Flyers Rule, Newspaper Ads Drool!

[DBM]

It's my first year and you guys were right. Flyers are working very well for me this year (so far 4% response), and I've been able to close on about 30 to 35% of my bids. Newspaper adds on the other hand are bringing out the undesirables - ie. 3 calls from the last ad where they wanted me to cut 8" tall grass, people calling me out only for me to find they thought their contractor was charging them too much (they aren't), cheapskates galore, difficult lawns, and a closing percentage of 15%.
Flyers are much cheaper to boot.

Doug

[corycc]

I very much agree. It is costing me an arm and a leg for my newspaper add, and so far no response. Now my flyers on the other hand. Huge response with a very good rate for new jobs. I guess it is just more personal, it just brings it to their attention better.

[jasonp]

I also agee that you can get some strange calls from some strange people from the newspaper ad. Every once in a blue moon you will get a good one from it, no matter what kind of advertising it will pay for itself. Like I passed out about 500 door hangers and got a call from two, one was wanting a chemical treatment for killing weeds on his lawn which I knew nothing about, but the other wanted simple cutting every other week and hedges trimmed so it payed for itself and then some.

[Southern Lawns]

Flyers are a great way to generate business. You can target areas you would like to work and eliminate areas you don't. Of course most of the competition has the same idea but it sure has worked for me. I make it a Sunday morning ritual, I leave the house about 5:00am (I take the wifes Jeep, has the fold in side mirror). Grab a bunch of flyers, go get a biscuit at Hardees. I target the nicer areas. My success has been with the mid range homes 175k to 250k. Not surprising that a few of the 900k homes I do are the cheapest and most picky. Oh! Sunday morning, less traffic and I can drive on the wrong side of the road and stuff paperboxes and most everyone gets the Sunday paper, I tuck it in with the paper. The last few people to call actually thought it was part of the newspaper. Just thought I'd share that with ya'll.
Raymond

[Randy Scott]

Flyers are pretty good for responses. Actually my most effective type of advertising compared to the phone book or newspaper ads. I don't know about the "driving on the wrong side of the street" though. You said it yourself, "wrong side". Get the wife to drive. We delivered over 5000 and she only brushed up against one paperbox. I was pretty impressed with that. I probably would've hit more being in such a hurry. :)

[Kends]

It's my first year too. I disagree. I hung a 1000 flyers, and ran an add in the local papers. Cost me $180.00 for 4 weeks. It goes in 3 papers that go out on Wed. and Sun. The response from the paper ad is double the flyers.

I have also found that getting jobs this year is a lot of who you know. I started advertising a month ago and have 15 full time accounts...and my phone rings every day.

GOOD LUCK!

ken

[jjfehr]

KENDS
I would rather target my market and get three in the same neighborhood that run a newspaper ad and get six from all over town/county. The good thing about flyers is that if you come accross a lawn that you would not do you can just skip the box and move on the the next

[Scott H]

I have always used flyers and always will.

:eek:

[Southern Lawns]

Randy Scott said:
"I don't know about the "driving on the wrong side of the street" though. You said it yourself, "wrong side". Get the wife to drive."

5 am hence noooo traffic in the neighborhood streets, maybe a squirrel or two but they are ok with it, besides my wife works 50 hours a week outside the home and takes care of all the books for the business. YOU! ask her to wake up at 5 am Sunday morning to deliver flyers :D. I think the chance of a head on collision with another car would be cheaper :rolleyes: and safer.
Actually the wife is a great supporter but she has her hands full. No need to waste 2 man hours on a one man hour job.
Raymond

[DBM]

Kends, just goes to show you how different our markets are. 15 full time accounts from 1 month of advertising is pretty impressive. What's your closing percentage like on these calls? I'd be lucky if I get a 15% closing rate from my newspaper ads.
Keep in mind though that alot of times people will keep your flyers "just in case" they need your services. I'm sure there are others out there that agree with me on this. I change my flyers a little each month so I can trace when they got my flyer. I've gotten a few calls over the last week or so from January flyers (mostly seniors).
My local paper goes to something like 20,000 homes - I get very few quality leads from my ads even though I get probably 10 calls a week from 2 ads.
A much greater number of quality leads come from my flyers.

