Today on the More Cheese Less Whiskers podcast we're talking with Steve Nelson from New South Wales, Australia.
Steve's a building contractor who works with remodels, new construction, and all kinds of building projects, and one of the things we talked about, which turned out to be one of the big opportunities for him, is his After Unit.
It turns out that a lot of his business is by referral. He's been in business for over 30 years and he knows a lot of the people in his town and his reputation is great. He does a good job, so of course he's going to get referral business and luckily most of it just happens without him really doing anything to orchestrate it.
We looked at that as a big opportunity and had a great conversation about a strategy for him to orchestrate referrals. A low cost way that will have a big ROI for him. Then we talked about targeting specific people on the high end of what he likes to do, full house remodels.
We talked about a really great strategy to attract just those people and I think you're really going to enjoy this conversation.
Show Links:
GoGoAgent.com
ProfitActivatorScore.com
BreakthroughDNA.com
EmailMastery.com
Want to be a guest on the show? Simply follow the 'Be a Guest' link on the left & I'll be in touch.
Download a free copy of the Breakthrough DNA book all about the 8 Profit Activators we talk about here on More Cheese, Less Whiskers...
Transcript - More Cheese Less Whiskers 156
Dean: Hello Steve Nelson.
Steve: Hey Dean, how are you mate?
Dean: I'm so good. Well where are you calling in from today?
Steve: I'm in New South Wales, Australia, so about four hours north of Sydney in a small town, about 20000 people. Our population, we're on the coast, we go from 20000 to about 90000 during the summer holidays, so nice little spot. Yeah.
Dean: Love it. What's the name of the town?
Steve: Foster.
Dean: Foster. Okay.
Steve: Yeah, got to check it out if ever you get over this way.
Dean: Well I go there every year. I'm going to be in Manly in November.
Steve: Oh okay. Yeah. Cool. Great spot.
Dean: I love those beach towns, it's so great.
Steve: Yeah, I'll send you some photos when we finish the call and you can see what Foster looks like.
Dean: Okay, very cool. I love it. So welcome, I'm glad we were able to connect here, and I know a little bit about what you do, but it's always good to have you kind of set the stage for us, so we got the whole hour here to hatch some evil schemes, so I'd love to hear what you're up to, and what we can focus on.
Steve: Cool. So I'm a builder in this area, and we've got about three to four staff on our team. We do bathroom renovations, up to major renovations and new builds. I started the bathroom business about three years ago as a sideline, because I like how it runs with minimal staff, it's more subcontractors, and it's just all management. The margins are better there, so I've sort of been pushing that, and that's something that I wanted to work on with you.
I find that the new builds are very competitive, with too many builders going in too cheap, coming in very cheap and they're not there in five years’ time, because they can't survive, so that's a competitive game, so I'm just trying to get a bit of a niche that works for me, and our town is like a retirement town, so the majority of my clients are over 55 or retired. So I do like dealing with them, they're generally honest and they've got the money, and they're not worried about banks and so on. So that's sort my target that I go after.
Dean: Okay.
Steve: I did take on some coaching about a year and a half ago, building coaching, through a business coach that actually does builders, which has been really good. So they've helped me get a website set up with an ebook, a lead generator, ebook magazine, so I've got a CRM sort of building.
We do, pretty active on Facebook and Instagram, we do support some local sports clubs, kids and so on. I've just started to sponsor the veteran’s golf, because they've obviously back into my niche market age group.
Dean: Right, right.
Steve: That's probably a bit of a summary anyway.
Dean: Okay. So when we look at it right now then, excuse me, how do you find people to work with right now? What's your process for your before unit? If we were to say how do you get new clients?
Steve: Well I just say for example, I've just started to run a post, and I'm running it through a lady who's doing a newsletter for me, she does copywriting, I'm trying to lock in another decent sized job. We run lots of jobs, smaller ones, we've generally got four to six jobs going at a time, and so for example I'm trying to lock in some bigger jobs, so I'm going to get a post put together, with a little short video or something, and Facebook and Instagram it, looking to tell them the calendars clear, to make a start before Christmas, that sort of thing.
So I get leads for bathrooms sometimes through my shower screen supplier or the plumbing supply shop, I've done a referral thing with the girls down there, and give them a voucher when they send some work my way. I do the Facebook, that generates a few things here and there, I've got the website which is sort of more professional now, we've been in the town 30 years, it's a family business, so we do get referral work, where people just come to us, because they've been referred to by a past client.
