Controversial Advertising For Contractors

I debated writing this for 3.5 minutes. I almost took out 2 cars while trying to pullover and take a picture of this. I am not usually attracted to men spread out over 30 feet of canvass but, I read Roofers..That caught my eye.

I have a roofing license and in all my years of doing this I have never seen an advertisement like this. When I think roofing, I think of Sweat, Hardwork, Professional, A little crazy..I dont think of this advertisement. I think this does a disservice to our industry.

My next thought, how about the customers perspective..WIFM..Whats in it for me.

If I have a roof leak and I see this billboard. Will this guy come and fix my leak? Doubtfull. He looks more like and escort.

I know women make majority of the buying decision and I want to turn it over to the ladies on this one? Give me your thoughts on this?

Keep sexy out of construction or I am calling this company now?

Have a great Memorial Day, Thank a vet.
Justin

Sharing Awesome LinkedIn Tips For Contractors

I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Charlyn Shelton on LinkedIn.

She specifically shared tips for Contractors like us that I found incredibly useful and adjusted my profile just now. Here is a couple of tips that were shared and I recommend listening to the entire interview below.

Tip #1: I am paraphrasing here, on the LinkedIn homepage your heading below your name needs to have your location in it. For myself it was Tampa Bay Renovation Contractor. I personally never thought about having the location in this area until we did a search and my name didnt come up. Now I rank much higher and will be moving up quickly.

Tip #2: My phone number right near the top of my summary section. I thought my contact info was enough for my number and then Charlyn explained only certain connections could see that info. Everyone else could not.

Charlyn took the time and shared much more details in the audio. We thank her for the time and sharing her expertise. Click below and enjoy the listen, leave some comments please..

Click Here-LinkedIn For Contractors Audio Interview

Can You Get A Crew Together?

I love getting the calls every week from prospects looking for me to get a crew together. Typical conversations dont start with "Can you get a crew together?". This past week I decided to have some fun with the person on the other line. Here is the conversations:

ME: "Hello, this is Justin how can I help you"

Bill: " Hey Justin, my name is Bill and I got several properties were looking to rehab and I wanted to know if you have a crew or can put a crew together?"

ME: "WOW, Bill where did you get my information?" "I would love to help you, tell me more"

Bill: Goes on and on about investors, and addresses, and working with tight budgets, etcccc...(Minimum 7.5 minute explanation)

ME: "So, who referred me to you?"

Bill: "I got your info online and I like the name of your company, are you interested in these project?"

If you have been in business for decent amount of time you have come across this type call. They have no clue what you do and really have no interest in knowing about you or the value you bring to the deal. I am not interested in going through the hiring process for someone I dont know. Testing strangers out on customers I have never worked with before. Supervising multiple jobs and being pulled away from existing customers. What do people really think about what I do? Do they devalue my trade so much that they think I wave a magic get er done wond and the project comes together..

I usually let them off with I am too busy or I am just not interested. I decided to see how far Bill wanted to go with this. I meet him today and will follow up with everyone next week.

How do you handle this, tell me your story?

Comments welcome.

Does Work Keep You Awake At Night?

TIP FOR SLEEPING BETTER...WRITE IT DOWN

I love to get work done at night. Its the only time the house is quiet and most productive for me. The kids are in bed, I can grab my job folders and knock everything out for a week in just a few hours. Then I would read until I fell asleep. I would dream about each job and what had to go were the next day. I would play my schedule in my head. The alarm clock goes off and the day begins. Around 2-3 pm I would need a pick me up, coffee or energy boost to make it through the day.

Does this sound typical with you?

The problem for me happened when I couldn't drink coffee anymore.

What was I going to do? I needed my pick me up in the afternoon.

I researched several options about coffee replacement drinks and found  a bunch of synthetic drinks and herbs that I didn't want to take. I cold turkey'd the coffee and had headaches for a week. Withdraws suck.

I then focused on getting more sleep and changing my late night routine. Go to bed earlier, wake up earlier and get some work done. This worked but, I was still dreaming about work and not getting the proper sleep....

I was fortunate enough to listen to someone recently faced with the same nightmares about work. This person would lay in bed half awake dreaming about there to do list. Awful night sleep led to poor performance and professional help. After thousands of dollars trying to find a cure for this late night curse, they were asked to write down what they were thinking about. SOLUTION: Take your to do list and write it out. Beautiful night sleep ever since.

I personally tried this 3 months ago and it works like a charm. If your dreaming about work, write down the dream on paper with your handwriting and get it out of your brain.

Let me know how this works for you and if you have a tip?