Trusting the Process
In the virtual Lemonade Stand, Crystal is flying solo to discuss building a marketing strategy that ensures long-term growth and success! We're breaking down the biggest obstacles contractors face and showing our Lemon Heads how adjusting expectations and adopting a creative approach can revolutionize your marketing.
0:00 - Trusting the Contractor Marketing Process
5:50 - Biggest Obstacles and Fears
15:28 - Building Brand Recognition
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Speaker 1: 0:00
Oh, what's up? Lemonheads, welcome to another episode of From the Yellow Chair. I'm riding solo today and talking about where I think contractors go wrong most of the time. A lot of times we really get in our head we're afraid to commit, we're afraid to take risks, we feel like we're broke, we feel like we don't have the staff, we feel like all of these things are reasons to say no. But today we're going to talk a little bit more about how you can trust the process. Let's sip some lemonade, all right, guys. Today I'm just doing a little shot of lemonade as I talk about ways that you should just trust the process.
Speaker 1: 0:45
That requires you to believe in, to hit real growth with your marketing. So everybody's looking for the silver bullet, right. Everybody's looking for the perfect little thing that's going to really drive new customer acquisition and really drive those revenue numbers up. Help you sell more roofs, more pest control treatments, more heating and air conditioning roofs, more pest control treatments, more heating and air conditioning systems, more water heaters all of those good things, more re-pipe jobs. We want to sell more things right, because we want to be successful, we need to drive revenue. Well, we have got to make sure that our expectations are clearly set and that we really understand, like, what it takes to drive big revenue. So right now it's 2024. Unfortunately for us, we are not in this super big replacement market, right so everyone's trying to like nickel and dime their way to keeping their services right, like, how can I patch the roof not replace it? How can I fix my AC system not replace it? How can I fix my water heater not replace it? Right so, when we're not replacing, we're servicing, which just prolongs problems for a lot of us right, which, more than anything, it just negatively impacts how much actual revenue dollars we're bringing in the business, and so we really need to adjust our expectations on how we can still hit our revenue numbers. It's just going to take some ingenuity and some creativity, but more than anything, we have to trust the process right.
Speaker 1: 2:08
So, on that marketing funnel that we talk about here at Limited quite often on that marketing funnel, you know a lot of you are focused on the T90 little section of that funnel, the very, very bottom, which is really talking about people that are ready to buy right this moment. So a lot of you have put all of your dollars, all of your effort and energy into these digital tactics, right, so that is great for the short term, right? So those of you that are doing AMG leads or maybe you're doing next door leads or something that's really meant to drive things really quickly, that's great. It's just a small portion of the actual way that you need to be layering in your marketing. So I use this analogy all the time. I've used it before on the show, so I know, um, and on some webinars that I've done, my biggest and best example that I think really drives the point home for most contractors is that is this If you come to my house and you're like, hey, that cake looks really good, give me a slice of it. And I'm like, sure, here you go and I hand you a full stick of butter. That's not a cake, right? That's not a slice of cake. That's one ingredient that I use to make this cake. Marketing works very, very similar and you have to trust the process of how to layer each piece on to make your full marketing campaign. So when people say, well, what's working, what's really driving leads for you, you know what you probably should say man, it's a combination of things, right, and it is a combination of things we need to be driving our branding. We need to be driving our online presence. We need to be driving our digital paid ad presence, our organic social media presence, our rehash presence. All of those things really need to be pumping so that we can continue a full fledged approach to working with our clients in a way or with your customers, that really drive them to use your company from all these different aspects.
Speaker 1: 4:01
Now, some of you don't have budget to go just real hardcore towards. Oh, I'm going to go ahead and replace, I'm going to go everywhere, I'm going to go have billboards and TV and radio and I'm going to onboard with Chirp and I'm going to do contractor commerce and I'm going to use a lead call. And you're like naming off all these things and, before you know it, like your house poor, right. How many of you have ever bought something? You're like dang, because my car note's so expensive. I'm house poor. Or I'm sorry, I'm car poor, right? Or my house note is so high because I wanted this fancy house that now I can't go outside and do anything, so I better enjoy it. Right, like I'm house poor Because what happens is we get so deep into management fees and so deep into making sure that we've spread our money out, that we're really are not emphasizing consistency and frequency.
