Marketing Archives - NAPCO Ltd.

Kitchen and Bathtub Refinishing Small Business Tips

This article will discuss the strategies and tactics for closing a deal with a refinishing client on the first visit.

Not every client will decide to work with you on the initial visit, but many will. Ensuring that this can happen is a process.

This process begins during the initial phone conversation and when you schedule your visit. It includes how you build trust from the moment you arrive, what you say to start the visit, the questions to ask, and how to get a decision at the end when you hand them your quote.

The Initial Contact Phone Call

When you receive an inquiry from a potential customer about a tub, counter, or tile floor refinishing project, you must gather some essential information. You will gather their contact information such as name, phone, email, and street address. You will ask about the project they are interested in doing.

Timing of the Project

When you are on the phone with the customer, you will also ask a very important question:

“I’m curious, when were you planning to do this project? Are you planning to do this now or is it something you are thinking about doing sometime in the future?”

If they say they are planning to do this now or sometime soon you have an opportunity to close the deal relatively quickly. If they say, “It’s something for the future”, ask them, “By ‘future’ do you mean within the next month or two or could it be next year?” Typically, if the customer plans to do this any time beyond 30 days it is probably not closable at the first visit.

If they say that this is “Something for the future” or beyond 60 days you might consider asking this question:

“I really appreciate you reaching out to me regarding this project. It sounds like it’s going to be great, but are we speaking too soon? I’ll explain. Typically, our quotes are only valid for 30 days. Our costs for material and labor are always changing. So, if you called me back in four or six months I would need to generate a new quote. I hope you understand.”

“Is there any chance you would want to do the project sooner?”

When you establish their intended timing for the project, then you can decide if you will quote it now or not. Sometimes it can be productive to give them the quote and follow-up in the future, but typically your close rate on those quotes will be relatively low.

Communication Skills

Setting the Agenda

During the initial phone call, you will also ask the homeowner about any additional decision-makers who may be involved. That might sound something like:

“During our visit obviously, I will want to see the bathroom you want refinished. I will take measurements of the area. We will also talk about what color you want the tub to be. We can tint the coating to match your décor. We can also discuss what kind of finish you want.”

“We might discuss other options such as Inlays. That conversation will take about 15 minutes. From that discussion, I will develop a quote for the project while I am there. We will review It and we can decide if it makes sense.

Does that work for you? Any questions?”

Typically, the customer will be fine with what you have described. They may have additional instructions that you can accommodate.

Additional Decision-Makers

You need to find out if there are additional decision-makers. For that, you will ask a question like the question below:

“Sometimes when I do a project like this there is another person, like a spouse or a partner, who may want to be involved in the decision about colors, finish, or timing. Is there anyone else who you want to be there when I am going over the project with you?”

If there is no additional decision-maker, you are fine. You can skip to the next step

If the customer says some version of “Yes, there is another decision-maker”, then you will follow up with this question:

“I think it will help both of us and save us time if your spouse/partner can be there when I visit the house. As I explain our process, they may have questions about it or the materials we use. Also, when I develop the quote, they will probably want to have input on the decision.

Can we schedule our time together at a time when your spouse/partner is available? This way we can be sure that I get everyone the information they need without extra phone calls or a follow-up visit.”

If the customer agrees that they can get the additional decision-maker to join the meeting you are fine.

On the other hand, if they cannot get the additional decision-maker to attend the meeting you will ask this question:

Well, if we get to the end of our conversation, we have discussed everything. I have answered all your questions, and I have given you the quote, can you say ‘Let’s do it’ or will you need to review this with your spouse/partner?

If at this point the customer says, “No I need to review it with them”, you should understand that you are not going to close the deal on the project on the first visit. It may still be in your best interest to go to the visit, quote the project, and then follow up.

The Customer Visit

Kitchen refinishing - closing the deal

When you visit the customer’s home or business your goal is to be very thorough and methodical in gathering all the information you need for the project. Confirm your understanding of the customer’s preferences for colors, finish, and timing. Then you can deliver the quote and ask for the project

Arrival: You will arrive at the customer’s home or business on time or not more than five minutes early. Your punctuality is part of building your image of quality and dependability.

Greeting the Customer: Once you arrive, you greet the customer warmly. Let them know that you appreciate the invitation to their home. If their home is obviously well-maintained and decorated you may make a simple comment complimenting them on their home.

You will remember to take off your shoes or put on your protective booties. Then you will ask to see the tub, kitchen, or tile floor they want refinished.

Gather information: Once in the bathroom, you will ask the homeowner all the necessary questions about the timing of the project and their preferences for colors and finishes. You may ask them about options such as inlays or other additions such as floors or countertops. At this time, you will also measure the tub, countertop, or floor.

Review the Quote: After you have gathered all of the necessary information and made your calculations for to cost of the project, it is time to review the quote with the homeowner.

At this time, if there are multiple decision-makers you will bring them both into the space. You will explain what you will be doing and how you will do it. This includes any prep that the owner needs to do to prepare the space. You will review with the owner the preferences they provided you with for finishes, colors, and timing. As you are reviewing the program details remember to periodically ask the customer “Did I understand you correctly?” and “Any questions?”. Your mission at this point is to answer all their questions and demonstrate that you understand their preferences.

Present the Price and Time Requirements: After you have confirmed the details of the project, you will simply say to them,

“Based upon everything we talked about to complete this project I will need X hours in the bathroom over one/two days and it will cost $Y. Do you have any further questions at this point?”

If they have questions you will answer them until they have no more questions.

Ask for the Project: If they do not have any questions, your next question is:

“The only question I have is, do you want to do the project?”

They will say YES or NO.

If they say YES, thank the customer for the opportunity to work on their wonderful projects and pick a time on the calendar to start the project.

If they say NO ask them why and try to address their objection. If you cannot resolve their objection you may choose to follow up at a later time or let them know they can call you if they change their mind. If they have an unresolved objection you may not win the project.

Summary

The most important element for closing the deal on the first visit is to confirm

When: Confirm when they plan to do the project.
Decision-Makers: Meet with all of the decision-makers when you are in the house.
Summarize: Summarize your quote with them face to face.
Ask for the Business: Ask them if they want to do the project.

If you do these four things on each visit to a home or business, close rates will significantly improve.

This article will discuss the strategies and tactics for closing a deal with a refinishing client on the first visit. Not every client will decide to work with you on the initial visit, but many will. Ensuring that this can happen is a process.

This month’s article will teach you how to gain follow-up refinishing projects from your current or recent customers. This will include when to discuss follow-up projects, how to ask for customer interest, and how to close the sale. We will also discuss how to approach recent customers to ask about follow-up projects, including conversation and call scripts.

The Opportunity

The opportunity to gain follow-up projects from current or recent customers is excellent. There are several reasons for this. The most obvious reason is when you're working on a current project, you're already in the house, have built trust with the homeowner, and are already doing excellent work they admire. It is convenient and easy to look at other potential projects on the property or in the house and even quote them while you are still working on the original project.

Your recent past customers also represent an outstanding opportunity to pick up follow-up projects. This is because you've already accomplished two very significant things with these customers. First, you have earned their trust such that they hired you to do a project in their home they care about. Second, you did a beautiful project they appreciate and charged them a fair price for your work. In selling, you have already built trust with the homeowner, and are already doing excellent work building trust and credibility with proof of your good work is more than half the job of making the sale.

For these reasons intentionally pursuing follow-up projects with current or existing clients is an easy and obvious opportunity to increase your revenue with relatively little effort

While we talk about homeowners in this article, the conversations are almost identical if you are working with a property manager or a maintenance manager.

Remodel Kitchen project

Start Early to Win Follow-up Refinishing Projects

Your efforts to win follow-up projects do not begin once you've completed the original project. They start much earlier when you are originally on the property looking at the project the homeowner or property manager would like you to refinish. Whether the owner is seeking refinishing work on a tub, a bathroom floor, a kitchen floor, countertops, or cabinets while you are there you should be making notes about other opportunities for future projects. You might even want to create your own printed checklist that you bring into the house with you.

Pay particular attention to various conditions in the house. Are there worn chipped cracked or faded hard surfaces in the areas of the house not part of your currently requested quote? Are there conflicting color schemes? If the owner is requesting a tub, shower, or bathroom floor refinish, you may want to notice the color schemes used in the other bathrooms or even in the kitchen. If you notice that a bathroom has recently updated fixtures, but the hard surfaces appear to be older and worn this also presents an opportunity.

Three Opportunities to Gain Follow-up Refinishing Projects

These observations and note-taking prepare you for your conversations with the homeowner or property manager. There are three opportunities to gain follow-up projects while you are working with a homeowner or property manager. The first opportunity is when you are initially inside the property inspecting the initial project.

