Just wondered what you self-employed lads think is the best advertising methods? Good website/ranking, flyers, local rags, what about these sites like rated people that send you leads for $$$? I guess it will probably be a combination of several methods but wondered if you think anything stands out. I know word of mouth is great but not easy when you are starting out!
 
IMO flyers are a waste of time.

Not always, one drop I did got me a complete rewire, from that I met a plumber and I've done his electrics since - and that was about 4 years ago. From the same drop I also got regular work from a bathroom fitter and also 3 other small clients!
 
Just wondered what you self-employed lads think is the best advertising methods? Good website/ranking, flyers, local rags, what about these sites like rated people that send you leads for $$$? I guess it will probably be a combination of several methods but wondered if you think anything stands out. I know word of mouth is great but not easy when you are starting out!
It is difficult to know what to suggest really, I think I have tried most ways to get work by advertising myself over the years. I find when you advertise in local mags or in the yellow pages for example all it does is get more companies ringing you up to try to get you advertising with them as well. Word of mouth is the way usually when first starting up, you build slowly and eventually the work starts to come in, in dribs and drabs and then suddenely you will get quite busy. What type of works are you intending to get involved with? mainly Domestic or a mixture?
 
Not always, one drop I did got me a complete rewire, from that I met a plumber and I've done his electrics since - and that was about 4 years ago. From the same drop I also got regular work from a bathroom fitter and also 3 other small clients!

This time last week I'd have said a complete waste of time, but I did a drop at a local industrial estate at 6-30 one morning on my way to work, this led to a guy coming out of a unit and a half hour chat and now I'm quoting for a shop fit out!
So overall it's very hit and miss but like you, all it takes is one and it can be all worth it.
 
Guess it depends on exactly what your core business is and who your target market is.

Yeah sorry should have mentioned that, it's mainly domestic stuff I'm looking at these days. I am sure some of the comments are true, you have to expect to start really slow and build up.
 
Marketing is a very tricky thing. You don't want to attract the wrong customers because this can sink you as fast as having no customers at all. You also want a decent hit rate otherwise the cost of the marketing could end up the same as the profits you're making on your jobs so you need it focused and effective.

So just as an exercise because I've never done domestic electrics so I'm not very clued up on this particular market, if I had a company that specialised in domestic CU replacements/upgrades I'd need to make my marketing tool of specific interest to people who have old type fuse boxes and I'd want my marketing to have some staying power so I'd want to get my business info out there in a format they'd want to keep rather than throw in the dustbin with all the other dozens of flyers they get.

So for example I'd maybe purchase a few 100 meter rolls of fuse wire and get some branded cardboard holders printed up and hand out branded replacement fusewire to prospective customers. This would have several advantages, it would be attractive to the prospective customer who has an old fuse type CU and they'd probably not want to throw it away and they'd probably also want to keep my marketing tool close to the actual CU where it's most relevant. The downside is that it would be more expensive than your average flyer so I'd probably go door to door manually myself to hand them out by the dozens rather than blind blanket mail drops of thousands like you would with traditional flyers. This way I could also do some market research such as how many potential customers there are with fuse boards etc and make sure the freebies are going to the right people. Also if the people you speak to have a relative or friend with a fuse board you give them extras and get them to spread your marketing items for you.

Marvos Electrical.jpg
 
Get yourself a good website. Very specific and targeted at customers in your local area. Then sign up to all the free registers of tradesmen, Yell, etc., with links to your own site.

I only get a small proportion of business that way, but it's increasing rapidly as people search online for services.


Edit: Worth putting your business on Google Places.
 
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As Marvo has demonstrated always check your spelling and grammar in you advertising, some customers will notice!
Sorry Marvo.:vanish:
However the rest of the advice is good. But targeting can require a lot of research.
Local advertising is good for domestic as that will get your name known in a local area (and save you driving miles!)
 
Marketing is a very tricky thing. You don't want to attract the wrong customers because this can sink you as fast as having no customers at all. You also want a decent hit rate otherwise the cost of the marketing could end up the same as the profits you're making on your jobs so you need it focused and effective.

So just as an exercise because I've never done domestic electrics so I'm not very clued up on this particular market, if I had a company that specialised in domestic CU replacements/upgrades I'd need to make my marketing tool of specific interest to people who have old type fuse boxes and I'd want my marketing to have some staying power so I'd want to get my business info out there in a format they'd want to keep rather than throw in the dustbin with all the other dozens of flyers they get.

