# I need some advice fellow contractors



## PipeNinja (Mar 17, 2012)

*I need some advice fellow excavators...*

Honestly, most of our work comes from word of mouth. We always try to do the best job we can do for our customers. I'm sure many of you feel the same way. We have repeat customers too, and probably 30% of our work comes from management companies. I have just been trying to get some new customers through various methods, and we recently totally revamped out website. The old website looked like a 10 year old created it for a school project, it was bad. Our new site, *Rochester Trenchless*, looks much more professional, but I have been thinking about adding some e-books people can download(or just information pages or a blog or something). They might talk about the difference in using 21 pipe over 35 pipe, or copper pipe vs. 200 PSI Poly. Or Trench-less vs. Traditional excavating. I am looking for some good ideas that our customers might want to know more about, but are usually clueless on that topic. The only condition is that it has to go along with my website theme. I don't want to write about planting trees or gardening or something. I think it will help people understand why going with the cheapest contractor is not always a good idea...


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## singlespeed (Oct 8, 2008)

*Website*

First suggestion on the website, make it so that something shows up even when people don't have Flash player. I am using an iPad, I seem to do most of my web surfing on here, and it doesn't support Flash player. I am sure that there might be a way for me to see the website, but make it as easy as possible if you want to give someone something to read. When I went to open your website it is basically a blank screen telling me I need Flash player. 

Like I said the iPad is the predominant way that I am on the Internet and way that I read stuff, so keep that in mind since they are so popular. 

Good luck.


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## PipeNinja (Mar 17, 2012)

Thanks singlespeed, that has been haunting me for a while now. I might have to convert from flash.


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## Inner10 (Mar 12, 2009)

Looks decent, Flash has no problem running on my device, its high time the iPad catches up to the rest of the world. :laughing:


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## CCW (Aug 14, 2009)

The web site looks very good. For information to potential customers that are clueless about some of the services, on your services page, I would make each bullet point a link to pics of projects and drawings like you did for the "no dig" page.


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## Astrix (Feb 23, 2009)

I really like your website. Your bio and vision statement on the home page is great and brings a human touch to the company. Only because you specifically asked for suggestions, I offer the following (I truly think your website is real fine just the way it is):

On your Contact page: It is a bit confusing because you acknowledge that emergencies happen when least expected, but then it states that office hours are from Monday to Friday 7AM to 5PM. What happens if that emergency occurs on a Saturday night? If you intend to be available 24-7, I suggest you add After-Hours Emergency Contact Info.


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## PipeNinja (Mar 17, 2012)

Thanks CCW, I was wondering where to add the e-book content stuff. That is a great idea. And I will address that too Astrix, I will probably make "office hours" and "emergency contact". Thanks for the input guys, I really appreciate it. 10 heads are better than one, lol. You guys see things I had never seen.


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## dayexco (Mar 4, 2006)

i know you "need to get your name...out there"...but it'd be my hope my 40+ yrs experience, referrals, and my supposed expertise get me hired...than my exposure on the net. it's scary to think...that people make decisions on who to hire to probably do one of the most important jobs on their home site.... to somebody that has the most "friends"...or "hits"...from my generation's standpoint, it's rather scary. i guess, whatever it takes to get your margin!!!


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## EthanB (Sep 28, 2011)

dayexco said:


> i know you "need to get your name...out there"...but it'd be my hope my 40+ yrs experience, referrals, and my supposed expertise get me hired...than my exposure on the net. it's scary to think...that people make decisions on who to hire to probably do one of the most important jobs on their home site.... to somebody that has the most "friends"...or "hits"...from my generation's standpoint, it's rather scary. i guess, whatever it takes to get your margin!!!


I agree with you about the theory but the results show otherwise. Most people 10-65 now will check the internet for answers before they will call a friend for a referral. Someone who works in an office might ask around if they think of it at work but if they're home they're probably looking online. There's a joke that says "if it's on the internet it must be true" and that really is a reflection of the modern customers perception.

I love word of mouth but you're better off getting your customers to leave you good reviews on Google than to rely on them being in the right place at the right time.

To the OP, white papers(downloadable documents) can be great but it's important to look from a customer's perspective. I don't know your business well enough to suggest topics but I bet if you write down every customer's questions for the next couple weeks(even the dumb ones) you'll see some good topics.


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## dayexco (Mar 4, 2006)

EthanB said:


> I agree with you about the theory but the results show otherwise. Most people 10-65 now will check the internet for answers before they will call a friend for a referral. Someone who works in an office might ask around if they think of it at work but if they're home they're probably looking online. There's a joke that says "if it's on the internet it must be true" and that really is a reflection of the modern customers perception.
> 
> I love word of mouth but you're better off getting your customers to leave you good reviews on Google than to rely on them being in the right place at the right time.
> 
> To the OP, white papers(downloadable documents) can be great but it's important to look from a customer's perspective. I don't know your business well enough to suggest topics but I bet if you write down every customer's questions for the next couple weeks(even the dumb ones) you'll see some good topics.



apparently, i don't have as many "friends" as you. it's really sad, when a facebook appearance will get you more notoriety than quality work at a fair value. as i said in my previous post. if your net appearance makes you bucks...good for you!!! whatever it takes to pay the rent


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## jmacd (Jul 14, 2009)

I guess the Internet presence depends on who you are going after. Home owner customers compared to say commercial GC's. 

