In the past year we have found there way too many NPCA members don't understand how to use their membership to its full potential; and we've also found that nonmembers don't understand all of the reasons that they should become NPCA members.

Here's the top three reasons:

1. By having the NPCA logo on every piece of your advertising and on your proposal packages especially; you are automatically associated as a high-quality contractor who "does things right", offers a guarantee on their work, and has the proper insurance and licensing if needed to be a "legitimate" contractor.
2. By using the line "Customer Satisfaction Assured" below the NPCA logo and although same places you raise interest in the NPCA Customer Satisfaction Assurance Program™ and a curiosity about what it entails. Giving you the excellent opportunity to explain that they can rate their satisfaction level online. It's been proven by numerous industry studies that in this day and age. Being able to write a contractor or any service or product "online" to a third-party and increases the probability of closing a sale by 80% when compared to someone who does not have the same option.
3. By using NPCA video. You can add a short sales presentation similar to what you would find on the "tube" video sites, only without the advertising since it's your private space. This can be uploaded quickly and easily and you can have as many as you want; so you can have a message from the owner, a brief message from a salesman or estimator introducing themselves, or a full-blown video of how your company does the work you do. These can be embedded into your website so that no resources are taken from your own personal web hosting space and the video is delivered much faster from our high-powered video servers and you can also attach whatever video is appropriate to an e-mail to a new customer, so that along with the e-mail that might be part of your sales campaign; there is a brief video introduction of the company owner or the salesman and and inviting the potential customer to visit with you about their pavement needs.

By combining these three things together on each and every sales presentation that you make, every document that you send out, and on your website or other electronic marketing efforts you have an unbeatable 1-2-3 knockout punch that will blow your competitors away before they even get started.

Just think about your own marketplace.

How many of your competitors offer ANY of these things? How many of them are instantly identified as having high ethical standards, guaranteed workmanship, and "always doing it right"? Not only that none of them unless they're in NPCA member, have any way that someone can rate their performance to an independent third-party.
While we have found that many people in the pavement industry may not be "geniuses" on today's electronic marketing techniques; (which is to be expected because you're too busy doing the work you do.) ...BUT:
It is a proven fact that in two different marketing/sales studies done in the last year, consumers who have the choice between a service provider that they can write online to an independent third-party as far as their satisfaction are 80% more likely to choose the company that they can rate online.
That is a huge marketing advantage.!

And then there's NPCA video. Some companies use YouTube and other popular video sites, but there's a big problem there. All those sites are loaded not only with advertising but with lots of other videos on whatever their system thinks are related subjects. So if I a potential customer goes to see your video on YouTube or a similar site. They are presented with at least 10 to 15 different lengths to easily "click away" and go to visit some other site or watch some other video, possibly forgetting about your company in the process; maybe even forgetting why they were there in the first place.
With NPCA video. You have the same ease of uploading, making uploading your own videos very simple. You can upload an unlimited number of videos, and these days, people just love to watch videos. the difference is NPCA video is private, like your own personal you tube.

It's reached a point where video is almost expected on your website and since very few pavement companies can afford to have someone available on their website for "live chat" to answer questions; having a brief video makes your company seem far more "personal". The same thing is true of having a link to a short video introduction of a salesman describing your company an e-mail marketing campaign; or a link they can go to in your conventional print marketing materials where they can see a video about your company.

There is absolutely nothing like the NPCA and the tremendous variety of marketing tools it offers.

If you as an NPCA member makes use of all the different marketing materials that are available to you. There is no way other companies stand a chance unless you happen to be competing against another NPCA member. And even then that's not a bad thing; because it's the only person you're competing against his other NPCA members you know that they are agreeing to do the work correctly and to the same standard you are so you're not going to be competing with some "fly-by-night" or someone who is cutting corners to give artificially low bids for shoddy workmanship.

The main benefit of being an NPCA member is having the NPCA logo and the Customer Satisfaction Assurance Program™ on all of your marketing materials, and especially on your proposals. Even if someone hasn't heard of the NPCA. You can send them to the home page of our website and it will tell them immediately all the things you have agreed to as a high-quality contractor; immediately separating you from any other contractors. They might be considering. Then if they ask about the Satisfaction Assurance Program you have them right where you want them because all you have to do is direct them to the program's website and they can immediately see the criteria they will be able to rate you on when the work is finished. They won't be seeing that on anybody else's bid or proposal!