As you are inspecting and measuring the immediate project, you will begin asking questions about other opportunities on the property. The second opportunity is when you have completed the initial project. This is when the owner sees your beautiful, finished project for the first time. They are delighted. The third opportunity is within thirty days after completion of the initial property when they have had time to enjoy and fully appreciate the quality of your workmanship and have realized how much they love the project.

Conversations with the Homeowner or Property Manager

How to Grow a Small Kitchen & Bath Refinishing Business

The First Conversation: During the Quote

The first conversation with the owner is when you are evaluating and quoting the original project which may be a tub, countertop, or floor. After you have asked the homeowner all the appropriate questions about the project you're quoting (color, time frame, etc.) this is when you open the subject about follow-up projects. The conversation might go something like this:

Refinisher: Thank you for the opportunity to work on this project with you. I can already see that this is going to turn out beautifully. I think you're going to be very happy. Can I ask one more question before I leave?

Homeowner: Sure, go ahead

Refinisher: Very often when I am working in a house and the homeowner asks me to work on a project, they have another tub, bathroom, or countertop they also want me to take a look at. It's the easiest thing in the world to provide a quote on that as well while I’m here. Do you have anything else you want me to look at while I'm here?

Homeowner: Yes, now that you mention it. I did not know that you did floors. I've got a second bathroom here that I'd like you to see.

Refinisher: Of course, lead the way. I will follow you.

The refinisher reviews the second project with the homeowner and then asks the homeowner:

Refinisher: As I see this bathroom, I can tell you that this project is going to turn out to be beautiful as well. As I'm looking at both projects together, I think I can give you a discount on the second project. Since my crew will be here anyway working on one, it's very easy to do the second project at the same time.

If you are only interested in doing that first bathroom the price would be $XXX if you would like me to do both of them, I can do that for $YYY. As you can see there's a nice discount on the second bathroom. Would you like me to add the second bathroom to my quote?

Homeowner: Sure, that would be wonderful.

Bathtub Refinishing Before & After Shots—And How They Help Get More Customers

The Second Conversation: At Project Completion

The second conversation occurs when the initial project is completed. You have cleaned up after the project. The refinished tub looks brilliant. At this point, you are introducing the homeowner to their newly refinished tub or floor.

Refinisher: Well, I would like to introduce you to your newly refinished tub. What do you think?

Homeowner: Oh my gosh! It looks like brand new. I love it.

Refinisher: I appreciate hearing that; I was also very pleased. When I saw the finished project, it looked better than I originally thought it would. Can I ask you one more question before I leave?

Homeowner: Sure!

Refinisher: When I was here the first time, we briefly talked about your second bathroom and whether you wanted to do some refinishing there. Now that you see how beautiful this bathroom looks, are you open to me giving you a quote on the second bathroom?

Homeowner: Yes, I would love that.

Refinisher I will write that up for you right now but I can tell you that the price will be the same as for this tub. Do you want me to write up that quote and do you want to do the project?

Homeowner: Yes, that would be terrific.

Refinisher: Would you like me to schedule the project?

Homeowner: Yes, let me look at my calendar and we'll pick a date.

Refinisher: Terrific, what date works for you?

The Third Conversation: Project Follow-up

The third conversation is a phone call made to the owner 30 days after the completion of the project. This call has multiple purposes. The first purpose is to check with the customer to see if they are satisfied with the project now that they have lived with it for a month. The second purpose is to kindly ask them to leave a review on Yelp or another site. The third purpose of the conversation is to ask about a follow-up project. I will review that portion of the conversation below.

Refinisher: I'm glad to hear that you love your new tub. I was looking at the pictures we took of the completed project, and I must say I was very impressed with how it looked. It turned out fabulous. Can I ask you one more question?

Homeowner: Sure, go ahead.

Refinisher: I realize it may not be something that you want to do right away but I have crews in your area regularly. I'm very happy to stop by and give you a quote on that floor or the second bathroom that we talked about when I was there last month. Are you open to getting a quote on that second bathroom now that you've seen the results on the first one?

Homeowner: Yes, that would be wonderful. Please give me a quote on that tub as well.

Refinisher: I will write up the quote but from my pictures of that tub, I can tell you that the price is going to be the same as the first. Would you like me to schedule the project?

Homeowner: Yes, let me look at my calendar and we'll pick a date.

Refinisher: Terrific, what date works for you?

Conclusion: These Conversations Are the Easiest Money You Will Ever Make

Many of you ask these questions as a normal course of every project. You understand the tremendous benefit to the homeowner and the opportunity for you to get more refinishing projects with no further investment in marketing.

The lesson here is that when you ask these questions on every single project, you're not going to win a follow-up project every time. But you will win follow-up projects often, and definitely more often than if you don’t ask. As the great hockey player Wayne Gretzky once said, “You miss 100% of the shots that you do not take.”

Asking these questions is both good customer service and ethical selling. If you train yourself and your team to ask these questions on each project, you will make more money easily and help the homeowner as well.

Good Selling!

In today’s digital marketplace, your ability to leverage online platforms is crucial for the success of your refinishing business. If you’re a refinisher looking to expand your reach and attract more homeowners or even commercial clients, Facebook ads can be a powerful tool. In this article, we’ll walk you through the steps to create a successful Facebook marketing campaign tailored specifically for your tub, tile, bath, and kitchen refinishing business.

Why Advertise on Facebook?

Before diving into the specifics, let’s understand why Facebook Ads are a great fit for your refinishing business. The four key points are audience targeting, brand awareness, fit for consumer marketing, and emphasis on visual marketing.

• Highly Detailed Audience Targeting: When you use Facebook to market your refinishing business it allows you to define your audience very specifically. It allows you to target based on demographics, interests, behaviors, and even specific locations. This precise targeting ensures that your ads reach the people who are going to buy your refinishing services. The right people.
• Brand Awareness: When you are building brand awareness about refinishing and about your services Facebook is an excellent platform to showcase your work. It allows you to highlight success stories, share customer testimonials, and build brand recognition with your name logo and company name. The ability to use strong visual content, such as before-and-after photos, makes your content very attractive to homeowners.
• Better Fit for B2C Businesses: According to research conducted by the Pew Research Center, 76% of women use Facebook, and 68% of those with household incomes above $100,000 are users of Facebook. Facebook is widely used by your primary target audience — Facebook’s user base consists of many individuals seeking bath and kitchen refinishing solutions, making it an ideal match for your marketing needs.
• Emphasis on Visuals: Kitchen and bath refinishing projects are beautiful. You have had the fun and exciting experience of the owner seeing the completed project for the first time. Then you show them the before picture as a reminder of how it looked just a couple of days earlier. They are ecstatic with how beautiful your finished project looks. Facebook’s strong tools and focus on images and videos align perfectly with showcasing your craftsmanship. Before and after pictures of your best projects are powerful.

Getting Started with Facebook Ads

Getting started with Facebook advertising takes a few steps. You need to define your goals, set up your Facebook Ad Manager, test and optimize your ads, and finally leverage your content onto relevant other sites. Below we will take a look at each of these steps.

1. Define Your Goals

Before creating ads, clarify your objectives. Are you aiming for lead generation, brand awareness, or community building? When you know your goals it is much easier for your campaign to have a clear strategy.

2. Set Up Facebook Ads Manager

There are a few simple steps necessary to set up your Facebook ad campaign. Once created you will have tools to manage it so that you can achieve your goals.

• Go to Facebook Ads Manager: Log in to your Facebook account and navigate to Ads Manager.
• Choose a Goal: Select your campaign objective. For lead generation, choose “Lead Generation.”
• Add a payment method to your Meta Pay digital wallet: You’ll need a credit or debit card, PayPal or Shop Pay attached to your account to pay for your ads.

3. Create Your Campaign

• Name Your Campaign: Give your campaign a descriptive name like “Summer Refresh”
• Create Your Ad Set: Your ad budget will determine how many impressions you will get and to which audiences your ad will be served. This is a very important decision that will determine the reach of your campaign. This dictates how many eyeballs will see your ads.
- · Budget: Set a daily or lifetime budget for your campaign.
- · Audience: Define your target audience (e.g., homeowners in your service area).
- · Ad Placement: Choose where your ads will appear (e.g., Facebook feed, Instagram, or Audience Network).
• Design Your Ad Creative: Your creative is important because when your ad is on the page, the quality of your creative determines how many people will look at it and interact with your ad. If your ad is eye-catching and novel yet tasteful you will get good engagement.
- · Ad Format: An ideal format for you to use is carousel ads to showcase multiple refinishing projects including before and after photos.
- · Visuals: Remember to use very high-quality, high-resolution images. These images of completed projects are your best magnet for grabbing attention.
- · Ad Copy: Craft compelling text that highlights your expertise and unique selling points. Customer testimonials are great. Be certain to explain how with refinishing you can match the owner’s preferred color palette and the decor of the room.
• Create Your Lead Form: Your lead form is a critical part of the entire campaign. It is where you will capture your refinishing leads’ information!
- · Collect essential information from potential clients: name, phone, email, needs
- · Customize questions related to their refinishing needs: tub, counters, cabinets, tile floors, etc.
• Enable Tracking: Tracking the engagement and performance of your ads is where you can monitor the effectiveness of the campaign.
- · Install the Facebook Pixel on your website to track conversions.
- · Monitor ad performance and adjust your targeting, ad spend, and creative as needed to achieve your goals.

