Creating A Partnering Liason Relationship With Respected And Trusted Competitors

Spring boarding off of Chuck's remarks on how this could be accomplished for the mutual benefit of each of the participating contractors involved in such a joint venture should be stimulating.

The desired goal that sparked this idea, is how can One Little Contractor combine with other Little Contractors and learn to compete with the waves of staffed out of town Storm Chasers when they arrive in town and benefit from their experience in both canvassing aggressively and having the insurance insiders knowledge on how to acquire the storm related renovation work, for roofing, siding, gutters and windows and for those that provide additional services, the interior repairs that may arise.

First aspect as noted, would be TRUST between the potential group liason members.

Check your individual Ego at the door. This is not about how one contractor can get more than the other contractor out of this relationship. You do not have to be in a partnership agreement, but there must be some terms and understandings discussed and agreed to in writing before this venture could proceed.

Let's look at this as a total Top Down, Business Plan. This is from a lesson that I am being taught from a consultant I have taken on for another project I have in the fire.

WHY (Your Mission – in your case – the value proposition. Get together and then you need to form a real mission/value statement that you can test your objectives against. “To Help the Small Contractors unite and surpass the marketing expertise of the Storm Chasing Contractors. Remember – form this carefully – it’s the LITMUS TEST for your objective statements.

WHAT – Objectives/Requirements In this case, what can a group of contractors attempt to achieve by uniting. Does it fit the value proposition… if not, don’t do it. If YES – describe it. Write requirement statements something like this : Must Do: (these features are terminating if not fulfilled. Think about it carefully, the Must Do cannot be scaled back or skipped over Should Do: (Preference, but not a terminating factor if not supported Can Do: (Optional ‘nice to have’ but are not part of initial evaluation)

Now, together, list what you think you can do together.....

HOW – Strategy for achieving the objectives Your objective statements will prioritize “how” including any “terminating factors” for a mutual working relationship. “HOW” strategies will also reveal the united effort constraints:

WHO/WHEN/WHERE - The action plan, with human resource constraints. This is the way we get from a bunch of objectives to an actual working agreement ready to launch.

Right now – concentrate totally on WHAT (Objectives for the group liason). Don’t worry at all about “how” you’ll do it – that all fleshes out as you continue the process. The better you objective/requirement statements, the easier the “How” becomes – so concentrate on “WHAT”.

Your “Objective Statements” should then be edited into a “requirements document” . That’s what will guide the rest of the process. The more specific and detailed you can make it , the easier it is to avoid dead ends and dark alleys when you’re assembling the liason partnership group effort.

These are some loosely opined figures, commenting on the success stages at each level and how each previous level of documentation affects the subsequent levels exponentially.

A change to a requirements (objective) statement (What) cost you $0.10 (a dime)

A change to a “How” (Product strategy) will cost you $10.00 while you’re evaluating but before you build anything.

A change to the code (Action Plan stage– When/Who/Where) will cost you $100. 00

It is exponentially faster, smarter, and cheaper to hammer out the details in the objective/requirement stage than to do it on the fly lat

bump

bump for the getting scammed thread

bump in reference to the adjuster thread for ida.

Ed You may have hit on a solution to all the complex partnering ideas and obvious problems of trying to be equally yoked and the boundaries that must surround traditional partnering. Marketing in the DIY forums keeping it clear about the stormers issues etc. DIY homeowners if they don't have you do it will notify their neighbors of the problem. If you have been particularly help full and friendly to them in the DIY they will spread your message. Perhaps it is not in the draconian partnering method . A light shines in the impending darkness !!!!!!!!! The idea is not only to help the locals get work , but to keep the money in the communities they serve. Win Win Cool cool very very cool . Traction Oh yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) :) :) :)>>>

Good reply Paul.

You are right, Humility is a key.

Chuck,

I have not gotten any response from roofers due to threads like this, but I do get dozens climbing up to near a hundred special PM requests from Home Owners from the www.DIYchatroom.com Forum, which is a sister site to www.ContractorTalk.com.

Also, I discovered a local "Neighborhood" Forum that I post in, but I don't aggressively spam for self promotion. I rather use it as a partial local social network, plus throw in my 2 cents regarding exterior renovation questions and roofing solutions, and particularly advice about Storm Chasers and how to select any contractor and also how to verify and check up on any contractor through the State Licensing Board, which winds up giving me a bit of what Tico was insinuating, regarding the Expert Status of who to seek out for advice.

I also steer them to some of the Roofing Forums where they can get other, Non-Vested and unbiased opinions. Whether they choose to do so or not doesn't matter, but at least they can see that I offer them venues for accurate information, which puts me in a different class perspective.

