Here i go....

[trueviewag]

This is my first post, and i would like to say hello to you all. I hope the waters warm cause i'm jumping in. As of 11-1-11 I will be an offical Windshield Repair Technician. I am a retired wildland firefighter and i'm hoping to make this my next carrier. I live here in north central Idaho and will be working hard to make you all proud (lol). I'm looking forward to the training in Eugene Oct 21, and i want to say thanks to Kory for his help and patience and thanks to you all for the information posted to this forum. Awesome..

[Mr Bill]

Welcome.
Between now and training; think about how you will market your service.
How will you get people's attention?

[trueviewag]

As far as strategy goes, i think word of mouth will be a big part of getting me started. There are alot of small communities around me and i have spent the last thirty years living here cultivating my client list (lol). I have two different sets of business cards each with a different look,i also have yards signs and car magnets. From what i've read on the forum flyers don't get the response needed. I'm thinking of maybe a web page and a entry into the local yellow pages. Theres a couple of established repair businesses here but i don't see any advertizing and energy from them. Maybe i'm spinning my wheels i don't know. Any help i can get from the forum would be very much appreiciated. Thanks

[trueviewag]

Mr Bill What advice would you give a new wsr business? I'm guessing that every thing that can be done has been mentioned on the forum. I think the thing that bothers me most is the not knowing. Living and working in a small town is like a fish bowl, every one can see you and you know it. Anyway.... Help

[screenman]

Get out a map, draw a 5 mile radius around your base and make sure every single business large or small knows about you, when that is complete let them know you are still there with another call, and then another. Some of my best customers, the one's who have spent in excess of £100,000 with me took 10+ more calls to get, but boy are they worth it. Of course it goes without saying but I will do your radius may need to be a bit larger, but hopefully you get the point.

Oh! I forgot, once you get back from training, practise, practise, practise, on every type of damage wet and dry. Do one poor job in a tight community and the reputation for poor work will spread like the fires you used to work on.

Welcome to the business it is a great place to be.

[Brent Deines]

I used to be a firm believer in the yellow pages and found that the number of phone calls I got was directly related to the size and quality of my ads, but when we started up the service side of our business again a few years ago we ran a yellow pages ad and it generated almost nothing. Unless you live in an area where a lot of people still don't use the Internet to find everything, I think you can find a better use for your advertising dollars.

So how small is your small town and in what part of the country? Small towns are sometimes very good, especially if you do quality work. News travels fast in small towns so always put your best foot forward.

Websites are inexpensive or even free in some cases and in a small town you should have no trouble getting found on the Internet. Be sure you list your business on google maps and google places and then try to get every satisfied customer to leave feedback. You can also run promotions in google places. That will help drive business your way and gives you an easy way to track the success of your promotion. If you haven't signed up for windshieldreferral.com you may want to add your free listing. If you can find other free referral sites sign up there as well. Don't expect your phone to ring off the hook from a free listing, but understand that utilizing all the free marketing available to you will add up to a huge benefit over time.

Make sure your insurance agent is sending you business. If not, might be time to find a new agent. Since State Farm does not waive deductibles in most states anymore they are not under pressure to recommend a particular shop based on price, but State Farm agents are still driven to save money by lowering the number of claims they file, so they should be more willing than ever to refer customers to a professional windshield repair technician with a good reputation. Saves their customers money and saves State Farm money, which means the agent makes more money. If you have a lot of State Farm business in your area you may even benefit from finding an agent willing to send you business in exchange for purchasing insurance from him or her. Someone from a recent training class did exactly that and said it is working out very well for him.

It's also much easier to build relationships with agents from other insurance companies in small towns. They generally have more of a loyalty to local businesses than in big cities, so be sure to pay them all a regular visit.

Visit fleet managers for trucking companies, rental car companies and government agencies. Visit the HR manager at large companies to offer a benefit to their employees and the owner or general manager of small companies to offer a referral reward if they send you business. A lot of small businesses and individuals are hurting right now so use that to your advantage. Something as small as a Starbucks certificate may be enough of an incentive for an individual to provide referrals and a $10 gift certificate or cash may be enough incentive for many small business owners. Just remember that quality should always be the main reason for anyone to give you a referral, the rewards are just a way to jump start things. Make friends with as many people as you can and talk about your business with everyone you meet. They are all potential salesmen for your business.

You're right, most marketing ideas that work have already been discussed on this forum, just a few of which I mentioned above, but if you ever want to chat about marketing strategies please don't hesitate to call. There's just too much to list here, especially since we don't know your target market, or business plan. Whatever you do, spend your time wisely. If you are not repairing you should be marketing, whether that is knocking on doors or building your website. If you want a paycheck you need to treat it like a job.

