Know-How Exchange : Taglines/Names

Let's look at this from a different angle. If they are anything like the business that I ran with my now ex, they will do a lot of cash work on the side.

Which is bad for business.

Now my suggestion is that when they pick up the phone, they give the callers a brief run-down of their terms and conditions. That is to say, they do what they say, when they say they will. They will come around to "snag" the project afterwards at 1month and 3 month intervals - and in the mean time settlement cracks and creaky doors can all be noted down and sent via email to the office. Someone will be arranged to come around and sort it all out at mutual convenience. If during this they say "oh, we don't need all that" simply state that it is policy and it is how we work. If they mention "cash" tell them that's fine just as long as they sign the contract and pay on receipt of the invoice. (= no tax dodging and NO CHEAP JOBS).

This puts you in the driving seat. There are customers who like this. The ones who don't usually have their own ideas about how something should be built, and usually it takes three times as long to put their silly ideas straight in the end. Leave it to the pros. Leave those stupid customers to someone else.

Let's just say that our profits bounced by 30% - for 25% less work on his part. We were getting recommendations through in three months which is unheard of in the building industry. All because i was fed up of my husband getting home late whingeing about having to do "all those little extras" to keep the client happy. So I put a stop to it in my own way. I realized what was going on, worked out a strategy and implemented it. What's more, all he knew about it was that his customer quality had suddenly leapt.

Ergo: you don't want more market share. You want more of your best kinds of customers. Which isn't quite the same thing, is it? Because your worst customers COST YOU MONEY.

PS You say "Competition is about 5 yrs behind on knowledge of building and tend to copy other builders without the understanding of what they are building." - detailing in a simple, authoritative fashion your basic terms and conditions (as apply to building operation) will put your best customers in a really easy frame of mind. Because they know you're good and they can relax. They will know in the space of five minutes that your are reputable and thorough.

Your opposition can't do this, and anyway, won't ever find out what's going on. They'll be doing all the cash jobs and taking food-stamps on the side because they can't make ends meet.

PPS Because you are so authoritative in the market, you can easily put up your prices 15% and still keep those better clients. It really is the magic win-win for the business and customer.

Because those cheap guys are costing their customers seriously large amounts of money - in repairs. With your guys, there will be none of that - well worth the extra cash up front for peace of mind!