Bathtub Reglazing

Marketing Is Your Key To Success

So, you’ve invested hundreds or maybe even thousands of dollars on this great niche business called Bathtub Refinishing.  You’ve gone through one of the many great Bathtub Refinishing Training Programs like the one that Topkote Bathtub Refinishing Products offers and have all of your equipment and supplies necessary to start refinishing tubs so you can make those great dollars. Now, all you need to do is bring in the work. As simple as this may seem, it goes much deeper than that.  One thing is certain with the Bathtub Refinishing business, it is much more than delivering a cost-effective service because nothing will happen until you “sell the job” so, one of the things that you must do is market your business,  develop and implement a  plan of attack.

What I am going to do in the forthcoming months ahead is help you realize and act upon one of the most important steps in any business,  marketing.

Three of the biggest influences in my life have been Jay Levinson, Sun Tzu, and a former employer of mine from whom I learned that you could sell a penny to a street corner bum.  Jay Levinson is one of the greatest marketing experts of all time, he wrote the #1 best-selling series “Guerrilla Marketing”  and it is a series that I recommend you read.

Sun Tzu was a consultant to a variety of Chinese warlords and emperors around 500 B.C.  He had a great understanding of the Art of War.  His writings are about core values, creative ideas, and sound strategies.  Corporate giants use his strategies to this day to wage war and win with many of their competitors.  It is another must read.

What I am going to do is combine the strategies of Guerrilla Marketing with the concepts of Sun Tzu and apply them to the bathtub refinishing business.

Sun Tzu’s idea of laying plans is based on five factors:

• Moral Influence
• Weather
• Terrain
• Commander
• Doctrine

In battle, he who master’s these factors wins the war.  For you, master these factors and make money.

In business, the moral influence is your mindset, being market ready and telling this to the world, the weather is your abilities, knowing what you can or can’t do, the terrain is your service area, the commander is your customer and the doctrine is your tactics, plan of attack and implementation of this plan.

In this first article, I’m going to start with your mindset.

Wikipedia defines mindset as:

A mindset, in decision theory and general systems theory, refers to a set of assumptions, methods or notations held by one or more people or groups of people which is so established that it creates a powerful incentive within these people or groups to continue to adopt or accept prior behaviors, choices, or tools. This phenomenon of cognitive bias is also sometimes described as mental inertia, “groupthink“, or a “paradigm“, and it is often difficult to counteract its effects upon analysis and decision making processes.

On the positive sides a mindset can also be seen as incident of a persons Weltanschauung or philosophy of life. For example there has been quite some interest in the typical mindset of an entrepreneur.

Your mindset is the most important of all the factors.  This mindset translates into the enthusiasm and passion with everything you do, every one you meet, every contact you make and every customer you work for.

For the Bathtub Refinishing business your mindset should be thinking about your mission statement, understanding your target market and who is going to use your services. You should be creating and measuring your plan and how you are going to build relationships with customers and prospects. The bottom line is this, if people don’t know who you are, they can’t use your services.

Here it is a great exercise.

Take a good look around you as you are driving through town.  Pay close attention to which billboards capture your eye.  Listen to which commercials stick in your mind (my personal favorite is the Geico commercials “so simple even a caveman can do it”) what a great hook! By doing this you are developing a keen sense of your surroundings therefore sharpening your marketing mindset.

Here are four things that I want you to do before the next article.

• Continue to learn about marketing by reading the books I mentioned earlier
• Pick the top two Bathtub Refinishing competitors and analyze what they’re doing to market and what is working for them.  Call them up and get a free written quote to see how they present themselves and to get a general idea of how much they charge.
• Define your bathtub refinishing business. Write down what you are willing to do.  Ask yourself  are you selling a basic service with no ups and no extras or are you selling a top of the line refinishing job that will last many years.
• Keep a journal of these things

This is how I want you to think for the rest of your career

• I am committed
• I will think creatively
• I will strive to improve
• I will treat every customer as #1
• I will strive for new business opportunities, alliances, joint ventures and partnerships
• I will think about marketing all the time

I urge you to follow these steps, I am sure they will help you as they have helped me.

Until next time…

Marketing your bathtub refinishing business has brought to you by the Bathtub Refinishing Association of America.

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