Rule #1: First impressions count.

You walk into a restaurant and spot your blind date already sitting at the table. You make some small talk without offering any real information. Your date looks at the clock. As drinks are served, she tries to make conversation.

“So where do you live?” she says. You stare at her blankly, and a full 30 seconds later you ask:

“Wouldn’t you rather look at some highly polished pictures of my place of business?”

You aren’t going to get a second date by being inaccessible or obtuse. The same rule applies to web marketing: You won’t generate leads with a slow or overly complex website. The typical consumer only spends seven seconds evaluating a site. If they can’t find your dealer locator within two or three clicks, they’ll leave. This doesn’t give you much time to engage the consumer and maintain interest. Your tools and hard data need to be available and easy to understand.

• Reduce the number of steps required to find a dealer.
• Offer a simple lead form for the consumer to fill out.

Rule #2: Avoid sounding like a jerk.

You don’t tell your date you have money or that you’re good in bed. And you certainly aren’t going to get a second date if you spend dinner talking about yourself in glowing terms. Instead of running on at the mouth about your many virtues, you show who you are through presentation, relaxed confidence, and your ability to converse about a wide range of subjects without sounding like a complete ass. So how does this apply to web marketing?

Although an active blog can draw readers to your site, a survey of 5000 Internet users shows that company blogs are the least trusted source of information on the Web. This is probably because many corporate blogs are focused on hyping the company—essentially bragging. To make the most of the blog as a marketing tool, build trust by showing readers that you are knowledgeable in your field. As they come to trust your opinion and your information on home improvement, they’ll come to trust your brand as well.

• Instead of writing articles about how great you are, write articles that demonstrate your range of knowledge.

• Don’t talk about your brand directly–draw traffic to your site by creating content that people need.

Rule #3: Get out and play the field.

Invisible people don’t build successful relationships, and the same rule applies to invisible websites. Here’s the bottom line: A 2010 survey shows that 95% of all site traffic comes from page one results. When a homeowner types ‘vinyl windows’ into Google and you don’t show up on the first page, you have a very slim chance of getting that customer. Look below at the search results for a popular window replacement term. You will notice that very few manufacturers’ sites appear on page one.

How do you fix this problem?

• Get links from vertical specific sites.
• Invest a few hundred dollars a month in paid search advertising.

And while we’re on the subject of web presence, let’s talk about search terms. A woman doesn’t get up in the morning and think: “What I really need in my life is a guy named Dave.” Similarly, your typical homeowner doesn’t have a specific brand of windows in mind. In fact, seventy-four percent of Google searches are non-branded. Instead, your potential customer gets online, types ‘window replacement’ into a search engine, and clicks on one of the first sites that come up.

How do you fix this problem?

• Focus on building content that matches with common search phrases such as “window replacement”.
• Replace the brand name in your page titles with top keyword terms like “window replacement”.

Photos by Ikescs and Content connect

The bright side to that dilemma is that designers and manufacturers are constantly working to bring down costs—to make green an easier sell and a lighter load for the average client’s pocketbook. Out of that ilk comes K-tect Sustainable Building Systems, an all-around green building gem judging by the bullet list of benefits on the website.

The biggest benefit for homeowners and the environment is that K-tect walls use less material than a conventional wall system and contain no thermal bridges. The walls are built to high efficiency in a factory and delivered to the site, where they can be erected and connected using manpower alone.

Construction costs are reduced in a number of ways, including:

• Air conditioning and heating capacity reduced
• Faster and easier installation—no cranes, forklifts or chainsaws necessary
• Reduced installation and framing labor
• No need for wall insulation contractor
• No on-site construction waste
• Reduction in weather-related delays

And the whole process is fast. According to K-tect, an example 4100-square-foot residence built with 10-, 12-, and 16-foot K-tect Wall Systems went from slab to roof trusses in only 2.5 days—with a four-man crew.

K-tect also boasts that their systems result in fewer callbacks and less warranty work for you, the contractor. “Factory quality control” ensures straight and square walls, as well as no warping, splitting or twisting of studs. The walls are comprised of light gauge metal studs with integrated insulation that purportedly eliminates thermal bridging.

As far as green building goes, K-tect wall systems meet or exceed all building codes, as well as all green building standards. So in the end, a job gets done quicker, easier, requires less manpower and is cheaper for the homeowner and more profitable for the builder.

K-tect Building Systems are GREENGUARD certified for homes, children and schools.

K-tect homes may contribute between 15 and 72 points toward LEED-H certification, depending on the size and design of the home.

