Barry M

Neil It depends on what your time is worth. Who is going to weed out the potential buyers who aren't prequalified for financing? These people can really waste your time. You might also want to think about the time involved in showing your own home. This is also very time consuming. From the outside it might look like a realtor isn't worth the money. But my wife is a realtor and I can honestly say she more than earns her money. As a matter of fact a lot of times it doesn't seem like her commission is enough after dozens of phone calls, showings, writing up offers, counter offers, dealing with mortgage companies, banks, inspections, buyers, sellers, having deal after deal fall apart because something doesn't work out. It's very stressful and time consuming. People don't care if it's Sunday afternoon and she's at her kids soccer game, if they want to see a house that's just how it is. I asked her to read your post and all she said was "you get what you pay for" and that service you posted about "is equivalent to a $99 house wash".....lol I guess she put it in terms I could understand.

Why does everyone assume a spying competitor is a lowballing hacker? It's actually a good idea to know your competition so you can take advantage of their weaknesses. Maybe this person wasn't too good at it and got busted but at least their trying. I have all my competitors written down on a list and I add to it when I see a new company around. I don't have time to sit and watch their techniques or call looking for prices but I'm mostly interested in their advertising methods and areas they target.

I've felt guilty this winter not working much and being Mr Mom but I didn't feel guilty Monday laying around all day and recouping ;-)

Is what you've been putting on the flyers working? What's your response rate? Need more info.

You mean they actually answer the door? I did about 3 estimates for snobby jerkoffs like this and not one of them were home when they were suppose to be. One pulled up 10 minutes late in her lexus, I went over and indroduced myself and asked how she was doing. She replied "Well another long day at the office, I've been better" in a snobby kind of way. Give me a break lady, yeah I feel real bad for ya:lgsad: . I can't stand these type of people and I refuse to work for them. John T may be on to something. The way they made their money could have a lot to do with it. I'm real good friends with a few guys that make $500,000 plus a year. They're all real down to earth and a blast to hang around with. Their all business owners and they worked hard to get where their at and they're all very giving, kind, and easy to get along with.

The concrete should be sloped away from the pool slightly anyway at least around here they are. Basically you just work the surface cleaner and then rinse from the pool edge out. Even if your careful you'll still get some dirty waste water into the pool, nothing the filters can't clean out and if your using Chlorine to clean that obviously isn't going to hurt anything. I'm usually just honestly with the homeowner and they are understanding in giving the pool a day to clean itself out.

Some good info here Don Home Based Business Opportunities | Work at Home Jobs The Feb issue of Opportunity World is also full of home-based business info and ideas.

:yoda: oooooooh...The forum leader you are.

Opps, I just found the before & after link, right there at the top...duhh. Lots of pics, again nice job.

Tom Your Service page as some blue background behind the copy that is inconsistent with the rest of the site, and the same deal with the turquoise highlighting on the F&Q page. I personally would also speed up or shorten the wording on the scrolling marquee on the home page. It takes about 25 seconds to read the whole thing, by that time most people have clicked 2 or 3 links and are gone. Things happen fast when people visit websites. Other than that overall the site looks good, and is very informative. I like the testimonials but I didn't see any before/after pics unless I missed them. I stayed on the site awhile and got the feeling you do quality work. Nice job.

Where can I get a good 24' extension pole with a brush for doing gutters second story?

Good luck Adrian, and don't forget to spy on your competition and pounce on their weaknesses!:lgmoneyey

Lets see if you think their pushy two weeks from now. What he meant to say instead of "I'll call you in two weeks" was "I or another rep will call you everyday for the next two weeks", because that is what they do. Man I would of never gave them your cell number. Once I decided I wasn't interested anymore, I had to get crappy with them for them to stop calling me. Just my experience

Yes I am in for a great year and yes I am riding with you guys. I was going to pm or call Doug today but got busy. But yes I'm definately going and would like to hitch a ride. Just need to know which way you guys are coming so we can set up a meeting place. Man I'm pump......yeeeehaaww! This RT is going to be the cat's arse.

