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their feedback, make sure they really were thrilled (not just "satisfed") with the job you did for them. Ten, get them to go of- fine (family, church, work, neighborhood) and online (Google, Yelp, Facebook, etc.) to tell everyone they know (and don't know) about you. And fnally, keep in touch with them regularly using a mix of all forms of communication, phone, email, direct mail and personal visits. And by all means, have a customer newsletter! IT MIGHT sound like a lot of work to some but not to those who want to build a solid business. In fact, build a system like this and your business will market itself. By the way, in the last paragraph I gave you a compre- hensive strategy that covers exploiting fve of the seven customer value factors. You may want to go back and read it again. So stop with the old love 'em and leave 'em. Have a little more respect for your customers and for your business. Get your system in place for turning your customer into one, two or fve more — otherwise, your business will never reach its full proft potential. If you want to see what a system like this looks like, go watch this video: http://tiny.cc/wfyo3x. | Too many in the home improvement busi- ness view their customer as one-time, one- and-done sales events and then wonder why they spend so much time and money on adver- tising, get poor quality leads and why they're always struggling to maintain proftability. You want lower lead costs? You want better quality leads? You want to close more sales? You want more referrals? You want your busi- ness to be worth something one day? T he great Peter Drucker said: "The purpose of a business is to create a customer." Notice, he didn't say the purpose of a business is to create just a sale. Te truth is, you can make a very nice living of of just hunting for new sales ev- ery day, but, if you want long-term success and wealth in this business, you better get good at extracting the maximum proft value of every customer. SO HOW DO YOU DO IT? If you are really serious about having a busi- ness that makes as much money as it could, afords you the opportunity to have a life away from the business and builds real wealth for you and your family — the only way is with a system for creating proftable relationships with your customers. To create a system like this, start with delivering nothing less than a "wow!" cus- tomer experience — from the very frst in- teraction with your company (see my April 2015 article). Ten, expand your footprint of of each job (job signs, canvassing, mail, etc.) to get the word out. Next, sincerely say "thank you" and show your appreciation to make your customer feel special. Next, get t's a fact. Not a pretty one, but a fact, just as well. It's happened to me. It's happened to you. It's happened to my customers. And it's happened to yours. And worse, it's likely happening to you right now and it's probably costing you a lot of money. What I'm referring to is the old, "love 'em and leave 'em" scenario. You know how it goes — home improvement companies spend tons of money advertising to sus- pects with the hopes of fnding some prospects. Eventually, some of those prospects call in for an "estimate" or stop by your business to learn more. Ten we send a salesperson to visit them, make a (long) sales pre- sentation and become their best friend with the hope a few of them will sign a contract and turn into a paying customer. Ten, an amazing thing happens. We complete the project for the customer, collect our fnal payment and without so much as a proper "thank you," we're of spending a ton of money to chase after more suspects, and begin the process all over again. You see, we "loved 'em" enough to get them to purchase one time, but once the transaction was complete we "left 'em" ... never to contact that customer again. AS SOMEONE who has owned fve home improvement companies, spent a fortune on advertising and now works with home im- provement companies to grow their sales, profts and equity value ... I can tell you without hesitation, this is a critical and costly marketing mistake. All of Your Marketing is Worthless Unless You Get This Right By Brian Kaskavalciyan I The purpose of a business is to create a customer. Peter Drucker BRIAN KASKAVALCIYAN is a marketing strategist and an expert on relationship marketing in the home improvement industry. From start-ups to $50 million enterprises, his company g|Four Marketing Group — gFourMarketing.com — works with hundreds of contractors each year in the areas of lead generation and profit growth. 14 October 2015 QR QualifiedRemodeler.com PROFITS: Marketing