The Funding Dilemma

I am always looking for black and white answers to problems, then to make a sure-footed decision, and move forward decisively . . . perhaps it’s the engineer in me. So, I am very big on gathering all the facts so that an educated choice can be made with my eyes wide open. I don’t think I’m wishy-washy, though, because when I decide, it is almost always final.

My normal MO has been hard to follow when it comes to whether and when to seek funding for my company, jobtrio.com (contractor advertising), however. Maybe it’s because I’m new to this particular strain of dilemma, or maybe it’s because there is no right answer, but irregardless, this quandary is making me crazy.

On the one hand (acquire funding) is:

• having the resources to execute our marketing plan as we truly envision it
• hire great help to tune-in our product. do sales, expand our geographical coverage
• employ industry experts to give us much needed advice along the journey

. . .Then on the other hand (hold-off on funding):

• retain control and a large stake in the company I started
• test-out our business model on a small scale so that we fully understand our cash flows (i.e learn what our product is really worth)
• not obligate our selves to anyone else (i.e. at present, we only let ourselves down if we fail)

I get all sorts of varying advice on this topic. In general, industry veterans tell me to bootstrap for as long as humanly possible. My friends and family all advice me to get some funding so that I can stop working 16 hours a day.

At present, we have yet to seek funding, but this lifestyle is really starting to grind on me! I would very much appreciate it if anyone could offer me some words of wisdom regarding either path.

Josh Groves
President
jobtrio.com
Profiles and reviews of California contractors.
“Let’s get to work!”

Construction Contracting SEO Keywords

I recently employed a search engine marketing (SEO) firm to help recode our construction contractor directory website in order to improve our site’s search engine relevency for certain keywords and phases which our customers may use to find our site. The idea being, we try to have the code for our site mention as many of these keywords as possible in all the right places, and this in turn convinces Google, Yahoo, etc. that we are the most appropriate search result for these terms.

So, our SEO firm, Internet Marketing Inc., has aked me to compile the top 20 terms I think our clients would use to locate or site. This is a little tricky since we have two types of clients: contractors and people seeking contractors. Here is my best shot, assuming that some of the “seeking a contractor” keywords would actually be used by contractors to locate advertising outlets:

1. construction leads
2. contracting leads
3. construction projects
4. construction work
5. contractor profiles
6. public works projects
7. builders
8. remodelers
9. roofers
10. painters
11. plumbers
12. electricians
13. find a contractor
14. contractor reviews
15. landscapers
16. gardeners
17. construction jobs
18. general contractors
19. kitchen remodel
20. bath remodel

I would love any suggestions or input anyone has one this topic.

Thanks,

Josh Groves
President
jobtrio.com
Profiles and reviews of California contractors.
“Let’s get to work!”

Construction Contractor Resources on the Web

My research involved with discovering the best methods for reaching construction contractors on the Web has caused me to stumble across a large variety of resources aimed at the contracting community. There really are some great sites out there that have the contractors’ best interests in mind, but there are also plenty of domains which are focused on simply getting at the contractors’ pocketbooks. It is my stance that sites which are driven by any motivations other than content, openness, usability, and community are destined for failure in the very near future. The burgeoning Internet populace just won’t stand for it. That being said, here are some of my observations/thoughts on some of the leading contracting resources on the Web:

• Servicemagic.com : The behemoth site which solicits home owners to enter details about a project which they need performed, and then Servicemagic disseminates these leads to “relevant” contractors in the same geographic region as the homeowner. The contractor then pays a fee to acquire the contact information for the homeowner. From what I understand, the per lead fee varies between $20 and $50 or so. Servicemagic themselves say that about 1 in 10 leads should pan out for the contractor. My research shows that it is more like 1 in 20. Just look around the Web to see how contractors feel about Servicemagic. Contractors overwhelmingly seem to loath them, but they also seem to see no alternative. In my opinion, Servicemagic is the epitome of what we don’t want jobtrio.com to be. Servicemagic controls the flow of information between client and contractor, they throttle back the ever important human aspect of business so the homeowner likely ends up with a contractor who doesn’t really match their specific needs, and they place the entire burden on the contractor. Everyone is gets stuck holding the tab except Servicemagic, of course. Servicemagic is doomed for the same reason that ebay.com gets ten times the traffic as shopping.com: consumers want uninhibited access to information and products so that they can make an educated selection.
• Buildingnetwork.com : This is probably the most contractor-friendly resource on the web right now. The Building Network owns 10 or so different forums (contractortalk.com, electriciantalk,com, etc.), all revolving around construction or home improvement. And, they are all free. The advertisers foot the bill. I have absolutely no critiques on their business model or they manner in which they conduct themselves . . . I just wish I had thought of it.
• Bidclerk.com : this is a very professionally-geared site. I believe it is $40 a month, and a contractor then has access to different projects which get posted in their geographic region. The projects tend to be posted by project managers or general contractors. From what I have heard, Bidclerk is really a toss-up. If you live in a small town, you can go months without having a relevant project appear on Bidclerk. But, on the flip-side, I have also personally interviewed very successful contractors who get all of their work off of Bidclerk. I would say, set some ROI limits, and then give it a shot.
• Craigslist.com : Don’t get me wrong, I love Craigslist, but I would never recommend using a contractor found via a Craigslist ad. In my personal experience, contractors advertising on craigslist or responding to craigslist ads have fallen on very hard times and are desperate — this is never a good thing. OK, I’ll say it: I’ve been burned by a couple contractors I located via craigslist.

I could continue, but it is getting late (for me) and I have probably angered enough people already with these statements. The short of it is: business only works if everyone is winning and happy. Contracting is the most organic form of business, so make sure that you are picking the right contractor for your project and make sure that you are paying them a very fair wage. Any website which muddies the waters of contracting is doing the whole industry a disservice.

