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As a small business owner, you need to be a lot of things to make your business go—but you don't have to be a marketer alone. Join host Dave Charest, Director of Small Business Success at Constant Contact, and Kelsi Carter, Brand Production Coordinator, as they explore what it really takes to market your business. Even if marketing's not your thing! You'll hear from small business leaders just like you along with industry experts as they share their stories, challenges, and best advice to get real results. This is the 2x Webby Award Honoree Be A Marketer podcast!
Today on episode 8 of the Be A Marketer podcast, you'll hear from a founder that takes pride in providing homeowners peace of mind by being their eyes and ears when their homes are unoccupied. And I'm sharing why it's important to identify how your connections participate in your personal and professional growth. This is the be a marketer podcast.
Dave Charest:My name is Dave Charest, director of small business success at Constant Contact. And I've been helping small business owners like you make sense of online marketing for over 16 years. You can be a marketer, and I'm here to help. Hello. Hello, friend, and welcome to another edition of the Be A Marketer podcast.
Dave Charest:As always, I am grateful for your attention, and I am excited to introduce you to our guest today. But before I do that, I had a question for you. Do you really understand the role your connections play in helping you make progress with your business? Now I say this because we often get tied up in thinking about reaching customers. People that are spending money with us.
Dave Charest:But I want to highlight to you that there are other people that are important for your business as well. And I like to call these the 4 p's. Peers, pros, patrons, and promoters. Now let me explain the role that each of these people play and who they are. 1 is peers.
Dave Charest:Peers are the people that are basically on the same level as your business. These are people that might be in your local community. You service a particular customer, and you're sometimes competitive, but probably not. You're more complementary to each other. These are people that you can share war stories with.
Dave Charest:These are the people that you can connect with. They're going through the same things that you're going through at this moment in time. Then if we move to pros, and that pros short for professional here. What I mean here is these are the people that may be at a level above where you're at today. These are people that you aspire to achieve some level of greatness that maybe they've gotten to.
Dave Charest:And so these are people that also, in some way, although they may not know it, act as mentors to you because you look up to them from afar. You pay attention to the things that you're doing, and you start to figure out, oh, what are the things that I can do to replicate the successes that they've had? And so that's why the pros portion of this is important. Patrons, of course, these are the people that spend money with you. These are the people that buy things.
Dave Charest:These are your customers. These are the people that, you know, come to you again and again. And then promoters, these are people that may never buy anything from you, but they love your business. They're connected with you on some level, and they love to let people know about the great things that you're always doing. And so when you think about who you have connected and when you think about what you're doing in your marketing efforts, when you're building lists, when you're creating emails, you may wanna think about keeping track of the people in each of these 4 categories.
Dave Charest:Again, peers, pros, patrons, and promoters. Because then you can start to figure out what are the things that you need to do with these people to help you make progress with your business. Well, friend, allow me to introduce our guest today. After 30 years in the high-tech industry, Frank Fantasia didn't plan on starting a house watching business in 2014, but his curiosity got the better of him after spending some time in Nantucket, Massachusetts. You see, Frank noticed that people who had houses there only spent a limited amount of time at those houses.
Dave Charest:A snowbird himself, Frank began to do some research. He found that there weren't any professional house watchers in the immediate Boston area. So Frank saw this as an opportunity to establish a legitimate, a licensed, bonded, and insured company to do visual inspections of homes, looking for any obvious issues that could result in a more complicated situation for the homeowner while they were away. Now his local marketing efforts led to 1 customer in year 1. But from there, it was steady growth.
Dave Charest:He even found an opportunity to add an additional service for real estate agents. Let's hear more from Frank on how he's grown over the years.
Frank Fantasia:Like I said, we started with 1 year, 1. And, I think that first winter, I had 2, maybe 3 clients. So this year, we've got, some 40 somewhat clients that, that are away from the home. Of course, they're not all at the same time. We service primarily the snowbird population.