Dean: Great.
Steve: My after unit is pretty good, but it needs definitely tidying up I think.
Dean: Well let's start with that for a second then, because that's an easy one to kind of have an impact. If you're saying a lot of your business right now comes from referrals, how do you measure that? Like if you look at how much of your business comes from the different sources, how much of it would come from your after unit?
Steve: You'd probably be 30% I guess.
Dean: Okay.
Steve: Sorry?
Dean: How many jobs would you do in a year? Just so we get a scope here.
Steve: 15 to 20, so it's not a lot. Because one job can run for eight months.
Dean: Right exactly.
Steve: If it's a decent sized place. Whereas a bathroom's sort of four to five weeks. So I'd like to be starting one of them every two or three weeks.
Dean: And so how many people do you have that you would consider in your after unit, meaning they're clients that you've had, or people that you know sort of thing?
Steve: Well I think I've got about 130 on my email list and they're made up of past clients, and suppliers, so they're not all past clients. I don't know, there's probably 50 or something, 70 maybe, there.
Dean: No I mean you would count the people that know you, what I'm looking for in your after unit here is how many people, if somebody was talking about getting in there today, that they would say well you need to call Steve? Or that they would think about you and refer you? That can be people who haven't necessarily done a job with you, but would know enough to send people in your direction, or to tell you about those people?
Steve: Yeah.
Dean: If you saw them at the grocery store, you'd recognize them by name, and you'd stop and have a conversation with them. Your top group of people. So if we look at it from that perspective, would you say that there would be a 150 people that you might know that way?
Steve: I think there would be. Yeah. Especially being a smaller town, and being known. Yeah.
Dean: And how often would you communicate with those people or how do you communicate with them?
Steve: Well that's where I've only just started this week to talk to this lady, who's going to help me do the newsletter for me, that we'll send out, so I've got that list finalized, and it's in my software. So the newsletter's probably the first time that I've actually communicated them all as a whole.
Dean: Mm-hmm.
Steve: That's probably the first step, moving forwards and then I'll give them the ebook as well, so that they can share it.
Dean: Yeah, that's great. Because how often, if a third of your business right now, you're thinking about this, at five, six, seven people a year are coming to you by referral, or do you ever do repeat jobs, where you do a bathroom for somebody?
Steve: Definitely.
Dean: And then they bring you in to do the kitchen or do another addition or whatever else?
Steve: Yeah definitely.
Dean: Okay. So when you look at it right now, that those opportunities are already happening, so you're already pre-funded in your after unit, is the way I like to think of it, like that. You've already got a winner there, you just haven't been communicating with them, so all of that business is a bonus for you, right, because it doesn't really cost you anything, it's just the reputation that you've already built, and the fact that you do a good job, and the relationships that you have.
So you've got a great foundation there, and how do those actually manifest, like can you think of one of the recent jobs that was the result of a referral, and how you got connected to them?
Steve: Yeah. We're just looking at a beachfront renovation now, they're friends of one of our past clients, and who this past client is also a friend of my father, so it's a pretty close referral. They've brought a very nice home, and they want to spend probably $350000 on it, and they've come to us before going to the draftsman, I've hooked them up a draftsman to put it all on paper, and then I'll help them through the design process, so that's a referral.
Dean: So how did that happen though? Did they call you?
Steve: Yep. Yeah.
Dean: And they said what?
Steve: They said "We're friends with such and such, who are our past clients", so that's how it happened.
Dean: Okay. And is that typically how it happens? They'll call you up and say oh we're friends with such and such, your client?
Steve: Yeah, sometimes.
Dean: We're looking to do our bathroom, and they said you did theirs. And we loved theirs, so we'd like you to come and do ours.
Steve: Yeah, it does.
Dean: Yeah. So those are what I call passive referrals, they're just showing up, you're not one of five people who they're asking for bids or things, they're basically calling you up and saying you're our man, we'd love to work with you, and that's a great thing. Especially since you're not doing any communicating with them to encourage that, so now imagine if you tried like that?
The way we think about your after unit is that all those referrals happen as a result of conversation, right? So they're in a conversation with somebody, and they're talking about their renovation, or we just brought a new beach house, or we're thinking about redoing the bathroom, or we want to add an addition onto the house, or we're going to redo the kitchen, whatever it is that they're in a conversation and somebody says well we had Steve do our bathroom, and he was great, you should give him a call, here's his number. Right? Or look him up.