Starting on April 22nd of this year, any remodeling project in a space larger than 6 interior square feet or 20 exterior square feet completed in a home or school that was built before 1978 requires that all workers be trained in how to safely handle lead paint.  This will extend to window replacement projects as well.  The cost of not following these regulations is a hefty one, to say the least.  One infraction will cost $32,000.

In order to get certified, all workers must complete a course that costs approximately $500 to $600 per head.  Smaller companies, unfortunately, may not be able to handle the cost of certification for all employees.

As the costs trickle down to homeowners, there is also a possibility that DIY projects will spike, meaning less business for those trained in the field.  Fortunately, however, workers who have been experiencing the ill effects of lead-based paint should find some relief.

For now, contractors across the board will just have to wait and see how it will affect their bottom line.  Hopefully the outcome won’t be as grim as the predictions.

Certified-aging-in-place (CAPS) contracting could be a key to remodeling success in the years to come. As the US population grows older, more homeowners are looking to age in place, which often entails transforming their home into a practical place to live as health issues and mobility begin to play a role in their daily lives.

Such steps include wider, wheelchair-accessible pocket doors, better lighting, reduction of tripping hazards, elevator installation, shower grab bars and tub cuts. Renovations such as these can mean the difference between a later life lived at home or one in a nursing home. That, for many of us, is a powerful incentive, accentuated by the fact that the average home itself is aging and in need of repairs anyway.

The Certified Aging-in-Place Specialist (CAPS) designation can be achieved through a three-day training course offered by the National Association of Home Builders, in conjunction with AARP. Some 3,000 home remodeling and repair contractors have been certified thus far. That’s a relatively small number compared to the fast-growing number of senior citizens in America.

The scope of CAPS remodeling is wide, affecting nearly every aspect of home re-design, from rocker light switches to low-pile carpeting. Even patterned flooring can become a problem for those with poor vision. Understanding the many ways aging-in-place remodeling can benefit the homeowner, as well as how to broach the subject in a respectful way, could be your ticket to an increased work load. Not to mention a work that helps people live out their life in the most comfortable and familiar way they can.

To learn more about becoming a CAPS contractor, see the NAHB website. The included courses teach the technical, business management and customer service skills to succeed in the aging-in-place sector. In the United States and most other developed countries, a growing percentage of the population is reaching seniority, while the younger population is shrinking. Furthermore, most homes in the US are 30 years or older. It’s a tandem that’s creating quite a market for knowledgeable CAPS professionals.

Photo Credit: Chuck Miller

In desert-like conditions, contractors are looking to small remodels to stay afloat. There’s little speculation in the building industry, but there are aging homes, low-cost materials and energy efficiency incentives, which are a ray of light in a trade otherwise rife with downsizing and bankruptcy protection.

A recent article in The Tennessean tells the story of Capitol Homes. The construction company was booming with everybody else for much of the last decade, building 850 homes in eight years, including a high-profile showcase on ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. Now, things have changed. Owner David Luecke filed for bankruptcy protection and downsized his business to become a home remodeler. Where once Capitol Homes was banging out new home after new home, they are now refinishing basements.

I can relate to some extent. In 2007, when the boom started to wane, I was working with a friend and contractor in Grants Pass, Oregon, a town that soared and fell with the housing boom and bust as much as any town in America. In the span of a few months, his work portfolio changed from 90% new construction to 90% home remodeling, and the mentality of making big bucks turned to that of survival. It started with additions but soon came to include fencing, decks and other small projects. Occasionally, and thankfully, he fit in a new home here and there.

The point is that in times of tight belts and thin wallets, a remodel can be the difference between company malady and company maintenance. And while that may seem a dire choice given the successes of a few years ago, remodeling offers a unique opportunity that can carry a contractor until the housing market stabilizes. Remodeling is your potential lifeboat for a few simple reasons.

Cost of Materials is Low

There is a need for homeowners to remodel, and despite fears about money, a sharp drop in material costs is enough to overcome them. The cost of framing lumber has dropped 30% in the last four years to $254 per 1,000 feet. Granite countertops are now only 15% more expensive than Formica. Moving from building $1 million homes to less than $10,000 remodels is a big step down, there’s no denying that, but without fallen material costs, there might be no work at all.

Energy Efficiency

Another reason also stems from money. But this time, it’s about spending money now to save money (and the environment) later. Government incentives to encourage energy upgrades offer money back in the short-term, and heating, cooling and electricity over the long run are improving ROIs for homeowners and providing jobs for contractors.

