What are some good techniques to get customers for a service business

[chrisbiz4444]

I just started a service business and I am trying to figure out how to market it to get as many customers as possible.

I just came home from passing out flyers I had made for my business. They look great and I thought this would be a great way to get the word out there about my new business. So I drove around apartment complexes placing the flyers on peoples windshields ( Under their wipers). Then to my surprise at around 10:30 at night I got a phone call from a blocked number. I thought " Great, a new customer already! How nice!" So then a few moments later a voice-mail was left by the caller ( Who sounded like a old lady) Saying " Who do you think you are putting papers all over peoples cars. This apartment is private property and I took the paper that was placed on my car for finger printing " LOL like really !

I do not know if anybody has tried this type of marketing and had a difference response but I am quite shocked that someone would respond that way. So I am now wondering if I should go out tomorrow and put the other 250 flyers I printed around town.

I also do not know if I should place these flyers on cars or put them on peoples storm doors of there home. I am really hoping for a more positive response tomorrow from people ! lol

What is the best place to put these things in your opinion ?

Also, has anyone had a bad response like this, or is this response pretty uncommon ?

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Cosmicgirl]

Personally, if I find anything stuck under my wipers I bin it without even looking at it, sorry but its true.
I glance at things popped through the door but again, mostly I bin it.
Could you talk to people face to face, maybe door knock and hand them a flyer if they're interested??

 

[QuickLanceFirms]

Who are you marketing to?
How would they preferred to communicated with?

It's 2013! Why are you using those slips we were bombarded with since the 1970s?

 

[eqttrdr]

I use adwords and thats 90% of my service client business

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[chrisbiz4444]

The service I offer is a listing service selling peoples things for them.

 

[JudoTom]

I have a service business and I get most of my local business from facebook and organic seo. Mainly I focus on writing for my blog and posting youtube videos.

Recently I have focused on getting media attention and marketing free events.

 

[Tom.V]

All I do is market for service based businesses. PPC, social media, and SEO all together will do wonders. Not really sure exactly WHAT kind of business you have, but if you are just getting started you could try running a Groupon or Angies List deal for a nice PR campaign. The strategy I would recommend would be using one of those "deal" services to get the word out and the customers, then upsell HARD. This is a tactic I have helped a few startup service businesses use with great success.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[chrisbiz4444]

The business is selling peoples cars for them.

 

[hiddendragon]

How to impress customers with your services

It is undeniable that all business owners and sellers want to have permanent customers who come for buying goods/services at their shops regularly. An important thing that can turn irregular customers into steady customers is “impressing them with good services”. This is particularly important in this present time when there is intense competition among businesses. For a business that sells goods identical to those of its customers in terms of both characteristic and price, the only thing that the business can use for acquiring loyalty from customers is to build a good relationship with them via impressive services. In this article, I have solutions for impressing customers with your services to ensure their loyalty as follow.

- Be sincere with your customers. This item is considered the most important one for any business. In order to build a good long-term relationship with customers and gain their loyalty, the business owner must show sincerity with them so that they are assured of they will never be cheated when coming to your shop. For example, suppose you work on a computer repair business. When a customer brings a computer to have you fix it, you should tell only the truth to the customer about the malfunctioning part. If you lie to the customer, though you might receive more money at that time, but the customer may come to you only once and tell his friends not to come to your shop. This is analogous to a saying “Honesty is the best policy.”

- Provide service according to demand of the target customers. Different types of customers may have different expectation on services. A particular service of yours may not satisfy all customers, but at least it should satisfy as many of your target customers as possible. For example, if you operate a food shop near a university, your customers, who are mostly students, would prefer to have a quick service because they do not have time to wait for long. Also, they would prefer a friendly atmosphere in your food shop. However, if you open a luxurious restaurant in a five-star hotel, your customers, who are mostly wealthy tourists, would prefer professional services from well-trained waiters and waitress who would take a good care in every details of the food services.

- Allow your employees who have direct contact with customers to express opinion about the services. Your employees are like your arms and legs that help you serve your customers. Since employees are acquainted to customers more and know their requirements better than the business owner, you should get opinions from them or inquire them about requirements of customers for improving your services.

- Observe services of your competitors. Don’t forget that your customers can also improve their services the way you do. Therefore, it is important to know about how good your competitors can provide their services to customers at present. This approach allows you to evaluate your services whether they can compete with those of your competitors, and then you can know the points that you should improve.

- Listen to opinions and comments from your customers directly. There are many solutions for this, such as installing an opinion box and opening a hotline number. You can notice that most famous restaurants have opinion boxes installed for customers. Information from customers’ opinions is very important because it is obtained directly from customers. With this information, you can know about the services that impress them, and the services that need improvement. Thus you should pay much attention to such this information.

- Provide better services than what your customers expect. All customers would feel good if they are served like a special person. If your business can provide services that are better than the expectation of your customers, they will be impressed and can turn to be your steady customers with ease. For example, if you open an online book shop, you would know about preferences and birthday of your customers from their historical orders. Then, you can send a small book that matches the customer’s interest as his/her birthday gift. This way, you can surprise and impress your customers a lot.

Business tips Archives - Entrepreneur website