advertising

[cass]

Has anyone had any joy,when advertising your services to estate agents,maintenance companies,facility managers etc?what was the response you got

[toomush2drink]

When i started up i went around so many estate agents but only had 1 call for an opening which they cancelled.My friend has bought a lot of properties over the past few years and pointed out estate agents wont do anything to help you unless there is money in it for them.Unless your giving them hardcash all they do is give it all the flash talk and little else. To date i have found this to be totally true.
I personally think its where you live etc and who your competition is that are the major factors to what advertising works.ie if you live in a smaller rural town the people there my shy away from a larger advert prefering a local person over a bigger sounding company. Getting it right is the hard part which why i think the nationals have a multitude of adverts, large and small so they attract a wider market. Its funny but ive had work from an internet advert recently which i only took out because it was so cheap at £50 for the year.Its already provided 3 jobs so paid for itself already much to my surprise and for the little it costs definately one to renew. Down here in london i think its a case of yellow pages or bust as the main advertising and it looks like freephone numbers are the way too from my research.

[cass]

Cheers for that,ive got myself a freephone number,but the phone rings daily,yes daily with sales companies upon sales calling me.
Its getting frustrating sometimes,as soon as they start by asking if they can speak to the owner or director or by any other name it normally then cut's into a speach,i stop them dead in there tracks,tell them unless its for a job to go on,naff off.phone goes dead everytime.
Dont forget everycall you pick up the clock is ticking and so is your bill,but if it's a genuine call then go through the process of course.
Thompson local,there web site can offer a free advert for 1st businesses,and yell.com,ad-trader,friday-ad.
These are all cheap if not FREE,it's just how you go about handling the call if you want to advertise.
Before i became hooked on this career as i call it,i was in sales for over 15 years,so to turn the other way and exploit the companies tactics in what they try and offer everyone,it's easy.
Dont try and place an advert as soon as you want to set up,why? cause then ALL the companies who see your 1st advert will pound on you like wovles,doesnt make any difference where your 1st advert is,thats the easy part to find,its getting the companies to drop there price SO LOW that after your 1st initial inquiry,then youve had the information,then you start to get the follow-up calls,let them see when they start leaving messages that it is urgent for you to call there office before print!!.
then contact the distributers or somone else within the company to ask when the last day is for copies for adverts.you will be given 99 times out of 100 a different date than what the rep has said,due to commision rates at the begging of the month and towards the end of the month,there is BIG diferences and the levels of commision at the begining,i know ive been on the other side and sold this for years.
Just thought id let 101 know this as advertising is also a lot of our bread & butter,without it well it would all look WHITE,word of mouth is extremly good but we all have to advertise somewhere.

[toomush2drink]

Thats a fantastic post cass i like inside information. I have just negotiated a new advert down from over £1000 plus vat to £700 inc vat plus i get 4 months to pay it off and all from saying "no its too dear". How are your bills working outiwith the freephone number as im worried about escalating costs on it because of stupid sales calls like the one who tried to get me to take a watercooler for a month, i asked if they could fit it in my van and they hung up, idiots.
Word of mouth is the best long term but at the rocky beginning its a long way off.

[cass]

My bill each month is between £5--8,it hasnt got any higher than that since ive had my number,and thats been 5 months now.
As i said before when you get the call as soon as you know its not a bonifide cutomer hang up or if you want to take the call ask them to call you on your mobile,not your HOME number,that's even worse.
When people used to give me there home number,i would even call them from my home when i got back from work,it was ALL down to targets the reps want to get to each month,i didnt care if i was calling people at 8.45 pm or 7.30 am before they went out to there job or took the kids to school,i knew i would catch them in sometime or other.
The best ones to do deals with are the ones who, how shall i put it are'persistant',if you keep getting the same person ,remember there names and like i said KEEP them waiting,these are the one's who will normally get you the best discount,cause these are the guys/girl's who are there best,so there the ones who can get the discount,if not then tread carefully.
Dont get bitten on your 1st hurdle,or your finances can go up the chimney.look at the prices and especially the finance terms companies offer,ask for written details also,that get's salespeolple turned on as they will allways have to think then that theve got a definate'hot to trot' customer,even though you have only asked for something done in writting.
With the internet as well---well that's just another can of worms just waiting to explode.