Frank Fantasia:So, when we get to be my age, we've got medical appointments and issues that have to be dealt with. So they're they're flying back and home, but we do a good job of keeping track of people coming and going.
Dave Charest:Gotcha. So, like, starting a business, was that something that you always thought you'd end up doing? Or, like, how did you just you told the story, but, like, how do you get there? Right?
Frank Fantasia:Right. Yeah. So I I've always had an entrepreneurial mind or spirit, but I've always worked for an an employer. I did have 1 foray into owning my own business prior to this. It was a retail ice cream, storefront.
Frank Fantasia:Steve's Ice Cream. If you're you're a Boston local, you'll know about Steve's. That happened not to be a successful venture, but I didn't get totally turned off. And I've always had the spirit, so I wanted to, you know, I've started this business myself. It was not, franchise or an existing business.
Frank Fantasia:It was something that I built from scratch.
Dave Charest:Did anything scare you about kinda getting that started?
Frank Fantasia:I wouldn't say scared, not scared, but, I mean, there were obviously concerns. Having been a business person, they think I have a good business sense, and I know why small businesses go out of business for a lot of, in retrospect, obvious issues. You can't take your eye off the ball. I mean, you just gotta stick to the basics. Can't be pie in the sky.
Frank Fantasia:And in this particular industry and business, it's not something that happens overnight. As I told you, I you build the business 1 client at a time. So it it takes a long time. I work with a lot of people too. I'm, quite active in the National Home Watch Association, and I I'm a boot camp instructor for them.
Frank Fantasia:So I've had the opportunity to to work with some people just entering the business. So there are some of the things I tell them to stick to the basics.
Dave Charest:You know, as you're doing this, so what's involved with running the business now? Like, do you have employees? Like, how does it all work out?
Frank Fantasia:I do. I told you about the snowbird myself. As I tell people, in order to understand the snowbird mentality, the best way to do that is to become 1. Right? So I have 3 individuals who work for me part time.
Frank Fantasia:They do all of the physical, the weekly house visits. I run manage all other aspects of the business. My wife helps me with the bookkeeping, aspect of it. She worked in in accounting and finance for a number of years. So we're basically managing it from a distance.
Dave Charest:Gotcha. And what's that process like for you just in terms of, like, hiring? I know a lot of businesses these days are, you know, struggling with that. And and how about you? How long have people been with you?
Dave Charest:You're bringing new people in all the time. Like, how does that work out for you?
Frank Fantasia:Sure. So my longest term employee has been with me for 4 or 5 years now. We knew each other personally. We both live in the same town, and that's worked out rather well for us. As I said, they're part time all of them are part timers.
Frank Fantasia:So I turned 2 of the 3 just this past coming into this past year. So 2 of the 3 current employees are new to me this year. 1 was hired as a referral from a previous employee. The other was I used 1 of these online services that I've never used before and, found this individual and, decided to go with it.
Dave Charest:Gotcha. How were things during the COVID period? Did that have any impact on your business at all?
Frank Fantasia:You know, interestingly enough, it just seemed to me, and I don't know if I'm representative of the, entire industry, but it seemed that snowbirds were less impacted by COVID than others. The biggest impact seemed to be the length of time that snowbirds spent in Florida, when they went down, when they came back, it just seemed it was a very fluid situation Mhmm. Thinking back, and I'm sure you experienced the same thing when we were in the middle of this thing. It was just pretty scary, and none of us really knew what to expect. Yeah.
Frank Fantasia:So there was just a lot of movement and people waited later. It seemed they they waited later to go to Florida, but once they got there, they felt more comfortable, and they tended to stay later also, and they came back to Boston later. But I wouldn't say wholesale. There were there was a loss of customers and less business because of that.
Dave Charest:Gotcha. So when you think about you know, it seems like, you know, you're getting into this new industry and doing this whole new thing. Like, where did you go for help? Like, were there people that you turned to to kind of figure out how to work this thing and what you needed to do to kinda get this business off the ground?
