Advertising

[David Freed]

I thought advertising was supposed to bring customers. I tried a sign along a 2 different highways. All that got me was calls from salesmen wanting to sell things for the shop. I have a Google ads account, and people are clicking on the ad but not inquiring. I have sent letters to over 300 contractors and have received 2 inquiries that went nowhere. My "fulltime" employee has only been working about 10 hours a week, and this week he didn't work at all. My other business has been barely keeping up with the bills, but that can't last much longer. Any suggestions?

[Burt Alcantara]

Old Number 7

[Steve Clardy]

I don't advertise with signs and ads. Found out a long time ago its a waste of money for me.

I drop off business cards wherever I go, and hand out an occasional ink pen with my info.

All of my work is from referrals from past customers.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

I tried a sign along a 2 different highways. All that got me was calls from salesmen wanting to sell things for the shop.

I put up a real spiffy website for a couple years and most all it got me was morons calling me to ask hot to litigate for themselves.

What I have seen people do is establish real time relationships with Contractors. It takes time and effort and you end up buying a few meals but if you can convince a handful of contractors to send heir people to you (and of course you will extend meaningful discounts to those they send) then, you should be able to generate business that will organically generate more by word of mouth.

[David Freed]

What I have seen people do is establish real time relationships with Contractors. It takes time and effort and you end up buying a few meals but if you can convince a handful of contractors to send heir people to you (and of course you will extend meaningful discounts to those they send) then, you should be able to generate business that will organically generate more by word of mouth.

I think doing this would help, but my other business takes most of my time (my employee can run the shop).



I drop off business cards wherever I go, and hand out an occasional ink pen with my info.

I can do this. I need to get new cards made.

[David Freed]

Old Number 7

I don't get it.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

David...I think he's referring to Jack Daniels' "Old No. 7" whiskey..

[David Freed]

David...I think he's referring to Jack Daniels' "Old No. 7" whiskey..

Ok. I don't know much about that.

[Ben Rafael]

Hire a salesman.
A good salesman WILL get you business.

[David Freed]

Hire a salesman.
A good salesman WILL get you business.

As it turns out the guy that works for me used to sell life insurance door to door. I said something to him this week about trying to drum up some business himself. I offered my vehicle, his regular wages, and a bonus if he gets results. That can't last very long at all with no results though. It was a long rough winter, and things still aren't much better.

[Joe Pelonio]

I have always been able to get new business by referral, and not waste a lot of money on advertising. Think about Spam. They send out 100s of thousands of them, in the hope of getting a few suckers to bite. Advertising is the same way. It costs a lot to put your name, product/service out to enough people that some will contact you and ultimately order work. Add to it the current state of the economy and that percentage goes way down. Here at the house we have been plagued the last few weeks with people coming to the door and dropping off leaflets, mostly roofers, window and siding installers. That's normally been a good replacement for the call center full of telemarketers which dried up with the "no call" list, but now even that is not producing much with people holding off on projects to pay for things like food and gas. I'm seeing many small businesses going under and yet this area is supposedly doing better than most. BTW, my business (signs) is way down too. My customers in services do tell me that their most cost effective advertising is the lettering on their trucks. One time cost, then wherever you go people see your advertising.

[Jim Becker]

Advertising and even letters are not going to be very effective in what I perceive as your marketplace. Most is going to be a waste of money and may increase non-profitable "work" as others have described unless there was a way to make it very effective and extremely targeted. Working with contractors, at least at the higher end, is entirely a relationship-based system. You need to meet them face to face and find a way for them to see your work and clearly understand how it will provide good business value to them. You also need to play heavily on referrals, especially with the economy the way it is presently.

The GC who did our addition does zero advertising and works purely on referral. He stopped by yesterday for the first time since we completed the work. The delay wasn't because he was avoiding it...we actually have become good friends...but because he and his crew are absolutely hammered with work right now. Same goes for the subs he uses. I just had to wait a month and a half to get the (wonderful) mason back to do a retaining wall and front walkway to fully complete the job.

Find ways to build relationships like that and you'll be assured of "too much work"...

[Pat Germain]

As usual, I think Mr. Becker is spot-on!

In many ways, I'm a typical consumer. I pay no attention to billboards, road signs, junk mail or leaflets left on my door. I just throw them away. Salesmen? Forget about it. I have a "NO SOLICITING" sign by my door and those who ignore it just get the door slammed in their face. I don't care what they're selling. I don't care what they have to say. I don't want to hear it. If I want to purchase goods or services, I'll do my own research and don't want to go through some sales staff to get it. As I see it, any goods or services requiring a salesman aren't a good value. That's why they require a salesman. Their job is to get people to overpay for an inferior product.

My good friend, Tim, learned this the hard way when he became an insurance agent. All his advertising and his web site got him was a few dolts who weren't insurable.

IMO, the only possibly effective advertising for a local contractor is local television which is Expen$ive (with a capital "E"). Therefore, word of mouth is the best advertising. It takes time, but it's golden. If I wanted to hire a contractor, I'd ask people I know who have hired contractors.

One way the web might help a contractor is through Angie's List. It's a web site where people post personal experiences and reviews of local contractors. If you get a satisfied customer, ask if they would please post a favorable comment on Angie's List.

Another example: When I lived in Virginia, I attended church with a guy named Scott Cleckley. He built custom, upscale homes. He did no advertising. He had no web site. He had no "salesmen". He had a long backlog of business always waiting. The only thing like advertising he ever did was once he built a house for the local Parade of Homes. It won an award for "crowd favorite". This increased his backlog. It was all word of mouth for Cleckley Construction.

