Construction Marketing

Some Positive News

Click to read article on the Construction Jobs Blog:

The article talks about the positive growth in the green industry regarding construction and other economic indicators.

It’s always good to hear some good news nowadays.

Sometimes it might be good to look at this downturn as a necessary evil for the overall state of our economy. I’ll explain:

We all know that when it comes to the economy there are peaks and valleys over the years. We’ve been peaking for what some say has been an unusually long upward rise. So it’s only obvious there would be an eventual valley. And we are now in it.

I say, bring on the valley. Let’s get it over with and move on to greener pastures and more growth!

Technorati Tags: Construction Jobs

Check out this site Construction Journal .com

While I cannot vouch for their lead generation service (or any other, for that matter - pursue at your own risk) this site has a huge page full of news and information it could be worth your while to check out.

The link I gave is to the news page, but there is information for other sectors of construction as well.

Top Building Jobs - A Great Resource for Construction Industry Pros

Check out their site to view what appear to be some really good quality, industry relevant jobs, as well as resources for you employers out there who are looking to build a great team.

They also have a blog with some interesting reading and information.

Here’s the blog:

It’s always good to have more resources for building teams and searching for employment.

In the construction industry, building a dynamite team can do you wonders. Happy searching.

In the world of construction, we need more things like blogs and forums where resources and tools are made available for contractors to use to improve their businesses.

Construction newsletters, articles, and books on construction marketing are too few and far between, at least compared to other industries which are commonly conceived to be more “professional.”

But, like a good contractor buddy of mine says:

“A surgeon client complained about my prices and said, ‘I don’t make that much for my time, and I’m a surgeon.’”

To which the contractor responded:

“Neither did I when I was a surgeon.”

The publics’ perception of lack of professionalism among general contractors is something I’ve ranted about many times in the past. It’s frustrating. But it can be overcome.

I guess the best defense against this perception is simply living a life of integrity. Eventually, where it counts, your integrity will rise to the top.

But in the mean time, we can use marketing practices that work to boost our sales and increase our clients’ satisfaction level.

Because, as many experienced contractors know, client satisfaction can often times be influenced by your client’s perception of reality. And your client’s perception of reality can often only be altered through effective marketing techniques.

And that’s where the importance of Construction Blogs comes in.

If we read, and discuss, and comment on things that work and things that don’t, we help advance our cause as an industry.

Here is a list of some of my favorite construction blog and forum resources:

Contractor Talk

Construction Resource Forum

Construction Marketing Ideas Blog

There are a few other excellent resources for contractors that can be found online. But that’s a topic for another day.

You could spend 6 months reading non-stop and learn a ton with the three listed above.

Happy learning!

(Also check out: Blog Flux Directory)

Technorati Tags: Construction Blog

You can use this idea in your business TODAY:

(From the Contractor Talk forum which is, by the way, a terrific resource.)

“One contractor I know taught his men how to ask for referrals while they were working on the job. They would give a card to the neighbor and ask them to fill out the information on the back of the card. Then they would take that card and give the prospect another. Then the employee would call in the lead before the end of the day to the office. If the lead resulted in a face to face visit a small referral fee was given to the employee whether the job sold or not.”

Construction Marketing Blog Review:

This is an excellent idea you can use in your business right now, today.

You can give your field guys business cards with a small form on the back for these “neighbor prospects” to fill out. Tell your employees they will make an instant, cash commision each time one of these leads turns into a face-to-face meeting.

This method eliminates the uncertainty and the lack of “quick cash” potential that can thwart some construction industry commission referral plans.

Train your guys to take 15 minutes and knock on 2 or 3 doors at the end of every day around the neighborhood. Have them introduce themselves and say something like, “Hello, I’m Seth. We are working on the project next door, and we like to always check with each neighbor face-to-face to let you know we’re good honest guys…most of the time.” (use some humor)

Also, have your guys keep their eyes peeled throughout the work day for opportunities to interact in a friendly, positive way with neighbors who are poking around the jobsite surroundings. Most residential  jobsites have an abundance of this type of activity you can take advantage of.

