NAME YOUR PRICE

NAME YOUR PRICE 

written by Stuart Roberts (20 min read)

Smash your pricing & earn the money you deserve..

I thought about the name of this post for a while & eventually decided on name your price because I think as plasterers we all want to hear those words from our customers & we want to know our services are sought after & our plastering work is valued. I see alot of newly self employed plasterers asking what others charge & then using this amount to price their jobs, this is understandable when your starting out & I'll talk more on it in this post but with our eyes on the long term, getting to that place in our plastering career where we're asked to name our price I think this is a worthy place to be & something to aim at. So let's look at pricing & jump right in by asking  how much should I charge?

This is a question that you will ask yourself alot when you are self employed especially in the early days but even after you've had years in the game it's still a question that will need your attention. In the blog post GOING OUT ALONE I wrote about how the fear of no work messes with the head & we end up telling ourselves that shit paid work is better than no work at all. In this post I want to delve into pricing up jobs & all that is involved in doing so. I want to look at alot of factors but also want to keep this as simple as possible while covering as much as possible.. lets get straight into things with your overhead because this will play a big part in how you price up your work.

Keep it simple. Your direct costs

Your direct costs include the materials you will need for a particular job, the amount of fuel & also labour. We will keep direct costs nice & simple.

If you employ staff these labour costs should be included.. for now we will assume you work alone. Let's look at a typical plastering job for example if you are pricing up to plaster a ceiling your direct costs might include:

PVA, plaster, fuel & your labour. Now the PVA the plaster & the fuel is an easy one to work out, although supplier costs can vary we can usually round up these costs & factor in any discrepancies. The bigger the jobs get the more generous your material allowance should be, simply multiply materials & fuel based on what's involved to cover run-overs & lags. Remember we are keeping this straight forward,only factoring in direct costs for a particular job. Now the amount of money you get for your work may change as you gain more skills or as your business grows so we'll look at our earnings next.

Wages aren't profit

I've said this before..Your wage isn't your profit. Your wage is what you need to eat & pay bills. At this stage of the costing up your wage will not include any profit it is strictly the amount of money you draw as wages (chargeable labour) to calculate this amount you will have to factor in a few things & also decide whether to charge fixed price or dayrate

*Location *experience *time 

Let's look at the first one 

Location. 

Your location plays a part in how you price up your jobs & it boils down to supply & demand & the cost of living. If you live in a thriving city like central London for example your labour charge will be very different to if you live in a rural location with a low population. Charging central London prices in a small village in Wales will see you out of business as nobody will pay your asking price & charging village prices in central London will also see you out of business because your earnings will be less than your running costs so your pricing should be relevant to your location. Working out your labour charge will mean looking at your location & the demand for your services & working out an achievable rate, There will be a spectrum of low end to high end rates for plasterers in your area, There will be top earners & bottom earners you will need to decide where you fit in that spectrum but before you decide on this amount we need to explore some other factors which will impact your pricing.

Experience

Your skills..On & off the trowel..

Depending on where you are in your plastering career, your experience will be a fundamental part in how you price your work & what your customers will be willing to pay. It goes without saying that a plasterer who is skilled in multiple disciplines is able to charge a higher rate compared to someone who is only partially skilled on the tools. This is because hiring a fully experienced plasterer is less risky & they are able to solve more problems so from the customers perspective he or she is more valuable. As a skilled spread you will also be able to cast a much bigger net for work usually consisting of internal & external specialist work so it's a nice place to be. This being said, being skilled on the tools is only part of being a successful tradesmen & although it will determine good quality work these skills alone will not determine whether your plastering business is a success or not.. When it comes to pricing up your work & the many other business tasks that await, There are many excellent trades people around the world with decades of 'on the tools' experience but who struggle in business often because they have overlooked or lack essential business skills, Often these guys although brilliant on the tools are working for other spreads or bigger firms so the message here is just because you are good at plastering walls it doesn't mean you will be good at running a plastering business..When skilling up in your career, if self employment is a road you want to journey down it's important to also focus on your business skills especially if you plan to run your own show. If you are self employed then you are effectively in business & part of business ownership is entrepreneurial meaning the ability to pool resources & capital, A good business person will often source skilled labour on larger projects & not necessarily rely solely on his own skills..Having said this you should never take on work that you have no experience in because this will ruin your name if it goes wrong & your name is all you have in this game so use your initiative here & tread carefully.

