storyWhat makes you different from your competition? If you’re making it all about price, you’re not only potentially hurting your business but you’re actually not making it easy on your prospect. Why? They probably have some questions about the quality of your work, how long the job will take and how many other successful projects you’ve done in bathtub refinishing.

That’s why it’s smart to tell a better story or mini-case study that includes the homeowner’s challenge, what you did and the finished result. This goes beyond just talking about it but actually showing it through pictures and video. And no, you don’t need to hire an expensive photographer or buy a high-end video camera to accomplish this.

Here’s the funny part about anyone involved in remodeling or refinishing who likes to show their work – they think they can only show the end result, when everything is done and looking beautiful. Not true. In fact, they’re missing an opportunity to show much more.

Think about what you show when you capture and describe the initial challenge as you resurface a tub - you’re showing the process. And in doing so, you’re lifting your credibility up by displaying your quality, attention to detail and generally being more transparent. You may also choose to show photos or videos of you using certain products from NAPCO that convey a higher grade of professionalism.

All of this helps the customer feel better about their potential investment. By the way, your investment in telling a better beginning/middle/end story of a job requires less than you think. With a smartphone, you can take pictures and videos that are certainly high enough quality for putting online in such places as a website, a Facebook page and more. We’d also highly encourage you to think about some very brief captions for each photo so the reader can follow along and understand what they’re looking at in each phase. Naturally, any time you can pair photos and descriptions with a short testimonial quote of praise from that customer, it’s a very good thing.

Before long, what you can build up with a photo gallery that’s descriptive of your experience and a true reference page that customers can visit before or after they’ve met with you. They’ll probably feel good about that face-to-face with you, but if they’re considering other refinishers, going to one section online that fully showcases your process from start to finish just may be the story that puts you over the top.