Education is playing a key role in energy efficient remodeling. Homeowners are more aware of the environmental and financial consequences of their remodel. They know more and want to know even more yet about material life cycles, clean energy, passive solar design, recycled products and eco-friendly remodeling options. As a contractor vying for survival in the remodeling market, knowledge of green building can be a huge asset. New construction, when it recovers, will certainly come out of its slump with a greener tint, but for now it’s with remodels – basements, bathrooms, kitchens, windows and insulation – that contractors are maintaining some water flow in an otherwise dried-up desert.

A search for “replacement windows” by Replacement Contractor yielded three top results: Window Replacement Center, the Replacement Window Site, and Calfinder. All three sites collect information from homeowners set on remodeling and then sell that information to contractors. Lead-generation companies have become a powerful force in the Internet age. Calfinder, for example, offers homeowners information, resources, a daily blog and free estimates on a variety of home improvement projects.

Contractors, on the other hand, gain access to a vast coffer of internet leads. These leads are exceptionally valuable because homeowners feel safer using a company referred by the lead-generation site. In other words, lead-gen companies are to contractors today what word-of-mouth referrals were before the age of Google.

Not every remodeling contractor is happy with lead-generation services. Some complain that too many companies receive the same lead or that leads are not well-qualified. Yet those who are successful with internet leads are often very successful. George Faerber, owner of Bee Window in Indianapolis, estimated that 8-10% of his leads come from lead-generation companies – among them Calfinder – and that about one-third of all his business volume comes through the Internet in some form or another.

The Right Time is Real Time

What separates success from failure with purchased Internet leads? It’s a matter of timing and determination. The right time to call a prospect won by Internet is in real time. As in now. To illustrate the point, take a couple of Calfinder leads offered to New Windows for America. The first lead came in at 10:37 a.m. and the second at 11:07 a.m. The first lead was not called for several minutes and, upon calling, received no answer. The 11:07 lead was called at 11:08 and a sales meeting was set. The Internet age demands real-time response, especially when you know you are not the only contractor who is receiving a particular lead.

First Come First Serve

Another reason to be quick on the draw – to drop everything and call a prospect – is lead competition. It is rare for a lead-generation company to offer exclusive leads, and the first contractor to make contact is often the first, if only, contractor to schedule an appointment. Developing an internal system for a quick and quality response is vital to turning Internet leads into real life sales. New Windows for America reports that it successfully sets appointments with nine out of 10 lead-gen prospects exactly because it has developed a working system to reply to those leads promptly.

Following Up

Determination is the second key to success with lead-gen inquiries. Even if you call every lead within minutes of their inquiry, you are unlikely to reach everybody on that first try. While immediate response is vital, follow-up is also key. This can mean anything from repeated phone calls for several days following the initial inquiry to monthly or quarterly phone calls and emails.

Cheap and Effective

You may have to work for a lead culled from a lead-generation company, but that lead can be both effective in generating business and relatively inexpensive. Ken Greene of St. Clair Corp, a home improvement company based in St. Louis, sees Internet leads as a major contributor to company sales. He notes that 73% of Calfinder leads become good net business, well above industry average. Furthermore, Calfinder leads are cheaper; marketing cost for St. Clair Corp on a Calfinder lead is 8%, compared to 14% companywide and across all lead sources.

So, Internet leads may take some work on your part to push them beyond the marginal, but companies like New Windows for America and St. Clair Corp have proven that they can be very effective. They do it by adjusting their company routine to accommodate the new wave of lead generation. In the age of Google and real-time technology, you have to help your leads help you.

Via Replacement Contractor Online

In case you missed the news because you were out pounding nails, the housing market has started to recover. Sales rose in all four regions for the 3rd time in a row in June, which hasn’t happened since the boom in 2004. Once people start building confidence in the market, they’ll be calling you for the job they’d been putting off. What does this mean for you? You need to stay visible.

Website Awareness

Website presence is a big plus. It will give your company added exposure. Consumers like to see your work. This is the perfect medium to show before and after pictures of past projects. If you don’t want to mess with domains and piecing it together from scratch, try a turnkey website offered through companies like Homestead. It’s an easy way to get your site up and running fast. Get a magnetic sign for your truck’s door and include your website.

Google Search

Getting around Google’s search rankings is another way to reach potential customers when they enter keywords to search for local businesses.

Log into Google and see if you’re listed by typing your business name and town or keywords and your location, e.g. electrical contractors in Sarasota, Fl. The results will show a map and the local businesses will always come first. Are you listed?

If you’re not in the local database, you’re missing out on some free business.

Here are the easy steps to get you in that local directory:

• Go here and submit your company’s information.
• In two weeks, you’ll receive a letter from Google with your pin number. Enter the pin number in the URL they give you.
• Log into your new Google account, where you can enter your company’s contact information, services, special niches, coupons, specials and hours of operation.

