Marketing Idea (using my go-cart)

[outrunjason]

Ok this is going to sound crazy but I have been known to do risky things.

Here it is. For the longest time I put out my own flyers on doors. Took a lot of time and a lot of work. As I got larger I hired a company to do it one year. It cost me greatly and I didn't get that great of a response. But last year I used my employees to put out flyers.

This didn't really save me money but at the same time it kept them busy on days we were not full. Only problem was they just can't walk 4 and sometimes 8 hours a day it is a lot of work.

So, here is my idea for this year. I thought I would put out most of the flyers and here is how I would do it. I saw a real estate company do this. The took a small American Flag and put a flyer on it and put it in the ground like right at the walkway near the sidewalk.

I thought hmm. What an idea. Well what I would like to do is the same thing. Here is the crazy part. I would use my go cart!! Yeah I know it is illegal but I don't care. I could get streets done in the same amount of time it would take 2 guys at 10 bucks an hour. I would just pull up to the house stick the flag in the ground and move to the next house. The go-cart is small it's not loud. Chances of getting caught are small.

So, I would save a lot of money in the sense of having to pay all those employees but I have not looked to see how much the flags are or how hard it would be to attach my flyer to it. At any rate that was my idea. What do you think. :usflag:

[grass disaster]

if i had a cement driveway and u came buzzing up in your go cart and stuck something in my lawn turned around and made rubber marks with your tires. i would get out my shotgun and start spraying.

[outrunjason]

LOL. :) It sounds worse then it really is. Here in the city kids cruise around on those gas powered scooters, pocket rockets etc. I would be on the sidewalk in the middle of the day. Most people are not home. All the driveways are in the back. I could do 10 houses in about a minute. If the police come I will just have to get away and top the thing out at 21mph :)

[topsites]

No, if you get caught you better hope the officer lets you off with a warning...

Nothing short of thinking of drinking and driving, for starters it isn't safe.

We're talking unlicensed / unregistered, improper lights (this alone can expand into no headlights, no tail lights, no turn signals, no back up lights), seat belt violation, no horn, improper brakes, too low to the ground, no catalytic, and I haven't even warmed up, the list of violations is endless for an offroad vehicle.

Some friends of mine got caught years ago, the officer was in a good mood because they were kids, he let them off with a tow, had the cart towed and took them home to face the parents, they had to pay for that but that was lucky!

You catch an officer on a bad day he can write you tickets until he runs out of paper or ink, I am serious.
Think you can outrun the police, that's just more bad news waiting to happen.
What if he catches you anyhow, then it's attempting to elude police, might as well go for reckless driving now.
Which, even if you're just putt-putting along and stop for the police, he could still charge you for reckless.
At the very least it will cost you 100, on a bad day thousands, russian roulette they can even throw you in jail, for real.

Just use your car, we used to do 180 flyers an hour that way, you won't get much more out of it anyhow, not legally.

[bohiaa]

I would NEVER advise someone to do somethine illegal

[JimmyStew]

Yeah I know it is illegal but I don't care.

What do you think. :usflag:

There's your answer right there!

[the.hines]

If the police come I will just have to get away and top the thing out at 21mph :)

Don't you think that they would know who you are if they call the number???

I don't think it is a smart move...:dizzy::confused:

[outrunjason]

Ok forget about whether it is legal or not. Also I have been advertising for the longest time. People call in on my guys all the time. Officers could care less. A go-cart would be a different story but seriously they would let me go. (shhh my dad is a cop!) What I really need is a segway. Those are legal on the sidewalk last I heard.

Would the flag in the yard make you mad stuff like that is what I want to know. Would this save time etc. My guys get tired of walking after just 4 hours and I don't blame them. I could go out there and do what they do in half the time doing it this way.

[Runner]

Nevermind the scooter, or go-cart, or whatever on the sidewalks or streets. If you are willing to exploit and use our flag for your advertising purposes - especially at this time when we have real men withOUT scooters dying for that flag everyday, I would confiscate ALL your stuff just on principle itself.

[SOUTHERNGREENSCAPES]

If He Was Only Older Than 15 Maybe We Could Suggest Seeing Your Local Recruiter So That You Would Have A Greater Respect For Your Nations Flag And What It Takes To Maintain It.

[outrunjason]

Ok I don't want to get into a pissing match. You either like it or you don't.

Here in Dallas people advertise with the American flag. I have seen it done but I also don't know how people felt about that. You would see streets lined with it. So, don't label me as the bad guy!

What about the guys that are low ballers, use illegals, put flyers in mail boxes, use tape to put there cards on the doors... they don't give our business a bad name??? But me using an American flag with a flyer on it is worse? I guess if I mail a stamp with a flag on it that is bad to.

[PROCUT1]

Ok I don't want to get into a pissing match. You either like it or you don't.

