The Gated Community
I shouldn’t have to tell you: YOU DON’T WANT TO WORK FOR EVERYONE.
My technique for marketing and sales is not casting a wide net and catching any “fish”.
I want to teach you to be very selective about the “fish” we catch. One hook, one fish. The biggest, TASTIEST fish!
These stories are quite common in construction---“Man, that customer was such a pain in the butt! Constantly nit picking my work, late on payments, just a real pain!”
We often find homeowners with a MENTALITY that is CORRUPTED.
Corrupted by bad experiences with past contractors, corrupted by Mom or Dad, corrupted by a horrific motorcycle accident, burned by men, cut off in traffic by a man with a truck and tools in the back. DOES NOT MATTER!
They think contractors are out to stiff them, constantly looking for “the deal”, they act as slave drivers…just an overall bad attitude.
If you’ve been in business long enough, you know the type!
Don’t be surprised when I tell you, WE WANT TO AVOID THOSE PEOPLE. You DO NOT have to work for anyone and everyone that calls you!
We want to treat our businesses as a GATED COMMUNITY.
Gated communities put up that big, fancy gate in front as a way to exclude the riffraff and the troublemakers. They have a security house in front to protect against THIEVES, SOLICITORS---bad people that would harm the people INSIDE the gate, behind the walls.
My proposal is that you treat your BUSINESS like a GATED COMMUNITY!
I support your business being EXCLUSIVE not INCLUSIVE.
Why wouldn’t you protect your mental, emotional, spiritual and physical state from bad actors in the open market? People that will keep you up at night. Customers that will run you ragged and not allow you to run your style of business. Customers that don’t APPRECIATE you.
People that want an ASYMETRICAL RELATIONSHIP with the people that work at their property. They want to be the boss barking orders while the tradesman is LUCKY to have a job! The type of folks that will have their contractor walking on eggshells.
You don’t want to work for EVERYONE.
Mostly, you want to find and identify the customers with the right MENTALITY. A mentality that allows you to run a proper business, to work in a healthy way, to get paid a family wage, to get paid profit, to use the best material, to build to last, to take your time. A mentality of APPRECIATION, UNDERSTANDING and DIGNITY.
They’re out there!
So, how do we turn our businesses into a GATED COMMUNITY?
First and foremost---we have HOOPS for new prospects to jump through.
“So, Ben, you say you want me to make it HARD for a new prospect to hire me?”
No, not necessarily. I want you to put up BARRIERS FOR ENTRY into your business circle. This is part of the INTERVIEW PROCESS that you’ll put your potential customer through. They’re no longer interviewing YOU; YOU’RE INTERVIEWING THEM! Because they are lucky to have YOU. A competent, hardworking, trustworthy, great businessman that has their best interest in mind!
So, let’s implement a step-by-step process for onboarding new clients and treating your company like a GATED COMMUNITY:
· Voicemail only phone line: Many coaches will advise that you pick up every phone call as soon as it comes in. That method is a good way to get hooked up with the worst kind of customers. The kind of customer with a high time preference,(I want it NOW) the kind of customer that is used to BULLYING the people that work for them.
No, no, no. We set up a voice mail line with a pleasant, short message---advising that you are working in the field and that you need them to leave some simple information. That you will call them back within 24 hours to discuss the project.
This voicemail line does not go to your PERSONAL cell phone, maybe use a Google voice number (free) I’ve used Grasshopper as well that has a few added features like automatic texting that I find helpful. What’s worse than being called by strangers off the internet when you’re doing something else like working on a project or spending time with your family?
Any customer that is serious about having YOU work for them, because they’ve been pre sold by your online marketing or they received a really good referral ---will gladly leave a message and wait…if they have such a high time preference, you know---the “I need to have it RIGHT NOW” type of person…If the potential lead is this type of person..YOU DON’T WANT TO WORK FOR THEM ANYWAY and guess what, YOUR GATE WORKED!
Re-read my chapter on sales qualification questions because once you hear the voicemail, you will determine a time when you can sit down, feeling your best, in a quiet environment to put them through your initial sales qualification process…and if all goes well, to make an appointment. You’re not doing this with tools going off in the background, your not doing this with your children screaming in the back ground…you set aside a specific time to do your callbacks.
