You know in life and in business, we are always looking for that one magic thing that will do it all for us. The problem is, life and business are almost never that simple. Usually it takes many complicated things to be successful. That is especially true when we are trying to attract more business. I just had a salesman talk to me about doing a radio spot. Now, if I just listened to him, you would think that if I do that radio spot, then I will have all of the business I can handle. Now I've been around a little too long to believe that radio ads will provide all of the business I need. I am however seriously considering running a radio ad. I do know that there is no good or bad media, it just has to be appropriate for the audience and the message you are trying to reach them with.
In order to build a good business with lot's of stability, you cannot depend on just one thing. It is also not wise to depend on one of anything to provide the business you need. A few years back, I talked to a guy who built a million dollar business, but he provided one company. That worked well until that company went out of business. Then he suddenly had no business. That same thing can happen to your business if you heavily rely on one entity or one form of marketing to supply all of your business. Many contractors sub from Home Depot or Lowes or other large companies. There is nothing wrong with this. It can be a profitable business partnership. However, if you get too large of a percentage of your business from them and something happens to jeopardize that relationship, you could be really hurting.
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This is also true of depending on just one type of advertising. For example, there were many companies that were built on telemarketing. I know there were some replacement window companies that did that. When the no-call list came out, this all but shut down cold calling. That is why as a business person, you need to have many lines in the water all of the time. You can't expect to build a strong business on one ad. In my business, I've found that a monthly newsletter provides a great deal of my business and is one of the best forms of marketing I can do. However, I do many other things to attract new business also.
For instance, I've found that a small classified ad produces results.It doesn't cost a lot (maybe 0 a month) but it produces some business. I certainly couldn't build a business on it but it does pay for itself. I think sometimes contractors expect too much from their advertising. They expect an ad to produce a windfall of profits and that is seldom the case. Instead, we need to look at advertising as an investment. If it produces more than it costs, than we should keep doing it.
I also get some results from my yellow pages ad. Again, it doesn't produce a lot, but I do get calls from it. The same is true of my signs. They cost a little to get made up, but then they continue to get me a few calls. None of the things I've mentioned here will provide enough work to keep my guys busy. However everything put together works to build my business. The other advantage of doing lots of different things to attract business is that they begin to help support and reinforce each other. For instance if someone sees a couple of your signs, they see your ad every week and then when they need a contractor, they go to the yellow pages and see your ad, they are more likely to call you. This doesn't mean that you should put out the money just to get name recognition, but it is a nice added benefit.
With this recession, I believe it is more important than ever to do more to attract business. However, I think that it is just as important if not more so to be careful with where and how much money we spend. With this recession, advertisers are hungrier too. They will do whatever it takes to get you to give them your money. You have to be very careful not to give in to what they tell you, or it would be very easy to go broke spending way too much on advertising that doesn't pay. You see what they want is to show you an add that sounds good to you and them, whether or not it actually brings in business for you. When it comes to advertising, it is very important for you to be actively involved in your advertising and to learn how to do it properly. It has been my experience that when I rely on the salesperson to tell me how or where to advertise, it seldom pays off.
Contractors Who Need More Business - Use Multiple Ways to Attract Business
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