How to Boost Your Refinishing Business Using Facebook Ads

4. Test and Optimize

Typically, most ad campaigns get some results but often don’t hit the perfect home run at first. This is the reason it is a good idea to test and optimize your ad campaign. One good strategy is to pay attention to the ads of competitors or related services. They have often gone through a learning curve to optimize their campaign, You can pick up valuable tips there.

• Test Multiple Concepts: One strategy is the AB Test. In this strategy, you run two campaigns at the same time using a different strategy. Use different images on the two campaigns. You may choose to target slightly different audiences. In this way, you can learn which campaign is a bit better and run that. Remember in AB Testing if you change too many variables, it is hard to know which change worked.
- · Run A/B tests to compare different ad variations.
- · Identify which visuals and copy resonate best with your audience.
• Measure Results: Once you have all of your ad campaign elements in place now is your opportunity to run the campaign and see what happens. Taking the time to read your results weekly is a good method to evaluate what is working. When you first begin, resist the urge to look at your campaign multiple times per day or even every day. We all do it. But you must give it time to run to get real results. Early results can be misleading.
- · Track leads generated, website visits, and conversions.
- · Adjust your strategy based on data insights.

Leverage Niche Social and Review Websites

While Facebook is powerful, don’t overlook other platforms:

• Houzz: Share project photos and engage with homeowners interested in remodeling.
• Angi (formerly Angie’s List): Advertise your services and collect reviews.
• Yelp: Showcase your work and encourage client feedback.

Remember, advertising is an investment. Use Facebook Ads strategically to complement your full portfolio of lead-generation strategies. When done right, it can propel your refinishing business to new heights.

Now go ahead, create captivating ads, and watch your refinishing business flourish!

References:

If you’re a refinisher looking to expand your reach and attract more homeowners or even commercial clients, Facebook ads can be a powerful tool. In this article, we’ll walk you through the steps to create a successful Facebook marketing campaign tailored specifically for your tub, tile, bath, and kitchen refinishing business.

The Importance of Social Media For Refinishers

Social media is an ideal place to begin establishing your brand in your market. It is also a place where you can connect with a large number of potential customers. In this article, we will discuss the why, what and a little bit about the how of social media marketing for refinishing professionals

Social media is a great place to demonstrate your refinishing skills because it lends itself to pictures and videos. It can be used to highlight the great refinishing work that you do for your clients. It can be used to communicate your value. Posting your work and customer testimonials about your projects makes you relatable to your audience. This showcases your work, your people and your pride. This puts a very human face on your refinishing business brand.

Social media is one part of a larger marketing strategy

Your social media activities will leverage a common set of marketing assets for your refinishing business. These assets include your brand name, logos, marketing messages and tag lines. They also include information about you, your bio, and your expertise.

Your marketing assets also include common content. This content includes the same messages, stories and photography that will be shared across your website and email campaigns. Your social media content and emails will include links to connect your target audience back to your website with calls-to-action. In this way, you are capturing every possible lead.

Social media helps you tell a simple story about who you are, what you do, and the value you provide to your customers – and that is extremely valuable to you and your business. Social media is one piece of a unified marketing strategy.

Social Media Marketing

Choose your target audience

Many refinishers primarily work with residential homeowners. Others work more often with multi-unit housing such as hotels and apartments. There is also a segment that has a strong presence in military bases and dormitories.

You may have more than one target audience for your refinishing business. Each audience has its own pattern of social media usage. Each will have different platforms they prefer. They will differ in the way in which they interact with social media. There are five primary audiences for your services.

Residential homeowners
Property managers
Hotel managers
Real estate investors
Residential realtors

Strategies for Generating More Referrals

Choose your social media platforms

Many people who find you may do so via word of mouth or web search. Social media provides you with other tools to build awareness and connection with all your audiences. Here are their usual sources of social media content:

Residential homeowners will primarily find their information on Facebook, Instagram and sites like Houzz.
Property managers and hotel managers will often look to social media platforms Instagram and Google business pages for their information.
Real estate investors and residential Realtors will often find contractor information on Facebook and Instagram.

Whichever platforms you use, you must commit to being present, keeping your content fresh and engaging with your audience. It is better to do fewer platforms well than to be everywhere and not well organized or maintained

Once you have chosen your platforms you can focus on building out your brand’s presence and engaging your audience.

Optimize your profile and Profile Content.

No matter which platform you are using, your profile is an important place to highlight your business and tell your story. Your profile is effectively your homepage on that platform. The things that you should include in your profile include your company name your logo, contact information and a brief bio. Your profile page will also include a statement about the purpose of your business and how you help your clients. You should include an engaging call-to-action, such as “Call us to find out how you can love your bathroom again!” – along with a button to take them to your webpage.

This call-to-action encourages interested prospective clients to reach out to you for a quote or a discussion. Your profile will also include some connections to your web page and other social media content.

Optimize Your Bio

It is important to remember that when people choose to work with your refinishing business first and foremost, they are doing business with you. It is important to tell them a little bit about yourself as a person. Let them get to know you and your story. If you can briefly share your journey in the business, how you do it and why it's meaningful for you, that will be meaningful to them. Allow your bio to help them understand the depth of your expertise and training. Help them to understand your success in helping many others have great-looking bathrooms and kitchens.

Before and After Pictures

The single most powerful marketing tool you have for your refinishing business is pictures. They give prospective clients a clear (and usually dramatic!) visual representation of your work. At the top of each of your social media platforms or perhaps as part of the profile, you should show before and after pictures of your projects.

To highlight your skills, find an especially awful-looking tub with discoloration, cracks and chips. The worse looking it is, the better it will illustrate the transformation your work achieves. Then, right beside that awful tub, show the beautiful, completed project. Your audience will see that you transformed that awful-looking tub into something that looks brand new for a fraction of the price of a new tub. That will be a breathtaking example of the amazing work that you can do. Almost nothing you can say will be more influential than those pictures.

Kitchen refinishing completed by Nathaniel Rasmussen of Resurface FL LLC

Tell Stories

Some of the most impactful tools in marketing are stories. As you show the beautiful before and after pictures also tell a brief story about how you delighted the customer. When people see your social media story, they may see a bit of themselves in that person you helped. This is the power of stories. When they relate to it, they relate to you.

Call-to-Action Buttons

One of the ultimate purposes of your terrific content and your beautiful photography is to attract leads. Your compelling call-to-action buttons are how you capitalize on that interest and capture the leads. On each of your social media pages, you will include a button or a link. That gives interested customers a way to engage with you.

There are several different calls to action that you may find effective. One call to action is “Click here to learn more about how bathtub refinishing is the right choice”. Another one may be “Click for a short white paper about the cost advantages of refinishing over replacement”. Another one can be “Click here to schedule a call to find out what we might be able to do for your bathroom”. In each case, the call-to-action includes a space to capture their contact information, their name, email and phone number.

Follow-up on Leads

One of the cardinal rules in marketing is following up on your leads quickly. When you get a lead you should be prepared to send the appropriate follow-up. If they ask for a white paper, send it immediately. If they ask for your pricing or a quote get back to them quickly. If they ask you to contact them, you should send a follow-up email and make a follow-up phone call within minutes after receiving the lead. The reason for quick follow-up on leads is simple: the closer you are to the moment when they reach out and ask you for something, the more likely you are to capture the lead as an opportunity.

Your follow-up should be quick, polite, professional and provide them with what they ask for.

Create and Moderate Your Own Groups

When it is possible, feel free to initiate an interest group of your own on Facebook or other platforms around the topic that is relevant to your business. The topic or title of the group could be related to refinishing, bathrooms, kitchens or home remodeling. If you decide to launch an interest group you also need to be prepared to add content, ask questions of the group and start discussions. It can be some work in the beginning, but as you begin to attract more members to your group, others will begin adding content. This can create a great snowball effect, and you will get credit and visibility as the moderator of the group. It is a great way for you to build relationships for your refinishing business. You may also pick up clients directly from the group.

