Business Return on 120 Price List Flyers ???

[RyansAutoDetail]

ok so im gonna try and get rid of a chunk of my detailing flyers tomorrow and how much business should I expect from going door to door with my flyers ...

from 120 what % would be reasonable ?

10% like 10-12 customers ?

if i only did 60 houses tomorrow i would love to get 6 calls

[tuscarora dave]

What do you have (besides your flyer) to show these perspective clients? Do you have any before and after photos? 50/50 photos can be pretty convincing as well. In my experience most people associate auto detailing with washing and waxing (unfortunately). I find that most people are not willing to spend a couple hundred dollars on something that they do not understand so the visual aids (photos) can be a big help in educating them on what service it is that I am offering them. The question I ask myself is this, How will I lay out my presentation to them as to convince them that they "want" my services? What people "need" is reliable transportation, they do not "need" a swirl free paint job. So back to the question at hand....How will I lay out my presentation to them as to convince them that they "want" my services? I try to keep my own car in a condition of being a "rolling example" of the quality of my workmanship (inside and out). I try to park my car close enough to theirs so that I can show them the difference between a nearly perfect finish and a neglected finish. I also found (in my experience) that I can offend the perspective client by telling them that they neglect their car, so wording is important here. I say neglect to you guys because you understand neglect Vs. detailed, joe customer does not want to be told that they neglect anything (especially if they spend time in washing and waxing their own vehicle). I try to use such phrasing as this " I see that your car is shiney and I know that takes work to achieve but if you will just take a minute to look at the reflection of the sun in your paint, (see the scratches?) now take a look at the sun`s reflection in my paint, (see the difference?) We can take your car`s paint to a whole new level of shine"!! I am careful not to use words that offend such as neglected or hogged up or looks terrible. I think you get my point here. I also look around as I approach their door, Is the property kept? Is there trash laying all around, is the grass mowed and the flower beds weeded, giving quick thought to this type of stuff can say a lot about the person you are about to speak to. It provides you with an opportunity to compliment the perspective client and gives you fuel to develope your presentation. Such as this...Mr. Jones, I see that you keep a beautifully maintained home and that is what I am offering for your car, a beautifully maintained car. People love to be complimented on their hard work. Think about this for a minute....A person who goes to work every day, comes home to raise children, keep a clean house, keep a beautifully maintained yard, a freshly sealed driveway, clean siding on the house etc..needs to have excellent organizational and time management skills to achieve all this (whether they do the work or farm it out). So they are probably more likely to purchase a service from someone who also has great organizational skills as well, ie. the well laid out portfolio of your photos and the way you look personally and the way you speak to them. You only get one chance to make a first impression as they are everlasting. So put your presentation together and run it past some of your elder family members or neighbors, (if you run this past another proffesional you will most likely recieve tips on how to better present it), develope your rap (what you are going to say) and practice it. Expect lots of questions and know how to answer them. If you take all of this into consideration, dress well and conduct yourself like a proffesional your percentage rate will be a whole lot better in your door to door efforts, It will also help with developing much needed word of mouth advertising. But remember you still need to achieve excellent results on the car once you have "sold" the customer. Just a few thoughts out of my own experience, Hope it helps you out. I have a regular job and do not wish to detail that much but I am convinced that if I took this approach and talked to 20 people daily I would be way too busy detailing to keep my regular job, thus opening up a whole new set of challenges. TD

[Beemerboy]

If the figures hold true in fliers you will see about 2% return. I have to find the info on this, I did some R&D for this about a year ago for a company I was consulting for

[JohnHenry]

Great post, TDave!

BBoy, I have gotten a 2% response to mailings also.

[bigron62]

probably 3 cars

[Scott P]

Dave..seriously dude, you should look into the idea of creating paragraphs. Such a huge chunk of text is a tough read.

I`m not a big fan of things stuck to my door or windshield wiper. I see them as a waste of paper. Yes, I do realize that it is a cheap form of marketing, but this is just my perspective as a consumer. My favorite is when house cleaning services toss a flier in a small baggie of rocks onto my driveway as they drive by. Why would I hire house cleaners who have to litter to get business?

