Scott’s Thoughts: Weight Loss Accountability

Remember that in setting goals, it’s easier to segment it into smaller pieces, then to think you can accomplish a large goal all at once.Then add the accountability to make sure you’re achieving your goals.

Scott’s Thoughts: Confidence vs. Arrogance

What is the difference between showing confidence in your abilities/products and boasting about them? How do you define that line?

Scott’s Thoughts: Lead Tracking

How are you managing your leads? If you don’t sell to 7 out of 10 people on the first visit, how do you follow up with them?

Yard Signs

We are currently exploring different advertising options for our dealers. The banners we have our helpful and work well, but we are ready to expand what we offer to help you market your buildings and products.

As we researched some ideas for yard signs, I recalled that last year, after our area was plagued with spring storms, we had our hail-damaged roof replaced. The contractor offered us a discount if we would place a sign in our yard advertising his business. We took him up on the offer and displayed a sign for his company (like this one) in our yard all summer and fall. This must be a marketing tactic that works, as he wasn’t the only contractor with signs in yards all over town.

I started to wonder how this might help you — our dealers. What if you offered a discount on your building (or a free upgrade, entry into a prize drawing, etc.) if the customer would display a sign for your company? Something like:

Like our new building?

It came from ABC Sheds!

800-555-1234
www.abc.com

Rent-to-Own available!

Your customers’ neighbors will see the new building — and your sign to know where they got it. Maybe they saw you deliver the building and the excellent job you did in the yard. Maybe they’ll talk to your customer to learn how happy they were with your service. What a great way to get referrals without even trying!

Think about all the yard signs you see when you’re driving around. For sale, for rent, yard work, contractors, Relay for Life, even those scam-like weight loss trials. And what are you seeing especially in years like these? Politicians’ signs! This is a tried-and-true method, so are you using it?

How can you use small yard signs to promote your business and boost your sales? What can you do to stand out among your competition?

The Power of Good Service

In “Where Do Our Former Customers Go?“, an article from the Association of Progressive Rental Organizations, author Jay Roberts decided to find out why customers who did business with him last year aren’t doing business with him this year.

His research returned these results:

• 1% passed away
• 3% moved away
• 5% have established a relationship with a competitor based on the recommendation of a friend
• 9% prefer the competition
• 14% had one negative interaction with a representative of our store
• 68% left because of indifference, rudeness or lack of service

Roberts wrote, “Eighty-two percent of the people that are not doing business with us today is a direct result of what we said or did or their perception of what we said or did. It means that four out of five previous customers would still be with us had we taken care of them when we had them.”

While these results are likely specific to the Rent-to-Own industry, they are probably similar in most industries. Regardless, the principle is the same.

Based on these results, it seems the brand of product and the price fall secondary to good service. In an industry like ours where the competitor is next door, across the street or just down the road, it’s easy to fall into the trap of promoting your buildings and products as the cheapest. As we “race to the bottom” to make the cheapest building, we can lose sight of providing outstanding service — not to mention other aspects, like product quality.

But look at how big of a mistake that is when customers greatly value how you treat them and how you make them feel! It takes a good amount of time, effort and money to gain a new customer. It’s not worth it to let all that go with one poor customer service moment.

Evaluate your standard of service. How are you doing? And how can you do better?

Scott’s Thoughts: A New Product Type

How can a new product type — like decks — bring more traffic to your lot and improve sales?

Scott’s Thoughts: 1 Percent More

I’m revisiting “Raving Fans” by Ken Blanchard, Sheldon Bowles and Harvey Mackay. (I last talked about it in February of last year.)

What are your customers’ expectations for your products and service? What can you do to exceed their expectations by just 1 percent?

Scott’s Thoughts: Internet Enhancements

How can you better use the Internet to help you generate leads? What enhancements can you make to your website to help with this?

Scott’s Thoughts: Am I Open to New Ideas?

How can you try to be more open to new concepts?

Scott’s Thoughts: Evaluate Yourself

How can you reflect on a previous sales presentation and make the next one better?