Yell.com

[combined tree services]

Did he f....

 

same old same old , i have had several calls from guys wanting work but have not got any tickets or experience .

[Dean O]

had a couple of calls in the last few weeks from yellow pages, which is a nice supprise given the number of people in the book - both of them had looked through untill finding someone local ("supporting the local economy")

so it's paid for itself in a manner of speaking

 

haven't heard anything about the book going bust - maybe shows the way people are thinking with their advertising tho?

[Rupe]

Its not the book going bust, just the yell.com side of things I think.

 

How does a couple of calls pay for itself? Surely form two jobs (if you get them) the advertising budget form thos jobs would be maybe 5% of total value? No business should spend more than 5% of revenue on one single advertising stream.

 

Those jobs must be massive if they've paid for the advertisisng after you've taken off the other 95% for costs/profit etc.

[Dean O]

i know what your saying...... hence the "in a manner of speaking". But if you want to look at it in a profit/loss actual kind of a way then no, your right.

the ad. comes to about a third of the total £ for the jobs - and i can always hope that they will contribute to the word of mouth - staying positive.

[Rupe]

Sure, you never know what it might lead too, but remember I'm bitter and twisted when it comes to Yell!! The job you got was probably cos you were cheaper therefore you made less profit on it than you might have done on a recomended job, so you are payign advertising to make less money.

 

I'll stop now.

[Dean O]

nah i got them cause of my charm....

 

where do you spnd your advertising buget rupe? say for example % newspaper % leaflet etc?

[Rupe]

Zero zero zero. I have no advertising budget . I am going to make some effort this year, when the new truck is done it will get sign written much better than the old one and I have new business cards and letterheads that actualy match. Then hopefully I'll feel like I have an image worth promoting, along with the good work that I know I do.

 

I know I've been complacent over the last few years and work has come my way. I'm now intrigued as to what I could achieve if I made more effort. I get work from council recomendation and word of mouth really thats it. All the money I spent on advertising was IMO wasted. It got me a few one off jobs that led no where and didn't pay for the adverts if you use the calculations above. I could have gone for a long walk and got more excercise for less cost.

[Rupe]

I should say that maybe I was lucky. In the 10 years I was employed I got to know a lot of poeple and that has helped me when I started on my own. I'm not saying I stole customers, but the company I last worked for went bust so I contacted as many as I could and it paid off to start with then I picked up more form there.

 

If I was startign from fresh now, or in a new area, I guess I would have to advertise.

[Dean O]

we started up about a year and half ago when i moved to a new area - for the missus so didnt have an local links besides family and a few friends this way.

i always wanted to compete on quality rather than price - my thinking being that theres always someone that can do it cheaper - especially at the moment when everyone out of work seems to picking up a chainsaw and hedge trimmer for a bit of lopping and topping:glare:

so sign writing, good stationary, full compliance with all the legislation etc, even the little things like a good answerphone message and profesional appearance at all time - especially during quotes. like you say having an image to promote is important.

I guess its sometimes luck but i often win quotes on this basis alone - i'm told so by the clients.

there will always be customers who quible on prices and give the old sharp intake in breath when given what most would see as a sensible price.

we're doing well, i know we have taken a lot of work off the competition, but theres more to be had - just got to work out how to get to it:drool:

[Rupe]

Sure, we try and do everything right and look respectabel etc and it all works if you've been recomended, but IMO as soon as someone gets your number form YP they just want the cheapest.

 

We see if I can improve things with just sign writting etc, my work is fine and that has got me this far, just a liitle extra push required but I'm still figuring out how to get it as well.