There are a lot of independent contractors out there fighting for the same jobs but some times it’s the subtle differences that determines who receives the job. For independent contractors the little things can be the deciding factor between marketing and sales success. There are a few things that you should do to improve customer perception and get more projects.

The key differentiator between you and the other independent contractor is professionalism. You need to embrace professionalism in all the work and everything you do. The little things, like keeping neat and tidy jobsite, showing up on time to the job or calling to say that you are running late will make a big difference in the long run. This runs true to your marketing efforts. If you are professional, you will be treated as a professional.

1. Get a logo, one that people will be able to recognize and use it on everything. Put your logo on your work truck, project signs, work shirts, estimates, invoices and everything else that involves your business. Your work truck can be a big advertisement for you, its always displayed no matter where you park it.
2. Get a standard company vehicle; a white vehicle is preferred so that you can get the logo painted on your vehicle. Your business truck is some of your best advertisement like I mentioned already. Your logo doesn’t have to cover the whole car like a Nascar but just big enough for people to see your ad.
3. Use project signs in front every job that you do, even if it’s only a single day job. The sign can bring a lot of attention from neighbors on the street, or if it’s a busy street it can bring you a good amount of attention. If your sign is up you need to be sure that you run a clean jobsite, actually you should always run a clean jobsite. You don’t want someone to drive by looking for work to be done and see your jobsite and they see it’s a mess. They will be thinking that this could be their house.
4. Personal appearance counts, depending how many is in your crew, get t-shirts with your logo on them or collared shirts showing clients that you are professional. This will help with the perception of your business with uniforms, other possible clients see that you are professional will help your reputation and help you land more jobs.
5. Now that we went over the basics it’s time to really start with your new age marketing. Go to myindependentcontractor.com and go sign up for your free website. This will give you a larger market to advertise too. When you sign up you are automatically put into a their directory for homeowners to search. With signing up you get your own website with description of your work, photos of your work, testimonials and references, and a code for craigslist to post your services. The best part of it is that you control everything and can change anything you want when you want and it’s FREE.
6. Once you signed up for your free website, its time to identify your points of strength.Ask your clients were they heard about and keep record of how you get your jobs. This will help point out exactly what is working for you, so that you can focus more on similar types of marketing. Take note of if you get work from an online directory, like Craigslist.com or Backpage.com, or from a phone book, or local newspaper ad, or sign out in front of the house and if it works, keep doing it and maybe enhance it to hopefully receive more projects. Also, asses the competition, why did you get the job and they didn’t. What are their strengths and weaknesses?
7. Testimonials and reference; Ask for testimonials from clients, in writing, which you can use for your website to put under testimonials/references, so when people view your website they can real all about how professional your business is. Also, ask your clients if they can refer you to friends and family who might need your services. It costs you nothing to have your clients refer you and it’s a great way to get new projects.
8. Customer service, call your clients and ask if everything went well, and if your service is satisfactory. The client might have more work for you to do or may have thought of another referral for you. Its important to stay in touch with clients, they can bring you a lot of other clients. This will show the clients and new clients that you care and take pride in your work. If there were was problem, do your best to fix the problem but unfortunately sometimes you can’t please everyone so it’s the effort that counts.
9. Advertisements make sure to find out what works best for you in your advertising and stuck with it. Whether it’s posting in directories such as Craigslist.com, or just by word of mouth. Do a trail and error to see exactly what works and what doesn’t. You want to try and meet your target customers in ads.