Marketing techniques

[new guy]

I'm not operating in WSR yet, but I was wondering if anybody markets their service by walking through the parking lot at Wal-Mart (etc) and speaking with drivers with glass damage / placing flyers on damaged windshields. I figure you could get there early to canvass the lot, then set up at a nearby location which is noted on the flyer.

Just wondering if this is viable.

[new guy]

I forgot to add...

If this is not something you would do, what would you do?

Thanks

[t4k]

I have a story about your ideas. When I started 7 years ago, I had some of the same ideas. I contacted my local Wal-Mart and the manager told me I would be arrested for littering if I put one flyer on a car in their parking lot. Most people (including me) come out of the store, remove the flyer and throw it on the ground without reading it.

A friend of mine in the next town over that does w/s repair was putting flyers under w/s wipers in a Home Depot lot. He put out about 50 flyers that day and got 2 calls for his effort. One lady wanted a w/s replacement which he didn't do and the other call was from a guy who owned a Mercedes Benz and said his w/s wiper arm had been broken by the guy put the flyer under it. My buddy bought him a new wiper arm for a couple of hundred bucks.

I do not mean to discourage you in your efforts but I just wanted to pass along a couple of stories I have experienced while dealing with the general public.

[ChipperFixer]

new guy ......... Learn to TARGET your solicitations. You can walk parking lots sometimes, for instance if you are a member of your local Chamber of Commerce and other members have public parking lots then they sometimes will let you walk their parking lots. But its a lot of work for such a small return. If you just sit down on this Forum for a while and READ!!! Learn the (tricks of the trade) from some of these OLD UGLY (and notice I said OLD) techs. For every minute spent reading on this forum you will save a day of wasted work.

[screenman]

Who you calling old, my mum thinks I am still her little boy, mind you she is 95 and me only 52. Chipperfixer is giving good advice here, cold call yes but leaflet drop be very careful you can get blamed for causing the damage that the customer never noticed until you put a flyer on his scree. We had a guy in the PDR business try th same thing over here, he got blamed for so much damage he did not leaflet drop again.

[new guy]

I shall avoid flyers under wipers. Gotcha!

[Gareth Walker]

In my opinion the best way to market windsreen repair is to have at least two canopies up if ur in a car park and just get out and talk to people. Patches work.

[GlassStarz]

It depends on what market you are looking and what the competition in your area is once you have a grip on that build a plan that will give you max penetration with min $$$

[new guy]

In my opinion the best way to market windsreen repair is to have at least two canopies up if ur in a car park and just get out and talk to people. Patches work.

Well, talking to people is mainly what I meant. I figured I would be able to give them a paper with a location where the can find me later on.

I suppose it would be better to be able to perform the repair on the spot while the "iron is hot". They may change their mind or forget if I count on them to show up later on. But then, it sounds like I would run into problems repairing in the middle of a shopping center parking lot.

[GlassStarz]

If you are gonna do it that way research the archives for cold calling and coistering
If you are going to walk up and introduce yourself you need to create a sense of urgency you are there and they are there fix it now! a large percentage of people will agree to an imediate fix if you sell it rite