Post Fresh Content Each Week or Even Daily

Regardless of which social media platform you choose to participate in, all social media are content-driven platforms. When you establish your presence, you are establishing your brand and making your profile a strong statement about who you are. You are introducing your business and the value you bring.

The way you keep your presence fresh and relevant is by adding new content. The great part about your business is it is ideally suited for generating new content. Each time you finish a new project, with the permission of the owner, you can feature before and after photographs. You can also tell stories about what the owner was aspiring to and how satisfied they were with the final product.

You can also create content about the cost advantages and benefits of refinishing over replacement. You can author a short article on the range of coating colors and finishes available in refinishing. You can write an article about the training and the profession of refinishing to raise your professional stature.

Your ability to create new content is only limited by your imagination. The most important rules for new content are:

It must be relevant to your audience and
The content and pictures must be of high quality.

If you're showing pictures, they must be high-quality, high-resolution pictures. If you are writing an article, it should be well-written and edited with proper grammar and no spelling mistakes.

Content Strategy

Create a Content Strategy & Schedule

Once you start developing your social media presence you may feel a great deal of pressure to continue to develop and place fresh content. That pressure can feel a bit daunting at first.

One strategy to make that more manageable is repurposing content. Repurposing means when you use a piece of content on your website or one social media platform, you can repurpose that content with little or no editing on another social media platform.

It’s also helpful to establish a schedule. If you choose a 2-hour time block each week to develop content and a one-hour time block for publishing content, you can typically stay current.

Choose the cadence and the type and depth of content you post. Build your content around your schedule and your business. Again, the key is consistency – stay with it.

Create Followers by Following Them

A strategy that works especially well with commercial and multifamily opportunities is to find the social media of all the hotels and property management firms in your area. Pay close attention to when they post or repost something on their social media. Use that as an opportunity to like and comment on the content that they posted. You will begin to notice that the more consistently you follow them, the more consistently they will follow you. This also serves as an ideal opportunity to drop in and introduce yourself.

Share Expert Advice, Give Away Your Secrets

An important part of winning a new customer is trust and credibility. One way in which you establish your credibility is by sharing expert advice. Don't be afraid to give away your secrets. When you find someone who has asked a question on social media, you should be eager to provide them with a knowledgeable answer. You can use your social media platform to share insights tips and tricks on how to maintain the beauty of tubs tiles and countertops. As you provide well-written, thoughtful advice and expert insights people will be attracted to your expertise. This will make them more likely to reach out to you for business.

Leverage Customer Testimonials

While it is true that before and after photographs may be your very best marketing tool because they are so visually attractive, a close second is customer testimonials. Customer testimonials provide social proof. It does not matter how wonderful you think you are or how passionately you explain the quality of your work – thoughtful testimonials from your actual customers are much more meaningful. The more testimonials you can feature on your website the better. It is ideal when you post some new before and after photographs on your site and then post a testimonial from the customer who benefited from your work. Customer testimonials are gold.

online reviews

Email Marketing

Email is not a social media platform, but it plays an essential role in your overall social media strategy. Your call-to-action buttons can allow prospective customers to send you an email from your social media site. When you receive a contact from your social media site, you will likely have pre-written emails to respond to them. Email plays a critical role in follow-up. You should think carefully about your follow-up strategy and develop emails to support each type of customer.

Branding and Brand Image

Branding is an important aspect of your social media strategy. Each of your social media platforms and your websites must have a consistent scheme of colors, fonts, logos, and brand messages. Consistency is the most important thing. When each of your marketing assets has a common look and feel it magnifies the impact each time somebody engages with you. They will recognize your business. Your content and your brand will seem more familiar to them. This increases their trust in you and the quality of your work.

Start Small and Build

If you do not have a well-developed social media strategy, fear not. The easiest way to do it is to start small and build. Start by looking at what your competitors are doing. Get creative ideas for how they are telling their story. You can begin with a Facebook company page. You may start with Instagram. In either case, just focus on putting up a profile page that has good content and good pictures and you've made a great first step.

Good luck!

The Value of Referrals

There are many different strategies for refinishers to gain new clients. Advertising through direct mail or pay-per-click can be very productive. Cold calling is another path for refinishers who are seeking commercial clients in hotels, apartment complexes, and dormitories. A good website with some SEO to attract traffic is a good strategy. Joining business associations and networking groups through champers and industry associations has been highly productive for some refinisher businesses. However, none of these activities is as efficient or cost-effective as getting referrals. Referrals are the all-time champ of business development.

Experience has shown many refinishers that the single greatest engine to grow your refinishing business is a steady stream of referrals from satisfied clients and trusted partners. Not only do referrals cost less than the money you would otherwise spend on marketing, but they also close more quickly and more easily than leads from other sources. Every refinishing business owner loves to receive referrals. Some refinishing businesses do not cold call or door knock because they get so much of their business from referrals.

Statistics bear out the truth of these statements:

• It takes seven times as much effort to win a new customer from cold prospecting than it does to win one from just one referral.
• When considering a purchase, 84% of buyers trust recommendations from families, friends, and colleagues.
• Customers who were referred by a friend or other customer have a 16% higher lifetime value.
• The average referring customer invites an average of 2.7 people.
• In the home improvement industry, studies have found that the close rate from referrals can be as high as 80%.

Some business owners have recognized that the ROI on time spent with clients who are a source of referrals is much higher than time spent with clients who do not refer.

While many businesses earn a significant portion of their revenue from referrals. It is also true that most businesses do not ask for referrals or systematically develop them. They are happy to receive referrals, but they are reluctant to ask for them. In this blog post, we will discuss the value of referrals, the obstacles to getting referrals, and the effective strategies to develop them.

Strategies for Generating More Referrals

The Obstacles to Asking for Referrals

Considering the great value and productivity of referrals, it is somewhat surprising that many refinishing business owners do not ask for them. During a recent informal survey of refinishing business owners, we found that less than half of them were actively asking for and cultivating referrals.

When we asked about the obstacles and challenges to asking for referrals, they shared several challenges or obstacles to doing so. They:

• Uncomfortable asking for referrals
• Don’t know when to ask
• Don’t know what to ask for
• Don’t know how to ask
• Don’t know who to ask

Below we will discuss each of these objections and why they should not hinder your referral generation efforts.

Uncomfortable asking for referrals. This objection is by far the most common obstacle. This discomfort comes from several beliefs that are untrue and unhelpful. The first unhelpful belief is the fear of hearing “NO”. The salesperson may have convinced themselves that the customer might not think that they deserve a referral, or the quality of their work does not warrant one. Some refinishers think they will sound “needy” if they ask or that they are being pushy and rude.

These objections live in the head of the refinisher who is reluctant to ask and typically depends upon the “mind-reading” skills of the refinisher. You cannot read the mind of the customer. Most customers are very happy to give referrals when you do a good job. They will even brag about the work you did and your professionalism.

Banish these mind-reading stories that you are telling yourself. They are not true. Smile. Be proud and confident that you deserve referrals, and you can ask for them in the most professional way. The very best professionals ask for and get referrals all the time — so can you.

Don’t know when to ask. There are two great times to ask. The first time is when the customer sees the final project for the first time. They will be thrilled with how their new bathroom looks. The second great time to ask is when you are hired. When you are hired, you ask if they are open to giving referrals when the project is completed, and if they are thrilled with the project. Besides these two times, all the other times you can think of are also good. Just ask.

Don’t know what to ask for. Your first request is always for a warm referral. You are asking for an introduction to the person you are referred to. This can be an email a phone call or a handwritten note. The note simply warmly introduces you to the referral, speaks positively about your work, and suggests that the two of you might talk. Ideally, you and the referral are both copied on the note/email.

Other softer versions of what to ask for include passing along your information in the form of a brochure, flyer, or business card. You can also send your customer an introduction email, which includes your contact information and links to the website. You can suggest that they forward this email to the people they want to introduce you to.

referrals

How to Ask for Referrals

This is not the biggest obstacle to asking for referrals, but once you have a well-developed approach to asking for referrals, several of the other challenges melt away. Here are several scenarios:

• This discussion occurs at the beginning of the project, probably immediately after your client agrees to work with you.

“At the end of this project, my goal is that you are completely thrilled with how this refinishing project looks and how this new bathroom makes you feel. If we can do a wonderful job that makes you feel great, can we take a couple of minutes at the end and talk about one or two people you might know who would appreciate this kind of refinishing work? Is that OK? YES (They always say YES)

• At the end of the project, you can ask again.

If you DID set the expectations at the start of the project, here’s how that conversation might go:

You: Now that you have seen the finished product, what do you think?

CLIENT: WONDERFUL, LOOKS GREAT.

I appreciate that. It was a pleasure to do this project. Thank you for this opportunity. Can I ask one more thing?

SURE.

