Greg Antonioli<!—-><!—-> <!—->

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Why Are We Doing Well? <!—-><!—->

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I’ve bitten my tongue on sharing this piece of information since the inception of this blog, but am now going to break my silence. Here goes: My company is doing well and we have a larger backlog than we’ve ever had. There…I said it. I’ve held back on sharing this news because I’m trying to be sensitive to those who are struggling, but it’s necessary to tell you so I can make the following points.<!—-> <!—->

I’ve pondered (it’s what I do) about why 2009 will be a growth year for us. What, in hindsight, did we do right? A couple of things seem to have worked out for us.<!—-><!—->

First, when times were booming, we maintained our focus on finding good fits with clients. I remember a lot of remodeling contractors focusing only on the big stuff and turning away the small stuff. We continued to do small projects. If there was a good fit with the client, but a small project, we did it. Those other contractors may have completed 5 projects in a year, while we completed 40 projects for people with whom we worked really well.
Though a few of those projects were for repeat clients, we still added 30 new happy clients to our referral base where others (at best) might have added 5. Our referral base benefited from higher quantity and quality.<!—-><!—->

The other factor that is helping us in this economy is our focus on planning. Our entire system is heavily weighted in planning and prospective clients understand our process after the first meeting. We appeal to, and get referred amongst people who appreciate planning. Those planners prepared for an economic downturn and are moving ahead, undaunted by the negativity around them. <!—-><!—->

I’d like to say that I planned things this way, but in reality the results are just fortunate byproducts of following my gut….further evidence in favor of “karma marketing,†an idea I’ve referred to in earlier posts.<!—-><!—->

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