200 amp upgrade bargain blowout sale.

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satcom said:
Tony,

In your area the dollar bill size ad should pretty good, and not much more then the business size.
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And remember...the price they offer you isn't set in stone. Bargain with them. They are feeling the pinch of the economy too.

I have bigger ads this year than last and they are in color. Plus they gave me three small ads (in color) under other headings in the books. For LESS than I paid last year.
 
Thanks...

Thanks...

satcom said:
You have it right, good ad's bring great results, but the first thing some look for is how much it will cost for the ad, not how well will it produce.

I have seen new guys try everything, ad's on supermarket boards, flyers, and door hanger ad's, mailers, and finally when they discover a professional palced ad in the phone book, you see theiir business take off.
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Ok, ok... I'll take a bigger ad out next year... I was thinking of removing it alltogether...
And get professionally designed too...
 
Ouch!

Ouch!

emahler said:
it's funny...as electrician's we get all upset when someone does their own electrical work...since they are not professionals...

yet, we somehow think that since we can install wire, we can design our own marketing and advertising program...
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Touche (with the tilde thing over the e...)
 
I bid on a small basement job the other day.
2 bedrooms, a bathroom and a hall.

After I gave the guy a price he told me I was the 10th bid he had gotten.
He had been trying to get this wired for months. He told me he got prices ranging from $560 up to $3,000. He said only two were below $1,000 but he coudn't get either one to come out and do the work.

The guy is kind of flaky. When I was out giving him a price I noticed that he had already bought some boxes and started nailing them up. I don't think he had the money to pay for the job either. When I told him a down payment would be required and that payment for the rough wiring would be due as soon as it was completed he said he would have to hold off for a month or two.

I think he's really just having a hard time finding someone who will do the job without getting money upfront and without a written contract. I guess he'll keep looking until he finds someone.
 
aline said:
I guess he'll keep looking until he finds someone.
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Let 'em keep lookin'.:grin:

I hear you. I've given alot of estimates and haven't had as many returns as I would like this year. Thank goodness for return customers and referrals. Most of the new customers seem to be tire kickers and shopping around.

But I am busier than I thought I'd be with the economy being what it is.
 
it really depends on your target market....no sense spending a lot on yp adverising if you only want to work for GC's...
 
aline said:
After I gave the guy a price he told me I was the 10th bid he had gotten. He had been trying to get this wired for months.
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That's exactly what I've experienced from YP ads. I mean no disrespect to others but if you don't mind churning out hundreds of estimates on the outside chance that you might get one or two being the lowest bidder then be my guest
tmbrk said:
I hear you. I've given alot of estimates and haven't had as many returns as I would like this year.
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I'd rather be out there actually working than doing 100's of estimates for tire kickers.
Thank goodness for return customers and referrals. Most of the new customers seem to be tire kickers and shopping around.
But I am busier than I thought I'd be with the economy being what it is.
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I'm with you and I'm thankful to be busy but then again I'm a 1-man shop and I don't have the pressure of keeping numerous employees working. So, with utmost respect, I take my hat off to those who choose that way of life.
 
aline said:
The guy is kind of flaky. When I was out giving him a price I noticed that he had already bought some boxes and started nailing them up. I don't think he had the money to pay for the job either. When I told him a down payment would be required and that payment for the rough wiring would be due as soon as it was completed he said he would have to hold off for a month or two.
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It's easy to spot people like this with just one question. Ask him if there is a permit for the job ( over the phone ) and he will say no he's doing it himself.

You can save a lot of gasoline & time just by asking about money over the phone. If you don't ask then they don't tell you and it is a legitimate question. I only bother going out to see less than 50% of the people that call the other 50% are a waste of time.

