While I was in Baltimore, MD a few weeks ago presenting at the Remodeling Show and Deck Expo, I shared a story of a general contractor who lost a $3,000,000 sale. Today, I want to share that story with you and show you how to prevent something similar from happening to you.
The Contractor Who Lost a $3,000,000 Sale…
They are a general contractor who do tenant improvement and commercial construction. No I know a lot of people will say that commercial is all about word of mouth… and it is, maybe. Right? What happened with this contractor is that it came down to the wire for bids between this company and another construction company. Both of them referred…
The property manager needed to decide, which company would they choose for this $3,000,000 project? So they met in person and got the bids from the two companies, which were both detailed, but when they started to do online research, this company only had ONE Google review. And worse, they have no photos and no pages on their website about the service they were selling. They just had a “services” page with a bulleted list that may or may not have had the service they were trying to provide.
So, don’t get the job and they ask the property manager why they didn’t get the job and the property manager says “Well, we really enjoyed meeting with you, but we didn’t see that you actually do this on your website and we didn’t feel confident awarding you this $3,000,000 contract.”
How YOU Can Avoid Losing a $3,000,000 Sale
So that’s what’s at stake with your website. You can have all of the reviews and all of the referrals, but if it doesn’t add up online, and people don’t feel really certain that you can do the job, then you are going to lose out on those big sales. You have to make sure that people FEEL confident when they are about to work with you. You also have to make sure that your online story is consistent. This means everything from your website, to your reviews, to your SEO are one in the same.
Listen to my Full Remodeling Show + Deck Expo Presentation!
Part of my book Get FOUND Online: The Local Business Owner’s Guide to Digital Marketing has a chapter about how consumers find local businesses nowadays. Even when business comes from a referral, the search for information always ends up online. Whether it’s someone Googling a phone number or looking up directions, it will end up online. So, if you’d like lo learn more about all of this, check out the full recording of my Remodeling Show + Deck Expo!