At the beginning of the project, we discussed that if you were thrilled with the project maybe we could talk about one of two people you know who might appreciate this kind of refinishing work. Do you remember that?

YES.

Well, I want to know if we did a good enough job to have that conversation.

YES, ABSOLUTELY. IN FACT, I HAVE BEEN THINKING ABOUT A COUPLE OF PEOPLE TO INTRODUCE YOU TO.

Wonderful. Do you have time to sit down and discuss that now?

YES

If you DID NOT set the expectations at the start of the project:

Now that you have seen the finished product what do you think?

WONDERFUL, LOOKS GREAT.

I appreciate that. It was a pleasure to do this project. Thank you for this opportunity. Can I ask one more thing?

SURE.

A big part of how I get new projects is recommendations from the wonderful folks I work with. Is it possible you know one or two people who might appreciate having their bath look like this? YES.

Would you be comfortable introducing me?

YES.

Thank you.

Here are some options for wrapping up the conversation and planning how they will get you in touch with the new prospect:

Option 1: Would you be comfortable giving them a call and explaining what we did with your bath?

Option 2: I can send you an introduction email. Would you be comfortable forwarding that email to them to introduce me?

Option 3: Would you be comfortable passing along my card/brochure?

Who to Ask: Your Best Referral Sources

There are many wonderful sources where you can get referrals for your refinishing business. The most obvious sources of referrals are your clients. This includes the homeowners where you may be doing a single bath or a tile floor. Additional sources also include commercial property managers, maintenance managers as well as commercial and residential realtors.

Homeowners are a terrific source of referrals because they take such great pride in their homes that they will often be eager to show off their new bathroom or tile floor to friends and relatives. They are very likely to give several referrals. They are also typically happy to make introductions.

Commercial property managers and maintenance managers can be good source of referrals for a couple of different reasons. First, they will often refer you to other property managers or maintenance managers within their same hotel brand. They are very friendly with the other managers in their chain.

The second reason you can get multiple referrals from these property managers is that they often move from one property to another and even from one brand to another. In this way, they get to know many managers at other properties in town. They often have a strong informal network where members refer good vendors to each other. Commercial managers are used to being asked for referrals, so your request will be expected, and they will generally be very cooperative.

Commercial and residential realtors can also be a source of referrals for different reasons. They generally have an excellent network in the community. They know many other professionals. One caveat: a residential realtor who likes your work may not refer you to another competing realtor. They can sometimes be a very competitive group.

Additional referral sources are other trades. As you build relationships with carpet cleaners carpenters, plumbers, and electricians they will periodically refer work to you. They will also expect that you return the favor. The expectation of reciprocity makes it a mutually beneficial arrangement.

As a refinisher who does great work and is highly professional, you can become very well-known in their local community. When you build this reputation, you may get referrals from people and facilities to which you have no known connection. Remember that the quality of your work and your professionalism will generate referrals for you when you're not even asking. This is a classic example of word-of-mouth advertising.

Your Referral Generation Strategies

When it is done correctly, generating referrals is not an event but a strategy that becomes an ongoing habit. You should build the referral conversation into your regular business rhythm. You will make sure you have that conversation in one form or another during each project you do.

Here are eight simple referral strategies you can employ.

• Ask about the possibility of referrals before starting the work. This is not asking for referrals, rather this is asking, “If we do a great job are you open to talking about introductions to other people who may like our work?”
• Ask for referrals during the during the final inspection and walk-through. This is when the client is happiest.
• Use a referral request postcard. Share a postcard asking for referrals with your client. It is a card where they can write a name and a phone number.
• Compensation for referrals. This is a strategy that is effective with residential and commercial realtors. They are very money-motivated, and this will get their attention.
• The introduction email. This is a pre-written email that you send to your customer that they can forward to their contacts to warmly refer you,
• Giving referrals. This is especially effective with other trades and partners. The quickest way to increase referrals is to give more referrals. It works like magic.
• Use thank-you rewards. Give a small gift to each person who refers you to a project you win. This is not to thank them for the referral; rather it is an incentive for them to send you another one.
• Start a contractor referral circle. Gather a team of four to five non-competing contractors to meet for breakfast monthly to share referrals.

The most important aspect of any referral strategy is simply to do it — and do it consistently. As you begin to receive projects from your referral program, track how many projects and how much business you receive from referrals. You will be amazed by how much money these programs will bring to you.

While many businesses earn a significant portion of their revenue from referrals, it is also true that most businesses do not ask for referrals or systematically develop them. They are happy to receive referrals, but they are reluctant to ask for them. In this blog post, we discuss the value of referrals, the obstacles to getting referrals, and the effective strategies to develop them.

An important strategy to scale your business (part 2)

As you are growing your reﬁnishing business one of the challenges is how to create scale and stability in your business. Multi-unit opportunities are one important way to do that. Multi-unit opportunities are found with hotels, apartment complexes, dormitories, and realtors. Each of these is slightly different in terms of what they care about, how, and why they buy. In this paper, we will proﬁle each type of buyer and discuss how to approach and sell to them.

General Guidelines for Selling to Multi-Unit Opportunities

These projects are different than single-family home jobs, so the approach is also different. When attempting to win a multi-unit project, remember the following:

• Focus on the person, not the property: In multi-unit opportunities, your ﬁrst objective is to build a relationship of trust and credibility with the decision-maker. If you can do this the decision-maker can provide you with a series of projects. It can be a very lucrative partnership.
• Ask good questions and listen: Take the time to understand the decision-makers’ priorities for the reﬁnishing project. Their priorities will likely include speed, quality, and price.
• Solve a problem: In a multi-unit opportunity they are striving to solve a business problem: Poor online reviews, rising vacancy rates, newer competition, and meeting corporate brand requirements. Ask questions so you know the problem they are solving.
• Timely, Professional Follow-up: The decision-makers in multi-unit opportunities are extremely busy. Provide them with a simple, clear proposal for the work you will do and follow up with them in a steady professional manner.

Selling to Hotel Managers

Selling to Hotel Managers & Property Managers

Selling to a property manager or a manager at an independent hotel or hotel chain is significantly different than selling to a homeowner. The most important differences are:

1. The decision-maker could be one or more of several different people.
2. Their criteria to invest is based upon a specific problem being solved.
3. They can sometimes be more price-sensitive depending upon the level of the Hotel.
4. Turnaround time is a high priority so the room can be occupied and generate revenue.
5. They will often need multiple units refinished. Know who the buyer is.

When you’re selling to hotels and property management firms, it is important to understand you are not selling to a property. You are selling to a person. Sometimes the decision-maker is the property manager, other times it is the maintenance manager. In other cases, the decision-maker could be the owner or someone in a corporate office. Typically, your best bet is simply to ask: “Who here makes decisions for refinishing and maintenance projects?”

Once you reach the decision-maker understand that you are building a relationship with that person. This is important for two significant reasons. First, hotel managers and property managers move around throughout their careers. The person you sell to and build a relationship with today could be the manager of a property just down the road in a couple of months. You want to follow the manager to the new property and begin refinishing there are well.

The other significant reason you sell to the person is that the hotel managers in your area are a small tight-knit community and most of them know each other. When you do a good job for one of them you can receive referrals from their good friend just down the street.

Always remember, you are in a people business first.

When you are selling refinishing services to a hotel, the buyer may be one of several different people. Within the hotel, it could be the hotel manager, or it could be the maintenance manager. In other cases, the buyer might be the owner of the hotel, the management company, and sometimes the hotel brand corporate office itself.

Your best strategy is simply to ask who makes decisions on refinishing. Ask at the front desk or ask the manager on duty, but quickly figure out who you should be talking to. Do not waste your time or talk about refinishing with someone who is not the decision-maker.

Understand the Managers’ Needs, Priorities, and Pains

Take the time to understand the needs of the hotel/property manager. Understand the competitive properties in their market. Are they surrounded by newer properties? Are they surrounded by properties of higher quality or similar quality?

Read their website for the hotel or the property to understand what they emphasize as their brand. Hotel brand standards are important. When the corporate office sets standards for the quality of the look, feel, and experience of that room it is very important. Each property and each manager face regular inspections. Minor issues can be corrected, but the manager could be fired for a single bad inspection.

Read reviews of their hotel and the property online. That will give you a sense of what their guests value and what they have found unsatisfactory. Read the one-star reviews.

This information is critical for preparing to present your refinishing offerings as a solution to a business challenge they have.

Use Their Time Wisely

The average hotel has almost 10 open positions. Property management firms are notoriously short-staffed. They often have little time. When you do get in front of the decision-maker be ready to explain quickly and simply who you are and what solutions you can offer in less than two minutes. You do not need to get into the details of schedule and prices, but you must quickly establish yourself as relevant. If you start with a long story or explanation or it takes you forever to get to your point, the decision-maker will get rid of you.

