Donnie R. Shelton - Grow! Inbound Marketing System: How to rapidly and profitably grow your service company online

Copyright 2016 by Donnie Shelton

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Shelton Publishing

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Apex, NC 27502

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Publishers Cataloging-in-Publication data

Shelton, Donnie.

The GROW! IMS : How to rapidly and profitably grow your service company online. / Donnie Shelton

p. cm.

Shelton Publishing

ISBN-13: 978-0692812365 (Custom Universal)

ISBN-10: 0692812369

1. Marketing. 2. Sales. 3. Business Development. 4. Inbound Marketing 5. Service Business Marketing

First Edition

Printed in the United States of America

TO EMILY CAROLINE
MAREN BLAKE AND
OWEN, YOU GUYS
INSPIRE ME TO BE THE
BEST THAT I CAN BE.

Contents

Introduction

PART I: FIRST THINGS FIRST

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

PART II: THE GROW! IMS

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

PART III: IMPLEMENTING THE GROW! IMS

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Introduction

Does This
Sound Familiar?

Bob is scared. After reviewing his sales for the previous month, he notices that he has yet again failed to meet his sales goals, much less beat them. In fact, he not only missed his goal, he failed to match last years sales for the same month. Bob knew that last month was not great, but he didnt realize it was this bad. Normally this would not be cause for concern, as Bob has seen ups and downs before. Those happen, he tells himself, and he could make up the difference this month or next. Its not the bad month thats scaring him, but the trend of more bad months than good, and his inability to get the phone ringing.

The reality is that Bobs company is dying a slow death. What has worked to get leads in the past no longer works. The direct mail, TV, radio, and yellow page sales people - and even his internet marketing agency - are telling him it will all turn around. But the fact is, Bob now faces competitors who are beating him online, taking up his market share, and even eating into his current customer base.

Bob doesnt understand online marketing very much. He knows he needs the internet to reach his target customers. He has hired countless SEO companies and self-proclaimed experts, each of whom promised first-page results and more leads. But when Bob searches for his company on competitive keywords, he discovers that its easier to find Waldo than it is to find his company online. Frustrated and defeated, Bob decides that maybe internet marketing is not for him. He doesnt understand it and apparently the SEO experts he has hired in the past dont either. Bob is in a vicious cycle, and he is stuck.

Just like Bob, Erin is scared. Unlike Bob, she has a very different problem. Her company is growing exponentially. Erin cant tell you exactly how fast its growing because she doesnt have the time to critically analyze her key operating ratios. From the outside, Erins business looks like a stunning success. She has outpaced all of her local competitors, and there are only two or three national companies that come close to matching her growth performance.

On the inside, her stunning success feels more like a stunning nightmare. Her company is growing so fast that she cant hire the right people fast enough. Most of her hires are made out of desperation, customer complaints are up, customer satisfaction scores are down, and her marketing and sales costs are through the roof.

Erin is using a marketing channel that works, but it is bleeding her dry. Her business is not generating a profit, and it hasnt for quite a long time. She is taking on debt to fund her growth. Her personal funds, credit lines and loans are all maxed out and she is not sure where to go to for more cash. She needs to grow more to pay her bills, but in order to grow more she has to pay even more money. Her growth is digging a hole that shes not quite sure she can climb out of. Erin is in a vicious cycle, and she is stuck.

My guess is that if youve been in business longer than 5 years you can probably identify, at least a little, with both Bob and Erin.

Do you manage growth or does growth manage you?

As a service company, managing growth can be extremely difficult, especially if growth happens too fast or unexpectedly. Unlike product and commodity companies, you cannot scale and grow a service company easily.

The reason? Service companies require people.

A product company just needs to sell more product in order to grow. A service company, however, is a completely different story. When you grow a service company, you must hire and train more people. This, of course, takes time and comes with its own set of skills and challenges. Your capacity to satisfy customers must be aligned with your growth trajectory.

As a service company owner, if you cant properly manage your growth (meaning not too fast and not too slow) you will undoubtedly create a literal living hell. Grow too fast, and you will not be able to put the right people into the right seats, and your service will suffer. Grow too slowly and your A players will head for the exits when they see that theres no room for advancement.

The difference between an owner who knows how to manage growth versus an owner who doesnt comes down to one critical skill: The ability to grow rapidly AND profitably.

Inbound Marketing
The smart way to grow

There are two main types of marketing: inbound and outbound.

Outbound marketing is any type of marketing that interrupts the customer in order to offer a product or service. For example, the TV commercial during your favorite show, or the ad on Pandora that youve heard 100 times in the last two days, or the junk mail that you throw in the garbage every night without reading. In other words, its annoying. So much so that customers are finding new ways to block these interruptions altogether, with inventions like ad blockers, email filters, commercial-skipping, and more.

That kind of inefficiency comes with a big cost. Your dollars arent being spent on your target customer alone - theyre being spent on a ton of people who arent interested and may never be. Its like paying for a haystack just to get the needle.

In contrast, inbound marketing is truly targeted advertising. It is built to attract your ideal customer - someone with a demonstrated need for your service, who is ready to buy. This is exponentially more efficient and cost-effective, which means a healthier bottom line for your business.

The Grow! Inbound
Marketing System

Who I am

When I started my first service company, I was the technician, the accountant, the customer service rep, the marketing guy, and, of course, the manager. Yes, Ive been in the trenches. I worked a lot of hours, & if there was a mistake to be made, I probably made it.