Then, even if you don't have the world's greatest website, or if you don't do a lot of e-mail marketing, with today's digital video cameras you can still make a short video that can easily upload to our website which uses a process almost identical to "YouTube" and once again, you're the only contractor in the running for the job that has video showing the quality of your workmanship or if a client is for you cannot meet with them face-to-face letting them actually see a video of the company owner or salesperson assuring them of your personal interest in their satisfaction making you seem far more personal than someone they've never met or seen.

When you combine all of these together your sales ratio, if done properly, should increase to approximately 80% of your bids being accepted over your competition!

If you are an NPCA member and you are not consistently getting the vast majority of bids that you place against nonmember companies then you need to contact us for the free marketing advice available to you on how to use your NPCA membership to greatly increase your day-to-day sales.

Any NPCA member should have a far higher sales conversion ratio than any non-NPCA member. The only time this would be different would be that rare occasion we all see when some customers simply wants the "cheapest" bid, and doesn't care a thing about quality or workmanship. But if you use the combination of marketing benefits made available by NPCA membership you will see your sales percentages soar. Especially here. Towards the end of the season. It's a super valuable tool. One of the biggest benefits of the videos is that you can change them any time you want to; so right now you might have something specialized for the fall and the fact that the season is almost over so if you're going to get your pavement maintenance work done you need to do it now. Then when the season is finally over you might want to replace that with a video about planning for next year's pavement maintenance or new paving projects, you could explain that higher prices are predicted for materials next year so your customers wouldn't be surprised when they went to plan for next year's budget… The possibilities are virtually limitless. You can change videos as often as you want. "Target" and individual videos to individual types of customers such as commercial or residential, new construction or repair, paving, or seal coating… Whatever the type work you do and whatever the type customer you're trying to reach.

When you properly combine all of these things with the Consumer Satisfaction Assurance Program™ you should see your sales numbers skyrocket. If they don't that's what the NPCA is here for. We can help you with your personal situation to improve your individual marketing efforts (up to a point), or we can use your situation as the basis for an article that will help not only you but other members in your situation to improve your marketing efforts. That's the entire thing. The NPCA is about… Quality Contractors doing Quality Work for Satisfied Customers. In a short phrase that's the best way to completely describe the NPCA and what we've been about for the last 10 years.

Of course there's always the additional benefit of the NPCA search engine. With the NPCA search engine, any customer commercial or residential can find a member contractor and as few as three clicks.
By going to our search engine like over 10,000 people a year do; a property manager who might be thousands of miles away from the jobsite, or a homeowner who might be right in their own backyard, Ken simply enter their zip code in the type of work they need done and a members ad will display describing all of the services that they provide and the basics of what makes their company special. With just one more click the customer can then either e-mail the contractor, or go straight to the contractor's website for more information. Rates vary greatly across the nation, depending on the density of the population but we have some members who have as many as over 500 referrals a year from our search engine. Even in the very sparsely populated areas, members tend to get somewhere between a minimum of 80 to 100 referrals a year. Of course not all these turn into sales, but if the member contractor is using all the tools available as described above, the odds are very good.

It has been a strange phenomenon, but as the economy has worsened; our search rates have gone higher and higher. During one three-day period in early July we had over 122 searches for contractors, an all-time high for such a short period of time. And as we have every year in the history of the Association, if the current trend continues, we will close out the year with more searches than we have had in any previous year. We've never had a year for search rates didn't grow from the previous year; we have just been surprised at how much the search rates have grown this year with the economy being in as bad a shape as it is. That can only lead us to predict that if the economy continues to falter next year, search rates will be even higher as customers demand quality for their dollars that are being stretched thin.

Now through Labor Day, the NPCA is running a fall special on membership; at a greatly reduced rate regardless of your location so now is the greatest time of year to join!

