Rock-Star Report Vol 5

Author

Steve McKenna
May 17, 2024

8 Min Read Time

Automate These Emails ASAP!

(Part 2 of 2)

Lets get back into it! Last week we talked about Email Campaigns and discussed New Leads and New Customers. Now its time for #3 and #4!

Promotions

Promotions are an amazing way to grow your Audience and your Business in a long-term, sustainable way.  

Unfortunately, I find that most Fabricators, along with other businesses, use them as a Reactionary Tools to get more business. 

I’m not saying quick sales don’t have their place to improve cash flow and boost retail business in times of a slower building cycle, however, it is better if it can be thought out and planned more in advance.  

Even when Times are Good, there are so many ways to creatively use promotions to Keep the Good Times Rolling!

Use Promos to improve your Market Presence, Make a Splash in the Market and Keep Past Customers Engaged for Future Projects. 

You might be thinking: “When we run Promos, we use Facebook Ads, Billboards and Radio Commercials!  Why would I email people who have already bought a kitchen from me??”

👉Those are all good tools and will continue to bring in new traffic, but if you have a list of 2,000 or more past customers or even past people to whom you’ve quoted projects, take the time to email them. 

If you’ve had your business for 5 years or more, there’s a great chance you have a list of 2,000+ people sitting in Moraware or Quickbooks or whatever software you use for quoting and invoicing.  Spend some time gathering up that list. You will be surprised!

Why? 

At any given time, .5% - 1% of your past clients are probably thinking of doing a project, actively working on a new project, or know someone who is going to be doing a project soon.  .5% of 2,000 is 10; if your close rate is 40-50% of the jobs quoted, that’s 4-5 jobs.  Nice ROI for sending a few emails!!! 

Note: Make it easy to unsubscribe to your emails because if you haven’t emailed them for years or ever, lots of the readers will, and that’s ok! 

I’ll write a newsletter about re-activating your list of past customers in the future.  It’s a powerful tool when implemented correctly.

When fabricators run a promo, they are usually some version of:

  • These 4 colors for $45 per sf!

  • Or buy a Kitchen and get a Free Kitchen sink!

☝️ These will generate some sales, but there are several ways to improve the offers. In another edition, I’ll discuss the anatomy of a good promo.

Here’s a Few General Rules You Can Utilize:

  1. 3-4 Promos Per year Only

  • I recently watched someone online promote a sale, then extended that sale, and then extended it a third time!  I couldn’t believe it, but if it didn’t work the first time, it probably didn’t work the following two more times. 

  • If you are going to extend a sale, make sure it is because the sale is doing well and only extend it for a small period of time after the first one. 

  • Also if your customer is only seeing promos coming from you, they will become numb to it and it will not work.

  1. Make Sure Your Offer is Thought Out

  • Many consumers don’t know how much a countertop costs per square foot until they shop for one.

  • Instead of promoting “$45 per sf,”  use “Get Up to $1000 Off!” instead. Try it, and thank me later 😆

  1. Start Communication Before Promo Starts to Generate Interest

  • Announce the Promo communication at least one week before it begins. 

  • If a customer comes into the showroom and asks for the promo before the sale starts and wants to book, just do it. Make an exception, don't make them come in the next day when the sale starts. Secure the sale.

  1. Establish A Time Period For the Promo

  •  The event should create urgency.  I recommend testing this two different ways:

    • Sales should only last 1 week, 2 weeks or 30 days max. If the sale is doing well and you want to extend it, ok…but only do it for a short time period after the original promotion. Having a deadline helps people make a decision.

    • Utilizing a 1-day event and getting very aggressive on the pricing and promotion. is a proven strategy.  We used this strategy for years in our own shop and the results were unbelievable! Do not ever extend this; only one day and have a hard deadline.  Weekends are best for these events.

Bundle Promos  

These are one of the best Promotions you can use anytime during the year to boost revenue and gross margin dollars.

For example, 

Sell the countertop for your regular retail price if that’s all the customer buys.  

But if they buy a countertop+sink=small discount.  

If they buy Countertop+sink+ faucet = better discount. 

Countertop+sink+faucet+backsplash tile or flooring for the kitchen=Great discount! 🥳

You get the idea, just make sure you continue adding high-margin upsells to give the customer greater savings while increasing your bottom line.

Here are a Few Promos ideas to generate some hype!  Remember, only 3-4 per year, and keep mixing up your offers to create excitement:

  • New Years Promo

  • Valentines Day Promo

  • St. Patty’s Day Promo

  • May Long Weekend Promo

  • Canada Day / Independence Day Promo

  • Lake Life Promo

  • BBQ Season

  • Back to School Promo

  • Black Friday Promo

  • Christmas Promo

  • Our employee is having a baby promo

  • Over-stock on these slabs promo

  • Remnant sale promo

  • Anniversary promo

Long-Term Nurture

Long-term nurture campaigns are a fancy way to say: please keep in touch with all of your past customers… forever.  Never stop talking to them.  

Long-term nurture is the hardest campaign to execute well because most people in fabrication are so busy running their businesses that they don’t understand the nuance it takes to engage a customer long-term, with good content.  

Just like my previous newsletter on social media content, this is not all about showing people products and projects you completed this month.  Yes, you should include some of that in your emails, but people want to see your business's culture.  Who works there, what do they do on the weekends for fun, how old are their kids, and how do they engage in the local community?

Park Industries has this figured out. In their recent contest on “2024 Shop Dog Contest” is the perfect example of a long-term nurture campaign.  I was very happy to see a fun topic that excited their past customers to read the emails and contribute to them as well!

If you’re not sure where to start with long-term nurture campaigns, a simple template is more than enough to get going. 

Here are 20 ideas to get your Creative Juices Flowing:

  1. Tip of the month

  2. Top 10 lists

  3. FAQ’s

  4. Feature another local business - have coffee with the owner and write a few paragraphs about it

  5. Slice of life - employee feature section

  6. Holiday editions

  7. Share your or your employee’s Spotify playlist each month

  8. Event Invitations

  9. Event recaps

  10. Hot take on some local news

  11. New product announcements

  12. Job postings

  13. Giveaways

  14. Limited-time coupon codes

  15. Referral-rewards

  16. Thank you letters at year-end from the CEO

  17. Poll or Survey

  18. Customer stories

  19. Projects we love

  20. Feature your vendor rep who’s been visiting you for 10 years!

  21. Bonus #21. Show the local sports team who’s jerseys you sponsored or the volunteer efforts your employees made.

EVENTS IN THE STONE INDUSTRY

Colorado Stone Summit - Dynamic Intentionality

Hosted by Architectural Surfaces

June 6, 2024

Denver, CO

To See Agenda and Register Click Here!

SFA Workshop

Hosted by Cutting Edge Countertops (Brian Burns)

June 6 & 7, 2024

Perrysburg, OH

To see the Agenda or to Register Click Here!

All Slab Fabbers

Hosted by The Granite Guys

June 24-26, 2024

Classes and Tours on the 25 and 26

Location - Pasco, Washington

For more info Click Here!

Digital Stone Working Expo

Hosted by Park Industries

Education, Networking, Tours, and Demos

June 27, 2024

Washington, D.C.

To Register or for more info Click Here!

SATURDAY LOL! 🤣 

💥💥💥💥💥💥

Thanks for reading!

See you next Saturday,

Steve McKenna