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Make
the Dog Days of
Summer Work for You
Dear Colleague,
It is the middle of a hot, blistering summer here in South Texas.
I wouldn't have it any other way. San Antonio is a wonderful
place to live and work.
However, in many businesses, especially the construction industry,
this is the time of year when sales are slower than usual.
Families are on vacation, or getting ready for the new school year,
or just taking it easy in general. Unless you have a big inventory
of ongoing projects, you might be searching for some extra work.
Traditionally, there are two times of the year in which it is best
to ramp up your marketing and promotional campaigns. The fall-from
September to mid-November and the spring-from mid-February to late
May. These six or seven months can determine your success
for the entire year. We are about to enter the premier marketing
fall season. So what can you do now in the dog days of summer
to get ready for the big push.
Here are my top seven things that you should be doing during the
dog days of summer to get ready for the busy fall season.
- Fortify your alliances. Check with your
vendors, suppliers, trade contractors, banker, insurance specialist
and others to find out how things have been going during the first
half of the year. Do they need you to do something better?
Do you need them to do something different? Make sure they
understand that a nice little wave of work is about to hit.
Are they ready?
- Take a hard look at your collateral material.
Do you need a little boot polish or spit shine on that
brochure you have been using for five years? Could you use
some fresh business cards? How old are the job photos you
have been bragging about? Mix it up a little. Invest
a couple of hundred dollars and buy some coffee mugs with your
company logo on them. Or better yet, invest in getting a
company logo designed. Are your promotional materials laced
with braggadocios things about you? I hope not. Remember,
it is about the customer first and you second. Don't get
me started on that soap box.
- Get a goal for how much work you really want.
Ok, so you say you have a goal for the amount of work
you want to perform before the end of 2004? Well, let's
face it. You may be way off. You might be too optimistic
or better yet, maybe you have underestimated yourself. We
are in a pretty strong housing economy right now. Take an
honest look at what you really want to accomplish by the end of
2004. Factor in the amount of time you want to dedicate
to your family, to the community, to your philanthropic causes
and get a real assessment of the amount of work you really want.
- Examine your sales force or your sales systems.
If you have my sales Audio Album, Punch
Up Your Sales, you know that I talk extensively about greasing
your sales funnel. There is a specific way to bring customers
into your sales funnel. Take a good look at how you obtained
your customers this year. Where did they come from?
Referrals? Direct marketing? Model homes? Media?
Knowing exactly how your customers get to your store front will
help you determine how to get more customers.
- Check and double check your pricing structure.
Visit with your vendors and verify prices for the remainder of
the year. Make your deals now because when you are rolling
out bid after bid, you just don't have the time to work on your
pricing structure.
- Re-analyze what you did last year. What
kind of marketing campaign did you have last August and September?
Did it work? Could it work better? Do you need to
tweak it? What was really good about it and can you replicate
that effort? Where else would you like to change your promotional
approach. History provides good lessons. Take a look
at your marketing history from last year.
- Clean up the loose ends. Do you have
your client testimonials together? Do you have all of your
customer satisfaction surveys completed and categorized?
Do you have all of your warranty issues resolved or at least scheduled
to be resolved? Do you have the financial paperwork of your
completed projects cleaned up? Do you know where you made
money and where you lost money?
- Bonus Thought: Ok, I know I said seven,
but here is a bonus for you. Stay in the education game.
With my hectic schedule, I read at least three to four books a
month, and I listen to countless hours of audio programs on CD
and cassette tapes. You just have to stay fresh and inspired
to act on what you know you should do. CD's, tapes, books
and continuing education programs keep you sharp. The biggest
benefit that I get from listening to educational material is that
it continues to generate fresh ideas. In order to stay ahead
of the game, you have to stay educated. So get a book or
audio program and freshen up for the fall season. I would
like to suggest my new audio sales album, Punch
Up Your Sales. There are four hours of programming about
how to sell, how to market, how to network, and how to have bigger
expectations for your company and yourself. It is only $79.
Try it out.
Well, I hope you have had a wonderful summer of 2004. Use
the dog days of summer to tweak your business and get ready for
the fall push. It is going to be great.
Take care of yourself and your loved ones.
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August 2, 2004
Dallas Cowboys'
Super Bowl Champion, Charlie Waters
and
Paul Montelongo Leadership
Program in Houston, Texas
August 11, 2004
click
here for details
Click
here for more info on Punch Up Your Sales
See
Paul Speak Live!
Click
here for more detail on Profit Power
"101 Power Strategies"
101 "low-cost" and "no-cost" proven
strategies in this 144-page guide. Explode your construction business
to the next level and MAKE
MORE MONEY!
Paul
Montelongo
"America's Construction Industry Motivator"
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