Time

Earlier I mentioned time. Your time has to be factored into every job. Your time is gold dust when your running a business because everyone is going to want a piece of it & there's never enough if it to go around. Self employment involves a fuck load of plate spinning & time management. Getting this wrong will destroy your profit margin & your personal life, it will have the biggest impact on your business operations. When you are quoting work always get real on how long the job is likely to take ask yourself 'how long is this going to take me? Time on the tools, time off the tools time typing up emails time driving around quoting & time on the phone..all this has to be taken into account when you price your work. We'll  dig into this more later on.

What's the going rate?

Taking on board location, your level of experience including business experience & looking at the above example not only from the plasterers angle but also the customers viewpoint, it's clear that when it comes to plastering there is alot of variation in quality. We have all seen the posts online of awful plastering work this is by no means a bash at learners who are advancing I am talking bad plastering resulting from a bad attitude charging big money & leaving people's homes in terrible conditions.. We have also seen exceptional work by highly skilled plasterers so it is only fair that prices reflect the level of finish & also customer service, There is no 'one price fits all' for plasterers. This is why asking the question 'whats the going rate' is wrong. It might give us a rough marker for a certain location however It's the wrong question to ask because every plasterer works to a different standard & works at a different pace..Think of it like this, If you are looking to order a skip to clear your garden.. Asking the question 'whats the going rate' is logical & sensible because a skip is a skip at the end of the day one skip is no better or worse than the next so you don't want to be paying over the odds for a generic item. Plastering is different, If you picked out a couple of random plasterers in a city, the first one might leave a job flawless, a job that might last 40 or 50 years but the next in line might leave a job below standard & prone to failure..The same goes with any service based business, hairdressers..cake makers.. whatever it may be.. When it comes to service based businesses like plastering, people will always pay for quality & certainty. Instead of basing your price off a going rate you should asses your price based on your capabilities, your business costs & the value you bring to the table, again we are not generic items so rather than asking  'whats the going rate' Look at the top earners & bottom earners & ask yourself  'What am I worth?' Remember that when you give a price to your customer this is your price it's not a generic price.

Calculating your worth

To calculate your worth you need to factor in the above elements location & experience but also you should look at what your business offers the market when you price your work. I talked before about undervaluing yourself & the damage it can cause. When you are thinking about your worth think about who you are & how that adds value to your work.

People choose you, not your price.

It's often said that 'People buy you, not your product' Are you likeable? Are you a good communicator are you punctual? That's valuable to your customer they will appreciate good communication & timekeeping during the job, Are you trustworthy well mannered & polite? Again if you want to become a full time domestic plasterer your customer will value these traits & it will impact their decision to hire you or not. Remember that you will be working in people's homes. People live busy lives today, Often customers are searching for a person they can trust to undertake the work during the day while they go to work & if they trust you then the chances are they will do business with you & will be happy to pay you a good rate. So think about how you as a person can add value to the job & how you can factor your strengths into your pricing strategy.

You've served your time so price that in..

Think of the time it has taken you to develop your skill set & to get your trade under your belt, You have no doubt put the effort into learning your trade you have made sacrifices & have perfected your finish to the best of your ability & you clearly are focussed on improving & developing yourself otherwise you wouldn't be reading this so you have to keep this in mind & never sell yourself short on your quotes. You should have certainty in your own capabilities & let this show in your price. Be confident in yourself & your customers will see this & they'll have confidence when choosing your business.

Bigger jobs & pricing from drawings

During your plastering career as time goes on & you build your name depending which market you focus on, you will often be asked to price larger jobs. When your business is young this can sometimes be overwhelming. When your in this position just remember a wall is a wall ! Breaking large jobs down into phases is the way forward here.

If the project is not yet built you might be asked to price your work from a drawing. Again at first this can be confusing especially if we are used to visiting the job site or quoting domestics. If you are willing sit down with a calculator & part with your time you can usually work out how many square metres are involved in a job & the spec will be included. I will often give a meter rate in this scenario. If the job is particularly big & is for a regular customer then you could consider hiring the help of a quantity surveyor who will crunch the numbers for you. When working out a meter rate you should never just throw in a random figure based off what others are doing, As discussed earlier they could work to a different pace & have different overhead to you. Instead you must calculate what you / your team want to earn per day & what you can realistically turn out meterage wise on a given day then look at this amount against the square meter price to see if the boot fits so to speak. Remember the achievable meters covered per day must amount to a decent days earnings for all involved. On rendering work or runs of board skimming for example it's a smart idea to crunch the meter rate + direct costs but then give the customer a fixed price to avoid any dispute on specifics.The message here is that meter rates should be based off your business dayrates & worked back from there & they should also include your indirect costs which we'll touch on shortly. In the past I have skipped these steps & made the mistake of putting in what I was told was a good meter rate on a big job but when the job was completed & I looked at my earnings over the time the job had taken me the numbers didn't impress at all. If it's a renovation project remember to also consider how much prep work will be involved in each job you price & factor this into the meter rate. When a meter rate is dictated to you by the customer, for example developers & construction companies always put this rate against your own rate that you have calculated you need for your business & if the amount is any less, explain this to the customer & renegotiate the rate to suit your overhead.

