I'm just about at ground zero, Need help with getting things rolling

[john1]

Hey guys, I have a young lady who used to sell insurance that's going to be cold calling to set up appointments for me starting tomorrow. She is a close friend of mine and i told her i would pay her on a per job basis. She was totally fine with that and since she is a close friend, i feel more comfortable.

I tried calling a few places today and i honestly have NEVER been a person to call someone out of the blue or even talk to a random person so i believe a female who has done cold calling before is more persuasive than me stumbling over my words.

I am going to target a specific industry tomorrow and see how it goes. I have a typed out "script" if you will for her to say if there is no owner present and what to say if they are present etc so shes not totally dumbfounded about my business. I know what the local area is getting for some basic jobs such as banners, truck lettering, business cards etc so i have a briefing of cards start at $XXX for 1,000, truck lettering starts at $xxx for a set of doors etc. If they need further information they can set up an appointment with me.

Her job is pretty much to see if they are interested, give them a briefing on what i offer and set up a appointment for me to call them to further discuss what they need.

If they don't need anything i have her offering us to send them our business card for them to keep on file.


One question, how does the guys here have their wives do the cold calling tell them to handle customer questions if they aren't as savvy in the sign business as the husbands? Am i going about this right with having her set up an appointment for any other questions?


Thanks to everyone for the help, I really am excited that this may turn my business around.

 

[iSign]

Tomence... for 52 weeks a year, you are sitting there telling us you make $1000 PROFIT every week... $52K PROFIT... cleared in a year... JUST from your wife's phone calling... (and from making the signs of course)

Anyway, AFTER expenses, (like materials, AND labor making the signs... AND operating expenses)... $52K a year PROFIT!!! ,...not even counting all the jobs that didn't come from your wife's phone calls...

...and I'm gonna sit her and tell you, nobody gives a rat'sass how rich & successful you are, so that's irrelevant except for bragging... AND I'm gonna tell you that you are either lying to us, or you don't know how to read your books... & ya ain't foolin' anyone!

ok, sorry... back to your regularly scheduled discussion...

 

[1leonchen]

i feel ur pain. get a part time or grave yard shift job. it pays the bills until u can put your head above water. its a little more physical on the body though. i have one it pays the bills every month.therefore all my profits can be directed to my business fully.

 

[Gino]

Well, it's a new day and some new ideas might appear, but whether you know how to sell signs or whatever your business might be.... that is not what the real question is.

I'm going to do this here, however, I really wish this was in the 'Premium' section for obvious reasons.

Before you can sell your wares, you have to know your trade inside and out.
The best advice I can give for cold selling, e-mail ads or any other method is to look and sound intelligent.

• Being enthusiastic and almost believing a sign has a heart and soul is how I sell most anything.
• I sell myself first as being 100% committed to my trade and my business.
• I sell them a sign because I come across as being honest and sincere.
• No shady looking deals.
• Don't hem and haw and sound like you're making this chit up as you go along.
• Interject some day to day happenings into your spiel.
• Tell them how and why you are giving them more value and at the same time stretching their advertising budget.

tome.... you're correct, this isn't about me, but you can learn if you read between the lines. Take anyone that is giving decent or good advice and make it become yours. Take what you can from every post[er] and decide how you can or can not use the information. Even with worthless information.... it is valuable information to you.... NOT to use it. Find all the do's and don'ts and create your own methods that'll work for you.

Jon congratulated me on a nice sale. Believe it or not, they saw the savings and about an hour ago just added an additional $40,000 to the order because they saw the value in the product and I didn't bug them about it, but they knew I was giving them a heck of a deal. However, no one else can offer them the deal and still come through with the same quality product. That's because I know my business and competitors, not because I'm wondering why people won't call if I do next to nothing.

Jon, in answering one of your other questions. I got a better response in my cold calling potential customers than I had originally figured. None as big as $52 or $42, but much more than I had when I didn't contact anyone. From other shops in my area that I never called on before, we picked up I believe 6 shops that combined ordered about $21,000 over about 7 weeks. I never would've had that, had I not called and made us available. From retail cold calls, we only got about $10,000 or so. But again, we wouldn't have had these at all had I not made us noticed or available.

This isn't pirating this thread by discussing methods in which the OP can use to help his or anyone else's business. They are tried and true methods and will work for anyone, should they want to further their business.

​

 

[tomence]

Gino thanks for your advices too, people can learn a lot from you.

 

[Perks]

Would your state have some Business programs or evolving agency or loans available thru Marylands Dept of Economic Development ?

 

[john1]

I have a friend with a print shop who says i should get a mailing list and print it out on direct mail with variable data then follow up after one week with a cold call.

Any thoughts?

