Ep. 17 How to Make Your Business the Clear Choice

How to Make Your Business the Clear Choice

Want to give your business heads up in the mind of your potential customers? How about free advertising and more social proof that your business is the best choice? Torie Mathis and her cohost Sean go over easy, inexpensive ways to make your business stand out as the must-use leader in your industry.

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EPISODE TRANSCRIPTION –

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SAF 17

[00:00:00] Torie: Sometimes everybody’s doing it because it works.

Hey, Hey, welcome to Smart AF I’m your host Torie Mathis. We’ve got a great show for you today. So let’s get started. We walk through our neighborhood almost on a daily. And what is crazy is that there are so many businesses coming into this neighborhood and our neighborhood isn’t even that big. Businesses, home service type businesses, and like plumbers or landscaping people, especially, and they have no branding on their vehicles.

Like EV like it just. 

[00:00:46] Sean: Branding stands out that much more. 

[00:00:49] Torie: I like that tree service like there is a tree service company that comes in here and they have their vehicles remarked and they put up the signs and you might think that that might seem stupid or whatever, but it’s that consistency and seeing that name over and over again, that brand, that logo that you start to think, oh, well, if they’re using them that it’s that social proof that it kind of makes you want to use them too. 

[00:01:12] Sean: Know that one section of street to head signs and four yards with the tree cutting service.

Those four neighbors got them. They must be good. 

[00:01:21] Torie: Like if we needed, I would actually probably find them on our Facebook group and be like, who did you use? Cause, you know, because there did you like ’em, I would feel good using them because there were so many people that already did use them. Well. 

[00:01:31] Sean: This, this company, particularly, I, I even I’m familiar with them and we’ve never really needed Tree service, but it seems right up there with roofers between roofers and, and Tree guys like, they drive a big truck.

Put a ton of money in their vehicle. So I notice it when, when you see this gigantic truck, that’s worth a hundred thousand dollars and it’s got the company’s logo on the side of it, it’s either a roofing company or a tree cutting service. And that was what this one was. So, I mean, I’m familiar with at least three of this guy’s vehicles, and then we go and we see four of the signs in our neighborhood and yeah, I mean, it’s that subconscious level where you start connecting all the dots. That’s who we call if we need it. Cause that’s who we know why to waste money all the time. 

[00:02:21] Torie: So this doesn’t mean that they have put up a billboard like there’s a way to get your brand out there. And in front of a lot of people without having to do wasteful advertising like that. Vehicles, business vehicles, little signs, things like a vehicle for home services. Like that is such an easy way to get your name out there and to build up that social proof, especially when you’re already in these neighborhoods, you’re already in front of all these people that need your services. You know, they have homes, you know, they’re going to have, you know, if it’s plumbing or tree service, they’re already right there. And how many of these people are doing nothing to brand themselves. 

[00:03:04] Sean: It’s a mobile billboard, right. When it’s sitting in front of somebody’s yard. But not only that, I mean, you could take it like who’s at home, most likely, right? One person, either the, you know, the woman’s there, the wife, the spouse The you know, grandparents or, you know, a teenage kid or something, cause both parents are working or whatever the case may be. Now you’ve got this unmarked vehicle that pulls up. 

[00:03:28] Torie: Oh, you’re talking. Okay. Yes. I feel these two people. Okay. So if they don’t have their vehicle marked and you’re coming to people’s houses, dirty, creepy. Who are you coming in? A van. You got 

[00:03:41] Sean: neighbors like what’s going on there? Like super quick fix. Uniform and a branded vehicle problem solved. So like, you know exactly what it was though. There, their toilet stopped up the plumbers over there, you know, versus shady looking child molester van that you’re like, what the hell is going on over there? No, we get it with like, like Amazon every once in a while or the mail or something will come and some random ass, like who is this? Walking to my front door. 

[00:04:10] Torie: I heard what the Amazon people though, that Amazon wasn’t giving them things because they’re contractors. So some of them went and did stuff themselves. Like that’s all you have to do, put a damn magnet on your car. And they bought like a shirt that said Amazon, it was like a quick, you know, less than 50 bucks and they fixed the problem.

And now they are branded. Now they’re making people comfortable when they’re coming to their door and leaving packages are ringing doorbells. It made a big difference and not only for the customers but for the person making the deliveries. So imagine how much better and how much more comfortable your workers could be if you had a branded vehicle and maybe a shirt with your logo on it. 

[00:04:48] Sean: Take a little pride in your business.

[00:04:50] Torie: Absolutely. And this doesn’t mean that you have to go and get your entire vehicle wrapped your fleet wrapped and all the super expensive stuff. Like you can start. With magnets, you can start with just a small we’ve done that for some of the companies where they just have a vinyl sticker that goes on there, not a full wrap, but just like the logo that goes on there, you could work your way up to something more. 

[00:05:13] Sean: Branded.

[00:05:14] Torie: Absolutely. You know, and on top of that, if you got little signs or something like that, tree service, they put the signs out. Normally I think the signs are stupid, but. When you have people walking in their neighborhood or driving by and they see them over and over again like people do it because it works.

What were we just talking about? There was something yesterday that they didn’t want to do it. Oh, the behind the pavers went and toured this new museum that’s being built. And they were talking about that they were trying to do things for sponsorships. And so they won a bunch of the people were like, well, let’s sell pavers or bricks that have people’s name on it.

