Greetings Floor Dealers!
This is the third installment in the series. This week we continue with mistakes 6 through 9.
Mistake #6: Failure to Have a System to Generate Referrals
In my opinion, this is the second biggest marketing mistake. (The first is not marketing to your past customers as discussed in the previous installment of this series.)
Let’s say that you have a database of 1,000 customers. Even if those customers are extremely loyal, there is a good chance that in any given month very few (or none) of those people need your services. However, each one of them has a sphere of influence of at least 200 others. That’s 200,000 potential customers and each month dozens to hundreds from that group will need your services! By having a system in place that taps into your customer’s sphere for referrals, you expand your market exponentially.
In a prior series I conducted, “How To Command Margins Of 40-50% Or More,” I give strategies for creating an effective referral program, including a newsletter strategy and a referral program strategy. If you would like a reprint, drop me an email.
Mistake #7: Never Testing New Marketing Methods
There can be severe negative consequences for relying too heavily on a single strategy. What happens if that strategy suddenly stops working? I know a business owner who was generating 30% of all new customers from a single sales letter and it worked well for two years. Suddenly it stopped working. Fortunately he had several other strategies in place, but initially he lost one-third of his revenue from new customers and it caused a real cash-crunch as he struggled to replace it.
Mistake #8: Expecting Your Ads to Give the Entire Marketing Message
Ad space is very expensive and buying space large enough to present your entire marketing message is cost prohibitive and unnecessary. It’s possible to use relatively small ad space to offer free information, which will in turn give a complete marketing message. For example, part of your ad can contain this message:
“WARNING: Don’t Call Or Visit Any Floor Dealer Until You Read This Free Consumers Guide. You Will Learn:
- 6 Costly Misconceptions About Flooring
- 3 Dirty Little Secrets About Installation That The Home Stores Pray You Never Find Out
- 5 Critical Questions To Ask Any Floor Dealer Before You Purchase
Then list a web address where they can opt in for your report. Another advantage to offering free information is it enables you to develop a highly-targeted list of hot prospects for follow-up marketing.
Mistake #9: Assuming Your Customers Understand Floor Covering
As a professional flooring dealer who eats, sleeps, breathes, and drinks flooring each and every day, it’s easy to forget that your prospects and customers don’t understand flooring. This leads to several problems. First, dealers and salespeople talk about features instead of benefits to the customer. It’s critical that in your sales and marketing efforts you connect the dots for your customers as to how they will benefit from the positive features of your products and services. Second, because dealers assume their customers understand flooring, they ignore the tremendous power of education-based marketing. By educating your customers, you help them understand why quality and low price never go together and why they should invest in one type of flooring versus another. Educating your customers also positions you as a trusted advisor; like a family doctor to be trusted rather than as a “salesperson” trying to hock your wares.
In the final installment I go into more detail about strategies you can implement immediately to help position you and your sales team as trusted advisors.
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!