length 4:35 (not including bonus content)

This week’s episode of PowerTips TV is inspired by Dale Brenke, President of Schmidt Siding & Window in Makato, Minnesota. Dale has an excellent strategy for building a strong team. He put’s out some ultra-creative ads to attract the right talent. So if hiring has been a struggle for you, then you won’t want to miss this.

What about you?

Have you tried any creative methods for recruiting? Please share your creativity in the comments below!

episode transcript

So, are you one of the many remodelers who need to hire new team members? How are your recruitment efforts working? Are you having trouble attracting those special individuals who have the traits and qualities you need? Do you see that the usual tactics just aren’t working like they used to?

Well, if you’re having trouble attracting great talent, you’re in the right place. Today I’ll share some interesting and creative ways to pump some new life into your recruiting efforts … and your results. We’ll talk about all that in just a minute.

Hi, I’m Victoria Downing and welcome to PowerTips TV, where we talk about tips, tactics, and techniques to help you build a strong, profitable remodeling company.

Today, the remodeling market is heating up. That means more work for everyone! Yay!

But this often means that you must hire new people to handle this wonderfully improved, growing workload. In fact, everywhere I go, remodelers are talking about how difficult it is to recruit great new employees. Face it. You’re competing with dozens of other companies – all of which are investing in a variety of tactics to draw the best prospective employees their way.

One way to stand out? By ramping up your Creativity!

I recently spoke to one business owner who is using a much higher level of originality in all of his recruiting efforts than I typically see – and it’s paying off.

Dale Brenke, President of Schmidt Siding & Window in Makato, Minnesota, understands that recruiting employees—good employees — requires a marketing mindset, especially now. He knows that he has to do things that are different than the other companies in his market. Dale realizes that the same old traditional help wanted ads that used to attract dozens of resumes, just aren’t enough to cut through the clutter anymore. So here are some of the ways Dale and his team put their ingenuity to work.

First, they’re using Social Media as an avenue to spread the word. “So,” you say, what’s so new about that?”
Well, it’s not just the avenue – although I doubt that many really take advantage of it. But it’s also the approach that Schmidt is taking in the ads they run.

Here’s an example. One hot topic in the news speaks directly to the concerns of many millennials – Student Debt! Colleges and universities are very expensive, and many who go that route find themselves with a marginal degree and mountain loads of debt. The thing is, not all high school kids are right for college.

Many kids would rather go directly to a job where they can build skills and have the potential to make a good living. Schmidt goes directly for those kids with the copy – and the eye-catching graphics of this ad. Here, Schmidt gets right to the point, uses only a few words along with a photo that is a sure attention grabber. Note too, the use of the word, “career” instead of “job” which communicates the fact that there is a long view — this is a place that wants me to be around for awhile.

Here’s another example. Again, they use a powerful graphic with very little text. The message here is that Schmidt is a fantastic place to work, and they prove it by featuring a long time employee sharing his views of the company.

The simple, yet strong testimonial quote draws the picture that Schmidt is a place to stay for the long term. Again, using the term ‘career’ which helps prospects self-select. The ad finishes with a simple and strong call to action.

A third example is aimed at yet another group of prospective employees – those who are currently dissatisfied with where they find themselves! Here Schmidt decided to use a bit of humor and definitely pulled it off without sacrificing the objective of their advertisement. When using humor, be very careful as sometimes people remember the funny parts, but not the intended message or even whose ad it was!

However, when humor is done right, it can make your ad pop and help you stand out. Which is exactly what you want! According to a 1993 Journal of Marketing study that looked at the effects of humor on advertising (a study that still rings true today,) the main finding was that humorous advertising is more likely to grab people’s attention, and increase recall and memorability of the ad.

And if you are lucky, sometimes a very effective humorous ad can become a viral hit and others who may have zero interest in what you are advertising, may still want to share it with their friends, which helps spread your message and increase awareness.

However, again, you must be careful that your advertising objective doesn’t get lost with the laughs. Schmidt found the perfect balance, with this one, that again uses small amounts of text and a strong, and in this instance, funny, attention-grabbing photo. The photo makes a viewer want to read the caption and the caption gets right to the point of the ad, finding those unhappy employees who are no longer liking their current “jobs” and may want to consider a “career” with Schmidt.

Hats off to Dale and Schmidt Siding and Windows for developing such innovative and creative recruiting ads! If you have had success with other creative recruiting methods, I’d love to know. Let’s share the wealth! Just put your thoughts in the comment box below. And the rest of you, be sure to visit the comments to pick up more great stuff.

If this is your first time here, please subscribe to PowerTips TV where we will be sharing best practices from top remodelers each and every week. And, you can visit RemodersAdvantage.com to become a member, joining hundreds of other remodelers who want greater success. 

Thanks and see you next week!