any tips people can offer?

thanks

 

Start with a free plug for your self on here

 

Word of mouth is the key mate. I dont advertise / never have advertised anywhere (i dont even have an up to date website ).

 

Offering an exceptionally good customer service, as it spreads by word of mouth and that is the best advertising you can have.....

 

word of mouth definately for me.

 

Plus verbally abusing your customers always helps .

 

Agreed customer service is key

 

 

LOL, i think i'll wait before i verbally abuse customers lol.

Running companies part time doesnt seem to work too much unless you've got the customer base in the first place, so running it full time for me is my only option now. would rather carry on part time, but if i gotta do full time, i will..

i could plug myself on here, but i havent paid the traders fee, and i dont wat to step on anyones toes.

 

Can't argue with that

Or becoming a mod on a forum so that those that slag you off can be dealt with efficiently

 

Depending on what you do, you might work extended hours to plug a gap in the market, MrsFrog does just that, she works after beauty salons have closed, and gets a lot of customers who can't take time off work for beauty stuff.

But beware of the expectations you set, if you give extra hours, extra service, they will come to expect it forever, and will say to their friends "Oh, he/she doesn't mind taking appointments at 21:00 on a saturday", and you will have a tough job changing that perception without pissing people off.

 

Yep, every post that mentions me favourably has been edited by me .

I mean look at your signature, I bet you didn't even notice .

 

Mike says "F*** off you C*** and S*** a *** and **** mum."

Cuntstomer says, "thank you for your kind words mike, I will order another turbo from you"



That sort of thing mike?

 

 

hmmmm,

looks like im gonna be working hard and canvassing then in Hull for a bit, no wage, bills to pay, not gonna last for long

 

Didn't know you bought your evening fun lubricants from Opie Oils

 

word of mouth gets my company over 80% of return business, so make sure you look after the customers you have mate

 

shameless advertising.


starting right here!!! get in as much as you can before you get banned

 

Mike, Quick Q.. how is your company still running?

 

Ahh... that'd be it

 

word of mouth is the best way, takes a while but when the ball starts rolling

Be firm but fair, sort problems out swiftly and fairly and make sure all is squared in the end, This can be a very positive thing!

Set out you rules early on, if you are asked to go out of your way, make sure they know it is and that it is an exception.

6 years on with my firm, doing well and all word of mouth

 

You have to be so careful with advertising, it can be very expensive and end up getting you no business what so ever. I Have paid hundreds for advertising that simply did not bring me in a penny. I learnt the hard way.

If you get a customer look after them, the better the service you offer to your customers the more chance of them recomending them to somone else. word of mouth is so important.

The next thing I would say is location, location, location. If your going to have premices try to get the somewhere busy, either on a main road or on a estate with well established popular businesses. I have my store on one of the main routes out of the city centre and it has brought me so much custom.

Another good tip is car stickers, yours, the wifes, friends, relatives, customers, etc, etc get a car sticker on there pronto. You would be suprised at how much business a sticker can bring you!

 

I agree OOG, hence why our cars all bare our stickers.

we are also sending out keyrings (not much, but we all love a freebie) FOC to people who want one..

 

It all depends on what you are selling the market you are selling to.

Word of mouth is powerful but it's dependant on factors like how long the job turnaround is and how often people are looking for that product/service.

For instance if you are selling mobile phone covers you are talking turnaround times of around 24hrs and a high frequency of buyers so word of mouth comments travel faster.

But if you are providing a service such as handmaking violins then the turnaround time can be months and the buying frequency low. So word of mouth can travel quite slowly.

However word of mouth does usually have less influence on the former than the latter.

Print advertising -is- expensive and very hard to measure any sort of conversion rate. Online advertising is, in comparison, a marketing revolution because you can measure the ROI directly. For example a banner link on this site could be tracked through the shopping cart of another site and you could actually see how many people clicked on the banner and purchased.

Press communications is a very powerful tool, it communicates to a wide audience and has a more positive feel to it than conventional advertising. So getting an article about your product/service in a magazine will give fantastic exposure but then you need to know how to deal with the press. Bare in mind that the press is online too now so there are oppotunities to get exposure on website articles.

Directories are a good route to go and are often free.

 

Ask SECS

 

Sorry now THATS funny!

 

Free blow jobs with each purchase.

Works for us although I have a recurring monthly appointment to get my stomach pumped.

Seriously though, word of mouth is as good as it gets, offer primo customer service, always do the best you can and you'll be recommended no matter what you do