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When sales drop and the economy tightens, electrical contractors' knee-jerk response may be to pull advertising and
cancel marketing campaigns, but in the words of William Wrigley of the chewing gum empire, ³That is like shutting off
the fuel to an airplane in mid-flight.´

Rather than decreasing marketing in tough times, electrical contractors need to invest more time and money in
attracting and retaining clients. Rick Cross, president of Waco, Texas-based Mr. Electric, says many companies buy
an ad in the Yellow Pages and then wait for customers to call them.

³In a great economy when there's more dollars than electricians, it's not a problem,´ Cross says. ³When things get
tough, you've got to go out and look for it. As the owner of a business, your job is to make the phone ring.´

Here are 10 strategies to help you boost your sales without emptying your pockets.

1. a

  As a general rule of thumb, electrical contractors should spend between 4% and
6% of their gross sales on marketing, says Adams Hudson, founder of Hudson Ink, a Montgomery, Ala.-based
marketing firm for contractors. Small electrical firms should spend 25% of their marketing budget on Yellow
Page ads, 20% on newspaper advertising, between 15% and 30% on direct mail, and 8% to 12% on customer
retention. The balance may be used for truck decals, yard signage, radio advertising, and ³on-hold´ messages.
Larger contractors, however, should develop and implement a formal marketing plan. Larry Walker, chief
marketing officer and executive vice president of St. Louis-based Sachs Electric, says his company first started
publishing a marketing guide almost a decade ago, and now distributes the book to the Sachs management
team as an internal, proprietary publication. ³Our marketing plan helps us to focus on our industry and match
up Sachs' strengths with the market strengths,´ he says.

2.   


 
 Developing and cultivating relationships with your clients can open the
door to new business opportunities. Sachs Electric, a network of four companies, organizes events called
³Lunch-and-Learns´ about seven times a year. Walker says his company visits general contractors,
construction managers and plants, offers a catered box lunch to the employees, and then presents a 30-40
min PowerPoint slide show followed by a Q&A session about the Sachs family of companies.

3.   
 
 Contractors can also keep in touch with their clients by sending them
personalized gifts during the holidays. Wayne J. Griffin Electric, a Holliston, Mass.-based electrical contractor,
recently mailed 2,600 packages containing a golf umbrella, Post-It cube, and drinking glass to clients and
friends of the company. All of the products featured the Wayne J. Griffin logo (see photo above). Vice
President Jackie Griffin says her company also sends out a small toy. ³This year, it was a light-up yo-yo with
our logo on it,´ Griffin says. ³Last year we did a bouncy ball. Those little things seem to get the most attention.´

4. 



 One simple and low-cost way to spread the word about your company is to
organize charity events like golf tournaments, volunteer for a service club, or sponsor an association. For
example, Griffin says her company supports Skills USA-VICA, an association for high-school vo-tech students.
³It's a good opportunity for recruiting vocational high school students into the electrical industry,´ she says. ³We
get very involved in that sponsorship, and I believe we will continue to do that.´ Contractors who work in larger
metropolitan areas can also become involved in electrical organizations and league groups. Cross says one
New York City Mr. Electric franchise has become very successful by joining an electrical league, regularly
attending the meetings, and networking with other contractors. ³Try to find other people who are doing the top
quality work that you are doing in other trades,´ he says. ³They may know people who are doing some
remodeling in their home and need an electrician.´

5. 

 
   


    Electrical contractors can run a small ad in
the service directory section of the classifieds without breaking their budget. Hudson recommends that
companies commit to running a 1-in. by 2-in. ad for 13, 26, or 52 weeks to generate name recognition. ³It will
drop their daily rate for advertising in that newspaper because their volume has gone up,´ he says. While
Hudson believes advertising in the phone book is a helpful tool for small residential contractors, he thinks
buying an ad in a mail pack of coupons is a waste of money. ³If a contractor is selling something on the basis
of how cheap it is, he is desperately begging for a slow death of bankruptcy,´ he says. ³When profit margins
 slip in order to get the job, you can't offer the benefits and guarantees that homeowners really want, which are
safety, security, and reliability.´

6. º

  

  Mail postcards to your customers at least four times a year, but
preferably once a month. Rather than distributing standard-sized postcards, invest in oversized, 5.5-in. by 8.5-
in. cards that won't get lost in a stack of mail. Cross says his 109 franchises send postcards to their clients 10
times a year. The cards feature season-appropriate themes, such as ³Time for a Checkup,´ ³Safety First,´ or
³Yard Work.´

7.  
   

 Electrical contractors can also retain their existing customers by mailing
newsletters. Hudson says his company sends out about one million newsletters a year to various
subcontractors. Rather than glorifying the contractors' projects and achievements, however, the newsletters
feature general interest articles that cover such topics as comfort, safety, and savings around the home. The
contractors' contact information is then slipped in at the end of the article. ³Informative articles that end with a
little bump toward a company are eight to 15 times more effective, readable, and memorable than µWe've been
in business 28 years and our company does this and that,¶´ he says.

8.  

