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Wow Gordon. Good stuff!
Lets be sure to record this date. Gordon with TWO great ideas. JK
Thanks for the info. Keep it coming.
Ditto Barry’s comments.
Last year we spent approx. 2k on two large home and garden shows in Portland. One in the Spring, and one in the fall and we grossed almost $8500 in sales last year. The thing about shows is that you won’t always see that revenue immidiately. We still get calls from folks who met us at a show last year and have been receiving our mailings 4 times a year.
Contrast that to this year. We decided to experiment with a few smaller, specific shows. We did one for pet owners, one was a Kid Fest and one commercial show so far this year. We’re losing money on those shows so far. Now the hope is that eventually the contacts made will turn into customers, but that tells me loud and clear that not all shows are created equal.
We will continue to participate in the big home and garden or remodeling shows because people are typically there to research new ideas and purchase products or services for their home. These shows have proven their worth to me.
I think that’s another website error. Although it’s not a bad idea to be bonded, it’s certainly not required in our contract or in my city and state.
I believe the value of your business is more than just a years gross sales reciepts. The value should also consider the amount of increase you’ve had over the past few years (goes to future revenue), physical assets and demand. Supply and demand is the x factor in selling our business. If you have a protected area with a unique product like ours, the value of our business is worth more than just recipts because there is no competition for our exclusive area franchises.
Taking all this into consideration still leaves you with one question to answer. How much can you sell it for? Your business is worth as much as you can get for it. Don’t limit yourself to reciepts.
I’ve done quite a few shows at expo and convention centers. To echo Laura, they are alot of work, but they can be very profitable if you do it right.
We set up our booth to have the feeling of a living room with a chair, lamp, fake tree, end table, etc with nice white or light carpet. A clean, proffessional looking display is key also.
Then, have a piece of literature to hand folks as they walk by and explain to them that you’d like to introduce your company to them. As they eyeball the literature, go into your pitch. At the end of your pitch, ask them a question to get some dialogue going.
Often at shows, we are there to get people familiar with our name and get their name on our mailing list for later mailings. If you don’t do mailings to these potential clients, you’ll have a far less profitable experience. Booking jobs at the shows are fine as well, but if it’s busy, you should have someone else there to help with the pitch while you’re booking a job.
Hi guys. We’ve always used black soled addidas with the shell toes. They are comfortable, durable and the shell toe keeps your feet dry. They haven’t left behind marks due to the color of the soles, only if there is soiling on the bottom of the shoes have we seen any marks.
We’ve also had some good luck with blood remover on urine and plant stains. It doesn’t work 100% of the time though.
Yeah, It’s looking better than it was, but I think it’s still has quite a way to go from where it should be.
The picture on the home page isn’t very appealing to me and the cooresponding pics that belong to the various services pages are small slivers of a picture. The commercial section still shows a sliver of a living room carpet. No where in the site (that I’ve seen) is protector mentioned. For all the hype about selling protector at seminars, I would have expected at least a mention of it in one of the sections. If it is mentioned and I missed it, it should be more prominent.
Aside from the fact that somehow ALL of my locations were erased from the ‘find operator’ area (which I’m pretty ticked about) I think this site is getting a little better, but still has quite a way to go.
Another good testimonial regarding the shirts.
My employee went out to a couple of repeat customers today and one gave him a compliment on the new blue short sleeved shirt. He said he felt better wearing it with the brighter logos and I think that kind of thing help a guys attitude throughout the day.
I’ve recently noticed that blood remover does well with pet and plant stains! My brother initially told me that it might work, but since then we’ve tried it and it does work better than anything else we’ve tried so far.
Depending on where you live, there might be quite a few companies that produce lists with certain demographics that you can control. For instance, I work with a company in Portland called Metro Presort and I can buy lists for 5 cents per name with criteria that determines their home value, income and zip code. For a few pennies or so more you can add even more specific criteria. Look into Pre-sort companies. It will be worth your time.
I do work for the Oregon Department of Human Services, their largest government agency, and they initially called me from one of my well placed yellow page ads in a real directory. I’ve been soliceted by these type of directories before, and they are typically nothing but anopther revenue book with a twist. They might ciculate to some government offices, but that doesn’t mean that government employees use their book. The gov’t employees will use whatever books they’re used to using in their area if they are looking for a new service. This has been my experince.
Nope. I was refering to Vancouver, WA USA which is a suburb of Portland, OR. Dirtbag is on his own on this one. Maybe we’ll all catch up at the National Seminar.
