New business idea

[Heatseeker]

Hello everyone, I just joined the forum and I'm looking forward to all the insights a community like this might provide. I've worked construction for years and I'm ready to start a business. Ill keep it short as I've thought about this for several years. I wAnt to use box trucks with detachable banners to generate leads for local businesses. Others do the same but charge hefty prices for campaigns or hourly rates. Small businesses in my area need the help but sometimes have smaller budgets. I would be generating phone leads that have requested service and answered 3-4 questions. I need some help with pricing these very hot phone verified leads. Thanks in advance

 

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[Heatseeker]

Hello everyone, I just joined the forum and I'm looking forward to all the insights a community like this might provide. I've worked construction for years and I'm ready to start a business. Ill keep it short as I've thought about this for several years. I wAnt to use box trucks with detachable banners to generate leads for local businesses. Others do the same but charge hefty prices for campaigns or hourly rates. Small businesses in my area need the help but sometimes have smaller budgets. I would be generating phone leads that have requested service and answered 3-4 questions. I need some help with pricing these very hot phone verified leads. Thanks in advance

I was just wondering if anyone had any experience with offline generated leads. My goal by signing up here is to make sure my business model sticks with the fast lane commandments. I welcome any comments or suggestions as to how I can contribute or learn here on the forum. Thanks

 

[DrkSide]

Just a few thought on this:

• Is there someone currently doing this in your area? What are they charging?
• Have you talked to potential clients to see if this would be something they want or what it is worth to them?
• Scale would be hard with this model depending on the size of the city and surrounding area.
• What about talking to a local company that runs a fleet of box trucks for local delivery. Tell them that you will sell ad space on their trucks. You would be connecting the delivery companies to the advertisers and it would be a win for both of them.

 

[Heatseeker]

Just a few thought on this:

• Is there someone currently doing this in your area? What are they charging?
• Have you talked to potential clients to see if this would be something they want or what it is worth to them?
• Scale would be hard with this model depending on the size of the city and surrounding area.
• What about talking to a local company that runs a fleet of box trucks for local delivery. Tell them that you will sell ad space on their trucks. You would be connecting the delivery companies to the advertisers and it would be a win for both of them.

Yes there's one company that operates on a statewide level doing exactly what u mention. They rent box truck space from convience store wholesale supplier. I've done some research and actually called some of thier customers. They are very pleased with service. They were paying 650/month and this was an obgyn clinic. There's more but I was just looking for a price point. My plan is to work with local painters plumbers etc. wondering if I should partner with these company's on a commission basis or sell the lead and move to next one. I have alot of home repair experience and I'm currently working on home inspector license for my state. As for scale I'd like to place these truck in other markets and manage the fleet and advertising from my area. If it can grow to that I have to do lead only and not get involved in projects

 

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[DrkSide]

Sell the lead to the business and give a commission to the company that has the box truck. Very little upfront money with this route and you can prove the market before you start spending.

Also, from my experience local business such as you described are a harder business to market this way. Services like this benefit from top of the mind advertising. Customers don't normally see a advertisement and call some one to fix their leak. They have a leak and then if they don't know a company off the top of their mind they look up someone in the phonebook/google.

 

[Heatseeker]

Thanks for the insight. I'm just brainstorming and trying to capture the power of mobile outdoor advertising. Maybe I could shift focus to other businesses like restaurants, real estate , wedding planners, etc. I really lack in the area of lead pricing. I'm sure it's different for each industry. I'm new to lead generation but I understand that a hot, phone verified lead is worth more. My end goal I should say is to set an appt for free estimate or with other industries maybe a quick questionnaire to per qualify them. Marketing products is not out of the question I just hadn't found right products. My theory is that people who need services esp in home still would rather speak to someone live rather than getting bounced all over the Internet.

 

[DrkSide]

The lead price will really depend on the industry and what they get out of it. If they have $10 profit per customer they won't pay but if they have $3k per customer they might pay $500 per lead. Get it in front of people and ask them what their customer is worth, that will tell you what you can charge.

 

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[Andrew C]

Very interesting discussion, I have a question:

-Is your goal to FIND a market to use this SPECIFIC MARKETING METHOD (display trucks) on, or
Are you aware of SPECIFIC business types in your area that already HAVE a need for leads, and you are exploring this marketing method as one way to generate them?

If I am reading your original post correctly, it seems that you are looking to find a way to make the trucks work as a marketing method for something in your area.

