Don’t Tell, Don’t Sell

In today’s bustling stone market, getting jobs out the back door – and not working on bringing more customers to the front counter – is the norm for most shops. As order backlogs and turnaround times keep growing, taking time to sketch out a new sales strategy seems like some kind of mild insanity.
And, of course, when I ask about marketing on the phone or on a trade-show floor, I usually get the same response from fabricators: “It’s all word-of-mouth.”
Word-of-mouth. Delightful phrase. Low key. Confident. Honest. And, above all, the mark of success.
It also tells me that the fabricator is very, very good, or very, very lucky, or a combination of both. There’s also danger lurking ahead, either in the next week, the next month or the next year.
Is relying on word-of-mouth to bring in customers the wrong approach? Not at all; getting referrals from satisfied customers and respected contractors is an outstanding seal of approval A good reputation is hard to get, and any fabricator should be proud of glowing (and well-deserved) praise.
It also may not be enough as we grind through this first decade of the 21st Century. And, your perception of how people see your business may not match the reality of the marketplace.
Suggest this to shop owners out there in the field, and there’s a sure-fire response: “I’ve never spent a dime on advertising, and I never will.” Shilling your services can be a disgusting thought for someone with years in the trade. Why start doing it now?
For one thing, it’s a more-competitive market for stone. All the expanded sources for materials and the increase in automating the fabrication process is a boon for long-time shops, but that same growth is enticing plenty of newcomers into the trade. They don’t have a long reputation to sell, but they do have advertising.
A larger number of consumers willing to give stone a try for their countertops and flooring aren’t particularly well-schooled in what’s available and who the best is in turning their ideas into installed projects. They may not be as likely to ask for advice as they’re willing to listen to TV and radio spots, or see a nice half-page display ad in the local Yellow Pages.
Strict word-of-mouth promotion also contains an inherent flaw. To work to your best advantage, it needs to be exponential; every satisfied customer needs to give more than one referral to build a decent pool of potential clients. This is easy if a contractor passes your name to someone building a tract of houses, but it’s not as effective when it’s just one homeowner talking to another.
Don’t expect consumers to make reasoned decisions after a painstaking search for good advice, either, especially after seeing stone at the local big-box store or a home center. There’s a big difference in having someone ask, “Who did this?” and “Where can I get something like this?” And nobody’s particularly keen on hearing, “Well, it’s going to be a couple of months” if they ask for a quote, either.
And, is word-of-mouth truly effective? It’s hard to measure, since you only know about the people who contact you. You don’t know how many potential clients heard about your name and work who didn’t call you, and why they chose someone else.
It’s not time to call out an ad agency and start spending big bucks. You can succeed by promoting positive referrals, even if you don’t have decades of experience or a family shop handed down through several generations.
• Sign your work. Wouldn’t it be handy to have someone see good work and know who to call? Ever consider affixing a tag or small plate with contact information underneath a countertop? It’s a way to contact anyone who bothers to look, including someone who buys a home and wants to know who installed the current countertops. It’s also better than having a current customer go fishing for your business card through some drawer or file cabinet.
• Call your customers. You’re not going to put the referral train into high gear unless you ask clients for leads. These can be follow-up calls after a month or two, or a service inquiry for stone-maintenance issues after a year or so. It’s not too difficult, with a good customer, to slip in, “Has anyone been asking about doing countertops like yours?” It’s also a low-tech way to see if your perception of word-of-mouth is in line with the real world in the ratio of customers touting your work to actual calls to your shop.
• Cast a giant shadow. When you go on location for an install, make sure everyone knows who you are. Make sure your installation truck is clearly marked with your name and contact information, and – if you have a van or trailer – get color graphics with a picture of one of your great jobs and have it BIG on the sides. If you can get away with it, why not a small 2’ X 2’ temporary sign in the yard announcing that you’re installing another quality job?
• Show up where it counts. If your job appears in public, make sure people know about it. Keep track of your work; if one of your installations shows up in a home-parade show or a holiday charity tour, see if you can place a small, tasteful placard on the countertop or floor or whatever announcing your work. (You’ll find out about these well in advance with those customer calls.)
• Give with a purpose. You also might consider taking some of the remnants and encouraging some off-hours projects resurfacing end tables or other small items, and then offering them at charity auctions and other community fundraisers. Not only is it some nice local support; you’ll be appealing to an upscale market.
Remember that for positive referrals to be effective, you also have to be appealing to the right market. I’m reminded of a company I covered in another industry where all the promotion was word-of-mouth, and the business was so swamped that the owner regularly hid the telephone in the trash can to drown out the ringing.
Pop was successful enough to send his son to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and, after a stint in the corporate world, the son came home to help out the burgeoning business. It didn’t take him long to realize that while word-of-mouth was effective, it often brought in low-profit work. He redirected the company to go after larger, big-ticket clients, and still cultivated positive referrals with the firm’s reputation for good work.
The moral? Word-of-mouth can work. Just make sure the tongues are wagging in the right places.

This article first appeared in the April 2006 print edition of Stone Business. ©2006 Western Business Media Inc.