Getting leads

[Limeade 14]

In everyones opinion, whats the best way to get going when you are first starting. I was planning on flyers, but now I'm hearing they are not could, and possible illegal. I could hand out cards and what not, but that takes a long time to come full circle.

Any suggestions with reasonable prices? Reason being is that I am a college student and my books cost as much as a cheap beater car. But I am willing to go for something that is really good, and is almost impossible not to get leads from.

I find myself almost ready to go, and now I'm getting to the point of "how the hell do I get the business now?"

[jgoral76 14]

since your new, you can try working with other guys in your area in this field, like i am and you can ask if they can give you any of there no so profitable jobs to you when i say not so profitable i mean that because they;ve gotten so big they find it hard to get time for those jobs but do them so the customer will not be upset. these guys will help you everyone is always willing good luck.

[Adrian 155]

servicemagic.com

[jgoral76 14]

i dont know how well service magic worked for you but it is my strong opinion to never go with them i heard many bad things of them.

[Celeste 341]

We've signed up with them......this time of year we're not expecting to get overloaded with leads so I can't say that we're flooded. It's not expensive but there are still calculated risks with this type program. I think your geographical location is particularly important for success with them. You can be as broad in services or as narrow in area as you choose. It's toll free to call them to look into it :)

Celeste

[CCPC 26]

I just wrote one of the best posts I've written in forever, and then right when I tried to submit it, it said to enter user name and password and cleared it all out.:grrr:

Now I'll attempt to regurgitate some of it.

I tried going the cheap adver. Route when I first started my business, and soon realized that all I was doing is spending a lot of valuable time for minimal return. I had a hard time letting go of what little dollars I had for the hope I would get some work out of it. What I found was that you must think big and spend big to profit big. Dropping $500 here and $500 there may seem like a lot to risk in the begining, but it can make the difference down the road. In fact, not only will you make more money because your spending more money to reach more people, but your sales compared to adver. cost will be higher (at least for me it is). Look at it this way, would you rather pinch pennies for dimes, or slap down some hundreds for thousands.

With that said, I find that, for me, direct maling to my target market (upper middle and high end res.) brings in the most revenue per adver dollar, and I'm getting the calls from customer demo. that puts the most money in my pocket, and I don't find myself wasting a lot of time on the phone with bargain shoppers who want somthing for nothing.

One reason I believe in direct mail so much is it is soley responsible for roughly 90% of my customers and sales. True story: I was just about out of money after being in business for almost a year. I was right on the verge of giving up on the business and finding a Job. I had about $900 dollars left and there reallly wasn't anything to speak of coming in. I was left with a decision; Invest the last money I had to my name into one final chance to make this thing work, or hold onto the money and insure that I can pay my bills for another month. As difficlut as it was, I decided to take a chance. I didn't want to give up. I spent about $700 dollars of my last $900, bought some envelopes, made up a mailer and had 500-1000 printed, bought a bulk mail permit and some mailing labels, and got to work. I spent hours putting together my first mailing list, and many more hours stuffing envelopes. I mailed them out, and crossed my fingers. A few calls starting coming in, good calls. More calls begin to come in, and soon enough I was spending half the profit I'd made on sending out more and more mailers and the rest is history. In the begining your profits will be marginal, but keep repeating the the process and it will grow out of control before you know it. Remember, sometimes the biggest rewards come from the biggest risks. Just thought I would share. True story.

[Jeff 232]

Lance, $700 out of your last $900, that took guts, CONGRATS on not giving up

JL

[Washaway 64]

I agree. Hats off!

[Barry M 73]

Very inspiring Lance and very similiar to where I'm at. I'm going to spend about 3-5 hundred this spring on about 1000 postcards. Last year (first year in biz) I spent maybe 200 bucks on some door hangers and some homemade flyers to which I targeted about 3 hundred people, I didn't get much response I got a few estimates and a couple jobs out of it. I'm not pinching pennies for dimes this year, I'm going big time!!

