Greetings Flooring Dealers!

Get past the gatekeeper!

Most of the strategies in the Inner Circle Club marketing systems are focused on residential clients. However, that does not mean you can’t use most of these strategies in gaining commercial sales and getting a premium price. Inner Circle member Mark Bouquet wrote me the following letter within a few weeks of joining:

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Hey Jim,
Where do I begin! I apologize, but results have been so good that I have no choice but to ramble…

Attitude! Attitude! Attitude! Since joining your club I’ve completely changed my paradigms on pricing. I’m a brand new member, but because of your coaching on price, I raised my bid on a commercial job by $11,000…and got it! The best part is this is phase one of a 5-phase project, so I’ll make an extra $55,000 in pure profit!

I’m raising all my prices in spite of a slow economy. Man, I had one of those customers, nice lady, sitting on the fence for nearly a year! I sent her your Connect Letter and—thank you very much—a $6,000 job in the win column! (As in win/win.)

I am booked 3 weeks out, hired a part-time crew (soon to be full time) just to cover the additional work.

I have guys doing the shoe-cover strategy, the referral program is in place, the Connect Campaign, testimonials that I got sporadically but now coming regularly.

All this while just scratching the surface of your systems. With our warehouse move, showroom remodel, and life issues, it’s been more difficult to implement like I want to. I cannot wait to see what happens when I fully implement. Shock and awe next! Then the Home Advisor, then…something every day no matter how small it seems!

Jim, thanks for giving me the spark, programs and coaching to have a way to get the “Ideal Lifestyle” that I thought I could and would have when I opened in 1990. It sure is going to be cool to have time AND money. Not one or the other.

God Bless You!
Mark B.

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This is a perfect example of my systems and strategies being applied towards commercial sales.

Another member used the Shock-an-Awe strategy for all his commercial bids. An auto dealership that he “Shock-and-Awed” hired him for a job that totaled over $20,000. And he was the highest bidder.

Okay…so what’s another strategy that can be applied towards getting commercial sales? Well, one challenge faced over and over again when marketing for commercial sales is getting past the dreaded gate-keeper so you can meet face-to-face with an actual decision-maker.

Why not use a “lumpy” or “3-D” mailer to accomplish this? My program is full of 3D strategies, one of our Strategic Alliance partners is 3D Mail Results, and some of you joined the club as a result of receiving a 3D package from me. So let’s apply this residential strategy to getting past the gate-keeper in a commercial setting.

Back in the early ‘90’s I owned a commercial janitorial business which I eventually sold. There were a number of large commercial buildings in my town (yes, even my little cow town of Yuba City has some large-ish buildings) and I decided I wanted to bag one of those accounts. But I knew from experience that walking in the front door and attempting to get face-to-face with a decision-maker was useless.

So here’s what I did…

I picked twenty businesses that fit my criteria (i.e. were housed in large buildings). I phoned each business and got the name of the person in charge of hiring janitorial services. I DID NOT attempt to get that person on the phone. I just got their name.

I went to a local discount store that happened to have cheap sneakers in their “bargain bin” for about $2 a pair. I cleaned them out.

I put together twenty, large padded envelopes, each addressed to one of the decision-makers, and in each envelope I put one of the shoes. I also included a letter with the headline, “Now That I’ve Got My Foot In The Door…” In the letter I also told them I would be phoning them at a specific day and a specific time. In other words, I made a phone appointment by letter.

Then I sent out the packages.

A few days later I made follow-up calls to each of the decision makers at the time I’d promised them. Some answered, some didn’t. The ones that answered knew immediately who I was, and some laughed and told me how clever the mailer was and that they were very impressed with its creativity, and that it was immediately apparent that I was willing to go out of my way to earn their business. I made appointments to assemble bids with all who were interested.

Those who I couldn’t get a hold of got a follow-up letter with the headline, “I want my shoe back.”

After all the dust settled I had landed my largest account ever; an account that included three buildings in two towns.

Marketing cost: about $100.

So can this be applied to floor covering? Are you kidding??? Allow me to quote a portion of Luke 10:37:

“Go thou and do likewise.”

 

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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