So all those things are happening, and way that we look at it is that the mechanics are that what has to take place is that they have to notice that the conversations about renovation, or construction or whatever it is, they have to think about you, and then they have to introduce the person to you. That's how it's happening. Would you say that 90% or more of the calls that come in with those kind of referrals are just like what you described to me? Compared to your client calling you and saying "You should give Jason a call, they're thinking about adding on a bathroom"?
Steve: Yeah, the majority of them are like the first case.
Dean: They call you.
Steve: Yeah. So yesterday, I was at a job, we did a bathroom for his disabled wife a year and a half ago, and he wanted a patio roof replaced, so he rang me up last week and said when you got time, come and do it. So we replaced it for him yesterday, and he'd just got back from playing bridge, and he said "Oh a lady's going to give you a call", he said, "I was telling her that I was getting some work done at home and everything was going really well, and she's going to call you, I don't know what kind of work it is".
So yeah, that was another referral, where he just passed my number on and that she called.
Dean: And she called you. That's awesome. So it's happening.
Steve: I was saying she hasn't called yet.
Dean: Oh yeah, she will.
Steve: Expect to, yeah, for sure.
Dean: And that's a great thing for you, that shows that you do a great job, and that people are pleased and just so many of the intangibles, right, that they don't want to get, they want to go with someone trustworthy and reliable and honest and can do the job, so it's much easier to rely on a referral from your friend. So imagine if we were to try and orchestrate this, what would be the average kind of job size that you might do, or the amount of money.
Like you just described a $300000 addition, what would be on the low end of what you do, like redoing a bathroom?
Steve: Yeah generally the contract jobs are generally from, a bathrooms around 20000 as a minimum, that's a small en suite, and then we're done a couple of additions this year worth around 150, 170000. And we're doing a granny flat, which is like a little house out the back for the nana, the grandparents, so that's something I've been posting on Facebook a bit too, the progress of the granny flat, to get that sort of, I don't know whether I've got too many different areas.
Dean: No, no, we'll talk about that in the before unit , I just want to get a sense that it's hundreds of thousands of dollars that are are coming by referral right now from your after unit. And so what I'm looking at, and that's with no money spent on them, that if we could get a strategy together for sending something to your top 150, every month, and let's say that you budget and spend two dollars per person per month, for something, that you're spending $300 a month on, let's call it even ten months if you want to just do that, $3000 that the investment of that could be a big game changer for you.
In terms of if all we're trying to do is we want to program people so that when they hear those conversations, that they are immediately think of you, and that you've got an easy way for them to refer you. An easy way for them to call you, to get something to give to them. Tell me about your book that you have?
Steve: The ebook? Yeah, it's basically about 15 pages, got a couple of pages in it of case studies, like a couple big homes that we've built, and it's got a little bit of information about the processes of building and renovating and the steps you should take. It's got some warnings and things to look out for. And yeah, I'll keep adding to it, like we've just jumped onto builder trend software, so we're going to add a page on that. And I've got another couple case studies to add to it.
So it's something that, it's an electronic one, so I can keep adding pages to it, and yeah people download it from the website, we get emails, we collect emails through that, and chips away slowly.
Dean: Well part of what I would look at is to start to think we can use your after unit as a great laboratory for this, or a great catalyst, to build these out. That if you think about let's list the top three or four types of jobs that you would most like to get. We could wave a magic wand, you love the bathroom, that's a high probability.
Steve: Yep. You there?
Dean: Yep. You like, what else?
Steve: I do like to do luxury homes. I do like that sort of market as well. I like doing full makeovers, so we're in a house that's 35 years old right now, we're going right through the whole internal, and doing it all up.
Dean: Full makeovers. That's what you said?
Steve: Yeah, full makeovers. I really like doing them. I see the bathrooms as good little turnover thing, to keep things ticking over, and possibly something that I can systemize with my software, and even sell down the track. That's something that I am thinking of. Yeah, so I don't really like going in and doing little decks and that sort of thing.
Dean: What about kitchens?
Steve: They're very low margins, because kitchen companies generally are capable of doing all that themselves.
Dean: What about the granny flats?
Steve: Yeah, yeah they're fine too.
Dean: Okay.