 

[AUTO-FX]

IMHO - I think your salesperson (or a warm calling ) idea is better - atleast it will be a little more targeted. I say warm calling to mean - you look for old, worn out signs and what not around your area and cold call these people first.
Here's another idea - plaster your vehicle with lettering and park it over at the home depot for the afternoon. put it near the contractors entrance.
Good luck with everything, man !

 

[mark in tx]

Here is an idea that might work for some of you for generating sales.

Do you take credit cards?
Is your merchant services company local or have a local rep?
Get to know them, they are always going after new businesses.

As a sign shop you should be getting calls from new businesses inquiring about signs.

See where this is going?

Give each other referrals, ask if they would send you their list of new businesses that comes from your local tax authority, tell your customers about the great credit card processing prices you get, etc...

It has worked for me.

 

[Gino]

Here is an idea that might work for some of you for generating sales.

Do you take credit cards?
Is your merchant services company local or have a local rep?
Get to know them, they are always going after new businesses.

As a sign shop you should be getting calls from new businesses inquiring about signs.

See where this is going?

Give each other referrals, ask if they would send you their list of new businesses that comes from your local tax authority, tell your customers about the great credit card processing prices you get, etc...

It has worked for me.

Ahhh........ that's called networking or referral systems. That is probably one of the best ways to network your business and instantly have tens or multiple tens of people serving as salespeople. However, tell them not to sell for you, just make mention of your name and they'll have you call them.

 

[john1]

IMHO - I think your salesperson (or a warm calling ) idea is better - atleast it will be a little more targeted. I say warm calling to mean - you look for old, worn out signs and what not around your area and cold call these people first.
Here's another idea - plaster your vehicle with lettering and park it over at the home depot for the afternoon. put it near the contractors entrance.
Good luck with everything, man !

The only issue i have is i don't do installations. I can make many flat paneled signs but i don't do any installation work. I really would like to get some fleets of trucks to lettering for trucking companies.

That's who i am targeting Monday as a matter of fact.

 

[AUTO-FX]

Dont forget to try auto dealerships. go right to the parts manager and ask about their parts delivery vehicles. then maybe try the sales dept for removable "promo" lettering and graphics, windsheild toppers, web addresses on their demos, etc...the sales dept stuff is usually all low budget stuff but it's better than nuthin.

 

[Sign_Boy]

I'm no expert in this area but here are a few ideas.

You might want to go online and check if there is a local business listing in your area. Skim through it to find companies that you could potentially do work for. Make a list of these companies by category such as contractor, painter, landscape, and so on. Along with their phone number you may find a URL and e-mail address.

Once you have this list you can either make your calls, mail out a post card offering some kind of deal - say 10% off their first sign purchase or you can e-mail them a digital post card.

I recommend calling them make it brief, ask them if it would be OK to e-mail them some information on your company's services and slip the digital postcard in with it. (I say call first this way they will be expecting an e-mail.)

Another option is to branch out and offer other design related services. I'm not sure what you offer as of now but here are a few ideas:

Ad Design for Small Businesses - (I'm sure you have gotten those badly designed flyers on your car or mailbox)
Save them - Call them up and offer up your design skills. They can't get mad, after all you're doing the same thing they are only over the phone. Most local business buy ad space in school programs offer up a design service for that. It may not sound like much but it gets your name out there and you will make a few bucks doing it.

Business Stationary - Hit up the same people that handed out the flyer. Heck sell them on postcards as well.

T-Shirts - Any contractor / painter / landscape company needs them. Hit up the local pizza place. The good thing about shirts is the re-order. Hit up the local schools.

Local Schools and Sports Clubs - Try to connect with the booster clubs. They almost always need stuff and the good thing is they also sell the products you supply them. Offer stuff like Bumper Stickers, Static Clings, Small Vehicle Magnets (6" x 6" or so), Sports Schedule Magnets, Rally Fans, Temporary Tattoos, anything that they could resell for a profit. Sell them on the idea that they will make money off it.

I would say step outside of the box and see what works, you may be surprised what items sell themselves and the business they could bring in.

 

[Just Another Sign Guy]

i should just bite my lip..but i'm not real good at that.

it is hard to feel sorry when ppl have offered help for free. Jon has offered help, I have offered help and have a little experience in this arena...no charge. If someone is hurting I will try to help..but you've got to pick up the phone, send a message..something.

I am not opposed to cold calling...I just dont believe that it is the most effective use of my time or a sales strategy that generates high percentage results.

If we are in desperation mode with months left..where something does not change we are going to have to close the doors. The first thing that I would do is contact my customer base and ask for referals. "who do you know that would benefit from the same great products and services that I have provided you with?"

there are many marketing strategies that all businesses should consider but i am limiting this post to the topic at hand...a desperate situation that as I read it could very quickly end up in the closure of a business.