Offer a Solution to a Business Problem

Although it is certainly true that you do high-quality refinishing and have beautiful pictures to prove it, the hotel manager does not care if you do not solve a specific business problem that they are facing. There are several examples below:

• “I think we may be able to reduce the number of negative reviews you have and increase the positive reviews.”
• “I may have a solution to improve your properties’ attractiveness compared to your nearby competitors.”
• “I think we may be able to improve the appearance of your rooms with a minimal investment.”

These are just examples and as you do your research into the property other ideas may come to you. When the hotel or property manager understands that you've done your research, and you understand his property and business challenges, he or she is more likely to work with you.

Make it Easy for Them to Say Yes

Make sure that your proposal is straightforward. They should see the financial investment and the time required to turn each room. You should also consider adding a very brief ROI calculation, with assumptions, that demonstrates the return on their investment in lower maintenance costs, higher occupancy rates, less discounting, or higher room rates. Emphasize that non-skid surfaces can lower the liability to slip and fall.

Offer Creative Packages for Refinishing Multiple Rooms

The hotel/property manager who wants to work with you will probably have multiple tubs and multiple apartment units to refinish. Develop a creative plan to do a certain number of tubs each month or each quarter. This allows them to spread out their investment in refinishing throughout the year. This levels out their budget. They will appreciate your creativity and flexibility. This also opens the door for developing an ongoing contractual relationship to do tubs every month.

To build credibility offer to do the first repair for free. A well-executed service call builds your credibility as much as the quality of your initial refinishing.

Effective Follow-Up

Like many homeowners, you will not immediately get a decision when you present a proposal to the hotel manager. If they do not decide when you provide them with the proposal make agreements with them about when you will follow up. Politely and professionally continue to follow up with a combination of phone and email until you get a yes or a no.

Selling to Realtors

Selling to Realtors & House Flippers

Realtors and house flippers are not exactly alike, but they are similar.

Selling to realtors or house flippers can be very rewarding because once you have established yourself as a quality reliable vendor, they will use you each time they see a need. Below are some of the keys to working with realtors and house flippers.

Understand Their Needs

Each realtor or house flipper may have their point of view on the best way to use refinishing services. Don't be afraid to ask them what they're looking for in terms of color quality turn-around time and price. When the realtor understands that you know their priorities you become easier and more attractive to work with.

Use Their Time Well

Realtors are extremely busy people. When you initially meet them be very clear and succinct about what you offer and how it can help the realtor sell homes more quickly for higher prices. When you can get those messages across quickly the realtor appreciates that you're using their time well.

Build a Relationship

If you're going to establish a long-term relationship with a realtor or house flipper don't be afraid to invest upfront in building a personal connection. Do things like:

• Attend their open houses.
• Drop by their office with some donuts.
• Ask to be invited to their weekly sales meeting.
• Offer to do a brief presentation at their weekly sales meeting.

The time and energy you invest in building the relationship will pay off handsomely.

Consider Gifts and Incentives

Among all decision-makers and influencers, realtors are particularly very money-motivated. When you offer incentives and gifts like gift cards or cash for a lead that closes it can be productive.

Sell the Value, Not the Refinishing

When you are offering your services to a realtor or house flipper you are not selling them refinishing, you're selling them, a shorter time on the market, higher sale price, and more showings. As you present, your refinishing products and solutions always include the benefits of refreshed and upgraded kitchens and baths to help the realtor and the seller.

Be excellent at communicating follow-up and follow-through.

A realtor or house flipper will appreciate your timely follow-up from each meeting and contact. In your follow-up things such as answers to their questions, a timely quote, and schedules for refinishing. Timely, accurate high-quality communication makes you a vendor who is easy to deal with. The realtor wants a vendor who is easy to deal with.

A Conversation with a Realtor/House Flipper

Below is an outline of an example conversation with a realtor that has been used successfully by one of our wonderful refinishing customers, Brad Stoffel of Quality Restoration Inc. Thank you, Brad!)

Your Commercial

Approach realtors and flippers with the overarching message, “We do reglazing and resurfacing of countertops, bathtubs, tile, and cabinetry.”

• Let them know they can bring you their listings that:
• Don’t show well … the ones that have “good bones” but are dated by out-of-style colors.
• Were priced reasonably but not getting solid offers.
• Tell them that by next weekend you can show that same house WITHOUT all the negatives.
• No more honey oak cabinets from 1993
• No more baby blue fiberglass surround
• No more fake woodgrain laminate tops

When a buyer sees these things, they don’t think, “I could reglaze that tub for $800.” They think, “This bathroom will need gutted in the next few years.” and in their mind decrease their offer by at least $10K and are less excited about the property.

Be sure you show how your services can bring them more offers, from more motivated buyers, and much faster than any other home improvement they’ve ever experienced.

The Conversation

Usually, at this point the realtor or flipper will bring up a speciﬁc property they’ve dealt with in the past that had issues: it was all yellow everywhere … or had lime green countertops. You know the ones. This gives you an opening to pitch your solutions, so:

• Talk about pricing and timeframe would be like on a similar project and strongly encourage them to call us when they run into any possible areas that are a strong negative for their buyers.
• Stress that the objective is not to make this the buyer’s dream home, but to make it a more attractive option. Remind them about the couple that just toured four homes and is trying to decide where to make an oﬀer, they’ll refer to your listing as “that house with the ugly greenish bathroom.” You can help both the realtor and their seller avoid those situations.
• End by saying it’s been a great intro conversation and gives realtors a very good idea of how best to use our services.

Final Thoughts

Developing multi-unit opportunities is one path to develop and grow your business. It can help increase your total revenue. It can also help you create steady revenue streams in less certain economic conditions.

Developing multi-unit opportunities requires a strategic approach. This approach includes understanding the multi-unit opportunities in your area. It also includes approaching them in a way that establishes your credibility as an ongoing vendor. It will also require you to build relationships with these key decision-makers so that they can rely upon you.

As you develop the strategies and skills to develop multi-unit opportunities you will be able to use these skills to open a wide variety of opportunities.

At each step along your journey of developing your ﬁnishing business, you should always look upon NAPCO as your partner. We will provide you with quality products, best-in-class training, supportive peer groups, great customer service, and marketing tools. We see your success as our success.

Your most important business decision

But you can improve your chances of finding the perfect hire by writing a great job description and asking the right interview questions. In this article, we will review the important steps and considerations in hiring. We’ll focus on hiring refinisher techs.

Investing in Your Refinishing Team

Every new employee you hire is an investment. You will need to invest time, money, and energy in them before they become a profitable member of your team. This investment involves onboarding and training. Onboarding is all the steps you take to get them officially hired, introduced to your team, and familiar with how your business works. Training includes all the skills and knowledge they will need to be productive, effective, and safe when finishing tubs, counters, and floors.

We are introducing this topic of training now because how you hire and who you hire will affect your onboarding and training investment. If you are lucky enough to hire a tech who already has successful experience refinishing tubs counters and floors, you are blessed. This means that your investment, onboarding, and training will take less time – and money. It also gives you increased confidence that they will be successful in the role.

Best Practices in Hiring Staff in the Refinishing Industry

A Starting Point When Hiring

This article is an overview of key considerations for hiring staff for your refinishing business. While there is more to discuss about interviewing, reference checks, compensation, and other topics, this article is an overview of the main factors to remember as you search for new employees. Also, don’t be afraid to ask for advice from other refinishing business owners in your peer group – they can be a great asset to you.

The key steps in the process we’ll discuss are:

• Planning and Organizing
• Marketing the Position
• Screening Candidates
• Screening Criteria and Interviewing
• Making the Selection Decision

Planning & Organizing for Hiring New Staff

Job Description

Typically, the process of hiring a new refinisher begins with a good job description. An effective job description talks about skills and capabilities. Break down each part of the refinishing project from start to finish, from meeting the homeowner to final cleanup and project closeout. Each one of these key steps requires different personal skills, product knowledge, and technical skills. When you’re screening and interviewing, you will want to identify how many of these abilities each candidate has. No candidate will be perfect but the more of these elements they can demonstrate the less you need to train, coach, and teach them later.

The Job Ad

• The purpose of the job ad is to attract qualified candidates and discourage unqualified candidates. Your ad should talk about:
• The freedom to work outside of an office or warehouse
• The chance to work with their hands
• The satisfaction in doing beautiful, high-quality work that homeowners love
• The opportunity to learn a highly valued technical skill

The ad may also talk about the sharing in profitability if that is part of your business structure.

The other part of the job posting lists the physical nature of the job, irregular hours, and the demands for high-quality work. The ad may also ad may say “If you do not have experience/skills in X, Y, or Z you are not a good candidate and should not apply.”