Here in Dallas people advertise with the American flag. I have seen it done but I also don't know how people felt about that. You would see streets lined with it. So, don't label me as the bad guy!

What about the guys that are low ballers, use illegals, put flyers in mail boxes, use tape to put there cards on the doors... they don't give our business a bad name??? But me using an American flag with a flyer on it is worse? I guess if I mail a stamp with a flag on it that is bad to.

If you do a cost analysis. It is cheaper to use direct bulk mail.

[outrunjason]

If He Was Only Older Than 15 Maybe We Could Suggest Seeing Your Local Recruiter So That You Would Have A Greater Respect For Your Nations Flag And What It Takes To Maintain It.

The flag idea came to me as that is what the real estate companies were doing last year. It does not have to be a freakin flag. My goal is to dominate the neighborhoods with my flyers, faster and quicker than the other guys and at the same time save money. This brainstorming turned into an american flag thing. Forget the flag. It could be a stick for all I care.

[outrunjason]

If you do a cost analysis. It is cheaper to use direct bulk mail.

I have done direct mail along with door to door and for me the door flyers were a much better turn around. Out of 10,000 direct mails I got 14 calls. That was bad. However on the flip side the same year just 5,000 flyers gave me 60 calls. After 60 I gave up as my sheet to keep track didn't even go that high. Also for the direct mail the customers were a lot more picky. I don't even think I still have any of them signed up from several years ago.

I have not advertised with direct mail in a while but thats what I have gotten here when I tried it. I know also that here door to door is the way to go. I know that I collect an average of 150 different companies each year that advertise door to door.

[topsites]

Here's my thing:
I used to think I had to give a good price, that I had to price things at a cut throat level to get enough work.
My first 4 years I did things like that, man I can price within that margin like a King, and sure enough I was super busy.
It got to a point thou, wow, I was always working, never in those 4 years did I hit 30g, not once.

It finally blew my top not so much because I always had to do the maintenance for free, but one time on a real ball buster of a job one of my machines crapped out good... I had no choice, it was major, take it to the dealer to fix: 500 dollars!
After that I was like...

So I said f'it, and for the past 2 years solid I put my prices where I want them.
Within a slim margin of reason I get what I ask for or I stay home, I've priced crap at $100 an hour and got it LOL!
Sure, most say no, and also 50-60 an hour is more like it.

I have never had it easier, I still work, but I also stay home a lot.

You know that saying about those Lco's what good does their Ztr do sitting in the garage?
That's me! After 1.5 season my Z has almost 100 hours on it.
And you know what?
Each one of those 2 years I grossed 5 thousand dollars MORE than when I priced things low enough to be busy every single day!
I grossed 26g for 2007, that blew, but it's still 5g MORE than the last time we had a drought, and I worked a LOT less this time!

Yes sir, less work for more money, you should try it, it's a great concept.

Now...
Would I get upset at your using the American flag to advertise?
Why you can wipe your butt with it for all I care, personally I don't recommend you show such disrespect, but that is your choice.
I'm all for the patriotism aspect, but again what you do with your flag(s) is up to you, I just don't recommend it.

Would I care about you zipping around my cul-de-sac in a go-cart plopping down ads?
No, but more because there's not much I can do to stop you once you get going, second I don't like getting involved with the police, last but not least I can not recommend you do something illegal.

And I also don't think you'd attract high grade customers.

[Runner]

Ok....going through all the effort - designing a flyer, printing it up, and then all the work of distributing, one major aspect to consider is the appeal and attention it gets from potential customers. This ca make not a super significant difference in the amount of calls you get, but it CAN make some....well worth the extra effort if you are going through all this anyway. One good idea, is start with one,...post it on here, and get some opinions. Many people viewing it can certainly give you some good insight - especially from an "outside" perspective. you can do alot of dialing in with alot of different ideas, then. That is one of the benefits of this site - is help from so many angles.
Also, I have given alot of marketing advice on here before regarding flyers, letters, brochures, etc.. One of the key ingredients that I ALWAYS stress in designing a flyer, is to give something of VALUE. Don't make the oh so common mistake of just printing a flyer saying "here we are, here is what we do". You have to give this flyer some sort of VALUE...make it worth something. Ask yourself this; Would you hold on to and take care of an piece of paper ad that said "Hey,..we do this service or sell this product", or would you be more likely to hold on to an ad that is worth the equivalent of a 10 dollar bill? Now, this is just an example of amounts, but the point is, if you print something like "10% off (some operation) with this ad", or better yet, print it as an actual coupon (with dotted lines) on it, THIS then becomes a material thing....something they can actually hold, that has cash value. People respond to this better. This is the type of thing that give them incentive to keep and to save your flyer around OVER OTHERS, rather than just discard it as another piece of trash left in their door.
I hope this helps.