Go print some cards for your guys, and let us know how it works!

That’s it! We are officially in the big time here at the Constuction Marketing Blog.

Well, not really.

But we do consider it extremely cool that a trusted, professional resource such as the Construction Marketing Ideas Blog would give us such a thorough post.

Mark Buckshon, as far as we’ve been able to tell, has devoted himself to the construction industry with regards to marketing, and it shows.

His email newsletter, which you can subscribe to by going to his site and filling out your email address (highly recommended) has been a looked-forward-to stream of great information to many builders and contractors. Not sure how many, but I’m sure it’s a lot.

We appreciate Mark’s work, and we would like to show our gratitude for his reference to this blog.

Thanks Mark!

That’s Dick Greenwood’s take on what builders have been offering buyers in the suburban real estate market. Incentives, he says, have included an eye-opening $85,000 worth of upgrades on a $300,000 home, luxury cars, even 20 years of free golf.

Greenwood, Vice President of Builder Marketing for Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, is a 37-year veteran of the home-building industry who works with builders from Michigan to Wisconsin.

The straight-talking Greenwood predicted that the over-the-top incentives will come to the city market this fall, but that builders are highly negotiable even now. The flat-screen TV of a few months ago may be just the opening ante in today’s high-stakes poker game.

Watch the first part of our candid conversation and stay tuned for more.

Duration : 0:7:14

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Technorati Tags: Chicago, construction, deals, estate, Greenwood, homes, Illinois, incentives, new, real, YoChicag

Dick Greenwood, Vice President of Builder Marketing for Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, is a 37-year veteran of the home-building industry who works with builders from Michigan to Wisconsin.

YoChicago’s Joe Zekas sat down with the straight-talking Greenwood earlier in the week for a wide-ranging discussion. In this segment we talk about a home buyer who purchased in a subdivision where the builder has filed bankruptcy.

This is the third part of our candid conversation. Stay tuned for more.

Duration : 0:3:19

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Technorati Tags: bankrupt, builder, Chicago, estate, Greenwood, homes, Illinois, real, YoChicago

http://freelinereport.com

If you want to get high Google rankings for a local business, then getting a Google Maps listing can be a big plus. The trick is learning your way around Keyhole Markup Language, or KML. For those unaware, KML is the language used to show points on Google Maps. In “The Definitive Guide on Using KML for SEO,” one blogger takes you through the ins and outs of KML, from the other underlying theory to screen shots, showing you exactly how to use it.

http://freelinereport.com/freeline-7-31-08

Link Builder scours the links you post in your blog, and then notifies the webmaster that you have linked to them. It’s not completely automated, which is probably a good thing, but it’s easy to use. Link Builder gives you an easy way to get more links from quality sites — and that’s always good.

Comment Relish is a Wordpress plug-in that sends a personalized welcome letter to all first-time posters to your site.

http://freelinereport.com/freeline-7-31-08

Wassup is another WordPress plug-in that lets you keep track of statistics, visitor information, and much more. For example, you can see which blog posts are the most popular and see what links are referring visitors to your site.

http://freelinereport.com/freeline-7-31-08

There are several lists of “best blogs”, but one of our favorites right now is “The Top 142 Social Marketing Blogs,” created by our friends at Friday Traffic Report, “The Top 142″ shows you which blogs you should be reading and why.

http://freelinereport.com/freeline-7-31-08

Duration : 0:2:28

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Technorati Tags: analysis, blogs, brad, Brad-Fallon, comment-relish, email, fallon, free-line, google-maps, kml, language, link-builder, list, plugin, seo, social-marketing, wassup, web-2.0, wordpress

John Pohly is showing builders how to increase Internet leads for their MLS Listings and specs. Go to www.xybuilder.com to learn more.

Duration : 0:1:20

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Technorati Tags: advertising, builder, estate, home, marketing, real, seo