So for example I'd maybe purchase a few 100 meter rolls of fuse wire and get some branded cardboard holders printed up and hand out branded replacement fusewire to prospective customers. This would have several advantages, it would be attractive to the prospective customer who has an old fuse type CU and they'd probably not want to throw it away and they'd probably also want to keep my marketing tool close to the actual CU where it's most relevant. The downside is that it would be more expensive than your average flyer so I'd probably go door to door manually myself to hand them out by the dozens rather than blind blanket mail drops of thousands like you would with traditional flyers. This way I could also do some market research such as how many potential customers there are with fuse boards etc and make sure the freebies are going to the right people. Also if the people you speak to have a relative or friend with a fuse board you give them extras and get them to spread your marketing items for you.

View attachment 24272
Hey Marvo that's a bl****y good idea mate! Like Someone else said you have to target it but you could pick older houses/area's. I am of a mind that more and more people will use the internet these days, or more specifically google. My two twenty year old's would never think of picking up a local rag or looking at a flyer, they just reach for the mobile phone/tablet and google everything. However, a lot of older people will still look in such places. I think flyers are OK if you realise that 99% of them are going to get binned without even getting looked at, but if you chuck out enough the 1% will bring in something. Depends on how busy you want to be really, personally I only want 2 or 3 jobs a week as I am now 55 and "winding down" a bit, but still need some work! I am glad I am not paying off a big mortgage the young guys at this game must have a hard time these days.....Does anyone ever get any work via NICEIC or NAPIT?? (don't laugh)
 
Another marketing tool is to get some business cards printed. If you get a couple of thousand, they end up pretty cheap, so you can afford to hand them out to anyone who'll take them. I always hand one over when I meet a new customer for the first time, and then maybe give them a few extras to give to friends at the end of the job.
 
I'd say business cards are a good marketing tool if you're dealing with people face to face, if you finish a job you can almost hand it to them like it's their warranty and peace of mind and suggest they hang on to it for that reason. Obviously there's nothing better than a happy customer handing out your business cards for you to their friends and family as well but business cards aren't very effective for a cold call or blanket marketing of an area.
 
Agreed, rather go with a nice professional minimalist business card, not one that's like a flyer that's condensed to a business card size.
 
Leaflets.. I've done a couple of leaflet drops over the last 2 years.. The first one was great got few good jobs out of it. Second was a waste of time so hit and miss. Used that rated people for a period and your against people who are absolutely desprite for work so often find that you have to quote peanuts to get the work. Priced a Db on there and priced at £200 which included the bonding.. However cheapest guy was £120.. Did land one decent guy from there which I've had near on 30k worth of work from..

Recently had my van signwtited and that's drummed up a fair bit of interest to be fair.

The best form of marketing is word of mouth in my opinion.. Do a good job, be professional and they will pass your details on..

If your only doing domestic then your in for a bumpy ride I'm affraid.. Cut throat market and people who are desprite are working for peanuts
 
Leaflets.. I've done a couple of leaflet drops over the last 2 years.. The first one was great got few good jobs out of it. Second was a waste of time so hit and miss. Used that rated people for a period and your against people who are absolutely desprite for work so often find that you have to quote peanuts to get the work. Priced a Db on there and priced at £200 which included the bonding.. However cheapest guy was £120.. Did land one decent guy from there which I've had near on 30k worth of work from..

Recently had my van signwtited and that's drummed up a fair bit of interest to be fair.

The best form of marketing is word of mouth in my opinion.. Do a good job, be professional and they will pass your details on..

If your only doing domestic then your in for a bumpy ride I'm affraid.. Cut throat market and people who are desprite are working for peanuts

£120 for a Db?? Is that just the labour??? We might as well get jobs at Tesco that's ****ing ridiculous!!!!
 
£120 for a Db?? Is that just the labour??? We might as well get jobs at Tesco that's ****ing ridiculous!!!!

£30 for a cheap DB and £90 for a days work. Minimal testing etc.. and probably no paperwork! There are guys out there doing it and not just the illustrious Electrical Trainee's everyone goes on about ....
 
£30 for a cheap DB and £90 for a days work. Minimal testing etc.. and probably no paperwork! There are guys out there doing it and not just the illustrious Electrical Trainee's everyone goes on about ....
Hang on can we just get this str8 here. Are you saying that there are guys doing DB's (I presume you mean consumer unit) swap outs for £30??????? Your having a laugh surely?? Who the f*** is going to work as a (so-called) competent person for that? That is just stupid. This is a wind up please????
 
The reason I know is because I was gazumpted for one! And by all accounts speaking to the landlord the 'electrician' was totally genuine, part 'P' and all that ....
 
