Last October, the media reported a lot of bad economic news. The management at Gilday Renovations, in Silver Spring, Md., read about large financial institutions that were in trouble and the uncertainty of the country’s leadership. Closer to home, they also realized that with the downturn in the market, the company would not be able to reach its projected revenue for the year.
The first thing marketing director Joe Gilday did was to update the company’s client list. He spent three weeks researching, contacting, and updating information about 750 clients. He checked property deeds to see if the client still owned the property, and if not, found their new address. If the list did not have an e-mail address for the client, he would ask them for one.
“We were going back in part to look for alliances to build on, in part to make contact," Gilday says. "From that we are hoping to stir up some interest and activity.”
The calls generated a few small jobs. But more than that, it allowed the company to remind past clients of the enjoyment they are receiving from the company’s remodeling work and to nudge them to consider other projects or to refer their friends. Gilday says that referrals are the company’s best source of strong leads. “Other leads are harder to bring to contract because people do not have that strong weight of a personal referral,” he says. “If someone is doing a fairly complex project, they do not want to worry about it. They think, ‘My best friends worked with these guys, and they are saying we should hire them.’ That is how these things pay off.”
The company has name recognition in the area from its 30 years in business. So this one contact, along with job signs, the print newsletter, and ads should reinforce the company’s brand. “Companies that do not have that backlog of experience struggle more,” Gilday says.
He was surprised by the reaction of some clients who had whole-house remodels or significant work done — many were indifferent and did not want to provide him with an e-mail address. “Others who had smaller jobs done, such as new windows or a kitchen, were much more enthusiastic and had an emotional connection,” he says. Gilday learned a lesson about making assumptions about clients: “I learned who were big fans and would be likely to spread our name and get us jobs.”
If the house had a new owner and the work that Gilday Renovations had done was significant, Gilday wrote a letter to the new owners. He pointed out the work that was done, hoping they were enjoying the sunroom or kitchen enough to welcome the contact. One house had a kitchen that won an award and was featured in Woman’s Day, so Gilday wrote a special letter to that owner. However, he did make sure to note that Gilday Renovations would remove the client from the mailing list if they did not want to be contacted.
Gilday says that it was worth the tedious three weeks to update the client list and re-contact past customers. The last time he had updated the list was in 2003 when he first joined the company. “From a marketing point of view, we chose, in this terrible black moment, to turn over every stone and shake every little bush gently to see what drops out,” Gilday says. “It was a specific, targeted exploration.”