If you are there to Help more than self promote, you become a valued point of reference and ideally, the Expert to contact.

Ed>>>

I've done some work in this area (partnering with competitors), both in the manufacturing and contracting areas. We've explored various means of partnering: marketing only, sharing the workload, sharing the infrastructure, up to the level of fusion. Results are a mixed bag. Obviously, even before starting on this idea, both entities have to have some basic respect towards each other. A number of other things have to be more or less in place to any kind of partnership (however loose or formal) to occur: * Similar operating philosophies * Similar management structure * Complementary skills * Consistent approach to leads, closes, post-sale support * Consistent approach to incurring costs, estimating, and allocating profits.

The foundation to any effective partnership has to be trust. Although I have observed partnerships based on a joint level of greed, these tend to be temporary, and explode at the first irritation or screwup. However, trust is probably the currency hardest to earn and keep.

After trust, you need humility. If one of the partners knows it all, then there's not much that can be done, as entering into a partnership means change, and change can be managed well only if one is really able let go of cherished ideas and habits.

Third, you need to have a common direction and timeframe. If one partner just wants to make maximum bucks in the next six months and then move to Grenada (or some other place), and the other is thinking of building a legacy, we've got some fundamental incompatitibities.

Then, you need to have a clear understanding of how money (costs, revenues, profits) will be shared. If one partner has all the family on the padded payroll, and the other prides on paying as little as possible, again we've got major incompatibilities.

And finally, you need to agree to a review and dispute resolution mechanism.

In the last four years, I've tried at least four partnership or arrangements on the manufacturing side and about 5-6 on the contracting side. So far, two on the manufacturing side are working, with one working very well, and two on the contracting side are also working. But make no mistake about it. Partnerships are like a marriage - you got to keep working at it every single day, or it starts falling apart. And given the usual mix of personalities that one finds in any organization, it takes uncommon skill and diplomacy to ensure that all the bucks (both human and fiscal) are running in the same direction. It can be done, but it ain't easy.>>>

Ed I'm still waiting for your answer . Have you had any response to this thread out side of this forum?? Yes, that is the one. I know next to nothing as far as what is going on in my neck of the woods anymore. Once upon a time I was plugged in. I pulled the plug Back in the day.Never looked back. What a relief to be able to let it go. If it is outside this beautiful little community I live in I have pretty much disconnected .What used to be so important to me. Now, I'm not even interested. It is funny to me to take a ride around the old stomping grounds . I have become very comfortable .>>>

I found something that ties in with your link Chuck.

Ed

A simple note is good marketing

I went out to pick the morning paper out of the bushes (why is it no delivery person can ever fling it from their moving vehicle and hit the driveway?) There at my front door was a small cinnamon Teddy Bear refrigerator magnet with a note attached.

It was from Duncan Roofs and it read, in part: “Tomorrow morning we will be replacing the roof at. . . . (a house one block over from mine.) Our crew will begin work at 7:00 A.M. They will be as quiet as possible. However, by nature, our work is somewhat noisy. Please accept this cinnamon Teddy Bear refrigerator magnet as our apology for any inconvenience we might cause you. We hope you will use Teddy to hold notes on your refrigerator and think of us when you or someone you know needs a new roof.”

Well, this obviously got my attention. While I don’t need a new roof (or a Teddy Bear magnet, for that matter), I found myself admiring the imaginative marketing idea represented by the note and Teddy. The soft sell of the note went on to say:

“Perhaps you will have an opportunity to observe us at work. If so, I trust you will be favorably impressed with our efficient and professional work habits. And, if you have any questions about our work, our foreman or myself will be happy to answer them.”

Of course, the author, Mr. R.L. Duncan, president of Duncan Roofs, smartly took the opportunity to offer me a free estimate if or when I need a roof. And, I liked his closing line, too: “Place your trust in a third generation business that has been serving this area since 1918 . . .”

I suspect the roofing business may be experiencing some tough times these days, what with housing starts down, home improvement loans or home equity lines hard to come by, and so on. But, to his credit, Mr. Duncan hasn’t stopped marketing. He may not be shelling out big bucks for big ads these days but he has found an obviously inexpensive and clever way to make sure his service is noticed in the areas in which he’s working. Moreover, it’s a simple idea that could be modified and adapted for use, for example, by the service side of the boat and marina business.

Unfortunately, in tough economic times, marketing expenses are most often the first cut from the budget. It’s not that such cuts aren’t necessary. They are, at least in some proportion. But, that shouldn’t cause failure to continually seek out, create and adapt ways to promote without the big ad budget. In fact, these are the times when you can be clever and do some things you likely would not take time to do when business is good.

