No Service Magic

Mike Finley

Around here doesn't exist in business. Around here just means in a particular area there an certain influences. Influences, influence how you do business and nothing more.


It's done everyday, multiple times a day in every state of our country.
ANd it's done without an exlusivity of any product.

Unfortunately you not even in the ball park with understanding any of this when you say things like that.

Did you know that some customers are pre-sold before a company ever shows up? Don't think so? Have you ever been the only company a customer talks to? Why is that?

And why are some customers pre-sold before a salesman ever shows up?

Is it because they know the salesman will show up in a 2008 silverado or have a couple of more words of vocabulary or will be wearing a Ralph Lauren shirt?

Let me ask you another question. Home Depot - one of the all time worst installation experiences a customer can have. Why do so many people go to Home Depot, sit down with a kitchen designer and buy the kitchen from them without ever even going anywhere else. AND THEY PAY FOR IT IN FULL. 100% Paid for before they leave?

Why is that?

The answer is................................................ ."perception"


Who doesn't win some or lose some? What's that got to do with it?

THEHANDYMAN

We all have different ways of looking at things. The way HANDY looks at things may not be the way someone else looks at it. But for him it works and that is all that counts in the end. Got a call from SM today they have several pros that will be giving seminars at the home office today. I am going to attend see if I can learn any thing, nice to know that they are commited to their customers as we are. With out us they are nothing the better they serve me the more they make off of me and we all benefit.

THEHANDYMAN

WHEW DOGGIE! Went to a shindig thrown by SM tonight I had a great time, just need some time to get all my thoughts together and I will post a first person report.

handyhands

I'm eager to hear about how things went with service magic...

Mike Finley

Let me put this in a simple way to understand:

People in home improvement sales bragging about things like this:



Is like going to a singles bar full of hot women and bragging about succesfully taking a fat girl home.

handyhands

Hey now.

Fat girls need love, too.

But on a serious note, I think you never made a real attempt to make any validity of what I was trying to get across,......But nonetheless~at this point, it's like beating a dead horse.


Let's hear it for the Omega Moo's!!

THEHANDYMAN

I get home later today and have more time will tell about my experiene.

J F

Jmfocus

It is interesting how this thread has morphed into Marketing/Selling philosophy. What started out as a SM bash is now become some kind of "judgment fest" where as people point at each other, trying to discredit/marginalize each other, all under the so called banner of "industry professionalism. Why does anyone really care if another contractor, 3 states away, has had a profitable experience with SM? Some folks will succeed with them and some will not. It doesn't mean that anyone is right or wrong. It simply means that one thing doesn't work for everybody.

What is the true measure of success? Is it how long you have been in business? How much your annual sales are? How much of the annual sales you get to take home every year? How many customers you have?

I look at GM and wonder if they are an example of a successful company or a company that somehow lost its way decades ago?

Is it possible that when you began your business you were more successful then you are now? Maybe because you didn't keep with current trends? Or refused to change? Anyone ever read the book “Who stole my cheese"?

THEHANDYMAN

I never stole any CHEESE but have been accused of cutting the cheese a few times.

DarrenS

Hello everyone,

I have been watching this thread for a while now and just joined tonight to comment. My company competes with SM in leadgen, and we do service the home services sector. There is no doubt that SM has some issues (that we use to our advantage) when it comes to working with clients.

I think if there was more of an open dialog throughout the process there would be a better understanding of how lead gen companies work, and how they can help you guys grow your businesses.

I am not here to solicit, my email is private, and I have no signature touting my firm. Therefore, I would be happy to have a completely open conversation about lead gen and how it translates to you, the customer. Why? Because my company does operate in the same space as SM, and while we do pretty well using their issues against them, their pain is sometimes our pain simply through association.

So, I hope you all accept my olive branch offering from the marketing department and maybe we can all learn something from each other?

Thoughts?

Darren

Stevelsc8721

Look up my nmumber and call me Shawn

Mike Finley

Lead services are the devil.

Customer goes on internet to find a contractor - contractor has website, customer contacts contractor directly.

Beautiful thing.

Customer goes on internet to find a contractor - has to wade through 50 pages of bullsh*t lead services all trying to slice up a thin pie for themselves and be the middleman.

These lead services, confuse, befuddle, con and muddy up a perfect process that works just fine without them.

Lead services are the devil.

They are unnecessary and they are all killing themselves. The entire business model is flawed and the results of those flaws are all the sh*t that you see everyday posted about them.



Dialog is officially open now.

SelfContract

Finley sums it up quite nicely!

Correct, SM = Devil, middle man! ...(In crack market theory, we also call it da "Pusher" man!!)

