Social media and Business

I have a “business“ Facebook that I use for my garage hustle, Honestly it’s bee interestingly say the least. Did the whole send invites out to get folks talking about it, worked fairly well. Have a couple of outstanding customers that left great reviews because I believe in quality not quantity, but after having a kid rip off my JK 4 link design, folks buddy-buddy up to me trying to get discounts, and a customer getting a second opinion from a tow truck driver claiming I messed up his front diff that hadn’t made any noise nor lost any preload and he didn’t understand Aussie lockers can have 5 degrees of play front center... I pretty much have been like fuck the ignorant dumb asses in eastern NC. instead of coming to me with concerns he attempts to get opinions from folks that I do their gear installs for. I’ve had to make sure it’s not my own ego and it’s just the customers. Ive still gotta go collect money from a guy in my Offroad club. I dont know if I
 
Loganwayne said:
i will say this. i work for a GC that hasnt updated their website in years, and have no social media. they still are in the mind set of word of mouth. we get calls monthly from people trying to find a builder and say they found our website and thought we were outta business. now think about all the people who didnt waste anytime with calling.
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In the construction world , and specifically the heavy commercial/industrial construction world, there is a trade off.

There is no doubt that a better web and SM presence can make the phone ring. The question is the % of those calls that are productive.

In those markets the "buyers" that have the resources to close a deal are few and far between and most know the players in a given market.

There is a very real question about cost of phone calls.

I fired a marketing director a few years ago who launched a campaign for our company. She called it a "remarkable success". She made the phone ring 27,000 times in 1 month and drove over 11,000 emails in the same month.
We netted 2 sales out of her efforts that were low margin because they had web shopped and beat the price to death. In total we had $62k of GP, the marketing campaign cost us right at $50k. We worked our assess off to respond to inquiries and had to answer fo over 100 google reviews about our lack of response or rudeness.

No thanks. That she didnt understand our market was the reason for the dismissal. She went to work for a "widget" retailer owned by a friend and they LOVE her. She has "tripled their business"....
 
Ron said:
In those markets the "buyers" that have the resources to close a deal are few and far between and most know the players in a given market.
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This. Back at my old school, there was no need to advertise that you made gas turbines, steam turbines, and generators for powerplants. There were 2 major players, and 3 or 4 minor players. If you didn't know who they were, you didn't need to know anyway.
 
Ron said:
I fired a marketing director a few years ago who launched a campaign for our company. She called it a "remarkable success". She made the phone ring 27,000 times in 1 month and drove over 11,000 emails in the same month.
We netted 2 sales out of her efforts that were low margin because they had web shopped and beat the price to death. In total we had $62k of GP, the marketing campaign cost us right at $50k. We worked our assess off to respond to inquiries and had to answer fo over 100 google reviews about our lack of response or rudeness.
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Also this. The churn of talking to people who won't use your service is taking time away from real paying customers.
 
Loganwayne said:
i will say this. i work for a GC that hasnt updated their website in years, and have no social media. they still are in the mind set of word of mouth. we get calls monthly from people trying to find a builder and say they found our website and thought we were outta business. now think about all the people who didnt waste anytime with calling.
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my guess is that their business was started and a base established before the internet, or social media? Maybe they are fine with not getting more business than word of mouth is bringing them?
 
Ron said:
There is no doubt that a better web and SM presence can make the phone ring. The question is the % of those calls that are productive.

There is a very real question about cost of phone calls.
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This is probably the biggest argument I’ve had anywhere I’ve ever worked…is with sales and marketing…not every sale is a good sale. ‘Strategic growth’ may be a buzz phrase to some, but it’s a very real thing and becomes very apparent when you start analyzing capacity and businesses transitioning from one phase to another. A sale in a start up company does not yield the same results in a company that’s household name.
 
I'm kind of split on my thinking. If I'm ordering things that I know what I need, I'd much rather just click on Grainger or McMaster and never interact with anyone. With Motion, I have to deal with a salesman for a decent price, that gets annoying because instead of one click, I have to make a phone call and then an email confirmation. For oem parts at work, I want to talk to someone because I don't always know exactly what I'm getting into. When buying or prospectively buying equipment I appreciate a robust website so I can research on my own before contacting a dreaded salesman. Salesmen wouldn't be so bad if they didn't pester the shit out of you once you get on their radar.
 
Funny enough, I got a call this morning from Home Advisor....looking for Scrape Cuts Woodworking(its Scrap Cuts....) wanting me to do framing and repairs. They just called me back and spoke with a very nice lady. Informed her that I only do custom orders for clients and not willing/wanting for anything else. My only online exposure is through FB and IG so I guess they found me on there.

X1000 on everyone saying don't post politics/personal beliefs. I refuse to do it on even my personal pages as I have friends on both sides of the aisle and I'd rather talk controversial topics over a beer around a campfire as both sides are generally agreeable.

