How To Obtain New Clients (low voltage work)

[cambo]

I just recently started a low voltage and home automation company and I'm struggling to get new clients. What tips/advice would you recommend for finding new clients when you're first starting out? Here are some I'm working on:
1) Email GC's in my region and tell them about my business
2) Looking construction registry and attempt to find clients/contractors from that list (and then google search to see if I can find their contact info)
3) Check government RFP boards

What else?

[gar]

180703-2432 EDT

What differentiates you from some other supplier?

What do you know about logic circuits?

What do you know about lifetime, and reliability?

What new ideas do you have?

How do you figure out what a customer really needs?

How do you interact with a customer to figure out their needs?

Human interfaces are a big factor. My new car dash board and my interface to it is badly designed. A bank branch I use recently remodeled. It is much more open, and thus ojectionaly noisy. The new Kroger selfcheckout machines have a very poor user interface and a shelf that is too small for their baskets. Too much product is poorly designed, and not user friendly. Managers that approve these things don't think, study, analyze, and test.

Contact architects that design high end homes and offices.

.

[hbiss]

Not only is home automation a niche industry appealing to the techies and rich, it gets a lot of bad press owing to the products limited lifespan and fear of hacking. Where I am, in one of the most expensive and affluent housing areas in the country, I don't know of one home automation business. There are probably some if I were to look, but I'll bet they will be part of a security company or such.

I would focus on network cabling but you get a lot of competition there from ECs and computer geeks.

Good luck.

-Hal

[sameguy]

Is your home/ office under full control?
If so try to get the local news, even the little guys, to come out and interview you on energy saving, security, tel/data, what is in the news lately? Flooding, fire, high temps., break ins, cord cutters.
Home shows, new construction, you need to "press the flesh" ; you must be ready to act immediately when the opportunity shows.
Good luck.

[Coppersmith]

I expected for residential work being the top listing on Google would be the best strategy and it is. I was surprised to discover a lot of GC's also call me through my google listing. It's takes years to float up to the top organically which is why you must have paid Google advertising. If you pay for it, you can be the top listing on Google overnight. Do some research on these Google products: Ad-words and Google Local Services Ads.

Google is the second best way to find customers. The first is through personal referrals. When people need a service the first thing they do is ask other people if they know somebody who they can trust. Over time you will build up organic referrals from past customers, but if you want to kick start the process, join a networking group. BNI is the premier example, but there are lots of them. People in networking groups agree to recommend you to their customers and you do the same with them. Hint: the bigger the group, the better. Second hint: the closer to your home the group is, the better. You will want to meet with other members a lot. If the group meets close to your home it means the members will be close to you as well.

Do the above two things and you will be swimming in jobs.

[Fire Pro]

A lot of GC websites have bid rooms and similar pages. You can also call and email them and ask to be put on their bid lists for new projects. Some will have a form for you to fill out, others don't and will include you just for asking.

[Coppersmith]

A lot of GC websites have bid rooms and similar pages. You can also call and email them and ask to be put on their bid lists for new projects. Some will have a form for you to fill out, others don't and will include you just for asking.

A word about GC's: The bigger they are, the more likely they will use contract language and their ability to hire lawyers to steal from you. Stick with smaller GC's if you can.

[rlundsrud]

If you want to do building automation, stick with commercial. You would need a solid understanding of mechanical HVAC systems as well as understanding cabling requirements for rs485 terminations. If you make a good impression on one of the larger companies you will never want for work.