Written by Stuart Roberts (20min read)
Provider
Carrot on a stick
It had been a long old day on the tools. The shoulders were stiff & the blisters on my palms which were once red & burning had now hardened to form a row of tough white calluses.. I reflected on years past by 'Thick skin you need in this game kid' I could hear Steves big loud voice echoing in my thoughts. I hadn't seen Steve in some time. I was earning my own money now, treading my own path. Some days it felt more like treading water. Although I was doing much better there was still work to be done in my business I was still learning how to balance everything & how to get more quality leads coming in. If my own business was to get going properly I needed the money to start flowing. The money I earned as a lad wasn't enough anymore..I was soon to be a father. I had to provide.. & waiting for work to knock my door wasn't a game plan I wanted to entertain.
Cleaning down my trowel for the last time on an overcast Monday afternoon my phone lit up with a new message from my wife 'Babe, pick up bread ' ... (The last thing I wanted to do after the big set I just threw on was to go shopping, but the least I could do was pick up some food on the way home considering the toll pregnancy was taking on her body) I was tired but I appreciated what she was doing for us, for our baby & I wanted to show my love..after all I couldn't do much else when it came to the growing of our child. 'Sure' I replied.. 'Anything else?' .. 'Yeah grab some toothpaste too'
Whilst moping around Tesco's looking like an earthquake victim I found the toothpaste shelf a little overwhelming to say the least. 22 different brands of toothpaste I counted. I didn't have the energy to go through each toothpaste reading up on why their brand is the best so I chucked a tube of Colgate in the basket & made my way to the checkout. Job done I said to myself. While waiting to pay I noticed a fishing magazine & it got me thinking..customers are a little like fish..You can't always see where they are, they're hard to catch & they can be slippery buggers at times..it reminded me that I only had 7 days work remaining on my job & after that I had nothing to go at.. I needed to go fishing for work..& I needed some bait.
I'd already been the 'cheap guy'. I knew this strategy wasn't going to get me to where I wanted to be. I'd knocked up some flyers & littered the local area..Each job I won I would get positive feedback from my customers 'Youve done a lovely job'.. 'We're really happy with the finish' .. 'We'll recommend you to all our friends'.. This feedback gave me a boost. But the leads were few. I knew I was good on the tools & when my customers were happy it made me happy too, but the recommendations didn't come around quick enough for me, I needed work thick & fast. I told Steve about my struggles but he only offered me more Saturday shifts..though I appreciated him helping me I didn't want to become reliant on Steve's work again. I wanted to break away & build up my own customers so I turned it down. Part of me felt like a fool. I was about to become a dad & here I am turning the graft down what am I thinking.. that's when I just blurted out 'Steve How do you find so much work?' He smiled.'I don't find work..work finds me kid' he said. Steve had been going a long time & so I just assumed thats what he meant by that statement. I laughed along & we parted ways.. 'Get yourself online kid' he shouted as I left his site. 'Will do' I yelled with a big thumbs up. Not really knowing what to focus on or where to go next. He had mentioned this to me before. I pondered over it.
Web of lies
When it came to the world wide web I was completely clueless. Information technology wasn't my strong point at school & I'd just spent the last 5 years training on the tools to get a trade under my belt so where should I begin?..
'whats everyone else doing?' was the first question that sprang to mind. I remembered bumping into a lad I went to school with some weeks earlier telling me about his plumbing business & how he's been 'stacked out' with jobs after joining a trade association site. 'Whats that? I asked.. 'it's great' he went on.. 'You pay them money & they give you phone numbers' .. me: 'What phone numbers?'
'You know, jobs.. people wanting work done'
My first thought was where are they getting the numbers from? I didn't understand it but if it worked for him I thought I'd explore it so I hit Google to see what all the fuss was about..
