Review from the Summit: What's Wrong With Canvassing

My son David took on the next topic at the summit which covered the primary problems that exist when companies attempt to implement a canvassing program. These include:

• Failure to control the herd: Your canvassers need to be given strict guidelines for their dress, behavior and actions as part of the canvassing team. You expect your salespeople to conform to specific standards, why should your canvassers be any different?
• Failure to control the process: There is a proven system that produces greater results than anything else that can be implemented. However, just stating that this is how you are going to cavass is not enough. You need to have a strong manager in place who is willing and able to enforce these rules.
  
• Failure to measure properly: Your goal should be for your canvass leads to perform equal to your leads from other sources, and maintain a 12% marketing cost.
  
• Failure to train: Do you have a canvassing manager? If so, is he devoting enough time to training your personnel to adhere to the guidelines? If not, your sales manager needs to be the one responsible for this task.
  
• Failure to coach: Great managers are also great coaches. They see what is working and what isn't and make the necessary changes while constantly motivating their personnel to achieve maximum performance.
  
• Failure to compensate properly: Like it or not, your canvassers have to be compensated requisite with their responsibilities - - and canvassing is not an easy job. Remember - your canvassers are an extension of your sales force and should be treated as such.
  
• Failure to organize: The successful canvassing program has steps of implementation, you cannot expect to foster immediate results overnight.

For more information on canvassing, look at our free articles.

Next posting, I will review Brian Smith's presentation on "Why Most Sales Training Ultimately Fails".

Review from the Summit: Lead Safe Work Practices

Continuing on with the summary from the Home Improvement Economic Summit in Indianapolis, Paul Toub reviewed the amended Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) and its impact on the remodeling industry.

As Marketing Director of Anthony Home Improvements, Inc. and Housecrafters (installers for 58 of The Home Depot stores), his understanding of TSCA and Lead Safe Work Practices is unmatched within the industry. As a result he was an integral force behind the foundation of Kachina Contractor Solutions, which assists remodelers in conforming to these ever changing laws.

Some of the highlights from his presentation included:

• The April 2008 amendment to the Act and the impact that it has had on the industry
• A sample of an old Lead Safe Work Practices pamphlet versus the new one highlighting the differences of what is required
• Examples of penalties which have occurred over the last year to companies that did not conform to these standards (violations ranging up to $37,500 per day)
• The types of work that are covered under the act
  
• The possible exclusions under the act (which should not be relied upon)
• A revision to the act which will occur in April of 2010, making the guidelines much more stringent for remodelers. The only exclusions will be for newer construction homes and lead-free certified job-sites. While at the moment there is a provision in place for owners to "opt-out", The Sierra Club is pressuring the EPA to eliminate this option.
• The EPA-certification process and how to become a certified renovator
  

The primary take away from this segment was that there is a huge degree of uncertainty in regards to how these laws will be interpreted in 2010 so you should do everything in your power to err on the side of caution.

Keep in mind that you can contact us at (703) 591-2490 with any questions - - and if you have not already ordered it, we are offering the recording from our first summit on our website.

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.

Review from the Summit: State of the Industry

Over the next few weeks I am going to be giving a brief summary of the content from the Home Improvement Economic Summit for those who were not able to attend.

Keep in mind that you can contact us at (703) 591-2490 with any questions - - and if you have not already ordered it, we are offering the recording from our first summit on our website.

Day 1 of the Summit began with my presentation on the state of the industry. Some of the topics of discussion included:

• The common errors made by most home improvement companies
• How the industry recovered after the last major economic setback in 1982
• Relevant case studies from our clients, including a company that utilizes 50 lead sources, and another that is on pace to achieve a 42% increase in net revenue

The primary goal of this part of the summit was to reinforce the point that there are numerous success stories out there and what they have in common is that they all follow a sales system, but in regards to marketing they think outside of the box.

The next posting will cover the industry cautions and concerns for the year 2010.

The Summit Was A Huge Success!

I would like to extend a warm thank you to everyone who participated and attended the Economic Summit in Indianapolis.

We had over 25 presenters and 130 attendees who helped to make it our most successful program to date.

Keep an eye out on our blog and social networks over the next week as we plan to post pictures, videos and content from the event.

The Next Home Improvement Economic Summit

The next Home Improvement Economic Summit is only 2 months away and we are beginning to formulate the itinerary which will include the panelists and topics being covered.

The program is being held in conjunction with the Remodeling Show and a ticket to the Summit will include complimentary access into the exhibitor area at the convention center.

Do you have any pertinent issues facing your business that you would like to see us cover?

Would you like to participate in the event as a panelist? Is so, what is your primary area of expertise?

Please contact me directly at (703) 591-2490 or dave@daveyoho.com.

In the interim, feel free to listen to this complimentary mp3 from the keynote address of this Spring's summit.