Are You Getting Feedback?
by Brad Hieneman

In Harry Beckwith's book, Selling the Invisible, Harry tells a story of a salesperson who approached him to sell a product. In his book, Harry tells how the person did such a poor job that not only did he not buy from him after the presentation, the salesperson insured that Harry would never buy from him.

The point he made in this story is that he never told the person what a poor job he was doing and then outlined his reasons for not sharing the information. The lesson he was teaching was that the only way you can get feedback from your customer is to ask them.

When you present the CTi products to a customer, do you ask for feedback on how you did when you are done with your presentation? A simple question such as, "I'm always looking for ways to improve my business. Can you tell me how I did in clearly presenting the product to you and answering your questions?" Not only is this a great way to get feedback on how you're doing, it also will impress some customers to the point that it will push them off the fence and turn them into buyers.

People are always looking to do business with companies that truly care about providing them with a quality product. Get the feedback you need in order to provide your customers with an outstanding experience.

Why Do I Need a Bookkeeping System?

When starting your Dealership, it's always tempting to run the business from the home check book. Writing out checks for bills, materials, etc. is easier because you are already setup, you don't have to put money in a new account and it simplifies where and how you write your checks.

The problem comes when your business begins to grow and you want to begin tracking cash flow, profit and loss and other measures that show the health and vitality of your business.

A professional bookkeeper or software program, accompanied with a stand alone account, is a worthwhile investment for a number of reasons.

1) The bookkeeper or accounting software will show you areas where your Dealership can improve. How much did you spend on materials? When did you increase inventory levels? What did this increase do to the cash flow in your business and how long did it take to turn the inventory into liquid cash? These answers, along with a hundred others, are the types that are answered by organizing your Dealership.

2) Running your business through the home checking account can also hide a number of critical deficiencies. These deficiencies, if left unchecked, could cripple your business in the long run. Is the business truly profitable or is another income stream within your home covering up the shortfalls? Are there certain expenses being included within the business that are strictly expenses that should be allocated to running your household? Are these expenses deflating the profitability of the business? Organizing your business financially can eliminate this confusion and lead to greater profitability now and as the business grows.

12 Advertising Mistakes to Avoid

1. The quest for instant gratification:

The ad that creates enough urgency to cause people to respond immediately is the ad most likely to be forgotten immediately once the offer expires. It is of little use in establishing the advertiser's identity in the mind of the consumer.

2. Trying to reach more people than the budget will allow:

For a media mix to be effective, each element in the mix must have enough repetition to establish retention in the mind of the prospect. Too often, however, the result of a media mix is too much reach and not enough frequency. Will you reach 100 percent of the people and persuade them 10 percent of the way? Or will you reach 10 percent of the people and persuade them 100 percent of the way? The cost is the same.

3. Assuming the business owner knows best:

The business owner is uniquely unqualified to see his company or product objectively. Too much product knowledge leads him to answer questions no one is asking. He's on the inside looking out, trying to describe himself to a person on the outside looking in. It's hard to read the label when you're inside the bottle.

4. Unsubstantiated claims:

Advertisers often claim to have what the customer wants, such as "highest quality at the lowest price," but fail to offer any evidence. An unsubstantiated claim is nothing more than a cliché the prospect is tired of hearing. You must prove what you say in every ad. Do your ads give the prospect new information? Do they provide a new perspective? If not, prepare to be disappointed with the results.

5. Improper use of passive media:

Nonintrusive media, such as newspapers and yellow pages, tend to reach only buyers who are looking for the product. They are poor at reaching prospects before their need arises, so they're not much use for creating a predisposition toward your company. The patient, consistent use of intrusive media, such as radio and TV, will win the hearts of relational customers long before they're in the market for your product.

6. Creating ads instead of campaigns:

It is foolish to believe a single ad can ever tell the entire story. The most effective, persuasive and memorable ads are those most like a rhinoceros: They make a single point, powerfully. An advertiser with 17 different things to say should commit to a campaign of at least 17 different ads, repeating each ad enough to stick in the prospect's mind.

7. Obedience to unwritten rules:

For some insane reason, advertisers want their ads to look and sound like ads. Why?

8. Late-week schedules:

Advertisers justify their obsession with Thursday and Friday advertising by saying "We need to reach the customer just before she goes shopping." Why do these advertisers choose to compete for the customer's attention each Thursday and Friday when they could have a nice, quiet chat all alone with her on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday?

