Finding Work

[tiler burden]

hi

hope this helps people new to tiling find work.

an associate of mine in devon, went on a 1 week course plastering and within 11 months had 7 lads working for him!!

HE GOT THE WORKIN IN, THEN GOT PEOPLE WORKING FOR HIM, KILLING 2 BIRDS WITH ONE STONE...LEARNING AND EARNING!!

THIS IS HOW HE DID IT, HERE GOES...........


Flyers - I delivered on foot nearly 10,000 street by street in areas that had victorian houses which were terraced. My research suggested a return of only 1-2% but on that amount of leaflets its a lot of work...

My other trick with flyers was to hit the DIY superstore carparks near you on the weekend that got be several jobs.

Lastly keep an eye out in local rag for planning applications, if they not published here your local council offices will have them available for you to view. Then go and pop a flyer in or a letter of introduction ideal if you see someone has applied for planning on for example an extension.

Another thing I do is to put a flyer through the door of every house I see with a sold sign on it. People often like to get work done before they move in, I picked up a five bed house top to bottom through this only last month.

Promotions - I give a free £25 Marks & Spencer voucher to any customer who recommends me to a someone thus resulting in a job. This is so easy and appears a little more upmarket than just giving them 20 quid. This can build a fairly formidable sales force.

Universities - Have you got any near you if so contact their accomidation office and ask for a list of approved student digs. Next send a letter to property addressed to the landlord offering your services. Students are most competent at damaging properties.

Estate agents - Again letter of introduction or better still get shirt and tie on and visit them with a portfolio of work and some business cards. Lots of people do remedial work prior to selling. NB - if you get work from an agent make sure you give em a drink out of it.

Sign written van - This is most important, need not be too flash but get it done professionally. Make sure it says company name and plasterer in big letters and it MUST include a landline number. I have the federation of small businesses (FSB) logo on mine it gives customers confidence. Have a look at bottom of post hopefully there is a picture, it cost me £180 to have all four sides done.

Auctions - Most people at auctions are developers get to an auction and try and put yourself about you will soon get to know the regulars do one good job for sensible money and word will soon spread.

T-shirts - we always wear company shirts on site with name and number in big letters it looks the part and gives you an edge. I wear one about as often as I can especially insupermarkets and anywhere busy (sad I know!). People regularly stop me and ask for a card.

Business cards - I shift about 75 cards a month give them out whenever possible make sure they look professional and get them laminated so they last longer.

Mugs - bit of a weird one I know but I get them made by my mate for £4 each got company name and number on. Give them to customer when job done they less likely to lose a mug with your number on and it is subconsciously welded into their mind they will recommend you whenever someone talks about getting plastering done.

Independent builders merchants - get some cards in there and get them a crate of beer at xmas they will push your business if you are good.

Website - my website is very simple it is not designed to attract business but is there as a point of contact if people lose your number. All they have to do is stick my company name into google and up pops website with contact details.

British networking institution do a google search under BNI - bit of a pain in the *** but can work well in the early days.

Think your advert through also - I guarantee to give a same day quotation early bird catches the worm and all that.

My advert offers people the chance to visit work in progress and talk to happy customers works a treat. Also offer weekend work and evening work to fit around modern folks lifestyles.

When you go and quote a job make sure you sell the product to the customer from the moment you get in the door ie stress you do two coat work and your clean and tidy etc. In the early days I would get wife to ring me when I was with customer and ask for a quote gives real customer confidence to know you busy.





PPS My ad in the local rag is 2x3 cm box every night of week and costs me £400 a month but I get about three or four calls a day so it is worth it to me.

Cheers
ed

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[Yorkie]

As I always stress, its one thing knowing your trade but an entirley different ball game running a business.
Too many people place an add in the local rag then sit back with there feet up expecting the phone to ring of the hook, unfortunatley this doesn't happen. You could have the best product in the world but if no one knows about it you aint gonna sell it, then again get your marketing correct and its a different kettle of fish,look at Mcdonalds ffs.
You should look at your working day as the moment you step out of your front door to the moment to step back through it, anytime in between is earning time so make the most of it by planning. This is demonstrated by the above post.
Another tip is to contact your local civic centre/Town hall and ask when the general meetings take place,these are usally held regularly throughout the year and are structured so that local businesses can gather and ask the council questions and vice versa. You will generally find that a lot of the big developers will attend along with the smaller trades. This then gives you the oppurtunity to network with the main guys swapping details and gaining valuable contacts etc and also gain an insight into whats happenning in your area.

 

[BuyBrandTools]

Tiler Burden seems to have it sewn up there. That is a very comprehensive list. I especially like the £25 M and S voucher which is used by many companies online, but could really make the difference at this time of year, and at £25 is a very small cost.

Also dont get disheartened by returns of 1-2% on leaflet drops. As you rightly said 1-2% of 10,000 is 100-200 calls. 1-2% is about an average response to promotions of any kind in the business world e.g. a 3% return on any of our email promotions is seen to be a success.

To do all of the above, may take a long time to do well but if times are hard, many of the above will cost little or nothing to do.

To add to universities, try contacting landlords in university towns, they tend to have tens or hundreds of student houses on their books, a city like Sheffield has 50,000 students which is ten percent of the overall population.

And finally always ask where people heard about you and then you can monitor which aspects of your marketing are working.

 

[Dan]

Just opening this thread again.

 

[sweaty sock]

Missed this originally - I like all the advice - minted:ninja: Lots of good advice.Running a business is all about the contacts - always carry top quality business cards,van signed uo,business names on everything but pants and always talking to trdesmen in merchants.Lots of juicy bits for the newbies.another good point of call is the consevatory companies - in my first week i got a job from a friend and when inspector came to sign off the build he took my cards away.Always be polite,puntual and clean-worth weight in gold.Some customers comment on -i cant believe how tidy you are - it sticks with them that you care about their home as well as them.Finally take pictures and say you are using it for your portfolio - customers love the ego trip.Hope this adds to all info above - this time next year rodney we,ll be millionaires

 

[brummie tiler]

millionaires.......probably not! paying the mortgage on time.......maybe:joker:

 

[robbo]

Tiler burden, excellent info m8, will give a few of your ideas a try, many thanks!!!