 Many Web-savvy homeowners may search online for an electrician rather than flipping
through the phone book. To stand out from the rest of the dot-com competition, post articles that are relevant
to your potential customers. Hudson says one crime that many electrical contractors commit is making a Web
site a shrine to their greatness. ³They will put their company name and logo up top and commonly use µwe, us,
and our,¶ he says. ³What I see is contractors spending gross amounts of money telling people how great they
are when customers do not care.´

9. a 
  

  
  
 

 

 The nation's largest electrical contractors don't need to advertise in the phone book or newspaper.
Instead, they should spend a lopsided percentage of their marketing budget on public relations. ³The little
contractor doesn't often get to make news, but the big contractor does,´ Hudson says. ³They would be better
vested spending about 30% of their money on a good PR agent and only paying him or her on the published
media.´ Some contractors, like Wayne J. Griffin Electric, also have in-house marketing and business
development employees who help drive revenue and create new business opportunities. Griffin says her
company has a marketing coordinator who sends out news releases once a month. ³We'll determine what
projects are worthy of a spotlight, gather all the information, and put together a press release,´ she says.
³Sometimes it runs and sometimes it doesn't, but it's a good chance to take because basically, it's free
advertising.´

10. !



 
 
  If you're too wrapped up in getting new customers, you may
forget about retaining your existing ones. The cost to acquire a customer is generally six times more than the
cost to keep a client, Hudson says. Many contractors overspend in nonfocused marketing and underspend in
customer retention. ³If a contractor went to a microscopic amount of trouble to show they cared two to four
times a year, they would be miles ahead of the game,´ he says. Cross of Mr. Electric says contractors need to
foster a continuing relationship with their customers. ³Some electricians are sitting on a gold mine, and they
don't even know it,´ he says. ³We have a tendency, just like other businesspeople, to think that just because
our customers wrote us a check once, they will remember us for life. The reality is that they can't remember the
name of your company when your taillights are out of sight.´

Whether you're a small business owner or one of the nation's largest electrical contractors, you can boost your sales,
increase customer awareness and gain a competitive edge through marketing and advertising campaigns. On the
other hand, if you skimp on this area, your sales could drop like an airplane running out of gasoline in mid-air.

S    
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According to the book, ³Advertising in a Recession,´ companies who promote their businesses in a slow economy
can boost their sales, increase profits and market share, and open the lead on the competition. In this Q&A, Kathy
Simonsen, president of Auburn, Calif.-based Simonsen Sales and Marketing, discusses the importance of advertising
² not only in a robust economy, but also in the tough times.

£
" Why is it important to ramp up marketing efforts in down times?

 " In a recession, companies that continue to advertise do much better than those who pull back and then
try to advertise later. Advertising consistently helps your audience realize that you are a strong and stable company.
It's also a good time to take away market share from your competitor. As a competitor pulls back and you continue to
forge ahead, you will gain market share.

£
" What advice would you offer electrical contractors who were contemplating cutting their marketing budgets?

 " If your sales start to drop and you eliminate the one thing that will help you increase sales, you're really
asking for trouble. Advertising is not about getting a sale tomorrow. It's about getting a sale in six months.

£
" How can electrical contractors generate more business through advertising and marketing campaigns?

 " Give something away for free like a catalog or a pen. If you get a lot of people to respond, you will get
leads and then you can follow up on those leads. Some of those will probably turn into future sales.

£
" What marketing tools are the most effective?

 " Good marketing uses a variety of methods to reach to a target audience. Trade shows are great for in-
person and advertising is great for image and exposure and branding. A lot of companies are also using e-mail
newsletters, which can also be very effective. You just to figure out what you want to accomplish with your marketing,
and then select the method that will help you reach those goals.

`

 !# 


December 4, 2008 by Aaron O'Hanlon

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In the next few weeks we are going to be discussing implementing a `


  

. We
will be breaking this down on what to do each month, along with things that should be done on a daily basis.

We are breaking your marketing down to 6 categories which include yellow pages, newspaper advertising, direct
mail, customer retention, online marketing, and strategic alliances.

Though there is a difference between service contractors (plumbers, electricians, HVAC) and remodelers,
replacement contractors and home builders, we will try to address the difference for each marketing aspect of this
plan.

$  

 
 
 When it comes to your marketing budget it can be broken down to the following
percentages.

Y 15% on Yellow Pages

Y 20% on Newspaper Advertising

Y 30% on Direct Mail

Y 15% on Online Marketing

Y 10% on Strategic Alliances

Y 10% on Home Shows

As you notice direct mail holds a large portion of your marketing plan but that includes client retention tools like tune
up cards, and client newsletters.

Before we discuss what needs to happen on a monthly basis between January and December, we will discuss what
needs to happen on a daily basis, which includes what you need on every service call and consultation meeting.


  
 
 
   
 
 



Y Company Brochure

Y Reference or Testimonial Sheet

Y Presentation Book ( For remodeling contractors and home builders)

Y Product Brochures (for consultations)

Y Referral Program Sheet

Y Evaluation Sheet (For service calls)

Y Business Card or Magnet

These things may vary from contractor to contractor but you must make sure to be leaving something behind after the
meeting or service call.

If you have any questions or need assistance with any of the marketing pieces listed above, please feel free to
contact us today.

In our next post/email we will discuss each piece above or provide links to articles.