There was once a chiropractor who built up a million-dollar-per-year practice.  He sold his business, and quickly built another million-dollar practice.  Then he did it a third time.  Obviously, this man had a system for building successful chiropractic practices.  So, he began to host seminars teaching other chiropractors how to grow their businesses.  After almost every seminar someone would approach him and ask, “I need a way to get 50 new clients a month.”  To which the million-dollar chiropractor would reply, “I don’t know one way to get 50 new clients a month.  I know 50 ways to get one new client a month and I do all 50.”

“I don’t know one way to get 50 new clients a month.  I know 50 ways to get one new client a month and I do all 50.”

This is the exact kind of thinking you need to apply to your flooring business.  Too many dealers fall prey to “silver bullet” thinking.  They are hoping to find that one strategy, that one social media platform, that one website strategy that will solve all of their customer acquisition problems.  Or, they get approached by a marketing company offering lead generation services, or SEO, or pay-per-click, and they become seduced by the idea that this company’s product will generate all the customers they need.

Silver bullets are a myth

The key to having a growing, thriving business that gives you all the customers you need and provides a fantastic lifestyle is to implement marketing and business systems.  Not silver bullets.  Silver bullets are a myth.

Another key to remember is that marketing is everything and everything is marketing.  Every touchpoint, every interaction with a prospect or customer represents a marketing opportunity.  The million-dollar chiropractor is not saying that he runs 50 different marketing campaigns, he’s saying that he treats every interaction with every prospect as an opportunity to create differentiation, position himself as a trusted advisor, and make his practice the obvious choice.

With that in mind, here are fifteen marketing strategies to get (at least) one new customer per month.

  1. Market to your past customers consistently.  The most effective way I’ve found to do this is with a monthly printed newsletter and a weekly e-newsletter.  You can touch your list this often if in your communication you use the 90/10 formula: 90% fun, informative, welcome, entertaining content, and 10% flooring content.
  2. Print extra newsletters each month and give them to walk-ins.
  3. Subscribe all the businesses within 6 blocks of your store to your newsletter.
  4. Wear shoe covers during in-home measures.
  5. 5-around strategy.  When you install flooring in a customer’s home, leave a promotional door hangar with their two neighbors on either side, and the three across the street.
  6. Follow up with every prospect every few days until they give you a yes or no.
  7. Hand every walk-in a beverage menu and ask them what they’d like to drink.
  8. Welcome packs for walk ins.  Have professional folders printed up, and inside include your latest newsletter, customer testimonials, and your guarantees and warranties.
  9. When you do an in-home measure, give the prospect a free bottle of spotter with free lifetime refills.
  10. Take photos of your customers standing on their new floors.  Post the photos on your Facebook and Instagram page along with a testimonial.
  11. Put a review campaign in place so every customer is automatically asked to review your business online.
  12. Stream reviews on your website.
  13. Record sort video testimonials from your customers.  Post them on your website.
  14. Post video testimonials on social media.
  15. Implement a system to generate referrals from every installation.

I have two questions:  First, can you commit to implementing one strategy per month?  If so, in one year you’ll have a dozen new customer-getting strategies in place.  Second, how many more strategies can you think of?  Send them to me at Support@FlooringSuccessSystems.com and I may feature them in an upcoming column.

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.
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