Advertising...fast start, strange town

[SprinklerGuy]

Okay...I am ready to get going here in colorado...limited budget for my first round of advertising. I want to get some clients for Winterizing their systems. This is between 3 weeks and 5 weeks away from happening due to our weather...maybe a bit longer, neverthe less...I need a plan. Here is what I thought I'd do.

Call all the landscape maintenance companies in the phone book and however else I can get their number and tell them who I am. In Arizona, we specialize in working for the landscape maintenance companies. 70% of our clients came to us through their landscaper. I would like the same to be true in Colorado...but I am new here so I need to pound the phones?

I was considering buying a mailing list in the areas that I am interested. I drove those areas yesterday....gates and long walks between homes really prevent any sort of door hanger work.

I am considering publishing a 'COLORADO' version of my quarterly newsletter and mailing it to this list. Will be better than some stupid flyer I suppose.

Most bang for your buck? remember, the door hangers are not going to work well. Phone calls are free?

[Team Gopher]

Hi SprinklerGuy,

All of those ideas sound great. You will never know which one will work best until you try them. Let us know which you found worked best for you.

[jerryrwm]

If you can access your County Appraisal District web site, you can get a list of the names and addresses of the people who own the houses. Very little work in the evenings to put together a select mailing list of a targeted neighborhood. Then print it on the label paper, put your newsletter or flyer and send it a bit more personalized.

I used this for spring irrigation start-ups and sent out about 150 letters to a test neighborhood. Picked up 25 spring starts, and now have customers who call me for regular service also. Total cost was around $75.00 plus my time. Revenue from services rendered - over $2000.00. Not counting additional repair and rennovation work.

It might not have been as fast as a direct marketing company, but I chose the area that i wanted, and the number that I wanted. Didn't have to pay for a bunch of flyers that went to neighborhoods that I didn't want work in.

Nxt mailing will be for annual backflow testing. The city sends out a list of certified testers when they send out the renewal notification. I want to get my name in their face earlier than that, so that when it does come time, they have an idea of who to call.

Backflow testing and spring start-ups are a natural mix. Now mind you spring start ups in Corpus Christi, Texas are nothing more than turning the system back on if they shut it off, or plugging the controller back in. Then do a walk-thru and adjust the spray pattern of any heads that are out of whack, and then reset the controller for spring watering. Any broken heads etc are additional.

So, residential spring start-up $65.00, annual backflow test $65.00. If both are done on the same visit - $115.00. Any additional work needed such as broken heads, lateral leaks etc. are time plus materials.

Just thought I'd throw that in. But the main thurst was to tell about the County Tax Auditor and the Appraisal District.

Jerry

[DanaMac]

Tony - to make things easy with the county assessors office, here is the link

http://www.land.elpasoco.com/

I use it as well. I know you were thinking of the subdivisions out east. Try Broadmoor Bluffs, Broadmoor Heights, Stratmmor Preserve, Skyway, Upper Skyway, Cheyenne Meadows, Cheyenne Hills, Cedar Heights (big dollar homes, gated community west of Garden of the Gods). All those are 80906 except Cedar Heights 80904.