Marketing the Position

To market the position, you must write a job ad or post. This is a document or description that you will make visible in many places, including job boards like Indeed, LinkedIn, or local job boards, emailing friends, family, and colleagues, sharing with networking groups, and other places. You should be thoughtful and have a plan to spread the word about your job opening.

Don’t keep the fact that you are looking for good employees a secret. When you have a clear job ad, send it out to your network and put it on appropriate job boards and websites. Promote it on your website. Get the news out there. Believe it or not, someone is looking for this great opportunity right now. Help them find it.

You may find some great candidates among family friends, co-workers, and past employers. Often the best candidates will come from your warm network of family, friends, co-workers, and former employers. Make sure they know about your need for a new team member.

Screening Candidates

A great hire is a wonderful addition to your team and a building block for your future. But a poor hire is a drain on your time and money. Once you have a good ad and have successfully marketed the position then you should expect to get some applicants.

Some applicants may call you. Some may send an email. Be aware that some folks who are conscientious hard workers, good with their hands, and good candidates may not use email. Stay open-minded.

Some of the screenings will take place over the phone and always, most importantly face to face. You will make these screening decisions based on what they say, what you see, how they show up, and follow-up. Sometimes their words and actions will give you obvious signs they will not be a fit. Other times after a good conversation you will just need to trust your gut.

Candidates to Disqualify

Here are the people you need to eliminate:

1. Eliminate people who lack the skills, experience, or background for the position.

2. Eliminate people who aren’t honest about their experience or skills. (It happens.)

3. Eliminate those who are unreliable, undependable, have a poor work ethic, or can’t keep promises. These may be the most important criteria as they can cost you the most time and money.

Don’t Rush, Be Selective

It is important to get a good number of candidates for each position. If you have only a few candidates, you might mistake a weak or mediocre candidate for a good one. If you are so fortunate that a respected colleague knows what you need and refers a quality candidate to you with a good recommendation, then you may not need so many applicants.

Good Candidates are Screening You

Remember: Good people don’t quit bad jobs, they quit bad bosses. When attracting good employees, YOU are a critical ingredient in attracting them. When a good candidate gets the sense that you are dependable, reliable, and have high integrity they will want to work for you. All the small things you do during the interviewing process show the candidate what kind of boss you will be.

Hire, train, retain

Screening Criteria & Interviewing

There are no perfect candidates. Some will need more training and management than others. Do not consider every requirement below as mandatory; decide in advance which ones are non-negotiable deal-breakers. The most important criteria will be reliability, dependability, and integrity. If you find a person with a high character and a strong work ethic who wants the job, that is 80% of the battle. However, these qualities should also be assessed when considering adding someone to your team:

Job History

If a candidate has a history of a new job every year, perhaps even changing to different fields without any growth, it’s a good sign they will repeat that pattern with you. That job history deserves a thoughtful conversation with the candidate. It is a “potential” indicator of weakness in dependability, reliability, or character.

Physical Work

Refinishing work is very physical. It involves loading and unloading equipment and supplies, often carrying them upstairs. Refinishing a bathroom requires moving around tight quarters to prep and mask the surfaces. Many people are not used to that type of activity, so it is fair to ask about their willingness and ability to do this physical work.

Quality

In refinishing, quality IS the product. Homeowners and building managers have high expectations and may inspect the refinishing with a careful eye. So, your hire should have excellent attention to detail. This will be evident if they show up on time, prepared and appropriately dressed for their interview. Someone who arrives late, unprepared for the interview, and sloppily dressed will show up that way for your customer.

Working with Their Hands

As a refinisher, you understand the importance of your crew members being able to work with their hands. Some candidates have worked in carpentry, plumbing, electrical work, or manufacturing and some may simply have hobbies where they use their hands a lot. Ask about their experiences working with their hands. Instead of simply asking what they did, ask for details, what specific skills they used, and areas where they excelled. Qualified candidates will often share more detail and depth on those topics.

Home Services

You should assess candidates’ experience surrounding going into someone's home to do a home improvement project. They need to understand the protocols and professional manners needed when working in someone's house. Small things like properly greeting the homeowner, taking off their shoes, and asking permission to see the tub are important. These skills also include things like explaining project details to the homeowner — what to expect, how long it will take, and what support the homeowner may need to provide for the technician.

Some candidates have done this kind of work before, so may be well-versed in proper protocol and have well-developed people skills.

They Want the Job

When you have spoken to a candidate for a bit and have learned about them, ask the question, “Why would you want a job like this?” You should sense an authentic interest in doing this kind of work and working with you in their response. Enthusiasm is a very positive sign.

Making the Hiring Decision

No algorithm guarantees a great employee every time you hire. Your best shot at getting this right is to have a good job description, and a thorough checklist of desired skills, experiences, and character attributes. Ask lots of good questions so both the good and poor candidates reveal themselves during the interview.

After you have done your due diligence, it’s still smart to trust your gut. It’s usually right.

Your refinishing business is growing, and you need more help – but hiring can be tough. Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a foolproof formula to ensure every new hire would be a perfect fit? Unfortunately, there isn’t. But you can improve your chances of finding the perfect hire by writing a great job description and asking the right interview questions. In this article, we will review the important steps and considerations in hiring. We’ll focus on hiring refinisher techs.

So, you have your business started. You’ve created your marketing plan, put together your team of people, taken the training and are now ready to hit the ground running. But wait, how is your online presence? Is your website up? Can customers find you with a quick Google search?

We commonly hear from many of our refinishers that building and maintaining a website can be confusing and frustrating. “I don’t even know where to start.” Or, “I am not tech-savvy, how am I supposed to build a website?” Not knowing where to start is sometimes the most challenging part of establishing your online presence. In today’s digital age, if you don’t have a website, your online presence will be almost non-existent so it’s a crucial step to marketing your business or services.

Starting your website, or learning how to maintain it, doesn’t have to be a scary experience. There are numerous website building sites out there that offer an account set up tutorial and are making it easier to navigate the process. So, let’s dive into the basics, how to start.

How to Create & Design a Website

1. Select the site that’s best for you.

Choose from a huge range of template designs already ready to go. Each site builder has its different perks and varies in pricing. All of these options have a demo or tutorial that can show you have to navigate the site and will have you started designing your very own website in no time.

Vistaprint – Vistaprint empowers small businesses like yours to market themselves effectively. Design and order custom printed marketing materials, signage and websites. If you’ve already printed your marketing collateral through Vistaprint, you can purchase a matching website. Or vice-versa. Design a website then easily print matching marketing materials for consistent branding. So your business cards, magnets, pens, brochures, etc. can all have the same matching deign. Vistaprint is one of the cheaper website builders but doesn’t offer as much as other top running website builders like SEO, customer tracking, email marketing, and other marketing tools to help you. The cost of Vistaprint starts at a low $14 a month and offers a free trial.

Wix – WIX is a website builder that has grown in popularity over the past few years. It not only is a web builder but blog maker, logo designer, and is also SEO fixed. WIX offers a 14-day free trial to get you setup and make sure you like their site. Then you can purchase the professional version starting as low as $22 per month. Tutorials and demos are available.

Squarespace – Is an extremely popular website builder and has won awards because of its ease to create, navigate and is successful for almost all users who are taking advantage of all the site has to offer. It too has a web builder, logo designer, and is SEO fixed, but it also provides an online shop, a point-of-sale system to accept payments from customers, built in ability to send email campaigns and so much more. Squarespace also has a free trial offer and starts as low as $26 a month.

2. Get creative with how your site looks.

Now that you’ve chosen one of the above site builders, start to tailor the website to make it look the exact way you want it to. You can customize the fonts, upload your own photos, and change the margins with the built-in style kit. Think of your website as the face of your company. Take the time to make it look nice and professional.

3. View previews of your web design on all digital platforms.

Remember, the way your website looks on a desktop computer is going to be different than the way it appears on mobile. Make sure as you are building your site, you’re previewing in all platforms to make sure you like the way it looks.

4. Add your branding and logo.

The most important part is making sure you add your logo. Make sure you are following the correct size specifications so the logo is clear and not grainy. Don’t have a logo yet? That’s ok! You can create one for your brand with a free logo maker like this one.

5. Create your messages and setup your page(s).

Now that people will be able to find you online with your new website, you need to make sure they know who you are and what you do. Think of websites you like to visit. What pages do they typically have? Are there any refinishers or refinishing websites that you like, use those as a model.

You need to have at least a one page site that shows who you are, what you have to offer, and how you can help customers with the problem they have. All this can be said on one page, your homepage, and with just a few photos.

