Roof-A-Cide® Blog: Roof Cleaning for Contractors: Are You Solving a Problem or a Pain?

Yesterday, we got our first snow of the season here in New Jersey.

It reminded me of being a teenager and making money when we received a decent snow fall.

Like many teenagers, my friends and I would grab the shovels from our parents’ garage (when they were finished with them, of course), and hit the neighborhood to shovel our neighbors’ driveways for money.

Because most kids were out sleigh-riding, there wasn’t much competition. So we would stay out until dusk working our butts off and making some extra cash.

Our strategy was simple:

Find the homeowners who hadn’t yet shoveled their driveways and walkways.
Knock on the door with our offer.
Shovel for a couple hours.
Collect cash and move on.

With this strategy, we kept busy all day. In retrospect, we definitely didn’t charge enough. But, as a teenager, making a hundred bucks in a day was pretty good. So we were more than happy.

Until we realized that the older kids were making twice the money in half the time.

They were more experienced and had a better strategy.

It’s not that they could shovel faster or negotiate better. They had a different, and far more profitable, target market.

Instead of knocking on the doors of homes with un-shoveled driveways, they approached the homeowners who were already out shoveling.

Why?

These homeowners originally decided to do it themselves, but were now halfway through - cold, wet, tired, and exhausted.

The project was likely taking them longer than they had expected, and they just wanted to be done.

So this older group of kids would swoop in at exactly the right time and relieve the homeowners of their pain.

They would charge more (because they were solving a real pain, not just a problem) and they had less shoveling to do (because the homeowners were already halfway finished).

These kids were smart.

They had a higher quality target market.

They realized that every home was a prospective customer, but their target market produced a much higher return on their investment.

So what does this have to do with your business?

I talk frequently of identifying your ideal clients and prospects. There are clients in your target market that will propel your business forward more than others. These are often the clients you’re able to add the most value to.

Your job is to define this target market as soon as possible, so you can grow your business with less time, money, and frustration.

If a bunch of teenagers can figure it out, so can you.

If you’re looking for some clarity in this department, let’s talk.

Don’t stop working just because it’s December.

Now is the perfect time to plan for your breakout year in 2014.

Here’s the link to schedule a call:

http://contractordynamics.com/contractor-marketing-that-works/

~ Joe

Joseph Hughes

Target Market Finder

Contractor Dynamics

www.contractordynamics.com