I have read this post a few times throughout the day and it has been a busy day so if I miss some details please remind me. If I remember correct you are home based so that eliminates some of the things we could do on site to create some 'buzz'.

I dont know your local market is it resort, vacation area? a bedroom community? manufacturing area? give us some info to work with please.

It may be worth while to offer a banner at a ridiculously low price (but not so low that it is a loss) to get customers calling, inviting you to their place of business, or coming into your place of business and then upselling them or selling them additional products....offering a loss leader.

What is your time frame? how much time do we have to work with?

there are many strategies but we don't have enough info to work with.

 

[john1]

Hey everyone, So far i'm in the same boat as i was when i posted this.

I have had a lady cold calling for me and it's been unsuccessful so far. I have done 3 2.5x4' banners and 50 5x5" decals since the other day. Yes it's money but as the first approaches i will have enough for one more month of bills then i am out of all dollars. I am thinking of canceling my health insurance which is around $277 a month i could "save" if everything goes right. Other than that i don't have any un needed bills.

I have called previous customers, marketed on facebook, twitter, craigslist, local yahoo groups, sent a few emails and it's just not working. Hats off to the guys who can make it work. I cannot believe the "end" is so near. I put in a few job apps for places hiring but haven't heard anything. Hell like it would really matter, we're talking places who are doing $7.25 a hour which is money but still wouldn't generate enough to save myself.

I'm doing up a direct marketing 6x9" flyer with a business friend who has a print shop and targeting all transportation companies (trucking and such) within a 35 mile radius. There is 1243 so far we're sending to but i can only afford to send to 200 at a time with printing and postage costs.

 

[davidcarr87]

hey john, have any updates for us??

 

[john1]

Well...

I had a few jobs come in this week so that's good.

The cold calling has been unsuccessful so far but the lady i have doing it will keep doing it. I also teamed up with a local printer who does more of a copy center type business and he is subbing all yard sign and banners to me since he hates doing them. I actually just finished up 4 yard signs for him a few hours ago.

We are doing a direct marketing mailing next week, i bought a list of 1200 targeted businesses in my area and am mailing 200 pieces targeted towards them each month then following up with a phone call. I would do more but 200 is about all i can afford at a time right now.

I appreciate everyones support!

 

[mikey-Oh]

tried cold calling/telemarketing once and only lasted 8 hrs... this thread is full of so many options/alternatives. god i love s101. thank you Thank You THANK YINZ!!!

 

[bayshorecreations]

Anyone know if Johns plan worked out? Any updates on this thread John?

 

[stoneandtle]

I'm curious about his results too...any update?

 

[Stealth Ryder]

ok, first I will express genuine sympathy & for what it's worth, I'll state the obvious that you are far far far from being alone in the situation you describe. I can say that because I am also in a situation I would guess to be as precarious as your own.

The rest of my post will try to be short & to the point, because I just at dinner at my shop & have to go back downstairs and work several more hours... and it will be blunt and direct, because that helps me try to be short & to the point...

If you are losing money in a home based business, quit wasting your time marketing & find a job. If you don't have employees (just a guess here, so sorry if I'm wrong) and don't have a commercial rental obligation, how are you not making money? Do you have tons and tons of equipment payments to make? Otherwise, I would think you must not be making signs more then 10 hours a week, so you should have time to get a job.

Hey, I know that sounds harsh, but losing a home is harsh too. I mean, in my case, if it was lose the house, or lose the business... I'd drop the house like a hot potato, because I need the opportunity to work & I've invested 13 years in this business & this leased shop space... and I'm staying pretty busy... but not where I need to be..

So, I guess I'm saying at this stage, if marketing is NOT working, you have been trying to bail water from a leaking boat & you are sinking.. it's probably too late to explore better bailing methods.. it's time to forget about boating & think about swimming, or surviving, or some pretty damn good out-of-the box ideas to jam something in those leaks.

I negotiated a 40% cut in my equipment lease payments. The first 2 times I asked I got nowhere. The third time I asked when they would be picking up their sign equipment. Seriously! It worked... I also negotiated a 25% reduction in rent too...

Lastly, I hope you are trying to get a mortgage modification. That is a huge pain, but I think you need it, and if it takes a good deal of your attention in the next several months, you probably stand to benefit far more from those efforts then from attending a business leads meeting (which I ain't knocking... I go to one... but i also have a modification application on file)

anyway, good luck. Can you rent the place & move for awhile? Can you fall back on any previous job experience? Can you merge or sell the business? ...I mean ask yourself what happens if things don't get better? If you are as close to the endgame as you sound, you need to plan that game instead of just running the same plays.. TIME TO PUNT!!

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