Contact problem?

[treeman82]

I seem to be having a problem with getting new work and wanted to run this by you guys to see what you think.

Pretty much most of the work I have done so far with my new company has been for people that I know. They have all been happy with my work. Some have referred me to their friends and neighbors. It's strange though, the jobs that I get are the ones where I actually go and meet the customer. Like for example one job I picked up was through an existing customer. A friend of his needed some work done, so my customer took me over there to meet with his friend. I got the job. That new customer then got me another job because one day I was over there working and his wife asked if I could go look at a job for her cousin to see if she was getting ripped off. I went over, looked at the job and got it. Other jobs the same thing happens kind of. I'll be working at one house, neighbor comes over, or I get told to go to the neighbor... get the job, no problems. A few weeks ago the first customer I mentioned, he had another friend who needed some trees taken down. He gave his friend my number and gave me the friend's number. I called up the friend, went and took a look... got the job along with a job for that guy's brother.

Here's where my problem comes in and where I don't understand things.

I'll be working for different customers, their neighbors will come over, get a card and tell me that they will call me... they never do. Or the customers will take cards and hand them out to friends... the friends never call. The customers will see me later and ask... "Did so and so call you?" Nope.

What do you guys think is going on? I double and tripple checked my business cards and the number IS right.

I'm thinking that maybe I should insist on seeing the job right away or something? Or being given the person's number. I mean I look at my phone logs and the calls I recieve regarding work are from customers whom either I have already done the work for, am doing the work for, or will be doing the work for. No new calls.

 

[trevmcrev]

Whenever you are approached by a prospect get their details, by all means give them a card too, but get thier name and number and address. Some people hang onto cards for years before they call. Think about it, how many peoples business cards do you have in your wallet, in your car, in your briefcase, in the top drawer of your desk? They do the same. Many people will be thinking about doing something with thier tree for years before they actually call for a quote, and then some of those will wait another year or two before getting around to going ahead with it. You need to take action, call them, set up a time for an estimate, and then make a follow up call 3-7 days later. Also i think theres a limit to how much work youll get through friends of friends. At this point you need to start some basic marketing to sustain the work. Remember advertising is an investment, not an expense- if it works that is. You will only know how well it works if you ask every enquiry how they heard about you and record this data. That way you know its a response from your ad or someone who found a card in the bottom drawer from 2 years ago!


Trev