Steve: But again, I think there are a lot of people that find it hard to justify the cost of them. Because again there's cheap granny flat builders that you see advertising whereas the one we've built, she got it custom designed and she's gone over the top with everything, so it's pretty expensive for what it is, and it's rolled into landscaping and paving and we can do it and organize it all, because we've got the trades.
Dean: Are you familiar, in the US there's a term called she-sheds? Do you know about those, is that a thing?
Steve: No, no.
Dean: Okay.
Steve: I've heard of man caves, but not she sheds. No.
Dean: Yeah, so that's the thing is the counter to it, is like a man cave, which a man would build like a retreat out in the yard kind of thing is man cave. But the counter to that is the she shed, and so it would be a dainty kind of place, that would be very feminine, with feminine decorated, but the same idea. A thing like that. Is that something that there would be a market for?
Steve: No I don't think so, I don't think so. The problem is most blocks are very small anyway, so they're struggling to get decent sheds or granny flats on them.
Dean: Oh okay. I was just about to ask what about building a cottage, like a granny flat or something, on the site with the purpose of doing Airbnb on it? Or as a money maker?
Steve: Yes. So we did one early this year for some clients, that they were referred to me by my draftsman, or drafts lady. We put an addition on the back which is two bedrooms, kitchen, bathroom and their idea is they'll let it out to a company that does like weekend retreats for special needs clients. And they also can rent it out or Airbnb it, so yeah that is a market for sure.
Dean: If you wonder, that might be a unique thing, that you might be able to pioneer kind of thing.
Steve: Do you think we could write a story on that in the newsletter, is that what you're suggesting?
Dean: That's exactly that I'm suggesting, what often happens is I'm looking to highlight the different things that you really like to do, and tell stories about those, but also, to presence them in the mind of people who may think that all you do is bathrooms, because that's what they did with you.
Steve: That has been a problem too, because I have been pushing the bathrooms for a while, but yeah, I've got a builder that works with us he's involved with some of the projects, the bigger jobs are something that we can run there with more of us, so I have got that reputation now of bathrooms, even though we've been building in town for years and years. And we always are doing bigger projects, no you're right. For sure.
Dean: Right, right. So I think those kind of things, like presencing the things that if every month, you have an amazing where you're telling a story about something, or you're highlighting a job that you're doing or you're just kind of presencing that conversation for people, so if you're saying we use something we call the world's most interesting postcard, for referrals. And on the back side of the postcard, on the front side is just all interesting and fascinating kind of facts or tips and things like that.
Then on the back side of the postcard is a graphic that looks like a post it note, where we write a note that would say "Hey Steve, just a quick note, in case you hear someone talking about redoing their bathroom this month, summer's almost" even though we're in the middle of winter right now, that's where you are right? "That summer, springs coming, and everybody's getting ready for the summer, and if you hear someone talking about doing a bathroom, give me a call or text me and I'll get you our free bathroom planner guide to give them". It's got all kinds of tips and pricing and budgeting ideas for them, it'll be very helpful as they plan their bathroom remodel.
Now that's a very easy thing for you to create, that you could do that for bathrooms, you could do that for full makeovers, you could do it to highlight the different things, you know?
Steve: And just email them out Dean? Email the postcard out you mean?
Dean: No I'm saying like a physical, mail something to them. Because they'll hold it in their hand, they see something, that's what I was talking about the physical cost of it, of saying let's say that I don't know what it costs to send postcards in Australia, but for about a dollar, dollar fifty, dollar sixty US we can send what would be an A4 size piece of paper as a postcard, like a big full sheet postcard, where you could on the front have some articles, highlights, different things that you're doing and then on the back, you'd have room for that referral programming, right?
Just a quick note, in case you hear someone talking about it, and then your super signature, whenever you're ready, here's three ways we can help you. So that you're presencing it, and every month, that would bring to the front of their mind all the different things that you help people with, so that when they hear someone talking about doing a remodel, you'll be top of mind, and they'll know "Oh Steve does full makeovers, in addition to the bathroom that he did for us", because they may think that you only do the bathroom, or if you did a full makeover for somebody, they may think that you only do full makeovers, and you don't want to bother with somebody who's just going to do a bathroom.
Steve: Yep. Yep. I know what you mean, for sure.
