TEN COMMON SENSE STRADEGIES TO GROW AND IMPROVE YOUR BUSINESS

Presented By

Lane Post

Welcome to the 2015

President & Founder Pacific Drain & Plumbing, Arrow Pipeline Repair, Inc.

1330 Park Center Drive, Vista, CA 92081

1330 Park Center DriveVista, CA 92081

Your Full Service Plumbing & Drain / Sewer Specialists

Your Sewer and Underground Utility Specialists

Common sense is often the least common of all

the senses

Place your bets…..

Notice how house ALWAYS holds a small advantage over the bettor

25% failure in first year, 55% failure by 5th yearAnd 71% failure by year 10!!!

Joint research by Entrepreneur Weekly, Bradley University, University of Tennessee, and the Small Business Development Center

Research date February 5, 2015

Source, Joint study done by: Entrepreneur Weekly, Small Business Development Center, Bradley University, & University of Tennessee Research

Research Date: February 5th, 2015

Survey taken 2014…….14,405,210 businesses polled

Year 1 Year 50

102030405060708090

100

Year 1 Year 50

102030405060708090

100

Small Business Failure Rate Plumbing, Heating, AC Failure Rate

Number 1 cause of business failure is incompetence…..46% a. Lack of planning b. No knowledge of pricing or emotional pricing c. Expansion too rapid d. Wasted advertising budget

Number 2 cause of business failure is unbalanced or lackof managerial experience…..30%

Lack of experience……….only…………11%!!!!

It’s a marathon not a sprint…..stay focused on the big picture!

3 EASY STEPS TO OVER NIGHT SUCCESS!Room 240 10:30 am

SOLD OUT!!!

Honesty, character, passion….What would mom say?

Don’t leave home without it!

1. Business cards

Name, title, email, cell phone.

Name, title, email, cell phone.

Whoops…….. my bad

Windshields, bulletin boards, doors, porches, jobsites…..Anywhere!

Seriously, library books? Why not……?Think outside the box.

Business Card Statistics Data

Number of business cards printed daily 27,397,260

Number of cards printed in the US annually 10 billion

Company sales increase for every 2,000 cards passed out 2.5 %Percent of business cards handed out that will be thrown out in less than a week 88 %

Source: CNN, Businesscard ABC, Freelance Folder

Fact: A colored business card is kept 10 times longer than a plain white.

If 88% of cards are thrown away……..then 12% are kept.

2. Honest & Upfront Pricing

Be upfront, honest, and helpful….everyone lives within a budget.Nobody likes surprises.

Every happy, satisfied customer is a future advertisementand referral for your business!

Bet you can’t remember his name……

3. Personality

I do remember that girl for some reason…

Personality trumps price!!

Personality = honesty, competence, and trust.

People buy from people!!

Boston Dave the most popular plumber in San Diego!

4. Communication & Accessibility

Your customers have the same options…..

Don’t wake your competition up, offer to do their job for them.

When was the last time you WROTE or RECEIVED a personal note?

Thanks for the call, we’ll be at your house tomorrow at noon.

If you won’t respond oneof your competitors will!

Treat your customers right, be flexible, go the extra mile, build your reputation on value & customer service.

Your Networth = your Network

5. Networking

Expand your network, increase your business.Let others promote your business for you!

Plumbing Heating Cooling ContractorsEncinitas Business ExchangeNorth Coast Business GroupNorth County ReferralsNorth American Real Property ManagersCalifornia Real Estate Inspectors AssociationNorth County Business NetworkBNI I Refer CarlsbadNorth San Diego County Association of RealtorsSan Diego County Apartment AssociationContacts and CoffeeThe Pizza GroupThe Fun Networking Luncheon

13 X 40 = 520 520 X 10 = 5200 5200/2000 = 2.6 X 2.5% = 6 ½ %!!

Networking pays off!!

Get involved in your community, trade groups, service clubs, hobby clubs, church.

www.meetup.comAny group, any category, anyplace, expand your circle.

Who can fix this?

6. Internet Marketing

You can’t fix this & you don’t know ANYONE who can.

