Drumming up Business

[Phill Fenton]

I used to spend an hour on the phone each day cold calling businesses in my area.

The main thing is to let as many people as possible (as cost effectively as possible) know what you do – how you do it is up to you, but someone once told me its a numbers game – if enough people know about you , you will get the business.

[James Martin]

Ye you can’t beat talking to people for getting business. On the phone or walking round the industrial estates. Never wait for the phone to ring.

[Graham Shand]

The funny thing is if you try to turn this into a formula or a science, it will not happen, what happened to me was that most of the work I got came off the back of other work, so in the initial stages you just have to tell everyone your doing signs, vans cars etc, then it will all start to fall into place, I did not try to hard to promote in the early days, but keep your cards on hand, all the time, don’t be shy, if you see a crap sign , call in for a chat see what you can do , your in a service industry, they will get fired up about a new look a new sign, a new image, becoming a new client, go for a wander and see how many signs you do not see, how many are broken cracked, need repaired /replaced, empty shops soon get new tenants, drop a flyer through the letter box. your a sign maker tell people what you do!.

[Martin Pearson]

Matt, this has been talked about quite a few times so a search on the forum might give you some more answers. Could never do phone sales myself, just something I didn’t feel comfortable doing but then I’m not a great salesman to start with.
When I was looking for work I did use to walk round industrial estates & up & down high streets armed with some business cards & fliers, no hard sell just introduce myself, tell people what I did & ask for the opportunity to quote next time they needed some work doing.
Like Graham the majority of the work I did came as a result of work I had done for someone else, either as a referral from that customer or someone seeing my van parked up when I was doing a job.
You might need to watch what you are doing to ensure you don’t get your old company taking some kind of action against you, have you signed any sort of disclaimer saying you won’t work within a certain distance of your previous employment or pinch their customers??
Not actually sure if these are enforceable but have heard of people who have signed them when working for a company.

[Matt Taylor]

Hi Martin,

Thanks very much for your reply. I’m not exactly a salesman either but I’ll try as you said 🙂

In the years I’ve been working for the company I have never signed a contract or disclaimer. I wouldn’t poach their customers anyway, it’s not my style, and I have respect for them, since they gave me a chance and taught me everything I know 🙂

Matt

[Stewart Dawson]

Matt, try using social networking for promoting your company, you’ll be amazed how far word of mouth will travel that way. Make a page for your business and then post it on your wall, then ask all your friends to share the link and post it on their walls too.