As I covered in Part 1, the vast majority of sales in the $20,000 range and above don’t come from advertising. They come from repeat customers and their referrals. In this installment, we continue with strategies and principles for magnetically attracting high-end, high-margin sales.
Marketing to your past customers.
Over the years you’ve most likely done some large, high-margin residential jobs. These people are your best candidates for providing more high-end sales. Market to them every month. The best way to do this is with a monthly, direct-response newsletter supplemented with a weekly e-newsletter. (I cover this in detail in my series of columns titled How To Command Margins Of 40% to 50% or More.
In your newsletter, be sure to include customer testimonials, and acknowledge new and returning customers. Also thank those who referred you, and mention your referral reward program. All of these serve as social proof that you are different, that you are a trusted advisor, that you have lots of raving-fan customers who are happy to pay your premium prices, and that tons of people are referring you because you’re so awesome.
Referral marketing system.
For most dealers, referrals are a “happy accident.” They don’t have an “on-purpose” system in place to generate referrals from their currently booked installations. The basic components of an effective referral marketing system are as follows:
- Be referable. (Covered in Part 1.)
- Ask every one of your customers for referrals. I recommend using a referral form that explains how she will directly benefit by referring you, and how the person she refers will benefit.
- Follow up with all the referrals. Send them a letter that introduces you and your business, and that explains all the benefits of buying from you vs. your competitors. Include lots of testimonials.
- Subscribe all the referrals to your monthly newsletter. Those who don’t buy right now will choose you when they are ready to buy if you stay in front of them.
Affiliate relationships.
A dealer told me that he had about 5 referral relationships with Realtors, designers and remodeling contractors. I asked him how much revenue they collectively generated for him annually. “About $150,000,” he said. I then suggested that since his goal was to increase his revenue, to develop relationships with 10-times that many businesses. Sure, it might take a year to do so, but by investing the time and energy to make this happen he would add $1.5 Million to his annual revenue with virtually no marketing costs.
That’s not the only benefit. He would also be buttressing his business against ups-and-downs in the market because he would have many sources funneling customers into his dealership. If half of the funnels got clobbered in another recession, he’d still have the other half sending money his way.
He would also put himself in a position to close on many, many more large, multi-thousand dollar jobs. Think about it: if you have 30-50 Realtors, designers, remodeling contractors, carpet cleaners, architects, and others sending you a steady stream of referrals, you’ve exponentially increased the odds of getting in front of lots of high-end customers.
Brent B. from Utah developed a referral relationship with a single Realtor. That Realtor referred him a steady-stream of business, including a residential job that totaled over $40,000. Imagine if he had 10 Realtors doing the same thing.
To Tons Of Customers!
Jim Augustus Armstrong is The “Coach”
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See what real, live dealers are saying!