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I'd suggest door hangers to do that sort of marketing.
Your cards may drift away in the wind or end up in the trash.

We use a company that prints and ships 3000doorhangers for $179.
 
I personally don't want anyone try to sell me something that I don't want to buy. It is not a question of whether I need it or not. Almost like a telemarketer. I do see homes around my jobs that could use some type of work, so I just ask the HO and stab a yard sign in their yard. If you do them a nice job, neighbor can see it, and the neighbor WANTS something done, they WILL call you.

Just because you are working in the area and you doorhanger 'em, doesn't always mean that they know where you are working. They may not even connect you to the reno. down the street.

I know that some guys set most of their work through door hangers and the like but it is almost like telemarketing to me.
 
Yeah,

Personally I would do more than Biz cards.
Maybe some letters with a biz card attached to a nice neighborhood and then follow up with a postcard
Even designing a nice little brochure and printing this up might work too.

Cheap but effective advertising when new or needing business fast
Calls come fast and continue even after years (my personal experience)
 
or catch them on Saturday when they are working in the yard, give them the card after they get a chance to know who you are, chances are they will remember you better and call when they get around to wanting the work done.
 
Wow...

I saw a guy who had a sticker on his truck pointing to an area where he stuck Magnetic Business Cards. The sticker said Please Take One.
Wow... What a great idea! It's so simple yet would probably work quite well. I think I am going to try that actually. Thanks for this!

Carl
 
:clap:
I saw a guy who had a sticker on his truck pointing to an area where he stuck Magnetic Business Cards. The sticker said Please Take One.
That is weird to have magnetics attached on the truck,:eek:,
I wonder if people will be mean and destroy the marketing machine:whistling

:clap:Make it a great day!:clap:
 
:thumbsup:
I personally don't want anyone try to sell me something that I don't want to buy. It is not a question of whether I need it or not. Almost like a telemarketer. I do see homes around my jobs that could use some type of work, so I just ask the HO and stab a yard sign in their yard. If you do them a nice job, neighbor can see it, and the neighbor WANTS something done, they WILL call you.

Just because you are working in the area and you doorhanger 'em, doesn't always mean that they know where you are working. They may not even connect you to the reno. down the street.

I know that some guys set most of their work through door hangers and the like but it is almost like telemarketing to me.

not to step on your toes calvin but telemarketers get a bad wrap. there are reasons for telemarketers. because they get the sale and close deals. But I aslo would recomend getting the door hanger. it looks much more professional. the more professional you are the more the customer feels at ease. but i wouldnt stop there, as im sure you are already doing make sure there is some follow up involved with the door hanger. Im not claiming to be and expert; and as for selling im new to selling squares of roofing but as ive learned, its called sales for a reason. identify a need and present the solution the right way and youve got a deal. even if the need is only percieved to be there as long as the customer feels there is a need and solution than why not capitalize on it. go get em :thumbsup:
 
A nice little trick for picking up small jobs is as follows: when you're working in an area that looks promising, write a brief letter on headed notepaper, saying youre on their street completing some work for one of their neighbours. Say you will be on the street the next couple of days, feel free to call you or see you in person. Offer a selection of services and products. At the top, write FAO: homeowners, church street (or whatever). Staple a business card to it, and write "church street" on the envelope. Drop one in every letterbox the day before you start there.

People seem to respond well, and although you get lots of pointless chat about a door handle thats stiff or a dog flap or whatever, I usually manage to get a couple of smaller bits and pieces that are worth my while to do while i'm in the area.

Only costs a few pennies, takes 30 minutes to do once you have a template, and often returns a day or two if you've time to fill.

You'll probably never land a complete top to bottom refurb out of it, but when times are lean, a couple of doors here and a repair there can make a difference.
 
A nice little trick for picking up small jobs is as follows: when you're working in an area that looks promising, write a brief letter on headed notepaper, saying youre on their street completing some work for one of their neighbours. Say you will be on the street the next couple of days, feel free to call you or see you in person. Offer a selection of services and products. At the top, write FAO: homeowners, church street (or whatever). Staple a business card to it, and write "church street" on the envelope. Drop one in every letterbox the day before you start there.

People seem to respond well, and although you get lots of pointless chat about a door handle thats stiff or a dog flap or whatever, I usually manage to get a couple of smaller bits and pieces that are worth my while to do while i'm in the area.

Only costs a few pennies, takes 30 minutes to do once you have a template, and often returns a day or two if you've time to fill.

You'll probably never land a complete top to bottom refurb out of it, but when times are lean, a couple of doors here and a repair there can make a difference.

I don't know about England, but in the U.S. it is against the postal laws to put things in mail boxes unless you are a postal employee. Be careful with this one.
 
I don't know about England, but in the U.S. it is against the postal laws to put things in mail boxes unless you are a postal employee. Be careful with this one.
Wow I never knew that. Yeah you can stick anything through anyones letterbox here. Thanks for letting me know.

Ignore me, everyone, that turned out to be a bit of crappy advice.
 
Im from Australia and that postal thing blows me away. Now Im figuring out why you guys all use door hangers and the postal service for pamphlets. Here they have leaflet droppers that pump heaps of this stuff into your letterbox which is partly why I don't want to use them; my pamphlet will be in a pile of 5 or more that will get chucked in the bin as a job lot. But I'm still wondering, do you have to walk into every front yard to deliver door hangers or do you hang em on the fence or something? Plus you guys are allowed to shoot each other for trespassing aren't you? what about dogs? I dont think I"ve ever seen one of these over here except in a hotel to tell em not to knock. Thats what you're talking about isn't it, with a little hook? If I used them, I'd probably be the only one. People would still recognise it as junkmail but it would be out of the ordinary junk mail.
 
I do the door to door business cards but I do not put them in the mail slot I usually slip them into between the door and weather strip. that way when they open the door it will fall at their feet. I sometime gets immeditate response and sometimes months later I get responses

IN an hour I will hit 300 houses unless there are lots of stairs/hills.

I usually get one to two calls per outting. My last card drop off I picked up a single job for $7000 worth of fixups and I am now they guys on call handyman. The best part of this custmer is no fuss quoting very agreable did not nick picking every amount.
 
I did the doorhanger thing after I read the thread on here before about it. I spend 86 bucks, I did one roof skirt replacement 1850 bucks(this customer also wants her shop done and resided along with sheetrocked, taped and painted), one complete roof 3200 bucks, and I gave estimates on like 5 more who knows if I will get any from that. So I would say it works. I also made ones on nicer paper and gave them to all the property management companies, and bid on a 25k job, we will see if that comes thru. So I would say they work alrite. I passed them out on a saturday for about 3 hours.
 
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