[Adrian 155]

I haven't had any problems with service magic as of yet. you just need to stay on top of all of your options. Once you have 1 customer review and rating then they put you on a preferred contractor listing which pops up first in a search of your area. the customer either sees your website or the service magic profile. Then the info about customer is routed straight to them. they can even answer the phone in your company name.

I am also routing leads to another company that will do maid service and they pay me for the lead and a percentage of closing.

I am not overflowing with business due to winter. But you set your own target spenmding match at 1000.00 per month and the leads start coming in.

[Adrian 155]

.... by the way Lance. I know what you mean about being asked to log on again. I had to regurgitate what I could remember of the above post as well.

I wonder if Beth and Rod could change the setting of the idle time on the forum to a little longer for a slower typer such as myself.

[PowerWashofVa 14]

Last year was my 1st full year in business. I feel I did pretty good. I used the marketing I learned from when I owned a Spring-Lawn Franchise. I started out with 0 customers. Nine years later I had 2000 full application customers.

Direct Marketing, we had 10 + telemarketers call 4 nights a week. We offered free lawn estimates. I don't know what the new telemarketer laws are now & I don't want to deal with all those problems this time.

This year I am going to market 3600 specific homes in a $250,000 & up area. A flyer with a magnet attached as soon as the weather breaks in the spring. I also have a BOLD listing in the two Verizon yellow pages. Then I'll advertise in several specfic subdivision directories.

We'll see if it works. I figure to spend about $800 to start with. Time will tell.

[Adrian 155]

Hey Phil, How do you get ahold of a " subdivision directory"?

Or is that just in your area?

Does it H.O.A. managers names and #'s?

[newlook 265]

Lance,

Certainly the risk paid off and I want to congratulate you for staying the course and hanging in there. It's tough for any business to keep things on a positive note when the bank account balance is in the triple digits.

[PowerWashofVa 14]

A C New Guy

Some of the larger subdivisions have a internet site. I 'll send them a e-mail asking about their advertising rates. Since I have lived in the Richmond Virginia area, I'll check with friends and relatives. They are only too happy to have me copy it. I do not telemarket them but will use them to target market the area. Example my dad is moving to a subdivision and they sent him via e-mail a list of the 62 homeowners and telephone #'s. I know they get a gutter cleaning and PW a year from the HOA & I can't work that cheap but they have cement walkways & driveways that I will try to clean & seal.

I also use them when I write out estimates so I spell their names correctly.

I haven't tried to work with HOA's because they want you to work cheap. I am going to try to test the waters this spring.

[Adrian 155]

You got that right about the H.O.A.'s. I am currently a member of some H.O.A. website and post about once a month, specials and stuff like that.

I just thought that there was actually a directory of subdivisions.

Kind of like the business to business directory of vendors.

I forgot to mention that I also like to go to high volume businesses and get permission to leave business cards and a holder for the front counter.

I have actually gotten some pretty good jobs that way.

Take care

[PressurePros 249]

Great story, Lance..very motivational. The key to any company's success is frequent, targeted marketing. There is a reason Budweiser, Marlboro and McDonald's are unrivaled in their segments. This is part of the reason I have a bad tendency to lay into the posts that say you can start this business on a nickel. If you don't set aside a first year advertising budget of high proportion you can count on setting yourself back about three years in growth progress.

A first year company that spends $4k in advertising can expect a return of about $40k in gross income. That same company that spends $1k can expect about $8,000 in gross income. And as long as you know how to achieve managed growth I really don't believe there is a point of diminishing return. The more you advertise the bigger and faster you grow.

PS: For what it's worth I used to use flyers but only in a small area where I complete a job. After we finished a job we would take a 20 minute ride through the neighborhood with a couponed flyer and place in the doors. I have since re-thought that stretegy..Many people have said they get aggravated or what have you when they recieve flyers so this year I am having a bunch of door hangers made up. They are more secure and more professional.