The GC's types I would hope would be from reputation. I know that reputation will make you more money than any Internet presence. The selling of yourself and why you should be compensated well for what you do is already done. 

I do get request for quotes from out of town GC's all the time and think they have found me from the Internet. The out off town GC's are not what I would call desirable customers, at least not to me.

I would also agree that a good web site is a must. I look at it as your resume'. The web site should be able to show a potentially customer what you are capable of. You hope the customer found you from referral or reputation. Then you can direct them to the web site. 

The Internet is the new yellow pages. The customers that called every one in the yellow pages, when that was how it was done, are not necessarily the best customer though. 

You have to start somewhere and good Internet presence will not hurt you any thats for sure.

As to the OP's question. I think you have to explain why what you do is better than the competition and that is always done best face to face.


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## PipeNinja (Mar 17, 2012)

Yeah I totally agree. And like I said, our reputation follows us. We try and do everything above and beyond what is required. Our best customers are word of mouth referrals. I was just trying to improve my "resume" as you put it by improving my website. Problem is if it gets too noticed online, we could just be chasing around free estimates all day lol. That's why I prefer word of mouth referrals, but I don't want to just throw away other methods of getting new customers. There is a good chance that we will find some great new customers to work for by improving our website you know?


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## jmacd (Jul 14, 2009)

dayexco said:


> apparently, i don't have as many "friends" as you. it's really sad, when a facebook appearance will get you more notoriety than quality work at a fair value. as i said in my previous post. if your net appearance makes you bucks...good for you!!! whatever it takes to pay the rent


Day, I am your "friend"


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## PipeGuy (Oct 8, 2004)

PipeNinja said:


> ...30% of our work comes from management companies. I [want]to get some new customers [so] totally revamped out website. ...I have been thinking about adding some e-books people can download(or just information pages or a blog or something). They might talk about the difference in using 21 pipe over 35 pipe, or copper pipe vs. 200 PSI Poly. Or Trench-less vs. Traditional excavating. I am looking for some good ideas that our customers might want to know more about...but are usually clueless. I think it will help people understand why going with the cheapest contractor is not always a good idea...


PN
Last year I bought 10's of millions of dollars-worth of utility construction materials and subcontract services. Not once was a purchasing decision even remotely driven by a website's pretty appearance or depth of content. The #1 thing I want a website to do is this: very quickly make it very easy for me to contact a person to talk with. It's that simple. To me, all the rest is just so much "noise". At the initial contact phase of things lots of product data, technical information and video presentations is just detailed noise. 

Commercial and institutional customers (developers, GC's and public agencies) are typically well informed and have already decided which mix of technology / material is appropropriate for their project. The work is already "spec'd". They already know what they want done. When they're on the web they're not, at that moment, looking for a contractor to hire. They're simply trying to very quickly and easily make contact with one or more contractors who might turn out to be cost effective means to accomplish whatever task they need to undertake. It's my experience that whether or not a subcontract / purchase order is awarded is in the very largest part about what happens between people and in a most miniscule part about what's available on a website. To that end, I think you'll benefit most from those things you can put on your website which will make it quick and easy for a potential customer to talk with the initial point-of-contact at your company be that you or an estimator or a sales rep. Put a prominent E-mail link along with the phone number that appears on your front page. 

I think the same focus on facilitating an initial contact event is of benefit to you with respect to the "clueless" portion of your market. When it comes to our industry, dedicating website resources to technically informing the technically uninformed doesn't seem to me a very valuable proposition. Much better to quickly get in front of the potential client who doesn't know what he needs and begin to personally work out with them the technologies and materials which might be best suited to whatever improvements they want performed. 

I think your current website says that you have lots of energy and enthusiasm about the work that you do. I don't see it as conveying a particualrly "professional" tone. It promotes trenchless repair but doesn't seem to offer any images of the benefits which might be realized by trenchless technology. It looks to me like the "scratcher" portrayed in one of the photos (with the bucket all the way up in the air) is pulling a wheelie. The ninja looks to me more like a bomb squad technician than a ninja and I find it's appearance, at best, "odd". The videos are "fun" but I think presenting them in person would be a more effective use with respect to your sales efforts. As a buyer, watching them wouldn't in anyway motivate me to contact you. In fact, it might distract me from doing so as soon as otherwise possible.


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## dayexco (Mar 4, 2006)

yer a wise man there mr. rick


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## dayexco (Mar 4, 2006)

jmacd said:


> Day, I am your "friend"


THANK YOU!!! i can use all i can find...i have a tendency to piss everybody off


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## PipeGuy (Oct 8, 2004)

dayexco said:


> yer a wise man there mr. rick


My 16 y/o son would beg to differ mr G. Besides...you know what free advice is worth (internet advice no less).


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