Clearview National January 2020 - Issue 218 | Page 90

BUSINESSNEWS
5 things that stop companies from
growing and how to tackle them
Having your own business by itself can be great. However, quite a lot of
installers not only want to be their own boss, they want to grow their
businesses. Benjamin Dyer of Powered Now looks at five key things that
can stop you growing, together with the antidote to the problem.
» OF THE NEARLY MILLION TRADE
businesses in the UK, only around 87% are
sole traders. My guess is that the proportion
may be even higher among installers. But
leaving this aside there is one important fact.
That is that most trade businesses don’t get
past the sole trader stage. In contrast, this
article is for people who want to see their
businesses grow.
MAKE FOR HAPPY CUSTOMERS
If your customers don’t end up happy, your
business will really struggle to grow.
When your customers are not happy, you
won’t be happy either. That’s because chasing
cash from disgruntled customers, fixing
faults, fending off threats of legal action and
disputing scathing online reviews are all things
that people generally hate.
As you probably already know, over 70%
of domestic work comes from word-of-
mouth and previous good experiences. This
means that it’s almost impossible to grow
your business if you don’t do a great job. It’s a
reason why you should never cut your prices
to the bone. That’s because you always need
enough time to do the job well and please
your customers.
Happy customers are the first pre-requisite
for a business to grow profitably.
BE A SALES SENSATION
Plenty of recommendations will help your
business to grow but neglecting marketing and
sales will mean that this growth is very slow.
So, getting your name out and winning new
business needs to be a priority.
Marketing does not have to be complicated
or expensive. The minimum that you need to
do is to have your contact details on the side
of your van. Next up is to leave a business
card with every customer. This is unbelievably
cheap and it’s amazing how quickly some
people can forget your name and contact
90 » JAN 2020 » CL EARVI E W- UK . C O M
details. Then you need a company uniform.
That’s a smart tee shirt or sweat shirt that you
and any employees must wear on every job. At
a minimum this must display your name and
contact number.
If you want to be more adventurous, you
can explore membership of Checkatrade
and the Trusted Trader schemes and maybe
experiment with lead generators like Rated
People and My Builder. There is, rightly,
plenty of cynicism about these services but
the fact that they have survived so long does
say something. I know of companies that have
used each of these successfully, to grow their
businesses.
Of course, the first thing to do is to make
the most of the opportunities that you
already have. In many cases, this will involve
responding to requests for quotations. Here
are some ideas for making all quotes really
count:
• Always ensure they are professional-
looking with a nice logo and well-
designed layout
• Produce your quotes fast. When my
company, Powered Now, did some
research with over 1,000 homeowners we
found them really frustrated with trying
to get quotes out of trade companies.
This means that if you are quick to
respond to quotes you will find yourself
ahead of the game – and you will win
more of those quotes
• Always ensure that risks are under
control. Gas engineer John McLaughlan
likes to add this to his quotes: “Subject to
no significant discoveries that could not
have reasonably been anticipated“
Once a quote is out, you need to close the
business. You must always gently follow up
quotes a couple of days after they were sent
out. Sometimes you will close the order right
then.
Remember that every time that you have
any contact with the prospect you are trying
to build a relationship of trust. To quote two
real life examples, one trade company lost
any chance of ever getting business by being
too fresh with the lady making the decision.
Another lost the business by not removing
their dirty boots when coming into the house.
Every little thing counts towards whether you
will make a sale or not. Try to be friendly but
not over-friendly.
Practise very low-pressure ways to ask for
the business. An example might be “We have
some time available the week after next, would
you like us to start then?” Or maybe, “It takes
several days lead time to get the right boiler,
do you want me to put in an order now?”
You shouldn’t pressurise, but these little
things may be enough to tip the customer into
committing.
EXPLOIT THOSE APPS
In this day and age, it is a big mistake not
to be computerised. It will leave you at a
competitive advantage versus those that use
apps. They don’t have to spend so much time
on paperwork.
Marcelle Stoughton is the administrator
for Fencing Services, a fast-growing trade
company specialising in fences. She
recommends using a system to run the
company and says bluntly: “To be profitable,
you must be as efficient as possible.”
I’m hardly impartial as the CEO of an
app provider but I am genuinely certain that
the benefits far outweigh the costs of using
a system. On average, our customers save
over 4 hours per week doing paperwork.
Running your business on a system can lay the
foundation for rapid growth.
In fact, my company, Powered Now, has
recently finished giving presentations to
installers all over the country. This was as part
of the Vaillant Business Clinic seminar series.