Any Ideas to boost business?????

[Plonker 3]

Well surely your misses can deliver them cheaper then? Watching 6 people at the same time could be hard work, surely friends or family would be better in this circumstance?

As for saying beat any quote, but if too cheap you can't sounds like you aren't fulfilling a promise and your reputation could get damaged by this?

I am not for one minute knocking how you market your business but just looking from the outside in and trying to help you as I am trying to look at different angles too but in a way that will generate work for me.

 

[Spazz]

Thats great advise Dillb


Thanks - will defiantly keep that in mind

 

[Octopus]

If you've really got time do the leaflet drop yourself - make sure you have your logo'ed fleece on so if you can talk to people as you go round they get the "professional" image in their mind. As you see other tradesmens vehicles on you walk stop and talk to them too. Mind you not many people are out gardening at the mo!

Leaflets - DON'T use A5 paper ones - they go straight in the bin. I got "rack cards" from Vista print, sure they cost but I got a call a couple of weeks back from a drop I did 12 months ago. My hit rate on leafleting is about 5%.

Also, because you do the drop you know its been done and you'll get some fresh air and exercise at the same time too. You'll be surprised how much of your "patch" you don't really know until you walk it.

Go for it!

 

[Welchyboy]

I think the best stragety for me, when i was in my first couple of years starting out, was writing a standard letter with my company details and logos on etc, put a bus. card in it and make it look professional, dont word it like your begging for a job and seem desperate, just make them aware of you

i explained that im expanding my client base in my area and can guarantee a professional job at realistic prices etc etc why not at least get me to give you a free quote on one of your next jobs coming up. then at least you get a meeting with them and a chance to sell yourself!

then i got the yellow pages and thomson local and sent those letters to every builder, kitchen fitter and plumbing/heating company i could find with there address in, i got a few calls straight away then some from people who had kept my card for a months until there usual sparks was too busy then they asked me to fill in

In my opinion you have got to get yourself in with other trades first!!!

they help find the work for you, dropping leaflets is time consuming, expensive and i personally found largely a waste of time, its normally small one off jobs you end up getting, if any.
i get leaflets posted most weeks and to be honest i dont even look at them i just scoop them up with all the other toot i get through the door and bin the lot, i assume most other people do too

out of about 200 letters i sent out, over a year i ended up with about 8-10 regular contacts that i do work for, then normally their customers will use you afterwards(allways send out a few bus. cards with your certs!!), and i have found their other sub-contractors will use you too and its the best type of networking, before long you will start to build your own client base.


one bad point is relying on builders to pay you, but to be honest i have been lucky so far and only had one bad debt in 8 years

All that cost was a day writing the letter and printing it on my PC x200, addressing the envelopes (get your missus at it) and 200 first class stamps


As for advertising i found the local free papers worked ok, reasonably cheap and got much better response than yellow pages etc! but again sometimes you get lucky but mostly small jobs!

 

[james the spark]

Good sounding advice im going to have a go at that

 

[rugbynick]

register with 'mybuilder.com'. Cheap quarterly fee and commission if shortlisted and another commission if you win the job. Guaranteed number of leads.

 

[alarm man]

Don't bother hitting the council houses as they wont have any work.

are you joking,what research have you done to get that conclusion..now try swapping council for black,and see the reaction,people who live in council houses still do diy still want lights fitted replacing might want to upgrade the sockets switches etc how do you know what house is council owned or which has been bought,

 

[alarm man]

get involved with your local neighbourhood watch scheme and go to the meetings,give advice on security lighting, alarms and maintenance battery changes etc,one job should lead to another when they know they have a spark in the group..

 

[jase]

look on you local authority website for planning applications, then write a nice letter saying that you have noticed their plans and that you would be happy to offer your services in order to ensure that the electrical needs of their extension/newbuild are met profesionaly reliably and to the latest regs or such blah blah, you get the drift.

 

[james the spark]

already tried that one i have to addmit i only tried about 20 people which is not alot but didnt get a thing.

 

[sjhall]

Leaflet idea for you
http://i886.photobucket.com/albums/ac68/ste5lfc/8832e9ff.jpg
http://i886.photobucket.com/albums/ac68/ste5lfc/74fb2af1.jpg

 

[trev]

register with 'mybuilder.com'. Cheap quarterly fee and commission if shortlisted and another commission if you win the job. Guaranteed number of leads.

Do you get much work from them mate? Or do you just get mountains of leads that come to naught because of people prepared to do the job for beer money?

 

[Welchyboy]

Do you get much work from them mate? Or do you just get mountains of leads that come to naught because of people prepared to do the job for beer money?

it tends to be full of poor quality tradesmen/Electrical Trainee who struggle to get proper referrals/recommendations or new start ups who have yet to build any contacts

any self respecting sparky would not pay through the nose for leads for silly little
jobs(that no doubt dozens of others have been sent too), then squabble over doing the job for a pittance, as theres aload of other substandrad installers willing to do the nastiest job possible to win a bit of work, you will notice these 'electricians'
are also a specialist in plenty of other trades too!

This sort of site also tends to attract the worst kind of customer, who expect a hell of a lot, for not a lot!

you will never make a decent living from these sites, i wouldnt bother, invest your marketing budget into something else and sit back in the knowledge that your hard earned cash has not gone in the pocket of some parasite, whos probably earning alot more than you!

 

[trev]

That's why I worded the question the way I did Welchy mate. I think all these sites are parasites sucking a living from the somewhat challenged

 

[calpol91]

Havin cards and flyers in shops i think is a definate do. Ive put my flyer in the local spar, and left cards in any butty shop, pub, resturant, *etc where possible. Recently picked up quite abit of work with a local property developer who rents out his houses and offices through the spar board, and always get calls from folks who want little bits and bats doing who seen my cards...

Its so hard at the moment so dont think that coz u havent had a call YET that your flyer drops and such are wasted.... My spar advert was put up 6 month ago and ive only just picked the above up last week.

I do odd maintenance jobs for a nursing home through having my mum (of all people) hand my cards out at her shop, so if you know anyone who works in a shop then give them afew cards to hand out... If theyre in a position todo so obviously.*