Growing my business - Marketing, Thinking Big, and SCALE

[Deri]

I have been looking to start something new to do for some time now but have not come up with anything solid.
Suddenly it occurred to me what I can do.
At the moment I have a little business of my own where I am a general building contractor. I do remodeling jobs house repairs and maintenance, plastering etc...
I do most of the work myself and also use subcontractors to help on bigger jobs.
My aim is to grow my busines and be able to take on more and bigger jobs with more staff and with a bit of luck remove myself from the tools and free up my time alittle.
I need to market better to obtain more work. My website needs work I know but don't have a clue yet on how to improve it? Am I allowed to show it here for people to see an give me some input? I also could do with ideas for getting my name out there quickly.

 

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[MustImprove]

My website needs work I know but don't have a clue yet on how to improve it? Am I allowed to show it here for people to see an give me some input? I also could do with ideas for getting my name out there quickly.

First well done for thinking bigger.....you are going in the right direction.

Secondly, get on the phone to your current/previous customers, and get references.

Your website isn't going to get you a big re-modelling job but a solid "Yes sir! Deri is a top drawer, grade A, whiz bang, re-modeler, don't call anyone else!" reference might.

Ask for referrals.

Call some real estate agents.

Call businesses similar to the ones you already worked for.....get them talking to each other.


Of course, this assumes you really are a top drawer, grade A, whiz bang, re-modeler, and that your ethics and work quality bear scrutiny.

.....so are you?

 

[Deri]

First well done for thinking bigger.....you are going in the right direction.

Secondly, get on the phone to your current/previous customers, and get references.

Your website isn't going to get you a big re-modelling job but a solid "Yes sir! Deri is a top drawer, grade A, whiz bang, re-modeler, don't call anyone else!" reference might.

Ask for referrals.

Call some real estate agents.

Call businesses similar to the ones you already worked for.....get them talking to each other.


Of course, this assumes you really are a top drawer, grade A, whiz bang, re-modeler, and that your ethics and work quality bear scrutiny.

.....so are you?

Yes I am good, that has been part of the problem because I need my trades that I will use to be just as good!
Thanks for the tips.

 

[Mr4213]

Did you design the website yourself or hire someone to do it?

I'm also in a service industry so I see your issues.

In my opinion you're a commodity business. As am I.

It's especially important that you set yourself apart from the other contractors in your area. Have good a$$ customer service.

You got good advice from other posters. Talk to real estate agents and other people who would be relevant. Get your name out there. Use creative marketing.

Even with good talent it will take months to generate a good lead flow from a website. And if you do the SEO and online marketing yourself, it will take tons of time on your part. If you are a beginner and have to learn the skill it will take even longer. Look at your local competition. I'd bet they have more money to throw at it than you. At that point you'd have to think about which tasks are more worth your time.

My humble advice would be to talk and network around. Get leads the hustling way. Pay people to refer you. Give discounts for referrals. Give both discounts and payouts. Then use that money if you can to outsource the website development.

OR

Find some good web design and marketing talent and strike up some creative deals.

 

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[Deri]

I made my own website a few years back but it is now very outdated!
Had a meeting yesterday with a well-known company that do a yellow phone book about making me a website and making sure it gets ranked well in my work areas.
They want £360 to produce the site and a further £65 per month to make sure I come in the top 10 for my work areas.

 

[T-K]

Check out this link, you'll probably find some useful info about website-design.

http://goodui.org

 

[Equilibrium]

If computer gobldygook isnt your strong suit recommend checking out concrete5

Its a EASY to use system with built in tutorials, that will let you glue together a working website that looks modern.

Get a $0.99 domain from godaddy if you don't already have one.

Note. I know you say you have a site, but I don't know if your talking about a .com or a subdomain freebie, like wix. (Wix is also incredibly easy)

Use their one click wizard to install concrete5
Use your favorite search engine to find things you don't understand.

A lot of concrete5 is drop dead simple which is why I recommend it..

If your skill is in building house repairs it would be easier to "plaster" together a working demo you can start making money off of, instead of paying big bucks for something.

 

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[Shrewedmoney15]

Deri first of all your website is important. It does need to be revamped. However, don't just revamp for visual purposes. Make sure your site serves a business purpose and revamp based upon a new strategy. For example, when people come to your site how will it generate leads? What type of value will someone gain when coming to your site. We buy from those we trust. So If I came to your site and possibly learned something about drywall or how to choose an electrician, it creates value for me. 2nd. What type of campaign will you funnel the customer through one you collect their information? What will you give them in exchange for their information. Make sure you are compaining and not running a promo. Campaigning is more effective. 3rd. Make sure you have a referral program strategy that fits with your business model and cost structure. When designing the referral program, center it around the customer. No one wants to feel like their being sold. So if there is a great benefit for me doing you a service by referring people, I'll gladly comply. Finally ask yourself this. What is my competitive advantage in the market? Once you know that, you can begin building a business model that leverages that advantage through marketing.

Sent from my HTC 10 using Tapatalk

 

[Mr4213]

Let me put it this way


In my local area it would cost me $1,000 per month for a professional looking website with professional SEO. That would be a 1-3 top spot. That would still take a few months to generate a good lead flow.

To be fair that is a premium service. But even so. At £65 a month I have serious doubts in the effectiveness of that service.

You're a commodity service as well. I would more than bet there are tons of people doing the same thing. If it was that cheap what would happen if 10 people use the service at £65? Where would you be placed? I don't see you getting a top spot at that price. Especially considering the top people in your area are spending FAR more than £65 a month.

Create a Facebook page and get on other forms of social media so potiential customers can check you out. Unless you have the money to spend on the SEO and good web design I would just hustle for now.

 

[ZCP]

Get in with:
- real estate agents
- property management companies
- the local banker that handles home / remodeling mortgages
- present at some local homeowners association meetings
- advertise in neighborhood leaflets
- call every single 'I buy house for cash' sign you see

Pick up the phone. Pound the payment. ASK for the work. Do a hell of a great job on anything you get.

Good luck!

 

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[Deri]

All good responses here thank you. Main thing for me now going forward is to give myself to others out there and keep pushing and casting my net out so to speak. Currently my work has come from referrals and word of mouth which in theory should be easy to build on.
I will get some emails out and phone some to let them know who I am and what I do.

 

[nradam123]

@Deri send me a PM. I will check out your website and give some feedback.

 

[Shrewedmoney15]

Deri if you need help developing the business side pm. I'll get you all set up.

Sent from my HTC 10 using Tapatalk

 

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[Equilibrium]

send me a PM as well. I have several connections with web design folks.

 

[bob johnson]

i hope you are on a review site. I put my paint contracting business on one thinking it would be useful to direct testimonials from my website to their original source so that prospects could see that they are legitimate. I did not buy into the advanced options on that review site which enables you to post larger graphics, have greater exposure, and generally to seem much more impressive. Never suspecting I would actually get leads from it I ignored it for months only to find that I had about 5 leads which went unanswered.

The largest contractor(for home painting) in my city gets all of his leads from that same site.

Guess how he started though?

door2door.

He built his company up to about 1.7 million with door to door. His prices are very high, so my guess is he's got 60% margins.

He abandoned door to door because he Got punched in the face by an irate customer who took umbrage at his dinner time solicitation.

I hope there is a lesson in their somewhere.