Get your name out

Word of mouth remains the main route to new business for any installer serving residential customers. But that doesn’ t mean that you can’ t help the process along. After all, there may be many years between big projects and a customer may have come across rivals in the meantime.

That’ s why it’ s such a good idea to keep your name in front of them. You want your business to come to their mind when they are wondering which installer to use. A lot of ways to achieve this are very low cost, particularly in contrast with services like Rated People and My Builder. Many of these ideas are fairly obvious, but that doesn’ t make them any less worthy of repetition:

• Give business cards to every customer and every prospect. This is incredibly cheap and even though a lot will end in the bin, even these remind people of your business name

• Put details of your business in big lettering on every van

• If it doesn’ t create a problem with the client, erect a board outside their premises

• Get everyone to wear a company uniform. Cheesy, yes, but again it reinforces the company name in people’ s minds and should make you all look smarter as well. Seeing people around jogs the memory of old prospects as well as promoting yourself to new clients

I find it strange that some businesses will splash out for expensive advertising when they haven’ t first tried everything that is low cost and free.

Create happy customers

Growing your business is best done by satisfying your customers. Happy customers tell their friends about you and recommend you. Happy customers come back for more. Happy customers trust you and aren’ t so price sensitive. Finally, it’ s worth remembering the lesson about customers with problems.

If you fix them quickly they will be even more loyal than customers that never had a problem in the first place.

Be quick on the draw when it comes to quotes

To grow your business, you have to win quotes. The problem is that many installers hate paperwork, and creating quotes probably qualifies as the most tiresome of the various paperwork tasks. This creates a dilemma, because responding quickly is one of the best ways of winning business.

In Powered Now’ s survey of over 1,000 homeowners, 75 % expressed frustration at getting quotes from trade companies. 11 % were frustrated“ to a large extent”.

One of the interesting factors is whether you should worry about your availability. Remember that after you win a quote you can negotiate the start date as most people will wait. That is especially true when you explain that you don’ t compromise on quality or job length by starting and then disappearing off site. Being in hot demand suggests to your customer that you are worth waiting for.

The more work you win the faster you grow and the more you can gently increase prices. Simply responding to quotes faster means that you can be more picky and in particular avoid customers who talk about price too much.

Use a computer system

The world has changed a lot in recent years. Virtually everyone carries around in their pocket what would have been regarded as a super-computer just a while ago. Its ease of use makes old desktop PCs look positively medieval. A computer

system for your business will cost money but should save you much more in greater efficiency.

Installers, particularly smaller ones, have been very slow to adopt technology partly because it hasn’ t been good enough, partly from fear it will be too difficult to use and partly because the hatred of paperwork often extends to anything associated with it. Finally, old style systems weren’ t mobile.

With the adoption of smartphones that has all changed. With the downsides gone, there are several companies, including mine, Powered Now, selling