Marketing & Sales Trades & Services

Know Your Value as a Trades Business Part 2 — Rogue Tradies

Written by Jon Dale

News about Rogue Tradies

I saw an article in one of the newspapers talking about some rogue tradies knocking on doors in Sydney and ripping people off.

  • Taking deposits then disappearing
  • Doing half a job then disappearing
  • Taking on a job they really have not got the skills to do and realising it halfway through and disappearing
  • Or worse, asking for more money
  • Or doing a dreadful job and leaving people with something bad bullying the people who start to realise what’s going on and scaring them

I know I’ve mentioned this stuff before but it bears mentioning again. Not all trades businesses are good and decent people like YOU.

I know it and your customers kind of know it. But they don’t necessarily know which one you are, do they?

You need to tell them.

What sets you apart from the Rogue Tradies

The reason I feel the need to ram this point so hard and so often is that so many of my clients resist doing this.

It feels like talking yourself up and for us British or Australians, that’s socially not cool, is it?

But you’re not in a social situation now, you’re in a business situation where your customer needs information, so they can make a decision – go with you or not?

So tell them what kind of business you are in your marketing and in your sales process.

This is the important part. The rogues will tell them they’re great, or they’ll slide quickly away from that discussion and bamboozle people. You can:

  • Prove why you’re good
  • Show testimonials
  • Ask real people to put testimonials on Facebook
  • Give genuine references and ask them to call It’s a long list. You can ask for help to plan exactly what you should be saying and how to prove it.

But remember, your customers need to know what kind of business you are and what kind of job you’ll do and the rogues are out there. It’s up to you to explain the difference.

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About the author

Jon Dale

Jon Dale, of Small Fish Business Coaching is a business coach for tradies - trades business owners wanting to grow their businesses. His articles will help you understand how to manage your marketing, sales, operational systems and the people of your business. His program is called the Tradies Toolbox because he hopes you can use it, like a tool, to make more money and build a business you're proud of.

There are a few ways you can explore whether working with Jon is right for you, right now:
1. You can watch these videos - subscribe here to get them emailed every week.
2. You can join the Tradies Business Toolshed Facebook Group and participate.
3. You can attend the next Tools Down Workshop - 2 days of Jon explaining the framework.
4. Or you can book a 10-minute filter call where you and Jon will both look at whether he can help.