new buisness struggles

[Beeza13]

hi guys,
anyone got any info on getting a buisness off of the ground,
I seem to be extremely quiet but I do live in a village and it's full of plumbers/gas engineers, doesn't help I'm new to the area and don't have contact's
I thought the logical thing would be build up buisness then invest in a decent van think I'm going about it the right way but still very little work.
got a website, buisness cards and face book, so staring to worry a bit now
any advice would be greatly appreciated
cheers Dave

 

[Harvest Fields]

Where about are you in the world mate?

 

[Beeza13]

Where about are you in the world mate?

loughborough now mate

 

[Riley]

Have you told any one about your website or Facebook???? It won’t come to you mate. Need to do some leg work. Get out in branded gear with a copy of your accreditation and insurance docs and go into every single estate agent letting agent and property management company. Face to face goes a million miles mate. I wish you well but you can’t expect things to just come to you. A decent van is the least of your worries with no work. I’m not being harsh bud the trade is saturated at the moment by unqualifieds calling themselves plumbers. You need to show your face. People don’t really care about your Facebook status or a glossy website

 

[Beeza13]

ye pushed website and Facebook, but I agree mega saturated around here also, I have a mate in Kettering dud a fast track hasn't got a clue tbf but has a gd buisness head made his company look massive but sub contracts people who are gd and he earns off their back, really winds me up..
but I will go to estate agents thanks for that advice
cheers

 

[Best]

Maybe try putting a lot of flyers in decent local areas also with your business card attached to each one.
People tend to keep business cards - just in case they need that trade.
The magnetic cards with a nice picture on them great for people to stick on fridges and kids love them.
Also put a deal offer to create some interest and a no call out charge.
When putting leaflets into houses, good if occupant appears that you can politely say “hello, I am local plumber if you ever need me”
while walking away without any hard sell to people. That way you will get respect

 

[townfanjon]

If this helps , I am never quiet but this year up to press is noticeably quieter than normal .

 

[Millsy 82]

My first year I spent a fortune on advertising.
The best I found was leaflet deliveries but they were costly £75 per thousand by themselves which got me a steady income but nothing great.

I did the whole rated people thing and if you go for the small jobs which were cheap they were a good little earner the bigger jobs were a waste of time people either used it to confirm their prices or just wanted the cheapest. It's not cheap but gets your name around.

Find all the local advertisers around and spread your name in those. I find I don't get huge amounts off them but they tick over.

Most of my work comes through checkatrade but you have to look at how many others are around you and how many feedback scores they have. If there aren't many people on it get on it and make it easy for them to leave feedback.

It's not easy to get up and running in a new area if we didn't live in a caravan at the bottom of my partners parents garden I'm not sure I could of afforded the 1st year self employed.

 

[sammathias]

Every breakfast pitstop the breakfast van/cafe would have a handful of cards off me any shops that had card stands on the counter. Down my way tho it's simply build up a reputation and all the work tends to be word of mouth. Not one customer has said they rang me from my cards so not sure how successful that side was

 

[Murdoch]

It can take 3 to 5 years to build up a decent SE business ................ it takes time.

 

[JCplumb]

Local evening paper ads used to get me a decent amount of work when I was starting out.
Google Adwords was also good but you have to get it right, don't go for generic keywords that will have you competing with places like B+Q or it will cost you a bomb.
Could be worth getting to know some of the local trades, I got my bread and butter lettings agent work passed to me from a gas man I got to know when he fitted my mums boiler. Get down to the merchants early doors for a coffee and a banter with other plumbers, you'd be surprised how often plumbers pass on work, it's usually PITA stuff, but if you're not busy then that's not a problem for you.
Make sure you're polite and tidy on the job and in a few years you'll be binning off the paid adverts.
Don't risk taking on a job that may be out of your depth while you're starting up, no word of mouth is better than bad word of mouth. Also, if you get out of your depth early on you'll start to hate the job.
Good luck.

 

[Welder]

To me, you also have a problem because you are a "me too" business. Its vital when you start that you look at what people need and use that 'gap in the market' to push you uniqueness.

People do not like to 'test the water' to try to find out if you'll do this or that. It makes them feel daft. Far better to say on your flyer, for example, "I love those tiny jobs others don't want, such as tap washers, servicing your fire or cooker, fixing leaking gutters.. ." or what ever it is you say.

The point is, you MUST stand out by showing you NOT the same.

HTH

 

[WC1]

Usp. As far as possible.

 

[DGT plumbing]

I also found that leaflet drops worked better than anything else I tried. Had a guy print them and drop them for me. He'd tell me the area in the town that I live where he was doing and I would be able to gauge the effectiveness of it. Got a better response from that than adds in the locals. Still go to some customers now who still have them pinned to a notice board in their kitchens some ten years later. Sign writing on the van also paid for itself on the first day I had it. Didn't have the new van done as I don't need too, not yet anyway.

 

[Rob Foster]

Starting up in a crowded market is difficult. Never underestimate how hard you will have to try. Leaflets are good, but do your own and choose which letterboxes to miss out. Local papers are non existant nowadays. Instagramm
and facebook are good but take time to reach critical mass. I have built up several plumbing and heating business over the years. One good trick is McCarthy Stone. The flats are leasehold and they are maintained by the occupant inside. Make friends with the managers of each block...each one is like a small village, do not overcharge and do all stuff eg. light bulbs , furniture, change fuse on plugs moving and little tiny jobs for free. They will soon love you and you will just pick up work while you are there. Also small hotels and nursing homes. good luck centralheatking

 

[Sid Viscous]

Next door to you in Derbys our county council run their own Trusted Trader scheme which I get quite a bit of work from. Dunno if Leic do something similar?...…..