After searching I quickly stumbled across an add 'TRADESMEN WANTED' or something along those lines. I clicked on the link which shot me off to a website with all the bells & whistles.. Banners & testimonials from builders & tradespeople but also homeowners too pasted all over the place.. messages like 'TRADESMEN VETTED & CHECKED' along the page header. I called my mate who told me it was the same site he uses so I clicked on 'become a member' where I filled out a brief questionnaire.
The site stated that ' Our customers are our first priority' I was confused by this.. Was I the customer? or was the person wanting work done the customer? Were we both the customer? Anyway I continued with the application where I had to give them an address of a recent job I'd done. The site specified that 'an expert' would visit the job to check my work. I also dug out my plastering NVQs as I assumed I'd need to prove that I'd been trained before they'd let me in but I was never asked to forward this information which I found strange. After ticking a few boxes I was sent to the membership payment page Where I was shocked to discover that in order to join up I had to pay a fee of £45 per month! Wow. I was surprised by this & annually this equated to £540. If this was to generate loads of work for me then it's fair game I thought..it would surely be an investment in my business? Down went the first payment. I was in. Sorted.
Now all I had to do was sit back & wait for the phone to ring with people wanting jobs done 'all round my area' was the sites sales pitch. While waiting for my leads to come in I thought I'd ring the refrence job that I put forward to see what this 'expert' made of my plastering work, but my customer had no idea & said that nobody had called or visited to inspect anything. Odd I thought. A few days passed & I was getting increasingly anxious knowing I only had a few more days of work remaining on my job. I logged into the site again & discovered a notification for a lead in my area 'great here we go' I thought. I opened the lead which read 'Plasterer required full house board & skim Coventry' Perfect! This looks like a decent size job for me..But hold on, what's this 'Purchase now £43.50' wait I've already paid my membership? I must have been that excited to join up I hadn't read up on how this thing worked.. not only do I pay a monthly membership but I have to also pay for each job lead? Shit one. Still, I figured a job like this I could factor in this initial layout in my price & could recuperate the costs in my profit? So I clicked through to get the customer contact details. That's where I discovered the next problem. Turns out I wasn't the only spread invited to this party.. under the customers contact information was a message .. 'Sjt plastering services has quoted.. JL renovations has quoted.. 1 quote remaining'.. I was obviously the last remaining quote. What the fuck? I was baffled by this system, not only had they took a monthly membership but they were charging me for each individual lead then pitching me against 2 other local plasterers! All 3 of us had paid our membership & also the £43.50 for the same job! The final kick in the nutts was a message from the customer in the job description which read 'budget £1500' What the? This must be a typo I thought..How do homeowners know how to cost up plastering work?
I went ahead & quoted for the job despite being suspicious, I needed the work. I was unsuccessful in my bid. Aparantly I was 'almost double' the price of the first quote & 'significantly higher' than the second. This hit my confidence hard. I couldn't understand what I had done wrong? I'd priced the job the same way I always priced right down to the pound..only paying myself what I needed in order to maintain my business & cover costs. 'Double?' I couldn't sleep right that night & tormented myself with the idea that I was just too expensive & must have got my figures all wrong. After all these other guys had been around longer than me so must be clever, better at pricing work? It was my fault. I'm too expensive.
