Toolbox Talk

I was inspired to write something about I read in a Facebook thread of a group I joined about tradies. It's a question about Google AdWords or Pay-Per-Click advertising. Many of you have heard of this, but I'm sure that not all of you have figured out how to do it. It's okay because you are not supposed to be good at it. You'd do better by learning how to develop your skills to become a better tradesman. 

And I don't recommend you DIY this stuff or else you'll only be wasting your marketing money. But, if you have someone who can do it for you, I'll show you how to apply it to your trades business.

Last week I talked about the ways your customers lie just to get a cheaper price which leaves you at your disadvantage. I wanted to explore a bit more on that. Your customers may lie if they want to win you over at a cheaper price but don't you know they do same thing if they don't give you the job anyway? Why would they do that? 

I know it's probably what you're asking right now so I'm here to tell you the REASONS why 'people tell lies'. I'll spill you the beans in this short video.

Can you tell if your customers are lying just to get a discount? If you're not so sure how they do it, I'll tell you the signs. Don't fall in the trap or you'll end up losing.

I hired a plumber for some small jobs at home. The guy is nice but the experience I had from their service is not so good. And I learned some important lessons from it that I want to share with you.

Lead aggregation sites are very popular among small businesses who want to get more leads and bring in more work. But, is it really worth investing your marketing money?

You might be wondering what the customers do before they decide to hire a tradesman. Let me share with you my own experience as a customer of trades businesses. Hint: there is a process.

Most of the time we hear our customers asking for a discount for cash transactions. As a trades business owner, should you be doing it? Well, I don't think you should discount and I'm going to tell you WHY.

Sometimes conflicts arise and often the cause is a misunderstanding, having two different understandings of the situation. But I believe you can avoid conflicts if you have a proper communication system in place. Let me show what it is.

Remember last time I had a nasty experience with a tyre guy? They sent me an offer recently and I was tempted to do it. Their strategy is clever even though I feel bad about them. Let me show what they sent.

Let's run a quick website analysis of your trades business. If it isn't bringing enquiries or reassuring people that you are what they thought, then it's not doing its job. Here are some thoughts on what to do about it.