I had a call yesterday from a lady that needs a service change. Her husband died , she has medical problems and she had electrical problems but the one thing she doesn't have is money. If feel sorry for the lady but it would be a waste of time and money to go look at the job.
 
goldstar said:
That's exactly what I've experienced from YP ads. I mean no disrespect to others but if you don't mind churning out hundreds of estimates on the outside chance that you might get one or two being the lowest bidder then be my guest
I'd rather be out there actually working than doing 100's of estimates for tire kickers.
I'm with you and I'm thankful to be busy but then again I'm a 1-man shop and I don't have the pressure of keeping numerous employees working. So, with utmost respect, I take my hat off to those who choose that way of life.
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I think you can change some business pactices to avoid some problems. #1 don't do free estimates. They are a service. Charge a service charge. I don't care what the other guy that is loosing money does. #2 Remove the word free from any advertising you do. Get paid for what you do. #3 sell on service not price. #4 qualify your callers. Don't waist time on tire kickers.
 
bradleyelectric said:
I think you can change some business pactices to avoid some problems. #1 don't do free estimates. They are a service. Charge a service charge. I don't care what the other guy that is loosing money does. #2 Remove the word free from any advertising you do. Get paid for what you do. #3 sell on service not price. #4 qualify your callers. Don't waist time on tire kickers.
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On service work, and small jobs, a fee schedule may help you to survive, on larger bid work, your usually not dealing with the public, and as a small shop you might try teaming up with some other area EC's and work together, to capture more work.

It seems every service we call, charges a fee to look at the job, even when we wanted as roofer to do roof repairs they charged, and if you accepted the quopte it applied to job, only one roofer did not charge, the guy that hav the beater truck, and ladders with rungs missing, was free, he looked at the roof from across the street. Quote: "Charge a service charge. I don't care what the other guy that is loosing money does."
 
bradleyelectric said:
I think you can change some business pactices to avoid some problems. #1 don't do free estimates. They are a service. Charge a service charge. I don't care what the other guy that is loosing money does. #2 Remove the word free from any advertising you do. Get paid for what you do. #3 sell on service not price. #4 qualify your callers. Don't waist time on tire kickers.
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I do charge for estimates in most cases. It's just a small fee though and I call it a dispatch fee for sending an electrician out to look at the job. The fee ranges from $29 to $49 depending how busy I am and the job location. For this basement job it was $29. He said me and one other guy was the only ones that charged him to come out. The guy asked me before I came out how I billed for the job. He acted like he was ready to have me start right away until I presented the contract in writing for him to sign. Then he starts asking me about the billing again and tells me he would have to wait.

The dispatch fee does help to weed out wasted trips but I still get some.

Most of the contractors in the phone book have in big bold letters "Free Estimates". Electricains love the word free. :)

One guy had this in big bold letters under free estimates "Lowest Advertised Price Guaranteed".

Does this mean if I get 10 estimates, then call this guy out, he's going to beat the lowest bid? :)

Right now with new housing dead there seems to be a lot more electricians bidding on jobs they weren't bidding on before. I'm also getting more calls asking if I'm hiring.
 
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aline said:
...One guy had this in big bold letters under free estimates "Lowest Advertised Price Guaranteed".

Does this mean if I get 10 estimates, then call this guy out, he's going to beat the lowest bid? :).....
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No, it simply means the price he gives you is going to be his lowest price, guaranteed.
 
aline said:
Most of the contractors in the phone book have in big bold letters "Free Estimates". Electricains love the word free. :)

One guy had this in big bold letters under free estimates "Lowest Advertised Price Guaranteed".
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That is what the phone book salesmen tell them to do. Than they present the next people with a tracking report of how many calls went to that number. They don't tell you that report is how many people want you to come out for free. Most electricians have no idea how to make money. They just figure that they have to pass the masters test and start charging $70./hr as apposed to the $20/hr they were getting paid and the big boat will be theirs in no time. So they start spending their time working for free to do so. They don't understand that you can't make any money working for free.
 
a popular business plan for many small contractors is to lose money on every job, but they make it up in volume....
 
emahler said:
a popular business plan for many small contractors is to lose money on every job, but they make it up in volume....
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Some contractors want the job so bad they'll do what ever takes to get it no matter how much money it's going to cost them. They think they won when they get the job but in reallity they lost. :)
 
aline said:
Some contractors want the job so bad they'll do what ever takes to get it no matter how much money it's going to cost them. They think they won when they get the job but in reallity they lost. :)
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More likely, they have an 'employee' attitude.... "As long as I'm working, I'm making money...."
 
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