480sparky

I absolutely and utter fail to understand the purpose of lead gen companies.

If I do good work at a fair price, why do I need them?

I monitor my advertising dollars quite well, and to date I have only one customer whom I don't know how he found me. It's fair to say 98% of my customers have found me through word of mouth..... the best advertising there is.

At this point, I view lead gen outfits as companies willing to take money from others who are already failing.

__________________
Site : the area or exact plot of ground on which anything is, has been, or is to be located.
Sight : The power or faculty of seeing; perception of objects by use of the eyes; vision.
Cite : To mention in support, proof, or confirmation; refer to as an example.

DarrenS

Well, I appreciate a good debate when given the opportunity. And the last thing I want to do is point fingers at other business owners, and I would appreciate the same courtesy, regardless of how I make my living. Needless to say, there is a fair amount of fixing that could be done in the home services industry as well.

But onto the point.

When you say that lead service companies muddy things up, I couldn't agree more. There is something wrong if the lead gen provider is selling the same lead to 3-5 different contractors, for a number of different reasons:

1. The home owner is inundated with phone calls as the contractors all scramble to be the first in line. Therefore, the home owner is upset and now on guard.

2. The contractors now have to drop everything they are doing and reach out to the home owner in fear of loosing the opportunity to bid.

3. If the contractor makes it through the initial round, then they get beat up by the home owner on price because in an open bid system, the only way to win is to lower your price. Who cares that you are a 40 year craftsman from the old country, I want it cheaper is the battle cry of the homeowner.

Given this scenario, yes, the only one to win in this process is the lead company. Say what you want about the medium, the only winning move from the lead gen side is to provide their contractor partners with exclusive leads.

That way the sales process runs much smoother as the contractor and home owner can develop the relationship needed to move forward.

The contractor wins because he doesn't have to give away margin just to get the job.

In that scenario, all can benefit!

Mike Finley

A guy like you doesn't need them.

But here even though you might not realize it, you have touched upon why they are bad for our industry.

Consider them an enabler.

They weaken our herd. They allow the sick to survive, they allow the sick to breed and increase. They are like over-feeding deer in the winter. Pretty soon the deer multiply and more and more are born and enter the herd and survive when they shouldn't.

It used to be what did it take to be a contractor? Experience in your trade, tools, a truck and then it was a slow road to build a client base.

Now what does it take? Well the slow road to build a client base now isn't a consideration. When junior wants to leave the nest, he calls up SM or one of the other lead services and signs up and starts getting instant leads! Bingo! It's like crack candy. The hardest mystery to the entire self-employment puzzle has seemingly been cracked for you. You supposedly now have an instant stream of customers to service.

All the old school tried and true methods of building a sustainable business through building a client base, referrals, networking (masonic membership, VFW, Elks club), traditional advertising that (builds a brand in your community)... all those methods are short-cutted by the devil's false promises of the lead companies supply of instant customers, just turn on the faucet and you're in business.

Keep in mind when this all started years ago their #1 reason for being was -

Providing consumers with a source of QUALIFIED, CHECKED OUT, contractors.

They have reduced that now down to "we make contractors compete for your business"

It's a flawed business model now and it's devouring itself.

Their customer base is becoming more and more Joe six pack newbie contractor in search of the fast track to hanging his shingle out and going into business. Those who can - do. And those who can't call up a lead service in desparate hopes of start getting a steady stream of sh*tty leads to base their entire business around.

Evidence is all around us, by who on these boards shuns them and who doesn't.

DarrenS

You couldn't be more right Mike, this is one of the major problems. As a provider, you have to pick one partner, either the contractor or the home owner, because you can't serve both! But I respectfully disagree that by using a service you are somehow cheapening your business growth. As if cashing the home owner's check, paying your employees, and feeding your family is different if the job you just completed was provided via word of mouth or marketing efforts.

Jmfocus

You are right but there are other reasons that the construction industry has become so filled with joe sixpacks. Cheap Labor!!! 30 years ago a framer worked with a union and made good wages and was able to buy a house. Now that same framer makes the same money per hour the guys did 30 years ago but he can't buy that same house. You can thank the "old school" builders/contractors/goverment for that. Now the only way to make good money is to be in business for yourself. Unfortrunely people do this, go in debt, trade equity in their newly bought equipment for cash in their pocket, and think they are making money.

480sparky

So which one do you serve?

__________________
Site : the area or exact plot of ground on which anything is, has been, or is to be located.
Sight : The power or faculty of seeing; perception of objects by use of the eyes; vision.
Cite : To mention in support, proof, or confirmation; refer to as an example.