your thoughts on this business idea please...

[GordonJ]

On a 5x7 postcard there will be 7 listings (splitting the difference with you)

Their listing will have a biz name, but no phone number, people have to call you to get the referral, right so far?

These are leave behind cards alerting the homeowner (if not at home) the service was done, say the pool cleaner.

The 6 other guys could be a carpet cleaner, deck cleaner, roofer, carpenter, plumber and an electrician.

So the pool guy comes, cleans my pool, leaves the card.

Why do I not just throw it away? It is the hit and mostly miss approach like the 9x12 guys, the coupon booklets, the valpaks or just the landscaper with his own 5x7 card to leave behind with a referral offer, some cash for his current customer.

So I have to be in the market for another service when this is left behind.

As for referrals working, absolutely, which is why Angie's list is one of the first stops millions are going to for reliable referrals.

Now, you've got 7 businesses paying 19.95 a month, you taking in 140 bux per month per area, and you have 350 postcards printed 50 each.

Now you have to contact the 7 businesses, sell them on the benefit of being on one of these drop off cards. If it is free for them, you may find a few who figure one lead pays the monthly fee. Is it month to month or a signed contract for a given length, cause if 2 drop out then you need to print newer postcards.

Imagine you have 5 areas in your town, N, S, E, W and Central city.

7 businesses become 35 unless they get all the areas, and do they pay by the "neighborhood" 19.95 a month per area?

Who mans the phone when someone calls in? And who calls or emails the lead to the business?

Having spent the last two years testing this very niche, let me be candid...

I think you had a better idea a few months back, but gave up on it just a little too soon...the 9x6 with 6 advertisers, and email solicitation...

this idea is going to be a nightmare if you do it, TEST heavily before you invest much time or money into.

Being in this game, not a 10 foot pole away would I consider it,

But good for you for thinking about things

GordonJ

PS. You might want to take a look at what you were doing and see if you can marry it with this one.

Originally Posted by WillyWallace

Hi Gordon- thanks for your input!

Allow me to clarify if I can, with 3 highlights of the program:

1)The business gets something to leave behind to remind customers they were by that day and performed a service. I have a pool cleaner and a landscaper- I wouldn't know if they were at my house unless I saw them. "Thanks for your business!"...that sort of thing.

2)The business can use it as a way to ask for direct referrals.

3)Finally- the customer will see the other non-competing home service businesses listed, along with a discount to try another service(s). "The Best Of NAME OF NEIGHBORHOOD" or whatever tagline I come up with.

There can be anywhere from 5-10 different home service businesses listed...but only one per business category. This is where the cross-referral comes in, as I personally would rather reach out to the window cleaner guy referred by my landscaper, than go out and find one on my own...people like referrals.

There are no ads, although that might be the way to share each business on the card...not sure on that part yet.

I'm sure there are lots of businesses that leave their own referral/we were here card, which I think is good business. But, at least where I live...I have never personally seen any. Lots of small business owners aren't that good at marketing.

If a business gets just ONE referral from the program...they still come out ahead. If $19.95 is the monthly fee to participate, and the landscaper gets ONE new monthly paying customer at ~$100(I pay $190 myself)...why wouldn't they continue to pay the $19.95 ? Or the bug guy at $30-$40 ? Still makes more than he is paying for the program, but now has another customer to get more referrals from, more work down the road, etc.

In regards to running out of postcards- I haven't thought that far ahead as of yet...I literally thought about the idea, then shared it here for input.

Thanks again!

Originally Posted by GordonJ

On a 5x7 postcard there will be 7 listings (splitting the difference with you)

Their listing will have a biz name, but no phone number, people have to call you to get the referral, right so far?

These are leave behind cards alerting the homeowner (if not at home) the service was done, say the pool cleaner.

The 6 other guys could be a carpet cleaner, deck cleaner, roofer, carpenter, plumber and an electrician.

So the pool guy comes, cleans my pool, leaves the card.

Why do I not just throw it away? It is the hit and mostly miss approach like the 9x12 guys, the coupon booklets, the valpaks or just the landscaper with his own 5x7 card to leave behind with a referral offer, some cash for his current customer.

So I have to be in the market for another service when this is left behind.

As for referrals working, absolutely, which is why Angie's list is one of the first stops millions are going to for reliable referrals.

Now, you've got 7 businesses paying 19.95 a month, you taking in 140 bux per month per area, and you have 350 postcards printed 50 each.

Now you have to contact the 7 businesses, sell them on the benefit of being on one of these drop off cards. If it is free for them, you may find a few who figure one lead pays the monthly fee. Is it month to month or a signed contract for a given length, cause if 2 drop out then you need to print newer postcards.

Imagine you have 5 areas in your town, N, S, E, W and Central city.

7 businesses become 35 unless they get all the areas, and do they pay by the "neighborhood" 19.95 a month per area?

Who mans the phone when someone calls in? And who calls or emails the lead to the business?

Having spent the last two years testing this very niche, let me be candid...

