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Whats the best way for a small hardwood flooring contractor to make new contacts with GCs? I have made phone calls, stapled business cards on framing, left brochures with sales staff. I understand that refferals are a big help, but most of what I have been doing is remodel. I had a great steady gig with a local builder, but then he stiffed me AND the homeowner for a good chunk of change. Now I am line with his legal counsel waiting for my $4000.00. Obviously, I can’t use him for a reference, but at least I learned a lesson.
Any advice from you GCs on what you look at and what you throw away when it comes to “a new name”.
Thanks for the help.
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I would almost surely have to see some of your work. Verbal references are fine, but the visuals are the ticket.
*Jim,Join your local builder's association and rub shoulders with the gc's there!Thomas
*Networking helps bunches. But if all the GC's are happy with their flooring guy they probably will not change. In that case I try to position our company as next in line. Something along the line of "Are you happy with your present supplier/trades/etc? You are,... great! If at any time you become unhappy I would appreciate an opportunity to establish a long term relationship." Most GC's are pounded on all day every day by trades wanting to get in. By soft selling you go against the grain. I'd bet he remembers you, not the price seller. You need to touch base with him about every quarter to just be sure he has not changed trades. Make up an excuse to drop by. Not the fastest way to get going if you need work today but it will work. This is what you should have been doing while working for the deadbeat. Gotta keep the pipeline full. Construction is a face to face business. Cards at the job help a little, flyers help a little. But the GC needs to see your face and evaluate your persona. You have to work yourself to the decision maker. For smaller builders he is probably on site or nearby. Production builders have a purchasing staff. Much harder to get in to see. Good luck.
*Jim, you are doing it wrong.1) a phone call--if used for initial contact--is only a faceless cold call. You'll run out of targets before you get enough work to fill your schedule. However, cold calls will work depending on what you put into them. See note below.2) stapling cards to framing is the poor thinker's road to ruin. Such activity only spreads ill will about your company. Why? Because you are basically trespassing onto a site which you have no business being on, a sure sign of disrespect. Also, stapling cards only puts the others on notice. It makes your competition wary which causes them to redouble their efforts which increases your workload to get them out of the picture. And you are still faceless and invisible.3) sales staff don't give a hoot about you. I suspect it would be a miraculous event if they didn't trash your brochure as soon as you left the room. Not only are you out your time but your money too. This applies to #1 & 3: when you attempt contact, you need to get to the decision maker. You need to circumvent the underlings and those who cannot make the decision you desire. Only after you make the sale can you afford the time to schmooze the help.Cold calls are effective as selling tools if you construct the conversation correctly. When I made these calls I made sure I knew who the big dogs were. I knew their names, types of projects, upcoming projects, etc. So do your homework. Because when you get Mr. Big on the phone you want to convey your respect for him and his time. Knowing what to say is just as important. Instead of trying to sell over the phone, instead use the phone call to schedule a meeting. So don't dawdle on the phone. Just say, "This is me of XYZ Company. I have some information I would like to discuss with you. Is 3pm this Thursday good? Great, see you then." Click. This gets you the face to face which allows you to make your appearance in their office. Even still, the cold call offers low yield. Don't BS. Start thinking of a tangible or intangible benefit--service or product--which you can offer that your comp cannot. Believe it or not, but honesty and integrity have almost disappeared in the business. You make good on those two things--don't lie and keep your word, no matter the cost to you--and you'll shine above most everybody.
*All good advice and Rich's advice is on the mark when he said:"Cold calls are effective as selling tools if you construct the conversation correctly. When I made these calls I made sure I knew who the big dogs were. I knew their names, types of projects, upcoming projects, etc. So do your homework. Because when you get Mr. Big on the phone you want to convey your respect for him and his time."In Harvey MacKay's book, "Swim With The Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive " (I think that's the book), he goes into detail about the research he does "PRIOR" to the first cold call. Read it. He owns an envelope company, which he admits in the book is just another commodity. If his "system" works for selling envelopes, it should be a piece of cake for a hardwood flooring installation company, which is not only the product and installation, but also service, service and service..
*Rich,Thanks for the sound advice. I pretty much knew that I was off target, and really didn't want to waste any more of my time.Regarding honesty and integrity, we all need to keep this end of it going. I know all too well about how quickly things can change. Most of my work has been through refferals, and I am always willing to go the extra mile, regardless of the cost, just to satisfy the customer. Hopefully, that will help seperate me from the rest.Thanks again for your time.
*Looks like you have tied up your life with one GC.That was your first mistake. We are always expendable.So are clients and GCs. Have you thought of contracting yourself? Is there a need in floors in your area to do it full time ? Is this the best business decision? When I did sub work, and I was out of work;I called the people I knew, then hit the road in the morning with my dinner and a full tank of gas. That was my job calling on builders just like any other salesman. Can you also bid something else ? Do they have any other jobs, or small jobs they need help with? Face to face only in our trade.If they decide that they like the meeting with you they are more prone to help you. Our labor is always for sale to the highest bidder. Usually long term relationships expect more, we get less. Mrs. Jones doesnt have any idea what the cheapest prices will be . Best prices per ft. But you can bet your hat a GC does. I expect 25 percent more from home owners, because a GC will charge over you at least that much to "handle you". I learned to work for contractors when I had free time. Home owners were first, bottom line.
*Jim,All good advice. Especially what Tim said about homeowners coming first. 8 out of 10 jobs for me come from satisfied customers referalls.Are you also doing finish and refinish? Most GC's in my area do their own floor builds and call me for finish. I prefer not working for GC's as they screw my schedule up so often and don't pay as quickly as homeowners.The refinish market is huge. If you are in or near an area where there are a lot of homes built before the 1950s, then every street has 100s of potential customers. I also market a "maintenance coat" for floors 3 to 5 years old which are starting to show signs of wear. I advertise this in local papers about three times a year and the response is great.Rich
*Jim,Here's a little something I do also: On all my floor builds I always "frame out" the front door and large french doors or sliders. This simply entails a frame 6 or 8 boards out from the door and inline with the door casing with mitred corners. This frames out the rug most people put at the door. I always biscut, glue, and screw and plug the corners. I also build small frames for the floor registers as this is where board movement occurs most often. I fasten these down the same way, with trim head screws and plugs. These are my trademark 'signature' details I put in every floor. They don't really take very long and differentiate me from the sq. ft. hogs. I also burn my logo into the floor in the most inconspicuos spot in a closet before finishing. My last customer asked me to burn the logo into the inside corner of the fireplace hearth frame next to the gas valve. She said she liked the idea of her floor having a label.Rich
*Jim:As a homebuilder, I get so many solicitations from vendors and subs that I sometimes find it annoying, especially phone calls. When I get a flyer or brochure, I file them away for future reference. The one thing that catches my eye is who a sub works for, if I see a list of other familiar builders, especially ones in my price range, I take special note.Allan