Most people over-complicate marketing…
What I’m about to share with you is really a foundational process, to any effective marketing.
And if you get this right, you can effectively market in probably 99% of businesses.
(I’ll specifically focus on service businesses — and especially trade-level businesses — in this particular article. And yet, the process is effectively the same, no matter what you’re marketing.)
This article comes from a reader question…
Remember, every Monday is Mailbox Monday. Where I answer your questions. About marketing, copywriting, selling, business-building, personal development, success, and more.
My queue is quite long now — but if you’d like to add your question to the end, fill out this quick form.
Here’s today’s question…
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Roy,
I started my small business without a clue to be honest, no formal training in sales or worse… No marketing knowledge at all. I just started a business that I can do for when my son is not sick in the hospital. He has Hydro Cephalis, pressure on the brain so when his VP Shunt fails, it is extreme pressure on the brain stem until they do major brain and stomach surgery to replace it.
He was about 3 months premature and has to have this replaced forever as needed. I do pressure washing of houses, concrete, buildings, etc….
But no formal marketing knowledge so I read books about marketing to learn more. I cannot do physical labor forever so I decided to learn about marketing and want to become a marketer.
I know there is a demand for marketing far more wanted and needed than for my pressure washing services and I know that this can be done anywhere in the world as long as you have a laptop computer and internet service.
I am sorry this is so long, I have ADD and get distracted and go off on tangents, sometimes I get back on track, sometimes not for a long time and hardly ever finish projects until later on. lol
Thank you for your information, your books and videos, I am excited to learn more about marketing and hopefully soon be able to help people with their marketing needs…….after I help myself in my own business as proof that I can help others. Thank you.
CC
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First things first, let’s address the ADD…
You are not alone. Entrepreneurship seems to draw people with ADD/ADHD. Including me. I’ve been diagnosed with the Inattentive subtype — which means even though my body isn’t bouncing off the walls, my mind is.
As much as you can take drugs or treat this in many ways, I’m growing more convinced than ever that the systems around you will make the biggest difference.
First, regular exercise. This is for your brain chemistry. Find an exercise program and stick to it. Mine is Simple & Sinister 2.0, pretty much by the book. This and a few bodyweight exercises throughout the day, and I’m good.
Second, GTD. I’m growing more and more convinced that David Allen’s Getting Things Done is the world’s best ADHD treatment. Get the audiobook, and dedicate the rest of your life to putting it into practice, in the way that works best for you. Dealing with all the stress and chaos and unpredictability in your life (and it sounds like there’s a lot) is infinitely easier when you have a system to take all those inputs plus your million-and-one ideas and capture, clarify, organize, reflect on, and engage with them in an effective way.
Regarding your son, that sounds terrible and heart-wrenching as a parent. I can only imagine the wild emotions and stresses that must put on your life, and I applaud you for even being able to get through the day with that as a constant presence in your life. I truly wish and hope for the best for your son, you, and your family.
Now, back to marketing…
Here’s what you need to nail down, in this order…
— Economics: Offer and Client Value
— Conversion: Selling and Funnel
— Traffic: Marketing and Attraction
You probably have some aspects of these already working for you. Probably not as well as they could be. This is true for pretty much every business.
I recommend this order for a very specific reason. Because it’s the most direct, efficient way to actually creating an entire client-getting approach that will be successful.
If you do it backwards, you’ll have a ton of prospects, but struggle to make sales (and you may only find this out after spending a fortune on traffic).
If you start in the middle, you’ll end up with an extravagant marketing system that very likely sells the wrong thing.
But if you start with the offer, build a selling system, and then get prospects through marketing, you’ll minimize the effort and maximize success and scalability — and you can start making direct sales even as you’re getting your offer nailed down.
Economics: Offer and Client Value…
First things first, what problem are you solving, and for whom?
This sounds really simple. But few businesses even think about it.
Get clear: Who will benefit from your service? Who will pay for it? Who is ready to buy now?
So, with pressure washing, I might focus on retail businesses. Because they will want to keep their storefronts clean, and thus be more frequent customers. Not only that, a clean storefront has potential positive ROI. So it’s easier to justify the expense.