[Limeade 14]

Thanks guys, I think I am going to go the direct mailer route. So if I have this right, I make up post cards, get them printed, say like 500, then pick an area, and directly mail them. How do I get them sent, bulk mail method?

[Jarrod 22]

Look for a mailing place. Not the post office. Here, it's calles Pontiac Mailing.

[kevinw 14]

It's interesting to see what works in different areas...and what doesn't. When I started my company, I decided that I was going to create a marketing company that restores decks...that may hit some of you the wrong way, but it means a different model for your business. We focus on doing a great job, and making sure customers are happy, but my day to day emphasis is on getting the phone to ring. Doing a great job falls into customer fulfillment for me.

That said, I use metrics for managing my business that evaluate the cost of getting in front of each potential customer, the conversion rate (closing rate), and the marketing cost of each sale. Advertising is a very large portion of my budget.

I said all of that to say this, when you're evaluating advertising medium it is critical that you understand the demographics of your customer base...what does your customer look like? What is his age, marital status, average income, etc. When I have that pretty well figured out, then I use the advertising medium that works best for that demographic.

I use several different advertising mediums because I learned a long time ago that there is no single "silver bullet". No single medium is going to get the job done, advertising is about gaining "mind share" which requires the customer to see your name a number of times in different places before they mentally store the information. We use post cards, advertising magazines, radio, home shows...and more. The result is a lot of phone calls, and a budget that has to be actively managed to make sure you're getting the best return on your advertising dollars. Surprisingly, many of the customers can't remember where they heard about us...but they called.

There are some simple tricks that work quickly and are pretty cheap. A good flyer, or door hanger. When you do a job, put the flyer out to every neighbor you can see from the front door of the job you just finished. "We were in the neighborhood..." or "We just did your neighbors deck at...". It gives you an instant referral, and the neighbors likely know each other. Always a fast turn around.

One of my reps goes to each of these line of site neighbors every time he sells a job, tells them that we're going to be doing a job at "Smith's House right there" and thought they might be interested...since we're already in the neighborhood, we might be able to save the some money if we could get extra jobs while we're in the neighborhood. He gets surprisingly good results.

Just a suggestion. I've found that there are media buyers out there that are very good at developing these programs, and they don't cost any extra. They usually can get a better price than you can, and they are paid their commission by the companies that do the work. Mine gets a great price, and makes her income from the commission she's paid by the company that sends the mailers, magazines, radio station, etc. She's also very good at evaluating the different options and making recommendations.

It's real easy to spend a lot of money fast in advertising, so I suggest evaluating all options carefully. Getting your name out in a lot of places, with consistent frequency is the name of the game.

Kevin Whitley

[Lou Beach 14]

2 Question about direct mailing

1)Where is the best place to get a list of homes you want to target? I want to target homes 350,000 and up in certain counties in Maryland. What is the best resource for identifying those type of residences?

2)Are envelopes with flyers in them better then postcards or vice versa?

Do oversized postcards generate a better response rate?

Thanks

[kevinw 14]

2 Question about direct mailing

1)Where is the best place to get a list of homes you want to target? I want to target homes 350,000 and up in certain counties in Maryland. What is the best resource for identifying those type of residences?

For me, it depends on what service you use. Some companies only mail to the top homes in a particular mailing. These are the ones I like to use, I've had good luck with them.

If you go with a mailing company, they have a database that can sort the mailer according to the demographics you want to use. Be a little careful of these databases, they have a tendency to be out of date since the company has to buy updated lists frequently and most of them don't keep the lists updated.

2)Are envelopes with flyers in them better then postcards or vice versa?

Do oversized postcards generate a better response rate?

I've had better luck with a high quality, fully color, glossy card. I use large 8.5 X 5.5 cards and regular sized index cards...can't really tell the difference on either of them. The real difference was using a high quality card.

Kevin Whitley

[CCPC 26]

2)Are envelopes with flyers in them better then postcards or vice versa?

Do oversized postcards generate a better response rate?

