Free Advice - The Trades Coach

Sep272020

Jump In Puddles

With a recession typically comes a reduction in consumer confidence and a trend to delay or cancel big-ticket spend items. Building projects are the biggest ticket of them all. To combat this you should be looking at increasing your marketing. If you have been using “word-of-mouth” as your only marketing strategy over recent years, it’s time to review your activities in this space and put together a more comprehensive plan.

The first place I suggest you start in putting a marketing plan together is picking a market segment or two in which to focus your energies. Segmentation is the most fundamental of marketing concepts. To quote marketing guru Theodore Levitt, “If you’re not talking segments, you’re not talking marketing”. Furthermore, there has never been a greater need for effective segmentation, due to several factors:

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Aug12020

10 Steps to Reversing Horrifying Negative Online Reviews

Have a few unhappy customers who made it their business to burn you through website or social media complaints? Here’s how you can turn around your online reputation. Guest post by Kate Zabriskie

“The worst customer service experience ever! The plumber arrived an hour late for the appointment and was surly. Stay away!!!”

“If you are offered a job at this place, run! Do not walk to the nearest exit. This company is an asylum. I have never worked with a more dysfunctional group of people in my life.”

Ouch! Those hurt.

And there it is, in black and white for anyone and everyone to see: what someone thinks of your product, your service, or your organization. Bad reviews can bite, wound and sting. Worst of all, a mountain of them can appear in a matter of seconds. Social media: It’s a wonderful thing, until it turns against you.
So, what’s a person to do when his or her online reputation is suffering at the hands of others? Plenty.

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Jul312020

Are Business Plans a Waste of Time?

As a business advisor it may seem strange that I should ask that question at all. Don’t all advisors/mentors/coaches stress the need to have a business plan and say things like, “fail to plan is a plan to fail”?

In my opinion it comes down to the type of business plan that is produced and the length of time it takes to produce it. Many business plans ARE a waste of time because they are too wordy, too “corporate”, don’t motivate staff and are not connected to the day-to-day operations of the business. I read an article recently on writing a business plan (unfortunately I can’t remember where) and it said that a business plan could take between 400 and 500 hours to produce. ARE YOU KIDDING! Who in small business ownership world has a spare 500 hours to produce a business plan, and probably one that no one will look at again for another year! That would be a huge waste of time.

What is of real value is the planning PROCESS involved in putting a business plan together. Here’s how….

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Jun282020

Selling against cheaper competitors

Bumping up against a cheaper competitor, especially in tighter economic times, is a fact of life. Hoping it won’t happen isn’t a good strategy to deal with the problem. What you need to do is take proactive steps to differentiate your business in the minds of the customer, because if you can’t express logical reasons why your offer is better, the customer only has one point of differentiation to guide them…..the price.

The key to doing that is making certain that the customer — not your service or company — is the core of all your sales messages and make sure that there are financial proof-points. Here’s what you do:

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Jun202020

Take Control of Your Future

As you get back into work post lockdown and focus on catching up lost ground, I would encourage you not to just go back to the day-to-day mentality and assume that things will continue as they currently are. With a potentially severe recession ahead, just continuing to do the types of things you have been doing around business strategy could mean you become dragged down by the negative market forces.

In the chart above there are generally three future scenarios that could play out for you, determined largely by the type of actions that you take now and over the next few months. I have put down a future time line to measure possible results of 18 months. It’s a bit arbitrary on my part and you may feel the measuring post should sit at 12 months, or something else. In the end it’s not critical where we put the line; what is important is to look at the pathway towards it and which one do you want to be on.

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Jun82020

Insurance 101 for Tradies

At Builtin we deal with thousands of tradies up and down the country, so we know insurance isn’t anybody’s favourite topic! While it’s not something you want to think about, it is something you need to have, and need to have properly arranged. Having to replace an expensive asset that’s been stolen or damaged, or getting tied up in an expensive liability issue can hammer a small business, not only financially, but they can take an emotional toll on the contractor and their family too.

For larger firms their exposure to risk is greater, as is their capacity to manage it. For company managers and directors, getting the right professional advice and having good risk management practices in place, including insurance cover, is a critical (and legal) duty.

Most of our customers want what we call the “Goldilocks Package”: not too little, but not too much. That’s what we help our customers with every day.

In this article we share some basic risk management questions, as well as the headlines of the key policies contractors need to consider. What you need will vary according to your specific operations and business set up, but this should serve as a good overview to get you started.

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May102020

Should You Play Offensive or Defensive Right Now?

In rugby, like most team sports, the coach has a basic decision to make when deciding how to play against a certain opposition. Do we play a defensive strategy, or an offensive one? The same applies in business, and especially now as we enter into this recession. Should you go conservative, or go for growth?

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Apr282020

Interior Design as a Value-Add

I have a guest post for you this time from Natasha Bozic, an interior designer in my network group. Builders in particular should consider adding in an interior design service to what they offer to clients in order to help differentiate themselves from competitors and also deepen the relationship with the potential client. Being married to a builder, Natasha knows the process and how best to fit in. Here’s her story.

How many times it has happened that instead of following your daily schedule and focusing on your construction work, you got caught in long discussions and questions from clients about what paint colour to choose, what is the best floor plan for a bathroom renovation, where to buy certain products for the renovation projects, what colour vanity to choose, what do you think about their tile selection etc? Read more….

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Apr132020

A Triage Approach to Your Covid-19 Business Problems

The business issues suddenly faced by owners due to the Covid-19 pandemic and resultant recession is like a medical emergency in a disaster zone. Paramedics would follow a triage approach to prioritise patients and start on the most important issues first. This is a video guide on how to do a business triage. How to prioritise issues and what is the most important things to deal with first.

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Mar312020

COVID-19 Update: The independent tradie guide on surviving economic and business uncertainty

It’s been a week since New Zealand went into Level Four lockdown in efforts to stop the spread of COVID-19. As the owner of an independent tradie business, you might have spent the last week trying to sort out a new routine, or maybe you were able to catch up on some rest and family time after a busy summer working in your business.

Due to the impact of COVID-19, New Zealand and the world is experiencing an uncertain and disruptive business climate; now is not the time to hibernate and neglect your business, your staff and your clients. The truth is what you do in the next four weeks could make all the difference – will you be raring to go or scrambling up from the bottom?

I know the real and sad impact of business failure and I don’t want that to happen to you. That’s why I’ve put together a list of tips to help you manage the short-term business issues you are facing, and help you and your team get prepared and ready to go at full speed ahead once the restrictions are lifted.

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