Friday, February 28, 2014

How You Avoid Being a Commodity Contractor.

This is a follow up to last weeks, commodity contractor blog post.

I had the pleasure of having coffee with a very wealthy client that turned into a very expensive lunch and great conversation. Luckily, he paid.

Somehow our conversation between two men took a drastic turn when the topic of Nordstroms started. We have a local Nordstrom in Tampa that his wife was shopping at while we had coffee.

The only thing I knew about Nordstrom is they sold higher end clothing/shoes and to keep my wife away.

I asked, "Why does your wife like Nordstroms"
His answer was priceless, "My wife can spend hours in that store, they have a personal stylists that assists her every step of the way. She likes the layout of the store, very open and welcoming. She earns points on her Nordstrom Card toward future purchases. She goes to the other stores Neiman Marcus, and Saks but, really goes back to Nordstrom for the personal touch. Lastly, the stylist will call or email when they have new arrivals that fits her style."

I would typically space out while another man talked about a department store. I found myself asking more questions. I was curios to see buying habits of higher end customers. Customers that could choose to shop wherever they wanted but, found themselves spending thousands of dollars in one store.

My findings and how they pertain to Contractors:

Nordstroms has 5 competitors in the market place. They have carved a great niche with high end and personal services. The wide open store layout invites customers to freely walk through the store and take in everything Nordstroms has to offer. Lastly, the return policy is 100% Guarantee.

Enough about Nordstroms.

Ways not be a commodity and more like Nordstroms:
  1. Position yourself as the expert. If you are the best at what you do, you dont need to talk about being the best. Show your expertise with articles, and answering questions on community dashboards. Highlight your projects through social media and be open to answer questions and let prospects freely look around.
  2. When customers arent asking for your bid or price, but when they can get on your schedule. Welcome to the Nordstroms experience. You are the contractor they want and will wait until your avialable.
  3. Your 100% satisfaction Guarantee. Offer that longer warranty, your business uses better materials and trades. Extend the guarantee and warranty.
  4. BONUS. Stay in touch with your customer. Thank you card or pictures taken during their project with personal note from you. Bottle of wine with your label. Anything that keeps you top of mind.
Creating a higher end niche keeps you out of price wars. Spending more time on higher end will garnish higher profits and better referrals. How do you want to spend your time price wars or profits?

Want to know more about selling to higher end? Call me or send an email.
Justin 727-644-0160 or Justin@ContractorsNetworking.com

8 comments:

  1. You are right on target. We have 10 seconds to make an impression. It should be that of a competent, confident professional, not Bubba the roofing guy. By making that powerful initial impression we earn the attention of our prospective client and the right to emphasize quality and value, not price. In fact, we don't mention cost or price, instead, we talk about the investment and the return to be expected. We go from being a contractor to being a consultant. The rest is future.

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    1. Pete. Thank you for commenting. I talk about investment in Every Contractor Selling Handbook. I like value added over price.

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  2. Thanks for sharing such a informative information with us,Its really help full for me good work
    Mcx Construction

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    1. Camilo thank you for stopping by and commenting. Please follow my blog if you havent already done so. Just click follow under my name.

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    2. My pleasure! Justin, I will definitely follow you blog,Good job.

      Design Consultation miami

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  3. Justin, Great points to follow. I'm currently trying to establish and maintain my business in this fashion (no pun on the Nordstram article). It's not easy with so many contractors throwing out bottom dollar pricing just to stay busy. The people choosing these companies simply will NOT get the overall personal service experience that makes us stand out.

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  4. This is EXACTLY what i want,Thanks for sharing such a informative information with us,
    Eavestrough replacemen

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  5. Thank you for commenting john and gutter force. Please stay in touch. Justin

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