Dean: Yeah. We want to presence all those things, as much as possible. Have you heard me talk about what happened with me with the empire flooring? There's a company here in the US, that they've been running ads for at least 25 years, I remember, and I paid no attention to them, and then maybe 18 months ago, now somebody in one of my real estate forums had a post that said "Does anybody know where I can get same, get carpet replaced today? We have a closing tomorrow and the painters just spilled paint all over the carpet, and it's ruined?"
So Empire is a company that does same day flooring, so they have a jingle that they do that thing, but as soon as I saw that post, my mind immediately started singing the Empire Flooring jingle with their phone number in it, 800 588 2300 Empire. And I realized in that moment, that that had been smuggled into my brain without my permission, and had just been living there rent free for 20 years, waiting to get triggered by somebody saying do you know where to get same day carpet?
And I thought wow that's very powerful.
Steve: That is a big opportunity.
Dean: If all of your top 150 were programmed that every time someone's talking about getting a bathroom remodel, or adding a granny flat, or doing a full house makeover, or building a luxury home, or building an income suite, you may plant that idea for people. You start thinking in an innovative kind of way.
That's a big opportunity for you.
Steve: Yeah, and you look at, I got a phone call yesterday, this is like in relation to before units, she's rung up and she's seen on the website, and she wanted to create one bathroom into an en suite bathroom, and I qualify them on the phone before I go out and say that they're going to cost X amount of dollars without looking at it, because quite often a job that's worth 20, 25 they want to spend 12, because they really don't know how much things are.
So it's quite handy, I'm not going out and wasting a lot of time now, like I was.
Dean: Right.
Steve: But if you were going to do postcards or eBooks, do you think you would put that sort of qualifying dollar values in there or not?
Dean: I think so, because you can definitely use it as a filter. You're not interested in doing the 12000 dollar bathrooms.
Steve: Well you can't…
Dean: Yeah, exactly, so you say that to people and you're not looking for the people that the price is the main issue. Right? You're looking for people who you're going to get a fair price, like great it's more important to them to have it done well, and have it done reliably without all the hassle or letdowns that they may have. So that's what you really bring to it right?
But I would look at the different things that you do, and some of these tools, so I would definitely in your after unit, pick your top 150, identify who those are, and then kind of commit to every month we're going to send a postcard to them, and then look at what the ROI on that $3000 over the next 12 months would be. You know, like if you look at, if your minimum thing is a $20000 job, and the full remodel or the beach home remodel or whatever those things are, there's a big opportunity there, that's a sure thing, like ROI generator.
Steve: What if I can't get a lot of the addresses, what's the next best option? I know the physical postcard is a great idea, but what's the next step?
Dean: Why wouldn't you be able to get the addresses?
Steve: Yeah.
Dean: You don't already have them.
Steve: It's just time I guess, it's just an effort.
Dean: That's what it is, and that's the thing, you can get somebody to get them, right? Even going from a standing start, somebody who could get somebody to get those addresses, because they're all in town right? So you know how many Steve Nelsons are there in Foster right? So if somebody went to look up in people finder site, Steve Foster, you're going to know. Whatever you know about it, that's all it takes right?
Steve: Well I've got their email anyway, I can ask them.
Dean: Yeah, yeah. And that's it. So I think there's a definitely advantage to being in the mail as opposed to just in email too.
Steve: Yeah, I agree.
Dean: Then they can the postcard to somebody, or there's the physical things, that mounting evidence.
Steve: Yeah, the coach also suggested that you do a postcard for a few surrounding streets of the jobs that you're on, just do a letterbox drop, so we're actually getting them made as well.
Dean: Right. So there's a good, we'll tie a bow on that for your after unit, that you've already got, you've proven that you are referable, which is a great start. And now it's now about formalizing, knowing who those people are, getting their address and then starting to mail them in a way that programs them to think about you when they hear those conversations, and to call you.
So part of the thing that we look for is the specific consultations kind of based on what the overriding context is. So if somebody's calling about a bathroom remodel, that you may have a booklet or a saddle stitched, like a 16 to 20 page guide, that you can print for them, or in addition to a PDF version of it, that would be the equivalent of a seminar on what to consider or look at when starting out on a bathroom remodel. So it could be your bathroom planner guide right, to show people what to think about, how to budget for it, where the opportunity is, the difference between getting marble versus a ceramic tile or where they can save money, where they get the biggest bang for their buck, if they're talking about fixtures or whatever your best advice would be for somebody thinking about a bathroom remodel for instance.
