| Many designers in his area prefer natural
stone or more subtle concrete finishes. "They like the
durability of concrete and my sense is that if we can expose
them to these 'more tasteful' finishes, we can expand the
decorative concrete market here." He admits that up
until this year, with the demand for work so high, he had
allowed his business to settle into a reactive stance from
a sales standpoint. "With this market slowdown, I now
am pushing the finishes that I think will marry the purist
tastes of some of our more promising clients with the durability
and beauty of these other finishes." He also has reactivated
memberships in local business groups to provide more networking
opportunities.
 Mike Riggs
Progressive Concrete Works, Phoenix
>>Riggs says the
work situation in the Phoenix area has really changed and
his work load is 36% lower than last year. He carefully watches
his overhead costs and trims where he can, including some
staff layoffs. His efforts to advertise in the residential
rehab market have been successful. He also gets a return
doing box-lunch programs with local architects, landscape
architects, and engineers. Riggs also increased his Internet
marketing using Google and staying high on the list for keyword
searches. His company no longer pays for phone book ads because
they didn't generate leads but he does have a phone listing
in them. Ready-mix prices have dropped 25% in the past year
and he is grateful for that.
Chris Becker
Becker Architectural Concrete, South St. Paul,
Minn.
>>Serving the Twin Cities area, Chris Becker says, "It's
been a fantastic year, our best by a long shot. And we can't
keep up right now." Becker's background and training
is in marketing and that gets special emphasis in his business.
He says they've been in business long enough to learn important
lessons, and rising profits are the result. They position
themselves as a value-added business, focusing on custom
work and innovative work that the competition can't do. He
seeks face-to-face meetings with specifiers and develops
trusting relationships, always providing the service needed.
In leaner times, they provided the best work possible, sometimes
at the expense of profits. The payoff now is that their company
gets specified to do the work. Becker also has significant
revenues from architectural concrete applications for residential
remodels and thinks it's a way homeowners can increase the
value of their homes at a time when home values are depreciating--keeping
home values higher than their loans.
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