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David Saulque
It’s not really so moot a point when you consider that for all those people there is only one internet, maybe 10 bbs & 1 organization!
As for the rest of your post. I agree Totally!
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Beth</font>
<b>How many people come and go in the same year in this industry within a period of a year or two? </b><font color=e87400>a bunch</font> <b>How many of them never find the web? </b><font color=e87400>a bunch</font><b> How many of them don't have what it takes or realize how hard it truly is to have a business.... </b><font color=e87400>a bunch</font> <b>Surprise! It's real work folks. <font color=e87400></b>a problem.
Many are clueless with regards to business & often turn into lowballers. When they find a resource such as bbs, pwna or a good vendor it gives them staying power which adds to the delima of the contractors. Yes they will eventually probably go under, but I have noted that it seems where the longer they last when I know the won’t make it the lower & more aggressively they sell the services for.</font>
<b>We were out doing estimates the other day and saw a young man washing a deck. He didn't know anything. He was two inches from the wood, at 3000 PSI with a 15 degree tip. We told him he ought to sand the deck to fix his damage.
We didn't tell him how much money he should charge, we didn't share a whole lot other than how far back he should be to avoid the damage. We didn't do that for him, but for the homeowner, who would otherwise form a poor opinion of power washers in general. The idea is to raise the standard. </b><font color=e87400>So you’re saying that you did not help a guy that was in your backyard? You’ve countless times you have helped people on these forums & you have in your seminars as well. What’s the difference?</font>
<font size=+.5><b>Young men like the one about will come and go regardless.</font> They have been for years. But the networking we all do online helps those of us dedicated to the betternment of the industry, in an effort to help us all be successful. </b><font color=e87400>I don’t think you have any respect for men ( I just call it like I see it
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<font color=e87400>Ongaurd
</font><b>Look at the stability in pickup truck pricing. Supply is really beginning to outstrip demand….</b>
<font color=e87400> I’m not sure I understand you here. I am trying to get it, but….. I don’t.
There are only what, 3 Full Size Truck Manufactures. When they put their trucks out they don’t just pull a number out of a hat & say lets build this many. They build according to demand statistics. Do they get their prices, yes & no.
Yes because if you want a Full Size truck you have to buy from one of the big 3 there are no other options & competition for them is SLIM! And probably always will be. It’s not like the average Joe can just say to himself one day “I want to start my own line of Trucks†Think I’ll go down & slap an assembly plant, tools, dies, engineers & everything else I need on my Visa & give it a wack!â€
No because if they built 4 times what the market called for they’d have to give them away to get rid of them.
Also look at how they devalue when they are holdovers. I purchased a 2000 ford in 2001 for almost 10k under invoice.
<b>Unchanging Market</b> – OK, change that to “A market where the Supply is rising disproportionately to the demand.†Same difference, same outcome!
<b>As for not using the company that cuts you off.</b> You may want to rethink that. Don’t blame the company for what a employee may do in their company trucks. If you do this you may end running out of companies to fill your needs. Employees no matter how you stay on top of them will still have those that will not conform, yeah you can fire them but then you just get another just like em. I have had some great employees in my years yet none of them would treat my business as I.
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<font color=e87400>Pwr Cln
Thanks for the support.
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Jon
Gas prices may be changing because of the Taxes. I’d imagine with Ca’s pollution issues Road Tax is a really whopper on your fuel.
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kjacques21</font></font>
<b>am reading so much about economics and competition etc,,,do you really know what competition is? </b><font color=e87400></b>Yes.<b></font>I am former ad sales guy who routinely competed in markets with 20 radio stations multiple newspapers, tv stations, direct mail, trade magazines , outdoor you name it.... <font color=e87400></b>And how fun was that? If I am reading this right you sold marketing ads of some sort. Would your sales & prices been improved upon had there not been half as much competition?<b></font>Tell how may people do you really compete against? <font color=e87400></b>Right now, many! If the industry continues on it’s current path? Perhaps too many!<b></font>I mean serious competition? <font color=e87400></b>Is there any other type?<b></font>Are you to suggest that your markets are saturated and there are to few homes for you to expose your self too? <font color=e87400></b>Expose myself,, Hmm sounds Kinky
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and another thing There is always someone who is going to give your product away,,,,there is always someone who is going to give your industry a bad reputation....get over it!
simple advice....
do good work
</b><font color=e87400>Okay!</font><b>
provide excellent service
</b><font color=e87400>Okay!</font><b>
charge a fair price
</b><font color=e87400>Okay!</font><b>
sell your self
</b><font color=e87400>Okay!</font><b>
build relationships
</b><font color=e87400>Okay!</font><b>
never bad mouth your competition
</b><font color=e87400>You have to when they suck! It’s your duty!</font><b>
stop worrying about what you can not control, it is an energy waste and will not move you forward....
</b><font color=e87400>This is giving up! NEVER GIVE UP!!</font>
<font color=e87400>Okay! There’s some credibility in your simple advice there & it’s warranted. Once again I say “howeverâ€, Market Saturation is a real concern, sounds to me like your ad sales was in a saturated market. Sure, it’s not totally a now issue, however it is a future issue & now is the time to deal with it, not when it's too late. IT’s COMING! Sorta like SOON PLAYING AT A TOWN YOUR IN “MARKET SATURATION†Staring newbies.
With market saturation comes the market dilution of marketing media's. Example of Media Dilution. Get a small box of stick matches, take one out & name it “Bob†make a tiny mark on it so you’ll know which one Bob is on a close inspection, put it back in the box, shake it up & toss all the matches out onto the dinner table. Now call your dinner table “The Yellow Pagesâ€. Next begin to pick up the matches in groups of 3 & see if you picked up bob. Toss the 3 back down & try again. Do this 50 times & see how many times you pick up Bob!
Marketing is very similar. Yes you can set yourself apart from the rest, but as the numbers of companies grows so does your marketing efforts. Your marketing efforts will need to stay better than the rest if you wish to rely on them. A very common practice for companies is to mimmick marketing practices of other successful companies. So when companies begin to mimick you, you will again need to up your marketing efforts. Why, well just as sure as your call volume will increase from marketing, the volume will decrease as more companies begin marketing “with†you. Calls = Sales = Profits, Less Calls = Less sales = Less Profits. On top of which you can drop all the additional money that the additional Marketing is costing you. Why,,, Market Saturation! Why,
Being in ad sales you absolutely have to understand this. Even if you think you don't. How many times did you sell to someone that was a new trade or field to your company? How many times have you said "You'll be the only one in here" or "We only have a couple that do this" When you said those things you were in effect saying "With limited marketing competition in our media, your company will stick out more thus you should have a greater response from our customers that require your services"
Cody.