[Rich Stewart]

I thought he was talking about chapter 7.

[David DeCristoforo]

Having spent some time selling advertising, I may be able to shed some light here. One of the first things an ad salesman will tell you (at least if he is any good) is that it is unrealistic to expect any advertising to bring immediate or dramatic results. Advertising is a long term proposition. People need to see an as or a sign many times, not just once or twice. When the day comes that they need your services, if they have seen your name often enough, you will come to mind. Of course they might just look in the phone book which is another form of advertising.

Most salesmen know that, on the average, you need to contact a hundred people to get one interested "prospect" and you need ten prospects to get one actual sale. For this reason, selling anything is a tough go. But advertising is a much harder sell because the customer does not have anything like a fun new toy to play with after the sale is made. And if there is no noticeable increase in business after the ad is published, the disappointment can be huge, especially if the advertising was expensive. Most of the time the attitude is "I spent $xx on this ad and I didn't even get one call. What a waste of money." At that point the last thing you want to do is to buy another ad. But think about how many ads you see over and over. These are the ones that are effective because they are hammering the message home and people remember them and the products or services they are promoting. Ad sales people are always talking about "frequency".

The problem is that this kind of persistent advertising is expensive and most small businesses cannot afford the cost of an on going ad campaign. So they buy cheap ads in local "junk mail" flyers that most people simply toss in the trash and then seem surprised when these ads produce no business. The bottom line is that if you are going to invest money in advertising, you need to spread it out so that you can keep your ad "alive" for as long as possible. Also, it is important to "target" your advertising to make sure that your ads are being seen by the "right" people. For example, do you ever notice that ads for tire shops are almost always in the sports section? And that you never see ads for perfume in the sports section? The perfume ads are in the "home" section where you never see ada for tire shops. There are people who have spent their whole lives figuring out the best ways to make advertising effective. Books are available on the subject. But for now, just remember that you need to be patient and allow your advertising to work for you.

[Pat Germain]

I think many of the old rules of advertising no longer apply. As I see it, where you put tire ads and perfume ads in the newspaper doesn't matter because most people don't even read the newspaper any more. Small newspapers are going belly-up everywhere. Larger newspapers are merging. My local paper is desperate. They'll practically give it to you just to boost ad revenue. In fact, they constantly do give newspapers away at grocery stores every weekend trying to get people to subscribe. And still, not many takers.

Magazines are similar. People don't read them like they used to. Companies are figuring this out and dropping what they spend on magazine advertising. Thus, magazines are going belly-up.

My neighborhood is filled with signs saying "HOUSE FOR SALE BY OWNER" and "RENT TO OWN, ZERO MONEY DOWN!". I feel bad for people stuck with a house they can't sell. Yet, do they really think a yellow plastic sign on the corner is going to sell their house? It's a lot of eye pollution for little possibility.

I'm currently reading a very interesting book called "The Tipping Point". It's about trends and how they suddenly take off for mysterious reasons. The book gives examples like Hushpuppy shoes and Paul Revere's midnight ride. Did you know there was another guy, named Dawes, who also road to warn people of the British on the same night? Nobody listened to Dawes. Almost everyone listened to Paul Revere. Why? The reasons are downright fascinating; and they can't be created by advertising.

[David DeCristoforo]

"Nobody listened to Dawes. Almost everyone listened to Paul Revere. Why?"

It's because Paul Revere yelled much louder than Dawes and he also had a faster horse....

[Pat Germain]

It's because Paul Revere yelled much louder than Dawes and he also had a faster horse....

That would make sense, but it wasn't the case. :D

[Dennis Peacock]

It's just TOUGH in today's economy. People do not want to spend money on much of anything....except groceries, fuel, and medical. Those that have over spent and over financed and the ones hurting the most at this point in time.

[Keith Outten]

Visit your local General Contractors who build commercial buildings. Get on their bidders list.

This doesn't cost you any money and will probably bring you more business than you can imagine in time. Be innovative in your designs, you can't compete with other sign businesses that have been in business for 30 years making the same stuff they offer. You can win bids by submitting superior designs using new materials, even if your price is a bit higher than your competitors.

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[David Freed]

Thanks for all the replies. I didn't mention what I am trying to sell. Here is a little background.

I have no customer base now, therefore not much chance of referals or word of mouth. My other business takes a lot of my time now (to keep up with bills for 2 businesses), and my employee can run the shop on his own.

I started my wood business drying and selling lumber, and making cabinet parts. I have lived here all my life and have 60 Amish and Mennonite cabinet shops within 25 miles of me (I have known many of the owners for years). I had plenty of business, but to keep my prices competitive, I was losing money.

I switched directions from wholesale to retail and am now making, (that is when I can make a sale), custom hardwood flooring. I have sold 2 floors (1 - 40 miles away; 1 - 750 miles away) and have a 3rd to be started sometime in the next month or two (40 - miles away), but as I said in my post, not nearly enough orders to stay busy. The area I live in does not have a lot of people that can afford mid-priced flooring, so I have to find customers in other areas (40 or more miles away).

Sorry if some of my posts seem to ramble. I am usually trying to do several things at once. Many of my posts are "walk by" posts, on my way to do something else.

[Jim Becker]

David, you really need to "get in bed" with a few high-end contractors in your area...the type that would actually use custom flooring. The GC who did our addition uses a particular source for just this thing. The 11" wide pine he did for use was absolutely premo, yet reasonably priced. Get a few jobs with a GC like that with good results and you'll not only have continued business from that one, but will likely be able to leverage it for work from others. Make sure that the floor jobs you've already done are referencable, too. If not, you need to get a few more that are.