And they were like, no, we don’t want to do that because everybody’s doing it. Sometimes everybody’s doing it because it works. And they’re like those signs. And again, signs aren’t that expensive, branding your vehicle is not that expensive. And when you’re, you know, you’re bettering the customer experience and you’re getting free advertising right in front of all these people that want your services. Like you just a win-win win-win when correct. 

[00:06:19] Sean: And some of these, like, obviously when you’re, when you’re working all day outside or under houses or whatever the case may be like, you’re obviously not going to stay clean, but you can arrive clean. 

[00:06:31] Torie: Thank you. You had this, we talked about this because you had this, Sean used to work for Pepsi and didn’t, you kind of have this with some of the vehicles that you were driving.

[00:06:41] Sean: Yeah. Some of the vehicles were not up to par for what you would think a multi-billion dollar company would have. It was, for me, it was embarrassing driving around in some of these awful looking vehicles. They just didn’t they didn’t make sense. Why, you know, why am I driving a truck that’s 30 plus years old with no air conditioning and the paint flaking off everywhere, dents in it.

Meanwhile, I didn’t do any of that to it. I’m pulling up to these, these brand new establishments that are nice areas. Now I’ve got a truck that. That doesn’t represent the brand that they, they have in there. It’s it wouldn’t have been that big of a deal. You know, and, and, and so then all I have left is what my personal appearances when I walk in there.

And so I try to make that look as good as possible, but what I look like going in, and I’m, you know, if I’m underneath the counter and I wind up getting syrup all over me, and I’m a complete mess, how I leave makes no difference whatsoever. It’s how I arrived. And even in a, in the military, you know, working on airplane, No different than, than Torie who gets to stay nice and crisp and iron tight all day long. I didn’t have that luxury. You know what I mean? But you still went to work in a clean uniform. 

[00:08:08] Torie: Way you were going to show up looking crappy. 

[00:08:10] Sean: No, I mean, we, weren’t going to be worried about the, you know, the iron seams or anything, but at the end of the day, the uniform is going to be filthy like I’m going to have, you know, jet fuel on me and oil. All kinds of, and it, it, it’s fine, but at the beginning of the day, you know, we, we look good. 

[00:08:32] Torie: I think with home service businesses too, it’s just, I don’t know. It’s so important to make the homeowner feel comfortable, to make the employee feel more confident about them going up into somebody’s house. We talk about opportunities and right there, branding just some simple branding. It’s a big opportunity to make.

[00:08:55] Sean: When then you make that impact to going back to one of the other videos that we’ve had, where it’s a missed opportunity. If you’re not branded, you know, how, how are we supposed to know who these people are? You know we’ve got, you know, pool service and a landscaping service. Neither one of those companies are branded. Do you know the name? 

[00:09:15] Torie: I don’t. I, we, every single week, these people come to our house. If our neighbors said, Hey, could you refer, your lawn looks great? I’ll know like, hope he grabbed them when they’re here. Again, I 

[00:09:26] Sean: could not tell you who they were. Could not give them a good review if they did a fantastic job.

No idea who they are. 

[00:09:33] Torie: They’ve never left a flyer. They’ve never you know, left something like, Hey, refer your neighbor and you know, anything like that for us too it was 

[00:09:41] Sean: 50% off next month. You know, bill, if you refer your neighbor like simple, yeah. I’ll try, you know, here, check this out either needed or not.

It’s no loss to us, but if they do score. 

[00:09:53] Torie: And on top of it, like their vehicles are not branded, their shirts are not branded. I don’t know. They clean the pool. I think they work for somebody.

[00:10:04] Sean: But it’s a missed opportunity that, that, you know, it’s, it’s not just us, but that snowball effect of how many other people are they, they miss out just from us, you know, like the Kevin Bacon, like how many people could we connect them to just from us, not even including. All of their other customers that didn’t have the same effect. 

[00:10:24] Torie: Well, you’re a super good example of this because you always, always has a Miles Through Time shirt on. How many people ask you about stuff like that. Is that something that you find is helpful when you wear it everywhere. 

[00:10:34] Sean: Nobody’s ever asked me about it.

[00:10:37] Torie: People ask all the time, they’re like, what’s that cars what’s that. 

[00:10:44] Sean: It isn’t, I’m trying to think of where that last place. 

[00:10:46] Torie: Oh we were at an antique store and the guy asked and I ran outside and grabbed some flyers and came back in and I was like, Hey, come in. Like, just because you had the shirt 

[00:10:57] Sean: on and for me, It’s natural for me to wear it, but what makes it more cool is when, you know, you know, obviously I’m not going to go wear some random HVACs shirt or something like that, but in, in, in my world, and if somebody else wears this shirt that they’ve purchased either online or, or at the museum, that’s pretty cool to see somebody else in the museum.

Because yeah, I, I do. I try to, I try to, I mean, I am a mobile bill billboard, so like it’s, again, it’s a missed opportunity. 

[00:11:32] Torie: You have a shirt on and your advertising, if your vehicles are coming in, if people are seeing them, like you might as well put something on there so that you get something out of it, maybe a lot out of it, then you can go buy a hundred thousand dollars.

Fancy ass roofers. 

[00:11:48] Sean: By the way, all these shirts from Allister time were designed by Torie available at milesthroughtime.com.

[00:11:54] Torie: absolutely. And they look fantastic. Of course, in 

[00:11:58] Sean: the museum. 

[00:12:00] Torie: We hope to see you there. 

[00:12:02] Sean: Brand yourself.