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Understand motives
By Timothy Miller
February 28, 2012
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Success in restoration marketing is based on getting the targets you want to refer, hire or work with you to change.
Your targets are often already working with another contractor (or perhaps several), so getting them to change isn鈥檛 easy. This means that we have to think hard about what would get them to change. And typically, that is some sort of pain or motive. That鈥檚 why we say that if there鈥檚 no dissatisfaction, there鈥檚 no sale.
This is why it鈥檚 so important to uncover and understand the motivations of your targets. If you don鈥檛, you won鈥檛 find the problem, the challenge, the 鈥渙wie鈥� that will let you demonstrate that you can and will help where their current contractor doesn鈥檛. If you can鈥檛 do that, they are unlikely to change.
Many restorers鈥� sales efforts are 鈥減roduct and service鈥� based. In other words, they can鈥檛 wait to tell people about their Honcho 9000 Super Sucker and the state-of-the-art technology this great machine represents. This is a crucial mistake because nobody cares about your equipment! As far as your targets are concerned, there鈥檚 little, if any, difference in how well you and your competitors can dry a building and clean up smoke damage. So saying you do it 鈥渂etter鈥� - even if you do - isn鈥檛 a reason for them to switch.
But, if you could show that target how you can solve a business problem or challenge (or pain!) they have then you鈥檙e likely to get their interest. If you can accomplish this you might be surprised to discover that their reasons to choose you will have little to do with drying a structure or cleaning up smoke damage!
For example, let鈥檚 say that you are marketing to general contractors. A major problem for these targets when disaster strikes (like the drywall contractor knocking off a sprinkler head on a system that wasn鈥檛 supposed to be charged!) is getting his people back to work to minimize costs and reduce the potential for completion penalties or even losing the job. So speed to completion is critical. If you can show you can dry faster, and that by drying faster you solve their problem, you鈥檙e likely to get the work over a competitor who doesn鈥檛 understand how to relate their offerings to the contractor鈥檚 pain.
For another example of relating your offering to your target鈥檚 pain, consider an insurance claims adjuster. An adjuster''s motive might be that he needs to close the claim file faster. Everybody knows adjusters have a horrific workload and they''re always under pressure to close files. If you''ve got a way to help them close files faster - whether that''s through your technical approach to the restoration process, the documentation system that you put together, etc. - that would be a motive for an adjuster to work with you.
Agents, on the other hand, tend to find have four key motives. First they want to keep the book of business that they have. Second, they want word of mouth referrals for new business. Third, they need to control loss ratios, because a substantial chunk of their income often depends on that. Finally, they鈥檙e always looking for some type of competitive edge because competition from Internet-based insurance is becoming more and more problematic. So if you can show agents that you can help them keep business, get referrals, control loss ratios and develop a competitive edge, that鈥檚 going to get their attention.
Remember, change always is painful. You have to find the thing that is more painful to the target than not changing. Once you know that, you can communicate how the unique attributes of your company and the way you do business will alleviate those pains. If you can do this successfully, you will find that the topic of restoration itself is rarely part of the conversation!
Timothy Miller is the president of Business Development Associates, Inc., a marketing consulting firm that works exclusively with clients in the cleaning and restoration industry. With more than 25 years of industry experience, Tim helps restorers truly understand their differentiation and branding and develop strategic and tactical marketing plans that include specific, actionable tasks that increase sales and profits. He is also the co-creator of Sales Mastery for Restorers, a unique program designed to teach restorer salespeople to generate commercial and referral business easily and consistently.
