Tell?

[Doobop]

Word of mouth is the best advertising. Worked for me....a bit too well at times!!
Each customer can be your sales rep!!

That’s because you are a secret Saw wizard Steve. You know things even the manufacturer’s don’t![emoji23][emoji23]

[Doobop]

Checkatrade would surprise you as it did me. It's about building up a customer base with wealthy customers who mostly use Checkatrade. I was going to come off it after first year because I got so much work I found it hard to undertake but its better to refuse work than not have any. Its worked very well for me, yesterday a blind woman called me, everyone forgets there is a lot of vulnerable folk out there that need trust above everything else.

I’m looking for some blind customers, especially after I’ve finished their trees![emoji23][emoji23]

[Jwoodgardenmaintenance]

I use flyers I pay a company £470 + VAT for 10,000 printed and GPS tracked work always seems to phone in for the first 3-4 weeks then another batch get put out I’ve tried Facebook etc and seemed to be full of dreamers and time wasters i also use bark.com 

 

Jack

[doobin]

Bark is full of dreamers and wasters. Total race to the bottom. 

[Paddy1000111]

There are a fair few tree surgeons on checkatrade in my area. Thing is checkatrade is page 4 on google and then you get asked a load of questions before you can even see who is on it. Also it seems when people want "builders" then checkatrade comes up trumps but it doesn't seem to get many hits with Tree Surgeons/Gardeners/Agricultural. On average a month there are 1100 google searches for "tree surgeon/arborist/tree removal" in my area. Check trade said that the tree surgeons in my area were getting 12 calls a month which for £99 seems like not much when you don't know how many of those 12 became actual jobs. I went on there as a "customer" and it was garbage. Using SEO and the correct methods I'm no.6 on google maps list now in 24 hours since going live. 

 

I ended up shutting down (not going bankrupt) my previous company doing aircraft repair as since march the industry is knackered and I got absolutely 0 support from the government. I remember when this outbreak started the guys saying it was like 9/11 all over again and they were wrong. It's a lot worse. I went for some update training recently to get my head around 2 rope working etc etc and the examiner said that he trained three other aircraft engineers in the last 2 weeks. Goes to show what it's like. Most guys had been laid off and of course a lot of them were taking any work they could meaning the price for labour went from £25+ an hour to around £9 an hour in a matter of weeks. Lidl's offer more than that for stacking shelves, why would I work 12 hour shifts signing off work on aircraft that if I got wrong would land me in jail for life for manslaughter? Hence I thought I would go back into my original calling and do tree work seeing as I was pretty much doing it for free most weekends anyway. I just need to get a good supply of work coming in. 

14 hours ago, Jwoodgardenmaintenance said:

I use flyers I pay a company £470 + VAT for 10,000 printed and GPS tracked work always seems to phone in for the first 3-4 weeks then another batch get put out I’ve tried Facebook etc and seemed to be full of dreamers and time wasters i also use bark.com 

 

Jack

What company do you use for fliers Jack? Or is it one that only works local to you?

Edited November 26, 2020 by Paddy1000111

[Paddy1000111]

I've had a bit of a look at Bark. Although I registered for tree surgery/removal all the jobs seem to be grass mowing and landscaping apart from one tree between 6-13ft... They seem a bit like My builder. I was working with some builders a fair few years back and they were using that. They spent a load of cash bidding for jobs usually to be outbid by someone who has no idea what they're doing. Most of them just seem to say "I'm researching" which reads "I'm wasting time (and your money)" to me! 

[doobin]

Trouble with flyers, even 'gps tracked' is that your flyer will go straight in the bin along with the other dozen they drop at the same time. You're much better off sending a lad to to a flyer drop on a posh estate whilst you finish clearing up after working on a house there. Much more targeted and cheaper.

Edited November 26, 2020 by doobin

[Paddy1000111]

1 minute ago, doobin said:

Trouble with flyers, even 'gps tracked' is that your flyer will go straight in the bin along with the other dozen they drop at the same time. You're much better off sending a lad to to a flyer drop on a posh estate whilst you finish clearing up after working on a house there. Much more targeted and cheaper.

Yea 100%. I don't mind spending a lot on an initial business boost though. I appreciate that probably 75%-90% will go in the bin but I could spend £99 a month on "Advertising" online that most people ignore or don't even look at. I feel like I could spend the money paying a few younger people in my area to do a drop route seeing as most of them post up on local facebook pages looking for work anyway. In saying that, a single post on the local facebook pages and a snippet in the local magazines would be free and reach a lot of people anyway. I'm just trying to find a way to get out there and have that initial boost. I would put up posters but with less and less people being out and about it targets fewer people anyway! 

[Jwoodgardenmaintenance]

8 hours ago, Paddy1000111 said:

There are a fair few tree surgeons on checkatrade in my area. Thing is checkatrade is page 4 on google and then you get asked a load of questions before you can even see who is on it. Also it seems when people want "builders" then checkatrade comes up trumps but it doesn't seem to get many hits with Tree Surgeons/Gardeners/Agricultural. On average a month there are 1100 google searches for "tree surgeon/arborist/tree removal" in my area. Check trade said that the tree surgeons in my area were getting 12 calls a month which for £99 seems like not much when you don't know how many of those 12 became actual jobs. I went on there as a "customer" and it was garbage. Using SEO and the correct methods I'm no.6 on google maps list now in 24 hours since going live. 

 

I ended up shutting down (not going bankrupt) my previous company doing aircraft repair as since march the industry is knackered and I got absolutely 0 support from the government. I remember when this outbreak started the guys saying it was like 9/11 all over again and they were wrong. It's a lot worse. I went for some update training recently to get my head around 2 rope working etc etc and the examiner said that he trained three other aircraft engineers in the last 2 weeks. Goes to show what it's like. Most guys had been laid off and of course a lot of them were taking any work they could meaning the price for labour went from £25+ an hour to around £9 an hour in a matter of weeks. Lidl's offer more than that for stacking shelves, why would I work 12 hour shifts signing off work on aircraft that if I got wrong would land me in jail for life for manslaughter? Hence I thought I would go back into my original calling and do tree work seeing as I was pretty much doing it for free most weekends anyway. I just need to get a good supply of work coming in. 

What company do you use for fliers Jack? Or is it one that only works local to you?

It’s a company local to me it covers most of Cumbria it is a good thing what he does the company is called letterbox smart it isn’t cheap but well worth it I used to pay lads £40 a stack of 500 but the phone never rang now i use this company the work is consistent 

 

Jack

[Jwoodgardenmaintenance]

8 hours ago, doobin said:

Trouble with flyers, even 'gps tracked' is that your flyer will go straight in the bin along with the other dozen they drop at the same time. You're much better off sending a lad to to a flyer drop on a posh estate whilst you finish clearing up after working on a house there. Much more targeted and cheaper.

That’s the gamble you take though I always targeted posh estates etc and never came any further on the first time I used this company they put leaflets in a little village just local to me I’d never heard of ended up spending £500 but got a fencing job and planting a Laurel hedge the job took 2 days and left me with £7200 ish profit another time he posted them in a council estate I was there for a day made £3500 ish profit so it is a gamble but it just goes to show how handy they can be 

 

Jack