Is that your best price? Can you do it cheaper?

Avoid price matching & reductions as tempting as this is. When you reduce your price all this does is show your customers that you are plucking your costs out if thin air & your not really serious about how you price up your work. Instead you should view your price as a reflection of your business values & principles, these things shouldn't be altered easily, If you think you can trim the edges a little make sure you do this on your terms after all you have taken the time to put the price together for them they may not like the price but either way it's your price & you know your costs. When you are pressured to lower your price simply state that you have priced the job up accurately & this is your best price & state that you will honour this price with no hidden costs. Customers will usually respect this & the ones who do not are not worth your time. 

Rejection. Be willing to take the hits

As a self employed plasterer you will need thick skin. Your prices won't always meet customers expectations & alot of the time your quotes won't even get a response. If you get ghosted, a polite reminder text or email to confirm whether your quote has been received is as far as your chasing up should go or you'll begin to reek of desperation. Getting blanked by your customers can be frustrating but this is part of being self employed & if you let it, this can be a bit of a head fuck.. especially if you have put time into pricing the job up, but never take this personally. It's their issue not yours. When customers fail to recognise the value your business can bring they will automatically reject your price by either ignoring you or telling you that you are too expensive. When this happens never pursue the customer or justify your price,  Remind them of the value your business offers & tell them you've priced the job accurately. If this doesn't change anything Just simply wish them well & move forward knowing you gave your best price based on your running costs & the margin you deserve, any less & you'd only be cheating yourself. Instead of dwelling on rejection, take your attention off that job & focus on new opportunities to deliver quality work to customers who value what you can offer them.

Not all customers will appreciate or understand what's involved in delivering a quality job, some just want a cheap job, move away from this type of customer & focus on those who value you. Again, the right customers will always be happy to pay for quality. You will know if you fall into this category or not when you get job feedback. People will notice your work & it will be talked about & you will begin to build a reputation for being a clean spread. If you know in your heart you are good then your price should reflect this. So never lower your price & never dwell on the jobs that didn't come about, tell yourself that your business wasn't a good fit this time & keep moving forward.

Underpricing

Along with the pressure to reduce our prices we can also mess up by jumping the gun & going in too keen especially in the early days when we want to get the wheels turning & drum up business.. nothing wrong with the hustle but be generous with yourself when you are estimating how long the job will take you or take your team. being competitive & effecient is important but this can often lead to tight margins meaning jobs being rushed & running over which impacts profit so always allow yourself plenty of time.. more time than you think you will need, we have all had that nightmare job that took longer than anticipated & this changes the way we feel about the job, If there's money in the job we are calm & focussed. That's where we need to be.

Remember that when you look at a job you are essentially guessing how long the job will take you, you might be experienced & fairly accurate but ultimately it is still a guess & even the most seasoned of plasterers can get it wrong because there can be many unforseen elements which can effect how your job maps out including collecting materials, access, parking, suction, setting times & delays caused by other trades causing bottle necks on the job..even small things like customers wanting a 10 minute chat twice a day every day it can add up & eat into that time & you cannot predict everything. This means you have to be cautious that you don't shoot yourself in the foot by underpricing your jobs by giving yourself too tighter window to complete the work. Years in the game will give you an edge when it comes to pricework, The more jobs you do the better you become, like everything else it takes time & even when you think you've got pricework sussed you can get caught out so for every 5 days you price up put an extra days labour in to cover your arse.

Price work or day rate?

