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From Disrupted to Disruptor – How to Reinvent your Business for Success

Michael October 22, 2020

We used to have a saying in the 80’s and 90’s (before the Internet), that if your business was not growing it was dying.

It meant that if someone asked you how your business was doing this year, and your answer was business is the same as the year before, that really meant your business was in trouble.

The absolute best way to ensure long term survival and success is to continuously work on reinventing your business. In business today, with the new normal, rapid technology advances, competitors that can start-up quickly, more educated customers, and clients, that saying no longer applies. If you aren’t continuously reinventing your business, your business is at great risk of failing, sooner than later.

We are constantly being asked to fix some sort of problem.

It could be that costs are too high, acquiring new customers and clients is too difficult or too expensive, there can be human resource issues, management issues, sales departments underperforming, unclear branding and marketing strategies, etc.

I am happy to help solve all of those. But in many cases, the problems they are exhibiting are an early indicator that their business needs reinventing.

Why is it so hard to see that your business needs a reinvent? And why do many businesses wait too long to realize it, only to fail because they started too late?

The lesson to be learned here is that business needs to be reinvented frequently. If you wait until you have problems, your business is on the decline, or competitors are appearing, most likely it will be too late. While small and midsize entrepreneurial companies don’t have the humongous resources that the local giants have, we can certainly use their powerful philosophy and reinvent our businesses when we are doing well and avoid the mistake of waiting until it’s too late. It’s the best way to ensure our survival and success.

Don’t miss this webinar. It’s time to Thrive!

Be bold, ignore the doubters, and just do it.

Webinar Week 6 –  From Disrupted to Disruptor

The 6th installment of our “Reinvent Your Message, Marketing and Mindset” webinar series discussed how dealers can achieve accelerated results by leveraging the consumer search plan framework as a springboard.

There are so many tools and applications that can be implemented right now to help your business thrive during a time where nothing is as it once was. It is time to make adjustments to thrive in the new normal by implementing the right things, in the right order, at the right time.

Everything you do or have done has brought you where you are now. Unless everything is exactly as you want it, it is vital to keep changing and growing. Reinventing yourself is not only for times when your business seems to be flailing. Reinvention should be at the forefront at every moment. You should always be growing and changing. High leverage activities will allow you to reach where you want to be and our team here at CI Web Group is ready to show you the way. 

There were a number of special guests this week that are on hand to assist and offer invaluable advice. CI Web Group’s own Regional Managers, alongside Ms Kathy Marshall, our VP of Customer Service and Training, Brigham Dickinson with Power Selling Pros as well as Matthew Plughoff and Ryan Kohler. Brigham has been training technicians on how to create awesome customer experiences over the phone or through a virtual environment for the past 12 years. Matthew Plughoff with Arrow & Fletching helps design fantastic experiences that convert business by helping contractors find their position in their marketplace, while also baking in their unique messaging in each and every piece of outbound communications. Ryan Kohler with ApplicantPro is helping home services businesses track qualified candidates for their hiring needs by adjusting their approach to capturing applicants.

You Create Your Own Results

To continue to grow in business (and in life!) you have to keep doing what works, stop doing what doesn’t yield results, and always keep in mind what is next. What should you be doing? This is a question that needs to be answered. There is always room for improvement and success is yours for the taking as long as you’re brave enough to forge a new path.

The Important Questions

What do you want to sell? Where do you want to sell it? Are you an option on page 1 of Google?  Do you look and sound your best when the prospect arrives at your website? Are you easy to deal with? These are all questions you must know the answer to in order to gain clarity on where you need to go.

What People Do When They Want Something?

Most people use Google. If they search for your services you need to appear as an option in that search. Are you an option? Truth is there are only two answers, yes or no. When you are first starting out and you aren’t well placed on Google SERPs there are things you can do to improve your standing and ensure that you are an option. Make sure that you don’t miss a call. It is vital to field every call at this stage. Booking more calls equates to making more money. Make use of your network. Treat your customers like gold. Reputation is everything. Growing your business is a process. 

FEAR: False – Evidence – Appearing – Real

A lot of people are more fearful of taking on marketing services because they are unaware of what happens once the numbers increase, how will they operate, how will they cope? This is why growing your business this way is a process. Each step has to be evaluated and improved. 

Content is King

Times are different. Networking is no longer an option. The weather is changing. You have to adjust now to come out on the winning side. Make use of strategic content. Make use of images and videos. Video content making use of keywords is vital. YouTube is another channel for attracting more customers. Did you know you can do SEO for your YouTube channel? Videos are more likely to pop up before the actual company name. It keeps prospective clients on your page. In an era of decreasing attention spans, visual information is remembered more often than written content. 