By starting with a single target market, they are easier to find and target, plus your messaging can be more tailored. Once you completely “own” this space (or whatever target you choose), you can consider expanding into different niches.
Next, what is the value of this?
I don’t know how much other pressure washers charge. But I do imagine it’s a fairly competitive business. You won’t win on price. You’ll wear yourself down and go broke trying to do so. Instead, I’d focus on delivering higher-level service. Which means your visual presentation needs to be a representation of your client businesses. Your vehicle and clothing should be clean and neat. You must respect their customers as if they were your own (in a sense, they are).
Consider not just the value of the pressure washing, but the value of convenience and peace of mind. By being a pressure washing service that ONLY works on a monthly or bi-monthly schedule, ONLY with retail businesses, you add value. Both through them not having to worry about it, and through specialization.
Create an offer where they can buy a year’s worth of services at once, or on autobill. Make it 20% more expensive than you think it should be (at least, assuming you don’t have financial head trash that has you devaluing your services — many of us do, including me).
Once you’ve raised it by 20%, offer 10% off for a repeat services contract, or 20% off for that same contract with prepay. You can determine the exact contract size by the actual size of the job.
So let’s say Acme, Inc. has a storefront that your gut says is $150/job. Tell them the fee is $180 for you to clean it once. If they want you to come out every 8 weeks, it’s $162 per job, due at time of service (or autopay on their credit card), with a 12-month agreement. If they prepay for the 6 services over the course of the next 12 months, it’s $150 per job, or $900 total.
Assuming this structure, I might assume the average client is going to be worth somewhere in the $600 range in the next year, but there’s the potential that a client you get today could easily go into the $1,000s.
But how do you get to those conversations in the first place?
Conversion: Selling and Funnel…
You need a system, a process, a method for selling.
And here I’m NOT talking about technology. I’m talking about being able to draw on a single sheet of paper, the steps someone takes to get to that point where you’re making the offer.
So, this is going to take place during a consultative selling appointment. You’ll need to come out, talk to them, and tell them what service will cost.
To make that happen, they need a method of scheduling with you. I strongly would prefer a scheduler, even in your case. (I use Book Like A Boss.) You need a very explicit way for them to request an appointment, and if they’re able to do that automatically, it’s best. Alternatively, they could call to schedule an appointment.
Prior to this, they need to understand why they should call you. For this, you need to show them that you can solve their problem. So, you need to create some kind of media presentation that helps them understand that 1) you understand their problem, 2) you understand how agitating it can be, and why they need it to be solved, 3) why other solutions may not have worked or been invalid, 4) why your solution will be valid and work to solve their problem, and 5) what it takes to get started, which is scheduling that appointment. (This is my Problem-Agitate-Invalidate-Solve-Ask, or PAISA, formula.)
Prior to this, you need a way to get them to engage with that media presentation. There should be a mechanism (such as a website they go to, or an opt-in form, or a number they call for more information) they can use to respond to any ads or outside media, that will direct them to the presentation.
And prior to this, you need to think about marketing, advertising, and other ways to put y our message in front of the market.
Traffic: Marketing and Attraction…
Once you have the conversion system in place, then you drive traffic back into it, at the top.
Here’s where you get into running ads on Facebook, running Google Ads, etc. Or any other kinds of ads.
The goal being to use media to reach out to your target prospects, and get them to engage with whatever media presentation you’ve put together (could be text, video, etc.) that pre-sells them, and gets them to schedule that initial appointment, where you can make your offer.
This is often where many businesses START with marketing, and yet it’s destined to fail (or at least underperform) if you don’t have everything else ready to capture leads and carry them toward that inevitable action step.
There’s so much here, I know…
And frankly, even though this is one of my longer articles, it can only scratch the surface.
I have a TON more on this approach and methodology coming soon, in my BTMSinsiders training.
And in the next couple weeks, I have a really BIG announcement on that front.
Plus, you’ll certainly get more by continuing to follow my Breakthrough Marketing Secrets articles.
Yours for bigger breakthroughs,
Roy Furr
