# my new flyer



## IMAGE (Oct 21, 2007)

will be 7.5" x 5" and and spammed all over town 

I might try the "post-it" idea and get 1000 or so and stick them on doors too. 
If you dont know the "post-it" idea-- do a search on Lawnsite


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## Runner (Jul 21, 2000)

I like the house pic with the relatively clean driveway. Can you blow your truck up a little? Also, clean up in front of that single door just bit better, since the rest f the picture looks great as far a meticulous detail. Maybe a different fonts on the "post it note". I understand the desire for the "handwritten" thing, but see if you can find one that isn't quite as sloppy looking as that one. 
looks good, though!


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## LoneCowboy (Jan 2, 2007)

How come your truck doesn't have any lettering (and phone number) on it?


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## IMAGE (Oct 21, 2007)

LoneCowboy;472671 said:


> How come your truck doesn't have any lettering (and phone number) on it?


Thats the truck off the blizzard website. My truck does have lettering, but I lost my camera to computer cable in the middle of this moving(i'm moving), so until I find it- probally on the bottom of one of a hundred boxes, I am gonna use this truck for the initial run.


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## IMAGE (Oct 21, 2007)

Runner;472663 said:


> I like the house pic with the relatively clean driveway. Can you blow your truck up a little? Also, clean up in front of that single door just bit better, since the rest f the picture looks great as far a meticulous detail. Maybe a different fonts on the "post it note". I understand the desire for the "handwritten" thing, but see if you can find one that isn't quite as sloppy looking as that one.
> looks good, though!


Thanks, yeah I can clean up around that door some with photoshop  I allready took a garbage can, and my truck mirror out of the picture. This is what I started with.


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## big acres (Nov 8, 2007)

Nice flyer -maybe you could photoshop your logo on the truck -just a thought. I do hope that the flyer is preceded by a knock on the door off residents in neighborhoods you are already in. Flyers are what you leave if they are not home, and "spamming" them around town will usually land them were spam usually goes -the junk mail file, and those full color flyers ain't exactly cheap.


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## QuadPlower (Jan 4, 2007)

My $.02

Leave the truck out. It looks fake. It is not perportional to the house. It's not your truck.

At the bottom I would take out SERVING FM AREA and put INSURED. (assuming you are). If they got the flyer, you will service their area.

I would put the phone number at the bottom. This will allow you to make it larger.

RESIDENTIAL COMMERCIAL FREE ESTIMATES INSURED
218-205-7198​
Would you do that driveway for $25? If so would you reduce your price for a smaller driveway? Reason I ask is that not everyone has that wide of a driveway. Does your price always include the walk to the front door?

Are you going to be putting these on houses? If so, what about on the post-it sticker put
YOUR DRIVEWAY PRICE
$

Then when you left it on the door, you could write in the actual cost to do their driveway. That will save you from going back to give an estimate.

Good Luck with it.


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## IMAGE (Oct 21, 2007)

QuadPlower;472945 said:


> My $.02
> 
> Leave the truck out. It looks fake. It is not perportional to the house. It's not your truck.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the good ideas. I think I may just go park in that driveway and take a pic of my truck. Its a drive I do and the owners are out of town. I can buy a new cable if I have too... I really dont want too dig for the other one.

Also, yes shoveling to the door is always included, and no that drive is not a $25 driveway. A $25 drive is a single wide with no sidewalks(but still shoveled to door). That one is $30, and there is no sidewalk, just the steps, if it had a sidewalk also then $35-40. If it was a corner lot with sidewalks $40-50.


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## fireball (Jan 9, 2000)

Okay, I'll add another three cents with my opinion. First, great picture of a typical FM area house. The rest of the world doesn't understand the pride that Fargoians take in their garages. I have seen as many as eight garages and a thirty inch front door. Anyway, as previously stated the truck should be sized to the picture and probably contrasting colors. But it will get a typical homeowner to stop and look at it. 
I probably wouldn't waste my time or money on mass mailings or spam. I would take your flyer and probably make a catchy envelope out of it. I would take your current customer list and get the name and adress of the immediate neighbors and send them a personalized letter explaining your services. The most profitable customer to you is the next door neighbor and you have to target them. Route density starts to play a big part in profitability when you are doing residential work. A nice snowplow picture on the envelop will probably make them open it up to see what it is about. You might want to think about sending all your present customer's a copy of your new incentive program "if they refer a new customer to you, they get a 15.00 credit on their bill". You might want to go to the courthouse Cass or Clay each week and look at the property transfers for the past week. New owners are more receptive to new contractors and new ideas. And by identifying the address's you will restrict yourself to specific areas. Do you really want to drive from West Fargo to Dilworth in a snowstorm but it is the FM area.
I don't need a flyer, the kids accross the street are doing it for $15.00---another thought to ponder---if the going rate for the neighborhood is that, are you wasting your advertising by showing a price that is higher or should you be advertising dependability, quickness, services, reliability.
And if you notice in the Forum advertising Diesel Dogs is touting that they work with other contractors in removing piles of snow. You might want to contact them to see if they want to network with you to make piles.