· An online form for new prospects: The best customers will always fill out a well thought out online form. They will give you all the information you need to sell the job to them in the online form---you can frame your conversation with them based on the information they gave you in the form. If they tell you they want tidy, clean workers in the form….talk to them about a situation where a past customer praised you on the cleanliness of your jobsite…CRAFT you sales presentation based on what they’ve told you on the form.
The type of homeowner that fills out an online form is usually going to be people that don’t want to waste time with the traditional manner of doing business and finding a contractor.
It actually works great for them, because it allows them to gather their thoughts on the project in a way that many other companies will not have them compile.
Your form will have a spot for them to put their physical address, so you can google it and find their home value. You’ll know if they can afford your services based on their address.
It will have a place for when they want the job completed, so you’ll know if timeframe will be a problem.
It will ask them what they’re looking for in a contractor…so if they say “FAST AND CHEAP” you’ll know that’s not the customer for you, for example.
It’ll have a place for their BUDGET---so you can talk frankly and upfront about that…
It will also have a place PICTURES…so you can talk to them on the first phone call about what issues you see. Being able to see pictures streamlines the onboarding process, massively!
Every advertisement you make will have a call to action directing them to fill out the online form…your website will re-enforce that you want them to fill out the form…
Your GATED COMMUNITY requires new prospects to FILL OUT A FORM so you can make a quick assessment as to whether you can help them.
· Use a consultation fee for in home estimates
This is the most difficult thing to stick to. Fees for in home estimates are extremely uncommon in most markets.
I don’t need to tell you that every in home estimate, costs your company money.
Often a significant amount of money. If you’re an owner operator, you usually have to drop what you’re doing that actually makes money, to go see something that has the POTENTIAL to make money…
Your time is valuable and if we’re talking about keeping the riff-raff away, the people who don’t or won’t pay---a consultation fee is a sure way to do it.
It can be called a “Pre- construction services fee” a “design fee” there are many ways to do this, but the key is to load up value on even TALKING to you, because you are that much of an expert.
If you’re serious about preserving your time and treating your business like a gated community, the consultation is like the guard at the gate house!
· Clearly state WHO you’re wanting to work for in your marketing. Every company has a mission statement. Yours should be one that NAMES the exact CHARACTER of the person you want to work with.
“If you care about HOW your project is built, we want to work with you”
People that have that character know what that means when they read it! The ones that don’t will generally eliminate themselves and not call. That’s what we want.
In all your video content and advertising, you’re baiting your hook in a specific way to attract the fish you want and scare away the ones you don’t.
Make your content so REPULSIVE to people with a bad mentality, they don’t even bother you.
Sometimes that is as easy as putting your “brand” on every picture…A certain type of person will look at that and think “too expensive” and move on!
It’s a sad state of affairs, but “being professional” will discourage the riff-raff.
Every ad, I want you to ask yourself WHO IS THIS FOR?
· Be the highest price in your market. In order to have the highest price, for fairness sake --you have to have an excellent product and service. You screw over the whole industry if you charge high prices and people aren’t happy with you and what you’re doing.
My experience has been that the CHEAPEST PEOPLE are the hardest to work with.
The people that PAY THE MOST---if you can deliver on your promises---are going to be the best customers you’re ever going to have.
People that pay more value their contractors more, because there is a LARGE NUMBER attached to what the contractor is doing.
Yes, you want people with CHEAP MENTALITY scoffing at your price. You PROBABLY just avoided a PROBLEM. “You think I’m too expensive? Good, I think you’re too cheap.”
Part of treating your business as a gated community means you chase off CHEAP people--- with your high prices. You actually value yourself and your business—you know it helps the people you interact with—you respect yourself…your high prices are worth it. Your SANITY is worth it. The business you’ve worked so hard to build…IS WORTH IT!
It's FANTASTIC to be seen as the “expensive” company, because cheap people will not call you, wasting your time trying to figure that out!
I want you to remember, this technique I’m mentioning is going to require that you have A LOT OF LEADS COMING IN and that you also have a surplus of work…it is EXTREMELY DIFFICULT to do this technique and be DESPERATE for work.
You will find that the hardest thing for you to do is STICK TO YOUR PROCESS when things slow down a bit.
PUBLIC ONLINE CONTRACTOR CONTENT, quality work and good service will build your business to the point where you have CHOICE in who you’re working for. That’s what we want.
We have to, have to, have to keep the riff raff, the trouble makers AWAY from our businesses. Even when we CAN service these people, it’s not worth the chance. People with a screw loose need to be kept away from our precious businesses that we’ve worked so hard to build!