Speaker 1: 4:48
So, those of you with smaller budgets and this is going to shock a lot of you that are listening if you're spending less than probably $250,000 a year in marketing, odds are that you should only be doing one or two tactics right. One or two things a digital move and maybe one other thing. Those of you that are spending less than $100,000, number one, kudos, but number two, it's not quite enough money most of the time to really generate full-fledged like let's go, let's really make some money. So just a couple of thoughts there. I also really want to emphasize the importance of consistency and frequency, meaning I could be on 30 different radio stations and all these random times, or I could be on two radio stations that run very consistently right. These are all a layered approach and you've got to trust the process that your branding is working with your digital, is working with your direct mail, is working with your organic social media, and trusting that all of those things together make up the perfect slice of cake.
Speaker 1: 5:50
So the other thing that I was visiting with one of my clients about today. So you know I have lots of clients that like spend the money but their expectations might be a little off right. So because I'm spending what feels like to all of us is a lot of money, the expectations of return are very strange. So right now, we've had really wonky, janky weather, right? Not a lot of us have really had strong growth. Over April and May especially, the weather was just, in my words, janky and wonky, and so we really struggled to make the connection for true new customer acquisition.
Speaker 1: 6:26
Some companies nailed it, some of you did it. It just depends right. Some of you did everything right and the lead count just wasn't there. Some of you did everything wrong and the lead count was there. It is how it is. It's how the cookie crumbles, okay. So for most of you, though you might be going into June behind the curve, right, you need to make up some ground to hit your revenue goals, and I just want to encourage you today, like, let's really trust the process of having a branding play, having a call to action and digital presence play and then rehashing our existing customer base.
Speaker 1: 6:58
So, on that branding bucket, some of your logos are poo-poo okay, meaning they're not strong enough to help you stand out or to help you. Have a strong to help you have a strong enough presence and be memorable. So I'm going to go ahead and tell you if you made your logo more than 10 or 12 years ago. Odds are it needs to be redone. Okay, odds are you need to refresh. Don't panic with this. It doesn't mean we have to rename everything. It doesn't mean that we have to take off. You know your name or change, or, most of the time, the most expense is going to come from uniforms and trucks Okay, so you just got to make a plan around it, right.
Speaker 1: 7:43
So that branding piece, though, also means, like that, you, your trucks need to be wrapped, but also a mass media strategy, like billboards and radio and television. You will not launch a mass media strategy billboards, radio, tv, something like that and I'd be like, dang girl, turn the phones off. We are killing it right now. Right, because that's not the expectation that you have to sit or that you have to. Yeah, you have to define for them. The expectation is long-term infiltration of the client's mind. So I drive by and I see the pelican, or your mascot, or I see the, I see your tagline or whatever you've got going on. That makes you unique.
Speaker 1: 8:27
So this is not rocket science, it's consistency. Don't put your billboard up for two months, that's not it. It's consistency. Don't put your billboard up for two months. That's not it. Bruh, that's not it. And the words of my 14-year-old bruh, that's not it. Right, we have got to have a consistent strategy.
Speaker 1: 8:41
So if you're going to do radio, invest in a jingle. It's got like a 25-year shelf life. Invest in a jingle and run consistent radio spots that are good, that have a unique sound, that really stick. Don't run a digital side to it. But all of those things require consistency and frequency as much as you can, as consistently as you can do it, and not just letting TV commercials run during sports games. Right, know your target audience, but trusting the process that branding is designed to grow your direct search of your name. It is the most cost-efficient lead you will have, because then we jump into what Lemon Seed calls our second bucket, which is discoverability.
Speaker 1: 9:24
So making sure, when people are all throughout our market, if they have not made the connection with our brand yet and they're looking for a company, that when they search for a company or when they are in the consideration phase of who to use, you're showing up on their screens. You're showing up in their mailboxes and you're showing up on their phones, right, that's where you need to be. So how can you be there when they search? How can you be there when they don't search, right, how do I just be in front of them and where the people are? And where are people right now? In front of a screen. That's where they are.
Speaker 1: 10:00
And then direct mail is a really good space here, because if direct mail let's say direct mail costs you a dollar, a dollar a piece, and you mail that client six times in a year, you spent $6 on that client. And let's say you don't actually book that client to come out and do a maintenance tune-up for two years. So now you've spent $12. Anybody listening should be like oh heck, yeah, give me a $12 lead, right? And if your guys can't do anything with it when they're in there, if they can't take that $89 tune-up and get in there and do something with it, friends, that's a training problem, not a marketing problem, right? So today I'm kind of like matching that energy, right? So that's not a marketing problem.
Speaker 1: 10:36
So when people are like my marketing is not working, oh no, sir, let's look, you got leads coming in. You 1000% have leads coming in. You're just sucking at doing anything with them. Your CSR doesn't book the call, your technician doesn't flip it over and you're kind of a weenie and won't make them. Just do what you need them to do. Stop letting the prisoners run the prison Right, so that when these, when you're spending money to generate these phone calls and your CSR is booking it, you send your technician to get there.
