02-10-2011, 06:06 PM
You know, I have to say that I have never ever ever ever bought anything as a result of email spam. Not to say that in the right environment it would not work, but not sure that plumbing would be one of those. To me house hold service like plumbing is going to have 2 customers. The "repair my sink", customer, and the "I want a new Kitchen, Bathroom etc" customer. Neither of these seem to me to be conducive to an email marketing effort.
One thing I didnt mention is the blue hair market. Allot of the blue hairs out there do not use computers, and if they do, they still reach for the yellow pages. When I ran my business I hated yellow pages because I felt it was like a legal extortion. "You want you name in the book? You have to pay"..... Then another yellow page company would come in town and you were forced to pay them money too.... Not much has changed, but the bottom line, is a catchy add in the yellow page will generate more blue hair business then any newspaper spot.
So add yellow pages.
Sone other note about business, as Im recalling my memories.
- Your business is a start up and small. There is going to be a time where you start getting calls, that start to fill up your time past what you can handle. One of the hardest transitions for a small business owner is the move from worker to business manager. A small 1 or 2 person shop is you rolling up your sleeves and doing the work. The most important thing you can do is to recognize when you should put the tool belt down, and have others do the heavy lifting. If you cant make the transition, its a good chance your business will fail.
- Hire people to do the things your not good at, or don't want to do. For instance, if you hate doing the books, and the payroll, hire a company to do it for you. There are companies out there that will do this for a very responsible price, and they will do it better then you. This will stop you from working nights and weekends catching up on all the paper work that you had to delay because you were out on the job. This isnt just for accounting, but could also be for things like accounts payable, and invoicing. I had a guy fix my roof 2 years ago. I never got a bill. I called him like 6 months later cause I liked the guy and wanted to pay him, and he was out of business. Easy to do when you dont bill
Bottom line, make paper work as easy as possible. Buy software or hire a company to do it for you. You will be surprised how cheap it is.
- Hook up with Lowes, or local hardware stores. My neighbors go to lowes for everthing, and hires them to do the work. They buy a toilet and a faucet and they pay $150 to have it installed. Same for the hotwater heater etc. Lowes sub contracts out. You will not get as much as the direct sale approach but these guys will fill up your lulls and get you to 100% or greater.
- Your truck should be clean all the time and you should have great advertising on it. Seriously keeping it clean should be one of your highest priorities since its a traveling billboard.
- Dont ever ever invite diggles to come to a clients house with you.
One thing I didnt mention is the blue hair market. Allot of the blue hairs out there do not use computers, and if they do, they still reach for the yellow pages. When I ran my business I hated yellow pages because I felt it was like a legal extortion. "You want you name in the book? You have to pay"..... Then another yellow page company would come in town and you were forced to pay them money too.... Not much has changed, but the bottom line, is a catchy add in the yellow page will generate more blue hair business then any newspaper spot.
So add yellow pages.
Sone other note about business, as Im recalling my memories.
- Your business is a start up and small. There is going to be a time where you start getting calls, that start to fill up your time past what you can handle. One of the hardest transitions for a small business owner is the move from worker to business manager. A small 1 or 2 person shop is you rolling up your sleeves and doing the work. The most important thing you can do is to recognize when you should put the tool belt down, and have others do the heavy lifting. If you cant make the transition, its a good chance your business will fail.
- Hire people to do the things your not good at, or don't want to do. For instance, if you hate doing the books, and the payroll, hire a company to do it for you. There are companies out there that will do this for a very responsible price, and they will do it better then you. This will stop you from working nights and weekends catching up on all the paper work that you had to delay because you were out on the job. This isnt just for accounting, but could also be for things like accounts payable, and invoicing. I had a guy fix my roof 2 years ago. I never got a bill. I called him like 6 months later cause I liked the guy and wanted to pay him, and he was out of business. Easy to do when you dont bill
Bottom line, make paper work as easy as possible. Buy software or hire a company to do it for you. You will be surprised how cheap it is. - Hook up with Lowes, or local hardware stores. My neighbors go to lowes for everthing, and hires them to do the work. They buy a toilet and a faucet and they pay $150 to have it installed. Same for the hotwater heater etc. Lowes sub contracts out. You will not get as much as the direct sale approach but these guys will fill up your lulls and get you to 100% or greater.
- Your truck should be clean all the time and you should have great advertising on it. Seriously keeping it clean should be one of your highest priorities since its a traveling billboard.
- Dont ever ever invite diggles to come to a clients house with you.
Maul, the Bashing Shamie
"If you want to change the world, be that change."
--Gandhi
![[Image: maull2.gif]](http://bengtel.com/maull2.gif)
"If you want to change the world, be that change."
--Gandhi