Business is slow!

[Chaldean Firewood]

Hi All,

 

We are really struggling for orders this year, a relatively new company in the Hertfordshire area, we appreciate that majority of firewood users already have their suppliers.

 

We have done all the usual marketing, shops, petrol stations, local hardware stores, signs on the road , website, sign written trucks, but sales are still very slow

 

The wood we have is all very good quality seasoned hardwood and comes out of our own woodlands, the company who processed it for us commented on how good it is and actually asked if they could buy it of us. We have the wood in 2 different sized bags and a method of delivering in place so all we need now is customers. Obviously we don't want to put people out of business but we are an estate and need to sell this wood as we have more coppice coming out of our woods in January.

 

Any ideas on what people have done to drum up more interest.

 

Any help will be appreciated.

 

Edd:001_smile:

[Woodworks]

Have you contacted the local wood burner shops? We have our cards in a couple and it has proved very fruitful. We also advertised in the local rag and we got lots of calls but very few sales most were just ringing around for price. If your logs are good and you can get in with the local stove shops and supply them then they recommend you. All the customer we get who have been recommended to us have been a joy to deal with in comparison with the ones we get from direct advertising.

[Big J]

Have you considered setting up a kiln to dry some of your timber as a premium product? I'm not for one second saying that kiln dried is necessarily better, but people are prepared to pay quite a bit more.

 

You can get a kiln that will dry air dried firewood to sub 15% in about a week or ten days set up for less than a grand. Electricity costs are less than £10 a cubic metre and you could charge £40-50 more a cube.

 

Just an idea to expand sales. I'm putting some fairly green firewood into my kiln for the first time tomorrow so I'll report back!

[Chaldean Firewood]

Thanks guys, very helpful.

 

We have contacted the local stove companies and they have said they already have their supplier, guess it will be a case of continually badgering them until they give us a go.

 

Kiln dried is something we have thought of but never looked at prices of set up, it would be something we could charge a premium for around here as no one else offers it. Where is your kiln from/ best company to buy from?

[shooterjim]

eBay advert Is by far the best I have found! Costs 90p for 10 days and always get a couple of orders! Local paper is ok but as already mentioned many calls are just after prices and only a handfull ring back for orders. Stick to your guns and don't give your product away. There's a lot of rubbish being sold as logs this year, people will catch on eventually!

[nepia]

Do you have any private schools near you? Some of them publish small magazines/newsletters with ads in them. I have a large such school close; the mag is e-mailed to over 1000 e-mail addresses, mostly owned by fairly local well off families.

[Big J]

No need to buy an off the shelf kiln. DIY kiln construction is very easy - I'll post a thread in the sawmilling section now detailing it....

[spudulike]

Where in Herts are you, my dad has had a gas leak and is waiting for a plumber to fix it so is on his log burner only - may need another load soon....every bit helps!

[Chaldean Firewood]

Thanks for the advice all, we will stick to our guns, the product is a good one. Look forward to reading up on the Kiln and will follow up all the suggestions.

 

We are in Much Hadham between Bishops Stortford and Ware, delivery is free within a 30kms radius. If your interested let me know.

[TimberCutterDartmoor]

pm sent