9. Overconfidence in qualitative targeting:

Many advertisers and media professionals grossly overestimate the importance of audience quality. In reality, saying the wrong thing has killed far more ad campaigns than reaching the wrong people. It's amazing how many people become "the right people" when you're saying the right thing.

10. Event-driven marketing:

A special event should be judged only by its ability to help you more clearly define your market position and substantiate your claims. If 1 percent of the people who hear your ad for a special event choose to come, you will be in desperate need of a traffic cop and a bus to shuttle people from distant parking “the process of marketing begins with discovering what product customers want to buy.” Yet your real investment will be in the 99 percent who did not come! What did your ad say to them?

11. Great production without great copy:

Too many ads today are creative without being persuasive. Slick, clever, funny, creative and different are poor substitutes for informative, believable, memorable and persuasive.

12. Confusing response with results:

The goal of advertising is to create a clear awareness of your company and its unique selling proposition. Unfortunately, most advertisers evaluate their ads by the comments they hear from the people around them. The slickest, cleverest, funniest, most creative and most distinctive ads are the ones most likely to generate these comments. See the problem? When we confuse response with results, we create attention-getting ads that say absolutely nothing.

Follow up...a key to success.

Following up with customers to insure their satisfaction will enhance your reputation as a respected businessman in your community.

After completing a job and while collecting the balance owed, schedule an appointment with that customer for about two weeks out. Then leave behind with the customer a critique card, like the ones you see at hotels or restaurants. Tell the customer you will pick up the card when you come by in two weeks. If you haven’t done so yet, you may want ask for referrals at this point as well.

Then, in two weeks at the appointment, explain to the customer that you’re there to demonstrate how to properly maintain and care for their new CTI system. The appointment shouldn’t take more than fifteen minutes.

The following are a few suggestions to consider for the follow up appointment, to really impress your custiomer:

• Show the customer before and after photos of the job, shot from the same spot. The best way to make sure you shoot both the before and after photos from the same angle and perspective, is to mark the spot with tape or chalk. If you leave a set of pictures with the customers, ou may find his referrals even more enthusiastic.

• Review the maintenance contract with the customer. Explain that you can repair most cracks or accidents, but they'd have to schedule a maintenance call with you.

• If you used 200 sealer, demonstrate (on a small 200-coated sample board) how to remove spray paint. Spray paint the board and then just wipe off with Xylene dampened rag..

• Demonstrate how to clean shoe scuff marks and oil off of their CTI system. Take a black rubber soled shoe and scuff the system. Spray WD-40 onto the scuff mark. Now, using a white bristled brush, brush some Dawn detergent onto the area. Then just hose off with water. Do the same for the demonstration with oil (but the WD-40 step isn’t necessary).

• Tell customers they should expect a card in the mail in about two years to schedule a light power wash and more than likely, another coat of sealer.

Please explain that if they do not call or return the card you will not call them to schedule this appointment. Those warranty calls are great selling opportunities for other areas of their home.

Remember, happy customers will help build your reputation and lead to increased sales.

Adding Products to the CTi Estimator

Periodically, you may want to establish a new product estimate for your software. Whether it’s a minor modification such as installing the Hallmark System with Pro Seal 200 as the sealer or an entirely new product line such as the Euro Bond System, both can be added relatively easily to the Estimator.

Step 1: To add the Euro Bond countertops to the Estimator, you will need to add the component materials to the program. This consists of the Euro Blend Dry Mix, the Euro Blend wet component, the Euro Color, and the sealer you prefer to use (Rapid Armor is most popular). Choose "square foot" as your measurement to keep things consistent. On the left hand side of the main screen of the Estimator, under the "Administrative Section", click on "Control Panel". In the middle column of choices, under the "Add New" section, choose "Material". This will bring up a new screen where the program will ask you for the information listed below:

• Name of the Component
• Retail price per linear foot (the price you want to sell to the customer)
• Cost per linear foot (your cost per foot for that particular component)
• Preferred Supplier (CTi is the default)

Step 2: Once you’ve added each of the components involved, go back to the main page of the Estimator program. On the left hand side, in the "Administrative" Section, click on "Control Panel". In the middle column of choices, under the "Add New" section, click on "Product (Formula)". This will bring up a new screen where you will enter the name for your product (i.e. Euro Bond with Rapid Armor Sealer), determine the measurement you would like to use (square footage, linear footage, etc.), determine the retail price per your measurement and choose a picture for your icon on the main screen. You can also enter a description if you like to make it easier to understand what product is being estimated. Once you’ve entered this information, click on the "Add Product (Formula)" button in the lower right hand corner.

