Advertise?

I tried advertising 30 years ago and it never paid for it self word of mouth always worked best but then again I have always had my niche for custom stuff and word got around. couple guys I work for have tried just about everything out there and still find word of mouth works best

How ever my couple of retail customers who advertise found that putting adds in the smaller weekly newspapers works best you get more bang for your buck.

RHC: An informative website helps a great deal; however, it cannot simply be just another self serving advertisement for your services - it must also help or inform people in some fashion. They should get a flavour of how you do business and what they can expect overall from you as their dealer. Done correctly, it can attract a lot of customers to at least give you a call. Then you have to actually be a live person when they do call.....

My experience tells me that customers today are very jaded, used to being treated like second class citizens when shopping for something. Give them good service up front , right from the first call, and you can easily beat your competition (especially the big, impersonal companies who only see customers as money). Security services are a very personal thing - you're dealing with a client, his safety and his home !

Works for me......

I have not advertised in years. I only even have line listings in the phone book now. Word of mouth and referrals more than kept me busy until last year. Occasionally I used to just get in my truck or hop on my bike and drive around visiting existing customers to say, "hi." No selling just stop by to visit and see how they are doing. Particularly business customers. A day or two of that and I would be swamped with work.

Back when I did advertise probably the phone book had as good of results as anything. I did newspaper and radio with hardly any results. Direct mail which is supposed to get about 2% call backs statistically resulted in about .05% for me. Even carefully classified direct mail either in neighborhoods with recent crime or to specific demographic segments wasn't much better.

My biggest additional sales was probably on, "oh by the way" stuff. I was already in the door quoting an alarm, and mention I can quote their video, phone, and sound systems as well... And the other little add-on if I got their phone system was to say, let me run all your network cable at the same time to save you a couple dollars on labor. Besides I am licensed and legal to run your cable unlike that network guy who may be great at network setup, but may not have the knowledge of building code and requirements I have accumulated over the years.

I have had mixed results from paid referrals. Guys expecting a kickback directly to them for choosing you for their company are a problem with that. You always get the smartass who wants to mail you the phone book and then climbs up your ass when you don't call everybody in it cold and pay them. And of course a person will be guaranteed to get all butt hurt when you won't give them a $50 referral for a five minute job fixing their neighbors doorbell for a whopping total of $60 or $80 including parts. I also had a few realtors and other business associates who sent me dozens of new clients over the years.

There are two things I found.

Second: People who picked my name out the phone book because they recognized it from signs and decals on businesses.

First: The number one thing I have found to generate new business right now though is to visit your existing customers just to say hi. Make it purely social. Ask how they are doing. If they ask how you are doing say something like, "A little more work wouldn't hurt, but we are surviving." Don't try to sell them anything unless they bring it up. Really.

... and don't let being a little tight cause you to take crappy questionable jobs. If you don't make money on a job (unless you are doing a favor for a customer who does send you lots of profitable jobs) YOU DON'T WANT IT ANYWAY. I can't think of one customer ever I made money off of who I let take advantage of me so I get in the door. When I quit letting them screw me they just went looking for the next sucker. I did an alarm a couple weeks ago for my very first ever alarm customer. He never tried to beat me down or anything, but when I was all down I gave him several hundred dollars off the price I had quoted him and let him know I can't always do that, but I really do appreciate my loyal long term customers.

I agree with what you say ..... with one side note.

Some customers and potential customers actually ARE second class citizens.

Without some experience ... sometimes it's hard to tell.

RHC: To identify the really stupid ones, simply look for the Alarmforce decals on their door !!

"Ah, I see the Alarmforce sticker. Sorry, but you are to stupid to be my customer. Sorry to trouble you." Slam. Vrrroooom.!

RHC: You got it...:)