Decorative concrete offers an excellent choice for long-term durability and low maintenance at an affordable price. For those with keen interests in green building and LEED criteria, decorative concrete has the benefit of being environmentally sound and having excellent “life-cycle costing,” a fancy way to say it is very long-lasting. The good news is that many kinds of clients that seek durable green building materials for high-traffic areas are still active: commercial buildings, schools, public projects and transportation facilities. Projects with government or municipal funding in place are continuing under increased scrutiny to get the most out of budget dollars. The term “value engineering,” a euphemism for cost-cutting, might send chills down the spine, but it creates an opening to sell decorative concrete against more expensive indirect competition. With a comparison chart in hand, a savvy contractor can sell decorative concrete as an economical way to extend a construction budget by replacing natural stone in large expanses, or by limiting the use of expensive granite or slate to accent areas. Less-expensive concrete can be installed in colors and textures that harmonize with materials such as marble, bluestone and granite without sacrificing aesthetics. Proactive marketing Some decorative concrete companies consider their showroom their most unique and effective selling tool. Whether it’s an outdoor courtyard, a conference room or an expansive warehouse-sized showroom, a sales center with samples of a variety of concrete finishes, patterns and colors provides a great opportunity for customers to see and touch the materials that make decorative concrete so appealing. It also provides a place to invite professional groups to gather for educational meetings that show designers new possibilities. Remember the old saying, “A picture is worth a thousand words”? Make it 2,000 words, because this is doubly true for decorative concrete. However, sending out photo-filled brochures can be too costly for mass mailings. Some large contractors e-mail quarterly or biannual e-newsletters. However, an old-fashioned postcard with a few good, colorful photos can be just as effective and cost far less. While the e-mail may be seen once, designers may keep an eye-catching postcard on their bulletin board as an inspiration. A beautiful postcard is also a keeper you can leave with customers and distributors to use for referrals. Fantastic short-run color printing is available inexpensively. Several printers offer predesigned formats and make printing professional-looking marketing tools affordable for small businesses. For the best results, be sure your postcard or newsletter includes your phone number and “call to action” statements, such as these: “Schedule a visit to our showroom to see beautiful samples.” “Call for free professional consultation and estimates.” “Visit our Web site to see more examples.” (Don’t forget to include your Web address with this one.) Selling from strength In your customer satisfaction survey, leave space for people to answer these open-ended questions:
Repetition, repetition, repetition The key benefits of decorative concrete are:
Perhaps these benefits sound obvious to anyone in the concrete business, but prospective customers may not have stopped to think about how all these benefits add up to a great choice. Dependability Ken Heitzman of Decorative Concrete Systems in Milton-Freewater, Ore., offers this advice for winning during challenging economic times: “Customers will continue to choose concrete because it is dependable. They return to decorative contractors that are dependable. Now, it is more important than ever to stick with products that offer performance that is dependable, too.” |
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Designing decorative concrete is no different from any other process that has endless options. The first step is to ask the questions that define the project and guide the design.