Frank Fantasia:So the first organization I ran into, there's actually a a HomeWatch Association called National HomeWatch Association. I reached out to them, and, the executive director is very passionate and very, interested and a hard worker, spends a lot of time on the phone with people, and, I learned a lot from him. I reached out to a couple of people that are in the business already. 1 person's in the North Shore. Spent a day with him and, talked to him.
Frank Fantasia:He was very, giving of, information sharing of information and giving pointers and tips. And then through the National Association, they offer all sorts of information too. Now going forward, we offer the so I'm on the advisory board of National Association. We offer boot camps, so it's a lot easier now for newer people coming into the business where we have a 2 day boot camp we can offer people.
Dave Charest:Gotcha. You know, when you think about moving from, you know, the other roles that you had at kind of, you know, bigger businesses and you coming in, you're doing your own thing, what would you say is maybe 1 of the biggest things that you've learned over these years that you've taken and you apply to the business that you're running now?
Frank Fantasia:Yeah. Again, I would take a stick to the basics. And 1 of the things I find is sometimes looking at your experiences when most of it's been with large corporations, trying to understand what's applicable to small business and what's not. An example of might that that might be you don't have tens of 1, 000 of dollars to spend on marketing and advertising, for instance. You've gotta think small, but you could steal some ideas in terms of principles.
Dave Charest:Yeah. Well, let's talk about that. I'd love to know, like, what are you taking? Like, how do you approach marketing? How often are you marketing?
Dave Charest:Like, what's your whole the whole thing in terms of that?
Frank Fantasia:So I would say better than 90% of my client base found out about me by doing a search on the Internet. So first and foremost your website is very important and you know I've always gone to a professional to help me in that area, Haven't done that on myself. I did some direct mail. Again, that's not instant success. But I'm using Constant Contact because I there's another part or piece of my business I haven't mentioned yet in addition to the house watching.
Frank Fantasia:And that's we will go into halt to do an assessment and test and inspect their smoke and carbon monoxide alarms to make sure they meet code. And I turned that into a business because in Massachusetts, if you're a homeowner selling your home, you have to invite the local fire department in. They have to test and inspect all of your alarms and certify that they meet state code. And they will issue you a certificate of compliance. So and I in my home watching business, I'm always talking to real estate agents.
Frank Fantasia:So just ironically, I kept hearing the same message from agents, particularly female agents, telling me they were tired of climbing on ladders detecting smoke detectors. Sure. So I thought I saw an opportunity there, and that's where Constant Contact helped me. So I literally built a database of real estate agents' names and email addresses, and I started pushing out emails to them. And, that worked.
Frank Fantasia:The more I would send emails out, the more the phone would ring. So that was a a good success story.
Dave Charest:I love that. I love that. Is there anything else you're doing with your marketing now? Is it strictly you reaching out to real estate agents, or are you also doing things for the home watching? Like, how do you kind of traverse all of that?
Frank Fantasia:Yeah. Just some of the the things that we, all tend to think of. You know, join local organizations, Rotary Club. I sit on the board of the, Winchester Chamber of Commerce. So I think you have to level set your expectations with efforts like that.
Frank Fantasia:That's not an overnight thing, and sometimes you can't really put your finger on it. But business does come your way over the long haul. I'm still using postal service has a program called EDDM, which stands for every direct door mailer, and that's an opportunity where you can put a, a postcard or a piece of mail in in a mailbox without having to spend, I don't know what stamps cost today, 65¢ or something. But the, letter carrier actually will place 1 of these postcards in every mailbox on his group. And and it's a lot less expensive, like 19¢ per card.
Frank Fantasia:More little more work on your end because you've gotta generate the pieces. You've gotta count them out. You've gotta bring them to the post office, but it's a good saving. So I think it's a good way to keep the name and the face out there. I'm trying to figure out how to use Crunch to Contact more in terms of the house watching business.
