Whenever my friends come to visit me in Wisconsin, our meals consist of the staples that make up the dairy state’s diet: cheese, beer, and more cheese!

This week, the 2017 WI Cheese Industry Conference is taking place in our own Madison, Wisconsin and it promises to bring out the best of our state’s dairy pride: a gathering of nearly 2,000 cheese industry leaders, suppliers, marketers and more, sharing information about the latest in cheese technology, new products, whey opportunities, product safety, marketing and additional issues affecting this industry. Of course I’ve gouda be there!

Imagine this scenario: a hiring manager calls you up to let you know that an employee has given their two-week notice. ‘Fill out this new employee acquisition form,’ you tell the manager. And then you hear nothing for two weeks while the hiring manager scrambles to get all the necessary approvals and signatures for the replacement. Once everything is signed, you start recruiting for the open position - in IT.

Tracking metrics is crucial for effective contractor marketing. Unfortunately, many small and mid-sized businesses engage in contractor marketing without understanding all the metrics involved, or why they matter to their bottom line. Understanding and recording metrics is crucial for optimizing marketing spend and knowing where your efforts are delivering ROI. 

Let’s look at some of the critical metrics that are keys to evaluate home contractor marketing performance:

Everyone knows the story of the old salesman: a world-weathered man who lugs a suitcase of samples from door-to-door in the July heat or the November slush or slogging through his rolodex late into the night, hustling to make ends meet.  In the end, his hard work and charisma are rewarded in sales and grateful customers.  

Decades ago, making unsolicited calls to generate new business leads was effective simply because there weren't many alternatives.  But the era of the salesman has ended, and consequently, the effectiveness of marketing methods has also evolved.  While sales still requires hard work, cold calling is as outdated as Don Draper and smoking in the office.  The digital age has rendered the arduous and thankless practice of cold calling entirely obsolete.

So, you are wondering if you are offering enough membership value as an association.  That is awesome that you are even thinking about it. Having it at the top of mind is so crucial because, as you know, your members are the life blood of your organization.  You HAVE to keep them happy.

So, it’s the end of the year and you are trying to get a handle on the overall value, monetary worth, of your overhead door company.  The struggle lies in the fact that you have huge swings in revenue because your door installs come at random times throughout the year.  It makes it incredibly hard for you to predict the amount of money that you will bring in year over year. So, how do you convert your business into one that has a steadier and even larger stream of revenue?

Those of you who know me well know that in a prior life I worked for a private equity company that focused on acquiring mid-size manufacturing companies.  I then became a small business owner/operator investing and running a specialized construction company.  I can tell you that it has not always been easy to make the long-term investment over the short-term instant results when it comes to marketing. Do you feel the same way?

Seeing my logo on a web banner, my name on a billboard, or hearing my voice on a radio ad made me feel like I was doing something to promote my business. So many eyeballs, and so many ears! It’s gotta be working, right?

When I get started on a strategy for a client at Trending Up, the most important question I ask is "what are your goals?". Obviously, the biggest goal for a home builder (or any industry business, for that matter) is to increase profits. It's my job to put together an executable marketing strategy that will get them there. However, part of our sales process here at Trending Up is to help the client identify exact pain points they're experiencing - so by the time they sign with us and we have our first strategy meeting, they answer my question much differently. 

Step One: Lower Your Expectations… obviously, I’m joking. But seriously, you have been doing this for how many years now?  I’m sure it seems like a really daunting task to have to pass on all of that knowledge and experience to your sales team.  But, the fact is, without setting your sales team up for success and without adequate sales training your team will flounder, you will experience a ton of churn on your sales team, and your overhead door company will fail to grow.

Whether you’re ready or not, manufacturer marketing has already been disrupted. Peoples' behaviors have changed, and they’re tuning out traditional marketing tactics.