Right now I'm just set up on IG/FB. I have a friend that is talking about building me a website but nowadays most people want to see finished product on your IG with lots of pretty pictures. They don't really care about the progress pics etc IMHO. I'm about to deliver my second ever client build and once those pics are posted I'm sure I will be taking more orders in the near future. All my stuff is custom, so there really isn't a way to "build" an order form. Hell it took a week to confirm with the my client about table design/material etc all over text/email/phone.
 
paradisePWoffrd said:
my guess is that their business was started and a base established before the internet, or social media? Maybe they are fine with not getting more business than word of mouth is bringing them?
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yes the owners are both in their 70s But so is the majority of our client base it seems like. Even the owner will admit the first thing he does when he hears about a company is google them, but it doesn't click in his mind that our website is so outdated that's as far as it goes.
 
UTfball68 said:
In my opinion, that snippet sums it up. If you're not talking on the phone, you're not exposing your own ignorance, or saying something you shouldn't. Online, there's a barrier still allowing you to be a dickhead, you can blame the website design, you can blame fat fingers, you can blame poor descriptions, you can blame someone else 'misunderstanding', etc etc. I can't begin to tell you how many returned parts I've seen returned for an 'unclear website'. Uhhh, you guys sent the wrong pulley, well sir your order shows that's what you selected...it doesn't fit, ok, can you tell me what doesn't fit about it...sounds to me like you actually have a 79 block with a 73 pulley system, were you aware of that? Nah, my bruncles daddy says it's all original, nothing has ever been changed. : facepalm :...we'll send you the right parts out immediately, our mistake. Or my wife gets a shirt returned because 'her sizes run small'...bish you ordered a medium and in your profile pic you look like the chick that ate the chick that wears a medium.
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"custom parts = no return"

Says it on the website.

"sorry pall, gotta read the fine prints"

jeepinmatt said:
Loganwayne said:
i will say this. i work for a GC that hasnt updated their website in years, and have no social media. they still are in the mind set of word of mouth. we get calls monthly from people trying to find a builder and say they found our website and thought we were outta business. now think about all the people who didnt waste anytime with calling.
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Are yall short on work?
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Being busy doesn't mean you are maximizing your profit.
If having a better website means getting better customers or upping the level of the clientele, it's worth it.

IMO and YMMV
 
Bebop said:
Being busy doesn't mean you are maximizing your profit.
If having a better website means getting better customers or upping the level of the clientele, it's worth it.
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That's a big "If"
 
Bebop said:
"custom parts = no return"

Says it on the website.

"sorry pall, gotta read the fine prints"
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Ehhh…yes and no…cost of customer acquisition is a thing too…and pretty huge for a fledgling business with no established credibility, where any sale is a good sale. A bad review or two from disgruntled customers can have significantly more damage than just taking back a $20 shirt or $300 part. $20,000 race engines, we absolutely have a warranty and dumbass clause…but that still hasn’t stopped bad reviews and corresponding rebuttals when someone decides to disassemble an engine before ever putting it in, or complaining about finger prints on a polished cover that sat in customs for a year, etc etc. Bad reviews can and do produce a damning impact.
 
UTfball68 said:
Ehhh…yes and no…cost of customer acquisition is a thing too…and pretty huge for a fledgling business with no established credibility, where any sale is a good sale. A bad review or two from disgruntled customers can have significantly more damage than just taking back a $20 shirt or $300 part. $20,000 race engines, we absolutely have a warranty and dumbass clause…but that still hasn’t stopped bad reviews and corresponding rebuttals when someone decides to disassemble an engine before ever putting it in, or complaining about finger prints on a polished cover that sat in customs for a year, etc etc. Bad reviews can and do produce a damning impact.
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You can't fix stupid.
But you're right.
 
I see this a Necro bump, but I have not used businesses that only want to talk over the phone m-f between 8 and 4. I have a weird work schedule in a huge facility that I can't be on my phone in, so if I can't do business over email with you or by clicking what I want and entering a CC I move on. Playing phone tag for half a day over a transaction that could have taken me minutes or an appointment that could have been scheduled in 2 emails, or even with an online scheduler, is a huge waste of time for both parties. I try to shop local as much as possible, but the above scenarios can make it really hard. I'm a younger (39), but the web tools to setup an online shop, or a scheduler are really cheap and accessable so I don't get it.

It was funny we found out accountant this year using Google and he was amazed as we were one of his first ever online referrals despite having a website for 10+ yrs.
 
The best marketing I ever did when I had my business (35 years) was old-school. Had a bunch of quarter-sheet notepads made up. Contact info at the top, bullet list at the bottom of all my services. 20 or 25 sheets per pad. Passed out a ton of them back around Y2K or so. Still see some around town...notes posted by a cash register, etc.

SM is great, but other things can get your name in front of people that aren't looking for your service now, but you plant that seed for future needs.
 
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