[Grumpy]

I've noticed we write the most estimates in April-May and also in November.

My idea is to totally saturate an area in April.

Phase 1) A call to previous customers. "Mr customer we are having a raffle for all past customers on our preferred list. There is no cost for you to enter and the prize is $500. All we ask is that we can put a sign on your yard for a 1 mont period that says you are one of our satisified customers. At the end of that month we will be having the raffle."
Cost of yard signs $3 each. You do the math.

Phase 2) A direct mail campaign after all the signs are on the lawns. Purchase a list for an area, probably a single suburb. The list should go out after the signs have been up for about a week. We are not advertising the raffle, just your services.

Phase 3) Hire some guys to drop off the door hanger about a week after the mailers have gone out. It will probably take the rest of the raffle period to finish up the area. Again we are not advertising the raffle. We are advertising your services.

As you can see you are completely saturating an entire area for a 1 month period. Your name will be everywhere.

 

[Guest]

at a small percentage

Removed for spam

Bad Bad Spam

 

[Floorwizard]

I heard about a funny kinda raffle.

a guy in a small mountain community is walking a trail near his home, when a cart showed up with a dead horse riding in the back. when the guy inquired the driver about the horse, the driver said he was going to bury it down the road. The man then sayed he wanted to buy the horse for 20 bucks. The driver asked the man why he wanted a dead horse. the man then stated he wanted to make some money with it. The driver asked how? The man replied "with a raffle" what he would do is have a raffle for a horse for 2 bucks a ticket, and the local town has about 100 people so chances are, alot would sign up. But the driver asked, what would happen once the winner found out the horse was dead, and the man replied:








"I would give him his money back "

 

[Glasshousebltr]

oh ....thats a good one flor.
Bob

 

[specwood]

Hey Grumpy,

How did your saturation idea work out?

 

[Cole]

Its Alive, Its Alive!!!!!!!!!


This topic is back from the dead.

 

[ProWallGuy]

Its Alive, Its Alive!!!!!!!!!


This topic is back from the dead.

And I reckon it deserves to be.
Its that time of the year again. I too would be interested if it brought a return like Grumpy expected.

 

[Crawdad]

So, Grumpy, did it work?

 

[Grumpy]

When I posted this was Jan 2004. I was working for someone else at the time, we tried it on a very limited level. I feel that you really need to go BIG for this idea to pay out. If you are not putting out a few hundred signs, don't bother.

We put out less than a hundred signs. We got enough jobs that the effort was paid for. Most of those jobs were from the previous customer however, which was interesting. The previous customer got their roof done for example, now wanted their siding.

Targeting old customers can be done much more cost effectivly than my yard sign idea, and targeting old customers is not the intended audience of the knock out idea. However who can complain about spill over?

Now I am working for myself. I still plan to pull this idea on a BIG scale, but I am not going to until 2007. Why? Honestly my customer base isn't large enough and is too spread out. I need to saturate ONE area for maximum exposure... so I will spend 2006 focusing my efforts on my primary area so in 2007 I have more than enough yards with signs.

 

[Brian]

Grumpy,

We tried this very idea in November as co-op marketing with other contractors. My company had 9 signs out. Four were within half a mile of one another, and so were another 4. The whole thing cost us $100 plus a few hours of time (that's what each of 5 contractors pitched in, the other contractors were in areas of the city we don't service) and we got nearly $10K of work so far. (We gave away 2 $250 gift certificates to a nice restaurant.)

I realize the numbers aren't huge, but the ROI was very good. We didn't promote this much until mid-October, so we weren't expecting much. We will promote it much more this year. We focused our efforts on areas very close to our office, so my total time to put out and pick up the signs was less than 2 hours. We already had the signs.

My point is that it doesn't need to be done on a huge scale to get a good ROI. I think concentration is the key-- get lots of signs in a small area. Then you seem like you are everywhere. We actually had numerous comments to that effect, and believe me, we aren't everywhere.

Anyhow, it's a great idea and it does work.

Brian Phillips

 

[realpurty2]

Bear in mind I'm still testing what works the best, but one suggestion in lieu of the raffle concept would be to offer some simple service for free, as an introduction to new customers, a thank you to previous customers, or an enticement for referrals. It isn't a conditional offer that requires them to purchase anything or offer a refferal in order to receive the service. Just simply an introduction offer to new clients or a thank you to previous ones.

For example, the concept I'm going to TRY this month is to send direct mail that gives the recipient a coupon for two free outlet or switch replacements. (Or maybe one, haven't decided) It cost us the price of the outlet or switch and donation of some time and effort. From a strategic aspect, it seems feasible and more cost effective in comparison to lead services and newspaper ads.


I will post how well it works when the results are conclusive. Figured I'd toss the idea out here in case someone else wanted to try it or tell me how crazy of an idea it would be. :laughing:

 

[Bone Saw]

I've noticed we write the most estimates in April-May and also in November.

My idea is to totally saturate an area in April.

Phase 1) A call to previous customers. "Mr customer we are having a raffle for all past customers on our preferred list. There is no cost for you to enter and the prize is $500. All we ask is that we can put a sign on your yard for a 1 mont period that says you are one of our satisified customers. At the end of that month we will be having the raffle."
Cost of yard signs $3 each. You do the math.

I like this idea, virtually the same model as the vacation Idea, but just seems much more streamlined and equally effective. No discredit whatsoever to mikes Idea, because I think he may be onto something, just seems like a very rescource intensive campaign, I may try this appraoch if and when I ever decide to hire a crew and take off the tool belt.:thumbsup: