Small Business Basic Theory

We all know that this tough economic times affecting all contractors and builders in construction fields. Inspiring your staff to be leaders is what will make your company profitable. If you are in construction business to fill a personal void--you should start your job search now. Control junkies and egomaniacs are destined for failure so save yourself the trouble. Vision is knowing where you are going--why and how you will get there. With vision each step is firm and stumbling is kept to a minimum. Your fence and deck company will work step by step towards the goals. You must teach your staff what you expect from them and they must be given the leeway to proceed with your enacting your vision. If you have chosen the right people--they will be capable of working at arms length. The forest for the trees analogy illustrates what can happen when you are too busy to look forward, reflect and plan. If you as a leader are too busy doing what you pay other people to do your job goes undone. Your job to steer, put out fires and plan for the future. It's your job to head the company.

You say you don't have employees yet?

I'd ask you if you have a business plan? If you are already running a deck company and you don't have employees you may want to slow down and take a good shrewd look at where you are and why. What will be your next step- how will you go from being a handyman or sub-contract carpenter to an actual business?

A leader Sees, Reflects and then Acts.

Yellow pages is often the first stop. These leads are mostly price based. They are looking for competitive quotes. They want quality fence and deck too, however they seem to assume that everyone building decks were trained at the same school and that decks are a commodity—rather than art.
Adding a website to a yellow pages ad can go a long way to qualifying your prospects—and even convincing them that you are the guy to deal with.
The Internet is quickly becoming the choice of more educated buyers. People want to see a bit of what the contractors do. A site that shows up where the people expect to find you and then wows the people with high quality and creative work tends to develop quality prospects Sites that promise top quality—lowest price—free estimates and we’ll even water your plants and take out your garbage tend to develop more leads—that rarely end up translating to profit for the contractor.
Direct Mail is often a waste of time since normally they consist of a black and white sheet of paper with Best Deckbuilder in Toronto—and a phone number. Most subdivisions will get 20 deck company flyers delivered to their door every spring. This is a great opportunity for a landscape company to upstage the competition. Show them far better work on a better brochure and you will demand a better price and walk away with the job whenever the people have a budget. Further directing them to a great website will also improve response.
Referrals are fabulous—but remember they don’t happen nearly enough. These leads must be cultivated. Keep in touch and become friends with all your clients—they will remember you whenever the occasion to plug your services arrives.
Lawn Signs tell people that your current customer is happy—and since you are already working in their area you are the Landscape Company for them. Again—website displayed on the sign to offer more information and you are pre-selling for the future.
I can remember my first sign guy saying—“A good Sign is a Sign of Good Business”


Dealing with clients - Fence and Decks, Religions and Politics

Building decks is in fact a popularity contest.

Say nothing, express no strong opinions about anything but construction techniques, materials, design and non-inflammatory subjects.

Disagreements and ill perceptions must be avoided at all costs.

Politics and religion are not subjects that you want to get into unless you are prepared to only work within your chosen groups. If you want to be a large and successful company you must work for all ethnic groups, religions and political persuasions.

People’s beliefs are core to them. It is who they are. What they respect. If they are republican and you have democratic bumper stickers—you don’t get the job. Do not get lulled into political or religious discussions. Figure out a casual way of worming out of that prickly situation.

So, in summary here’s a list of words not to use in the presence of clients.

Regime Change (if you happen to be Canadian),
Politics,
Religion, Religious, Church, Bible, Allah, Koran,
Liberal, Conservative, Neo Con, Republican, Democrat, Communists
Sweeping generalizations against politicians, tax collectors, lawyers and mechanics.

No Incendiary Subjects!!!

Keep everything positive; keep it moving in the direction of the sale. Don’t give an excuse not to deal with you.

By all means—be involved politically. Any associations or groups will be the source of additional business and many of us do have strong beliefs and views. I think it is part of the entrepreneurial personality. Exercise your need for association—just don’t use your business as a soapbox.