Frank Fantasia:I obviously use it. 1 of the things I do is I use it as a communications tool with my existing client base.
Dave Charest:Sure.
Frank Fantasia:I mean, it's not not a large base, but some of the people that, I've talked to previously that aren't clients and then my existing clients too.
Dave Charest:Gotcha. Are you the 1 doing the the work in Constant Contact? Or do you have somebody that helps with your marketing? How does that all work out?
Frank Fantasia:Yeah. I do it myself Awesome. Great. Shelf taught.
Dave Charest:Amazing. I mean, it seems like you're using a lot of the the tools too. Right? Like, you're using emails. You're using those landing pages.
Dave Charest:It looks like you've done surveys and events in the past as well using some of the automation, and you're even using text marketing. Like, tell me a little bit about kind of how you're getting your hands dirty with all of that stuff.
Frank Fantasia:Well, you know, I'm not afraid to jump into something and be a self teacher. Sometimes that can be more time consuming, and you can make mistakes up front. So you mentioned what? The SMS texting. So I just signed up for that.
Frank Fantasia:I'm a novice with that. I really don't know much about it, but I thought it it might be useful. And, I've got a lot to learn there, so that's an area that I I need to push a little more. But Constant Contact, I found it pretty easy. It when I started using it was, I ran the Boston Marathon for Children's Hospital for quite a number of years, to raise funds for them and Constant Contact is what I use to reach out to potential, supporters.
Dave Charest:Love that. Do you have, like, a favorite feature of Constant Contact as you've been using it over the years?
Frank Fantasia:No. I think just overall, the general functionality of where you're able to create an email and get it out and then actually see what the detailed results are in terms of the reach, You know, how many people actually open the email, how many actually went to a page, how many actually subscribed. So that those are the kinds of the things that I use. Sometimes, you know, I get a little lost with tagging and, you know, following subsets of groups and stuff like that.
Dave Charest:Gotcha. If you were to speak to maybe someone starting either, you know, just getting started with the business, getting started with Constant Contact, maybe even in a similar business. What would your number 1 tip for them using Constant Contact be?
Frank Fantasia:Good question. I would say just jump in and just expose yourself to all the features and the functionality and use it. It's like anything, the more you use it, the better you get with it. Initially, it's overwhelming to look at it and say, oh my god, particularly for my generation set.
Dave Charest:Yeah.
Frank Fantasia:I'll never get this.
Dave Charest:But you have.
Frank Fantasia:Yeah. Yeah. Right. Exactly.
Dave Charest:Yeah. How do you think about the business kinda moving forward? Like, do you set goals each year? Like, how do you work through all of that?
Frank Fantasia:I'm kind of in a unique situation because I'm, quote, unquote, retired.
Dave Charest:Yeah.
Frank Fantasia:So it's not like I'm figuring I have to figure out how to pay the bills and the luggage with this business. So I've, I don't have any large expectations. You know, modest growth every year is gives me good satisfaction. I'd like to think that, you know, I've built a business that's got a bright future ahead for itself and maybe find someone that might wanna join and maybe see an opportunity for themselves down the road and take it over. I'd hate to think that, you know, after 6 or 7 years, if I decide it's time to sit at the pool or be on the golf course full time, that, I'm gonna close the lights and lock the door.
Dave Charest:As you've been kind of doing this, what would be your best piece of business advice for someone?
Frank Fantasia:Set expectations for yourself, have a plan, have targets and goals, and document and articulate for yourself a plan to get you there. And then identify what success looks like to you. And it's different for everybody. I think sometimes we don't take the time to articulate to ourselves, So what am I really trying to achieve here? And how do I know I got
Dave Charest:Well, so talk me through that a little bit, right, when you think about the business then. Like, what is it for you then? Because you're mentioning, you know, you it's not necessarily you're not looking at it to pay the bills necessarily. So what is it for?
