February 2007 Table of Contents

Featured Articles
Stay in the Saddle

The harder you work at selling home improvements, the more you'll sell. Read more

Get the Word Out

American Metal Roofs' Frank Farmer has aggressive plans to promote the wonders of his product. Read more

Talk It Up

A program on talk radio can do a lot for your business. Here's what it takes to take to the airwaves. Read more

People Power

A bottom-up quality management program will harness all the skills and smarts of your employees. Read more

2007 Roofers Roundtable

Roofing company executives from four parts of the country talk issues. Read more

Costly Mistakes

Do you know what a service call costs? It's a lot more than materials and labor. Read more

How Much?

You're pitching a $10,000 window job or a $35,000 sunroom job. How much should you ask the homeowner to put down? As simple as that question may sound, it has a big impact. In fact, it can become the reason a contractor succeeds or fails in business. The size of the deposit will reflect on your closing percentage. Too much and your closing ratios fall; too little and your rescission rate rises. Read more

Not Immaterial

Many home improvement company owners become baffled, wondering where their profits went. What they maybe do not know is that wasted deck boards, shingles, siding panels, and a whole raft of other materials can add up to thousands of dollars per month. Read more

Progress Report

Using one company's Web site, customers can check on the status of their sunroom project. Read more

Just Looking

What if you could buy a list containing the name of every person in your area who was considering buying what you sell during the next two years? Most contractors say such a list would be worth a fortune. Read more

Trust Me

Every home improvement company covets referrals. Two big reasons: They cost less to get than just about any other kind of lead; and they close at much higher rates. Read more

Basic Instinct

When it comes to closing, if you miss the basics, you might miss the boat. Read more

Why They Buy

A successful closing depends on the credibility of your salespeople. Read more

The Magic Number

Say you plan to double your salesforce from six reps to 12 in the next three years. Can your sales manager handle it? That will depend on certain key factors, among them experience, responsibility, product line, and team maturity. Read more

Big Piece, Smaller Pie?

The Freedonia Group projects that demand for siding materials used for replacement will grow 9.7% through 2010, to 41.5 million squares. In addition, the group notes a more dramatic shift in demand for particular siding materials that is likely to continue, if not accelerate. Read more

Download Your Deck

A Virginia deck builder puts his design services on the Web, and finds many takers. Read more

Old vs. New

Not many residential roofing companies seek out new construction. Those who do, say relationships with builders are the key to success. Read more

Silent Screen

The thin metal coatings known as low-E Read more

Web Savvy

REPLACEMENT CONTRACTOR talks with David Alpert of Continuum Marketing Group, LLC about the importance of web presence for replacement contractors. Read more

Site Unseen

If your Internet presence amounts to a kind of electronic ghost town, then what would you like it to be? Read more

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