Get easy building projects from the people who already know you

In his excellent book 'Turn your customers into your sales force' Author Ross Reck quotes the following figures.

"25% of your success in business is getting a sale from a customer. Another 25% of your success comes from getting repeat sales from a customer. A whopping 50% of your business success comes from getting existing customers to recommend and promote you to their friends, associates and colleagues."

Ross Reck

In other words up to 75% of your success in business comes from getting repeat and referral sales.

As a builder there are three groups of people who already know you

1: Past and current building clients who have spent money with you.

2: Warm prospects who you’ve given quotes to but have not yet said ‘yes’. (I call these people ‘clients in waiting’.)

3: Key referral sources. (People who could easily give you a number of good quality building work referrals each year.)

People in all three of these groups are great sources of new building work for you.

?However most builders are losing sales by not staying in touch and adding value to the people that already know them.

If people don’t hear from you they tend to forget you.

And if they forget you it’s very hard for them to give you either good quality referrals or more building projects.

So how do you get easy sales from the people who already know you?

The Good news is that it’s very simple to do…

Make a list of 50-75 (or more) people who already know you. This might include 25 past and present building clients, 25 potential building clients (who know you but have not yet bought), and 25 people who could give you regular referrals.

Send each person a short letter by ‘snail mail.’

If it’s a past or present building client your letter could say this…

Hi John, I was thinking about you recently and I trust that things are going well. I just wanted to touch base and say I appreciate your past business. Here is something I thought you might enjoy. (With my compliments.)

Your name

PS: If you have any further building projects you are thinking about doing I’d love the opportunity to quote on them for you.

If it’s a potential building client your letter could say this…

Hi John, I was thinking about you recently and I trust that things are going well. I just wanted to touch base and say I appreciate your interest in what we offer. Here is something I thought you might enjoy. (With my compliments.)

Your name

PS: If you have any further questions on the building projects you discussed with me I’d be happy to answer them for you.

If it’s a referral source your letter could say this…

Hi John, I was thinking about you recently and I trust that things are going well. I just wanted to touch base and say I appreciate your past support and encouragement. Here is something I thought you might enjoy. (With my compliments.)

Your name

PS: If any of your clients or friends are thinking about having some building work done I’d love the opportunity to talk to them about it.

Now with each letter include something helpful, positive or motivational.

  • It could be a $1 scratch and win instant lotto ticket with the chance to win $10,000.
  • It could be an inspirational article on goal settingIt might be some helpful information about saving time
  • It might be a tasteful and funny cartoon. Etc

The key here is that you ‘add value’ with your letter.

So the person who reads it is ‘better off’ in some way after they get it. (They might feel better, enjoy a good laugh, have something useful they can read and so on.)?

When you add value to people who know you they feel good and some of these people will occasionally be in a position to give you either building work themselves or referrals to other people who are thinking about having building work done.The key to this strategy is to put it into action this month even if you only start with 20 people in total. Then continue adding value every month to these same people.

Do You Want Some FREE Help?

Andreas Becker is the Builders’ Business Coach. Since 2003, he has helped good builders and tradies transform their business to generate a constant stream of profitable work and to have more time for themselves by creating a plan and teaching them the best strategies that get results.

If you want to discover ways to transform YOUR business, book a free Strategy Session with the Builders Coach.


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