I think you had a better idea a few months back, but gave up on it just a little too soon...the 9x6 with 6 advertisers, and email solicitation...

this idea is going to be a nightmare if you do it, TEST heavily before you invest much time or money into.

Being in this game, not a 10 foot pole away would I consider it,

But good for you for thinking about things

GordonJ

PS. You might want to take a look at what you were doing and see if you can marry it with this one.

Thanks again Gordon...I owe you at least a 6 pack for all of your awesome advice/input!

For some reason, every time I get into the "marketing for local business" game...I quickly get out. Then I get back in with another version of the same concept..."marketing for local business". Must be some weird addiction.

I'm going to follow The SumoApp methodology of business ideas...which is to do something manually for free. And if it works- scale it up from there and charge for it.

Something has got to get me out of the corporate world...way too boring!

Originally Posted by WillyWallace

Thanks again Gordon...I owe you at least a 6 pack for all of your awesome advice/input!

For some reason, every time I get into the "marketing for local business" game...I quickly get out. Then I get back in with another version of the same concept..."marketing for local business". Must be some weird addiction.

I'm going to follow The SumoApp methodology of business ideas...which is to do something manually for free. And if it works- scale it up from there and charge for it.

Something has got to get me out of the corporate world...way too boring!

Nothing wrong with the going after the "marketing for local business" niche.

However the last thing you want to do is be dependent on the local business to be the distributor of the marketing piece. Quite frankly they're too unreliable for it. Most of them aren't of the right mindset (not too mention quite often after they've provided a service for you, their hands & appearance is a mess) and they simply aren't the vehicle of distribution you would want.

The big problem I have with many of the "marketing for local business" ideas, including the whole 9x12 thing is that you're going to be putting in one heck of a lot of work for not a lot of return. And that amount of work is a detriment to scaling the thing up.

The other challenge is the low cost of the ads themselves. On any sort of postcard the ads can only be so big which limits the amount you can ask for in exchange for the space.

That's where the penny-saver folks or the Val-Pak folks have a big edge, they can be offering much larger (and more costly) ad space to folks like car-dealers who worth a mint in larger format marketing pieces but aren't a good target for postcard marketers.

Originally Posted by MichaelWinicki

Nothing wrong with the going after the "marketing for local business" niche.

However the last thing you want to do is be dependent on the local business to be the distributor of the marketing piece. Quite frankly they're too unreliable for it. Most of them aren't of the right mindset (not too mention quite often after they've provided a service for you, their hands & appearance is a mess) and they simply aren't the vehicle of distribution you would want.

The big problem I have with many of the "marketing for local business" ideas, including the whole 9x12 thing is that you're going to be putting in one heck of a lot of work for not a lot of return. And that amount of work is a detriment to scaling the thing up.

The other challenge is the low cost of the ads themselves. On any sort of postcard the ads can only be so big which limits the amount you can ask for in exchange for the space.

That's where the penny-saver folks or the Val-Pak folks have a big edge, they can be offering much larger (and more costly) ad space to folks like car-dealers who worth a mint in larger format marketing pieces but aren't a good target for postcard marketers.

I agree 100%...thanks for your input.

I have started and stopped the 9x12 twice since 2012...netting over 5K(2 9x12s and 2 with only 6 ads) with no overhead, no start up costs, and no ongoing costs...working part-time from home...all prospecting done using email and over the phone when requested. Sounds like a dream business, other than the fact that it's hard as heck to scale it up, and when you don't get immediate results- businesses back out of re-upping.

Getting back to your comments about relying on the business to leave behind the card...agreed- not a very smart way to build a business.

Bottom line is that I always fall back on wanting to help local businesses to find new customers. I seem to be able to relate to those guys, even though I have never been in their shoes.

IF I lost my job and needed to feed my family...could I dive in and grow the co op mailer 6 ad business? Absolutely. But dabbling in it on the side makes it too easy to stop, and think about other ways to find new customers.

Originally Posted by WillyWallace

I agree 100%...thanks for your input.

I have started and stopped the 9x12 twice since 2012...netting over 5K(2 9x12s and 2 with only 6 ads) with no overhead, no start up costs, and no ongoing costs...working part-time from home...all prospecting done using email and over the phone when requested. Sounds like a dream business, other than the fact that it's hard as heck to scale it up, and when you don't get immediate results- businesses back out of re-upping.

Getting back to your comments about relying on the business to leave behind the card...agreed- not a very smart way to build a business.

Bottom line is that I always fall back on wanting to help local businesses to find new customers. I seem to be able to relate to those guys, even though I have never been in their shoes.

IF I lost my job and needed to feed my family...could I dive in and grow the co op mailer 6 ad business? Absolutely. But dabbling in it on the side makes it too easy to stop, and think about other ways to find new customers.

You've got a good head on your shoulders Willy.

Originally Posted by MichaelWinicki

You've got a good head on your shoulders Willy.

Thanks bud appreciate the kind words!