Review from the Summit: Industry Cautions

Day 1 of the Summit continued with a breakdown of some of the cautions and concerns that the home improvement industry is currently facing.

Brian Smith began with an overview of the issues and concerns which included:

• Traditional advertising sources are producing less leads per dollar invested
• Changes in lead sources require modification of the sales model
• Effective marketers reduce costs by implementing more creative lead distribution and instituting revised sales models
• Increased marketing costs are a major contribution to lower profitability
• A key ingredient in a successful home improvement marketing/sales plan is: The quality and quantity of leads generated measured against the quality and quantity of the salespeople who are issued the leads which were generated
• The cost of a lead is increased (or reduced) by the efficiency and sales ability of the person to whom it is issued

He then proceeded to demonstrate the efficiency of a sales organization in this economy who made some slight changes to increase revenue by over $2 million while decreasing marketing costs by over 4% (for more information on this case study e-mail brad@daveyoho.com).

David Alan Yoho then touched on the conditions in the marketplace that are having a direct impact on the failure of some companies including:

• Failure to understand the customer’s decision making process
• Misunderstanding between coaching and training
• Hiring the wrong people
• Confusing management and leadership
• Improper compensation

In the next posting the Lead Paint Regulations presentation will be reviewed.