You'll have all winter to get your marketing efforts together using all of the methods described above: the NPCA logo, the, consumer Satisfaction Program, and videos that pertain not only to the winter; but you can film examples of your crews working now to be ready to put on the video site in the spring. You won't find a better time to join, the Board of Directors reduced rates this year and this is a discount on top of the already reduced rates (this was done to help contractors during this time of a bad economy) at this point no one can be sure after same rates will be held for 2011 or if they will return to the normal $375…
But right now you can save up to $180 and have a full year's membership, which will take you all the way through the winter season and all the way through Labor Day in next summer's season. Don't miss out on this great time to join; and have all winter to get your "ducks in a row" with the one-of-a-kind NPCA marketing tools, so that is 2010 finishes and 2011 gets started, you will be armed and ready with the full arsenal of marketing and sales tools provided by your NPCA membership. They'll never be another chance to get so much for so little.
If you're already in NPCA member you can add a year-to-year membership simply by using the payment button and making a notation on the payment form that you are adding a year-to-year company's membership – be sure to include your company name – this will be added to whatever your membership date is so you can take advantage of the reduced rate to extend your membership an extra year.

Use the bottom payment button on our Become A Member Page to take advantage of this discount, and if you are joining for the first time, complete the form at the bottom of the page immediately before or after making payment so we can match them up correctly and have your ad displaying on our search engine within 48 hours.

And if you're in NPCA member who has not been taking advantage of all of these benefits, you need to get to work making sure you get the benefit of everything you paid for by joining. Too many members simply sit back and help the search engine will bring them a few jobs that will pay for their membership; and for most they do, but they are missing out on all the sales, they could be getting throughout the year by not using the full arsenal of membership tools at their disposal and their everyday sales and marketing efforts. The NPCA has gone to a great deal of time and expense to provide these tools and their only available to NPCA members....put them to use so YOU will be identified as a unique breed of quality-oriented contractor.

(And we didn't even mention our high quality apparel for you and your crew with our member logo to identify you or any of the other many benefits listed on our become a member page. Add all of the long list of benefits there to the ones you've seen here!)

Go iPave.com will immediately impact how you prospect, measure, bid and close Pavement Maintenance & Construction work!

The on-line tool enables companies to search and view properties, measure surfaces, count objects by utilizing high resolution imagery, actual property boundaries and a variety of measurement tools. This is NOT your average Google application. Go iPave benefits companies by increasing revenue through the use of a new leading edge tool. Go iPave is being adopted by thousands of contractors.

NPCA Members use the following code to receive a free trial ggpave

Go to their special site at Go iPave Promo Site

To see it in action go to The 75 Second Demo that will change the way you bid!

Free Leads-No Membership Cost...that's what a "junk mail" we often get from "Construction Deals" is now promising...
This is straight from their latest e-mail (spam-we did not request it of course):

• Quote:

Now that sounds GREAT--even better than the NPCA with our current "special" low dues for forum participants BUT...
Here's the truth about their "free" program:

• There are NO qualifications for membership so there are no benefits to the consumer for supposedly listing a lead with them.
• A "Free" profile only allows you to view the "job" or the outline of the project--NO contact information so you know who they are!
• To find out who has this job you must pay a "lead fee" of at least $15-$25 depending on the size of the job. That FEE gets you nothing but the contact information to go with the "project details".
• They state you will be bidding against other contractors in their network-again, there are no requirements to be in their network; so your competitor may be the biggest rip-off artist in town or not hire legal labor or have proper insurance...who knows? ANYBODY can sign up.
• So the FREE LEADS really cost at least $15-$25 JUST TO GET THE PHONE NUMBER OR E-MAIL of the "contact.
• Since they are a for profit "lead" company and do this for all types of "trades" not just asphalt & concrete (also electrical, carpenters, air Conditioning, Windows, the list is huge) there are no other benefits like discount insurance or free private video, equipment, machinery, or other discounts or any of the other tons of benefits like the NPCA.
• After you pay the money for the contact info you may find the job has already been awarded to someone else, OOP's, you should have paid sooner!
• Of course they have never been recommended by the nation's #1 "Reports" magazine (we have -twice-the ONLY pavement contractor organization to be honored so) Reader's Digest, Professional Retail Store Maintenance, etc. because they offer nothing to assure customers they are getting Quality.

On the other hand we have already had almost 5,200 searches this year to date--from people who want quality and know by reading OUR web site it costs more to get it right sometimes.
We have had 144 "searches" in the last 4 DAYS!!!