Thanks

Hands down, for me the envelope mailers have been far more effective. I spent a lot of money on a fancy UV finished jumbo postcard and maybe saw a 1/2% return, where as with the envelope mailers I can see as much as a 4% return. I will never do postcards again. I might as well save myself some time and flush my money down the toliet.

[CCPC 26]

It's interesting to see what works in different areas...and what doesn't. When I started my company, I decided that I was going to create a marketing company that restores decks...that may hit some of you the wrong way, but it means a different model for your business. We focus on doing a great job, and making sure customers are happy, but my day to day emphasis is on getting the phone to ring. Doing a great job falls into customer fulfillment for me.

That said, I use metrics for managing my business that evaluate the cost of getting in front of each potential customer, the conversion rate (closing rate), and the marketing cost of each sale. Advertising is a very large portion of my budget.

I said all of that to say this, when you're evaluating advertising medium it is critical that you understand the demographics of your customer base...what does your customer look like? What is his age, marital status, average income, etc. When I have that pretty well figured out, then I use the advertising medium that works best for that demographic.

I use several different advertising mediums because I learned a long time ago that there is no single "silver bullet". No single medium is going to get the job done, advertising is about gaining "mind share" which requires the customer to see your name a number of times in different places before they mentally store the information. We use post cards, advertising magazines, radio, home shows...and more. The result is a lot of phone calls, and a budget that has to be actively managed to make sure you're getting the best return on your advertising dollars. Surprisingly, many of the customers can't remember where they heard about us...but they called.

There are some simple tricks that work quickly and are pretty cheap. A good flyer, or door hanger. When you do a job, put the flyer out to every neighbor you can see from the front door of the job you just finished. "We were in the neighborhood..." or "We just did your neighbors deck at...". It gives you an instant referral, and the neighbors likely know each other. Always a fast turn around.

One of my reps goes to each of these line of site neighbors every time he sells a job, tells them that we're going to be doing a job at "Smith's House right there" and thought they might be interested...since we're already in the neighborhood, we might be able to save the some money if we could get extra jobs while we're in the neighborhood. He gets surprisingly good results.

Just a suggestion. I've found that there are media buyers out there that are very good at developing these programs, and they don't cost any extra. They usually can get a better price than you can, and they are paid their commission by the companies that do the work. Mine gets a great price, and makes her income from the commission she's paid by the company that sends the mailers, magazines, radio station, etc. She's also very good at evaluating the different options and making recommendations.

It's real easy to spend a lot of money fast in advertising, so I suggest evaluating all options carefully. Getting your name out in a lot of places, with consistent frequency is the name of the game.

Kevin Whitley

I agree with most of what you said, but as for flyers, or knocking on neighbors doors unenvited, I don't do this for two reasons. First, most of the communities I work in are gated communities, and I figure most who pay the extra dollars to live in a gated comm. would rather not have contrators coming up to their door cold calling. Second, even when it's not a gated comm. I just don't feel right about it. To me, it's a little invasive, and I feel you more likely to agravate the majority per the few that decide to retain your services. One job in the bag isn't worth pissing off 20 that aren't in the bag. Besides, if the workmanship is there, you'll get their business soon enough anyways.

[CCPC 26]

Also, for me (believe it or not) the simplest, non fancy adver. work better than the full color prof. layed out ads. I don't know why, but it does. That's fine with me though because the simple non fancy ads are much cheaper.

[RyanH 14]

My first job was for a friend who lived in a subdivision. Her 'hood had a quarterly newsletter that went out and I put a half page ad in it (cost about $80). I got about a dozen jobs from that. The next quarter I did the same thing and continued to get work. Then additional calls came in from referrals from these people. Contact other contractors in your phone book but not necessarily in your ZIP code...I've had a few referrals from other contractors who either couldn't do the work (no time) or lived too far away. Of course you reciprocate this approach. I did all of this while in school. I don't do much washing anymore. Which makes me ask myself......why do I still hang around here now?

Old habits are hard to break, I guess.