Building Business

3/4 of Business Owners Would Rather File Taxes Than Set Up Search Marketing Campaign

It takes a special type of mind to enjoy setting up a pay-per-click (PPC) search marketing campaign. Apparently, that type of mind is incongruous with the minds of most small business owners. According to an article from Pat Curry for Builder Online, Pay-Per-Click 101, three-quarters of small business owners would rather file their taxes than set up a search marketing campaign. For those who dare brave setting up a campaign, Curry details the basic concepts of PPC for builders including the importance of keywords, ad copy and tracking. To cite the benefits, Curry details an Atlanta-based builder who used PPC to drive eighty percent of the site’s new visitors and ten percent of the site’s total traffic. 

@NeilAndrewJames

11 Ways to Show Prospects That Time Spent on Your Pitch Is Worth It

Are your sales people returning to the office in a grumpier mood with each passing month? You’re not alone. As the economy has pinched the building and housing markets, commissions that were once plump, low hanging fruits are far less plentiful for increasingly frustrated salespeople. Dave Kahle describes how salespeople can once again taste the succulent juices of a fat commission in an article for Building Products Magazine, Adding Value to Every Sales Call. Of premium importance in an economy where clients and vendors alike are pressed for time, Kahle argues, is creating a reputation that time spent with you is worth the investment. Kahle outlines eleven examples of ways you can add value to your prospect’s life such as providing some ideas about how to reduce costs and helping him or her solve a problem. 

@NeilAndrewJames

First-Time Buyers Purchased 41 Percent of Homes from 2007-2009

Why are builders dedicating increasing resources to meeting the needs of first-time home buyers? As chronicled in an article by the National Association of Home Builders, First-Time Home Buyers Stoke Demand for Smaller, Less Expensive Homes, new research found that from 2007 through 2009, 41 percent of the 8.4 million households that purchased homes were first-time buyers. This figure is up from 35 percent in 2005 and 2006. Unsurprisingly, price was the top consideration for first-time home buyers, reflected by the fact that first-time home purchases averaged 1,800 square feet – 700 square feet less on average than homebuyers who were trading up.

@NeilAndrewJames

3 Ways Building Products Wholesalers add Value

Nobody likes the middle man. Since establishing roots in the building products supply chain, building products retailers have often lamented the intermediaries who seemingly bring little to the supply chain table. As told by a recent Building Products Digest article, The Value of a Wholesaler, despite these perceptions, wholesalers truly have much to offer building products retailers. Leaner economic times have made excess inventory a four-letter word. Wholesalers allow buyers to have quicker inventory turnover and better manage company cash flow. In addition, by aggregating selection, building products retailers are able to secure a range of inventory that, in the absence of a wholesaler, would have to be negotiated and purchased from multiple sources. Lastly, wholesalers can aid retailers by adding value above and beyond the simple transfer of goods through packaging, remanufacturing, and application of treatments.

@NeilAndrewJames

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3 Truths All Building Products Brands Must Know

The past decade has seen building products brands experience the full spectrum of emotions. From the euphoric highs of the housing boom to the painful lows of the recession, few other industries have come to know how to thrive and survive quite like building products. In a recent article for Building Products Digest, Forever Changed, Alan Oakes urges building products marketers to use these lean times to take inventory of their strategic plans and reflect on the three timeless truths that will forever define their organization: their goals, their values and their differentiation. Revisiting these oft-forgotten principles, states Oakes, will give brands the direction needed to navigate through economic tribulations and emerge from the darkness stronger than ever before.

@NeilAndrewJames

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How Much Do Dumb Salespeople Cost Your Company?

Competence is the lubrication that keeps the engine of a building products company running lean and mean. Fewer things, however, are more certain to seize up this engine than not replenishing this precious oil. So what are the costs to your company when a salesperson comes unequipped with the proverbial clue? Dave Kahle explores the hidden costs in an article for Building Products Digest, Stop the Bleeding: Why an Uneducated Sales Force is the Biggest Single Drain on Corporate Profits. Kahle relates his discovery of a fatal flaw in a salesperson’s approach that was costing dollars in time misapplied and opportunities missed each day. Kahle urges employers to remember, however, that these faults are rarely the by-product of intrinsic stupidity. Rather, salespeople often learn their job by trial and error, and in the absence of training and education, will default to what they believe works. Companies, Kahle states, must invest the resources in educating their sales force, rather than practicing faith they will learn to be effective on their own.

@NeilAndrewJames

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New Exhibit Promotes Architecture as Catalyst For Social Change

Architects have long known that the value of their craft exceeds simple aesthetics and functionality. The soul of a building is every bit as living as ourselves. A new museum exhibit, as chronicled by an article for Co.Design, Eight Buildings That Change Lives and Solve Social Ills, shows how the power of architecture can be harnessed to promote change and social good. Among the highlights of this Museum of Modern Art exhibit are a Los Angeles project that converted an abandoned garage into an educational center and a primary school in Burkina Faso that married traditional earthen composition with modern production technologies.

@NeilAndrewJames

Five Tips for Boosting Your Business

In any industry, attracting prospective clients to your product is crucial. It’s the surplus on top of the strong base of return customers that keep the lights on. And as stated in 5 Ways to Use Content Marketing to Attract New Business, John Sonnhalter argues for the creation and sharing of information about your brand. In his article, he suggests five tips – ranging from common sense to uncommon sensibilities – for maximizing your potential as a manufacturing business. With a final nod to the social-media world, Sonnhalter provides a well-rounded summation to an already packed list of considerations. And, yet, to be successful, it’s difficult to ignore any one tip.

@KyleGWilson

“The Media is the Message” According to IL Building Products Distributor

Why did Scott Thomas, marketing director for Parksite, a building products distributor, consider it important to incorporate digital as a major component of his company’s marketing mix? Carla Waldemar explores the answer in her article for Building Products Digest, Honing Your (Social) Media Skills (pp. 15-16). Thomas discusses with Waldemar how today’s building products customers have access to information from far more sources than just print and television ads, and increasing amounts have thoroughly researched online before they enter the store. Parksite is using Twitter, YouTube and blogs to relay information on its products to researching consumers. Furthermore, digital marketing has helped Thomas craft better headlines for press releases and newsletters as well as maintain relationships with architects, builders and other potential customers.

@NeilAndewJames

Make the Sum of Your Building Products Marketing Greater Than its Parts

Traditional marketing sometimes seems like the old dog to our brand new puppy, social media. But like that old dog, there are important lessons to learn from the time-honored method of consumer communication, and moreover advantages to using it. As a recent Steve Kleber article, Marketing Home Products in a Segmented Marketplace, relates, a company can’t focus all its time on traditional or digital marketing anymore. From B2B to B2C, you’ll never reach your client potential by putting all your proverbial eggs in one basket. And while digital is proving to be beneficial, it is an investment of time and energy, not simply a “build it and they will come” cause and effect, as the aforementioned article states.

@NeilAndrewJames

Image Credit - Taneli Tikka