Looking for new business- what has worked for you?

[Letterbox Mike]

Develop and fine tune your brand. Live your brand. Become synonymous with your brand, your industry and your product. Be top of mind in current and potential clients, always. If you don't have a brand (I don't mean a logo either), hire a marketing professional, pay them what's necessary, and create a brand. McDonalds isn't successful because they sell good hamburgers, they're successful because of their brand (think about it, their food sucks and yet they're the most recognizable company in the world). Branding is EVERYTHING.

Don't wait for referrals, ASK for them. That's not a gimmick or a loss leader, it's turning your satisfied customers into salespeople. A happy customer can sell your product better than anybody else, including you.

Join a business networking group. Not one with dog sitters and fly-by-night roofing contractors, but networking groups with B2B attorneys, marketing agencies, insurance providers, etc.. Develop relationships with them and ASK for referrals.

Google places! Learn it and optimize it, you'll be amazed how much traffic it'll generate.

Loss-leaders are okay at best, but over time they usually tend to be a wash and they diminish the value of that product. Highly targeted loss-leaders can be extremely effective though, but you have to be careful, going down this road is like walking a tightrope.

There is no one simple answer or one promotion or giveaway that's going to significantly increase your visibility and traffic except for my first point: your brand. You can't put a proverbial gun to people's heads and make them buy your product, but you can make them want to buy your product if you play your cards right.

 

[HulkSmash]

Colorado.

Sorry I am really not trying to catch you out or be facetious, but I just stumbled on the post you did recently saying you don't do small jobs as such.

Steve

You mean 100 post cards? Cause that's the only thing i ever mentioned about NOT doing. You better believe I don't. Waste of time if you ask me.

Our jobs range from Logo Design, wraps, banners, signage, etc. If we don't do it, we find someone who can - we don't turn down a job that will make us money.

From those other things branch off. The only time i offer something for FREE is 1 set of 1k business cards with a 450 logo design.

ok, 20% was reaching really high. I was going off of our May Stats.
which i posted a while back. Here it is.

we do range on getting 8-10 new customers per day. Obviously some days are better than others.. but we're at the point where we are never slow anymore. Believe it or not, Customer SERVICE is what brings people back for me. I'm not the cheapest in the area, but we are a very friendly business, and our guys know what we're doing. I never said i get 600 new customers a month..........Work comes THROUGH my website.. even with RETURN customers

 

[J Hill Designs]

Come on friend I cant believe that you are gaining 600 - 1500 new customers every month from your website

90% of our workflow comes through our website. We get about 3-5k visits a month. 20-30% of that turns into jobs.

Where does he say NEW customers?

 

[Fanaticus]

You could always hire a marketing consultant.

Sorry that I'm not much help to you, but I try to think "out-of-the-box" as much as possible to try new things when the traditional methods aren't getting the response I'm looking for.

When you do something "new" and it works, it won't take long for copycats to flood the market in similar ways.

 

[HulkSmash]

Or a sales REP

 

[Rising]

Where does he say NEW customers?

Ok on the origional post it does not say NEW, but the question from the op was "looking for new business- what works for you" so on the assumption Colardao was trying to help, his words seemd to aim at that, but now has adjusted the etimation in his later post. Since when anyway do regulars contact you through the website, if all it is is a brochure site, surely they would email or phone.

I was entrigued as I would get on a plane, knock on his door and ask personally as that would be some mean feat with that sort of monthly new custom.

There aint no bitching Bud, just objective discussion.

On the original question. I am about to take on someone to market our business through the new website. This fellas has done wonders for a friends site/business, so time will tell if it works for us. Lets see if we can get to a dizzy height of 600 new customers a month.

At the same time I have had a chap approach me to do freelance sales, will be treading carefully with this one.

As already mentioned nothing like walking the streets and meeting people too, long as you can take the rough with the smnooth on reponses.


Steve

 

[JKADesigns]

Oh dear... I asked the same question awhile back and ended up with 3 pages of flak and about 4 actual responses that were helpful... you're doing well here my friend- more people have actually given you some sane ideas. I like the one about business cards and cold calling businesses who need more signs.

 

[btropical.com]

We have a crack dealer that does the same thing , gives some crack out and he has repeat customers go figure . he also gets alot of chics wanting to trade things for crack . Go figure , great marketing idea !

 

[HulkSmash]

Ok on the origional post it does not say NEW, but the question from the op was "looking for new business- what works for you" so on the assumption Colardao was trying to help, his words seemd to aim at that, but now has adjusted the etimation in his later post. Since when anyway do regulars contact you through the website, if all it is is a brochure site, surely they would email or phone.

I was entrigued as I would get on a plane, knock on his door and ask personally as that would be some mean feat with that sort of monthly new custom.

There aint no bitching Bud, just objective discussion.

On the original question. I am about to take on someone to market our business through the new website. This fellas has done wonders for a friends site/business, so time will tell if it works for us. Lets see if we can get to a dizzy height of 600 new customers a month.

At the same time I have had a chap approach me to do freelance sales, will be treading carefully with this one.

As already mentioned nothing like walking the streets and meeting people too, long as you can take the rough with the smnooth on reponses.


Steve

Cool story.

 

[MontereySigns]

No gimmicks needed, thank you. If you've discovered your local Chamber of Commerce doesn't work for you that's fine. If you are so successful with your sign business that you don't need promotion, and feel the need to brag about it, I don't care.

