Roofing Contractor Magazine

 

The Best Just Keeps Getting Better by Chris King January 1, 2006 Best of Success 2005

One Company’s Success Story


Gary Nash, president of Nash Construction, Marshall, Va., drew on his own experience to provide some advice on crafting a unique selling proposition.

Gary Nash, president of Nash Construction, Marshall, Va., detailed his personal success story as part of his seminar on crafting a unique selling proposition (USP). “A unique selling proposition is a one-line phrase — a tagline — that will turn the head of the target you are aiming at,” he said. Before crafting his USP, Nash’s construction and home remodeling company was faltering and on the brink of bankruptcy. After working for his father’s masonry business and a large commercial contractor, he had founded the company in 1993, but he soon realized, like many small business owners do, that his expertise in construction management was not all he needed to run a business. He stumbled across the books The E-Myth and The E-Myth Contractor by Michael Gerber. Gerber’s thesis is that most small businesses are founded by former technicians, not entrepreneurs, and thus most small business owners do not have a background in organizing and managing a business.

Nash contacted Gerber’s company and embraced the consultant’s methods. He detailed his struggle to craft his company’s mission statement, strategic objective, core beliefs and values, and unique selling proposition. Nash realized that the major frustration homeowners had with contractors involved poor scheduling and shoddy workmanship, so he decided to implement a process to ensure that top-quality work would be completed on time. He developed a system that involved the customer at every step of the process, included follow-up walk-throughs after the job was completed, and culminated in a three-year warranty against faulty workmanship. He named the process “The Nash Triple Guarantee.” His company’s USP became “What we promise, we deliver,” and his company successfully delivered some $6 million in projects in 2004, with $8 million projected for 2005.

“Marketing is an attitude, not a department,” said Nash. “People make decisions two ways — with reason and emotion — and emotion wins out every time. If you can appeal to both — tantalize them with emotion and back it up with a sound rationale — you have the best of both worlds.” One key is to document your company’s processes and to use that information in your marketing plans, said Nash. This approach can help businesses find new employees as well as new customers. “When people walk into Nash Construction, they see our strategic objective, our mission statement, and our beliefs and values — everyone, customers, employees, everyone who comes in the door.” Nash also posts an organizational chart, as well as an organizational chart for the future, which serves as a great incentive for all employees striving for success and that next promotion.