Competitors are destroying my signs!

[malik6075]

Hello Everyone,


I am in New Orleans and the infrastructure is still not back to normal. Many people are still dislocated or living in a trailer parked in their driveway. I purchased 100 yard signs in late May and posted them around the city like many other tradesman are doing to get business.

However, I must have really unprofessional competitiors because they have removed/ "stolen" the majority of my signs. My new customer calls have dropped drastically!! What other advertising can I do for moderate cost!!

Thanks in advance!!

[mcwlandscaping]

doorhangers.....mass mailing(if the mail system is working right there)/.....word of mouth should help you as well

[Dirt Digger2]

i dont know how well mass mailings actually work...the company i work for sent out 5000 postcards/coupons for septic tank pumping...they only got 70 calls back.

[Lynden-Jeff]

Put your signs higher! I bring a latterwith me and put it 9-10 feet off the ground.

Cheers
Jeff

[Freddy_Kruger]

Around here signs are taken by renegade home owners trying to keep their blvds clear of garbage.

[Freddy_Kruger]

i dont know how well mass mailings actually work...the company i work for sent out 5000 postcards/coupons for septic tank pumping...they only got 70 calls back.
Thats pretty good call back, average anyway.

[PROCUT1]

i dont know how well mass mailings actually work...the company i work for sent out 5000 postcards/coupons for septic tank pumping...they only got 70 calls back.

70 calls would be a great response. We're lucky to get 5 calls sending out 5000.

[mjohnson1]

Around here signs are taken by renegade home owners trying to keep their blvds clear of garbage.
same here too

[malik6075]

"5 out of 5000 mail-outs" with the mass mailing effort. Please help me see the pros and cons.

5,000 mail outs times .39 cent per letter = $1,950... you would need to cut plenty lawns to pay for this out of your overhead? (Granted: post card mailing probably is not the full 39 cents..)

What companies do you use to mass mail and how much is it?

Please help!!

[malik6075]

doorhangers.....mass mailing(if the mail system is working right there)/.....word of mouth should help you as well

who do you use for door hangers and mass mailing?

[Poncho25]

I got my door hangers from www.doorhangers.com got 5000 for 189 bucks. I started very late, only in my 3rd week into the business, and handed out 1000 door hangers last week, got 5 year long contracts from them already, and about 3 tire kickers... so its pretty much paid for itself already, I gave some kids in my 20 bucks each for me to drive them around and hand out the 1000, will probably use them for a few other sub-divisions in my area again.

GL

[befnme]

it's prob the sign police . do you have a sign ordinance that you are breaking ?

[Need a Little Trim]

Brutha I operate out of New Orleans myself and I can tell you it probably isn't the competitors. Right after the storm they lifted the ban/ need for a permit for signs to be placed on public right of ways. I set out furious amounts of these signs. After Feb 1st Jefferson and Orleans Parish sent dump trucks out to pick all of these up and a warning that they will cite any other business owners that continued this. More often it is homeowners that pick these up I went and checked all of mine weekly and they were down so I moved locations and tried again. That is all you can do with the signs unless you get permission to put them on your customers lawns. Any questions about the business in our area I will try and answer them for ya man.

[topsites]

Around here signs are taken by renegade home owners trying to keep their blvds clear of garbage.

Yeah, before you assume your signs are taken down by the competition (some likely are), I found out MOST signs are taken down by residents who don't take too kindly to this form of advertising (it's illegal for one thou rarely enforced).

I find the best way to do it is buy HUGE pieces of corrugated plastic, I think you can make 10 or 12 or more signs out of one 14x8 sheet (or however big they are), now the sheets are not cheap but they're a lot cheaper by the sheet than any other way...

That's how I used to do it, cut each sheet into pieces (like 1x2 or whatever you gotta do some math here so you get the most out of each sheet) then I'd make like 50 signs and go out, put out 8-10 in an hour or so, then wait a couple of days, then if I had more time on my hands, put out another 8-10 but go someplace else, always go to another place.

