NEED GUIDANCE Help On Hardwood Flooring

womanangler

hi my name is Angela, I'm new to this forum.

I hope you all can help me...I currently own a hardwood floor refinishing company I have a few questions....

Two things actually....

Looking for ideas on how to market my company better than I currently am (craigslist, word of mouth)

Also I want to expand my company to actually selling hardwood flooring but not sure where to begin. Who do I begin to go through to purchase it myself to turn around and resell it etc.....

I am in Maryland if that helps at all.

I feel very lost on where to begin all this....

Thank you for any and all help you give

Angie

Angus

Yellow book has worked great for us. We also put ads in local papers, and a few Northern Colorado magazines, and get a fair ammount of leads. Talk to Realtors, go to job sites. Blanket mailers are cheap. But you need to research your area for the best neighborhoods to send them to. Ask your customers for referals. Baltimore Floor Works 1-410-239-1912, is a local distributor in you area. There are probably more. Maybe do a Google search. That is a good place to start. Hope this helps, good luck.

Demonseed

When I was in sales I purchased a list from a marketing company that had all of the new homes purchased in an area, you can get this info for free at the town hall, but for the few bucks it cost I got it all on a few sheets of paper with mailing labels. I basically sent out a form letter (200-300) a month, forgot how I worded it but at the end I added a 5% discount on the final price of the sale, (they didn't need to mention the letter, until the final price was in ink).

It was moderately successful and definately worth pursuing. It was generaly good for 6-8 sales a month. It also a great idea to get involved with Realtors, people selling their homes will try to add value by replacing floors, getting those referrals do add up, of course make sure you have a reliable installer.....( I lost a fortune in potential sales, with a realtor, when I had an install scheduled for 8am and the installer showed up at 5 pm a day late).

Other minor tips, advertise in the local church bulletins, donate materials and labor to non profit groups etc. With Hardwood, it doesn't take alot to make up the few hundred you spend in good will.