so heres how it went… 2 weeks past, 5000 postcards, $1200.00 spent, 2 calls, 1 job for $380.00 complete(definitely returing customer, one for $500.00 next spring(if she goes). All homes around 100+k income and 250+ home value. Good areas
It was my first run, ever, thought i did it right… any advice?
Uhhh
http://windowcleaner.com/vBulletin/marketing-advertising-sales/16089-pretty-excited.html
Direct mail is a tricky thing, there is so many variables, its hard to figure out exactly that the problem was unless you’ve been doing it awhile…
-time of year
-offer
-postcard template
-areas hit
-target customer (what are they looking for)
-economy (sucks right now)
these are all huge factors.
Note: I am no direct mail expert, these are just my experiences.
From all I’ve read, repetition is important. Adjust the offer maybe and keep doing it till you find what works. Time of year may be an issue if you in a colder climate. I am also not an expert.
Lot’s of things go into a successful direct mail campaign.
How many campaigns have you done before?
Do the postcards look similar?
Are you sending to an area that already knows your company?
What are your offers?
Is this typically a busy time of year for you?
Take this post over to the WCRA forum and I’ll give you some input.
very good advice, thank you. Im still going to put alot in to it this comming spring, i know getting it figured out takes time, thanks again
My question tho: am i still not being patient enough? I have a good 2-3 maybe 4 weeks left in my season till i move to snow removal… i guess like i said in the other post, i assumed results would be almost immediate
Did you send the 90k yet?
Hey, we need to have you and Chris do a WCRA direct mail webinar. that would be great
Yeah we sent it. Its been nuts. Need to add some phone lines – people have been complaining about not getting through.
I think Chris is more the guy to talk to about it. 
I sent 1000 2 weeks ago and did get one call. I didnt received one in my house either. I am almost sure that they are still in the post office(garbage)
Nice waste of money
I will try again next spring for sure
Well apparently 1) we’ll need to wait until January for Matt to do ANYTHING other than clean windows. and 2) if Chris sets it up, he’s in, since he didn’t say otherwise!
why don’t you post your card on the wcra and get some feedback
Do you really think he needs to post it on wcra…?
I am sure he would could get a good feed back on WCR…
my suggestion is to pick a budget amount you can work with each month (or your season length) and stick with that.
then try different things based on the feedback you are getting
compounded feedback over time will make a huge difference
keep tweaking something on each mailing until you find something that is working consistently
if nothing is sent out, nothing is learned to try for the next round, look at it as a long term committment, thus pick a $ amount you can afford (invest) regularly
view the monthly budget the same as a phone book ad, display ad or anything else paid for monthly
Keep in mind, franchises want 3%+ for marketing fees, you could see what percentage you are spending of your monthly revenue on marketing and advertising and go from there
it is a journey you can always improve on, if there was only one right answer everyone would know it, instead we all have to craft our own best answers. At least we have a [B]massive[/B] head start with templates etc to cut to the chase of our own individual tweaking to arrive at our best answer.
Keep at it, is my advice
yes i do think the wcra would be better, the pro’s (i’m not one of them) put some good info out on the wcra, which is why I joined.
I’ve sent out about 1500 nicely appointed oversized postcards. They are done well, articulate my services and offers…link to my website and offer senior discounts. I targeted my area nicely and in the end have gotten 3 phone calls, with two jobs. I’ve done it twice so far with really bad results. I’m no expert at all and thought logic and nice post cards would do the trick in the neighborhood I targeted. So far the best thing for me has been Google Ad-words. It’s expensive as hell, but I make the money back pretty easily. I wish the post cards would work, but then I think about what I do when I get post cards. I look at them for a second…offer up a curse word under my breath and throw it away.
I will follow this and similar threads because I haven’t given up, I just haven’t made my money back yet!
[QUOTE=Eric Johnson;155226]I’ve sent out about 1500 nicely appointed oversized postcards. They are done well, articulate my services and offers…link to my website and offer senior discounts. I targeted my area nicely and in the end have gotten 3 phone calls, with two jobs. I’ve done it twice so far with really bad results. I’m no expert at all and thought logic and nice post cards would do the trick in the neighborhood I targeted. So far the best thing for me has been Google Ad-words. It’s expensive as hell, but I make the money back pretty easily. I wish the post cards would work, but then I think about what I do when I get post cards. I look at them for a second…offer up a curse word under my breath and throw it away.
Ad words has been great for me too- ice dams should be even better. To stick to the topic, as Bruce and the others have said, its figuring it out, i definitely will leave % off services out of my next flyer. I am also definitely still at it, bruce, i also like the budget idea, didnt think of that or the 3%.
Dave how long have you been in business? I ask that because it seems like the longer I am in business the more business I get. I truly believe the more you are in front of your clients the better. I once did a 25000 piece shotgun blast and received 40 calls. It totally killed my budget for that year. Since then I have did smaller blast to some customers and had better luck. I believe it because they trust me and know I will be around tomorrow. I do direct mail, website, full wrapped truck, magazines, door hangers, bandit signs, bbb, local orgs, network meeting, facebook, I ask my clients for referral’s and couple more things I don’t wanna pass along. It works but takes time…Don’t give up Dave
I think I seen where you are from minnesota…Mike Hilborn from roof to deck does a lot of direct mail. plus a lot of what i said above. I think his company gross’s about 3.5 a year. Service , Systems, marketing and time… It will happen!!!
Exactly =)
This is year one. I am using every element of marketing i can come up with, including what you listed and its going great. Marketing is really my favorite part of owning my business. I have heard of roof to deck, but honestly… didnt know they did windows. All of your advice is great, along wit eveyone who has posted, i was just talkng to my girlfriend last night about how grea this site is and how id sign up again ten times this year if i had to. THanks again guys.