I think the results will be largely based on the area you are targeting. Take a ride or two around the neighborhood and check out the cars. Are they clean. Are there people washing them? Targeting your distribution of advertising towards the areas with nicer cars would probably result in a better return.

[Blackfire]

Detailing is a hobby for me. My full time business is professional painting. I can canvass a neighborhood with 1,000 brochures and maybe, on a good week, get 5 calls and sell 1 job. Of course that may be a $1,500 to $3,000 job. But, it`s all relative. I have neighbors who want me to detail their cars. I need $200 per day. They`re not willing to pay that so I turn them down.

Would I do better if I open a shop? Maybe. Even the local $9 car wash is having a tough time making a go.

This economy sucks! People are guarding every discretionary dime they earn. I hope it breaks soon.

[Bunky]

I`m not a big fan of things stuck to my door or windshield wiper. I see them as a waste of paper.

We see this and flyers attached to the mail box on a regular basis. The most popular is targeted local mailings (coupon mailers, community "news").

I usually to rely on personal recommendations since there are so many services (painting, etc) where anyone with a brush can claim to be a painter, etc. on a flyer.

For example, if you looked at craigslist for our area, if you judged them by their posts, you would wonder if these guys were any good given the way they present themselves.

I believe word of mouth is the best advertising and finding a way to "infiltrate" a church group or neighborhood. That is, get several hooked and use their social connections to get more business. What I do not see as many detailers as I would expect even mentioning references etc in their ads.

[tuscarora dave]

[QUOTE=Scott P;288706]Dave..seriously dude, you should look into the idea of creating paragraphs. Such a huge chunk of text is a tough read.

Are you saying there may be a talent here worth looking into or suggesting it was too long winded?

[tmacsad]

What do you have (besides your flyer) to show these perspective clients? Do you have any before and after photos? 50/50 photos can be pretty convincing as well. In my experience most people associate auto detailing with washing and waxing (unfortunately). I find that most people are not willing to spend a couple hundred dollars on something that they do not understand so the visual aids (photos) can be a big help in educating them on what service it is that I am offering them. The question I ask myself is this, How will I lay out my presentation to them as to convince them that they "want" my services? What people "need" is reliable transportation, they do not "need" a swirl free paint job. So back to the question at hand....How will I lay out my presentation to them as to convince them that they "want" my services? I try to keep my own car in a condition of being a "rolling example" of the quality of my workmanship (inside and out). I try to park my car close enough to theirs so that I can show them the difference between a nearly perfect finish and a neglected finish. I also found (in my experience) that I can offend the perspective client by telling them that they neglect their car, so wording is important here. I say neglect to you guys because you understand neglect Vs. detailed, joe customer does not want to be told that they neglect anything (especially if they spend time in washing and waxing their own vehicle). I try to use such phrasing as this " I see that your car is shiney and I know that takes work to achieve but if you will just take a minute to look at the reflection of the sun in your paint, (see the scratches?) now take a look at the sun`s reflection in my paint, (see the difference?) We can take your car`s paint to a whole new level of shine"!! I am careful not to use words that offend such as neglected or hogged up or looks terrible. I think you get my point here. I also look around as I approach their door, Is the property kept? Is there trash laying all around, is the grass mowed and the flower beds weeded, giving quick thought to this type of stuff can say a lot about the person you are about to speak to. It provides you with an opportunity to compliment the perspective client and gives you fuel to develope your presentation. Such as this...Mr. Jones, I see that you keep a beautifully maintained home and that is what I am offering for your car, a beautifully maintained car. People love to be complimented on their hard work. Think about this for a minute....A person who goes to work every day, comes home to raise children, keep a clean house, keep a beautifully maintained yard, a freshly sealed driveway, clean siding on the house etc..needs to have excellent organizational and time management skills to achieve all this (whether they do the work or farm it out). So they are probably more likely to purchase a service from someone who also has great organizational skills as well, ie. the well laid out portfolio of your photos and the way you look personally and the way you speak to them. You only get one chance to make a first impression as they are everlasting. So put your presentation together and run it past some of your elder family members or neighbors, (if you run this past another proffesional you will most likely recieve tips on how to better present it), develope your rap (what you are going to say) and practice it. Expect lots of questions and know how to answer them. If you take all of this into consideration, dress well and conduct yourself like a proffesional your percentage rate will be a whole lot better in your door to door efforts, It will also help with developing much needed word of mouth advertising. But remember you still need to achieve excellent results on the car once you have "sold" the customer. Just a few thoughts out of my own experience, Hope it helps you out. I have a regular job and do not wish to detail that much but I am convinced that if I took this approach and talked to 20 people daily I would be way too busy detailing to keep my regular job, thus opening up a whole new set of challenges. TD