Step 3: Once you clicked on the "Add Product (Formula)" button, a new screen will appear where you will add the products associated with the installation of this product. In the "Materials in This Product (Formula)" section, click on the "Add New" link. This will bring up a new screen where the program will ask for the product you want to add. Provided you’ve added the products in Step 1, they will appear in the drop down menu. Scroll down and add each of the components listed above individually along with the coverage of each.

Coverage for the Euro Bond Components is as follows:

• Euro Blend Dry Mix: 50 s/f per 5 gal. Bucket
• Euro Blend Wet Component: 50 s/f per 2 gal.
• Euro Color: 50 s/f per 2 oz of color combined
• Rapid Armor: 100 s/f per gal.

Once you’ve completed Step 3, your new product will appear on the main screen during the start up of the program. Choose the product and enter the area and square footage as normal and the program will calculate the new product’s information.

Marketing Tip

Do you have a large corporation in your area? Some CTi Dealers in these areas have approached the Human Resources Department of companies such as IBM, Xerox, etc. to let them know their CTi Dealership offers a special discount for employees of these companies.

The HR department is always on the lookout for perks their employees can use, and will advertise the discount you offer free of charge.

Your message may end up in front of a large audience with discretionary money to spend on CTi.

Low Cost and No Cost online advertising

Many CTi Dealers are finding success in generating leads using low cost and no cost advertising venues on line. The low cost way is through

The Concrete Network.

This online service can provide local leads for a fraction of the cost of advertising in newspapers or other traditional media. The no cost alternative that many Dealers are finding effective is through

Craigslist.

This catch all site advertises most any type of product or service in a given area and is free of charge.

Set Yourself Up With Business For the Season

Home and Garden shows are one of the biggest sales generators for most CTi Dealers. The return on investment for these shows normally out performs most any other advertising a Dealer can do throughout the year.

The Spring home shows are just around the corner, so with that in mind, let’s look at some ways you can make the most out of your time manning a home show booth.

1) Wear comfortable shoes, you’ll be on your feet a lot

2) Have enough people working the booth so people can take a break periodically. This will help prevent anyone from getting stale when approaching customers.

3) Have enough brochures, call the show’s management company and ask what the attendance was last year. Have approximately 2% to 5% of that attendance available in brochures. (i.e. last year’s show had 50,000 people attend, you want approximately 2500 pieces of literature.)

4) Don’t sit down, this gives a bad first impression and people will be less likely to come in the booth. This is why #2 is so important.

5) No eating or drinking in the booth, the last thing a customer wants when they ask you a question is to wait while you stop chewing or worse…get sprayed.

6) Always have someone working the booth. If a person comes up to a show booth with no one present, it gives a bad first impression of your company.

7) The customer always comes first. You’ll have a tendency to talk to the people working the booth with you, once a customer enters the booth, all attention needs to be focused on them and the chitchat needs to stop.

8) Always have the TV and DVD player running. The “Home and Garden Show” DVD provided by CTI is a great video to play. This is one of the best ways to stop people while they’re walking by.

9) Pre-qualify. Many home shows will give you an overwhelming response, so make sure to pre-qualify people by asking such questions as

1) Is the area you’re considering made of concrete?
2) What kind of time frame did you have in mind for starting?
3) What alternatives or budget did you have in mind (listen for hints from the customer as to how much money they have in mind to spend)

Some other things to consider is a theme for your booth. A funny or interesting theme will help your company stand out in the crowd as well as get people talking about you that may lead to further traffic that normally wouldn’t visit your booth. Some interesting ideas for themes are:

1) Dress up in white lab coats and stethoscopes in the booth. The theme would be “We’re your concrete doctor”
2) Dress up in outfits that look like police. Theme would be “We protect your concrete”

The more memorable the theme, the more people will talk about your booth. You can also tie in giveaways to enhance the word of mouth. You can hand out water guns with the police outfits as an example.