As you know the real estate boom from 2001 to 2006 created unrealistic expectations about the overall housing market – expectations that are beginning to shape both the consumer attitudes and the mind-set of the residential home improvement and construction trade. 

    The National Association of Realtors has noted that the last five years has been one of the best for housing on record. Perceptions about the state of the market are skewed by the fact that the housing industry is well off the historic levels posted during the recent five-year boom Places like Houston, the Kansas City area, Indianapolis and the vast middle section of the US continue offer affordable prices and continued job growth. On either coast Seattle and Raleigh, NC, remain solid. And the markets that experienced recent growth declines like Boston, Denver and Washington D.C. have already started showing signs of recovery. Current conditions vary greatly from one city to the next.

     We have all been hearing about the rise in foreclosures. But the reality is that these problems have only been concentrated in the subprime market. For those buyers that qualify for conventional financing, mortgages are available at extremely favorable rates. 

     The weakness in house prices and overall consumer confidence has taken a toll on home improvement expenditures, with declines expected to extend well into 2008. Home owner spending for home improvement activity declined in 2007 for the first time since 2003. Overall, homeowner remodeling is projected to be 2.3 percent lower than 2006.

     As homeowners become increasingly concerned about falling house prices and a slowing economy, home improvement spending is likely to fall. 

   Now I didn’t mean to bring you down, but I wanted to point out what homeowners are hearing in the news media each and every day. But honestly, this isn’t the first time we have had this kind of news with regards to the overall housing economy.

     This cycle has repeated itself numerous times and each time everyone comes out ahead. Now is the time to hone your marketing and selling skills. You see if you take the time to really explore what is holding your business back you will probably come up with one of three things - poor contractor marketing, bad selling and closing techniques or employee problems. 

     Think about it…if you don’t have a good contractor marketing plan in place you are not going to get the clients that your business needs and if you don’t have a great contractor marketing system in place you can do little to incent your employees with awards or bonuses. So, if you will take the time to effectively market your business you will have many more options available to you to grow your company and incent your employees. 

     You need to look at all your contractor marketing and know its effectiveness. For the things that aren’t working (little to no response) stop doing these until you can figure out how to fix what’s not working. Doing something that’s not working over and over again is not going to suddenly fix the problem. 

     Find out what your conversion rates are for the marketing your doing. For example, if you have a Yellow Pages ad, how many calls do you get from the ad in a given week? Out of those calls how many of those leads turn in to actual jobs? Let’s say that you get 25 calls a week. Of those 25 calls that you got how many were you able to close? If you are closing at least 10 then you are closing 40%. If your closing rate is poor then you need to examine why you aren’t getting these jobs. Chances are it probably has something to do with the way you are selling the job. 

     This is important information to know. You see most construction professionals move past this vital information and never really look at the mechanics of their business. This is a huge mistake.

     Make 2008 a year of change. Set some goals and start looking for ways to move your business to the next level. The construction professionals in my coaching program have experiences at a minimum double digit growth this past year. Take the steps to improve your business and you will find that your quality of life will also improve dramatically.