Nice people thread part 3- Nice as pie

vivatifosi

Wheezy wrote: »

I've got no GCSE's, no GCE's, no O-levels, no A-levels.
I feel left out.

International Baccalaureate? Something else? Nice people don't discriminate on qualis anyway.

Wheezy_2

vivatifosi wrote: »

International Baccalaureate? Something else? Nice people don't discriminate on qualis anyway.

Yes, got my education in Belgium.
You went to primary school from 6 to 12, secondary school from 12 to 18.
No GCSE's but halfway through secondary you had to choose a direction like 'Latin-Sciences' or 'Modern Languages' or something like that. For the less academically minded, there was the possibility to go to the 'worktrade school' where they learnt carpentry, welding, woodworking, plumbing, etc..
Then in higher education (from 18) you either went to Uni or higher education outside Uni (high school). I did the latter, studying Electronics.

Mind you, this is how it was in the 80's, it probably changed now.

Doozergirl

So I'm thinking about straplines again, followed PN's advice to look at people miles away and I've just found a builder in Kent using

"professionalism, reliability and above average results"

Sorry but !!!!!!?! Above average? Thinking that I may to rely on my own brain here. Which is saying something...

EDIT: Now looking at another company where the before and after pictures are exactly the same and this is the first page of google. How do they do it?

vivatifosi

Doozergirl wrote: »

So I'm thinking about straplines again, followed PN's advice to look at people miles away and I've just found a builder in Kent using

"professionalism, reliability and above average results"

Well, two out of three aren't bad.

What are your unique selling points? What do you pride yourself upon? What do you think the most important things are that you get right? What do your customers value most? Those sort of areas should help identify your strapline.

silvercar

Doozergirl wrote: »

So I'm thinking about straplines again, followed PN's advice to look at people miles away and I've just found a builder in Kent using

"professionalism, reliability and above average results"

Sorry but !!!!!!?! Above average? Thinking that I may to rely on my own brain here. Which is saying something...

EDIT: Now looking at another company where the before and after pictures are exactly the same and this is the first page of google. How do they do it?

Do people really choose companies by their strap lines?

How about,

"Exceeding expectations."

"Turning your ideas into reality"

"Delivering quality on time and on budget."

"A pleasure to work with."

Doozergirl

silvercar wrote: »

Do people really choose companies by their strap lines?

I dunno, I do find it a bit cheesy, but there's a space on the Website where I have to put something! It's the header for a 'thing' (technical) which scrolls and shows an extension that we built on a house as it goes up. I can either just give it a heading that relates to that house or, because it's big and slap bang in the middle of the front page, I thought I should make it some kind of selling point.

I like the ideas into reality one, it's a bit less vomit-inducing than 'dreams into reality'

As for USP, I'd like to think we can price things sensibly because it's been our own money being spent on most things until now, so the motivation has been there to get the best price for good stuff. But my own motivation is the desire to makes stuff that looks nice.

'the best price for good, pretty stuff!' and a good looking bloke that does the tiling

I'm not taking this seriously enough am I?

lostinrates

Doozergirl wrote: »

As for USP, I'd like to think we can price things sensibly because it's been our own money being spent on most things until now, so the motivation has been there to get the best price for good stuff. But my own motivation is the desire to makes stuff that looks nice.
'the best price for good, pretty stuff!'

doozergirl, are you making it clear this is the case? It would work well for me. The money thing being vital and the pretty and well built stuf because...well...that's the point. That you can sell liking getting it right, not just getting it done would be important to me.

Good luck

Doozergirl

lostinrates wrote: »

doozergirl, are you making it clear this is the case? It would work well for me. The money thing being vital and the pretty and well built stuf because...well...that's the point. That you can sell liking getting it right, not just getting it done would be important to me.

Good luck

I haven't made it the main point and I could probably push that more; you've phrased it really well, thank you and I will add more of that that into the blurb.

For the strapline, would "getting it right" be the right sort of thing to put, do you think? Or something like that? I don't think I'll put it on business cards or anything.

lostinrates

Doozergirl wrote: »

I haven't made it the main point and I could probably push that more; you've phrased it really well, thank you and I will add more of that that into the blurb.

For the strapline, would "getting it right" be the right sort of thing to put, do you think? Or something like that? I don't think I'll put it on business cards or anything.

I dunno.....you're getting better marketing advice from silvercar and viva, I can only really say what would stand out for me...what I'm looking for here ...and not finding.

vivatifosi

How about "we provide dream houses without the nightmare experiences"?

or "Yes, we really are reliable builders"

My favourite ever - for something like Patel and Patel builders was "You've tried the cowboys now try the Indians" a bit of clever humour could be useful too.