Realtor Referral

Right now, I have 5 contractors working on my new (old) home. I’ve got an electrical contractor, painting contractor, a general contractor that’s helping me with a thousand small jobs, and two bathroom contractors who are partners.

Why am I telling you this? Because three of those contractors were highly recommended to me by my realtor – and I didn’t shop around. Stay visible by networking with realtors. Attend their weekly meetings. If you don’t know where and when the meetings are, then call a realtor and ask.

Take a Walk

Canvas neighborhoods. I’m not talking about door-to-door sales because that’s annoying.  But if you have a niche, like roofing, painting, siding, windows, fencing, etc, and you can see from the street that a house desperately needs work in any of those areas, approach the homeowner and say, “I noticed your roof is missing some tiles, which might indicate the roof is nearing its lifespan… lucky for you, I work in this area a lot and specialize in roofing.” Treat the homeowner with concern about their problem and it won’t seem like a sales call. You never know, a harmless conversation about a certain flaw like missing tiles could turn into a big job for you.

Thank You

Don’t forget to write thank you letters!

First off, really get to know your prospect. Understand their needs, wants and top priorities. The industry is what you know best – you can relate to homeowners and really level with them. The better you understand the clients, the better your suggestions for their living space will be.

I had my house painted recently and the bid came in 60% lower than the other bids. I took the bait because it’s human nature to want to save money. I’m not experienced in house painting, so I didn’t know what kinds of questions to ask to ensure the job was done right – and on time.

Here’s what I got for that low-ball bid:

It took him 2 months to paint the interior rooms of my 1,700 square-foot house. He used low-quality paint so he had to paint multiple coats, which cost more money. He over-sprayed my windows and window frames and didn’t clean it up. He also over-sprayed my ceilings, which meant I had to paint the ceilings as well. He removed all smoke detectors, phone plates, electrical outlets and vents, but didn’t reconnect any of it after the job was done. I’m still sorting through nuts and bolts trying to figure out what goes where and I’m left with wires hanging out of the walls where light fixtures were removed but never replaced.

Now that I’ve been burned, I’ve learned. Now I know the right questions to ask – a little too late. Had one of the higher-bidding contractors taken the time to really understand my needs, I most likely would have trusted them more with the job. What I valued was neatly painted walls, a one-week job, and all fixtures replaced at the end. They then would have had the opportunity to help me understand that based on my values, that level of service would cost more money.

These are the types of questions you can ask to help a potential client better understand the process, problems they could run into, and what outcomes would be unacceptable. Though my questions are paint-related, any contractor can tweak them to fit their niche:

• Do you have any time constraints? Are you concerned about the length of time it will take to complete the job?
• Are you concerned abou the quality of paint (how it looks on your walls and the lifespan of the product) your contractor uses?
• Do you value neatness of work?
• Are you concerned about over-spraying?
• Is it important that your contractor remove fixtures rather than tape around them?
• If light fixtures are removed, is it important that your contractor reconnect the wiring and fixtures so you can actually enjoy your newly painted walls?
• Is it important that your contractor has lien and liability protection?

These are but a few questions you can ask to understand what the homeowner values. Once you have this information, ask them how the low bidder will meet their needs and deliver the quality of service they value.

Suggest to your prospect that they go back to the other bidder with a list of expectations to be included in the signed contract.

Just by showing that you care and taking the time to understand their needs will most likely land you the job. It will get them thinking because you’re teaching them things to think about – remember, you’re the expert, not them. They don’t know what questions to ask or what sort of problems can arise.

If they don’t hire you right on the spot, they’ll most likely hire you after the lower-bid contractor refuses to put into writing any references about guaranteed satisfaction or job time-lines.

When you play smarter and really get to know your prospects by asking key questions, you’ll start taking away more business from low-bidding competitors.

Besides the quality of work, what separates great contractors from so-so contractors is attitude. The difference between like and love is referrals.

Surrounded by contractors – who will I refer?

Paint contractor – I told him I wanted the entire house painted except for the ceilings. He gave me a flat-rate quote, including paint. He didn’t have a checklist and he didn’t ask me any questions, except for how many colors I wanted. I told him he had two weeks to get the job done because I had bathroom contractors lined up for the following week and hardwood floor installation after that.

