Posted on 17-10-2009 at 17:00
I never cease to be amazed by the number of times micros business owners tell me that either they cannot afford or do not need organisational strategy. They seem to think that it has to be complex and expensive. In an attempt to dispel the myth I have provided a recent project as a case study that proves everyone can benefit by doing different things or doing things differently, or put it another way, having a strategy!
Terry the Tiler
Organisational strategy for the small business owner
Terry the tiler was earning around £400 per week net. In the middle of a recession he was constantly having to lower his prices to win the work. He was working flat out to try and find work and then when he did, he had to give it away just to keep his business going. His main source of income was the domestic market.
He borrowed some money to obtain professional help
Update from this morning after he got help:
He is now earning £1400 per week net and has a project pipeline until Christmas.
How?
1. He reviewed his pricing policy (He put his prices up)
2. He smartened himself up (still turned up in his work clothes but they were smarter)
3. He learnt to sell (He was taught how to sell from the moment he entered the house)
4. He marketed his products in a different way
5. He approached different markets
1. I told him to put his prices up and to walk away from jobs if their decision not to progress was price based. It was a fair price for quality workmanship. (cost nothing)
2. He prices all his jobs in smart but casual clothes. So he looks like a worker but is clean, tidy and presentable, he also has his name on his sweat shirt. (£20 for two shirts)
3. He now uses every second in front of the customer to sell. From the moment he walks in to the house he is reinforcing through speech and photographs, his professionalism and experience. (He will soon have a small inexpensive colour brochure showing his work) He also leaves an A4 sheet with a list of testimonials at the house. He e-mails all his quotes instead of hand delivering them and follows up with a telephone call a couple of days later.
He leaves one free gift at every house he quotes
• Its a china mug with his name and slogan £10 each. The testimonials cost nothing and he printed the photographs himself but he did have to revisit his most recent customers for both the testimonials and photo’s. He has saved some time by e-mailing and phoning rather than hand delivering. He has had to learn a sales pitch with key points he has to remember to say to the customer but it did not cost him anything but time.
4.
• Instead of advertising in the local paper he undertook a targeted leaflet drop. He and his daughters hand delivered several thousand one page leaflets on Saturdays, Sundays and evenings. They targeted middle class housing estates and suburbs.
• He spoke to every tile outlet in the area and managed to negotiate with one of them to have a small sandwich board advertising his services on their premises. In return he recommends them to clients. On every job he does he asks the customer if he can bond a small “Tiled by Terry” badge to one of the tiles. He says that up to now they have told him to put it just above the toilet as a talking point!
• He rang every builder in the phone book within a ten mile radius that he didn’t know and asked to be referred.
• He wrote to pubs, private hotels and small offices and has managed to get lucky and pick up two refurbishing jobs.
5. He has contacted a number of larger contractors with a view to quote for some bigger jobs in commercial and industrial sectors. He is still a little unsure about this as he has always worked alone and only on smallish jobs.
He has been self employed for almost 20 years and he paid £2800 for the consultancy advice, of which 45% was funded by business link. He is thinking of teaming up with another tiler to take advantage of his new way of working but is still unsure about moving away from the domestic market.
His name is not Terry but hey, it rhymed!
Terry the Tiler
Organisational strategy for the small business owner
Terry the tiler was earning around £400 per week net. In the middle of a recession he was constantly having to lower his prices to win the work. He was working flat out to try and find work and then when he did, he had to give it away just to keep his business going. His main source of income was the domestic market.
He borrowed some money to obtain professional help
Update from this morning after he got help:
He is now earning £1400 per week net and has a project pipeline until Christmas.
How?
1. He reviewed his pricing policy (He put his prices up)
2. He smartened himself up (still turned up in his work clothes but they were smarter)
3. He learnt to sell (He was taught how to sell from the moment he entered the house)
4. He marketed his products in a different way
5. He approached different markets
1. I told him to put his prices up and to walk away from jobs if their decision not to progress was price based. It was a fair price for quality workmanship. (cost nothing)
2. He prices all his jobs in smart but casual clothes. So he looks like a worker but is clean, tidy and presentable, he also has his name on his sweat shirt. (£20 for two shirts)
3. He now uses every second in front of the customer to sell. From the moment he walks in to the house he is reinforcing through speech and photographs, his professionalism and experience. (He will soon have a small inexpensive colour brochure showing his work) He also leaves an A4 sheet with a list of testimonials at the house. He e-mails all his quotes instead of hand delivering them and follows up with a telephone call a couple of days later.
He leaves one free gift at every house he quotes
• Its a china mug with his name and slogan £10 each. The testimonials cost nothing and he printed the photographs himself but he did have to revisit his most recent customers for both the testimonials and photo’s. He has saved some time by e-mailing and phoning rather than hand delivering. He has had to learn a sales pitch with key points he has to remember to say to the customer but it did not cost him anything but time.
4.
• Instead of advertising in the local paper he undertook a targeted leaflet drop. He and his daughters hand delivered several thousand one page leaflets on Saturdays, Sundays and evenings. They targeted middle class housing estates and suburbs.
• He spoke to every tile outlet in the area and managed to negotiate with one of them to have a small sandwich board advertising his services on their premises. In return he recommends them to clients. On every job he does he asks the customer if he can bond a small “Tiled by Terry” badge to one of the tiles. He says that up to now they have told him to put it just above the toilet as a talking point!
• He rang every builder in the phone book within a ten mile radius that he didn’t know and asked to be referred.
• He wrote to pubs, private hotels and small offices and has managed to get lucky and pick up two refurbishing jobs.
5. He has contacted a number of larger contractors with a view to quote for some bigger jobs in commercial and industrial sectors. He is still a little unsure about this as he has always worked alone and only on smallish jobs.
He has been self employed for almost 20 years and he paid £2800 for the consultancy advice, of which 45% was funded by business link. He is thinking of teaming up with another tiler to take advantage of his new way of working but is still unsure about moving away from the domestic market.
His name is not Terry but hey, it rhymed!