The shrimp boat
I called Steve again for some pointers. I explained my pricing process & told him I ran the numbers 4 times but I've fucked up somewhere. 'Ha! You've fucked up alright he said.. youve joined the crowd, your on the shrimp boat' he chuckled. Shrimp boat? What do you mean? 'They don't care about you & your little business Stu.. it's a cash cow, a money machine, do you not see how this thing works? They've created a poster & pasted it on a big fuckin wall kid, call this number for trustworthy honest reliable tradesmen.. Anyone can join the club see! the customers see this poster & they call. But it ain't them they charge see it's you. They make their money off the back of the grafter.You do the graft they chuck you some shrimp. Stick with them & you'll be eating shrimp the rest of your life..' I don't understand? why do customers go through these sites? why don't they come straight to us? The tradesmen? .. 'They don't know you exist kid.. they trust these sites because they see them everywhere..TV, the web.. they don't trust you because they don't know you..when customers need a job doing they turn to a brand they can trust.. You need your own boat kid, Find your own fish'
In typical 'Steve' style he had made me feel like a cunt but he got his point across really well at the same time. I thought about what Steve had said. I thought about how wrong this all was. paying membership, paying for the leads, then being told how much the job should cost by the customer? I felt like I was auctioning off my worth, my skills. I'd had enough of this crap already. I was on the shrimp boat & I wanted off. I needed to lose the crowd. Fuck this. There has to be another way? Then it hit me that night whilst brushing my teeth. 'Colgate'. This whole brand trust thing. I thought about the toothpaste scenario again. I thought about how when I was confronted with 22 different brands of toothpaste all stacked neatly together along the same shelf screaming at me for attention I automatically turned to a brand that I knew & trusted. In my head Colgate was the winner because it's tried. Tested. Trusted. Like Colgate I needed to set myself apart if I wanted to get noticed. But how?
Fairplay
Creating a platform where tradesmen & homeowners can come together is a great concept if done fairly. Providing it profits at the service of both parties involved. Not at the expense of just one. If you get the impression that your being taken for a ride by these platforms then you probably are. Spending hundreds on leads but getting little back in return will corrode your business leading to loss instead of profit. Many newly self employed trades turn to these sites in order to get the wheels turning in their business. In some situations outsourcing lead generation can work. As long as the membership fees & lead costs over an annual basis works out to be much less than the overall sales made from the jobs you have won also leaving you with a healthy amount of profit for yourself to reinvest. Bigger businesses with large sales often outsource this side of things, however, Sole traders & self employed tradespeople can find themselves throwing money into a pit if leads do not convert so there are precautions to take if you plan to join these kind of associations. An example of this is your customer reviews which you have worked so hard to build up will be lost should cancel membership leaving you with no online job refrences for future customers.Personally I do not believe that these sites are a good long term strategy for generating leads in your business especially when first starting out. This is because every pound you make in profit in the early days you will need to reinvest back into your business so spending a couple hundred per month on leads can wear down on your working capital. A common thing we do as plasterers is say things like:
'I'll use the sites for a while, then cancel my membership'
There's a couple of problems with this plan. If you were to decide to cancel your membership then your leads will immediately stop. Leaving you with no lead generation & basically up shits creek without a paddle. Another issue is when you rely on an outside source from the get go without understanding how that source works you can become trapped into believing that your business needs it in order to survive & the cost of membership can mount up especially when the monthly/ annual costs can not always be factored into sales for example during the quiet winter months. So tread carefully when using these sites is my advice.
What is lead generation?
Lead generation is about creating leads instead of sitting around waiting for the phone to ring. It's about being proactive.
Firstly let's look at how these trade association sites actually work so that we can begin to understand the machine then replicate that machine in our own sole trader business for FREE.
1. They create consumer trust. Using media platforms. TV, radio, web..
2.They use Google & other search engines to generate leads..when a customer searches 'plasterer Sheffield' for example these sites will often pop up on the first page & consumers will be directed to a website.
3.Then they collect customer information & sell it to you. The tradesmen.
This is a simplistic way to view lead generation but in a nutshell that's all it is. It's not complex or difficult.
As self employed plasterers we have already done the hard part which is learning how to actually plaster walls & ceilings. But if we want to sustain a long enjoyable career working on our own terms, this involves choosing where we work, who we work for & how much we get paid. All this is very achievable once we know how to market ourselves effectively.
So let's look at this again step by step.
1.Creating trust.
What is trust? According to the English dictionary trust is 'A firm belief in the reliability, truth, or ability of someone or something' If you were to think of someone you trust right now who would that be? Picture them. This person has earned your trust by consistently doing what they said they would do. Being true to their word. By doing this they have built trust. They have a reputation for being dependable, reliable.
