marketing

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emahler said:
you have to have something before you can lose it:D
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I haven't begged for a pie in months....
I'm bringing sexy BACK.
...or did the mental image of having Fabio working for you, bringing in all those extra dollars through my "Have a Star at your Door!" pilot program befuddle you too.(#17 a mere 2 posts back from your reply)

It's true.
I'm dead sexy.
 
celtic said:
Some folks are so befuddled by my Fabio-like appearance they forget why they called me in the first place.
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It's good to hear I'm not the only one with this "problem." I was beginning to think there was something wrong with me.

:D
 
when the economy's down to the level of a recession(and we are here) commercial is slow just like housing--and with the slumping housing market on top of the recession ---romex installation is dreadfully slow!! for a small contractor to start investing earned business dollars at this time in things such a the yellow pages or mailing out thousands of dollars in fliers is useless. i have seen too many small contractors become slaves to the yellow pages -- either they get too many requests and aren't geared up to handle them or they don't get enough to pay the monthly bill for the advertisement! we all get junk advertisements everyday -- and yes there are some that fool you into opening them --- "important information--open at once!" or "you are a winner", etc., hay they might get opened but they end up in the garbage with the other trash mail!!!

many years ago--before home depot -- hardware stores were one of the most stable business to have, when things were going good people were actively changing things and adding things but it was the contractors who were buying---when things were slow they had the homeowners trying to do it themselves and buying twice as much stuff as they needed!!!

and then think about gaining a group of new customers and six months from now your regular customer base starts calling --- you've lost the original customers that kept you in business because your too busy!
 
peter d said:
It's good to hear I'm not the only one with this "problem." I was beginning to think there was something wrong with me.

:D
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I am glad to see I am not the only cursed with Hollywood appeal.

:smile:
 
Rewire said:
Just set up my radio spots for next month time to start capturing market share
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We have one company that does extensive radio advertising here for their electrical services, but it's one of those evil flat rate Nexstar companies. ;) They are not an EC exclusively, but actually an HVAC/P/E company.

There are at least 3 HVAC/P companies that regularly advertise on the radio.
 
Before you begin to advertise, a plan and budget need to be established. There are expected response rates from every type of advertising. With that info, you can plan the timing and amount of mailings or radio or tv spots to meet your expected plan. If a switch is going to break, it's not necessarily going to wait until the economy is better. Sure, you may not be installing many hot tubs or sun rooms, but there is certainly a market for electrical services, and since very few ECs have any measurable market share, the field is wide open for one to take advantage of.

Of course the other options are to 1. hemorrage money until the economy picks up and then spend years trying to make that back up, or 2. whenever there is a dip in the economy, quickly close your doors and go work for someone else until times pick up a little...at least you won't be wasting money on payroll, advertising, and shop expenses.:rolleyes:
 
peter d said:
We have one company that does extensive radio advertising here for their electrical services, but it's one of those evil flat rate Nexstar companies. ;) They are not an EC exclusively, but actually an HVAC/P/E company.

There are at least 3 HVAC/P companies that regularly advertise on the radio.
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romexking is on it...advertising is useless if it's not part of a well thought out marketing plan...once the elements are understood, you can almost turn it on and off...it let's you balance out your workflow much, much better...
 
charlie tuna said:
when the economy's down to the level of a recession(and we are here) commercial is slow just like housing--and with the slumping housing market on top of the recession ---romex installation is dreadfully slow!! for a small contractor to start investing earned business dollars at this time in things such a the yellow pages or mailing out thousands of dollars in fliers is useless. i have seen too many small contractors become slaves to the yellow pages -- either they get too many requests and aren't geared up to handle them or they don't get enough to pay the monthly bill for the advertisement! we all get junk advertisements everyday -- and yes there are some that fool you into opening them --- "important information--open at once!" or "you are a winner", etc., hay they might get opened but they end up in the garbage with the other trash mail!!!

many years ago--before home depot -- hardware stores were one of the most stable business to have, when things were going good people were actively changing things and adding things but it was the contractors who were buying---when things were slow they had the homeowners trying to do it themselves and buying twice as much stuff as they needed!!!

and then think about gaining a group of new customers and six months from now your regular customer base starts calling --- you've lost the original customers that kept you in business because your too busy!
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why are you giving advice that will cause tony to fall into a quagmire of feast and famine....just like 80% of the contractors out there?

I don't get it...
 
emahler said:
romexking is on it...advertising is useless if it's not part of a well thought out marketing plan...once the elements are understood, you can almost turn it on and off...it let's you balance out your workflow much, much better...
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No argument here...I was just pointing out another shortfall of our biz, that the HVAC/P guys out-advertise us 4:1 in my area at least.
 
romexking said:
Before you begin to advertise, a plan and budget need to be established. There are expected response rates from every type of advertising. With that info, you can plan the timing and amount of mailings or radio or tv spots to meet your expected plan.
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Care to share these expected response rates?
 
peter d said:
No argument here...I was just pointing out another shortfall of our biz, that the HVAC/P guys out-advertise us 4:1 in my area at least.
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20:1 here in Charlotte. Here, HVAC service work ads are on all time time...tv and radio. Now those guys have some serious markup in their parts and labor and yet nobody seems to try to beat them down into a pulp to lower their prices.
 
now that i'm retooling to go for more service instead of new construction, i'm thinking about doing mailers myself. i've got one specific product in mind that i want to put on it and have the price on the flyer for the installation. seems like it would waste a lot less time if the customer knows up front what it will cost. it'll be more like a 'foot-in-the-door' type service with the 'hope' of a referral or repeat business. we have a couple of hvac and plumbing co's that do this sort of thing. what say you guys?
 
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