Just as I talk you up, you are perfecting your efforts even more......lol. Well they do say that your company is either growing, shrinking, or stagnant, so I guess it's best to grow. Always trying to better yourself, thinking positive, and setting goals........Sounds like traits of a successful person. :lgmoneyey

Dawg Jarrods thinking is that it's a numbers game, the more people that he targets the more jobs he will get. It sounds like he's tried retargeting areas with multiple mailings and he just didn't like the results. I don't necessarily agree with his methods because for me it would be a lot of wasted circulation mailing to an entire zip code and then another. For me, most of the addresses in my zip or neighboring zips aren't my potential customers. I wouldn't be hitting just the bullseye of my target but also all around it. That would result in a poor return in comparison to the price of so many mailers. I know that Jarrod offers a promotion in the spring that is a pretty good deal to the customer so his target market may be a little bigger than mine, I don't offer deals only a premium price. So he puts a promotion out there that a wide range of people can afford and he hits area after area never repeating a mailing and he gets a butt load of calls and he closes a butt load of jobs. He told me how many houses and decks he did last year not to mention his fleets. When a guy does nothing but estimates and closings from dark to dark for two months straight while his guys are working I would say what he does must work for him, even though I don't use his methods I give him props. Didn't this start as a YP ad thread?......:dunno:

That's good to hear, I was hoping it wasn't just those little voices in my head again. I'm not posting to anybody in particular here, I'm just thinking out loud again. There is so much to learn and experiment with when it comes to marketing and advertising. One can use a headline that grabs prospects attetion and then hot buttons to keep them interested and then good copy to educate them and then a call to action telling them what to do. One also needs to understand right brained and left brained people (fact oriented or emotional) and play to them both in one ad. Most ads only attract one group or the other so right off the bat they are losing 50% of their potential prospects. When creating a successful ad it's necessary to see the world through your prospects eyes and then to talk to them in the ad pointing out the benefits that they can gain by hiring you. Too many ads are me me me advertising. I've said it many times before, nobody cares about you or your business. They only care about themselves and their problems. I could go on all night but the one thing it all points back to is if your ad looks like your competitors ad then your company looks like their company, and it's at this point that the prospect has nothing more to base their buying decision on but price so they go down the list looking for the cheapest one. What else are they suppose to do?

This is a very interesting topic. What's interesting is hearing what works for some and what doesn't work for others. What really intrigues me is how many YP ads have failed for people. A failed ad or an ad that brings a poor ROI always gets blamed on the yellowpages themselves or whatever media it is in. When in reality it is the ad itself that was the failure, the message the ad portrayed to prospects is what failed to bring you the profits you had hoped for. The trick is to portray to people that your company is better than the next guy. You and your past customers know your company is better, that your customer service is unmatched, that you are professional, and your job quality is top notch. This is called your Inside Reality. Your Outside Perception is how potential prospects see your company. You have to get your Outside Perception to match your Inside Reality. When someone looks at your advertising, how do they know your Inside Reality is the best? How can they tell that you are different and that you are the one they want to do business with? Well if your ad looks like all the other ads......they can't. Look in any phone book under any service. All the ads are the same!! All the ads say is: This is who we are, this is what we do, and here is our phone number.........BORING and the same as everyone else. You have to stand out and think outside the box and that doesn't necessarily mean having a huge one page ad in color either. Just my 2 pennies.

I do handyman stuff for friends and family and with the wife working we are getting the bills paid. I have had a lot of time to (what I call invest in myself) research, work on marketing, adververting, and sales stuff. But I do have some goals for this year and one of them is to set more money back for winter.....lol I know what you guys meant now when you said I would be a "starving PWer" the first year or so. Oh well spring is within site and I will be hitting it hard. Can't wait, I'm getting sick of people asking me when I'm going to get a "real job". All I say is, what the hell is a real job? Losers, some people just don't get it.

You might as well be a WalMart greeter, you'll make more money.

I did a small car lot today for the first time. The sales manager gave me a W-9 form to fill out so I can get paid. I'm not sure why I have to fill this out, I never had to for any other account. At the top of the form it says 'Request for Taxpayer Identification Number and Certification.' I'm a sole prop. so my tax number is my SS number, I'm always leary about putting my SS on something I don't understand. Maybe it's no big deal but I just want to know. What's the purpose of this form and should I be filling it out? Thanks in advance. P.S. Don't tell me to ask my accountant either. Let's just say I'm in betw accountants right now.

Good enough, it all makes sense now. You guys are great, thanks a bunch.

Ditto what Randy said...1% to 2% hitting the house. I use the same mix when going from vinyl to brick. Just make sure you rinse the brick well.

Excellent post Russell I agree with you 100%. The job of the teacher is not to know everything, but to know where to find everything. It's a shame some people aren't open minded enough to understand this. I think we all have something to learn from everybody if we just listen.

Sounds good Scott, I'm in! Or am I? What's the "qualification"?