Why is That New Guy Kicking Your Tail?

I’ve been watching something very interesting play out in a city near where I live. This is a small, rural town in South Alabama with 13,000 people in the entire county and less than 3,000 living in the county seat. For the last 30 years or so, the lion’s share of the business has gone to one, well-established contractor. They had the connections and the brand. Local guy, local business, graduated from the local high school, etc., and they’ve gone largely unchallenged for the business of the entire area. Recently, all that has started to crumble.

Over the past five years, three different contracting companies have opened up shop in the area to compete directly with the Old Guard. Surely these newbies will be easily swatted away by a deeply rooted company, right? A small-town customer base would be hard to woo away from a community staple they’ve known for three decades, wouldn’t you think?

When these upstarts pop up, it’s easy for the weathered stalwarts to dismiss them and assume they won’t last the year, but that’s not what I see happening here. The newbies are growing and quickly gobbling up market share, while the older company flounders.

How does this happen? Do easy value propositions like: “Serving our community for X years,” “Your grandma used us, so you will too,” “We’ve got 15 trucks and they’ve only got one,” not mean anything anymore? Do credibility, longevity, and reputation not still drive this industry? Well, yes and no. You can’t come into a market and buy years of experience and generations of connections, but when done right, you CAN come in and buy something almost as valuable... a chance.

Pulling back the curtain a little further on this situation, the reason these new companies are gobbling up market share so quickly is pretty easy to diagnose. The large, established company had historically owned their market almost by default. They hadn’t been challenged, so priority was never placed on building long-term connections with their customers or truly building their brand. They don’t have a company website at all, their last Facebook post was in January of 2018, and their only paid advertising placement is one lonely billboard and the front of their building. They’ve always been the easy choice or the ONLY choice, so they never had to work to give their prospects a good REASON to choose them.

Suddenly these new guys pop in with fancy new websites, milking Google and social media, and the playing field is leveled in a hurry. I’ve always said that good marketing is the great equalizer for contractors, and that saying grows truer by the day. A good website can make a one truck contactor working out of his house look just as credible and professional (sometimes even more so) as a multi-million-dollar operation. One, nicely wrapped vehicle that’s displayed 20 times through well-placed media can be seen by more eyes than a fleet of those vehicles actually buzzing around town (especially smaller ones). And no matter how long you’ve had a customer on the books, they WILL LEAVE YOU if someone comes in and shows them more love and makes it easier to do business with them.

So, is it all doom and gloom for the companies that have been around for the longest? Is the new wave of upstarts going to come in and take over everyone? Of course not, and my example above is an extreme case of an owner that is teetering on the edge of evolving or losing everything. But if you are still approaching marketing the same way you did 20, 10, or even 5 years ago, I will assure you there is someone looking at your market share and licking their lips.

What’s most powerful is a blending of the two: those established companies who can play the longevity and dependability cards, while also looking like the sharp, exciting new kid on the block. Nostalgia is a powerful thing in the trades and many companies use logos that throw back memories to a much simpler time. But remember, most of society isn’t meeting up for breakfast at the local diner anymore. Reviews and referrals are not shared from front porch rocking chairs and the first listing in the Yellow Pages isn’t the gold mine it used to be. Your logo and good customer service better be the only thing about the company that reminds homeowners of days gone by.

However, I hope you can also see the flip side of that and be encouraged. There is incredible potential when an established company with a decades-long track record combines their golden reputation with a cutting-edge marketing plan. When an old dog learns new tricks, you start to see fireworks.

It’s true. Good marketing can be the great equalizer, making small companies appear bigger, more reputable, and more capable than they are. But it can also be the last thing keeping the big boys from true market dominance.

So, which one are you? Are you the newer kid on the block trying to make a quick footprint or the old guard who’s tired of watching these newcomers take bites out of your market share? Either way, the image you’re portraying to prospects through your marketing is the key to changing the game.

It’s a new year and a new opportunity to change your business’s future for the better. If you’d like some help developing a personalized marketing plan to fit your specific needs, area, and budget I’m on your side. Reach out to me at (800) 489-9099 or click here to view my calendar and set up your one-on-one appointment time.