And, yes, the Teddy Bear magnet is now on my refrigerator. Gotta hand it to Mr. Duncan — he got his name into my home!

COMMENTSRobert L. NorVelle wrote:

May 5th, 2009 at 1:17 pm This simple and affordable type of marketing is nearly always effective. It will bring $$$ into your dealership through the service door and over the parts and accessory counters!

Remember, when you put together such a plan, SMILE and THINK FRIENDLY THOUGHTS as you develop your plan because that is the reaction you want to get from your potential customers. Notice how the Teddy Bear magnet got such a reaction from Norm? THINK FRIENDLY, BE FRIENDLY. This is supposed to be a low-key, person-to-person marketing plan, don’t complicate it. Keep it simple, keep it FRIENDLY!

Good luck and good selling.

dave boso wrote:

May 6th, 2009 at 8:16 pm I have had frisbes printed and flung them to boaters on various beaches in my area.

Jim Desai wrote:

May 7th, 2009 at 3:13 pm This simple and affordable type of marketing is always effective and now days people use internet social site for marketing like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Craigslist etc an you guys can try that too.

Good luck and good selling.

>

I remember the magnet was a small teddy bear with the company name .It would stick on the fridge , It had a small red ribbon and smelled like cinnamon . Very effective , I think the name was Duncan Roofing, This is more of a side line after a coalition of guys are brought together . I know this can be done. tico has had some great ideas to start. Ed have you had any interest in this from any local guys who maybe lurking ? They say and most of the time do a roof in One day. Tear off and replace .http://www.duncanroofs.com/>>>

Then this thread is not intended for those that don't want to learn, which is fine.

I could use the extra work and I am certain about that.

Ed>>>

In reference to "ole willie's" comment you local guys deserve to lose work to the stormers because of this type of mentality. I am not attacking willie I am just pointing out why the local guys will never "get it" and will always get beat out by the stormers and just bitch about it due to these kind of attitudes.>>>

tico Thank you thank you man. This has some potential of getting traction .If we can keep the nattering nay Bob's to a minimum from distracting . I have had some experience with door knockers . Mine wasn't very successful because I didn't keep it up. There was a company in the 80's at least till 2000 in this area that was very successful at it. When ever they did a job every house on the surrounding blocks were left with a small brochure and a magnet with the company name while the job was in progress. A ready staff to answer questions. One of the big things promoted was we will T/O your roof and put it back in two days. That was their thing and it was done with large crews . They did not get every neighborhood . I have to say here most of the neighborhoods were built around the same time and in massive quantities. A little easier scenario perhaps than most>>>

the door knocking would be really just second sight. that is why I was saying that targeting HOA's as your biggest push.when you grace yourself into their meeting and bring them A very logical systematic approach you then have an open door. then you've planted the seed. when their is an event you freshen them up with a media blitz.you let them know in advance that they will be getting YOUR mailer and that YOUR salesman will approach them only to remind them or freshen their interest. when you do the prep you will also be schooling them. giving them an education as to what the damage looks like provide them with A folder of info. questions outlined in a way that they ask the other guys sales staff questions. give them A stumble sheet. questions that only a roofer can answer. then give them the right answer and let them know who's who and whats what.put the gun and ammo in the owners hands.they will fight for you if you prove to them your worth. we still have hometown pride the thing is no-one is promoting it within their own ranks. make it appealing and something they will store with their ins. policy. have them provide you at one meeting with who yheir ins. co is then do somehome work on their provider. what they pay on exactamate or one of the other ins. linesheets. another thing you may or may not know. you can become preffered contractors with ins. carriers.work out A way that you can get the no. they can pay. many smaller co.s have less overhead. trust that once you start to do the legwork, get preffered platinum with A lagre supplier.offer them what O/C gives. 15 non pro rated 100% materials and labor. with an O/C cert. you do this,first in line lined 'em up off season,then warranty,then local then remind them. guess what these HO's will do? they're gonna talk at work they are gonna make this important to them cause short of kids what is the # 1 goal of achievement in america? home ownership. become their ambassador and steward.>>>

You make good points about the advance information campaign Tico.

Thanks.

Right, why wait for the event to already be occurring and get bombarded with out of town competition, when you can already be set up to have your company or your group coalition as the one that is on everyones mind already.

Now, what information and experience do you have to share about your door knocking for canvassing the neighborhoods?

I have been paying deep attention to multiple threads on Contractor Talk dot com about those for a while and some of it sounds good and some sounds like you are invading someones private space and time at home.

Ed>>>

In another topic tico I was emphasizing the need to get off the arse and stop crying . Meet a lot of resistance. Perhaps as time goes on and the pockets get empty the message will manifest . I like your Good ideas . I can see them working. It takes effort .>>>