by Dave on May 15
You might read that title and say “what does that mean?” Let me explain. When you get a possible job lead, what do you do? Most contractors call the homeowner back, try to review the potential project over the phone, and then set a time to meet the homeowner to review the work that needs to be done. Sound familiar? If it sounds familiar, it’s because most contractors are all doing the same thing.
Let’s change things up a little, and approach a new job lead differently. Put together some information on your company, and before your first appointment, send them your “positioning package” to let the homeowner know more about your company. Now, you may need a few days before the appointment to do this, so if you don’t have that much time, take this “positioning package” with you to the initial appointment.
Image Source: hgtv.com
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by Michael Stone on May 14
Over the last few years, we’ve seen the large number of construction-related businesses fail. Both large and small businesses have gone under. My best estimate is that we have lost somewhere between 35% and 40% of the contractors that were in business in January of 2007.
Why did these companies fail? There are six basic reasons that will cause a majority of business failures. I know we can talk about the economy, but many of these failures would have occurred eventually. The bad economy just hastened it.
Image Source: jasonnazar.com
The biggest reason is not charging enough for the work or service provided. When lots of work is coming in the door (which is how things were 6-8 years ago), it’s easy to mask this problem because jobs coming in the door are used to pay for jobs already completed. [click to continue…]