To those who took time to contribute good ideas I thank you. Sometimes it's not enough to do great design and quality work. People have to find out about you and decide to give you a call at some point. That's where we were looking for some good marketing ideas.

If you have something positive to contribute I'd love to hear about it.

-Bud

 

[Bly]

We have a crack dealer that does the same thing , gives some crack out and he has repeat customers go figure . he also gets alot of chics wanting to trade things for crack . Go figure , great marketing idea !

Awesome idea now all I need is a suitcase full of crack.

 

[sar bossier]

No gimmicks needed, thank you. If you've discovered your local Chamber of Commerce doesn't work for you that's fine. If you are so successful with your sign business that you don't need promotion, and feel the need to brag about it, I don't care.

To those who took time to contribute good ideas I thank you. Sometimes it's not enough to do great design and quality work. People have to find out about you and decide to give you a call at some point. That's where we were looking for some good marketing ideas.

If you have something positive to contribute I'd love to hear about it.

-Bud

Bud - In all seriousness, between Constant Contact marketing, Google analytics/places, telemarketing, and a Sales Rep, as well as asking EVERY client for a referral, we do fairly well. There is (IMO) always room for improvement, but these keep our market fresh. Also, great and friendly service. Best of luck, and happy selling!

 

[Locals Find!]

OK. Fourteen people responded and only one good idea (Thank you, Adtecchia). The rest of the responses was a bunch of bitching, which all of us could do without.

I find it hard to believe all these sign shops have enough business that they don't need to promote themselves outside of their website, their own signage, or referrals. Our work is good, pricing is fair, so our customers love working with us (and refer us afterwards), but the relationship has to have a starting point.

Has no one offered a promotion, a discount, or unique marketing idea that got your phone ringing? Surely, there are some creative business people out there....

-Bud

Your Welcome! Hope it works out for you whatever you decide on.

I had one other thing I do which I forgot to mention may or may not work for you. However, in my area I offer Free Personal delivery to many of my clients or put up their sign for no extra charge. This works well for me as most of my client are Realtors and they love it when I can just drive by their house and drop off their cards or signs rather than them having to drive all the way into the office itself or coming by my place. Also, popping a quick sign up on a listing isn't that difficult for me as its usually just the simple frames and I do them on my way home or when I am out and about town anyway and they take a whole 2 minutes to shove in the ground and drive away.

 

[TheSnowman]

Didn't realize we weren't allowed to comment on things that were mentioned earlier in the thread. I'll make sure I never do that again.

 

[HulkSmash]

No gimmicks needed, thank you. If you've discovered your local Chamber of Commerce doesn't work for you that's fine. If you are so successful with your sign business that you don't need promotion, and feel the need to brag about it, I don't care.

To those who took time to contribute good ideas I thank you. Sometimes it's not enough to do great design and quality work. People have to find out about you and decide to give you a call at some point. That's where we were looking for some good marketing ideas.

If you have something positive to contribute I'd love to hear about it.

-Bud

Why are you so upset. I don't understand. Your OP is asking "Looking for new business- what has worked for you?" It's what I'm trying to tell you. WEB WEB WEB. That's my answer. Giving away free stuff, and doing free installs is nice, and might get you 3 or 4 more 30 dollar signs from someone, but it's not going to increase revenue.

Your business name is GREAT. Very Similar to mine.
Type in Signs in Monterey, CA in Google or any search engine and you're first
because of the simple location name. Capitalize on that. One thing i noticed that helped on my site - Large, simple and bold buttons that say- Request Quote, and UPLOAD file on the very front page. Your site doesn't have that. Also - you probably don't want to put help wanted on your landing page...Your website is for your customers... Also try adding a portfolio page, showing more than one pic under each topic. Use your site as your strongest advertising tool. Cause when people are looking for signs in Monterey, they're not looking in the phone book - they go through the web. Good luck.......................

 

[SignManiac]

I have no advertising other than my website. No sign in front of my business either. I will not answer my phone before 8:00 or after 5:00. Word of mouth and website, that's it. Oh and lots of experience. I have passed out 12 business cards so far this year.

The thing I do to gain new business is make nice signs.

 

[Rising]

Bud

You asked for pointers and you were offered them. You cant get all upset as each answer wasn't "straight up".

There is some good advice in the replies so weed out the uninformative and see the good stuff.

Good luck

 

[MontereySigns]

No we're talking!

Thanks for the good stuff. Some valuable feedback that I (and hopefully others) will benefit from.

Don't get me wrong, we're not begging for business. We're doing good- just moved into a new 3200 s.f. building and have doubled our sales over last year. But good is not great. In this economy we are looking for every edge, every strategy, every advantage we can get to build the business.

This is why I check in with Signs101.com now and then. Tips and tricks and advice can really help.

-Bud

 

[skyhigh]

I have no advertising other than my website. No sign in front of my business either. I will not answer my phone before 8:00 or after 5:00. Word of mouth and website, that's it. Oh and lots of experience. I have passed out 12 business cards so far this year.

The thing I do to gain new business is make nice signs.

You got me beat by 10 business cards and a website.

1) Quality products
2) prompt service
3) convey to the customer that you have their best interest at heart.
4) offer services your competition dosen't
5) always have a smile on your face........except when the customers old sign, (that you didn't make) falls on a parked car. You can chuckle to yourself after you leave. :Big Laugh

works for me.

 

[Rising]

Cool story.

Cheers matey