Understand motives

By Timothy Miller

February 28, 2012

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Success in restoration marketing is based on getting the targets you want to refer, hire or work with you to change.

Your targets are often already working with another contractor (or perhaps several), so getting them to change isn’t easy. This means that we have to think hard about what would get them to change. And typically, that is some sort of pain or motive. That’s why we say that if there’s no dissatisfaction, there’s no sale.

This is why it’s so important to uncover and understand the motivations of your targets. If you don’t, you won’t find the problem, the challenge, the “owie” that will let you demonstrate that you can and will help where their current contractor doesn’t. If you can’t do that, they are unlikely to change.

Many restorers’ sales efforts are “product and service” based. In other words, they can’t wait to tell people about their Honcho 9000 Super Sucker and the state-of-the-art technology this great machine represents. This is a crucial mistake because nobody cares about your equipment! As far as your targets are concerned, there’s little, if any, difference in how well you and your competitors can dry a building and clean up smoke damage. So saying you do it “better” - even if you do - isn’t a reason for them to switch.

But, if you could show that target how you can solve a business problem or challenge (or pain!) they have then you’re likely to get their interest. If you can accomplish this you might be surprised to discover that their reasons to choose you will have little to do with drying a structure or cleaning up smoke damage!

For example, let’s say that you are marketing to general contractors. A major problem for these targets when disaster strikes (like the drywall contractor knocking off a sprinkler head on a system that wasn’t supposed to be charged!) is getting his people back to work to minimize costs and reduce the potential for completion penalties or even losing the job. So speed to completion is critical. If you can show you can dry faster, and that by drying faster you solve their problem, you’re likely to get the work over a competitor who doesn’t understand how to relate their offerings to the contractor’s pain.

For another example of relating your offering to your target’s pain, consider an insurance claims adjuster. An adjuster''s motive might be that he needs to close the claim file faster. Everybody knows adjusters have a horrific workload and they''re always under pressure to close files. If you''ve got a way to help them close files faster - whether that''s through your technical approach to the restoration process, the documentation system that you put together, etc. - that would be a motive for an adjuster to work with you.

Agents, on the other hand, tend to find have four key motives. First they want to keep the book of business that they have. Second, they want word of mouth referrals for new business. Third, they need to control loss ratios, because a substantial chunk of their income often depends on that. Finally, they’re always looking for some type of competitive edge because competition from Internet-based insurance is becoming more and more problematic. So if you can show agents that you can help them keep business, get referrals, control loss ratios and develop a competitive edge, that’s going to get their attention.

Remember, change always is painful. You have to find the thing that is more painful to the target than not changing. Once you know that, you can communicate how the unique attributes of your company and the way you do business will alleviate those pains. If you can do this successfully, you will find that the topic of restoration itself is rarely part of the conversation!

Timothy Miller is the president of Business Development Associates, Inc., a marketing consulting firm that works exclusively with clients in the cleaning and restoration industry. With more than 25 years of industry experience, Tim helps restorers truly understand their differentiation and branding and develop strategic and tactical marketing plans that include specific, actionable tasks that increase sales and profits. He is also the co-creator of Sales Mastery for Restorers, a unique program designed to teach restorer salespeople to generate commercial and referral business easily and consistently.