 minutes per day), reply to emails and blog comments (10 minutes per day)

The Total is One Hour per Day; Is This Too much?
No, you achieve these benefits

1. Your writing and organised thinking skills are enhanced
2. You get to communicate with your clients regularly
3. You get to show your natural sense of humour
4. You can do this at any time, the writing any 20 minutes of the day, the rest any time of the week

One hour each day may seem a lot. However you are not just paying lip service to your marketing effort. You are truly thinking about, and listening to your client’s problems. You get to do business planning, client contact, and self development all at the same time; a bargain!

Bottom Line; an excellent marketing method
Blogs are a cost effective marketing method. They help to get and keep clients by convincing them that you are an expert in your field, and maintaining you on the top of their minds.

In future posts, I will tell more about the best way to set up blogs.

What to Do Next
* Google and read examples of blogs
* Go to wordpress.com or blogger.com, start a free blog, and get writing.

I have broken my blog schedule to report on getting my Blue Card online (safety awareness training, only for Australian readers)

I just had to let you know about this. I saved many hours and quite a few dollars. I have just had a quote accepted for a Fruit and Vege Shop in Rockingham, West Australia.

The shopfitter reminded me I needed a Blue Card before start, and mentioned I could do it online. I Googled the site he suggested, but found a cheaper one in my state.

I registered, downloaded the manual, and started the online exam. In a previous life I was a Safety and Training Officer so I decided to wing it without reading the manual. I got a few wrong but pushed on until I reached the required 80%.

A quick visit to Paypal relieved me of my eighty bucks, and we were done. Forty-five minutes tops and I was having a cuppa. While I was switched on I filled in the subsidy form from bcitf.org. They are a West Australian mob who subsidise training. I could get $64 back from them, but I’m not holding my breath, I’ve had trouble with them before.

That’s it, short and sweet. A reminder that the next post is on the subject of budgeting. This may not be as exciting as you like, but it’s so essential to your business. We’ll look at it as an introduction, then revisit later.

Good morning contractors. Welcome to the Untamed Contractor. This is your toolbox to make your business how you want.

Over several months you will get articles, podcasts, and videos to help your business. You can read, listen, and watch these on you computer, or your media player.

You will learn about things such as:

• Get more profits from existing clients
• Winning new clients
• Getting organised and save money
• Coping with New Media including your computer
• Keeping your health and fitness
• Taking care of your home and family
• Australiana

You can be someone who hasn’t started contracting yet, or a seasoned veteran. You won’t need anything but your computer and an internet connection to access your info. The main thrust is for building contractors worldwide to develop themselves and their business.

Business Rule #1:

This is our first post to the Untamed Contractor so we will prioritise a bit and begin with what is most important: keeping your clients. I learned this lesson cruelly when I started contracting again this time around fifteen years ago. I subcontracted to a couple of garden reticulation companies who made me agree not to poach their reticulation clients. This meant I could directly contract to these clients for other work.

After this I started contracting directly to clients I got by marketing. Things were hungry for a while, then busy, now frantically busy. The sad part is that I have contact details for only about 20% of people I have worked for.

This introduces business rule #1: Reliably record contact details for every client you have ever had contact with. A list of clients is really the only valuable thing your business has. Whatever happens to your business, you can start again from a position of strength with a client list.

What to store and why:

Suck It Up Warning: this chore is normally done evenings and weekends and is in danger of not getting done. However it is the most important business rule. If you can’t get it done, outsource the job to your partner or pay someone!

• At least name and address so you can direct market them by mail. We’ll talk about direct marketing in other sessions.
• Email address so you can direct market them more cheaply by Email.
• What you did there. This will help you decide what to sell them.
• If you liked them or not. This will help you decide if you want them or not.

Where to store:

This is another cruel lesson I learned. Computer drives crash without backups, paper files get lost or destroyed. The only thing I trust for my client details these days is Gmail. We will cover Gmail soon in detail, but for now let me say that Gmail has reliably maintained my client list for three years. You can start now by following these steps:

1. Go to Gmail.com.
2. On the right side of the screen press the “Pick my name” button.
3. Be prepared with a desired login name, a password, a security question of your choice, and possibly a secondary email address.
4. Follow your nose to create your Gmail address.
5. On the left side of the screen, click on “Contacts” to enter your contacts.

Alright, ’nuff for today. Here’s a recap:

• Recording contact details is the most important business task. You can recover from anything with this list.
• Store as many details as you can, at least name and address, preferably also email.
• Use Gmail to keep your client list reliably.

See you soon, from rossum.