Steve: Yeah, yeah, yep. That makes sense.
Dean: So that's all a good thing. Now the same thing then, you could use that in the before unit. Now since you're in Foster, is Foster a town that is it kind of a standalone town, or is it the next town is right on the heels of it, and then the next town and the next town?
Steve: Yeah, no, it's Foster Tuncurry, it's two little villages on either side of this lake opening, so it's joined by a bridge now, but we're by ourselves, so yeah the biggest city is Newcastle which is two hours away.
Dean: Okay great, so it's isolated. I mean the people there right now, like you said, that right now there's 20000 people there, but six months from now there'll be 90000 people there.
Steve: Yes, yep. That's right.
Dean: Okay. Yeah. So part of the thing, is the information that you're getting is really going to be a powerful thing. How many households are there? Since that's the raw material of what you're dealing with right? There's how many households are there in Foster?
Steve: I don't know, I'd have to do some research.
Dean: Yes.
Steve: We have lots of little high rise, 10 story high rise full of holiday units, and there's ones here that are probably 35 years old, and they're building some now, so they're continually putting some up, every year or two, so there's lots of holiday units, lots of properties that are empty sell.
Dean: Are those kinds of the units that you're talking about condo units kind of things.
Steve: Yes.
Dean: And are those the ones where you do the bathroom remodels, or are you talking about single families home that you're doing?
Steve: Well we do both. I have done a few full unit refurbs, where we've gone through and done the whole lot. I'm finding I've probably lost a few of those jobs recently, I've priced one just two weeks ago, so I think the competitions a bit too cheap in them, so I don't seem to be winning many of them.
Dean: Well people are probably cost conscious in that because there's less of an upside, like there's kind of a cap in what those can actually be worth right? Like compared to a house on the beach, or a house on the water. It sounds like there's a lot of waterfront where you are?
Steve: Oh definitely. Yeah. Yep.
Dean: And how many waterfront homes would there be?
Steve: Water views, there's a lot, because there's hills all around looking out over the ocean, and then back over the lake, so there's hundreds.
Dean: And I'm just wondering about if you were to take a cat scan kind of view of the area there, what kind of a house, or how many homes would be similar to the one where you're doing the $300000 full remodel?
Steve: Yeah so that's an old area of Foster that's on the Quay, so it's probably 30, 40 years old, and that was Quay water development, you know the canal sort of thing, so lots of them, ready and they're renovating because the bathrooms leak and the houses are crap really, a lot of them are old and there's quite a market down there. But then you go up onto the beach, and there's lots of old ones there too, so it's a lot of renovation work to come into this area, and that's sort of what I want to keep pushing along in that area.
Dean: So right now would you say, is this a slower time or busier time for you guys? I don't know how, do you work in the opposite of the season, or are you busier in the summer, and less busy in the winter, or is it the opposite?
Steve: Yeah well see we're not heavily impacted by it like you guys in the states, like some of your areas get under snow, we don't get snow so we just get a bit of cold weather. So it doesn't really change much for us, it's the whole building economy is very solid in Australia at the moment, speaking in our area, I guess I want to set myself up to be in a good position for when things slow down too, so that's sort of why I've been doing what I've been doing.
So we don't really have a busy period, it just depends on what work you've got booked in. So yesterday I was talking to the council, they've got some projects coming up that start later this year into next year, like public works jobs, so I'll probably have a crack at a couple of them and see if I get them. Just because they're a decent sized job.
Dean: How big is the house that you're doing, the $300000 remodel on?
Steve: Probably don't know in square feet, probably about 240 square meters.
Dean: Okay. I don't know how to convert that.
Steve: You'd call your houses in square, measure them in squares?
Dean: Hey Siri. I guess I can't talk to Siri while I'm on the phone.
Steve: Nah, probably not.
Dean: But anyway, is it a pretty big house?
Steve: Yeah.
Dean: Are expensive.
Steve: No it's like a four bedroom house, it's on the canal, so it's in that old area that's on the water so it's got the aspect.
Dean: What I'm looking for is, if it were possible, like if all we're doing, you know how in the before unit our profit activator number one is to select a single target market right? So if we went through Foster, and we said how many homes would there be a hundred, two hundred, three hundred thousand dollar full remodel would be in the realm of possibilities for them, how many homes would there be that would fit that criteria?
Steve: Oh there'd be hundreds, hundreds. Definitely.
