How to (gently) promote online reviews!

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KickStart: Want more reviews? Mention how important their online review is to the employee who worked in the customer’s home.

Let me be clear. I am NOT a ‘marketing guru’! Why not? Because the constant, frenetic changes in online marketing make my head hurt!😲 But I do know a bit about ‘Timeless Concepts’ (this phrase IS part of my tag line, after all!) in business.

Hands down, marketing’s most ‘Timeless Concept’ is ‘word of mouth’ advertising. But NOW it can be supercharged with ‘Today’s Tools’! (Darn it- how did the second half of my tag line sneak in here?)😁

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Stop communicating ‘intrusively’

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stressed home services customerKickStart: When booking their work give your residential customer options on how you should contact them.

All of us (including you, me AND your residential clients) are more stressed (and OUT of control) than ever before!😲 This is why you must help your customers FEEL ‘in control’. (Including on their first nervous phone call inquiring about your services.)

But remember, no customer wants to completely control your work on their home. If they did, the home owner wouldn’t be calling your company. They’d just do the work themselves!

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Marketing services to the neighbors- Part II

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KickStart: Send a brightly colored envelope “pre-orienting’ close-by home owners that you’ll be “in the area”. (Include a list of your services.)

residential service marketing headachesMarketing your residential services is tough! After all, home owners are bombarded with a dizzying deluge of advertising and (GRRRR!) low-price offers!😡 But WAIT!

You have an exclusive, ‘virgin marketing territory’ when you or your on-site workers make a friendly, ‘heads-up’ visit to the neighbors when beginning each job. Or even better, in conjunction with your personal visits…

‘Pre-orient’ the neighbors that you’ll be “in the area” BEFORE your scheduled work. Simply…

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Marketing services to the neighbors- Part I

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KickStart: Make a friendly, ‘heads-up’ visit to the neighbors when beginning each job. Optional: Or pre-contact them by mail.

Think about this. On every residential job your Home Service Business workers are SURROUNDED by potential NEW customers… the neighbors!👍 BUT…

Is your company taking advantage of this secret, exclusive-to-you marketing opportunity?🤔 For example, your on-site workers should always…

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The WHY (and how to) of Building an ‘Employee Waiting List’

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KickStart: Avoid ‘Desperation Hiring’ by continually recruiting and interviewing future employees BEFORE you need them!

Why, oh why, did it always happen late on a Friday afternoon?☹ I’d had a good week (defined as 100% delighted residential clients!), was finishing up paperwork on my desk, and looking forward to a fun weekend. Then my employee Charlie appeared…

Charlie: “Uh, Steve, can I talk to you?”

Me: “Sure, Charlie, what’s up?”

frustrated home services business manager

Charlie: “Ummmm, Steve, I’m really sorry to do this to you. But I’ve got a new job starting on Monday. I asked them if I could give you more notice but they’re insisting I start immediately…” 

And my relaxed weekend came crashing down! Now I was facing double shifts to cover Charlie’s booked-solid schedule! Or even worse being forced into the dreaded Desperation Hiring! AAARGH!😲

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BEFORE hiring do a ‘Trial Hire’

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KickStart: BEFORE hiring even the best job applicant pay them to work with you for a day.

Have you ever received a text like this from a new hire? (Remember, this applicant interviewed great!)😥

resignation text

If so, here’s the deal: You LOVE the Home Services industry. (Me too!) But hard as it is to believe…

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Beware these ‘hidden’ Profit-sucking Black Holes!

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KickStart: Are your business profits being silently siphoned off by unnoticed problems? Read on…

boost your home service company profitsOK, I’ll admit it. I used to be a chest-pounding Home Services Business (HSB) owner that bragged about how many trucks, employees and/or customers I had. (I especially loved sharing that my company had grown into a powerhouse that grossed seven figures yearly!)

But then, I wised up. (Or maybe just got older!) I realized it is smarter to fix the ‘Profit-sucking Black Holes’ (PBH’s) that all residential services companies struggle with. I call the obvious PBH’s the ‘Tragic Big 3’😥:

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Your home service customers don’t really want to talk to you!

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scared home service customerDo current world events have you (and your clients) feeling  a bit overwhelmed, nervous, panicked or ALL of these? Absolutely! Me too! (And don’t even get me started on gas prices!)

These negative feelings mean you must respect your residential customer’s ‘Personal Emotional Space’! ‘ After all, you wouldn’t burst into your customer’s homes without knocking, would you?  So, stop barging into your customer’s mental ‘Inner Sanctum’ without permission! For example…

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Is your service company ‘bleeding out’ and you don’t know it?

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KickStart: STOP🛑 losing money BEFORE you focus on increasing gross sales. Read on…

Profit: “The revenue remaining after all costs are paid. These costs may include labor, materials, interest on debt, and taxes.” 

Ah yes, that wonderful and too-often elusive word, “profit”. And yes, as a Home Service Business owner you need (and deserve) LOTS of profit.💲💲💲 (Which should be calculated AFTER paying yourself a fair wage for your labors.)

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