Where I live:
- 2 ads in the paper cost me $30.00 plus taxes
- 1000 flyers costs me $30.00 plus taxes

Customers obtained with 2 ads - Maybe 2
Customers obtained with 1000 flyers - 12 to 15

My two furthest jobs are 10 minutes away from each other.

I will continue to run my newspaper ads as it's difficult to hand out flyers in our rural areas.

Doug

[LJ lawn]

now for a different viewpoint.i on the other hand have gotten more response out of the newspaper. i have gotten a lot of quality customers from my ad.i have also gotten my share of flakes too.i spent a total of about $600 for advertising last year.i just run a small ad in the local weekly.i also have my required one line ad in the yellowpages that i get with having the business line.i did the flyer thing a few years ago and didn't have any luck.in my town you need a permit to go out and distribute flyers.i found this out the hard way,some paranoid neighbors called the cops on us.i guess it depends on your town.

[Kends]

I already got my phone call from the local post office about flyers in the mail box. I paid my daughter to hang in a couple of areas (I specifically told her no mail boxes) She said she brought one of her girlfriends and she must of done it....TEENAGERS! Must be the reason I'm going bald and grey at the same time.

I'd say about 60% of the calls I get from the paper I land. They aren't all cutting jobs though. I partnered up with a guy that does fert. and areation. I work with him real closley, bid the jobs and make between $10.00 $20.00 per a job he does. He bills me, and I bill the customer. All I do is a little paper work. Keeps me busy for my first year.

Also, the papers I advertise in go to certain towns. There are a couple of towns I don't want to go to. The first question I ask when I get the call is "Where are you located at?" If it's in an area I don't want to go to I just tell them I'm sorry, I didn't think the add went to your town, and I don't service that area. No big deal.

When I go to a job I hang flyers up and down the block. So far, that's worked great in one area. I have 3 housed in a row, and another 1 block away.

Take care,
ken

[David Gretzmier]

I had doorhangers printed up at a printing place and we have good response from neighbors of clients we already do. Yellow pages give us a good volume of calls to "cull" from. dave

[cclllc]

I have never used flyers.To me they invade a persons personal property when you raise their wiper to place a piece of paper on their windshield.I have always either used newspapers or yellowpage ads.My phone is ringing off the hook. Just my 2 cents.But do what works best for you.all areas will have different responses.Good luck.

[jrebeiro]

I never leave flyers in a windshield. I like to follow the mailman so I can dump it in the box with the other mail. I think every call I got was from a flyer that went right in a box. Nobody likes them hanging on the side. I also put them in the newspaper box and shove it in the paper as to give the appearance of being distributed with the paper.

Image is everything :)

[joshua]

ok boys, i have never used a nwespaper but this year i tried fliers, i have gotten about 10 calls from 500 fliers. i put all of them in very nice rich devloments only 3 jobs, man those people are cheap, i get more business from word of mouth to neighbors and are willing to pay what it would take to do a job.
i can't wait to put in the paper degree in horticulture, turf certifaction, and all that good other junk that only a few contractors have in my area. alot of weekend hero's out in my neck right now. only 3 weeks in and 2 or 3 that i have seen before have already hung it up.

[65hoss]

I had good growth last year from both paper and flyers. Both brought me good jobs and bad jobs. If I would not have been in the paper last year I would have missed 2 current customers that have been my biggest champs. These two customers have been responsible for at least 15% of my growth this year.

I put out 400 flyers this year, I got 2 calls from them and they ended up being ridiculous request. I'm sitting at about 50% growth this year and all is due to word of mouth and neighbors watching my work.

If I didn't have a real good base established for word of mouth, I would be doing both. Paper and flyers until the end of spring.