Nope, there are consumer unit changes (single phase, domestic) going on for £120 all in!
What do you mean all in???? You mean labour and hardware? That is just mental. Who the hell is going to change out a DB for that sort of money?? Are these guys registered or are you just referring to cowboys with no paperwork or registration???
 
Yep all in! Board £30 and labour £90 == £120. I guess if you need the work you take £90 per day to feed the kids/pay the mortgage as its cut-throat out there! And the guy was registered so all was legal on the face of it .....
 
I found this on the forum sometime ago and liked it :


Ok, so this is for plastering, andit’s been taken from our tiling forum, posted by a member named ‘tiler burden’- so I’m not taking credit. But this can be adopted for most businesses and atleast would give you some insight about how dificult / easy (that’s debateable)it is getting yourself know.

------------ MESSAGE AS FOLLOWS

hi

hope this helps people new to tilingfind work.

an associate of mine in devon, went ona 1 week course plastering and within 11 months had 7 lads working for him!!

HE GOT THE WORKIN IN, THEN GOT PEOPLEWORKING FOR HIM, KILLING 2 BIRDS WITH ONE STONE...LEARNING AND EARNING!!

THIS IS HOW HE DID IT, HEREGOES...........


Flyers - I delivered on foot nearly10,000 street by street in areas that had victorian houses which were terraced.My research suggested a return of only 1-2% but on that amount of leaflets itsa lot of work...

My other trick with flyers was to hitthe DIY superstore carparks near you on the weekend that got be several jobs.

Lastly keep an eye out in local ragfor planning applications, if they not published here your local counciloffices will have them available for you to view. Then go and pop a flyer in ora letter of introduction ideal if you see someone has applied for planning onfor example an extension.

Another thing I do is to put a flyerthrough the door of every house I see with a sold sign on it. People often liketo get work done before they move in, I picked up a five bed house top tobottom through this only last month.

Promotions - I give a free £25 Marks& Spencer voucher to any customer who recommends me to a someone thusresulting in a job. This is so easy and appears a little more upmarket thanjust giving them 20 quid. This can build a fairly formidable sales force.

Universities - Have you got any nearyou if so contact their accomidation office and ask for a list of approvedstudent digs. Next send a letter to property addressed to the landlord offeringyour services. Students are most competent at damaging properties.

Estate agents - Again letter ofintroduction or better still get shirt and tie on and visit them with aportfolio of work and some business cards. Lots of people do remedial workprior to selling. NB - if you get work from an agent make sure you give em adrink out of it.

Sign written van - This is mostimportant, need not be too flash but get it done professionally. Make sure itsays company name and plasterer in big letters and it MUST include a landlinenumber. I have the federation of small businesses (FSB) logo on mine it givescustomers confidence. Have a look at bottom of post hopefully there is apicture, it cost me £180 to have all four sides done.

Auctions - Most people at auctions aredevelopers get to an auction and try and put yourself about you will soon getto know the regulars do one good job for sensible money and word will soonspread.

T-shirts - we always wear companyshirts on site with name and number in big letters it looks the part and givesyou an edge. I wear one about as often as I can especially insupermarkets andanywhere busy (sad I know!). People regularly stop me and ask for a card.

Business cards - I shift about 75cards a month give them out whenever possible make sure they look professionaland get them laminated so they last longer.

Mugs - bit of a weird one I know but Iget them made by my mate for £4 each got company name and number on. Give themto customer when job done they less likely to lose a mug with your number onand it is subconsciously welded into their mind they will recommend youwhenever someone talks about getting plastering done.

Independent builders merchants - getsome cards in there and get them a crate of beer at xmas they will push yourbusiness if you are good.

Website - my website is very simple itis not designed to attract business but is there as a point of contact ifpeople lose your number. All they have to do is stick my company name intogoogle and up pops website with contact details.

British networking institution do agoogle search under BNI - bit of a pain in the --- but can work well in the earlydays.

Think your advert through also - Iguarantee to give a same day quotation early bird catches the worm and allthat.

My advert offers people the chance tovisit work in progress and talk to happy customers works a treat. Also offerweekend work and evening work to fit around modern folks lifestyles.

When you go and quote a job make sureyou sell the product to the customer from the moment you get in the door iestress you do two coat work and your clean and tidy etc. In the early days Iwould get wife to ring me when I was with customer and ask for a quote givesreal customer confidence to know you busy.





PPS My ad in the local rag is 2x3 cmbox every night of week and costs me £400 a monthbut I get about three or four calls a day so it is worth it to me.

Cheers
ed


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