Josh Groves
President
jobtrio.com
Profiles and reviews of California contractors.
“Let’s get to work!”

jobtrio.com - Reaching Santa Barbara Contractors

As President of jobtrio.com, one of my jobs is to understand our client base so as to better know how to provide them with a useful service. Presently, we are marketing our contractor lead generation website very hard to the Santa Barbara area. Being a numbers guy, I generally like to start with statistics, and see what I can deduce. Here’s the major trades in SB, along with the number of contractors practicing those trades:

Total Contractors (1652)

• General Contractors (821)
• Electrical (144)
• Painting (144)
• Landscaping (123)
• Plumbing (109)
• Engineering Contractors (66)
• Climate Control (HVAC) (52)
• Concrete (45)
• Tile (47)
• Cabinets and Finish Carpentry (38)
• Roofing (34)
• Flooring (35)
• Masonry (26)
• Home Theater, Networking and Security Systems (25)

The first thing I notice, is the large proportion of General Contractors. This is likely a symptom of the booming economy over the last 10 years. The next thing I notice is the low number of HVAC Contractors; this probably has to do with the pleasant climate of SB. Just look at Florida and see how many HVAC contractor there are per capita.

Of course there are many other observations that can be made, but I think the large number of Generals is very key: they are hubs in the social network of contractors. If we can show them that jobtrio.com offers a great, affordable means for contractor advertising, the popularity of our site could really snowball. But, how do we reach them?

Here is our proposed approach:

1. free memberships for the major hubs
2. Personalized cold-emails to the smaller hubs followed by
3. sales calls to the smaller hubs
4. account setup assistance and support for the smaller hubs

Starting this week, we will be putting this plan into action. I will let you know how it goes. Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Josh Groves
President
jobtrio.com
Profiles and reviews of California contractors.
“Let’s get to work!”

Marketing to the Construction Industry

For the last three weeks, I have been overseeing the prospect of marketing our new construction lead generation web platform to construction contractors. It is pretty apparent to me that there are some hurdles we need to overcome. Some of the initial roadblock we are finding are:

1. Inertia. Construction is still a widely word-of-mouth industry, thus it is often difficult to convince contractors that there is a good reason to advertise on the Internet.
2. Getting an Audience. The construction contractor is a very busy individual by nature and hard to pin down. Also, the fact that exist in a world of “brick and mortar” (no pun intended) is completely contrasted with the ones and zeros world of the Internet — we run in different circles.
3. Holding an Audience. Contractors live in a constant world of wheeling-and-dealing. There are constantly selling, and they are constantly being sold to. This can make them a wary and impatient audience for our pitches.
4. Fear of the Unknown. A lot of the contractors seem either overwhelmed by the prospect of Web advertising, or know so very little about the Internet that is difficult to even begin a conversation with them that involves the Web.

So far, we have taken a pretty typical approach in trying to get the message to the contractors. We started with a Web and local print media PR campaign. Next, we started running radio ads on local classic rock stations. And, just recently, we have launched a comprehensive pay-per-click campaign on Google, targeting local contractors and their potential clients.

It’s slow going. Some people have advised me that it is just a side effect of the ecomnomic times, but I really don’t think so. I believe that we just haven’t found our avenue which will allow us to properly communicate to value of our product to construction contractors. Regarding the “economic times” argument, here is a quote which I find my self constantly referencing:

“It is well documented that brands that increase advertising during a recession, when competitors are cutting back, can improve market share and return on investment at lower cost than during good economic times.”

John Quelch, Marketing Your Way Through a Recession, Harvard Business School, March 3, 2008

Well, time to log off and analyze some more Ad Words. Please chime in with any ideas or comments you have for me regarding marketing to construction contractors.

Josh Groves
President
jobtrio.com
Profiles and reviews of California contractors.
“Let’s get to work!”

jobtrio.com - Online Contractor Advertising

8 months ago my business partner and I took on the broadly-defined task of trying to design a website which could connect users with construction contractors in the most efficent, fair way possible. It’s been a long, sometimes very painful journey, but we now have the initial version of our site launched!

For those of you unfamiliar with online world of contractor advertising, it’s a pretty brutal place for a contractor. . . but I realize that I’m probably not going to be able to drum-up much pitty for contractors : ) We did some major research before and on the way to creating our product, and here’s the gist of what we found:

A) Almost 60% of homeowners and project managers use the Internet to find a contractor

B) Less than 10% of contractors have a web presence. By “web presence” I mean can be found in any form on the Internet.

C) The existing, entrenched websites designed for connecting contractors with clients either gouge the heck out of the contractors ($300 per decent lead!), or offer such a limited selection, that they’re worthless to the consumer.

So, we found that the modern solution is logical and obvious: Take the free-flowing, user-content-rich models of Yelp, Myspace, and Wikipedia, make it about contractors, and give it a simple search tool. That’s more or less the idea behind jobtrio.com.

The site is prepopulated with all the public info we could gather on California contractors — there’s almost 300,000 of them. Therefore, the site is already a really useful tool for finding a local contractor, no matter what obscure trade you need. Contractors can then enhance their free listing for $15 a month; add pictures, write-ups, links, all that good stuff.

We’re not trying to rip anyone off - that should be clear. We want jobtrio.com to be great resource for everyone in the construction industry. The contractors can control how they present themselves, get solid construction leads, and concentrate on their work. The consumer gets to do their research all in one place and make an informed choice.

I would love to get feedback for contractors and consumers alike about my project. Write some reviews of check out a couple contractor profiles. Drop me a line!

Josh Groves
President
jobtrio.com
Profiles and reviews of California contractors.
“Let’s get to work!”