HI EVORED AND PINKY

by **0161 locksmiths** » 13 Oct 2005 9:53

IVE JUST JOINED THIS FORUM TODAY AFTER READING MANY POSTS OVER THE LAST FEW MONTHS I STARTED LOCKSMITHING 18 MONTHS AGO BY GOING ON THE BLA TRAINING COURSE IN LONDON WHERE I FIRST MET SHAUN THE COURSE WAS EXPENSIVE LASTING FOUR DAYS AND TO BE HONEST WALKED AWAY FROM IT ONLY GAINING VERY BASIC SKILLS REGARDING LOCKSMITHING IN MARCH THIS YEAR I ATTENDED A ONE DAY COURSE WITH MARTIN PINK LEARNING NON DESTRUCTIVE METHODS WHICH WAS NEVER MENTIONED ON THE BLA COURSE THE DAY I SPENT WITH MARTIN WAS FANTASTIC AND WALKED AWAY FROM THERE ALOT MORE CONFIDENT AND ALOT MORE OF AN UNDERSTANDING OF THIS TRADE THE ONLY PROBLEM I HAVE IS GETTING THE WORK NEEDED TO MAKE A GOOD LIVING FROM THIS AT THE MINUTE I RUN A CAR MULTIMEDIA FIRM(ONE MAN BAND)WHICH HAS BEEN RUNNING FOR 17 YEARS SO TO BE HONEST ITS DIFFICULT TO COMMIT FULL TIME TO THIS NEW TRADE BUT I HAVE SPENT ALOT OF MONEY ON ADVERTISING IN THE YELLOW PAGES AND THOMSON LOCAL BUT DUE TO ALL THESE MAINTENANCE COMPANYS OUT THERE USING ............IN FRONT OF THEIR NAMES SEEM TO BE GETTING ALWAYS RIGHT AT THE FRONT OF THESE DIRECTORIES LEAVING COMPANYS LIKE ME 5 OR 6 PAGES BACK FROM THE FRONT CAN YOU ADVISE ME ON OTHER WAYS IN YOUR EXPERIENCE TO ME GETTING MORE WORK KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK PINKY. GARY

by **EvoRed** » 13 Oct 2005 11:25

Alright Gordon! The BLA - they couldn't get your name right and your membership card had expired even before they presented you with it! I got something through the door from them a couple of days ago, why I don't know, I cancelled my membership many moons ago and I'm not interested in anything they've got to say.

"What would you do if called out to a lockout with one of those?" Reply - "Ah, just put a f*****g 10mm hole through it"!

Anyway, digressing, there's little you can do to compete with the nationals in the directories mate. About the only thing you can do is pay for multiple advertising yourself or put all the stupid dots and symbols in front of your name to get a bit closer to the front but you still won't get ahead of Reactfast and the like. Ad's in a local rag or two is an idea I'm strongly considering at the moment. There are many idea's floating about on here.

Personally, if warrant work ended tomorrow I'd be pretty stuffed and have to go out there and try to find something else to replace it with. You'd be a very lucky man to make a living from private call outs alone.

by **0161 locksmiths** » 13 Oct 2005 12:59

IM GLAD YOUR STILL DOING YOUR WARRANT WORK YOUVE INVESTED ALOT OF TIME AND MONEY AND NOW IM SURE ITS PAYING OFF.I GOT A CALL OF THE BLA A COUPLE OF MONTHS AGO EVEN THOUGH I LEFT THEM LAST YEAR SAYING THEY HAD A LOCAL JOB FOR ME TO DO IT WAS DOWN NEAR TWEKSBURY 120 MILES AWAY THOSE F..KIN IDIOTS.KEEP IN TOUCH MATE NICE TO HEAR FROM YOU

by **toomush2drink** » 13 Oct 2005 13:12

welcome to the forum 0161 and is there any way you could turn off the caps lock ? It makes your posts hard to read and also in the forum world its classed as shouting.

cheers

by **pinky** » 13 Oct 2005 13:23

HI GARY

TURN OF THE FULL CAPS !!!

much easier to read and less likely to cause offence if written in lower case mate.

enjoy forum

by **0161 locksmiths** » 13 Oct 2005 13:25

thanks for the welcome.sorry about capital letters

by **acl** » 13 Oct 2005 14:01

Welcome Gary.
Just a side note on the tossers at YP,had the rep call me today and apparantly they are doing away with the ......s this year .We will see. Anyway she seems like a bit of an arguementative woman.Im actually looking forward to meeting her!
Andy

by **0161 locksmiths** » 13 Oct 2005 14:15

hi andy ive been told the same story for the last couple of years im thinking of doing the same as them next yearif it carrys on advertising in the yp is very expensive in the locksmith section im 5 pages back and to be honest its only just paying for itsself

by **pinky** » 13 Oct 2005 15:52

i had national accounts manager come to me as my rep off sick, so i took his advice and deal and matched reactfast with ads, and he worked out my .....0000 etc and got me placings on page 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 but not page 1.
i spent Â£4500, but must say its working to date since it came out in september and producing 2 to 3 jobs a day from YP alone, 118247 hasnt improved with 2 to 3 jobs a week only from their, i dont agree with multiple ads, but in doing so this year if i just take 2 jobs a day from RF, it was worth doing, but most of the work comming in at mo is auto.

though this year we have the ex keyedge guy from birmingham with little experience now offering training and selling his own fast access franchises, he has to big ads in my book, and a1 rapid response with 4 ads this year, 2 new call centres offering measly rates and overpriced jobs, the only way to beat these guys is unfortuneatly by lining YP pockets and matching them, sad but fact.

by **Don Braidwood** » 13 Oct 2005 16:33

Well I was luck this year my locksmith advert is the first in the page even before reacfast, but maybe the yellow pages guys thought the position of reactfasts was better than mine although not first , dont know.

I agree with Martin to beat reactfast you have to join them and increase the adverts I did last year with the locksmith ads have had a great year.

there are reasons other than size that people ring a certain ad though and the ad must be set out right and worded right, any tips on this please pm me.

Don

by **Don Braidwood** » 13 Oct 2005 16:34

sorry should have worded that better, if you want any tips on advertising pm me, my grammar is so bad.

Don

by **pinky** » 13 Oct 2005 16:45

i was lucky, the wording was worked by the national accounts manager, all ads are different styles and sizes and appeal to different types of customer, so far its worked out well.

by **0161 locksmiths** » 14 Oct 2005 11:24

thanks for the advice pinky the yellow pages for south manchester wont be out till next august i think i will try multiple adverts and match the ....... like these maintenance companys do after all business is business i did some adverts with bt but didnt get much work but you have to try

by **Don Braidwood** » 14 Oct 2005 12:38

This multiple ads thing is going to get out of hand, I must admit that I have done it this year but if we all continue to do it it will be mad would I consider three adverts next year ? yes I would but where do we stop, if the nationals do even more ads and we match them it will cost us a fourtune, the only winners for me are the yellow pages. A better structure is needed.

Don

by **pinky** » 14 Oct 2005 13:34

i agree Don, but until YP do the right and honest thing for all, you either languish with a single ad at the back or you match them.

But another scenario is if all lockies matched nationals, the nationals would realise a large shortfall in work, and probably fail to meet their costs, they tread a fine line with their huge ad campaigns, and for them to not get the lions share of work to make it pay, well its simple economics.

HI EVORED AND PINKY

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