The Customer Needs An Expert

Trust me, there’s nothing more frustrating than trying to market a service that
the customer doesn't want… and believe me, I've tried. But no matter what your
product or service, there are some universal truths about online marketing that
you need to follow. And your website needs to convey this simple truth:

The customer wants an EXPERT.

Don’t wait for someone else to confer the title upon you: take it for yourself.
If you know more than the homeowner about your trade, then you ARE an expert to
them. There is always someone who knows more than you… so what? If they are
paying you to do a job, then you are the expert.

A couple of years ago we got a contract on a fairly large new deck in an
affluent neighborhood in our area. It was a great project and had the potential
to generate tons of word of mouth advertising for us in a fairly new
neighborhood if we did a good job.

My Operations Manager drew up the plans and marked out where the footers were
supposed to go—standard stuff: 36 inches deep with tubes, and since we had to do
about 14 holes, we rented an auger to do the digging. I called dig-safe and sent
one of my better guys to dig the holes. Unfortunately, he didn’t understand the
markings that his supervisor had put on the plans and on the ground.

So he fumbled around for a while and when the homeowner came out and asked what
the problem was, he told the homeowner that he (and I quote here…) “didn’t know
how to dig the holes or how to operate the auger.”

With those simple 13 words, that employee did untold damage to our small
company. He cost me all of my profit (and them some) and any referrals I might
get from that job. The homeowner went nuts (and rightfully so) and called me
screaming that I had sent unqualified people to his home. From that moment on,
we were under the microscope: every nail, screw, and board was scrutinized for
error for the remainder of the job.

It was miserable.

I pulled him off the job and gave him a week or two “vacation” with a stern
warning that if he EVER did not understand something that he was to shut his
pie-hole, get off the site, and call a supervisor immediately. The truth is
that we built an excellent deck, but it did not matter. No matter what we did
from that moment on it would never be good enough; that customer turned from a
raving fan into the customer from hell by one irresponsible employee spouting
off his mouth inappropriately.

If you’ve been there, you know that the BEST you can hope for is to walk away
with your dignity intact. I lost a lot of money on that job, but I learned a
lot as well.

The customer wants (and deserves) an expert. Every member of your team down to
your newest helper MUST project that image! That includes your online marketing
and advertising. Take a look at your site today and make sure that any visitor
clearly understands that you are an expert in your field.

Steve Sellers is the president of the Professional Contracting Association which gives the independent contractor the tools, training, and resources to be successful in online marketing. You work hard... So should your website ™. Effective online marketing is more than just putting up a website. If you’re not getting high quality leads from your website every single day, you absoutley must download our free 10-page report, “The Seven Fatal Internet Marketing Mistakes Every Contactor Makes” at www.emarketingforcontractors.com TODAY! You can visit the Professional Contracting Association at www.professionalcontractingassociation.com

Article Source: http://www.marketingarticlelibrary.com

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