Find New Business in What is Trending
It’s August, and we are past the halfway point in the year. Right now is the time to start thinking about how your year is going to end…not in December. With that in mind, I am going to talk about how to find new business in what is popular or trending, and how to dig deeper into the rabbit hole than your competition.
As a business advisor to contractors, I pay attention to trends so that I can better help the people I work with. I wanted to share with you a straightforward but useful practice that you can apply to your business with regards to trends.
Look for the Popular Trends
I’ll give you an example:
- Trend 0: People are staying in their homes longer.
- Trend 1: At home, services become more important as homeowners transition while staying in place.
- Trend 2: Instead of building full kitchens, smart contractors are building AIP (aging in place) projects into their lineups.
- Trend 3: Bath remodelers are building more sit-down showers than double-headed stand-up showers.
And so on. You then have to ask, “So then what else happens?”
At my company, I sell private coaching and consulting to make sure you (or your agency, website designer, or son’s friend’s father) get it right. Why? Because contractors like you are tired of the “one and done” feeling of the current marketing landscape and want to make sure they are doing it the right way.
The question you have to work through: “And then what?”
It’s how you talk to your best customer, online, offline, with words, without words. Their entire experience with you and your business.
Try it.
A lot of times this leads to a bit of panic. Sometimes, a trend means that people won’t need your business. If that’s true, wouldn’t it be better to know it long before the phone stops ringing?
The one thing I know for sure is that contractors trash their businesses fastest by standing still. By doing nothing. There are very precious few businesses who can say, “We’ve done it the same way for decades.” More often than not, they go out of business sooner than that.
Think about it. People will say Amazon killed Barnes and Noble and Borders Books. Guess what? They killed themselves. They had the money and resources to deliver something amazing. They just thought they were doing fine.
They weren’t. But they didn’t know it until they got hit in the head with the shovel.
The market is shifting, at some point, the market is going to correct. Are you prepared to stick it out? That depends on what you do today