Taking the above points into account there is clearly a degree of risk & reward to pricework, get it right & you can generate serious profit with earning potential being high, Your time is flexible & you are able to use it to your advantage, pricing per job & turning jobs around effectively will mean there's more scope for growth.. but..get it wrong & you can be out of pocket or worse your lads can be out of pocket.. on large jobs getting the price wrong can lead to bankruptcy.. so, its obvious why many spreads avoid the drama & sell their services via day rate. This method of earning is reliable & consistent, splitting materials & labour & often charging labour only avoiding the uncertainties of pricework is a smart option, However unlike pricework, the downside to selling your services via dayrate or hourly rate is that it creates a ceiling on what you can earn per day, per week, per year.. it can also create some debate with customers on hours worked, arrival & finish times, lunch breaks & so on.. usually better suited to subcontractors working on dayrate can pin you down to one job per day leaving no time left to focus on other business tasks.. ultimately when you choose to sell your time you almost become an employee again which doesn't suit everyone. Taking on staff can also become more tricky if you are used to working to a dayrate with paperwork & admin increasing.. fitting in a full day behind the trowel when you also need to be running your business can be challenging.

How you price up work will come down to you & even pricework will need to be calculated using a dayrate margin + costs. Some jobs will be better suited to dayrate such as large scale commercial jobs where the risk is too great to attempt a fixed price day rate can work well & take the pressure off so be open to these two pricing strategies & use each accordingly.  As plasterers we are no stranger to juggling set times & working against the clock but we are not so good at factoring in time off the tools in our business which brings me to my next topic

Indirect costs - The true price of self employment

We've discussed your direct costs, how location impacts price & how you charge for labour. Now let's look at the costs within your business. Costs we know exist but which we often struggle to calculate & factor into our prices. We can only really analyse these costs once we've had a few years to track them because they are accumulated annually not per job.. but in this blog I will use examples to help you work out your own indirect costs.

So what are indirect costs?

Indirect costs include anything within your business that costs you money that isn't directly associated with one particular job. Instead they are associated with every job.. Often referred to as overhead. Some examples include

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*Vechile maintenance ( MOT's, tyres, repairs..

*Insurance policies ( business insurance, van insurance, tool insurance)

*Accountant fees (Tax returns, NI contributions, bookkeeping & pensions)

*Tools ( replacement parts, maintenance & renewal)

*Marketing ( Van signage, websites, Facebook ads, trade association membership)

*Off the tools business tasks 

*Mobile phone bills

*Waste management & waste carriers licences

*Holidays, & time off

*Stock items (Hardwear, protective sheeting etc

*Lock up rental

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You can see this list is extensive & I could go on & on but you get the gist. For example purposes I can tell you that in my own business these indirect costs mount up to around 10+ k per year. That's alot of money if your not factoring that into your prices. 

So how do we offset this amount into our jobs?

Again this can only come about once you've done a couple years of tracking  but it basically involves calculating the number of jobs you do per year then breaking that 10k down into a percentage of each job. So for example if you complete say 50 jobs per year you would divide 10k by 50 = 200. This £200 is then added onto each job. Doing this ensures that all of your business overhead is 100% covered properly & you are not using your own wages to pay for business operations. 

To end this post we will look at some averages. If we want to succeed in our plastering businesses we atleast need to be meeting the UK average salary marker considering the graft that is involved & the hours we put into our businesses, Any less & the whole operation is just a wheel spinning saga & we'd be better off employed. In order for us to meet this marker while factoring in the indirect costs we listed I have calculated a day rate which will ensure we meet the UK average & a little more on top. An employee will naturally pay contributions from this average but doesn't have any of the associated costs of self employment so I figure this evens things up for us spreads. 

so in the UK the average salary is around 26k according to this stat. Now an employee earning this money does not have any business overhead etc neither do they need to worry about money stopping when they are on holiday as usually they will be in receipt of holiday pay along with other job benefits such as pensions etc Now assuming the average plasterer has a good year in business & is off for 3 weeks of the year which Inc a 2 week holiday & some odd days off. Now he also has a week or 2 for Christmas with his family. Let's call it 25 days off. Now if he charges himself at £200 per day he has around 20% contributions leaving a net of £160. Now deduct the 25 days holiday 104 days for weekends this leaves 236 days of potential work each day ( assuming he is able to fill each & every day with paid work) he will pull in £37.5k roughly. Taking into account the 10k overhead will bring this down to £27.5k again were assuming averages here & also assuming a full a work diary apart from wkends & holidays. For a busy year on the tools I think this is a good starting point & will hopefully illustrate the importance of charging no less than UK average earnings is fair this example being at £200 per day labour. Again, location & experience must be looked at & this figure should be tweaked to suit the individuals circumstances it maybe that your overhead is less / more & so this should be used purley as a guide. Earlier I mentioned high & low end earners, £200 per day is fair but depending on where you are based it doesn't have to stop there. Get inspired by some of the work on Trowel talk & keep pushing to better yourself all the time & your earning potential will increase.

