I recently took over a company which has been down sizing a great deal for a couple of yrs and I take over monday with about 1-2 wks backlog and no calls for 2 days during this time of yr, and quite frankly Im scared to death now that it's all said and done, any suggestions for advertizing would be greatly appreciated I will share what I've done so far, first I've been sending fliers to past customers w/10% discount and 5% seniors about 50 a day and I've been sending others to his previous cust notifying of the change, I have a shop on busy street and am currently putting up the old signs and also signs on trucks I believe all this will help some but not sure if its enough??? I still have phone book ad running. so with all that in mind please help.
taking over business
- Thread starter Higherup
- Start date
Help Support Arborist Forum:
FBerkel
ArboristSite Operative
Try sending a press release to the local paper, something along the lines of "Local Arborist Takes Over Helm of Well Established
Tree Service", or whatever. You might be surprised to find out how easy it is to promote yourself that way. Most journalists love to have stories ready-made for them.
Tree Service", or whatever. You might be surprised to find out how easy it is to promote yourself that way. Most journalists love to have stories ready-made for them.
treeclimber165
Member A.K.A Skwerl
I'd start with calling on unsold bids. Tell them that you have taken over the business and that you would like to have the opportunity to re-bid the job, or bid on future work. This will let you replace any negative memories of the previous salesman with more a positive image of an honest, hard working new owner. Start with the most recent, and work your way backwards. Hopefully, you have records of all the bids written up in the last 6 months.
Thanks for the replys Im going to look into the press release for the local newspaper and Im currently sending a flier to all his list of clients he had given a estimate to and basically letting them know whats new at the company and a little history about myself and all that I offer and I give a 10% disc and a 5% seniors, I have sent out about 300 of those so far and I get 1-2 calls a day which I think is pretty good.
John Paul Sanborn
Above average climber
Letters are too pasive. Take that past clients list and start calling it. Start with the ones who have recieved the current flyer and offer a free onsite evaluation.
Explain that the new service oriented direction that you are taking. You are would be happy to walk the property and discuss any concerns they have, or just leave them a detailed report. If they hesitate, let them know this is a no obligation consultation, you just want to introduce yourself and show them the new direction the company will be taking.
Key in on some specifics then ask if you can schedule the work. If the hesitate ask if you can call back in a few days.
Sell your knowledge, skill and experiance; not the prosses, yada, yada yada.
Get up early in the morning so you can see the kids, cuz you may be giving them a kiss when you check on them at night.
Good luck dude!
Explain that the new service oriented direction that you are taking. You are would be happy to walk the property and discuss any concerns they have, or just leave them a detailed report. If they hesitate, let them know this is a no obligation consultation, you just want to introduce yourself and show them the new direction the company will be taking.
Key in on some specifics then ask if you can schedule the work. If the hesitate ask if you can call back in a few days.
Sell your knowledge, skill and experiance; not the prosses, yada, yada yada.
Get up early in the morning so you can see the kids, cuz you may be giving them a kiss when you check on them at night.
Good luck dude!
kf_tree
Addicted to ArboristSite
another idea that will save you the stamps is. have some flyers made up that have the little slit to hang on a door knob. have them say some thing like " another tree on your block taken care of by the pro's at bla bla tree care" and state some thing like under new management to serve you and your tree's better. just have the guys put them on doors at each block you work on. while there sweeping the street send one guy up and down the block.
seanlarkin
ArboristSite Guru
If you haven't already, do a search in this site for advertising. There have been a few very informative threads regarding this subject, which could help further.
My advice:
Set your advertising budget, whether it's for the year, or for a six month period.
Take advantage of as much free advertising as you can. The press release being a good example.
Track your advertising. When calls come in, ask them where they got your info.
There's a good article regarding marketing in the June issue of ArborAge. If you don't subscribe, email me and I'll mail you a copy. If you have any questions regarding marketing, please feel free to email me. Good luck!
-Sean
(Marketing Director, Sherrill Arborist Supply)
My advice:
Set your advertising budget, whether it's for the year, or for a six month period.
Take advantage of as much free advertising as you can. The press release being a good example.
Track your advertising. When calls come in, ask them where they got your info.
There's a good article regarding marketing in the June issue of ArborAge. If you don't subscribe, email me and I'll mail you a copy. If you have any questions regarding marketing, please feel free to email me. Good luck!
-Sean
(Marketing Director, Sherrill Arborist Supply)
DDM
Addicted to ArboristSite
We did the door hangers last year and had very good success with them Just Make sure you hang them on the Doors and Do Not put them on the Mailboxes.
