Unique Selling Proposition for a Contractor?

Got a chuckle out of this shot from a Chicago contractor's van. Their tagline is "We return phone calls and show up on time!"

If anyone out there has done business with these guys, right there is the makings of a potential positive review. :)

[Hat tip: Perry Marshall (print subscription newsletter).]

P.S. Their ugly website uses this USP also. I won't even try to speculate on why they have a one-pixel link to a video of Jerry Lewis singing "I only have eyes for you."

Labels: chicago, contractors

Posted by Andrew Goodman
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HomeStars Blog is Rolling

Hi all, I'm Andrew Goodman, one of the early team members of HomeStars, a website founded by Nancy Peterson to help homeowners sift through the good, the bad, and the ugly of home improvement contractors and retailers. There are already thousands of reviews on the site, and more are being added every day. We've had great media mentions (thanks!) and have met hundreds of homeowners at recent local home shows.

But we're only getting warmed up.

As this small team has grown together, we've learned a lot about the exploding interest in consumer reviews and "peering and sharing" online as people empower themselves to make smarter purchases - and sometimes get to know one another in the process. (What d'yall think? Should HomeStars have a Meetup type event in Toronto for frequent users of the site, in fall 2007?)

For the time being, we'll just be jotting down little notes about the progress of the company here on the blog. Longer term the site will be rolling out North America wide and will encompass more collaborative user features, user Q&A, and so forth. So we hope our pithy little comments here will be drowned out by a loud chatter of "homeowner empowerment".

A running joke here at HomeStars seems to be my title, as I've been helping Nancy with strategy in a range of areas. It was Web Strategist, the Search Engine Guy, Chief Traffic Officer for awhile as I decided we'd get nowhere if nobody came to the site, and now, I would like to call myself Chief Content Producer or VP, Content. Of course, I don't produce the content, users do, in collaboration with local city-based content "producers" who will be meeting, greeting, sharing, and encouraging homeowners. (Can I say we're going to be like Yelp! for grownups?)

Labels: blog, contractors, home improvement, home renovation, homestars, ratings, reviews

Posted by Nancy Peterson
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