There are numerous amounts of build-your-own website building tools available on the internet to make building and maintaining your website an easy process. Utilize online demos, tutorials and videos to help guide you even further into this process and remember, your time and effort in building your site and establishing your online presence will quickly pay off when customers are easily able to find you when searching for a refinisher in the area.

In this “Market to Market” series, stay tuned for other blogs on marketing your services and how to reach more customers.

You’ve done most of the work – you’ve developed your marketing strategy, started your website, decided how and where you’re going to advertise, AND set up your social media accounts. Nice work! The hard part is done. So now that customers can find you and you are interacting with them, the last piece of business is making sure you’ve brushed up on your communication skills.

Good communication is A MUST in all successful businesses! It’s all about the right people getting the right message at the right time. If you are not communicating correctly to your target audience and, most importantly, to your customers, then your business will definitely suffer even if you thought you’d done all of the necessary steps to make sure people can find you.

They say there are seven keys to successful business communication.

1. Credibility – this builds trust.

2. Courtesy – this improves relationships.

3. Clarity – this makes people understand easier.

4. Correctness – this builds confidence.

5. Consistency – this introduces stability.

6. Concreteness – this reinforces confidence.

7. Conciseness – this saves time.

It’s important to make sure all of your messaging (i.e., in your marketing materials, on your website, social media accounts, and even just how you are speaking to your customer in person) have these seven factors when you are creating them. The HOW you say the message is just as important if not more important than WHAT you are trying to say.

Think about messages you see everywhere. “Best wings in town, stop by for a Wingstop.” They don’t say, “We got wings. Come and get them.” What message does that send? And why should you want to stop there? But when you hear they have the BEST wings in town, well, that makes you want to try them, right?

It’s all about HOW you say the message just as much as WHAT you are trying to say. Keep these keys in mind, and you will have excellent communications skills in your messaging and your daily communications and interactions with customers.

business communication

If you are not communicating correctly to your target audience and, most importantly, to your customers, then your business will definitely suffer even if you thought you’d done all of the necessary steps to make sure people can find you.

In our last blog about marketing, we discussed the importance of developing a marketing strategy and what that meant. So now that you have an idea on how to get started with making the plan, let’s talk about the different avenues there are to market your businesses and services. This is the HOW in how you are going to reach your customers.

Ask yourself, what kinds of marketing am I currently using? Are you hanging up flyers in your town? Or maybe you just have your website and customers are able to find you online. If you’re doing both print and digital, consider yourself ahead of the game. If you haven’t yet started with marketing, this is an area you should focus on in the next couple of months.

So, what kind of advertising should you be doing? First, let’s dive into the differences of traditional and digital marketing and the benefits of each.

Traditional Marketing

Traditional marketing refers to any type of marketing that isn’t online and has to target the audience through physical printed forms like magazines, newspaper ads, tv ads, radio ads, billboards, pamphlets, direct mail, and banners.

Traditional marketing is not only one of the oldest forms of marketing and although we’re in the digital age, most businesses still utilize some form of traditional marketing today. You encounter some sort of traditional marketing in your everyday life, whether it’s getting the mail or your daily newspaper, reading a sign on the top of a taxi cab or a billboard along the highway, or watching a commercial in the middle of the football game.

So what are the pros and cons of traditional marketing?

Pros:

Hyper-local reach: Traditional marketing plays an important part in reaching local
Maintains a long “shelf life”: Printed advertising can be kept for a long period of time and give from one person to another. For example, if you mail post cards or magnets, those may be on refrigerators for some time, keeping you and your business in the back of their minds the next time they need a refinisher.

Cons:

Reach may be too broad: While traditional marketing does reach a broad range of potential customers, it’s also wasting a lot of time and money by reaching people who aren’t considered your target audience.
Limited use: All your printed material can be used once only. For example, you distribute 500 flyers, how many of those 500 people are actually looking for a refinisher at that particular time? There is no way to find out. If you need to make an update or your phone number changed for example, you would have to print all new materials rather than making a quick update.
High cost: Paying for local radio and tv ads can be very expensive. They can cost hundreds to thousands of dollars per seconds and minutes of advertising, and again, reaching a broad range of customers without being able to target those needing your refinishing services.

All in all, it’s a good idea to choose your traditional marketing wisely. It’s important for you to know and understand the best marketing choice for your business at that time and for the type of customers you are trying to target.

Digital Marketing

Digital marketing is referring to any marketing that uses electronic devices to convey messages. This typically refers to marketing that appear on a computer, tablet, phone, or other device and can take many forms including online video, display ads and social media posts.

We are living in a digital world where everything is just one click away. In this age, digital marketing has significantly altered the way businesses reach and communicate with their customers, but the processes are still very similar to successful traditional marketing efforts.

So what are the pros and cons of digital marketing?

Pros:

Ability to transform traditional marketing into digital: You more than likely already have a few traditional marketing campaigns going. The best part about that is, you already have done most of the work, now just turn it into a digital piece. Digital marketing is one of the best techniques which can boost your business.
Saves you money and time: it’s much faster to post a digital ad than to run a printed ad in your local newspaper. On most social media platforms, you can start a digital marketing campaign as little as $5 and in less than 5 minutes.
Ability to target your customers: You can select the target market you want to reach, by gender, age, location, and even by a persons’ hobby interests. You can also track each person that clicks the ad.
Ability to make ongoing updates: You can change and edit that ad endlessly so you can retarget and remarket the ad at any time based on its performance. Your phone number changed? That will only take you a couple of clicks to update.

Cons:

The learning curve: The idea of digital marketing can be a little overwhelming if you don’t have a good idea of what it involves, especially if you haven’t even started to establish and online presence yet.
Requires a lot of updates and monitoring: If you want your digital marketing to be highly effective, you can’t just create one ad then call it done. You should monitor its success, make any updates as needed, then continue to tailor your digital marketing to what’s working vs. not working.

All in all, both traditional and digital marketing have its pros and cons and there are benefits to each. Most small businesses do a mix of each type of marketing, and you should determine who your customers are and how they are finding you and your business to determine where to spend most of your marketing dollars.

In this “Market to Market” series, stay tuned for other blogs on marketing your services and how to reach more customers.

Let’s talk about the different avenues there are to market your businesses and services. This is the HOW in how you are going to reach your customers. First, let’s dive into the differences of traditional and digital marketing and the benefits of each.

Mini Cart

Kitchen and Bathtub Refinishing Small Business Tips

The Initial Contact Phone Call

Timing of the Project

Setting the Agenda

Additional Decision-Makers

The Customer Visit

Summary

The Opportunity

Start Early to Win Follow-up Refinishing Projects

Three Opportunities to Gain Follow-up Refinishing Projects

Conversations with the Homeowner or Property Manager

The First Conversation: During the Quote

The Second Conversation: At Project Completion

The Third Conversation: Project Follow-up

Conclusion: These Conversations Are the Easiest Money You Will Ever Make

Why Advertise on Facebook?

Getting Started with Facebook Ads

1. Define Your Goals

2. Set Up Facebook Ads Manager

3. Create Your Campaign

4. Test and Optimize

Leverage Niche Social and Review Websites

The Importance of Social Media For Refinishers

Social media is one part of a larger marketing strategy

Choose your target audience

Choose your social media platforms

Optimize your profile and Profile Content.

Optimize Your Bio

Before and After Pictures

Tell Stories

Call-to-Action Buttons

Follow-up on Leads

Create and Moderate Your Own Groups

Post Fresh Content Each Week or Even Daily

Create a Content Strategy & Schedule

Create Followers by Following Them

Share Expert Advice, Give Away Your Secrets

Leverage Customer Testimonials

Email Marketing

Branding and Brand Image

Start Small and Build

The Value of Referrals

The Obstacles to Asking for Referrals

How to Ask for Referrals

Who to Ask: Your Best Referral Sources

Your Referral Generation Strategies

An important strategy to scale your business (part 2)

General Guidelines for Selling to Multi-Unit Opportunities

Selling to Hotel Managers & Property Managers

Understand the Managers’ Needs, Priorities, and Pains

Use Their Time Wisely

Offer a Solution to a Business Problem

Make it Easy for Them to Say Yes

Offer Creative Packages for Refinishing Multiple Rooms

Effective Follow-Up

Selling to Realtors & House Flippers

Understand Their Needs

Use Their Time Well

Build a Relationship

Consider Gifts and Incentives

Sell the Value, Not the Refinishing

A Conversation with a Realtor/House Flipper

Your Commercial

The Conversation

Final Thoughts

Your most important business decision

Investing in Your Refinishing Team

A Starting Point When Hiring

Planning & Organizing for Hiring New Staff

Job Description

The Job Ad

Marketing the Position

Screening Candidates

Candidates to Disqualify

Don’t Rush, Be Selective

Good Candidates are Screening You

Screening Criteria & Interviewing

Job History

Physical Work