August 5/12, 2019: Volume 35, Issue 4
By Jim Augustus Armstrong
There was once a chiropractor who built up a million- dollar-per-year practice. He sold his business and quickly built another million-dollar practice. Then he did it a third time. Obviously, this man had a system for building successful chiropractic operations. So, he began to host seminars teaching other chiropractors how to grow their businesses. After almost every seminar someone would approach him and ask, “I need a way to get 50 new clients a month.” To which the million-dollar chiropractor would reply, “I don’t know one way to get 50 new clients a month; I know 50 ways to get one new client a month, and I do all 50.”
This is the exact kind of thinking you need to apply to your flooring business. Too many dealers fall prey to “silver-bullet” thinking. They are hoping to find that one strategy or social media/website platform that will solve all of their customer acquisition problems. Or, they get approached by a marketing company offering lead-generation services, SEO or pay-per-click, and they become seduced by the idea that this company’s product will generate all the customers they need.
The key to having a thriving business is to implement marketing and business systems. Following are 15 marketing strategies to get (at least) one new customer per month:
1. Market to your past customers consistently. The most effective way I’ve found to do this is with a monthly printed newsletter and a weekly e- newsletter. You can touch your list this often if in your communication you use the 90/10 formula: 90% fun, informative, welcome, entertaining content and 10% flooring subject matter.
2. Print extra newsletters each month and give them to walk-ins.
3. Subscribe all the businesses within six blocks of your store to your newsletter.
4. Wear shoe covers during in-home measures.
5. Five-around strategy: When you install flooring in a customer’s home, leave a promotional door hanger with their two neighbors on either side and the three across the street.
6. Follow up with every prospect every few days until they give you a yes or no.
7. Hand every walk-in a beverage menu and ask them what they’d like to drink.
8. Welcome packs for walk-ins: Have professional folders printed up and inside include your latest newsletter, customer testimonials and your guaran- tees and warranties.
9. When you do an in-home measure, give the prospect a free bottle of spotter with free lifetime refills.
10. Take photos of your customers standing on their new floors. Post the photos on your Facebook and Instagram page along with a testimonial.
11. Put a review campaign in place so every customer is automatically asked to review your business online.
12. Stream reviews on your website.
13. Record short video testimonials from your customers. Post them on your website.
14. Post video testimonials on social media.
15. Implement a system to generate referrals from every installation.
Jim is the founder and President of Flooring Success Systems, a company that provides floor dealers with digital and offline marketing services, and coaching to equip dealers to make more money, work fewer hours and get their lives back. For information visit FlooringSuccessSystems.com.
