# attracting new business...... what works?



## ggkkpp (Oct 9, 2010)

Hey Guys wondering what has worked the best for you as far as attaining new clients? Business has grown every year at a slow and steady pace (not complaining there) I have good crew guys a nice shop and good equipment and would really like to step it up a bit. My ? is what has seemed to work the best for you? I have done mass mailings, cold calling, stopping by to talk to the owners, resending bids come the next season, and would like to try radio soon. What has seemed to work best with some of you? We do mostly commercial plowing with resies in between the 3 pods we do.


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## asps4u (Sep 16, 2009)

ggkkpp;1086206 said:


> Hey Guys wondering what has worked the best for you as far as attaining new clients? Business has grown every year at a slow and steady pace (not complaining there) I have good crew guys a nice shop and good equipment and would really like to step it up a bit. My ? is what has seemed to work the best for you? I have done mass mailings, cold calling, stopping by to talk to the owners, resending bids come the next season, and would like to try radio soon. What has seemed to work best with some of you? We do mostly commercial plowing with resies in between the 3 pods we do.


I get more contact from my website than anything else. If you don't have one, spend the money to get one. Best investment I ever made for getting exposure to potential clients. Helps that my logo stands out and people recognize it too, but I get a ton of traffic from the website from both commercial and residential customers.


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## MileHigh (Nov 6, 2007)

Internet, get your trucks lettered up big, internet.


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## ggkkpp (Oct 9, 2010)

Thanks asps4u. Yeah I have been thinking of doing a web site, my brother did one for his company (not a plow company) and he seems to get a pretty good response. Ill look into it.


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## ABsnow (Oct 24, 2009)

I know the first thing I do when making a purchase or hiring a service is grab the laptop and do a Google search. I can't tell you the last time I grabbed a phone book, or saved a mass mailing, or wrote down a phone number from a cold call. Build a website.


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## SPD (Sep 8, 2009)

ggkkpp a website will do wonders for you, I can suggest one easier which if configured properly can do way more for you at less cost. 

You may also want to look into Facebook fan page and facebook PPC advertising in your area. 

With Facebook PPC you can target just your city. Connecting this to a a facebook fan page for your business would be a great exposure for your business. You could also offer discounts to your customers for sharing your business through face book. 

Referral marketing is the way of the future. Look at Facebook now 500 million users and not one dollar spent in advertising all word of mouth advertising. We have become on online social society. 

By using facebook you can find plenty of new customers and have your current customers getting you all the new business you can handle. All you have to do is communicate with them and provide a quality service. 

Rob
SPD


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## asps4u (Sep 16, 2009)

SPD;1088297 said:


> ggkkpp a website will do wonders for you, I can suggest one easier which if configured properly can do way more for you at less cost.
> 
> You may also want to look into Facebook fan page and facebook PPC advertising in your area.
> 
> ...


Case and Point...I just clicked on Rob's link in his signature and my company/website was the top featured listing, and I'm currently on a computer that is not even in my service area. Can't stress enough the benefit of a website. If you can find a web design company that may be interested in trading services, you're expense is very minimal. I spent 10 minutes per storm last year plowing the lot of the company that did my website, and that's what my site cost me, and now they have sent me 2 other commercial lots and a private road that I plow this year on top of them now paying me to plow their lot too. payup.


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## new9horizon (Oct 18, 2010)

As for the new business primary requirement is the valuable customer. This will came to you with the help of internet. You can make the best website as per your business. You can do internet marketing of your services or product with the help of search engine optimization techniques. There are lots of advantages of internet marketing. Many association management group can help you to get the customer of your business and also for property management.


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## lawnlandscape (Oct 8, 2009)

brochures, website, word of mouth. 99% of our new business.


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## ggkkpp (Oct 9, 2010)

thanks for all the insight guys............... Looks like I will be researching website services for a while. thanks for all the opinions.


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## msu1510 (Jan 25, 2010)

go daddy makes it very easy to build your own website if you decide to look into it.


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## forestfireguy (Oct 7, 2006)

2nd to go Daddy, simple, a computer moron like me built a website in about 3 hours. Looked reasonably professional. Don't get me wrong, much better ones are out there and worth the money if you're well established. But to get started this service is a good bet.

Scantily clad hot chicks works too, depending on what you're looking for.......LOL


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## SPD (Sep 8, 2009)

ggkkpp;1091516 said:


> thanks for all the insight guys............... Looks like I will be researching website services for a while. thanks for all the opinions.


I would suggest if you setup a new website to use a wordpress blog format. This will make it easy for anyone to update and will also allow it to easily be setup for Search Engine Optimization.

Once you get a hosting account with whoever I would actually suggest Host Gator over Go Daddy since they have an actual cpanel which will allow for more robust administration.

You will want to setup a wordpress blog. I suggest a blog because there are 1000's of free themes available on the internet to instantly adjust the look and feel of your website. Content can be instantly added or updated, and for Search engine optimization they can't be beat.

You will not need to use the blogging aspect of the site if you don't want to. They can be setup to resemble a normal website and no one would even know it was a blog.

If you goto Google and search "free word press themes" you will see home many different themes are available for wordpress. To install on of these on your blog will literally take a couple of minutes.


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## lawnlandscape (Oct 8, 2009)

we use webstarts.com


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## Mc130226cote (Nov 20, 2010)

I use webs for all my websites. www.webs.com

www.donssidingandwindows.com <---- thats one. i have a total of 5 other sites for other things. They are easy to use. if you can use Microsoft Word and Paint you can make your own website. If anyone needs help let me know


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## lawnlandscape (Oct 8, 2009)

Mc130226cote;1121122 said:


> I use webs for all my websites. www.webs.com
> 
> www.donssidingandwindows.com <---- thats one. i have a total of 5 other sites for other things. They are easy to use. if you can use Microsoft Word and Paint you can make your own website. If anyone needs help let me know


use webstarts, our website looks 100% better then that and our website does not say "something went wrong" right when you go to it.


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