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## powerjoke (Nov 13, 2004)

Steve my friend it looks o.k. with me......anyh advertisement is good advertisement, 

i have bulkd 2 different fliers (about6-7thousand) through the mail and through the newspaper insert and have seen less than a 1% return on customer's, 

signage has done the best for me (box trailer at one of my bigger lots,and trucks) so i don't know what to tell you

but if you send it, send it through the mail all it cost is a stamp and it looks so much more profesional and personal when you send it to Mr.&Mrs. Jones instead of ringin the door tapeing a flier and running like hell back to the truck

i have copy's of my flier's but i wont post them on your thread unless you want me too


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## deere615 (Jun 1, 2007)

I like it, but I would take that truck out and have no truck in there or maybe your truck.


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## IMAGE (Oct 21, 2007)

fireball;473006 said:


> Okay, I'll add another three cents with my opinion. First, great picture of a typical FM area house. The rest of the world doesn't understand the pride that Fargoians take in their garages. I have seen as many as eight garages and a thirty inch front door. Anyway, as previously stated the truck should be sized to the picture and probably contrasting colors. But it will get a typical homeowner to stop and look at it.
> I probably wouldn't waste my time or money on mass mailings or spam. I would take your flyer and probably make a catchy envelope out of it. I would take your current customer list and get the name and adress of the immediate neighbors and send them a personalized letter explaining your services. The most profitable customer to you is the next door neighbor and you have to target them. Route density starts to play a big part in profitability when you are doing residential work. A nice snowplow picture on the envelop will probably make them open it up to see what it is about. You might want to think about sending all your present customer's a copy of your new incentive program "if they refer a new customer to you, they get a 15.00 credit on their bill". You might want to go to the courthouse Cass or Clay each week and look at the property transfers for the past week. New owners are more receptive to new contractors and new ideas. And by identifying the address's you will restrict yourself to specific areas. Do you really want to drive from West Fargo to Dilworth in a snowstorm but it is the FM area.
> I don't need a flyer, the kids accross the street are doing it for $15.00---another thought to ponder---if the going rate for the neighborhood is that, are you wasting your advertising by showing a price that is higher or should you be advertising dependability, quickness, services, reliability.
> And if you notice in the Forum advertising Diesel Dogs is touting that they work with other contractors in removing piles of snow. You might want to contact them to see if they want to network with you to make piles.


Fireball-- Thanks for the response. Those are all great ideas you have there. I especially like that catchy envelope idea. I think I may try that. I allready have a master name and address list for all of Fargo, and it would be really easy to write a personalized letter offering some of our services. I have noticed with my current customers they dont really seem to know thier neighbors, and they have not been looking around for the cheapest service, so they may not know about the neighbor kid doing it cheaper. I do like the idea of advertising qualities other then price too, that was kind of a last second addition.

Thanks again for the ideas. This is exactly why I posted it on here, to get good ideas and to refine everything before going into print.


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## IMAGE (Oct 21, 2007)

powerjoke;473274 said:


> Steve my friend it looks o.k. with me......anyh advertisement is good advertisement,
> 
> i have bulkd 2 different fliers (about6-7thousand) through the mail and through the newspaper insert and have seen less than a 1% return on customer's,
> 
> ...


PJ- 
I am looking for a good spot to put up signs (I really like that sign posted in a different thread if you saw it). I was thinking about offering to do a place(resturant?, nice house?) in the area I want to do for free for the winter, in exchange for being able to put a nice sign up on the corner. Seems like a win-win, so we will see.

Also, go ahead and post it up, I like seeing whats out there. Thanks, Steve


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## musclecarboy (Aug 19, 2007)

Honestly, just take a pic with your truck in the drive. If I was you, I might even shovel the driveway with a metal edged shovel to get it super clean. When someone sees the truck in the flyer then in real life, it gives a personal feel.

just my.02


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## IMAGE (Oct 21, 2007)

musclecarboy;474706 said:


> Honestly, just take a pic with your truck in the drive. If I was you, I might even shovel the driveway with a metal edged shovel to get it super clean. When someone sees the truck in the flyer then in real life, it gives a personal feel.
> 
> just my.02


Tomorrow I am heading over there to salt the driveway. I will get it really really good and "Picture Perfect". Hopefully it will be warm enough tomarrow to get it nice and clean by late afternoon, because that is when the sun should be right for a good picture with my truck. I am gonna take a few pics, with and without the truck.