Good luck!

[trueviewag]

Hi screenman
Thanks for the advice. As i read the forum, i watch and read your inputs and consider you well informed and very experienced, so i thank you for your time. Your right about me needing to expand my radius. There are six smaller towns within 25 miles from me. So i have a estimated base of 10,000 to 15,000 people to work with. Thats not to say i could'nt expand that radius, if needed. I watch all of Deltas training videos and obsorb as much as i can, but that can't replace the confidence and practical experience i will gain from the training class provided. Your also right about making a mistake and it will be all uphill from there. Thanks

Brent
I'm here in north central Idaho. I live in a town of 3500 folks. Most of the jobs in our communitee are tied to the Forest Service and Agriculture. I retired from the Forest Service so i know a fair amount of those folks, so i'm hoping that will help me with my base. I have read what you said about advertising and you gave me something to ponder. I was in the referal program last nite and will register there once i'm up and running. (great website) I will start networking the local insurance companys soon, and i have been talking to anyone that will listen, and some that won't. (lol) Thanks

[Mr Bill]

Mr Bill What advice would you give a new wsr business? I'm guessing that every thing that can be done has been mentioned on the forum. I think the thing that bothers me most is the not knowing. Living and working in a small town is like a fish bowl, every one can see you and you know it. Anyway.... Help

Some kind of signage on your truck.
A business card holder on your rear window.
A website describing what you do and for how much. Include photos of you working.
Tee shirts with business name.
List your service with Google local business and Yahoo local.
List your service with Yelp.com.
People around here search for business services on Yelp.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/bills-windshiel ... santa-cruz

[Brent Deines]

I'm here in north central Idaho. I live in a town of 3500 folks. Most of the jobs in our communitee are tied to the Forest Service and Agriculture. I retired from the Forest Service so i know a fair amount of those folks, so i'm hoping that will help me with my base.

Okay, that is a very small town and even with the surrounding towns you mentioned the customer base is limiting to be sure. On the other hand, we have a lot of customers in Idaho, many of whom live in small towns, and many of them do quite well. You should do everything possible to capitalize on the fact that you are retired from the Forest Service. I had all of the forest service and BLM vehicles in our area for many years and they were very good accounts. They were one of the few that would pay travel time for my service if I called on their smaller rural locations.

Businessman groups and the local chamber of commerce may be worth checking out as well. This and most other businesses are primarily about relationship building.

I'll bet you can also get some free advertising out of the local newspaper and maybe even the TV and Radio if you offer a grand opening special to introduce your new environmentally friendly venture that will help the people in your community save money in these difficult economic times. You can donate part or all of your proceeds to charity or offer a discounted rate, whichever you feel would work best in your economy. It won't cost you much other than a little of your your time and a bottle or two of resin, which is a small price to pay for the potential advertising benefit.

In a town your size you should try to make it impossible for anyone in the community to not know who you are or what you do. See if you can leave your business cards and flyers (be sure to provide a holder) on the counters of local auto parts stores, auto repair shops, etc. Even completely unrelated business such as beauty shops and tanning salons can be good places to advertise, especially if you reward them for any referrals that convert to jobs. One of our customers offers a $10 gift certificate to one of two local restaurants for every referral that turns into a job. They print the offer on the back of their business cards so everyone who has one of their cards has the potential to get a gift certificate. The businesses you purchase the gift certificates from will probably offer you a discount and should be very happy to display your cards on their front counters. For a couple hundred bucks you could print out enough business cards to hand out to every single person in your town, making everyone a potential salesman for you.

A local coffee shop allows their customers to put small signs on their building next to the drive up window where hundreds of people see them every day. Sd you mentioned, small yard signs are very inexpensive so why not put one in every friend's yard? Check with local ordinances and of course your friends first, but in most towns you can advertise this way on private property as long as you have permission.

Do you have a craigslist in your area? That's another place to advertise for free.

Sorry I'm getting carried away again, but I can't help get excited when I start talking about marketing because there are so many great opportunities and so few in our industry taking advantage of them. Business hours should be reserved for repairs and marketing only. Research and forum posts can be done after the sun goes down. I can't even remember the last time I worked an 8 hour day so maybe I feel differently than some, but if you want to make money as a small business owner you have to pay your dues and keep your nose to the grindstone, at least for the first few years.

By the way, all of the things Mr. Bill and Screenman posted are good ideas as well. I sometimes just assume everyone will have business cards, uniforms, vehicle signs and business card holders on their vehicles, but don't ever overlook the basics.

[Clarity Glass]

truewviewag.. are you in the Coeur D'Alene to Sandpoint area. Got family in both places. If your drivin' down to Eugene stop by Vancouver, Wa. and talk shop if you have time. steve.