[outrunjason]

Here's my thing:
I used to think I had to give a good price, that I had to price things at a cut throat level to get enough work.
My first 4 years I did things like that, man I can price within that margin like a King, and sure enough I was super busy.
It got to a point thou, wow, I was always working, never in those 4 years did I hit 30g, not once.

It finally blew my top not so much because I always had to do the maintenance for free, but one time on a real ball buster of a job one of my machines crapped out good... I had no choice, it was major, take it to the dealer to fix: 500 dollars!
After that I was like...

So I said f'it, and for the past 2 years solid I put my prices where I want them.
Within a slim margin of reason I get what I ask for or I stay home, I've priced crap at $100 an hour and got it LOL!
Sure, most say no, and also 50-60 an hour is more like it.

I have never had it easier, I still work, but I also stay home a lot.

You know that saying about those Lco's what good does their Ztr do sitting in the garage?
That's me! After 1.5 season my Z has almost 100 hours on it.
And you know what?
Each one of those 2 years I grossed 5 thousand dollars MORE than when I priced things low enough to be busy every single day!
I grossed 26g for 2007, that blew, but it's still 5g MORE than the last time we had a drought, and I worked a LOT less this time!

Yes sir, less work for more money, you should try it, it's a great concept.

Now...
Would I get upset at your using the American flag to advertise?
Why you can wipe your butt with it for all I care, personally I don't recommend you show such disrespect, but that is your choice.
I'm all for the patriotism aspect, but again what you do with your flag(s) is up to you, I just don't recommend it.

Would I care about you zipping around my cul-de-sac in a go-cart plopping down ads?
No, but more because there's not much I can do to stop you once you get going, second I don't like getting involved with the police, last but not least I can not recommend you do something illegal.

And I also don't think you'd attract high grade customers.

Good Post. I do agree actually about the flag. It's just the only thing that I have seen people doing. It was even on the news.

But rather then treading across lawns all day it is just really fast to move from house to house on a go cart on the side walk. The streets have 200 plus houses on them. They are long streets. It would just be so easy. You wouldn't even know I was there as I would be gone before you could look out the window.

I don't think it would attract a low ball customer because either way my flyer would be on there door or near the entrance. I am still pondering the idea. Someone just sent me a pm earlier and said they were thinking of doing the same thing. I hope that not all the companies catch on to my idea.

[outrunjason]

Wow!!!

Well after asking on here I bravely got out there and put out only 100 fliers. It took me 40 minutes from the time I started and stopped the go-car to put out 100 fliers. It would have gone even faster if I had gotten the hang of it better.

But all I have to say is wow. I got 4 calls the NEXT DAY. I scheduled all the estimates on the same day and did the work on the 4 houses within 3 days. 4 clean-ups and 3 signed up for service for the year. One customer wants to wait a few more weeks before signing up.

However I am not putting out anymore fliers this way because I have the money to put out the fliers now. But when I didn't man 100 fliers sure did pay off. I am guessing that instead of just throwing them away they see a flag in their yard with a nice green flier on it and think what is this. They don't just trash it. So anyway it turned out good.

[rmmllc]

Forget the legality- the kid in me says that sounds like fun. OK, now the adult in me- you know your area and should have a feel for what the law enforcement and public opinion is about what you are doing- around here no one would care.
I'm doing door hangers with a bid sheet right on it so I can leave it if they aren't home, or talk to them if they are. I will target specific neighborhoods to group customers together and cut down on travel time. So I don't plan on mass marketing (1000's)- only about 2500 door hangers, and probably won't use that many. Also having a girl call prior clients (from aerating and other 1-time deals) and ask if they want full service, and while she is at it (got this idea from someone here) she'll ask if they know of anyone else who could use our services (maybe offer a discount if they refer someone who signs up).
Good luck.

[GCLC]

First, you guys need get off his case about the flag. It may not be the most tactful thing I guess, but the fact that he has the right to use it is part of what makes this country so great. I absolutely agree that the flag deserves respect. And honestly, I don't think his plan would be disrespectful.

Before you start on me, I spent 12 years in the military and I fully understand what it takes to keep the flag flying.

OK, now to the actual question. I'm glad to see that you got some calls from the 100 you put out. I'm surprised too. I don't really like getting door hangers because they blow off and wind up on the porch or in the yard, and I sure wouldn't like someone sticking some kind of flag or anything else in my yard.

[rmmllc]

First, you guys need get off his case about the flag. It may not be the most tactful thing I guess, but the fact that he has the right to use it is part of what makes this country so great. I absolutely agree that the flag deserves respect. And honestly, I don't think his plan would be disrespectful.

Before you start on me, I spent 12 years in the military and I fully understand what it takes to keep the flag flying.

OK, now to the actual question. I'm glad to see that you got some calls from the 100 you put out. I'm surprised too. I don't really like getting door hangers because they blow off and wind up on the porch or in the yard, and I sure wouldn't like someone sticking some kind of flag or anything else in my yard.
Thanks for your military service GCLC.