Why A "Full Service Restoration Company"?

Why Be A "Full Service Restoration Company"?

Most restoration cleaner/contractors try to make their businesses all things to all people. They present themselves as "full-service restoration contractors." They're afraid to leave anything out, no matter how marginal it might be. They fail to grasp a critical marketing rule: The power of your message is directly related to its simplicity and clarity.

Seven out of ten American companies (and an even greater percentage of carpet & restoration cleaner/contractors) have no concept about how to brand their business or are going about it the wrong way and are wasting marketing dollars they just don't have.
 
Fortunately, the cure for poor branding is simple. The major obstacle to branding your business is fear. Building a dynamite brand requires a total commitment to a single path, an approach that involves taking at least some risks.

Branding entails a relentless focus on a concise, compelling message. Just like skydiving, the first step is the hardest. After that it gets easier.

You'll find that developing a strong brand is worth the effort and the money. It leads to more market share, more sales, more competitive strength, and greater overall growth.

Don't think that you can't brand your cleaning & restoration service. Frank Perdue branded chicken. Perrier branded bottled water. And Florida and California have branded sunshine.

The even better news is that, based on 25 years of statistical analysis, you can be reasonably sure that your competition 's branding is awful. It's either non-existent, or it's based on concepts that have nothing to do with a differentiating value that customers or prospects want.

What this means is that you don't have to create the most innovative marketing campaign in history to penetrate your target market. You simply have to use branding the right way to separate yourself from the pack.

HERE 'S WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO.

FIRST -- FOCUS ON YOUR UNIQUE SERVICE CONCEPT

To build an instantly recognizable brand, you need to attach your name to an exclusive idea of value to the customer. A great brand is one that's successful because it's different from your competitors' and meaningful to customers.

Strengthening your brand requires finding a specific idea that you stand for. Over time, branding means building complete trust among your customers that you'll always deliver what you promise.

To be number one in your marketplace, you have to have a specialty. This is another word for positioning, but I'm using it because it forces you to think about differentiating your brand in a highly focused way.

Successful branding is based not just on having a specialty, but on having a specialty that you are number-one in. It promises that you are the best at what you do. It must be important to the customer. It has to be believable to the customer. It has to be memorable in its emotional effect. And, you must consistently live up to your promise.

This specialty will then become your "Unique Service Concept". For many professional carpet & restoration cleaners, simply repositioning their brand around a "Unique Service Concept" can increase sales from 10 percent up to 100 percent.

THE POSITIONING SURPRISE . . .
The narrower your focus, the wider your message spreads. In other words, you say the most by saying the least, because the simplest, clearest message invariably wins.

If you are selling a service of real value, your "USC" will take very few words. Your brand can only achieve recognizable status if it owns a particular difference in the customer's mind. How can your brand own such a difference? When you're perceived as the one who can, does, or will do something in a special way that others won't.

A BETTER MOUSETRAP
Just because you own a better mousetrap does not mean an overstressed, impatient world will beat a path to your door. The only way to get them in is to make a compelling case for your specialty. You have to weave into your message a proposition that says the value you're offering exceeds the cost. When you do that, your offer will be worth the customer's time, risk, and money.