Two Paths For Building Your Painting Business
Crossing paths and cutting out the chase.
Rethinking how we grow our business.
Purchasing behavior has been socially influenced long before social networks like Facebook and Twitter existed. The trend in recent years suggests we focus time and energy on social media and building websites, among other forms of marketing.
If you’ve been posting your business on social media channels, you already know how time consuming it can become. But, is social media the right place to focus our energy for a services business? Is advertising?
Should we focus elsewhere?
According to a Nielsen study conducted in 2009 on 16 forms of advertising, 90% of people trust business recommendations “from someone they know.” So, how do we get 90% of our future customers to recommend our services to someone they know? Wouldn’t that be great?
The secret is… ‘To care.’ Care differently. It’s that easy. Never underestimate the number of businesses that simply don’t care.
Why should customers care when we treat them like a number? What did we do for them? Paint their house? That’s it? Grab the check and go? No follow-up? No nothing? Where is the relationship?
We need to care about how ‘every part’ of the project is handled, including (the parts not related to painting). We need to care and provide the level of service our customers expect, even better when they don’t expect it!
Think about a time you were impressed when a company did something you didn’t expect. Think about a time we dealt with a company with no resistance or hassles. It happened to me last week, at a bank of all places. I was blown away by how things were handled when things could have easily gone a different path. It was ultimately a ‘person’ who changed the course of the outcome and my experience.
We’re really not in the painting business; we are in the “serving people” business. We provide services. People call us to make their life easier. They call us to make their lives easier. They call us because we are the PROS. We care beyond the quality of work performed.
When we exceed expectations, we connect with people on a deeper level than those who fail to connect at all. (I remember the bank experience clearly. It is still on my mind.) Those who fail to connect might find themselves constantly advertising and spinning their wheels — always chasing the next thing.
Marketing can become a costly workaround in comparison to an easier approach of obtaining new business through referrals. Looking at the Nielsen study, “Recommendations” or (referrals) beats 15 other forms of advertising. A referral doesn’t cost a penny! Customers advertise for us.
We can portray our business with the sharpest image through traditional advertising channels. But is it necessary? What percentage of your customers use your services because of your company image?” Is it even a metric? Where does ‘image’ appear under the 16 forms of advertising? Have another look.
We have two paths to take in the service business to gain new customers, “Advertising and Marketing,” or “Recommended Referrals.” The latter is arguably the best path and where we should always focus.
Referrals don’t just happen. We earn them.
Let’s take a quick look at a few things I never do due to caring about my customers.
I never spent a dime on any of the following over the course of nearly thirty years; No “Yellow Pages,” No Lead Generating Services,” No “Door-Hangers,” No “Yard Signs,” No “T-Shirts,” No “Mailers,” No “Flyers,” No “Special Promotions,” No “Church Newsletters,” No “Networking,” No “Radio.” No nothing, not even a website! Nope, I don’t have one.
Why? Because that is not my market. I want customers to come to me instead of me chasing and competing for their business.
Think about people looking for a painter in your area. What do people do when no one comes recommended? Google Search? Phonebook? Twitter Search? Facebook? Why are people searching in the first place? Is it because there are far fewer painters operating on the referral business model? Not enough people talking?
In an earlier post this year, I mentioned no one ever asked to see photos of my work. The reason is because my customers come from people who already experienced my work. There is nothing further to show. Our work should do the talking long after we collect the check.
How do we know which path to take? If you want to be a part of the mainstream market, then advertising and marketing go hand in hand. If you want to differentiate your business from the mainstream market, then focus on getting personal recommendations. The key here is to never ask your customers to refer you.
When you’re doing it right, it just happens.
Referrals can get out of hand at times and the cycle can come crumbling down like a two-ton heavy thing if you’re not careful. It might be difficult keeping up without expanding your business. How we grow our business is pretty crucial in maintaining what got you in a position to grow in the first place.
I look forward to talking more in the future about how to move forward cautiously and what could potentially happen when the chain is broke.
Sources:
NIELSEN, “GLOBAL ADVERTISING CONSUMERS TRUST REAL FRIENDS AND VIRTUAL STRANGERS THE MOST.”
CONSUMER | 07–07–2009
