In this economy, a few contractors are doing O. K. and a lot of contractors are making do with less business and income than they used to. So many times, those that aren’t doing so well just blame the economy or their customers. They try to blame anything and anyone other than themselves.
The fact is that , yes, the economy is the toughest we have seen in decades and customers have changed the way they spend money. However, some businesses are doing well despite this and a few are even …

This is a question that seems to be obvious, but a lot of times we tend to lose focus. I know a lot of people who are in business that are now working for their business and getting very little money out of it. I know of others who try to stay busy even when they aren’t making any money so they can keep their employees busy.
There are people who stay in business just to take care of their customers because their customers expect them to be there when they …

I write a lot about taking care of previous customers. The reason I do is that previous customers are the majority of my business. Also, I believe that they are the best prospects for new business and they are overlooked by most contractors.
Just because I spend most of my advertising to encourage my relationship with past customers, doesn’t mean that I don’t get new customers. I do do some advertising for new customers and I have a process to convert them into customers.
Many contractors think that all they can do with …

With the economy being down the last couple of years, I see a lot of businesses and contractors trying to lure customers with the lowest price. Is this a good strategy for you or is it a good way to go out of business slowly?
There is no question that consumers are changing their buying habits. Consumers aren’t buying like they used to. Some of them do buy based mainly on price because their income has been cut enough that they do not have a choice. Others buy mainly on price …

There are many ways to keep in touch with your current customers. Most contractors don’t use any of them. They just spend all of their advertising dollars to try to get new customers and ignore their current customers.
Personally, I think they are ignoring the best source of business for them. As I mentioned last week, your current and past customers are the best source of more business for you that you can get.
The best advertising that I have found to market to your current and past customers is a newsletter. …

Believe it or not, you can get to the point where you never need to advertise for new customers again. You can be as busy as you can handle without ever spending any money trying to attract new customers. This is different from what your competition does. You see most contractors spend most if not all of their advertising budget trying to attract new customers.
If you talk to any of the salespeople that are selling advertising, they will tell you that is the way to build your business. Of course, …

I remember years ago when I was doing remodeling and construction. I seldom if ever advertised and I was often booked up for 6 months or more. That was when people could get money easily and they were often doing additions and complete makeovers on their homes.
If I had known then what I know now, I would have made a lot more money. But of course hindsight is 20/20. However, we can go forward and the sooner we realize how things have changed, the quicker we can profit from it.
One of …

In the world today, there seems to be very few companies that do an excellent job. I know that I talk about marketing and keeping your customers, but one big thing in your business that must never be overlooked is doing an excellent job. To do this means that you deliver more than your customer expects. It means that you always do the job right no matter what it takes.
You  can do great marketing, but if you do an average or poor job, you will soon run out of new …

Even though there are signs of the economy improving slightly, things are still pretty tough for a lot of people. Many businesses are still struggling and having trouble making it. There are still a lot of people out of work.
If you are willing to make the necessary changes in your business in order to do well in these times, you might be surprised at the positive benefits that can come out of this. For the right business, this can be a positive time.
One of the first benefits of this recession …

I hear lots of talk about how the economy is getting better and we are heading out of this recession. In fact, I am surprised at how busy I have been and the number of estimates I have been doing. However, I still know of other contractors who aren’t doing too well.
I don’t expect the economy to recover as quickly as the government would want us to believe it will. I think part of the current positive response is largely due to pent up demand. People have put off doing stuff …