- Award category: Niches
- Speciality: Kitchen and bathroom remodeling
- 25 years in business
- 2006 volume: $1.4 million
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Staff: 5 office, 4 field
Credit:
Three years ago, Jim Bodner (seated) switched from full-service remodeling to kitchen and bath work when he purchased a DreamMaker franchise. He invested in a 1,500-square-foot showroom on a busy main road through Bethel, Conn. A sign on the showroom says “Browsers are welcome, consulting by appointment.” “About 30% of our business is foot traffic, and will increase,” Bodner says.
He and his staff spend about 15 minutes pre-qualifying walk-in customers. To further pre-qualify prospects, he includes prices on three bath displays that show the features of a basic, midrange, and high-end bath. Kitchen displays are too complicated to include pricing, “but we have a book with past projects that has before and after pictures and the contract that shows the scope of work and the cost,” he says.
Bodner uses a combination of marketing techniques, including truck signs, jobsite signs, postcards, radio ads, and coupon mailers.