If You Don’t Or Won’t Offer Generation Y Prospects What They Want They Will Go Away
Generation Y is getting older, they’re buying homes and they are now starting to improve and remodel the homes they own. As more and more of them grow older the number of Gen Y homeowners will quickly grow. Therefore, they will quickly become a major share of the potential prospects for remodelers and other contractors. In an earlier blog about prequalifying and selling to Generation Y, I discussed the fact that members of Gen Y are used to getting information instantly and for free using key word Google searches to find internet content. Technology and the internet have definitely defined how Generation Y does all their research and makes their remodeling or home improvement buying decisions. Having a contractor web site and what is put on it for information will make or break whether Gen Y prospects will be doing business with a remodeling contractor or not.
There are two ways to think about the title of this blog
First, if you don’t have a web site, or if your site doesn’t offer the information Gen Y is looking for, they won’t bother with your business if another remodeler’s business does. Second, if your web site doesn’t explain how you do business as well as the kind of projects your willing to do, internet savvy gen Y remodeling prospects will move on. Remember, they’re probably not going to call you to find these things out. They’ll just go back to the Google search page and find another contractor’s site that does. So, if you want them to attract them and you want to motivate them to do business with your remodeling company you better make sure they find what they are looking for when they find your contractor web site.
“Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not using it in a fruit salad.”
What if you want them to go away?
Yes, you read that right. Not all Gen Y prospects will be right for a remodeler’s business. Their motivations to buy and what will be important to them may not be a match with what you offer, who you have on staff or how you do business. Working with the wrong customers can also compromise profits and might not be very satisfying for the business owner or employees. If you want to maintain a defined business process, and remain in control as you do business and produce your projects, you need to avoid working with customers who would probably be better off working with some other remodeling contractor.
To help Gen Y prospects prequalify themselves before they contact you (or for that matter prospects from any generation) make sure the content you put on your site has been strategically decided and written to serve this purpose. For example, if you charge for design services make that clear on your site. Or, if you won’t allow customers to provide any of their own materials make sure you discuss this fact on your web site. Conversely, to attract the right prospects, explain why you charge for design or won’t allow them to provide the materials. Blogging is a great way to accomplish these goals. Who knows, your logic might just discourage some prospects from wanting to provide their own materials or go with a contractor who offers free design!
Work towards getting them to stay
The point here is that if your web site visitors like your offerings and your logic you will attract them as prospects. If they don’t like your offerings and or your logic, they will go away and search for another remodeling contractor. Just be careful about how and what you write about. I’ll discuss that consideration in a future blog titled “Qualify, don’t disqualify your remodeling prospects”.
Related topics
Advice For Contractors When Working With Home Buyers Considering Renovations
Advice For Contractors On How To Work With Generation Y From One Of Them
25 Sample Questions Contractors Can Use For Prequalifying Prospects
Their real estate agent should provide them with comparable values for the property they are considering. The agent should also tell them where that prospective property may be lacking, in terms of value and sale-ability. For example, does it have enough bathrooms? Does it have updated systems, finishes, and appliances? What other features should it have to compete with the highest priced comps in the area?
Most property buyers do not need to have full plans and exact budgets to formulate their offer. If they come away from the discussions with a ballpark range of expected costs — with a 10-15% cushion added for contingencies that might be found once walls are opened up — they should be in good shape to make an offer.
Several years ago I helped one of my remodeler coaching clients plan out how to offer and perform snow removal services. He called me because he realized there were a lot of things he should consider before just sending his guys out with there with shovels and axes. Below is a list of considerations from my coaching session notes created during my discussions with him. By sharing my notes my hope is that you will find them helpful, you will price the work for profit, you and your employees will be safer while performing the work, you can use the opportunity to create new customers and you will generate future work from those that hire you.
Discussed properly equipping his employees to avoid risk and health problems. Confirmed he has fall protection equipment needed to meet OSHA requirements and employees know how to use it. Should try to do as much of the work as they can from the ground.
Look at the work as a good way to meet new clients. Because there might be more demand than he can service, be selective about who he will work for, make sure they fit within his target customer/location niche.
Discourage use of Red Bull, maybe even coffee. Suggested hot chocolate and donuts.
Looking back our ideal customer was a middle aged middle market married couple, both working with either very young or high school age children. These people worked hard to earn their money and therefore respected the fact that my employees and I also worked hard to earn our money. They looked at my employees as partners in the project, not nail bangers. Due to the age of their children, they had little time to do their own work, they didn’t want to move or change school systems, and they typically needed more space at their homes. Unlike wealthier clients I had worked for, these clients would say; “I know I will owe you the next payment on Monday, but I won’t be here. Can I pay you today”? I never had to use my line of credit to finance their projects because waiting for a stock dividend delayed progress payment.
These clients needed additions to their homes, but we didn’t want just an addition. We wanted an addition with a kitchen and/or a bathroom. We came to find that simple family room or bedroom additions came with too much competition from laid off framers or inexperienced low price remodelers. If the project included a kitchen and or a bathroom, most low price completion lacked the skills to design and build the project. We also found that these projects, because of the baths and kitchens, were material and sub contractor intensive. We found it easier to mark up and manage more materials and subs, rather than more labor. We also found they brought in more gross profit in less time than labor intensive projects.
We purposely timed our marketing for addition work relative to the New England weather realities as well as the typical lead time required to sell, design and permit additions. The idea was to get foundations in the ground and shells constructed before the weather made it impossible or impractical to work in the cold. Using similar tactics, we marketed in advance for Kitchens, baths, attics and basement remodels to fill the cold months. We marketed these projects to the same client type. The attics and basements typically included bathrooms.
As the business grew and competition increased within our market, we decided to expand our footprint. Through experience and detailed job costing we came to see that commuting more than 30 minutes from our office typically lead to increased costs, compromised supervision on projects, a dip in client satisfaction and therefore a dip in referrals. We also found it ideal to work on homes built in the 60’s or later. These homes were built with standard lumber sizes, drywall rather than horse hair plaster, PVC drain lines rather than cast iron, copper water supplies and poured concrete foundations. These homes were easier to work on, they made it easier to anticipate and estimate costs and they were typically one of many similar homes within concentrated subdivisions. By marketing to target home owners in target neighborhoods within 30 minutes of our office, we attracted addition projects in high exposure locations, leading to more work and more referrals in those same areas.
To me the why was the easy part. The why’s were all the benefits my business came to enjoy as a result of defining our ideal niches, the biggest being improved profitability. If you concentrate your efforts in a defined area, you and your team naturally become better and more competent at what you do, leading to improved efficiency across your business. We realized efficiency in our marketing efforts because we knew who and what to market for and how to get their attention. Estimating and sales also became simplified because projects and clients were very similar. It was easier to find and train good employees and subs because the work types were fairly consistent and the clients were almost always a pleasure to work with. Because we could successfully deliver the right projects to the right people we enjoyed a steady flow of high quality referrals. Because, because, because…