I look for a page break... but found none

[cheapshot]

Word of mouth, is a very good way to get busy. I did a car a few weeks ago, and about 4-5 friends of there`s want a detail. With the right people in the right neck of the woods. Your business could spread like wildfire. Wish I had a nice little garage. It`s getting to the point, My word of mouth is growing faster then I could handle. With only limited weekends, I do not have much time.

[GearHead_1]

Played the marketing game for many years n the software industry. 1-2% is the expected return on direct mail. The average person has it in front of their eyes only 8 seconds. Make a statement and give them a reason to buy. If you change the circumstance so that you actually speak to people and hand them the inducement your opportunity rises to around 5% with the same piece of mail.

[njcarting1]

I have found most people hate things blowing around the yard so flyer`s are not a big hit. Please remember if you use a mailbox the post office might contact you as well. You can not post things in a mailbox period. The other favorite place is the paper boxes, Remember this is a no no also. The paper boy-girl in some cases will take them out and throw them away.

Don`t put things on cars in a parking lot people don`t like things added to there vehicles by others.

Take a small add out in your local area free paper or a high volume publication with your discounts explained. Yes its an added cost but for a 2-3-4 week add you will target many more people. Remember many publications are suffering on add sales so beat um up on the price. If they don`t sell adds they will be out of business so don`t be shy to ask for discounts.

Remember go to an office park walk in and ask if you can have them post your fly er inside in a coffee room or break room. Tell the reception person you are offering there employees a discounted price on all the work.

YOU GO and do the MEET AND GREET, it more often than not makes a big difference. Tell the person why YOUR business is better,and more cost effective for them to use YOU! Remember their are many people doing the same job so you have to SELL your services and be ready to explain your self.

Give all your friends that work around the area a fly er and ask them to post the things at there business locations. Make up some magnetic signs for your car, and drive around so they can bee seen. When you are on a night out they can be removed.

I would say the best bang for your buck is not flyer`s at house locations. Use them in other locations it should serve you better all the way around.

Please don`t feel I am being critical of what your thoughts are because I am not. I have done the door to door thing but in most cases people want there time at home quietly spent with family.

Another thing is timing, people are still doing family things before the kids go off to school. You will be better served when the normal work and school things gets back in play.

[njcarting1]

Detailing is a hobby for me. My full time business is professional painting. I can canvass a neighborhood with 1,000 brochures and maybe, on a good week, get 5 calls and sell 1 job. Of course that may be a $1,500 to $3,000 job. But, it`s all relative. I have neighbors who want me to detail their cars. I need $200 per day. They`re not willing to pay that so I turn them down.

Would I do better if I open a shop? Maybe. Even the local $9 car wash is having a tough time making a go.

This economy sucks! People are guarding every discretionary dime they earn. I hope it breaks soon.

THIS IS 100% TRUE EVERYWHERE RICH OR POOR. Discounts while attractive are not a sure bet in this economy with most people.

Not to sound silly but, in life we have 2 staples death and taxes. I have 1 of the two covered but people cant even Afford that, much less the other. It takes time my friend to grow just be patient, it will come.

[RTexasF]

Return on 120 flyers? I would expect ZERO and be thrilled if 1 came through. Are they going on windshields at Wal Mart, mailers, or door knocking? All are a poor way to get yourself known. People, including myself, view them as trash if they are on the windshield.