Cold Calling or Tent?

[kingmonkey]

I'm getting ready to go out on my own after a taking about a year off from doing windshield repairs. When I did them before I worked at a location all day. I did ok, earning extra money, but nothing I could live off of. To be honest I really didn't put that much effort into it either. I only showed up maybe three times a week at best.

So I'm about to go out on my own and do my own thing but I'm not sure which would bring me the most customers. I originally thought that I would just set up a canopy in a parking lot with a big banner that read "Free Windshield Repair Here!" or something like that. But now I'm starting to wonder if cold calling might be the best option for me starting out. It would be cheaper to do but I'm not sure.

What is your opinion? A tent location or just focus on cold calling?

[t4k]

I personally would rather be out looking for new clients than sitting under a tent all day waiting for customers to stop by. The tent sitting sounds boring!

[GLASSTIME]

You have several ways you can look at this.

By sitting at a tent you arent waisting gas driving from one locale to another.
By sitting at a tent I feel you can get more attention pending your presentation is up to par
Tents typically are an eyecatcher especially when it looks out of the norm

Cold Calling, Door Knocking is cool too.
I would suggest finding a very highly accomodated business park and park, get out and beat the pavement.
This is what I did numerous of times back when I started my company and still do today! However I also do the Tent thing. Some people turn thier nose to it Yet in this economy every penny saved is a penny earned.

If you can work a deal out with the property owner that you will repair any chips he has in his W/S for FREE! meaning no out of pocket expense and No Insurance Billing for as long as you utilize his property then maybe you can get some spots. Id look for high traffic locations.

I know where I am there are 2 known of that set up.
I believe thier the same company not sure. 1. Was setting up in the middle of a Wal-Mart parking lot, He pulled a trailer that was like a 10x16 open and Had this HUGE banner that would flip up and fold out displaying F.W.R. I havent seen him there in quite a while.
The other guy would set up on a not so busy highway more like a back country road.

Just some thought for ya!

[t4k]

After reading Time2shine's post I realized we are talking about two different types of clients. You guys are looking for individuals with chips in their personal cars (retail). My client base is car dealerships and fleets (wholesale). I do not look for retail customers, it takes too much time to drive to a customers office or home to do one repair. With all that being said, you can make more money per repair in retail but I like going to one of my customers and doing 6-8 repairs before moving on the my next stop.

A tent may be the answer for retail work. Good luck!

[kingmonkey]

I plan on getting out and looking for some fleet accounts. I by no means want just one type of customer. The busier I am the better off I'm going to be doing. Right now I'm working a totally non-WSR job full time, so I'm going to have to do WSR part-time in the mornings before I go to work. I'm trying to figure out which would work best for me. I'm leaning more towards cold calling because I'll only have about four hours a morning before I have to go to work to find some clients. If I can get it down to where I average at least two or three jobs a day I should be able to quit my current job and do WSR full-time. I just have to figure out if cold calling is really the best option for me. After reading some of the comments I'm starting to think heavily about a tent location. I just don't know.

[Brent Deines]

Tent locations typically have certain hours that are better than others, so it is not always necessary or even wise to spend 8-10 hours in a tent. I'm not saying that it is never a good idea, but depending on the location you may find that 6 hours a day is enough, which would leave you 4-8 hours a day for cold calling, whether that be wholesale or retail customers. With tents it's all about location and your personality. Some people cannot stand to stay in one spot, but there is no reason you need to just sit there waiting for customers. Your down time should always be used for developing marketing plans, following up with prospective customers, etc. Depending on your location you can also be proactive by leaving the tent to speak to customers as they arrive in the parking lot. Just be sure you are never too far away in case a customer pulls up.

I have never personally ran a tent location, although one of my employees did, but I did operate a fixed location from 8:00am to 5:00pm every day and then did mobile work in the evenings and weekends. Eventually you will settle into a niche that fits your profile and is most profitable for you, but I always tried to keep some variety in my business model. When fleets were slow my retail would pick up and vice versa. I liked having a fixed location better than running mobile, but both have their ups and downs and frankly for me it was all about the number of repairs per day. If I could average one repair per hour I was a happy camper regardless of whether I was mobile or fixed. Some technicians need more than that and others need less. You have to decide how much you "need" to make to consider your business a success. Keep in mind you might go several hours without a repair, then do several in one hour, so make sure you have the necessary glass repair equipment to handle the rush when it comes.

When running a successful fixed location consistency is extremely important. Whatever your regular hours are, make sure you are there during those hours. That doesn't mean that you need to be there 7 days a week, but just be sure you are there consistently on certain days and hours, and if possible post a sign with your hours of operation when you are not there. Some tent operators only spend a few days a week in each location, or even every other week. Again, it's all about the location.

[GlassStarz]

I would go nuts just sitting there waiting for someone to pull in I have worked out of Carwashes in the past and found that a little slow for me
That said there is a retired guy who sets up down the street from my Dads house in AZ he relaxes reads the paper gets away from the wife and makes a few bucks seems happy

[screenman]

Whatever you do do something, I have just taken a call from a guy who has been thinking about doing WSR for over a year now. He has lost out on a lot of good income in the time he was thinking, I hope for sure he comes up with some good idea's if he ever gets going.

[kingmonkey]

I've worked out of a car wash before and did ok at it. I never took it that serious but I made some extra change every month. Now that I've decided I'm tired of working for other people I'm going to take this business serious. I'm going to give cold calling a try and see how I do. If that doesn't pan out then I'll set up at a car wash again or perhaps put up a tent. I'm still shopping around for insurance right now but hopefully I can get this going in mid September.

Thanks for all the help guys!

By the way, any of you know of good business insurance in Texas?