Speaker 1: 11:05
And yes, it's an eighty nine dollar. Does it cost us more money to probably roll a truck for eighty nine dollars? Yes, so then your technician best be good at either getting them on your maintenance plan, selling a repair, or our ultimate goal here is let's get them to replace that system if it meets our parameters and it's honest and truthful. And so the discoverability portion of your marketing plan is super, super important. But you've got to trust the process that as you continue to mail and you're buying paid ads. And, yes, can people click on your ads? Yes, can competitors take advantage of it? Yes, does GLSA suck and it's like hormonal, like a 13 year old girl? Yes, does GLSA suck and it's like hormonal, like a 13-year-old girl? Yes, Okay, all the yeses, but it's because we've got to have a collective. No. One wants to eat just a stick of butter. That's GLSA. Just a stick of butter? No, that has to be a piece of our pie, a piece of our cake. And so for GLSA and things like that listen guys, it's a crapshoot all the way around. Let's call it what it is. We have no guarantees, we have no like yes, this is for sure going to happen.
Speaker 1: 12:06
Marketing is a game of being smart, being strategic and, you know what, being lucky that your marketing hits the right time, the weather decides to behave and your technicians actually implement what they've been trained to do. Your CSRs actually book calls, your customers actually answer things. People can actually get qualified for a financing offer. You know so. But trusting the process, though, back to bucket one. We've got our branding. It's long term. We're going to trust the process. Bucket two we are active in places where people are searching unbranded searches right, they're just out there, free agent, looking for somebody to help them. We want to be there with solid answers and solid responses.
Speaker 1: 12:45
And then, last but not least, let's talk about rehashing. So trusting the process is if you look in your dashboards, your marketing dashboards or whatever you're looking at to track performance and you notice that all of my work came from existing customers. That is a problem for new customer acquisition. You have no strategy for that second bucket that I just talked about and eventually you will bleed your existing database dry. Right, it will run dry.
Speaker 1: 13:15
So, on the rehash strategy, we've got to make sure that we're trusting the process of automations. We've got to make sure that we're trusting the process of automations. Chirp hatch marketing pro something. Set up the automations to where it is working for you in your sleep, number one. And second of all, don't just overkill it, but we need to be touching those clients at least once a month with something that reminds us that we're here. So listen, remember. I could care less about my heating and air conditioning unit until it goes out. I could care less about my heating and air conditioning unit until it goes out. I could care less about my garbage disposal or my water heater, my toilets and all that until there's water all over my house, right? I could care less about my roof leaking until well, my roof until it's leaking, right.
Speaker 1: 13:54
So I just encourage you like you just have to keep a consistent plan in place for rehashing your existing database and cultivating it right. Cultivate the hell out of it, do the best that you can to keep it going. And so when you take all three of those things the branding and bucket one it's got a long-term approach. You're sitting it, you're going to sit it pretty and you're going to update it every quarter. The cost to action you should be all up in that bucket. You need to be all up in that bucket. You need to have budget to go to that bucket. You need to be choosing one, two, maybe three different tactics that you can really invest in. Don't fiddle fart around with it, like invest in it and go with it and then monitor how it's performing. And then, last but not least, rehashing those existing customer bases so that you can really get in there and know what your existing clients are doing Right. So you guys, you've got to layer all of those things.
Speaker 1: 14:47
There's not a silver bullet for marketing. There's not the perfect digital company. There's not the perfect email to send out. There's not the perfect text sequence to send out. Listen, if I ask 10 different people what they did to be successful, I'm going to get 10 different answers. Okay, because everybody had to work around their weather, their team, their market. So shake all of that off and look at your company, look at your team and what you can do, how aggressive you can be with spend and how you can track it and how you can have the right expectations per tactic to really grow your business this year with new customer acquisition and cultivating those databases.
Speaker 1: 15:28
So remember, guys, it's the trust, the process kind of thing. Right, it's really about trusting that you are investing everywhere you should be, pivoting when you should be, but, most importantly, that you're not being a wimp Like get in there, stick to it and do what you can do. So, hey, guys, thank you for joining me for another episode of From the Yellow Chair. I know this was just a fun little shot of information today, but, hey, trust the process, build your brand. If you need help with your branding, lemon Seed is now taking new brand clients and so we'd love to visit with you, give you a brand audit, see if we can help you rebrand your company and really grow that brand recognition in your market to kick some booty right. So, thanks again. If you love everything we're doing, leave us a review, follow us on socials. We are out. Thanks for sipping lemonade.
