Finding Customers/ Advertising

[Bigtone]

Hi
Recently started working for myself 2 weeks ago spent quite a bit on gear and vehicle. have 4 jobs up through friends and am also fortunate enough to be working for a mates firm while i'm starting up.
What is the best way to advertise and find customers any help or info would be much appreciated

Also would I need any other insurance apart from PL

 

[BetterTAX]

Hi Bigtone,

The advertising question is one that is often asked here and across other forums. There's no real hard and fast rules and you will have to experiment a bit to find what works for you.

I daresay established companies can give you more industry specific advice but for generic advice I'd recommend you get a website. I'm not sure if admin gets involved in that sort of thing but there are definitely inexpensive ways of going about it but please don't just choose the cheapest option - I've seen dreadful sites out there!

Create a Freeindex account and ask your clients if they wouldn't mind giving testimonials - we do it!

Get on twitter, but don't just spam salesy stuff. Try and make relationships within industry - it's hard but could be beneficial. I'd say facebook and google+ too but I don't want to overwhelm you.

Good luck!

 

[j.joseph]

put a banner/sign on every job you put up.a lot more effective than yellow pages, people have to know you're out there for them to even discover you have a website.supply the kit to your kids/local/pub football team and have your company logo on it.

 

[southernpoofter]

Go down to the council offices & check with the planning dept for new scheduled building work.then contact the builders or client direct introducing urself with a letter offering freebies etc for the 1st project.you'll get knocked back on some but it'll also get u work with both cdm & non cdm builds...good luck

 

[Havespannerwilltravel]

A few cards in telephone boxes worked well for my sister. She was inundated with offers of hard work.
Don't suppose it would work so well these days now mobiles have all but done away with the traditional red phone box.

 

[Srl1]

Call in to any sites you see just starting, give them card and ask for the opportunity to price for the scaffold.

 

[Bullhead]

Put a signboard/banner on any job u see whether its yours or not hahaha

 

[Proscaff]

first one you should hit is a roofers merchants, roofers want the cheapest most reliable rig they can get. Yes the works pants but roofers talk to alot of builders and builders love to winge about bad scaffolders. You cant beat word of mouth advertising, get a good reputation and you will gain more than enough customers.

Also i placed 1 card in a builders merchant in a very small town because 1 builder picked it up and we did a good job we made around 40k off that guy talking to others so take any oppertunity you can.

We spent 4k on advertising in the local councils building control book, Worst money ever spent, not a single job came from that but at the same time i sent 100 letters out to local builders. One of these caught well and with his close circle of friends in different trades i now earn around 140k extra a year of that one letter.

I remember the first few months being worrysome but when the work starts flooding you'll know about it and it will, i cant say i miss those 9pm finnishes making sure i could fit all the next days jobs in

its an exciting time for sure