Dean: And do you think, could we get to a thousand?
Steve: Yeah I would think so, yeah.
Dean: So what would I look for, if I were to describe it, if I were to say what if we found what I call a thousand dream homes. Like a thousand that would be like I'd love to do that house, I'd love to do that house, I'd love to do that house, if you pre-selected a thousand homes that would have the perfect criteria, whether they're on the water, whether that's because of the age of the home, the value of the home, the size of the home, whatever it is that would make that a viable candidate for a full remodel.
Steve: Yep.
Dean: Could we get to a thousand of those?
Steve: Yeah, let's just say 700 to be more conservative, yeah I think you would.
Dean: Okay. And the reason I'm looking at that is, if you look at it, what I would look to do the is that if you're going to do a 100, 200, $300000 remodel, anywhere in Foster, it's highly likely that it's going to be one of those thousand homes.
Steve: Yeah.
Dean: That's what we want to get to right? Like if anybody in Foster is going to do a 100 to $300000 remodel, they would more than likely live in one of these thousand homes, that's what we would be looking for. Right? Now when you look at it, that how common is it that somebody would do a full remodel like that?
Steve: It's not that common, because it's a lot of money for people to spend when the house is probably worth five or whatever, then going to spend three. My clients are coming from out of town, and I don't know how financial they are, but they're happy to spend a fair bit of money on this place, but it does happen. We did a renovation for a doctor early this year, and he spent five hundred on his reno.
Dean: Yes. And it's a second home right, a vacation home for him?
Steve: Oh, no, he's moving into it.
Dean: Okay.
Steve: But we've done work for him, that's the third job we've done for him.
Dean: Sure.
Steve: So the big spend isn't that common, but we're talking about this other one, I've mentioned earlier the referral job that the draft lady's working on, they're going to spend that sort of money, so they do happen.
Dean: And so what I would look at for that is the same kind of thing, like I would look to isolate those homes and identify who they are. Like one of the things that we did, was in Winterhaven, where I am, for one of our realtors, we chose lakefront homes, and we identified that there were two thousand lakefront homes in Winterhaven, and we were looking for the people who want to sell their home, and we knew that on average, about 4% of them sell their home every year, so we were looking for the 80 people that were going to sell their house in the next 12 months.
And so if I were looking at that, I'd look to build that list of who those homeowners are, and then do the same kind of thing, a monthly postcard, to that group of people. With an eye on getting them to request your full house remodel guide, or showing all the different things that might be appealing to somebody who's thinking about doing a remodel like that.
Steve: Yep.
Dean: And if each month you're highlighting, showing some of the work that you're doing, and offering the first steps for people whether it's the planning guide or idea guide or budgeting tool, something that would encourage those people to take their first step. Even if you show people remodel prices, like because anybody thinking about that might be thinking well what do we get for the money, what can we do, how much is it going to cost us to remodel? People don't maybe have a sense of the budget of it.
Steve: Yeah, that's right. Yep.
Dean: And what would be some of the questions that people who are considering a full remodel ask you? Like what are the most common questions that they ask you?
Steve: Yeah I guess it depends on when I get to them. If I can get to them before they go to the draftsman, I can quite often help them save money on simplifying design and that sort of thing. Yeah, questions they ask, I always try to show them some work we've got going around at time, or past projects.
Dean: Yeah this is interesting, it could be as simple as if it's an interesting thing, you know how well they do it here in America, they do it in Australia, in fashion magazines, they'll often show a celebrity and their outfit, and then they'll show that you can get the look for this amount of money. So they'll say here's this gown that this celebrity was wearing at this show, and here's the dress that gets you that look without thousands of dollars for the gown. So in women's magazines?
And I wonder if you have the same opportunity for showing one bathroom versus another bathroom, and saying how to save $7000 on this $28000 bathroom remodel. And you point out that these fixtures or this tile versus this tile, or those kind of swaps kind of thing.
Steve: And how do you show them in a magazine?
Dean: Yeah, well.
Steve: Trying to get access?
Dean: Well what I would look at is almost like the postcard model that I've been using the most now, really kind of innovating it, is imagine what would be a, what's a popular home magazine in Australia?
Steve: I don't really read them. You've got all sorts of luxury homes ones, and home and garden and that sort of thing.