How do you locate someone experienced & capable to make repair?

Number 1 answer…….Ask a friend!

NETWORKING!!!

Number 2………GoogleNumber 3………YelpNumber 4………Angie’s ListNumber 5………??????

NETWORKING!!!

What about Yellow Pages?

R.I.P.

RIP Yellow Pages and good riddance!The Yellow Pages are DEAD!

Approximate one time cost of $2500-$3000.

Hosting cost is approximately $10 per month.

2-3 jobs per day…..Approximately 70% of NEW customers come from Yelp.

Encourage Yelp reviews, start an “Atta Boy” rewards program.

Angie’s List is subscription based but well regarded.

Use social media to promote your company.

Niche marketing: Specializing in a service or product ignored or under represented by the market. It’s a focused, targetable portion within your primary market.

1. Specialized equipment.2. Special license or certification.3. Restrictive insurance requirements.4. Undesirable or high risk work.5. Ignored by competitors.

Look around, be curious, stay away from the crowd, think outside the box.

7. Niche Marketing

Specialized equipment: Small diameter pipe cutter.

Cost less than $25,000.00

Charge per cut $750.00+

Specialized equipment: Small diameter lateral cutter for branch re-instatement.

Cost less than $15,000.00

Charge per cut $750.00+

Power Cutter 200Robotic cutter for large diameter pipe (manhole access)

And SLC installation…….Municipal application.

Municipal contracts exceed $5,000,000.00

Backflow installation and repair1. Backflow certification.2. Commercial fire line install & emergency repair.

“To boldly go where no man has gone before.”

Trade Group: San Diego Golf Course Superintendents Association

THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX!!

INACTIVE

INACTIVE

INACTIVE

ACTIVE

EXPIRED

INACTIVE

EXPIRED

8. KNOW YOUR NUMBERS!!

There’s only 2 ways to increase your net bottom line profit:

Increase revenues or decrease expenses.

InSinkErator disposal costs $100 from supply house

Your shop needs a 20% profit margin on all materials.

20% of $100 = $20

You sell disposal for $120 = 20% gross profit margin

WRONG!!Your markup was 20%......Your gross profit margin was only 16.7%!!!

8 of 10 contractors make this mistake and it costs you $$$

Fantastic, easy to understand videos

Type in Markup vs Gross Profit Margin

9. Competitors

Q. 400 jobs every day in Indianapolis

Your company does 30 jobs each day…

Where are the other 370 jobs?

A. Your competitors have them!!

You 30

Competitors 370

Total number of jobs completed in 1 given day.

We can only do so much, EVERYONE drawsa line, EVERYONE hits the wall!

Reasons your competitors need help1. They won’t take after hrs, weekend, holiday calls.2. They don’t have the capacity to tackle the job.3. They don’t have the technology or equipment.4. They don’t have the license or insurance to qualify.5. They don’t do that type of work. 6. They don’t work in that geographic area.7. They’re on vacation, ballgame, family emergency, 8. Weak work ethic.

7% to 8% of all revenues come directly from our competitors.

Approximately $600,000.00 per year!

Start a CODE BLUE program

Protect your referral!

1. No selling2. No business card or marketing material.3. Ask for permission not forgiveness .4. Communicate with your referral source.

Handymen hit the wall all the time, everybody needs help.

Who is on the periphery of your industry?

Join your local PHCC or trade group, meet your competitors they NEED your help.

Hiring

It’s always cheaper & more efficient to hire the experience you need than to train.

When you need experienced help RIGHT NOW it will come from within the industry (your competitors).

Employees leave for many reasons, salary is 3rd, 4th, or 5th .

Acquisition

Offer your competitor a jobBuy a closed/shut down business

Request business phone numbers

Best Seller list 1996 by Thomas Stanley

10. Perseverance

Stay the course

Stay focused

Keep your eye on the bigger picture!

11. Always deliver more than you promise

1. Clean worksite, tools, truck. Show you care!2. Reward your referral base.3. Give back to your customers & community.4. Share with your employees.5. Go the extra mile.