I Just fell dirty

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Jerseydaze

Senior Member
I ve been considering doing a postcard with a discount on it 10% or something .I really hate the idea of gimmicks but its Friday and I'm on my butt so has anyone had any luck with a discount promotion or any input.
 

john_axelson

Senior Member
Location
MN
Instead of a mass mailing to unknown customers, have you thought of offering something to customers you have had in your past? A mass mailing to previous customers offering something?

A previous employer, after spending the money on an IR Camera, offered their commercial customers a free infrared scan on the service equipment. This typically lead to entire scan of the facility and more work correcting what the scan came up with.

Maybe, if you are mostly a residential contractor, a free Weatherproof GFI receptacle install, everyone can always use another exterior outlet someplace and who knows maybe that will lead to more work that they had on the wish list, but never got to. Or maybe, as expressed in an earlier thread about Daylight Savings time, offer a free testing of the smoke detectors in a home.

I would think your hit rate with existing customers is way higher than a mass mailing to everyone in the area. They should already be comfortable with you and your work.
 

Rewire

Senior Member
I have found that mailings and special offers usually generate a 1%-2% response rate and often it takes two to three weeks to begin to get the response.I have used them to target a specific market like mailing TR receptacle info to all the day cares in my area.
 

480sparky

Senior Member
Location
Iowegia
I'll throw out some of the ideas I have always maintained:

Besides print (newspaper, phone book) and electronic media (web sites, radio & TV), there's a lot of ways to increase your cash flow:

First and foremost, you need to create, and then spend the money on, an advertising budget. I don't think this can ever be stressed enough.

Join your local builders associations. Attend the meetings and other events. This is a major networking system.

Visit home shows and expos, with a wad of business cards in your pocket. Don't be shy about introducing yourself. And don't give out cards one at a time.... give each person 3 or 4: they're cheap, and you don't know who those people know!

Get on your local Craigslist site. Look for builders and handymen there who advertise "It's OK to contact them with other services or commercial interests." (This will be at the bottom of their listing) Drop them a short, simple email to introduce yourself.

And my favorite method: whenever you go to the Big Orange, Big Blue, or even the local hardware store (Ace, True Value, whatever) look for the trucks and vans that have "Fred's Home Improvement", "Handy Dave, Dan's Older Brother" or "Quality Construction" on them. And not just 'builders', .... landscapers, painters, roofers, drywallers, plumbers.....ANY construction trade lead can pan out. Stick a business card in the drivers window. The worst that can happen is they throw it away.

Real estate agents are another 'forgotten' source. Many people who buy an existing home immediately want to change it, so if you buddy up with realtors you can be 'first in line' when it comes to the new homeowners' upgrades.

If (or should I be more positive and say when) you do find a builder, remodeller or flipper, be sure not to forget the person or people who are paying them.... the owner(s). Make contact with them, introduce yourself, and by all means, give them a card.

Want to start doing commercial? Drive around town and find all those little strip malls and see if there are any empty bays. Contact the name & number on the sign (after all, it is for rent, isn't it?), and find out who owns the property. Contact that person, introduce yourself, and simply ask if it would be possible for you to submit a bid when a new tenant is found.

Many local stores have bulliten boards you can put a small print ad (easy to do today with computers and printers) or a business card. It's free, and you never know.

Be persistent. Be sociable. Be friendly. You will not get every lead, you will not get every bid. And you will need to learn to deal with rejection.

But most important: create an advertising budget. And stick to your advertising plan. If one method doesn't seem to work, drop it and spend your money on other ideas. Business cards are the cheapest form of advertising, and the easiest to use. They fit in your pocket, so there is no excuse for never having a card to hand someone.

It WILL take some time, but if you do quality work at a reasonable price, you'll keep busy. And by reasonable, I mean fair and profitable. DO NOT try to comptete on price alone. DO NOT promote yourself as Wal-Mart Electric. If you do, you WILL fail.
 

LawnGuyLandSparky

Senior Member
Jerseydaze said:
I ve been considering doing a postcard with a discount on it 10% or something .I really hate the idea of gimmicks but its Friday and I'm on my butt so has anyone had any luck with a discount promotion or any input.

4th Hi Hat free with the purchase & installation of 3 & a switch...
 

satcom

Senior Member
Don't panic, everyone is watching their money, the economy has slowed down in the housing market, and it will take some time to rebound, the last downturn that was caused by tight mortage money lasted for a year or two, one of the reasons they advise you to have at least six months of wages in your budget when you start a new business, it is to take off the pressure when things tighten up, You can try many of the things 480 suggested, but in a down market everyone feels the pinch, we usually get five or six calls a year from electricians looking for work, now we get 5 or 6 calls a month, your lucky to have any work comming in, unless your business was doind a lot of maint work that required repeat scheduled calls, these business types do not feel the pinch as much, so you may try to move toward the maint end of the business.
 

480sparky

Senior Member
Location
Iowegia
Rewire said:
Do you really want to be associated with what advertises on this site
I've gotten two good remodellers that are now good customers from there.

Rewire said:
Whats wrong with Wal- Mart after all it made the whole clan rich
So your business plan is to be the low-price EC leader nationwide?
 

c2500

Senior Member
Location
South Carolina
480sparky said:
Real estate agents are another 'forgotten' source. Many people who buy an existing home immediately want to change it, so if you buddy up with realtors you can be 'first in line' when it comes to the new homeowners' upgrades.

.

Around here, you can pick up a ton of work from realtors. The main thing they want is for you to be licensed. People always procrastinate on getting things repaired after a home inspection, mainly a day or two before closing. So if you don't mind short notice, an excellent source of revenue. You are also pretty much guaranteed payment as the attorney will deduct fees from closing.

I will throw out that while things have slowed down here, there is still plenty of work.

c2500
 

Rewire

Senior Member
adamants said:
how do you guys come up with your advertising budget?
I have it broken down to Have to be,need to be ,and want to be.We do a majority of the service work so phone books are a "have to be" news paper is a "need to be" billboards are a "want to be".These are just a few examples based on our target market.Look at what your target market is and then look at what is available for advertising media to that market.
 

satcom

Senior Member
adamants said:
how do you guys come up with your advertising budget?

We track and record our customer calls, who is calling, whare are they located, how did they find us, thiis helps us decide where to put our ad money, what is working and what is not, what is giving us the most bang for the buck.

Yellow Pages is usually top of the list in our area, and produces the lions share of calls, Yellow book, is usually price shoppers and not that many calls, the local news papers also bring in a large number of price shoppers and bargin hunters, they do produce calls and leads, but in the big picture they are usually jobs where the customer has called everyone in the paper and took every free low estimate, soby the time you arrive no price is right, but I would not disgard this market, it can still produce some decent work if your willing to spend the time and effort to satify this group of customers. You may want to allow a small amount in your budget to reach this market.
So after you see where your best results are, they you can set up a budget.
 
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