Our members have the "credentials" a good contractor should have so if you do happen to end up bidding against a fellow NPCA member you know you have both agreed to use manufacturer specifications and all the other same things to assure a quality job, if the customer or an NPCA member requests we will even give the customer free help to make sure the bids are "apples to apples"...it's a "level playing field".

DON'T BE FOOLED BY FREE LEADS-NO MEMBERSHIP and end up signing a "contract" with a company like this-- (there are several others we just get this one's junk e-mails all the time)

Look over the cost of NPCA dues (especially right now for forum readers) --we get NO lead fees and when a customer contacts you everything is in the open, the contacts, job specs, etc. We are NEVER a "middleman in your business. While we cannot say anything about this particular company and are not saying they do--in the past several similar companies have been found to send or post leads that were not "real" (these were usually companies where you pay $X for 100 leads or whatever). There was no "job" or it was finished 2 months ago, or the customer just wanted a budget estimate...these guys may be better than that but the free lead actually costs you $25 just to get the contact info.

There is still nothing like the NPCA. An organization formed BY pavement contractors FOR pavement contractors...especially as a forum reader and our special right now there is nothing to compare with the value, increased sales influence, free marketing, web site, and other help & tips, ...well you can read most of the benefits on the Become A Member page.
We could do "free membership and free leads" like this company does and with 144 searches in 4 days charging $25 each for contact info it would be very "profitable" for us... but we are about contractors, You won't find a year-round 5% discount on tools and stencils or other such benefits from "lead" companies like these--so beware of "Free" leads... and if you are desperate and decide to try them read ALL the fine print carefully, by becoming a "premium" member you may be signing a contract for a year or more to pay for at least "X" leads per month or something similar..(we couldn't get into their site that far without signing up but we have seen that type thing with similar companies)

Be sure to notice on our Become A Member Page that we have drop down boxes with big discounts for many under-represented areas if you join on-line using our secure system.

We will be changing and adding to these but it never hurts to check and see if there's a big discount for your service in your area by e-mailing us at info@pavementpro.com if you meet our requirements for membership.

The "gang" at the NPCA booth including President Nick Howell, VP Vincent Engonogro, Illustrious Member (and Expo Speaker) for many years Don Rooney and Director Tom Marry behind the camera

An Allied Vendor Showing off the many benefits of NPCA Membership




One of the Signs you look for to find NPCA Events at NPE

They're Here!

NPCA Members... Head to the Member's Forum for the link to apply for your NPCA Fleet Cards with up to five cents per gallon in rebates!

Thanks to Everyone Who Stopped By To Visit!


Our Booth At NPE 2008 was a popular spot.(especially with the free JCL T-shirts - Thanks to JCL)
We were amazed after 8 years how many contractors didn't know about the NPCA and may joined "on the spot" as soon as they saw the benefits.
We're hoping our regular column in Pavement and exposure in other trade magazines will help increase awareness of the many benefits of NPCA Membership..."It Doesn't Cost - It Pays!"

We have noticed those other "contractor referral sites" so we thought we would compare.

These are all actual lines from a supposed "national provider" er "find a contractor" site where contractors join to see leads...note see... the contractor has to login and look for "leads" people have posted. With the NPCA all contact is direct customer-contractor. We are never "in the middle".
All the following is directly taken from the site except the omission of the names/links. Notice it from the consumer's point of view also. They advertise "quality professional contractors" but read on...

Contractor Cost:

Them:
To be a "member" on the cheapest plan (agree to pay for over a year, more commitment but most closely resembles "annual dues"):
"Minimum 12 Month Membership
I have selected the 12-month commitment option that reduces my monthly fees to $24.99 USD per month. I understand that this is a written commitment and by agreeing to these terms I am responsible for the monthly fee of my membership for 12 consecutive months. During the 12-month cycle, I will be charged $24.99 USD per month and I will automatically be re-billed on a monthly basis throughout the 12-month term. Should I choose to cancel my membership after the 12-month commitment it can be done by contacting -----by phone at -------, or e-email at -----."
That's 299.88 per year, their least expensive option. Their "normal" membership is $479.88 per year.
NPCA:
Their least expensive option is more than our dues for the most expensive category of a full-service paving/sealing/striping/c ommercial and residential/etc. company with NO discounts.

Where do the "leads" come from? How many are there?