So in order for us to build trust as a business, As a self employed plasterer, this always starts with one customer, one job at a time. We look at the job, tell them exactly what we are going to do, give them the price. Then if they proceed with the quote we carry out the job in exactly the way we have promised. We charge the amount we stated on the quote. Doing all that to the best of our ability, with a good attitude & leaving the area clean & tidy..this will build trust with that customer. That's step one.
Then we move onto the next job & repeat. Then repeat again & again.. doing this week in week out over a sustained period of time will build trustworthiness within your business. So now what? What does all this have to do with online marketing & lead generation? Well, it all goes hand in hand. Nobody will buy from a business they don't trust.
2. Search engines & the magic of online reviews
Earlier I mentioned that I would get positive feedback from my jobs & how it gave me a boost 'we'll recommend you to all of our friends'.. They probably did recommend me to a few people. But what if I could capture that delighted feeling they had when seen the finished job. What if I could show the world how they felt about my work? That's the magic of online reviews. Showcasing to the world what you stand for & what your customers think.
A handful of quality online reviews from your customers will have more pulling power than any marketing gimic you can buy. An online review is a referral it's modern day word of mouth marketing except its reach is far greater than a verbal mention or recommendation. It's a permanent statement which brands you trustworthy.
How do I collect reviews & where do I put them?
Just like the big trade association sites, You collect reviews by asking your customers for them. Of course this will only work if you've made your customer happy. So you must complete your job to the best of your ability on time, on budget be polite, be courteous be clean & tidy, finish the job then politely ask your customer for a review. Getting reviews can somety be a chore, people live busy lives & often forget to write a review. So remind them. Be persistent.
3. Leveraging your trust
Big trade association sites gather leads & sell them to us. This strategy is about gathering up our own leads . So your customer has agreed to write you up a review. Now what? Where do you bank them? Well the choice is yours here. Contrary to popular belief in order to create an online presence for your business you don't actually need any money. You don't need any money to build a website. You don't need any money to collect & showcase your reviews. You don't need any money to showcase your work photos or generate leads..because all of the tools & platforms you need to build up a presence on the internet can be accessed completely free of charge.
If you want to showcase your reviews for free you can use platforms like
*Free index
*Facebook
*Google my business
*Trustpilot
Your smartphone & a willingness to succeed is all you need to build an online presence & start marketing your plastering business online for free. You don't need to be a tech head or pay hundreds or thousands to web developers or clever ad campaigns. Once you have built trust it's just a case of leveraging that trust & displaying it for your potential customers.
If you build it they will come
We've all heard of this saying. its true in this case. There are customers right now searching for plasterers in your area.Not getting any work? That's because they don't know you exist which is why you aren't getting the call. If you want more calls then you need to be seen.
The starting point here is putting together a portfolio of good work photos which you can then showcase to your potential customers. Choose a free platform, get stuck in, build a profile & paste in your photos. Next is your website. There a number of free website options. Google my business is a simple app you can download which will put you on the map for plasterers in your local area & also give you the option to build a simple website which will include a click to call / message button. The websites are user friendly & optimised all you need to do is fill out the blanks. I like this option because it's made by the company you want on your side. Google. Once you've put your website together you need traffic. SEO (search engine optimization) will determine who gets to see your website & how it ranks in search results.
Get focused
Nobody cares about your business. This is a bitter pill to swallow in the early days. At one stage I would outsource the marketing with AdWords & all the rest.. I had some bites but nothing worth getting excited about. I needed consistency. Let's go back to fishing again. I named this blog post the fisherman for a reason. The fisherman sets out alone in his small boat armed with some bait & a rod. If he comes home empty handed his family doesn't eat. He has 2 options he can continue to keep fishing in the same spot day after day with poor results or he can look at the bigger fishing boats & replicate what they are doing. The big boats know where the fish are at & they have a big net. So the first step is to go where the hungry fish are (in our case hungry customers) instead of waiting & hoping for a bite we need to advertise in areas where customers have the means & intention to buy from us) Next is we have to ditch the rod & get a big net. It's no good posting a Facebook post advertising your plastering business then expecting that one post to generate a months worth of work it's unrealistic it's poor bait & its not enough to feed lots of hungry fish. We need to cast a big fucking net. A big net in internet marketing terms is multiple free sites being leveraged all at once, Facebook, Google, Instagram, YouTube , Free index, yelp.. any platform you can find. Not only will this give you an edge but it will put you on the map in terms of web presence when your customers are searching for you.
