RC: We’re in the throes of a presidential election already. What should home improvement companies expect and prepare for?
RS: Keep in mind that 75% of the political advertising will be television. Political ads preempt all else, which is why we booked annuals and 25% over schedule. TV stations will use any excuse to keep their rates up. The PACs [political action committees] pay top dollar.
RC: How do you compete with that?
RS: The big political money wants to be on in the morning, evening news, and in prime time. They want the biggest audiences. So we use a lot of daytime slots. Judge Judy. Dr. Phil. That appeals to the older demographic. We go to second-tier stations and recommend cable more.
Home Base
RC: You’ve talked about making the website the “home base” for marketing messages. What did you mean by that and how does a company accomplish that?
RJ: The most important thing — and this sounds basic but it happens a lot — is that the advertising messages for home improvement companies are all over the place. TV’s saying one thing, the website’s saying something else. Your marketing is so much more effective when it’s integrated; when you’re speaking with one consistent voice. Your website should complement and reinforce your other methods of advertising otherwise it discourages people from following up.
RS: To me, the website is a safety net. In the old days, if you ran an ad and people didn’t call, they were gone forever. Now they can see the ad and can Google whenever they want to. By the time they’ve made contact, they’ve had multiple connections with your company.
RC: Home improvement companies always prefer to spend their money on lead generation rather than branding. Yet some of the most successful companies — such as Hansons — are big on brand-building. Why is that?
RS: [Hanson’s president] Brian Elias does a great job. But he’s on his own commercials. He gets public feedback and can judge the response much better than an advertising agency would be able to — he can feel it. That wouldn’t be the case if he weren’t the company owner. The key thing is you’ve got to believe in something and stick with it. To have an impact, you’ve got to keep it going until it gets its own TV breath.
RC: Based on what you see, are companies leaving leads on the table because of bad conversion methods?
RS: That’s been a pet peeve of mine for years. What happens is that prospects call up and ask the most ridiculous questions. Rather than have someone trying to answer those questions, use a script that goes something like this: Thank you for calling. May I have your area code? Can I have your phone number? May I have your last name? What town are you in? So the person answering the phone is in control for the first 30 seconds of that call. That’s what people need to do. Put a soft edge on answering the phone.
RC: What if they’re requesting price information?
RS: You have to turn them. For instance, recently a walk-in tub company was getting hundreds of calls. But they blew a ton of leads because people requested a price. The company wouldn’t give them a price, and the conversation more or less stopped right there. My suggestion is, instead of debating whether or not to give them pricing information, explain to the prospect that you have a 10-point walk-through that needs to happen before you can quote a price. A good script and a strong phone person can move that conversation from price to an appointment.
Marketing Shift
RC: How has online marketing changed home improvement marketing?
RJ: The biggest thing that’s changed is that there’s nowhere to hide if you don’t do a good job and take care of the customer. Online consumer reviews are growing. There are a lot of review sites, and these play a role in how a company’s website is ranked organically. The number of positive reviews is a factor in the algorithms. So the company that takes care of customers and has positive reviews to show for it is the one that’s going to thrive on the Web.
RS: Video seems to enhance everything you do. Since Google favors YouTube [in search engine rankings], getting positive video reviews is the next thing we’ll be working on. A lot of companies now videotape testimonials. With one Pennsylvania company we’ve optimized the video so the results show up on the first page of organic search.
RC: What should home improvement company marketers be most aware of when it comes to marketing?
RJ: A few years ago it was just making sure they had a website. Now it’s whether or not your site is optimized. Are you monitoring your brand? Do you keep up with what people are saying about you? We had one client with a lot of negative reviews. And they lost jobs. So build your Facebook and Twitter following.
—Jim Cory, editor, REPLACEMENT CONTRACTOR