Them:
"Every month project owners post an average of 400 new construction project leads through the--------.com website."
Note from their site:
What kinds of projects are posted?
Posted projects cover all areas of Residential, Commercial and Industrial Construction.

NPCA:
In 2007 over 675 customers per month (average) for ONLY pavement related services.


Contractor Qualifications

Them:
"How does -----.com select Contractors?
Any contractor can join as a member and bid on posted projects"

NPCA:
Requires proof of proper insurance, licensing if required, agreement to our customer satisfaction survey process, agreement to our customer satisfaction & quality workmanship standards, agreement to our arbitration policy in the event of a problem, etc.

Who do YOU think a customer would trust most?

Other Benefits:

Them:
"A free web page is included" BUT if you look at the sample it's more like the listing in on-line yellow pages. No more than our regular display ad a customer sees when they search for you.

NPCA:
A free "real" web page for 3 months with the option to convert it to a full, completely functional web site for as little as $135 thereafter or a "build it yourself" web site builder for free (plus minimum hosting charges less than $9 a month)

BUT:
The web page is a minor benefit with NPCA membership. You also get:

• Super "Fleet" pricing on Ford Trucks (and we are working on Dodge & GM)
• Discounted equipment financing or leasing.
• Discounted business insurance: General Liability, Workman's Comp, Vehicle, and even umbrella policies and bonding...anything your business needs.
• Discounted wellness and accident health insurance including prescriptions & dental & more.
• Deep discounts on all types of business printing.
• Avis Rental discount cards
• Budget Rental discount cards
• Year-round discounts on stencils and all types of pavement striping and asphalt/crack sealing hand tools.

And many more as listed elsewhere, including special discounts from our allied-vendor members, discounted clothing for you and your crew with your logos etc.

Plus NOT ONE of these other companies has ever been listed in ANY of the major national magazines we have. And we have some pretty "big name" references; including the nation's leading consumer publication whose entire reputation is because you can't "buy" their recommendation.

We have had members pay for their dues with just one print order or one stencil purchase...and the first member who bought a Ford saved enough to re-pay his membership for 52 years!

We just thought we would do this little comparison (and it's surely not complete) but sometimes after 8 years and all these obvious benefits some people still ask "well...is membership really worth it?"

Take a look around at what else is out there and what really happens, read the fine print, check the reputation...then make up your mind...we have a place waiting for you as long as you are a quality contractor.

And by the way right now their forums have had 1 post in the last 3 days and these forums will probably pass 20,000 total posts by the end of the year and have approx. 30 visitors on-line right now

Finally...
The NPCA Avis cards are here. We now have both them and the Budget car rental discount cards so if you need one just let us know and we'll be glad to send them. (If you have other magement people who need them let us know how many)
These can be used for any purpose, not just business so if you need them let us know.

We are glad to announce that NPCA Members can now get their NPCA Avis/Budget Rental Discount Cards at no charge!

Benefits from this new NPCA member benefit program include:

• 10% off Super Value daily and weekly rates in the contiguous USA
• 5% off Promotional rates in the USA
• 10% off the Time & Mileage rates in W. Europe
• 10% off rates in Africa & the Middle East
• 15% off rates in Asia & the Pacific
• 10% off rates in Latin America & the Caribbean
• Special rates in Canada

AND

Frequent Flyer Mileage accrual for each rental with participating programs!


Another reason NPCA membership doesn't cost-it pays!

Just for fun we monitored yesterday Friday September 21, 2007 and of all the people who searched on the entire Yahoo network including Yahoo!, Infospace, AltaVista, Viacom, Disney.com and others.

Of ALL searches containing the words "asphalt sealer" 8% clicked on to come to our contractor search page.
4.67% of the people who's search contained "driveway sealing" ended up on our contractor search.
3.03% who typed something containing "pavement striping" ended up searching here for a contractor.

And that's just one late September day, picked at random (and a Friday too when many people might not be searching at work) that we decided to track the results.

It would take ages to go down the list of all the other terms that brought people here but think... this is almost the "off" season in a lot of the country...and still this many people click & come straight to our search page... Looking for You!

We welcome all 3,472 registered users (so far) of this forum and appreciate your participation. And we would welcome you to become NPCA members if qualified.