So I put up a .jpeg of the flier that I designed myself at Office Max and have been putting out over the last couple of months or so. It’s 8 1/2" x 7" after printing it twice on a Legal sized paper, then cutting it in half. I put out a thousand, tweaked the pricing, wording, and design a little bit, then put out another thousand. Everyone I know says it’s a great looking flier, including some local wc guys that I’ve befriended here in Scottsdale. The thing is, I’ve only gotten FIVE CUSTOMERS off of it!! (those five were the only ones that called, which puts my closing ratio at 100%, just to be clear). I know the response rate of flyers should be around 1%-2%, maybe even as low as 0.5% for a first time run, but 0.25%?? What gives?
My question to you all on here is what am I doing right? What am I doing wrong? What can be improved? Now, I know that I do not have an expiration date for a call to action but honestly, it takes me like a week to put out a thousand (200/day takes about 3 to 4 hours on foot at which point I burn out) and I don’t want the deal to expire by the time I get them all out, you know?
Just some preliminary information: My pricing is based on $6/pane ($12 for a DH) but conceal it within a square footage based on what I’ve seen in my area. The prices may look low, but I assure you I’m pulling in about $65-$75/hour.
Should I put prices in print or does talking about money from the get-go depress the perceived value of my brand/business and service?
Should I just put bullet points about my company and our value propositions as opposed to the “Square Footage” deals in the squares?
If you could design a flier from scratch, what would you include?
Are fliers dead? Are door hangers more effective? EDDM is eventually how I want to market my company but from a financial standpoint, it’s just too expensive so I’m stuck with these methods.
Would you be willing to share effective fliers that you have used in the past or are currently using?
Any constructive criticism and suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
My original flier had a deal like that but I decided to go by square footage because you can put “X-amount of windows” for a certain price but everyone is going to have a different opinion as to what constitutes a “window”. So I’d rather just give a general idea for starting price points that correspond to how big their house is.
Also, I do not include screens anymore because some homes here in AZ have literally dozens of them that can become very time consuming to detach, let a lone clean them and reinstall. Therefore I charge $1.50 per screen to remove and another $1.50 to clean it, if that’s what they want (I just don’t break it down like that for the customer).
I would definitely loose the % off coupon.Ive found you get a much better response off of a $ amount as opposed to a % off for services.
Also think about loosing the sqft. pricing. A lot of people dont understand that concept. The small, medium, large is great. Id say let them tell you weather their house is S,M,L then ask fro their address when they inquire and just confirm on google/bing.
Flyers are still and imo will always be a great way to generate work, especially in the spring as a lot of customers are looking for our service.
No worries, Steve. Was just letting ya know that I had already gone that route. Sorry if what I said came off as curt or rude Thanks for the input, as always!
Thanks for the suggestions, Dave. You’re the second person to suggest doing a “Dollar-amount Off” deal as opposed to a percentage so I think I just may go that route the next time around. Gotta get the rest of what I have on hand off before implementing those changes and getting some more printed though… Thanks again!
Another good way I find to generate productive leads is to do what I call the T method of canvassing. - After I’ve done a job, I will pop and say hi to the neighbors next door to and opposite the house that I have just done. If they aren’t home then leave a flyer/card/whatever and call by within the next few days. Explain to them what you’ve done to the neighbors house and happy they are, and how happy I would be to do their windows in the next few days. You could also do the next few houses either side and opposite if you have time but use the good work you’ve put in to one house to good use and get the neighbors wanting your help to keep up with the Joneses. Hope it helps.
Thanks for the input, as always!
