Could Anyone Help Us, We Just Started An Electrical Business

awschk

Hi people, this is Wendy, from NJ. My husband just started an electrical business (still working for his boss as an electrician but will stop working in 4-6 months) We need you kindness and help on how to get more customers, see my husband works by the code and is a very hard worker its just hard to find out how to advertise or do marketing? Could anyone be so kind to help us with any good marketing information that worked for you?
Thanks and God Bless
Wendy, First Choice Electrical Contractors, Inc

go dart

#1 DO A GOOD JOB AND YOUR CUSTOMERS WILL TELL 2 OR 3 OTHERS, DO A POOR JOB AND THEY WILL TELL 10
#2 set a few appts with local remodelers and offer them your services. that will open lots of doors. make sure your insurance is up to date

good luck

blackrd

Well I would suggest staying away from internet lead services except maybe servicemagic, and limit your contact with that. You can get work but alot of price shoppers also. Placing ads in local newspapers work but is expensive compared to the ROI. Check to see when ypur local yellow pages deadline is for ads. Get a yp ad designed by an outside firm,dont use yp staff. Im using Hudsonink for my ad, somewhat more reasonable $.
Youve chosen a good name for your buisness vs H&H electric, B&B electric, etc, though the moderator here may disagree. Hire a graphic artist to design an appealing logo for your buisness, something that will catch the eye and give recognition and recall, setting yourself apart from people with no creativity. My design cost $100, hardly extravagant. No one cares about your initials, trust me.
Try to saturate your market, leave buisness cards everywhere, post small signs (professionally made) at busy intersections. Basically get your name in front of everybody. One place Ive gotten alot of referalls from is a blueprint copying company. Alot of builders stop in this place. Also ask at Electrical knowledge repository, Electrical contractor network & Mike Holt, you may actually get some help instead of opinions that are contrary to good buisness practice.

Speedy Petey

What the others said.

I just have personal opinions that differ from Black's.
I would get a small yellow page ad at first, maybe something a bit more than just a line. You can do the ad yourself, but hiring this out might be more money than is worth it.
I am not a real proponent of the Y-Pages. In fact I would say they suck. The amount of work you might get from them might never outweigh the cost of the ad. Also, you get a LOT of tire kickers, price shoppers, and general P-I-A customers. Many times I hear of a person calling every number in the section and simply waiting to see who calls back. If more than a few call back they say, "Sorry, I don't need you any more". Do we wonder why some contractors don't call people back?
While we are on that, CALL PEOPLE BACK! Or better yet, answer you phone in the first place. Even if it is to just say you are sorry but can't do the job right now. This is #1 on the list of complaints I have heard from customers.

Also, I must say, I think hiring a graphic designer to build a logo is a bit extravagent. If you are adequate with a computer you can do your own logo quite easily. It is more creativity than expertise.

And lastly, I happen like names like G&G or N&S, Jones Electric, etc. Yours is OK but I just am not find of catchy or quirky names. I think a person's name says they are willing to put their name on their work, on their truck...on the line.

Please, no one take offense to my opinions, that's all they are. Do with this information what you wish. If you agree go with it, if not forget it.


Business cards and word of mouth are very powerful things in many parts of the country. There are a lot of folks unhappy with much of what is available in contractors these days. Do a few jobs, get a good rep and folks will flock to you.

__________________

Tom R

Whereabouts in Jersey??

__________________
http://www.tr-built.com

mdshunk

Yeah, Tom needs a good sparky. He sheetrocked over the last two. For some reason, they don't return his calls anymore. No way to recharge their cell phones while entombed in the wall.

Tom R

I was wonderin' what those bulges were, - - I thought I musta' just crowned a few studs wrong, - - oh, well, - - a good skim coat took care of it, anyway!!

__________________
http://www.tr-built.com

mdshunk

Wow, Wendy, you sure are nice. It's a breath of fresh air. I wish I had some magic formula to hand over. Just keep offering good work and it will come to you.

I'm wondering if you've decided on whether you'd like to do new construction, or still with service work and remodeling? The way I've seen it, new construction is cut-throat stuff to bid. Every once in a while you'll get new construction work that isn't by bid, and that's a good thing. Service work and remodeling work (subbing to remodelers) is where the money's at, in my opinion for a small operation. It takes a lot of trucks on the road to make good money doing new construction. Don't even think about new commercial work unless you have a zillion spare dollars and can scrape up 10 or 20 qualified electricians to work for you. Otherwise, that ain't happening. Commercial service work is good, because that normally only takes one or two people. Remember, anything that's connected to the end of a wire is because an electrician put that wire there. Anyone who has wires is your potential customer.

tzzzz216

WTG on your new venture, Good Luck!! I just started out with a small ad in the local paper 1 1/2 x 1 1/2 I only paid $1.30 a day for the ad and im running it for three months, the ad was in the paper only 2 days and i got three service calls from that,and guess what the first service call paid for the ad. I also put an ad in the local realtors magazine the same day same price as the paper.
it runs for three months. I figure with this ad i might be able to pick up on some remodels and service work for sellers or buyers, plus i went to 6 different realtors offices and past out business cards.



Try to send these jobs over seas !!