Good morning!
Here are today’s highlights:
In our latest Dashboard, meet Kim Robinson. He helps his clients figure out how to wear all of those hats.
The CEO of Project Equity explains why an EOT can be a better choice than an ESOP.
An appeals court says President Trump can keep his 10-percent tariffs in place for now.
Gene Marks says he’s seeing small businesses get real returns on their AI investments.
EDITOR’S NOTE
This week, I’ve tried publishing the Morning Report Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I’m going to stick with this schedule at least for the summer.
MARKETING
Julian Scadden wants you to stop chasing strangers: “Here’s the most expensive mistake I see contractors make, over and over, in every trade and every market: They pour money into chasing strangers. While the customers they already earned quietly walk out the door and forget they ever existed. It feels productive. New leads, new calls, a digital agency cranking out cost-per-click. The dashboard lights up. Growth, right? Except the math tells a different story. A brand-new prospect costs you somewhere between 8 and 12 times more to acquire than a customer who already knows you. A repeat customer spends, on average, 33 percent more per visit. And according to Bain & Company and Harvard Business Review, nudging your customer retention up by just 5 percent can lift profitability by 25 percent or more.”
“Meet Loyal Lisa. She’s worked with you before. To reach her again, you don’t need a room full of strangers; you need a postcard, a text, an email, a yard sign she already trusts. Reaching Lisa costs about $25. Meet Stranger Sam. He’s never heard of you. To get him to call, you’re bidding against every other contractor in town for his click. Reaching Sam costs about $250. That’s a 10x difference on the very first touch, before a truck has even left the shop.”
“Now watch what happens down the line. When Lisa calls, she books at a high rate, because she already trusts you. She rarely cancels. And when your tech recommends the right repair, she says yes, because she’s said yes before and you didn’t burn her. On a typical service repair, Lisa spends around $998. Sam? He’s shopping. He booked three companies. He cancels more. He second-guesses the tech he’s never met. And he spends less, about $750 on the same kind of job.”
“But the real gap doesn’t show up until you run it through your funnel. Every job you complete survives a gauntlet: the booking rate, the run rate after cancellations, the tech’s conversion rate at the door. Lisa sails through it; she books at 90 percent, runs at 90 percent, converts at 70 percent. Sam stumbles at every stage, books at 50 percent, runs at 80 percent, converts at 50 percent.”
“Before you hand a dime to the agency for strangers, estimate how many Loyal Lisa opportunities you have this year — every past customer who could call again. Then calculate what it costs to earn them back: the mail, the texts, the reminders, the occasional touch that makes them smile. Fund that first. It’s your cheapest, highest-return marketing on the board. Then take whatever budget is left and go buy the Stranger Sam calls you still need to hit your number.” READ MORE
THE 21 HATS PODCAST: DASHBOARD
Helping Creatives with the Business of Art: For years, Kim Robinson worked on the brand side, helping major companies connect with artists and creatives. Eventually, he decided he’d rather be working for the artists themselves. So he launched 3pts, a company that helps creatives handle the business side of their careers—everything from pricing and marketing to partnerships and strategy—so they can spend more time focused on the work they love.
The first challenge, Kim says, is convincing artists that thinking about money and business doesn’t somehow compromise their creativity. The second is helping them understand that even the most gifted creatives still need a framework for pricing, positioning, and building sustainable careers.
In our conversation, Kim explains why so many artists struggle with the entrepreneurial side of their work, what brands often misunderstand about creative talent, and why he eventually realized he had more in common with his clients than he expected.
You can subscribe to the 21 Hats Podcast—brought to you by Grasshopper Bank—wherever you get podcasts.
