Work Flow & Margins

[Kyle]

Hi,

I am new to NIR and my first conference was in Tampa, Florida. I think it goes without saying that there was a great group there. Everyone was eager to help and share ideas.

With that being said, Our company has been looking at ways to make our business more efficient and more profitable. We are currently looking at buying direct from the carpet mills for our flooring and getting more into marketing.

What have you come up with for your best time and money spent to keep a more steady work flow and higher profit margins.

[Sentry]

We bought direct from the mills for several years, and was able to make good money on floor coverings. Lots of headaches, though. Now that Xact flooring prices have come up we have been able to make margins with a local floor company with far fewer problems.

Never stop marketing. Also, consider diversifying away from insurance work. If you are a restoration contractor then you are already a great remodeler; you just have to go sell it.

[WRSI]

Chris,

I've just started with the marketing division at Werner Restoration and I have been toying with the idea of advertising remodeling services more and more. What do you guys do for remodeling advertising? Do you guys stick to home shows and things of that nature? Thanks

Brent Werner
Werner Restoration Services

[Sentry]

Brent,
We use radio for our remodeling advertising. We have been doing about 100 spots a week across 8 stations for several years now, and we are starting to build a brand. We have tried bill boards (nothing), yellow pages (nothing) Val-Pak (not much), and we like radio the best. We get several calls a week from our radio spots. In this slow economy we have switched our spots over to insurance work, with a good response.
Selling direct to the public is WAY different than selling insurance work. You will find out quick whether or not you can really sell, or if you have "devolved" into an insurance work "order taker". The best part is, that after sharpening my construction sales skills on remodeling, I can generally sell the insurance work better when other companies are sniffing around the job.

[WRSI]

Chris,

We are just starting to run radio ads this fall for the first time. We are also doing vinyl wraps on most of our work trucks. Our radio ads and wraps are all apart of a branding strategy for the next few quarters. That's a great idea to be able to swith back and forth on ads (remodel vs restoration) as the economy comes and goes. I'm going to bring that up at our next management meeting. Thanks for the insight.

Brent