[Adam]

hi chaps,

i've also set up a new mobile locksmith company with another and can 100% relate to what you're saying!

we have a business line diverted to my mobile so every time i get a timewaster ringing the business line i know its costing me and just get them off the phone.

we have been going for 6 months now and its slightly picking up. still very difficult as we're splitting any wage we get while trying to invest more into the business.

and of course the amount of people that want something for nothing is just amazing!!! we had someone phone and wanted a fresh fit mortice lock for £30.00! yeah right!

[pinky]

cass , an excellent informative and helpfull post, thanks.
any advice on bagging a good ad deal and any tricks and tactics would be most welcome by all.

[cass]

I can certainly do that.
That's what i find fun,is winding up these poor sales executives to the point of them pulling the plug on me AND then hit them for a sale,just listening to them cream there ####,only because of the PRICE.
ALL sales people whether salaried+comm or just comm have targets so there is ALLWAYS times in the month or what most sales look at is the quarter,if figures are poor they dont budge,but if figures are good well the discount window is now open.
The worst one's are Yp(i should know)

[EvoRed]

For anyone who may be subscribing to these, how are people finding such things as YP's 118 247 or Scoot's Vodafone 333? Are you finding it worthwhile or, like my Yell enhanced listing (included as part of a training course I hasten to add), pretty much a waste of time?

[cass]

Hi,
With 118 247,it's a top of the list showing,the more call's on 1 company taken through the call's moves up the list,same goes for the YELL.COM site.
If you have just a basic listing on the web,when you 1st check it out you might see yourself on the top of the page,but if you look a week later you might of moved down your local locksmith list in your area as you havnt taken any call's from the web site,but other's have.
The web site itself get's more than 140,000 hit's a day,and the cost for additional areas are normally £125+vat.having an enhanced listing alone will set you back £149+vat,and dont forget it takes about 2/3 weeks to set up.

[EvoRed]

Cheers Cass. Surely when someone rings 118 247, YP then gives them a number to ring, yes, or puts them through to a locksmith? If so, then do they give out, or put you through to, the top number? If so, the top number would end up getting 100% of the jobs so this can't be right!

If the numbers given out, or put through to, are randomly picked throughout the list then the list is of no use having is it?!

With the Yell.com listings I thought the list was constantly random. If you get the locksmith list up, you will have the top listing, second, and so on. If you refresh five times then you will get five different orders of listing. Maybe I've misunderstood!

[toomush2drink]

118 24-7 did work for a bit but now its swamped with locksmiths with multiple ads and considering i paid for 2 areas i dont think 3 calls since july is very good. Ive tried changing the keywords and all the other blurb the sales people put to you but it still doesnt alter the fact its not worth renewing.If it wasnt for the fact its on a 50% discount i would probably lose money on it.
Just placed an ad in my local paper which should scare the people who have been targeting me with adverts everywhere i advertise, gone down the non destructive entry or free lock route so that should get them sorted. Either they try it or leave me alone in future .

[captainsawdust]

118 / 24 / 7 is a total waste of money and you pay 100% more to be in the Locksmith Bit and its all done a rota list so if your number 97 in the list hard luck you may have to wait a few weeks / months / years

[cass]

Although the system operates like that,when your in you area ie; type in your town,your name wont automaticlly be 1st ,why should it!as you said it works randomly but even if you refresh the page that doesnt mean 1000 more other people havnt done that as well,so of course your going to be somewhere up the top unless theres so many lockies in one area then it's normaly alpahbet listed instead or by how the advertiser has paid for the ad,what features etc theve got on screen.
I worked for yp years ago for years up until just passed the web stage,24/7 service,load's of people got made redundant,less hand 's on now,more automated,less workers

[toomush2drink]

Never understood why locksmiths have to pay more ,You have more competition so lets charge you more, makes sense doesnt it ?