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hello all, i Live in Albuquerque, NM..since the phone books are out and i am not in them….i need some help on how to market my business…any ideas how to make contact with property owners/property managment firms?
Driving around is one way,however, i do feel someone must know how to help me.
Thank you
Don
P.S. I do have a website…no good if noone goes there..lolHi Don,
Try Google Earth.
http://earth.google.com/intl/en/
It’s like having your own helicopter!
Fly over your area and scan for the types of jobs that suit you best, then go evaluate them in person.
Look up the building managers or owners and give them a call to set an appointment, or mail them a proposal. One handshake can start the ball rolling.
Try putting an ad on Craig’s List. I checked Albuquerque Craig’s List in “services”, for Parking Lot Striping and found no listings. You may have it all to yourself for a while.
The best way to make money fast is to find a “gatekeeper” or two. Sealcoaters, pavers and sweepers can keep you very busy. Check the yellow pages, make a few calls and ask if they have any striping jobs for you. I have found that they often don’t have time for the smaller jobs and are glad to sub them to a smaller company (I am a one-man show). This technique can also get you introductions to plenty of property managers, owners etc. One thing leads to five others…
Beware though, you will be working on their schedule not yours.
Tip, Vista Print online is the place for business cards. They are cheap, fast and in color. Check their “Free” cards. They look great and only cost about $5 bucks for shipping.
Most importantly, choose jobs that let you put paint on the ground with minimum hassle. For instance, churches are empty during the week, minimal traffic control, just close it and paint. Also office buildings in the evenings after hours are usually fairly quiet.
As compared to apartment complexes and shopping centers. Always plenty of cars in the way, lots of traffic control & watching your back. Angry customers, tenants and business owners. Lazy or busy managers that won’t or can’t help. You get the idea.
You can charge more for the hectic jobs, but it’s just not as fun or as easy.
So, best of luck to you. Now go paint something.
Charlie / Freedom Striping Company
Denver Colorado
One Of the Greatest things about line striping is you DONT have to wait for customers to come you…do you have your prices set? parking lots are Everywhere…just go and quote! its just a matter of getting the quote to the right person if they take it…Great if not..great, they now know you exist and you will be an option the next time they do want it done and they will want it done eventually!
next write up a business letter, this will have your picture and contact information on it as well as an introduction to your business and description why you are a better choice than the other companies after that FAX it to EVERY property management company every Realtor every condo building, paving crew, warehouse building and heck even the municipalities parks department! Your name is now OUT THERE but then the question is how many people actually read faxes…and the answer is….few…so follow up (Thats very important)!
Lawn signs…are…a thought, i use the website signsonthecheap.com and i got 100 for 100$ +delivery.
Networking is PARAMOUNT become a face of your industry. shake hands with people who may need your service and become an expert at what you do so they will come to you when they have a question!
You know what having an ad in the phone book costs? for me its about 1k Per MONTH and nowadays most people will google you before cracking a book to look you up so i say dont waste your money till you have the money to waste.
INVEST in a website, make it easy to read and understand aswell as offer FREE information and tips making you look like an EXPERT which is important in an industry full of micky mouse outfits. look into SEO optimization chalk full of keywords that your customers will be searching.
Theyre are MANY more things you can do to for marketing and i will possibly post them later but the most important thing above else is just GO AND DO IT! Be the person that goes out to find the work and not just sit around waiting for the work to come to you, Do this and you will NEVER have a slow day! what a thought eh!?
Hey dnicholson!
Some great tips. You are absolutely right to use a combination of approaches and invest heavily on having a large presence on the web. Couldn’t agree more. My marketing company works with contractors to help them do exactly what you are doing. Check us out sometime and thanks for your insights. http://www.wtalkie.com
By the way… what’s your company and web address?
In my last rant I covered writing a business letter, Now lets take it to another level.
Now that you have searched for every company’s fax number and sent off piles and piles of letters that may or may not have been read its time for a follow up VERY IMPORTANT. Even though you have finished making first contact, parking lot maintenance is not necessarily a 1st priority for companies so sometimes you have to be persistent (Not in an annoying way though!).You can:
-(property mgmt) Call the main office and ask for the person in charge of builiding/parking lot maintenance
– (paving) Hand out business cards to paving crews
-(Warehouses) Make a flier outlining your services Emphasize the SAFETY/ORGANIZATIONAL aspects of having freshly painted linesFLIERS make yourself a flier that includes your pitch and some information/stats on line painting
here are a few thing that i found during a quick google search that you can use as inspiration: (apologies in advance if i have listed something from your website)–
Quote:Professional Line Striping assists your visitors in the safe use of your parking lot.
It directs traffic to the proper route of entrance and exit, allowable areas to park,
loading zones, crosswalks, and defines drive aisles that are wide enough to avoid accidents with cars and pedestrians.–
Quote:Regular painting and sweeping is one of the most important components of a successful business. Studies have clearly illustrated that cleanliness ranks as a top attribute in determining where people shop. So if the parking lot area is not cleaned and not very well maintained
shoppers are deterred and may shop elsewhere.–
Quote:Upgrade Property Appearance – Customers appreciate a well designed and well marked parking system. The parking lot is the first thing that customers or visitors see.
A freshly painted parking lot can lend an attractive impression to the overall image of your property.
Properly designed parking spaces also maximize the number of cars you can safely accommodate.Quick tip for EASY Leads. for FREE too!
While searching for Postal drops for specific businesses i came across this website
(http://www.infocanada.ca) **Dont let the *canada.ca* throw you off it also includes USA info**On this website you can get a list of buisness Names address phone number and owners name(this is a BIGGY) also some additional ifo you may be interested in such as company size gross annual income and employees (if you want to focus your efforts getting in with BIG companies)
Not only that but you customize it. build your list according to type of industry!
Keywords I used: Hotel, Warehouse, Property management, paving and commercial and select all sub categoriesNow your probably Stoked that theyre offering all this information…untill you see the “checkout button” yes they do charge for this service and before you say “but i thought you said free…” you can get a list of upto 100 companies for free! it took me 15 minutes to build a list that would have taken me 5 HOURS searching in google and writing the info myself…
NEXT, Use your Flashy new Advertisement and send a personal letter to the Owner of a company use an incentive aswell such as 10% off or ill fix a pothole for free if your job is worth more than…
And Lastly if your on Dan’s american striping mailing list then you may have just got his recent and occasional email that points out an upcomming Expo/convention *Hint hint* Go shake some hands! and get some info.
Good luck Everyone. im off to go mail some letters now 🙂
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