Greetings Floor Dealers!
This is the second installment in the series. This week we continue with mistakes 3-5.
Mistake #3: Being Dishonest, Unethical, or Misleading
Odds are, if you care enough about your business to be reading FSS, you’re probably not a sleazy, bait-n-switch type of dealer. So this is more of an encouragement for you to keep fighting the good fight when it comes to being ethical.
In the short term, you can make money ripping people off. But there are huge tradeoffs: your peace of mind (trying to remember which lie you told to whom), longevity in the business, reputation, and sanity. When you’re scamming people, it’s simply not possible to have a long-term, joyful business, or look at yourself each morning in the mirror and feel good about what you see. Yes, by being honest you may have to re-order cushion when they deliver a lower grade than your customer requested (instead of just installing it. Who would know, right?). But in the long run, by remaining ethical even when it hurts a little, you give yourself the foundation for longevity, profitability, and peace of mind that the sleaze-balls will never enjoy.
Mistake #4—Focusing on Features Instead of Benefits
The three words you need to remember when creating a marketing message are benefits, benefits, benefits. When it comes to your product or service, the only thing your prospects and customers care about is how they can benefit. Period. Yet too often sales and marketing efforts by dealers focus on features: certified installers, stain-resistant carpet, cushion thickness, etc. Yes, these features are beneficial to the client; but in your sales and marketing, you need to spell out exactly how the client will benefit from a trained installer, higher yarn counts, and stain resistant carpet. Don’t expect them to connect the dots – do it for them.
Mistake #5: Not Staying in Touch With Your Past Clients
This is huge. If you are making this mistake, you will likely leave millions of dollars on the table over the course of your career. In fact, out of the 13 mistakes featured in this series, this one is the biggest.
During the Marketing Mastery webinars I’ve co-hosted, I’ve asked attendees if their advertising results today are 1) better, 2) the same, or 3) worse than ten years ago. The majority say worse.
There are a number of reasons for this, but one of the biggest is lack of trust. Consumers have been ripped off, lied to, even spied on by corporations and their government. When cold prospects (i.e., non-past customers) see your ad in the paper, find your website, or hear your radio spot, many assume you will probably try to rip them off.
I teach a number of ways to overcome this, such as consumer awareness campaigns, free reports and white papers, multi-step marketing funnels, and other methods. But one of the easiest is to simply begin marketing to your past customers. They already know you, like you, and trust you. This means that you get to skip all the hard work of trying to overcome the skepticism and price-sensitivity you get when a stranger walks in your door.
One of the best methods for marketing to past customers is a monthly newsletter. In a recent seven-part series, How To Command Margins Of 40-50% Or More, I discuss how to create an effective, direct-response newsletter. If you would like a reprint of this series, drop me an email. I’ll be happy to send it to you.
In the next installment I cover four mistakes, including the second biggest marketing mistake I see dealers make.
To Tons Of Customers!
Jim Augustus Armstrong is The “Coach”
Jim Augustus Armstrong is the President of Flooring Success Systems, a program that equips dealers to double their profits, cut their work hours in half and beat the boxes! Many dealers have totally transformed their businesses and their lives for the better after joining Flooring Success Systems.
See what real, live dealers are saying!