Frank Fantasia:So it's to run a a successful profitable business. I spend time looking at p and l's. I have to pay attention to the profitability. If I'm hoping to talk to people who potentially would be purchasers of the business, I've gotta be able to show them a a good case that says, yeah, this is this is a legitimate business. So steady revenue growth, however, large or small it is, making sure that your bottom line is still not what it should be, but maybe what you need it to be.
Frank Fantasia:If I think this is a good case to where people take their eye off the ball at a small business level. I've talked to plenty of small business people, and I'll bet they're sitting there thinking they make money, when in fact, if they peel back the onion, they'd probably find that they're losing money.
Dave Charest:Yeah. Yeah. What would be well, I guess, you know, I wanna go there a little bit. Like, what is your advice to people then to make sure that they're are looking at the business the right way? What do they have to do?
Frank Fantasia:Well, have the proper tools to do that. There's so much available out there from products and technology to help you monitor that. I, you know, I'm particularly, I use QuickBooks online. And there's just so many different things you can do that with that to look at it in different ways. Not only from a revenue stand point, but you can break it out to say, okay, so where is my business really coming from?
Frank Fantasia:Who are my most successful clients? Here's 1 I think is to know your fixed and variable expenses. And 1 of the things that we looked at here's a good example what we talked about a little earlier about what you pull from the corporate picture and apply it to small businesses, is to know what we used to deal a lot with, because I was in contracts with what is a fully burdened rate. So if you've got a client, do you know how much you need to make on each instance? So I should know if I don't a, if I'm paying someone to do the house watching for me, if I'm charging a client x, and I'm paying my guy y?
Frank Fantasia:What's left for for me, and is it covering my variable expenses too?
Dave Charest:Right. Right. What would you say is if we think about the marketing, what is your best piece of marketing advice for someone?
Frank Fantasia:Have a budget, and I can't tell you what that should be, and stick to it, and then understand what the results are. So if you have a budget of x dollars and you come up with the marketing plan that's decided you're picking, say, 3 different types of marketing to understand what the yield was from each of those so that the following year, if you're gonna do that again, if 1 of those 3, for instance, was not profitable, you don't wanna keep spending money in an area that's not paying back any dividends for you. But I think it's have a budget and I in the boot camp, I spend a lot of time talking to people about, again, level setting the expectations, understanding what your expectation is year 1, year 2, 3, and then having a plan to stay with that so that you can make an evaluation or assessment. Are you hitting the markers that you've set for yourself?
Dave Charest:Well, friend, let's recap some items from that discussion. Number 1, stick to the basics. Don't overcomplicate things. Have targets and goals and a plan to get you there. 1 other thing that I'll mention is you also wanna make sure that you get into the nuts and bolts of your business from a financial This way, you know if you're making what you need to make a profit.
Dave Charest:Number 2, don't be afraid to jump in. Whether it's connecting with people in your local community or reaching out to people virtually, you can find resources to help you along the way and people willing to share knowledge and expertise to help you on your journey. Number 3, remember that success looks different for everyone. So ask yourself, what do I want from my business? You don't need to compare yourself to others, but rather set expectations for yourself.
Dave Charest:What does success look like to you? Now here's your action item for today. What I'd like you to think about doing is making a worthwhile connection. So set aside some time to identify people in each of the categories that I mentioned at the top of the show. Peers, pros, patrons, and promoters.
Dave Charest:Reach out to people you've identified and see if you can connect. And as they say, it doesn't hurt to ask. And you just might gain worthwhile connections to help you make progress. I hope you've enjoyed this episode of the be a Marketer podcast. If you have questions or feedback, I'd love to hear from you.
Dave Charest:You can email me directly at dave.charest@constantcontact.com If you did enjoy today's episode, please take a moment to leave us a review. Your honest feedback will help other small business marketers like yourself find the show. Well, friend, I hope you enjoy the rest of your day and continued success to you and your business.