By offering a superior and immediately recognizable advantage that your competition doesn't offer, you turn prospects into customers.

In Yellow Pages ads, bigger is not always better. Sure, Yellow Pages reps want you to believe that if you buy bigger Yellow Pages ads in more sections, you'll get noticed. But think of it this way: Is bigger always better in HVAC systems? In marketing, as in heating and cooling, you're going for efficiency. If your Yellow Pages budget exceeds 31 percent (HVAC) or 41 percent (pure service or plumbing) of your budget, you're not getting the most for your marketing dollars. Stop the madness, now.

Direct response is not the only advertising form you should use. Look, I'm a direct response copywriter. We're paid $1,800 per page to write good copy. If I wanted only to line my pockets with your money, I'd be a fool to tell you this wasn't the answer to every marketing need you ever had.

Call me a fool then - direct response as your only form of advertising is the fastest way I know to lose your credibility in the market. Good luck building it back among worthy customers. If you don't, you'll be the king of dangling increasingly fantastic bait in front of largely unfinanceable dregs. It's hard to keep this and a strong, solvent, loyal customer base moving together. Use a balanced mix of direct response, image, TOMA (top of mind awareness), and retention marketing to achieve the success and reputation you deserve.

All prospects are not alike. Sure, bigger, older homes with old systems have you salivating about big-ticket replacements. But this gets back to the first point. Don't go chasing your dream of new customers unless you're willing to put a little bit of effort into keeping the ones you've already got.

The best prospects for new business - through their own service and replacement needs as well as their referrals - are your current customers. The fact is, customers spend 33 percent more than non-customers. And referrals among customers are 107 percent greater than among non-customers.

By providing a superior customer retention program - which includes contact several times a year - you keep those customers.

There are two excellent retention programs that are easy to do: (1) newsletters for every check-writing customer you've got. (Let us send you a free sample.) And, (2) a maintenance agreement program, which is loyalty that a smaller group of your clients pay you for. Now that's a nice switch! You get reliable, referring, high-value customers pumping predictable profits into your company year after year ... automatically. Let us send you a 12-page report called "The Perfect HVAV Profit System" on how to build a maintenance agreement business. (Send an e-mail to freestuff@hudsonink.com requesting this report.)

Use these different marketing tools and tactics to build a better marketing machine for your company. You'll find your marketing can bring leads, image, and sales almost by "auto-pilot," so you can run your business instead.

Adams Hudson is president of Hudson, Ink, a creative marketing firm for contractors. Readers can get a free marketing newsletter by faxing their letterhead with the request to 334-262-1115. You can also call Hudson, Ink at 800-489-9099 or visit www.hudsonink.com for free marketing reports, including a free 12-page report called "The Perfect HVAC Profit System" on maintenance agreements.

Publication date: 02/21/2005