Dean: Yeah like a home and garden. So the way I look at it, is this the way that I use it, is to imagine that you had the opportunity like what if they said to you, listen Steve, we want you to write a monthly article for us, on luxury remodels? And we're going to run this full page article in our magazine for you, every month. What would that article look like?
Like that's the kind of thing, like imagine it as if it's in the pages of one of those luxury home magazines, right? But it's an article that you're describing, how people can save money on their remodels. Or what unique things that they can do in their remodels, or the new luxury must haves, or things that are positioning you as a luxury remodel expert, on the front side. So we do that instead of it being a page in a magazine, that maybe they'll see on page 37 or whatever, we just take that, we imagine that you doing the same thing that we're writing a full page article for you, do that on the front page, and also offer your book or your planner or your some tool that they can get by just emailing or going to the website, or texting, and then on the back side, on the back side of the postcard, we offer to show them works in progress or case studies or before and afters, highlighting all of your best work.
And then your offer block, so it's like whenever you're ready, here are four ways we can help you save money, and get a great remodel. And it might be start with our remodel planning guide, or get our budgeting tool, or get our idea guide. So you're getting people who are responding to your approaches, some people may be inspired by wanting to get all the planning, like get everything ready right, before they start it. Then there are other people, who just want to be inspired by all the creative ideas that they could do. Or there might be other people who want to get down to the budgeting of it, right? The money.
Steve: Yep, yep.
Dean: And if you've got a way that appeals to those three things, that would be a great opportunity there.
Steve: Yeah, that makes sense. I find too often the builders engaged way too late in the process, and the clients have come to me, and the budget they've got compared to what the drawings want can be double what they can spend.
Dean: Right, right.
Steve: I just met a guy who's just starting business now, where he offers the whole package from looking at a block, helping people design a house through a draftsman, and then going through the process of helping them find a builder, so I've sort of been speaking with him as being a builder in this area for him, and then he takes 3% of the project, once it's underway. It's sometimes really handy, because I think it's harder with councils these days, and the process of getting plans approved is quite painful, so he's onto something there, and I think it's certainly something that's needed out here in Australia, that's for sure.
Dean: Yeah. I think those would be two great strategies for you I think.
Steve: Yeah. I might get something about him in one of the newsletters or something.
Dean: Mm-hmm. Yeah very interesting. I can't believe how fast the times gone here.
Steve: It goes fast doesn't it?
Dean: Yeah, what's your take here, what would be the recap for you here?
Steve: It's been fantastic, because I've listened to lots of your shows, it's always been something that I can't relate to my business, or that's my thought process anyway. I think being in people’s minds, and reminding them with the newsletter, I think that's a really good idea, the physical newsletter.
Dean: Yes, exactly.
Steve: And then I think the idea of the email, regular newsletter, is something that I've got to push on with, and that will happen in the next week or so, so I might even send that to you, if you want to have a look?
Dean: Yes, course.
Steve: And the other thing is the postcards in the streets where I think there's potential with the big renos we were talking about, those select homes, the ones that are on the water, but I'll send my drafts to you, and if you have time you can have a quick look and see what you reckon and yeah.
Dean: Sounds great.
Steve: It's been awesome. Really appreciate your time.
Dean: That's great Steve. Yeah, I really enjoyed it. I think you got a great thing going there.
Steve: And I hope it helps some other builders out when they listen to it.
Dean: Yes, exactly. That's the whole thing.
Steve: Yep, cool mate. Righto, well thank you so much again.
Dean: Thanks Steve, I'll talk to you soon.
Steve: Take care Dean, bye mate.
Dean: Bye.
Steve: Bye, bye.
Dean: And there we have it, another great episode. Thanks for listening in, if you want to continue the conversation, want to go deeper in how the eight profit activators can apply to your business, two things you can do. Right now, you can go to MoreCheeseLessWhiskers.com, and you can download a copy of the More Cheese, Less Whiskers book, and you can listen to the back episodes of course, if you're just listening here in iTunes.
Secondly, the thing that we talk about in applying all of the eight profit activators, are part of the breakthrough DNA process, and you can download a book and a scorecard and watch a video all about the eight profit activators, at BreakThroughDNA.com. And that's a great place to start the journey in applying this scientific approach to growing your business. That's really the way we think about breakthrough DNA as an operating system that you can overlay on your existing business and immediately look for insights there.
So that's it for this week, have a great week, and we will be back next week with another episode of More Cheese, Less Whiskers.