Results:

• He took a week to prep.
• He gets to the job site every day around 2:00 p.m. and paints until around 6:00 p.m.
• He rinses painting equipment in my kitchen sink and leaves paint all over the sink and counter. He also rinses equipment on the ground cover in my front yard, leaving paint everywhere.
• In the middle of the job, he left to go work on another house for three days.
• When I saw that he hadn’t sprayed the closets, I asked about it. His response? “You never said anything about painting closets.” Frustrated, I replied, “I told you I wanted the entire house painted.” This is why checklists are a good thing. Communication stunk.
• He’s taken over three weeks and the job is still not done. Now he and the bathroom contractors are bumping into each other. The walls are sprayed, but the touch-up work is not finished.
• He accidentally over-sprayed onto the ceilings in every room.
• He painted over the over-sprayed spots with white satin (my ceiling finish is flat) and the whites don’t match at all. So now, we’re looking at having to paint entire ceilings.
• He asked for an additional $300 because according to him, “At this rate, I’m only making $17 per hour,” and I said, “If you didn’t over-spray and you worked faster, you’d be making $40 per hour.”

Will I refer him? No. No. No. 

General contractor – I gave him a checklist of about twenty items I wanted fixed, changed, taken down or added.

• I wanted three posts that housed outdoor lighting removed and electrical cut. He took the posts out and killed the electrical, but left long electrical cords sticking out of the ground. I felt it was sloppy work because he didn’t cut the wires to ground level.
• He keeps telling me that he’s going to make a cover for my fuse box. But he’s already been paid through escrow for this little job and hasn’t fixed the problem yet. It’s been over a month.
• He charged $25 per light fixture to hang exterior lights (on existing boxes) on both sides of my driveway. Since I plan on changing all of my light fixtures inside and out, as well as adding fans, I learned how to do it myself.

Will I refer him? Yes, because he is available for lots of little odd jobs, but I’ll tell my friend that sometimes he doesn’t complete work and that you have to stay on him. I suppose that for the most part, he was a decent contractor.

Bathroom contractors – they asked detailed questions about every aspect of the job and advised me on different solutions. They gave me a flat rate and wrote down all the work that would be done for that rate.

• They show up early in the morning and work hard until 5:00 or 6:00 p.m. every day.
• They call every afternoon to give me updates and their plans for the next day.
• They used their own backer board because they had extra in their trailer at no extra charge.
• They used their own cement at no charge.
• When they tore out the tub, there was a big hole in the sub floor and a missing or damaged joist. They used their own plywood that they had in a shed to fix the sub floor and then fixed the joist for free. One of the contractors had to lie in the crawl space in mud (from the dripping tub when they moved the pipes) and work on his back and they didn’t charge me for labor or materials.
• One of the contractors is an electrical contractor whose advice was badly needed one day. I was disconnecting a light fixture (from a soffit in the family room addition) in order to attach my new fixture. Upon pulling the fixture from the wall, I noticed that the wire looked like an extension cord instead of electrical wires. He said he’d climb through the attic, check it out and fix the wiring if he could get to it. The next day, when I walked into the house, the new light was attached, again at no charge.
• They went shopping with me to help with the vanity dimensions and tile ideas.

The bathroom is still under construction. All that’s left is the tile grout and shower door installation. I took them to lunch yesterday and told them how much I appreciated their hard work and thanked them for the “no charge” work. Their response? “It all comes back full circle.”

Will I refer them? Absolutely. In a heartbeat. No question about it.

Are you getting enough referrals?

My friend, however, who is also the realtor who sold me the house, made a smart suggestion to seal a hallway closet that abutted the bathroom and use that space for bathroom shelving. This made perfect sense because (a) there were too many doors in the hallway, making the space look smaller and (b) I desperately lacked storage in the bathroom.

Why didn’t my contractor come up with the brilliant idea? Perhaps it’s what we call tunnel vision. You go into the project by first listening to what the customer wants, you tell them whether or not it’s doable and then you create their vision. But if you looked around, you might get ideas that will greatly enhance the space and make it more functional for the homeowner.

Now, I know there are hoards of contractors who do make suggestions. But for those of you who don’t, it would not be considered an insult if you did. Most homeowners don’t have vision – they can’t see beyond the walls. I know, I’m one of them. If you can make my life easier by making the space in my home more functional, then I’m all ears.

So, here’s my suggestion to build more value and earn more money per project. Let’s say you’re working on a job and you pass by a staircase with unused, wasted space underneath (and the people have a lot of clutter). Suggest how the homeowner could utilize that space more efficiently with built-in storage. Bam – more money for you. Or you’re working on a job unrelated to the kitchen but notice that the kitchen is dark and small. Suggest installing skylights and removing a section of the wall to form a window through an adjoining room – wham-O, more $$.

Trust me, I’m a homeowner who needs you. These suggestions will pay off. Don’t just go into a job for the sake of the job. Go in for the client and help make their home a better place to live.