Luke Miller from Miller Tile and Stone is a Tile Contractor and the Founder and Host of the Tile Money podcast.
With encouragement from his wife, he was able to build up the confidence to start his own company.
He explained how he used grass roots marketing tactics and great customer service to successfully grow his tile contracting business.
Here are some various tips he shared throughout the interview:
- Stay organized and only carry the tools you need.
- Google Adwords worked really good back in 2008 when it was 50cents per lead. But it’s not like that anymore.
- Reply to every phone call
- Take those smaller jobs.
Luke talked at length about the importance of having a daily rate. He also gave away the process that he uses to arrive at that number, and how to remain profitable.
- Have a daily rate
- Work backwards to arrive at this number. Think what you would like to earn per year, and then work backwards to figure out what you will need to earn per day to arrive at that number.
- Check your numbers every 3 – 6 months to see if you are on track and growing.
For Luke and his tile work, his favorite product line is Laticrete.
He says that he lacked confidence at first. He wishes he knew how to sell the experience. When you learn to sell the experience you will have much more confidence in your salesmanship.
The best advice Luke ever received was to change his mindset. He says that he used to operate out of a scarcity mindset.
Now, he focuses on having an abundance mindset. Something that helps him do this is to meditate and think of how many people there are in the community. And then think of how many jobs he really needs to succeed. That is only a very small percentage of the population. Suddenly there is way more work to go around. And that is having an abundance mindset.
For facebook advertising he recommends building your audience first, and then sponsoring a few posts so that your audience will see them.
He likes to use Instagram to show his work. He also does a few Instagram stories per day to show behind the scenes. Luke says that he has had people come up to him in town and tell him they follow him on Instagram. So he knows it’s definitely working. He said he usually gets a few jobs from Instagram every year.
Luke stresses the importance of standing behind your work. Honesty is always the best policy. And sometimes you may have to go back and redo your work. But it’s always worth it.
Luke recommends these two books:
- E-Myth Revisited
- Profit First
The advice Luke gives to a contractor who is just getting started is to start with the end in mind. What do you want your business to look like in 5 or 10 years? How many jobs do you want to be doing? Who are the people you want to be serving? What type of service do you want to be providing? Then work backwards and start implementing little changes in your business to arrive at those goals.
This was an awesome conversation! Listen all the way through and be inspired!
Today’s Protractor Tip is given today by Jackson Andrews from Jackson Andrews Building. In this tip he talks about the importance of maintaining a safe, secure, and clean job site. This protractor tip is very powerful, and you will want to listen all the way through.
The book we recommend is called All Marketer’s Tell Stories by Seth Godin.
The contractor website we are featuring today is owned by Leisure Time Decks. It’s an awesome site by an awesome deck company! Check it out at Ltdecks.com
Also, we talked a little about the app Contractor Tools which we highly recommend for estimating and invoicing. Use the promo code: Protractor and get a second month free trial.
Protractors – Making A Difference!