Dan

Ok, so this is for plastering, and it's been taken from our tiling forum, posted by a member named 'tiler burden' - so I'm not taking credit. But this can be adopted for most businesses and at least would give you some insight about how dificult / easy (that's debateable) it is getting yourself know.

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hi

hope this helps people new to tiling find work.

an associate of mine in devon, went on a 1 week course plastering and within 11 months had 7 lads working for him!!

HE GOT THE WORKIN IN, THEN GOT PEOPLE WORKING FOR HIM, KILLING 2 BIRDS WITH ONE STONE...LEARNING AND EARNING!!

THIS IS HOW HE DID IT, HERE GOES...........


Flyers - I delivered on foot nearly 10,000 street by street in areas that had victorian houses which were terraced. My research suggested a return of only 1-2% but on that amount of leaflets its a lot of work...

My other trick with flyers was to hit the DIY superstore carparks near you on the weekend that got be several jobs.

Lastly keep an eye out in local rag for planning applications, if they not published here your local council offices will have them available for you to view. Then go and pop a flyer in or a letter of introduction ideal if you see someone has applied for planning on for example an extension.

Another thing I do is to put a flyer through the door of every house I see with a sold sign on it. People often like to get work done before they move in, I picked up a five bed house top to bottom through this only last month.

Promotions - I give a free £25 Marks & Spencer voucher to any customer who recommends me to a someone thus resulting in a job. This is so easy and appears a little more upmarket than just giving them 20 quid. This can build a fairly formidable sales force.

Universities - Have you got any near you if so contact their accomidation office and ask for a list of approved student digs. Next send a letter to property addressed to the landlord offering your services. Students are most competent at damaging properties.

Estate agents - Again letter of introduction or better still get shirt and tie on and visit them with a portfolio of work and some business cards. Lots of people do remedial work prior to selling. NB - if you get work from an agent make sure you give em a drink out of it.

Sign written van - This is most important, need not be too flash but get it done professionally. Make sure it says company name and plasterer in big letters and it MUST include a landline number. I have the federation of small businesses (FSB) logo on mine it gives customers confidence. Have a look at bottom of post hopefully there is a picture, it cost me £180 to have all four sides done.

Auctions - Most people at auctions are developers get to an auction and try and put yourself about you will soon get to know the regulars do one good job for sensible money and word will soon spread.

T-shirts - we always wear company shirts on site with name and number in big letters it looks the part and gives you an edge. I wear one about as often as I can especially insupermarkets and anywhere busy (sad I know!). People regularly stop me and ask for a card.

Business cards - I shift about 75 cards a month give them out whenever possible make sure they look professional and get them laminated so they last longer.

Mugs - bit of a weird one I know but I get them made by my mate for £4 each got company name and number on. Give them to customer when job done they less likely to lose a mug with your number on and it is subconsciously welded into their mind they will recommend you whenever someone talks about getting plastering done.

Independent builders merchants - get some cards in there and get them a crate of beer at xmas they will push your business if you are good.

Website - my website is very simple it is not designed to attract business but is there as a point of contact if people lose your number. All they have to do is stick my company name into google and up pops website with contact details.

British networking institution do a google search under BNI - bit of a pain in the ass but can work well in the early days.

Think your advert through also - I guarantee to give a same day quotation early bird catches the worm and all that.

My advert offers people the chance to visit work in progress and talk to happy customers works a treat. Also offer weekend work and evening work to fit around modern folks lifestyles.

When you go and quote a job make sure you sell the product to the customer from the moment you get in the door ie stress you do two coat work and your clean and tidy etc. In the early days I would get wife to ring me when I was with customer and ask for a quote gives real customer confidence to know you busy.





PPS My ad in the local rag is 2x3 cm box every night of week and costs me £400 a month but I get about three or four calls a day so it is worth it to me.

Cheers
ed

EasyFox

Flyers on car windscreens in the diy shed carpark = yes it works a treat & taking a stroll down the electrical/lighting isles with the T-shirt with company logo works aswell (lighting stumps most jo public they see the logo & name so ask for advice, dont give free advice just dole out a card & wait for the call).

If you goto the electrical safety councils website they sometimes give all manner of safety bumph & leaflets away to the trade.
Last lot I had sent to me on request were 500 small folded "home safe home" leaflets advocating PIR's & pat testing.
I dish these out as a mail drop (me & the kids walk & deliver) along with a glossy post card sized flyer printed on both sides (£100 for 500 on line from goodprint) with a letter of introduction (short history of the company blah blah blah...short but to the point) all delivered in a plain white envelope (£5 - £6 for 400 from macro) A cheep advertising campaign & health at the same time. I have picked up PIR's + a few visuals & other work from these

Find out when the yellow pages is to be printed then call them a few weeks before the dead line, I have picked up a centre page 12 line ad sized approx 2"x2" with DI logo for £200 inc vat ( start of the year they were calling me with the same offer but wanting £350 + vat & no logo.

Do the free online thompson local & yell.com listings (picked up a few jobs from the yell.com)

Sign written van...couldnt agree more did mine myself, designed online ordered vinyl layout, got them a few days later & applied the van signage over a Saturday (cost £103 all in from Vehicle Graphics, Tradeboards and Vinyl Lettering from TradeGraphics : Design and Order Online).

Get on the local councils approved contractor list, I found the best way in through the back door is to pester who ever deals with the maintenance of village/community halls rather than the main contracts & facilities officer

But by far the best is word of mouth....do a good competatively priced job be curtious & tidy then word is sure to spread.

Thats my help done for now...I'm off to bed....night all.

Bane

And there you have it! All you need to know to become succesful in business!

Seriously though, good reading that guys! Relatively simple things that hold such an impact.

Anymore?

Dan

I have to say I've heard sooooo may people that have paid yellow pages and lost had very little or no business at all from it. I have a free listing usually but will never pay for that type of thing. You can get a much better ROI on other things like a website or smaller local rag type ads - if that's your flavour - though I don't do rags myself but can say I know many that use it as their sole tactic.

My advice would be to consider your options wisely before being sold some ad you don't even know will work.

johnosman

Do a google search for simple SEO, learn some basic search engine optimisation and then build yourself a small website.It doesn't take much effort to get a website on the first page of google for the right search terms. Much cheaper than yellow pages.

Southampton Electrician

sparkyj

good little read dan,nice advice

piggyitm

Good advice for setting up a one-man band.Not so good if your looking to start up with some solid contracts.I'm now thinking domestic work isn't worth the hastle anymore.Trying to fill up days with ****y 2 hour jobs that need a certificate and notification to NIC.Then trying to squeeze the money out of some tight customer or even having to use the small claims court.If only I'd trained as a joiner...I could just throw my saw and drill in the back of the van and work for cash!!