If this house doesnt sell by spring, I will be mowing it also. So I am gonna try to get really good pics of it all nicely mowed also so I can use the same house on both sides of a 2 sided flyer for next year.


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## Gicon (Oct 1, 2005)

Image, would you be mad if I stole your idea??? Well done.


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## IMAGE (Oct 21, 2007)

Gicon;475895 said:


> Image, would you be mad if I stole your idea??? Well done.


I wouldn't of posted it if I cared if anyone else used it. We are all on here to help each other is how I see it. Good Luck with it, let us know if it works.

I got over there and cleaned up the drive really nice today, but I didn't have time to wait for the salt to kick in, I will get there tomarrow for the pic, and by the end of the week I will try to get you guys a final version. Thanks for the ideas everyone.


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## IMAGE (Oct 21, 2007)

*Anyone want to try?*

Here are a couple better pics, if anyone wants to try to make a better half page flyer then I had, please have at it and let us see your work!


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## Runner (Jul 21, 2000)

Geez oh Pete....that is 10 times better than the first! Personally, I like the truck better, too...aLOT better. I am going to own a truck exactly like that one day. It is just one of those goals. wesport


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## LoneCowboy (Jan 2, 2007)

that looks real good
how do you keep your truck so clean in the muck?
but yeah, much better than the first one.


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## QuadPlower (Jan 4, 2007)

Now that I would use. 100% better. Put in the wording and repost when you get time.

Keep the one without the truck for the summer grass mowing one you talked about.


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## IMAGE (Oct 21, 2007)

LoneCowboy;478592 said:


> that looks real good
> how do you keep your truck so clean in the muck?
> but yeah, much better than the first one.


I washed it right before I went there, and even though it was only 2 miles it was filthy! But since it was still wet I grabbed a sweatshirt out of the back seat and a bottle of water and washed that side of the truck. lol

Thanks for the input guys, I will get some time to work on it tomarrow. I won some FMX tickets for tonight...


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## SnowMP (Dec 31, 2007)

QuadPlower;472945 said:


> My $.02
> 
> Leave the truck out. It looks fake. It is not perportional to the house. It's not your truck.
> 
> ...


I definately have learned a lot from this thread! Thanks to all!.
I just don't know about the insured thing. To me, being new to plowing that seems to say that you could verywell damage somthing but what the hay I'm insured. I don't think I would make it a major part of the flyer like the large lettering.


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## deere615 (Jun 1, 2007)

That one looks nice, Sweet Truckwesport


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## QuadPlower (Jan 4, 2007)

Its your flier and we are just giving our $.02.

As a customer and I read insured it tells me that IF he does damage something, I don't have to worry about it, because he is insured. It can set you apart from the low baller that isn't insured.

It looks good and you should get some results.


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## JPMAKO (Dec 10, 2003)

QuadPlower;479594 said:


> It can set you apart from the low baller that isn't insured.
> 
> It looks good and you should get some results.


I don't know what your specific market will bare but around here that driveway would go for $40.00 easily. If in your area most guys do not make it "curb to curb" and shovel in front of the garages and sidewalk you can definitely use that to your advantage as a selling point and increase your prices a little bit. There is a big difference in selling full service to people in our industry Snow Plowing and Landscaping. I try to squeeze as much out of my existing clients as possible for work and take pride in everything that I do and because of this I get a lot of referral work and am able to charge a little more than most companies in my area.
I would rather have 100 houses at $45.00 than 180 houses at $25.00.
Less stress, wear and tear on equipment and your self and employees.

That is my 2 cents

Jason


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## Hambrick & Co. (Nov 17, 2007)

Steve, although the truck looks awesome (i have the same one but with a boss plow) I would leave the truck out of the picture. Your goal is to sell your workmanship not the truck. Your customers are going to compare that picture to the job you do or may do for them (be careful with that as well you will want to make sure all of your accounts look that good otherwise I am SURE someone will complain "well it doesn't look like the picture"). I would also make sure "insured" is on your flyer it lets your potential clients know that you're a professional and you're not just the neighbor kid from next door. Just my opinion....


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## MrBigStuff (Oct 4, 2005)

Wow, that's a *lot* better IMO.

I think the presence of the truck lends creedence to the business. If you leave it out, people may question what kind of equipment you have, whether or not you actually did that work etc etc etc. Perceptions are important. What I see from this flyer is that you have an excellent plow vehicle and you do exceptional work. In the prior one, the scale was goofy and it was obvious that it was a photoshop job. I wouldn't put as much trust in a business that pasted images together.

On a side note, I find that driveway to be strange. Who adds an extension for the third door and doesn't pave it all the way to the apron?


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## dunlaps lawncare (Sep 5, 2007)

verry nice


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