Yes, 90% of the signs will disappear within 24 hours, that is normal.
Just keep putting them up, until you get tired of it (I did, after about the 3rd time out I stopped, I still have a dozen or so signs left, I just couldn't take it anymore). All in all, it still got me more work for the numbers than doorhanging, every 8-10 signs generated several calls, most of a decent quality at that.

[Freddy_Kruger]

HaH!

I bought one of those 4x8 sheets from Home Depot when I had that Idea this spring. I was going to make cheap signs, staple them to stakes. Make a template and spray paint service, price and ph. number. But I Lost my enthisiasm when I got busy plus when I seen some very nice signs of the competition go missing within one day. Now I got that sheet cut in half sitting in the basement, maybe I'll use it for fall.

That sheet cost about $20 CAD but when I had them made professionally with one colour, they were very expensive and they went missing fast. Not sure If I got a single customer...

[Brianslawn]

i dont know how well mass mailings actually work...the company i work for sent out 5000 postcards/coupons for septic tank pumping...they only got 70 calls back.


70??? that would keep a crew busy.

[EMWEB]

Your signs are being pulled up by citizens and the city . . . They did the same to us . . . except they brought them to us and told us next time they would be $75.00 to $100.00 a piece fine . . . It's called litter on a stick law . . . and now being enforced . . .

[Lawn-Scape]

About 10 years ago I was servicing several areas of the westbank just outside of New Orleans. I started using flyers which worked ok, but not that great. Ads in the paper didn't work too well for me either. The best was word of mouth.

Here is what I wanted. I wanted to pull up, park my truck and trailer, and mow as many lawns as possible without moving the truck. So, I offered a deal to my customers to discount their mow, edge and trim cost by 20% if they could help sign up two nearby neighbors. At the time I was billing $40 lawn accounts. 20% was about $8. off. My business really took off in a few areas. Then new accounts wanted the same deal. I remember I had six houses in a row on one side of one street and five on the other in one small neighborhood.

Anyway, be creative. If everyone else is using small signs yours may not stand out. Instead, go see one satisfied customer early in the evening and ask them to introduce you to a few neighbors. They may not signup right away, but they will notice you more, know your name, and take note when you wave, smile, or pick up their paper. It worked for me.

[Dirt Digger2]

70??? that would keep a crew busy.

thats septic pumping though...70 tanks might take 1 truck 20 days...its not year long contracts like mowing grass, thats what i was saying...70 calls back for septic cleaning is low, so i would guess it might even be a lower number for something that requires a contract.

[DBL]

i have no idea where one of our signs in someones front yard went to between monday and today im pissed that its gone

[HVC]

Word of mouth is most popular, Wilma is always going to ask Betty who does this and that.

You can lose business just as fast!

[LALawnboy]

Hello Everyone,


I am in New Orleans and the infrastructure is still not back to normal. Many people are still dislocated or living in a trailer parked in their driveway. I purchased 100 yard signs in late May and posted them around the city like many other tradesman are doing to get business.

However, I must have really unprofessional competitiors because they have removed/ "stolen" the majority of my signs. My new customer calls have dropped drastically!! What other advertising can I do for moderate cost!!

Thanks in advance!!

sorry to hear about your troubles. i'm also in the new orleans area (kenner to be exact), but luckily haven't seen any of this crap. it seems that all the POS have moved back, in addition to all of the alien workers causing trouble. like someone else said, word of mouth is great. i know this sounds redundant, but bust your arse to do a great job, don't worry about how fast you're going. "quality over quantity." hopefully, your customer's neighbors will see this and approach you asking for service. this has been working for me and in addition to going a little bit slower on some of the yards to make them perfect in my eyes, i'm also not wearing down as fast in this heat and humidity. take care and i hope everything works out for you.

todd

[BQLC]

Here in Ms the city is the one removing the signs from the street corners not the competiton. this may be the case there