How to achieve greatness , at least survive ?
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I have been trading by myself for over 20 years now and have never advertised. Have built up a large client base and recomendations.
slipshod , you must have advertised at some point ? How do you build a reputation if nobody knows who you are ? Cant wait 20 years to feed the family . Is it a case of knocking doors , flyers , ads in local papers , ringing local builders . There must be a method to still bring in enough business to survive until you gain that positive reputation , thanks wayne .
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Yes, just how do you spend
Ali
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We have had some success with fliers, but we got them done for free by a fabulous mate of and they look amazing. They are completely different from most other fliers and look very professional. At the moment my boss and I are posting them though letter boxes while we are quiet, but I also know lots of 12 and 13 year olds that are happy to do the leaflet drops for not very much money. The only phone calls we have had from the fliers are for little jobs, but that's great, one of them has led to another 3 jobs because my boss is very good at repeat business.
Good luck
Good luck
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Try your local parish magazine. That's all I spend on advertising
lkayelectrical
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think my yell advert ( .com only) was
ive sent emails to loads of local companies in the past. dont usually get much response, but those who do, ive had loads of repeat work from them. look on their websites and there is normally an email address
Grey Master
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Parish mags are very useful, ours goes out monthly. Word of mouth, good reputation, other trade networking (I'll use you if you use me) and never underestimate the value of a few pints down the pub Guinness Guinness Guinness
streetlighter
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We have had a few advertising deals from local free newspapers where they give us somthing like 6 weeks with a 3" by 1" colour ad for around
davetheglitz
Electrician
Just re-starting as a sole trader after the partnership went up the swanee.
Vistaprint are doing a great offer where you order a load of business cards/magnetic signs - you get a free BT advert. Providing you resist the sales pressure to set up a website/front page of google bo**ocks it's a really good deal.
From past experience fliers have been good - more from that than any other form of advertising. We spent 2K on Yellow pages and Yell - and were lucky if we got back half that.
Mr Electric used to swear by the 9 card drop - every job you do drop 9 fliers in the locality - 'we've worked in your area - ask around for a reference etc'. Didn't like the way they did it - but if it's a good advert - it could work.
We also spent a lot on a web site - which didn't bring in much. Check out weebly - free websites that are (relatively) easy to set up. No outlay apart from time - and can be advertised via the free BT advert.
I'm planning to go out with a sandwich board in the town centre. Laminated A3 posters are fairly cheap to get done - and if you can get through the embarrasment I'll bet it would work!
Don''t think anyone has really cracked advertising - but the one thing I really pick up on is that people like their electrician to be local - so look at the cheapest local advertising available.
Don't get caught out with charity calendars etc --- they circle like pirannahs when a new business gets set up!
Good luck- it's tough out there - and word of mouth is the best advertising - but you need a lot of it before you can dispense with any other adverts.
Cheers
Davew
Vistaprint are doing a great offer where you order a load of business cards/magnetic signs - you get a free BT advert. Providing you resist the sales pressure to set up a website/front page of google bo**ocks it's a really good deal.
From past experience fliers have been good - more from that than any other form of advertising. We spent 2K on Yellow pages and Yell - and were lucky if we got back half that.
Mr Electric used to swear by the 9 card drop - every job you do drop 9 fliers in the locality - 'we've worked in your area - ask around for a reference etc'. Didn't like the way they did it - but if it's a good advert - it could work.
We also spent a lot on a web site - which didn't bring in much. Check out weebly - free websites that are (relatively) easy to set up. No outlay apart from time - and can be advertised via the free BT advert.
I'm planning to go out with a sandwich board in the town centre. Laminated A3 posters are fairly cheap to get done - and if you can get through the embarrasment I'll bet it would work!
Don''t think anyone has really cracked advertising - but the one thing I really pick up on is that people like their electrician to be local - so look at the cheapest local advertising available.
Don't get caught out with charity calendars etc --- they circle like pirannahs when a new business gets set up!
Good luck- it's tough out there - and word of mouth is the best advertising - but you need a lot of it before you can dispense with any other adverts.
Cheers
Davew
Doc Hudson
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I would think it more constructive that members post what advertising methods have worked for them and the relative outgoings costs for what return they get, when the Op asks "Can any of you guys please tell me where and how I should be advertising". Rather than posting comments knocking others input onto a thread. I don't see your post as that constructive toward the discussion.
Doc H.
I have a load of free cards from vistaprint that I leave on any void properties I have done, usually get a few jobs off them, normally the cheaper ones like fancy lights etc,
but sometimes they lead onto the bigger jobs,
also have more professional cards that I give out to more potential clients, and people I actually meet,
they seem far more productive,
but that may well be down to the actual meeting process, (IMHO anyway)
best advert you will ever get is recommendation/word of mouth.
but sometimes they lead onto the bigger jobs,
also have more professional cards that I give out to more potential clients, and people I actually meet,
they seem far more productive,
but that may well be down to the actual meeting process, (IMHO anyway)
best advert you will ever get is recommendation/word of mouth.
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Re business cards, get plenty, and leave 2 or 3 with every customer. That makes it easy for them to give your details to friends or relatives needing work.
Technician
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Word of Mouth...best form of marketing.
Good reputations travel fast.
Bad ones even faster.
Good reputations travel fast.
Bad ones even faster.
Theres a previous thread on this you may want to look at.
I think it was , basically, keep it local as said, make yourself known to builders , plumbers and these property "Do-er uppers" .
Also signwrite your van .
And contact other local sparks in case they need a help.
Again as said , its all about who you know and who knows you and there is no quick way to achieve that.
Avoid.... calenders .... Police/fire service/ambulance mags who tend to phone you ...and the merchant bankers who charge you to pass on jobs .
I think it was , basically, keep it local as said, make yourself known to builders , plumbers and these property "Do-er uppers" .
Also signwrite your van .
And contact other local sparks in case they need a help.
Again as said , its all about who you know and who knows you and there is no quick way to achieve that.
Avoid.... calenders .... Police/fire service/ambulance mags who tend to phone you ...and the merchant bankers who charge you to pass on jobs .
I did not mean to be big headed, just saying it the way it is with today's economic climate, foreign workers doing jobs for peanuts etc. One sparky i know has got by for years with the small 25mm box in the local free paper, most others i know say they got absolutely nothing from that. One other sparky i know gets all his work from Google adds, Most others say it doesn't pay for its self . We joined the NICEIC as we thought it would bring in work and it has. No NIC adverts but people find us by postcode or asking friends or tradesmen if they know any NIC sparks. I dont think the internet is much good yet for tradesmen getting work, but it will be in the future