Algorithms vs Humans

Google works with algorithms. Marketing companies such as CI Web Group understand how to get you to page 1 of Google. Working with humans is not the same. If you really need to make your brand name known in your service area, you need to make the buyer the hero of any story in order to ignite the brand. It isn’t about you or the company, it is about the customer. They are the most important part of the process. 

Emotional and Physical Customer Needs

At this time, existing customers and prospects are focused on protecting themselves and ensuring their own health and safety. You need to make sure you communicate that in your outbound marketing. You should also plan for this from an operations perspective. You want to service your customer while showing that you’ve got their best interests at heart. Solve their problem while keeping their fears and concerns at bay. Your customers have emotional needs and these need to be taken into account at each and every job. Focus on those emotional needs and show that you care. This is how you build a relationship with your clients and place your business in the right light. The best time to sell service contracts for instance is when the customer is on the phone. Once your technicians have sorted out the issue, the emotional needs and physical needs have been met and your window of opportunity is gone for the most part. 

Systematic Changes

There is a process to systematically follow in order to promote your brand in the best light and bring your company to life. Establish a baseline. Ask the right questions. Bake the brand into everything. Tell a better story. Most importantly do the opposite of what everyone else in the industry is doing. As strange as that sounds, standing out from the crowd is the best way to get noticed and remembered. Being unique and authentic is extremely important. Take for instance a company like Tesla. Everybody knows what Tesla stands for. The question is, is Tesla like every other car company? The answer is a resounding no, they have changed the face of cars and reinvented their brand in a way that celebrates what makes them unique.

What Tools Do You Have In Your Arsenal?

You need to put every possible sales tool at a prominent place on your website. If it isn’t an option on your website, you won’t use it to convert sales. You can’t say that these tools don’t work if you haven’t made use of them the way they’re meant to be used. Take for example our Virtual Sales and Service Center solutions. Our clients’ websites that have already implemented this innovative tool for closing new business and destroying buyer objections are showcasing it at the very top.

Online or In-Person

Dealers attending the webinar were asked the question of whether they would purchase an AC online. The answers were as diverse as the people on the call. This shows that you will only have a percentage of customers that will be an option for you. You need to make the most out of each and every call that comes in, each and every online interaction and each and every social media message. You need to adjust your marketing strategy to focus on your target market. Put yourself in the shoes of your customers and experience your service through their eyes. This is how you change and adapt to suit the needs of your client base. 

Social Media

Social media plays a tremendous role in business today. Customers are at home 24/7. They are noticing all the things at home that need professional attention. This is also the time they want to have these things repaired. You need to ensure that your social media presence lets them know that you are available and ready to service them. Show them that you think about their health and well-being and that you have taken all the precautionary measures during this pandemic. Inform your customers that you have a number of online tools that are in place to prevent contact wherever necessary. Also assure them that the service is no less efficient or effective. Ensure that your social media is kept up to date. Keep on top of your social media interactions and messages. This is how you keep the line of contact open with your customers. Social media is a hands on tool that requires attention full time. This is where chatbots can assist. There is always “someone” available to assist you all day and night. 

Hiring Staff

People can make or break a business. Hire people that are the perfect fit for your company. You need to evaluate what services you need done and focus on getting applications that meet all the relevant criteria. By making use of a staffing company who deals with procuring labor for specific job descriptions is vital in creating a team that is formidable. Companies like ApplicantPro design advertisements specifically targeted towards the right kind of staff members. If you keep using the same hiring methods, you will keep getting the same kinds of applications. It is time to make a change. Grow your team, grow your skill set, and grow your business. Having trained and skilled staff is vital to a service-based business. You need to have the right people in the right positions. Most people can be trained regardless of what they think. Your staff need to mirror your vision. Trim the excess or those that aren’t contributing to your overall goal. 

Reinvent Yourself, Thrive In The Now

At the end of the day, reinventing your business is going to take hard work and a degree of calculated risk. Anything in life worth having, comes with some risk. The question is whether or not you are prepared to change your habits, change how you look at your business and step out of your comfort zone. All the tools are readily available to you so there is no excuse. It is up to you to utilize them to maximize your business success. Technology and consumer psychology are evolving so building a business is not easy. What makes a difference is what you do with the resources that you’ve got in your disposal.

The ball is in your court. Get in touch with our team today to show you what needs to be done.