I hope this post helps you in your plastering journey.

Lastly. Remember earlier I said that wages aren't profit. This is what I want you to take away with you from this post. Again, wages are what you need to eat. Profit is what your business needs to sustain & eventually grow if that's on the cards for you. If you are self employed then start thinking like a business. Each job you do you should take a small piece of profit & get it banked. This capital stays in the business & used strictly for reinvestment purposes such as marketing campaigns, new equipment & machines, taking on staff & future growth for the business. Factor in the profit you deserve & watch your business excell. Start by putting 10% on top of your chosen day rate & start a profit account for your business.

Thank you for reading Name your price & please add your thoughts in the comments below

MEMBERS CORNER

MEET THE MEMBERS I joined the Royal Marines at age of 20 and left after 14 years at rank of Sergeant feeling unhappy with why we were doing all the politicians dirty work and seeing a lot if my friends and companions getting seriously injured or killed. Especially as there was no real aftercare for these brave men thus several charities having to start up. I had always been a hands on guy doing several of my own houses but couldn't get to grips with plastering. As part of leaving the Marines they give you funding to learn something new to move into civilian life. I chose plastering and did a six week intensive course that gave me a qualification and a basic understanding of the trade. From there I went straight into the deep end on sites and had to learn fast, sink or swim scenario. I quickly became confident enough to start on my own building up a small business and taking on many apprentices who have now gone on to working for themselves and doing well. I now have scaled it back taking on my son as apprentice and going for more high end work like microcement and other bespoke areas. It's been a tough ride but feels like I'm about to come out he other end of it doing well. MEET THE MEMBERS Been plastering since I was 14 ,family all plasterers, it was a case of mix up or learn, soon realised which one was best,we didn't have mixing drills back then ,stick and angle bead to get lumps out, metal bath for the browning, and outside on the mixer sand and cement which there was a lot of in them days.  But hay ho stuck at it ,made a bloody good living and still do! Love the job don't work a day in my life enjoy it all the time ,always learning new stuff, wouldn't change a thing ! MEET THE MEMBERS Now then where to start, I got kicked out of school in year 10, sent to a construction college 2 days a week where I gained a Lvl 1 diploma in plastering, bricklaying, paint+dec, plumbing, tiling, joinery/carp, and H+S. They got me an apprentice at a large drylining firm, I got suspended with full pay 8 and a half months into it and sacked on the first year mark. I got signed up with another firm instantly but work drylied up so they agreed to leave me signed up until end of apprenticeship. I instantly went self employed with all my contacts gained and growing, I eventually found my own way up. Its only took me 5 firms(2 as an apprentice) 14 work partners(9 as an apprentice) And a couple different builders which supply regular work, In 3 and a half years but im finally settled as a self teaching internal plasterer with constant work(till dec 2021 so far) and everything possibly needed for internal plastering. The only downside is not being able to drive and have a vehicle but I employ my older half brother as he drives or I have a few drivers on tap, failing that taxis will do if tools are on the job. Im 19 and feel more than competent on majority of modern internal plastering, although Im still learning day in day out through groups such as these, the contacts Ive made along the way and solo on-the-job experiences. Made a few cock ups along the way although nothing major as of yet, but the responsiblity of getting up in a morning and organising not only my own shit but work for a couple of my brothers occasionally is getting unbearable. I need time to learn and adjust but dont seem to find time or energy as Im pricing relativley big jobs, sorting materials, organising everything and sorting cock ups ect. Im earning £130-£180 dayrate and usually between £120-£230 on price work so theres no issue there. All me family are dole dossers so Ive never witnessed anyone commit to any job or career so theres my motivation but it sure is hard when all others have had 3+ grants and Ive struggled through the whole of it lol. Cheers for listening, take care. MEET THE MEMBERS Started plastering 4 years ago. Learnt off a chap that I was working with. 12months mixing up and the odd trowel up at the end of the day. Slowly started doing more and more for the next year then he left and had to learn a bit more on my own. MEET THE MEMBERS I’m a third generation plasterer, I think it’s in the DNA. Never really wanted to do it but it gets addictive. I also do plastering videos it’s become a bit of a habit :-)

THE FISHERMAN

THE FISHERMAN

Written by Stuart Roberts (20min read)

Provider

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.

Carrot on a stick

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.

Get on Google

Get on Free Index

Get on Yelp

(Don't forget to leverage your social media accounts!) 

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