If you are simply thinking of how to generate hot phone leads for that niche, there may be a combination of what you two are discussing as an option:

Both google adwords and bing (very recently introduced) have a pay-per-call marketing feature that would allow you to be found on an internet search (as suggested by DrkSide )

Also, from my experience local business such as you described are a harder business to market this way. Services like this benefit from top of the mind advertising. Customers don't normally see a advertisement and call some one to fix their leak. They have a leak and then if they don't know a company off the top of their mind they look up someone in the phonebook/goog

Therefore, to keep your costs down, you can select smart localized keywords and get the phone ringing right away in any local market you want.

You don't even need a website, and you don't pay unless they actually call you.

Just a thought.

 

[Heatseeker]

I am definitely trying to find a way to make the trucks work. You are correct. I want to develope a marketing/lead generation company so a combination of trucks websites and all sorts of lead gen tactics are all possibilities. I don't want to just sell leads to anyone , I'd like to work with one painter, plumber etc. in each city and basically become thier outsourced sales dept.

 

[D11FYY]

I like the idea and that but is there really a big enough market?
Usually any vans/trucks in Scotland 9/10 have already their own company printed onto the side of theirs.
What about trying to rent some space and creating miniature billboards around busy roads etc.
Offer a farmer or house keeper $? quarterly/half a year to keep these portable billboards on their land.
That way their always their and if designed well enough they will catch the eye.

 

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[Andrew C]

Ok,so based on what you are saying,

I am definitely trying to find a way to make the trucks work.

I need some help with pricing these very hot phone verified leads.

DrkSide has a great idea about selling these leads ...

The lead price will really depend on the industry and what they get out of it. If they have $10 profit per customer they won't pay but if they have $3k per customer they might pay $500 per lead. Get it in front of people and ask them what their customer is worth, that will tell you what you can charge.

I am also curious as to why you want to "make" the trucks work without analyzing its cost/benefit against other lead-generation methods.
Are you interested in the trucks because you have a connection to be able to access a fleet easily with little/no cost?

 

[Heatseeker]

No access to a fleet at this point. My local area has a company already leasing add space and reselling by the month to local companies. I wanted to compete in the same market but differentiate myself by selling leads instead of selling per month ad space. I think there's more money on the table this way and the lead buyer get performance based advertising. Win/win. I may be jumping the dollars to get to the nickels by not focusing online but there's a learning curve for me when it comes to online lead generation.

 

[Heatseeker]

The local company I mention leases add space from a large fleet of delivery trucks to convenience stores. Each truck delivers approx. 8 hrs per day and stops frequently at various locations. I've contacted two of there customers and they are very pleased

 

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[D11FYY]

Best of luck mate! I hope you find a good few more trucks and begin to evolve your business

 

[Andrew C]

Best of luck mate! I hope you find a good few more trucks and begin to evolve your business

This is just one of the reasons I love this forum as a place where you can put your ideas out there and get real feedback from people with expertise.

What's more, you can get encouragement, because you have the entrepreneurial "spirit", but just may need to modify the idea so it gets the right response from the market.

I honestly feel that you are aiming at multiple targets by wanting to generate leads, but HAVING to use the trucks in the equation.

The market (the small businesses) don't care how you generated the lead, if it is a solid, qualified lead (which you are confirming by screening it first).

If the trucks don't prove to be cost effective or easy to access, will you decide it isn't a good opportunity?

If you are giving the market what it is asking for (leads), it seems like that is a "Win" right?

Not knocking the truck idea, because I have done "vehicle wrap" in the real estate/foreclosure rescue niche and it worked very well.
The big difference was, one closed deal = thousands of dollars, so you can afford to spend the money as long as your capture/follow-up system is good so that you don't lose leads.

I have no real experience with THAT kind of truck display advertising to offer much on that end.

Over the years that I have done lead generation for many niches for years both offline and online, it always comes down to the ROI.

I would be very curious how the trucks would stack up in ROI versus other traffic methods.

 

[Heatseeker]

Thanks Andrew for the insight. The trucks will be a hefty investment, as u know. I'm not completely sold on trucks. Would you suggest click to call campaigns and bid for local keywords? I'm a little behind the curve with online lead generation processes but my thinking was that if someone actually called and was prescreened, that lead would be worth a lot more to a roofing co. Than someone who just clicked while browsing. If I'm not onto a scalable business here just give it to me straight. My ultimate goal was to make the phone ring for these small service businesses. If there's an easier way I'm all for shifting gears. Thanks

 

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