Learning Curve Three years ago (and a year before they married) Robin Burrill, an interior designer, joined Rob Mathews in his Fort Worth, Texas, company, Curb Appeal Renovations. They began home-grown marketing efforts because Mathews was running ragged, doing 250 jobs a year with three employees, from door installs to additions. The company’s $750,000 in revenues came from referrals and yellow pages ads. Basic job signs and lettered trailers brought in some business too.
In 2003, having reduced job number to 50 while increasing job size, the couple started looking at their true customer and what work they wanted (more architectural and interior design work in addition to construction). At the time, they spent 1.5% of revenues on marketing.
After joining Remodelers Advantage in July 2003, they began tracking lead sources and targeted more clients interested in design work. They also hired a local firm to redesign their corporate identification package and pull together a marketing plan. When a proposed $50,000 contract surprised them, they scaled back plans and contracted for a 10-month retainer, at $2,000 a month. Including direct mail, advertising, and other printed materials, the couple boosted their marketing budget to about 8% of revenue.
Everything started well. The consultant developed ads with a consistent theme. To develop leads, she suggested teaching a class on how to hire a remodeler. But then marketing materials required many revisions and other materials had erroneous or missing information. Burrill and Mathews decided to terminate the consultant’s contract. They paid $13,000 of the retainer.
Nonetheless, they learned some valuable lessons:
- Choose an industry-experienced expert. Specify what happens when deadlines aren’t met.
- Don’t hire on retainer. Specify jobs and tasks, and contract per piece.
- Specify how revisions will be made and who’s responsible for repeated mistakes.
- If contracting for printed items, specify pages, colors, sizes, number of revisions.
- Ask who owns files and artwork. Make sure files are formatted to allow editing by others.
Burrill also tapped the U.S. Census Bureau Web site (www.census.gov) for demographic information, including home values, age of homes, how much homeowners earn, and how often they moved. She also suggests hiring a good graphic artist who understands marketing.