Chances are, attracting new customers is job one for you heading into 2009. The days of resting on an established customer list and taking on new jobs as they walk in the door are a distant memory in these challenging economic times.
Your customer database — once considered rock solid and your strongest asset — has eroded in tune with the meltdown experienced by lending institutions starting last fall. When mortgage money dried up, so did many of the homebuilders you’d come to rely on as loyal customers. When the stock market flopped, so did some of the special events and party clients who had thrived on the discretionary income of the general public.
The problem with prospecting — and the reason small businesses rarely spend enough time doing it — is that it involves working without pay. It feels better to have an employee running a restroom route all day than it does having that same worker putting together a mass mailing of sales brochures or cold-calling weak leads that might not pan out. When the service rig is active, the money pipeline is flowing. But when employees are sitting in the office tracking down work, the money pipeline is flowing the other way.
ESTABLISH CONSISTENT MARKETING
But that’s not really the way to think about ramping up your marketing efforts. A consistent sales program should be built into your work schedule just like the time you expect the yard man to be spending repairing damaged units or the office manager processing billing.
That’s not human nature, though. For small business owners who work close to the margin, the route-running, accounting and truck maintenance translate to bringing home the bacon. This is the work that generates the revenue, gives the tangible results you want to see every day. It pays the bills, funds new equipment purchases — and if you’re lucky — supports your retirement somewhere down the road.
It’s time to start looking at prospecting the same way. If you want to bulk up the customer base to the point where it was a year ago — and beyond — you need to earmark at least a small percentage of your budget to marketing efforts that don’t always have an immediate payoff. And the emphasis on building the customer list shouldn’t only come at challenging economic times like these. When you start to ride that inevitable wave of prosperity again, keep working at growing that list. It’ll make your company outlook healthier for years to come.
So let’s say you decide to dedicate four hours of paid time every week to finding new customers. How are you going to spend that time? Here are a few ideas to get the ball rolling:
Send someone to the Pumper & Cleaner Environmental Expo Education Day
Start the effort with a bang by attending or sending a representative to the slate of marketing seminars at next month’s Pumper & Cleaner Expo. On Wednesday, Feb. 25, in Louisville, Ky., some of the most successful portable sanitation contractors in the country will participate in a panel discussion organized by the Portable Sanitation Association International. During and after the presentation, you’ll be able to pick the brains of these industry leaders in search of good marketing ideas.
In addition to the PSAI session, there are valuable tracks of seminars planned by the Leaders Resource Network and by sales guru Scott Hunter that will touch on a wide array of topics, from perfecting the sales process to marketing your company via the Internet. Many great ideas come out of these seminars and the speakers are more than informative; they’re inspiring to PROs.
Explore social networking sites for value marketing
Just in the past several months, I’ve seen an increase in the number of portable sanitation companies seeking a presence on popular social networking Web sites, including YouTube, MySpace and Facebook. On YouTube, for example, PROs are posting commercials for their services on the site started as a vehicle for people to share their family videos with others. I’ve called a few of the companies, often finding out that their most recent Yellow Pages contract included a video commercial that is uploaded at YouTube and shared with the world.
These sites are free to use, and added to your own Web site, give you another new and creative way to tap into potential customers. They won’t replace the traditional ways to market your business, including print advertising and direct mail, but they are an inexpensive complement to what you’ve been doing already.
The company owners I’ve talked to lately say they’ve been surprised by the response they get from these so-called “new media’’ marketing efforts. They’ve told me PROs who aren’t on the Web shouldn’t discount the impact this type of marketing can have as consumers migrate to the Internet as a first step to finding a service company. The Web can no longer be perceived as “gimmick marketing;’’ these PROs say it yields proven results in new customers.
Pitch a “pie in the sky’’ customer
Never assume anything, my journalism professors used to say when they stressed news reporters need to ask the most obvious questions. As a small business service provider, you should never assume that plum client in your area — be it a huge commercial construction company or a premier special event — is out of your reach.
Let’s say that in your hometown, a huge summer festival has ordered 200 units from another PRO for the past 15 years. You’ve always assumed the festival and the PRO have a rock-solid partnership, so you haven’t bothered to make a push for the business. Many factors could change that relationship and provide you an opening. There could be a new decision-maker on the festival’s end. The PRO could stumble on providing good service or raise prices beyond the festival’s budget. Make a new pitch for the client. Don’t assume you can’t snare that business.
Join a civic group for effective networking
If it’s truly “who you know’’ that can get your foot in the door with businesses in your community, you need to make more friends. To reach the people with the power to help build your business, consider joining your local Chamber of Commerce or the most popular philanthropic civic organization in town, like the Optimists or the Rotary Club. These organizations offer the chance to network with other businesses and do good work in the community at the same time.
At our local Chamber of Commerce weekly breakfast meeting, for example, members each have the opportunity to pitch their services to the group. Attendance changes every week, and you never know when you’ll meet someone who needs portable restrooms for their own business.
TAKE THE PRO SURVEY
In the November 2008 issue of PRO, we included the Big 10 PRO Survey. Our plan was to run the results of the survey in this issue, but we’ve decided to wait and give more portable sanitation contractors an opportunity to participate.
We’ve had a good response so far, but I’d like to encourage those who haven’t filled out a survey to go online at www.promonthly.com, click on the Big 10 survey billboard and take a moment to answer a few basic questions about your business.
This is an anonymous survey. You won’t be asked for your company name or precise location. The results will be published in future stories to help readers track important industry trends. If you’ve already taken the survey, thanks for your help. If you haven’t, please go to the PRO Web site and add your voice.
