Service sales letters.

[Joe Hillmann]

Now that Christmas is over I want to spend some of my time in January trying to get more commercial business. The only problem is I don't really know how to go about it. I am thinking of writing them a basic sales letter telling them what I can offer.

Can anyone make other suggestions of how to get larger customers?

[Dan Hintz]

Samples speak a LOT louder than a page of prose, no matter how flowery.

[Gary Hair]

Just my opinion... I don't think letters are going to get you any response unless you can somehow differentiate yourself from any of the other pieces of junk mail that they also receive. People have tried brightly colored envelopes, hand addressed, and a multitude of other methods.

Bottom line, mailing isn't likely to work.

What's better? Deliver samples in person! Figure out the type of businesses you would like to work with and learn a bit about them, what they produce, what they need, what's important to them about the services you provide, then create samples that are meaningful to them. Don't bring electrical conduit tag samples to the HR person at the hospital and try to convince them that you can do all of their name badges, by the same token, don't bring name badge samples to an electrical contractor!

If you decide to do a letter, don't make it a "brain dump" of everything you can do, again, make it personalized for them and give them real examples of EXACTLY what you can do for them and why they should use you for these services. hint - don't make it about price! Telling them that you have two Universal CO2 lasers and Two YAG lasers won't mean squat to them but if you let them know you have the ability and equipment to process a variety of large jobs in a short time frame, that will mean something to them when they have a rush job and their current vendor that has only one laser can't produce what they need in the time they need it. Sell on your abilities not on the lack of ability of your competitors. Be sure to deliver this using FedEx or USPS Express or Priority mail and put it in a box - they will likely open it if it was important enough to you to spend a bit of money getting it to them. Make sure it is addressed personally to them - talk to their "gatekeeper" to ensure you get it to the right person.

[Dave Sheldrake]

Hi Joe,

Expect and plan for bigger customers to want accounts of 30 days or longer. If they ask if you do accounts tell them "yes subject to requirements" as a straight no will likely lose quite a few bigger clients.

cheers

Dave

[Joe Hillmann]

I should give a bit more information. The two companies I am focusing on now are millwork companies that sub out all there laser engraving and cutting. One of them had several problems with there current engraver that lead to lots of overtime to get jobs out in time. That is information I got from one of the low level employees I ran into this summer. The other company does nearly the same type of work as the first but I don't know if they do the engraving in house.

[Tim Bateson]

The business we are in can be a bit.... odd at times. What works for one person here may or may not work for anyone else.
In year 2, I realized that commercial work was a better option. Spent an enormous amount of time bidding on contracts, traveling around my area visiting facilities. I got a big goose egg for all of my efforts.
Fast forward a few years & now they call me. This last 2 months alone, I was given 4 no-bid long term contracts. For me I guess, time & word of mouth have been the keys.

[Joe Hillmann]

The business we are in can be a bit.... odd at times. What works for one person here may or may not work for anyone else.
In year 2, I realized that commercial work was a better option. Spent an enormous amount of time bidding on contracts, traveling around my area visiting facilities. I got a big goose egg for all of my efforts.
Fast forward a few years & now they call me. This last 2 months alone, I was given 4 no-bid long term contracts. For me I guess, time & word of mouth have been the keys.

Tim, How did you get the connections to go the the facilities to talk to the right people and how did you get the leads to even have a chance at making the bids on the jobs? So far I have only done commercial jobs for three companies but they pay well and do repeat orders so I would like to do more of them.

[Mike Null]

Joe

I don't do cold canvasing but if I were going to do it I would first interview the receptionist for leads as to who the buyers are within the company. I find that, more often than not, the purchasing dept. has been eliminated in favor of of departmental buying by project managers, marketing managers, maintenance superintendents etc. In other words, there is no one place to go or one person doing the buying. The same is true of schools and universities. I have one rather famous university here where I do business with at least ten departments and they never talk to each other. Often, even in athletics, the coaches do their own thing.

I stopped doing print advertising 15 years ago and would not spend ten cents on it today.

My largest customer, always in the 5 figure area for the past several years, started as a $300 a year plaque customer and we just grew with them as we provided what they wanted when they wanted it and we were their choice when they consolidated suppliers.

Because they are an international company I had to switch from FedEX (totally useless) to UPS World Ship and I pay $10 a month for pick ups but I bill the customer for all shipping fees and packaging so it's ok.

[Joe Pelonio]

I am now doing wholesale work work exclusively now, and some of my best customers are in places far across the country, who found me by internet search. One in particular searched the words "acrylic templates" and that happened to be exactly what they were looking for. The give me 2-3 large orders a year. Others are local sign shops that do not have their own laser. In our area there are probably 100 of them, and it's easy to find out whether they have a laser from their websites. If not, go visit, provide samples and demonstrate that you are competitive with what they may be paying at Grimco or Gemini and other providers they are using that may take longer with shipping charges.

[Phil Thien]

I'm not sure the type of engraving work you're looking for, but...

I've recently been doing some IT work for a rapidly expanding businesses in the Midwest. They just added more offices and they currently have temporary signs on the office doors and cubicles.

If I wanted the engraving business for work like that, I think I'd subscribe to one of those services that sends you all the commercial building permit data and I'd start calling places that are moving/expanding and ask if they'd like samples of my work.

Just a thought.

[Mike Null]

Good suggestion. Along that line I would contact architectural firms and contractors.

[Joe Pelonio]

Good suggestion. Along that line I would contact architectural firms and contractors.

As long as commercial building construction is starting up again, contacting local builders can result in good work, if you can do ADA signage. Try to include installation, that actually results in better profit than the signs if you do it yourself or have a helper at $12/hour and charge $100.