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Joined: May 2001
Posts: 552
T
Member
Has anyone here tried advertising along this line,and if so,what were the results?
[Linked Image from pages.sbcglobal.net]


Donnie
Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 210
S
Member
Fortunatley, I have done very well on just word of mouth.

Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 7,381
Likes: 7
Member
TxSparky:
Many years ago, I placed an ad in the phone book in addition to the "free" i line listing.
I/we tracked all our calls, and inquired of all people who we did not have on file (newbies) how they "found" us.
Most of them said "referal" from________"

The few who came from the ad (14 in 13 months) netted:
13 waste of time estimates
1 paddle fan installation @ $190.00 gross.

The "ad" cost >$1800.00 which was added to the monthly phone bill, and was not cancelable. If we didn't pay the ad charge, they cut-off your phone.

We live, we learn!
Nothing like a good referral (1 L or 2??)
Fortunatly, we have a steady solid customer base now, and don't have to consider promotions.

People think coupons are a "come-on" around here, and the business increases the price by the coupon amount!

John
John


John
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 134
L
Member
hey john....tell me it's not so. increase the price of the job by the coupon amount.they do that [Linked Image]

sorry... for me it's word of mouth.if you do a good job at a reasonible price they will advertise for you.

[This message has been edited by lighthouse (edited 01-24-2003).]

Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 444
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We have experimented with phone book ads over the years, and I swear, the bigger and fancier the ad, the less calls we got. Needless to say, the last few years, we downsized our ad and took out the colour.

From our experience, I truly believe the best advertising is word of mouth and putting the decals on the trucks made a huge difference in exposure. It is not uncommon for us to hear "I see your trucks everywhere" on a regular basis.

Give customers excellent professional service, reasonable pricing, and send likable people to the jobs and they will remember you and keep calling you back.

Joined: May 2001
Posts: 552
T
Member
Sandro,
That's been our experience as well.I see these adds all of the time and was just wondering how the rest felt about them.


Donnie
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 914
E
Member
We tried coupon ads early on and found that we got back the cost of the ad, but that was it so we worked to pay the ad. Yellow pages, I think you need to be in there, but just a small ad or 1 line listing. Otherwise the ad cost eats your profit and you give a lot of wasted estimates.

Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 42
M
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But then how do you get those first customers when you're new to the EC biz, before word-of-mouth has a chance to kick in for you?

MacWire

Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,392
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Member
shakin' hands & kissin' babies Macwire, you have to promote yourself, flyers to the area GC's, realtors, etc....the 'new kid on the block'

after the ice is broken, you can decide on direction of either service work or contracts.

service work takes more advertizing IMHO, and you need to be Jonny on the spot, as well as fluent in DIY, Martian..(et all)


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