Efficient Advertising?

[TREETX]

I know there have been several post in the past on this subject. I would be interested in seeing more posts that are tree BUSINESS oriented. I digress...

I am a degreed urban forester running my own tree care company. A small one shrink and swell from 2 to 5 people. The yellow pages have been good to me but they do not seem like an efficient way to advertise. To shotgun style. Too many people that are just shopping, having me drive all over, giving away free information, just to choose the cheapest bid. I have found that REFERENCES rule.

There are select neighborhoods that I would like to target. I have never been big on guerilla advertising but am contemplating circulars/flyers that are professional and have my website on them.

Idea 2 would be a mailer geared towards landscape architects.

Idea 3 would be a mailer to just sold homes that sold in a certain price range, offering a free evaluation of the trees on their property. I was suprised at how easy it was to obtain this info.

I have found that I get the best returns when I am selling myself and the service we can provide. Essentially, I would like to accelerate my move from being a commodity based business to a quality and value based business.

Any idea or comments would be appreciated. Also, how do you gauge success on these methods in a quantifiable way?

thanks

 

[treeclimber165]

Glad to see you agree that REFERENCES are the BEST advertising. I rarely had to do much selling when I was working for myself, I closed on about 90% of my calls (100% referrals).
As for those 'prime' neighborhoods, I wouldn't sweat it. If it comes, it comes. There are several areas here that LOOK like they would be prime tree markets, but when you talk with the guys working there you find that those rich b********* chew you down on price EVERY time, and then you gotta chase your money for 3 months! I'm VERY cautious when working 'wealthy' areas, try to cover my backside cause they didn't get rich by giving money away!

 

[Newfie]

Idea # 3

Hi Treetx,

On the surface your idea # 3 would seem like a good target market but from a marketing perspective you will probably be disapointed by your response. Generally 1-2%, maybe as high as 10 % if you do a personal follow up call.

That being said, it might be a waste of time & money because as you said, the info on recently sold homes is easy to get and everyone is working that prospecting angle. Your flyer will more than likely end up in the recycling bin with the ones from ADT home security, life insurance, home insurance, chemlawn and the list goes on and on. And we all know how people like to get a call at home! Hope this is helpful, maybe you might have better results. You might still try this tactic on say 25 leads and see how it works.

 

[Toddppm]

Direct mail would get my vote, referrals are definately #1 , but the mail is #2. Not just the new people but the whole neighborhhood you want to work in.

Landscape architects? Just wondering why you would even consider them? From what I've seen they couldn't give a rats a$$ about thier design once it's installed(with all the trees and shrubs planted way too close together because it looks good NOW)

 

[TREETX]

I have to agree about the LA's. Most don't care how their designed hardscape will affect the trees in the surrounding landscape. That is how I started running into them.

I have landed some really big residential jobs from design-build LA's. The kind of residential pruning jobs that don't require a bid or proposal. Just let the house manager know when you will be there, show up, work for a few days, and then send a healthy bill that gets paid timely.

People with real money, jetset money, don't call a tree service or the lawn guy, they call their lanscape architect.

I have got a lot of consuting gigs from LA's. I like driving to a site, going home, and spending 30 minutes typing a report for $200. Makes me think of what those office people do all day.

 

[Toddppm]

If you got it like that then hell yeah!
I got hooked up with a landscape designer that is into the some of the big players in this area and I do his tree work when he needs it. Some incredible clients he has, one guy spends about 100k+ a yr. on his landscaping alone.