Shout from the rooftops
Spend a weekend hammering the internet & building as much content as possible & get your name out there. Force your name out there don't be polite about it you have to cause disruption. Join Facebook selling groups, post gumtree ads, post Instagram & YouTube videos & get noticed. All of these platforms will get you attention but nothing will bring leads in like Google can. Google is the big dog. Once you've gained a number of quality reviews in your Google my business listing you will be relevant & Google will begin to rank you higher. Adding lots of good pics to your Google listing along with informative descriptions & back links to your site's Facebook page will all help in your marketing efforts. Local marketing is where we can really excell & win alot of work. Your area should be part of your marketing strategy & should be included in all of your marketing an example: 'Plasterer Sheffield' Sheffield Plastering services etc.. should be included with your name when marketing on Google.(If you live in Sheffield of course!) Once you have this down you can then replicate it building multiple sites on different platforms. Eventually you will generate so many leads that you will be busy & can then start to cherry pick jobs & focus on which jobs you do most effectively, the jobs that bring out your best. The lead machine is working.
Branding
Be congruent with your branding, Your logo.The logo that's on your website should be the same logo that's on your van..& on your workwear & your email correspondence & invoices. It's about creating certainty in the mind of the customer. If Mrs Smith calls you up after seeing your website or Facebook page or freeindex listing whatever it is.. She has already seen your logo. When you pull up outside her house to quote the job if she sees the same logo on your van this will create congruency. If she opens the door & you have the same logo on your shirt this will again create congruency & certainty for the customer it's about getting off to a strong start & making an unshakeable first impression with your customers coming across as a professional business that cares about their brand.
Get a site board
When you are first starting out. You are invisible. You have built an online presence.The wheels are turning but alongside this it's a good idea to get a few site boards knocked up from your local signage shop. Usually your van signage company will do this for you & they are relatively cheap. On your site board include your logo, what you do in clear bold text. Then underneath have 'Need a Plasterer? Pop in anytime for a chat' or something along those lines. This not only lets passers by know who you are, what you do,but it is a direct invite to meet you & view the quality of your work where you can hand them a business card & make a strong impression.
'I don't find work..work finds me'
When Steve said this I laughed. It wasn't until I got my business online I finally began to understand what he meant & how online marketing works. For years I had Struggled to generate leads on a consistent basis I had always been the moth looking for a flame so to speak I had finally learned to attract customers by displaying my capabilities online. I learned to become a flame & to stop being the moth! Once you've built trust, established yourself online & created congruency people will be magnetised toward you & just like Colgate consumers will always turned to a brand they can trust.
Conclusion
Out of pure curiosity I searched Steve's business name in Google & seen that he was ranked very high on many platforms & had dozens of 5 star reviews with all of his work showcased for all to see. I was impressed. It wasn't a gimmicky show off kind of website but it made an impression. This is why Steve was always busy & not just because he had years & years on me. That's all we need to do as plasterers we need to make an impression & get our businesses out there without spending stupid money on adverts & marketing. Online marketing is about trust, congruency & consistency & any of us can learn the basics needed to market ourselves. Just like learning the art of plastering you get to grips with the tools, learn one skill, then move onto the next. Before you know it you have it down & the skills are yours & your well on your way to business success.
Thank you for reading The Fisherman.
I've included a few links for you which may help you to get off the shrimp boat, get online & start smashing your marketing game plan out the water. In the next blog we will explore lead conversion & how we can increase our chances of winning jobs. Good luck.
(Don't forget to leverage your social media accounts!)
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