Working your customer base!

Hi, I've been living and working in the same area for about 13 years now and every year i notice we get more and more referrals and repeat customers. We have been advertising in the yellow pages the whole time which is very expensive. They go up several hundred dollars every single year and after 13 years you can imagine the cost. While i do thank them for helping to build up our business ( we paid for that ) im also getting tired of paying the high cost and am starting to think we could make it ok without it. Referrals mean less kill time running free estimates. Higher rate of return per estimate ran. I'm curious as to what kinds of ways some of you work your customer base to get more referrals. What works well and is worth the cost, time and effort and what's not. I have tried a few different methods recommended by a so called marketing expert but what i found in the end was that we were not getting any more referrals than we would of got without any additional efforts on our part. lol . Im not getting any younger if you can relate and im looking just to make a decent living of it and put a little extra up for a rainy day. Not trying to get rich. Thinking i need to slow down a bit but somewhat afraid we might not have enough work without advertising for new customers to continue growing the customer base. Whats large enough? Whats too small?

OLE Willie Said: Hi, Ive been living and working in the same area for about 13 years now and every year i notice we get more and more referrals and repeat customers. We have been advertising in the yellow pages the whole time which is very expensive. They go up several hundred dollars every single year and after 13 years you can imagine the cost. While i do thank them for helping to build up our business ( we paid for that ) im also getting tired of paying the high cost and am starting to think we could make it ok without it. Referrals mean less kill time running free estimates. Higher rate of return per estimate ran. Im curious as to what kinds of ways some of you work your customer base to get more referrals. What works well and is worth the cost, time and effort and whats not. I have tried a few different methods recommended by a so called marketing expert but what i found in the end was that we were not getting any more referrals than we would of got without any additional efforts on our part. lol . Im not getting any younger if you can relate and im looking just to make a decent living of it and put a little extra up for a rainy day. Not trying to get rich. Thinking i need to slow down a bit but somewhat afraid we might not have enough work without advertising for new customers to continue growing the customer base. Whats large enough? Whats too small?

It might be slow, but those referrals keep on coming. And the web leads are starting to pass them. Just keep being present and doing quality work.

I have to call about 8 folks and tell them I still can't reach them this week. And send out about 3 more proposals I haven't finished writing. I'm tempted to send some to other competitors.

If everyone on each side of this could only see what their reaction to pointing fingers and blame reflects on themselves + everyone or anyone in earshot. A very close and great friend of mine runs a department for a very large and profitable Corp . She is now in the process of shaving personnel from the present staff . Some of these people have worked for this company over 13yrs . We had a conversation at the Pub the other night on what qualifications were needed and did length of employment matter . The major objective for her was to keep the health environment with in the company healthy . The conversation went to the infectious blaming virus . Publicly blaming someone in an organization for a problem -- even if the person is innocent -- exponentially increases the odds that blaming pointing the finger at others will spread with the tenacity of the flu . Disrupting continuity and creativity. Blame creates and atmosphere of fear . The person who constantly blames shows a real insecurity and as stated earlier narcissistic . If the shoe fits ......

You know Jed i know it was you that called me last week. You think i am stupid buddy. I knew it was you all along.

Well along with 16 hour days, a great business model and not having to deal with idiots with green paint on their face that actually can tell the difference between a sales pitch and an honest service dedicated to helping smart people in this trade.

In your other posts on here and other forums when someone questioned or disagreeded with you all you did was call them every name in the book and even e-mailed your insults hence why i've said anything...so dont come on here sounding all innocent makingmoney,but like others have said loose the sales pitch and get REAL!!

Thats what i did in the beginning here with my very first post and since they are all delete-d at this point its hard to back and show you. Then people like Jed Boy and kage had their own opinion. I then posted in the classifieds and that wasnt good enough and that was pulled. I then spoke with the owner of this site Vickie and personally asked for a press packet to place my link and banner on this site for you guys to look at a price of 1k a month charged by the roofer coffee shop which wouldnt of been a problem. Was told i would recieve a press packet and never did. However Vickie is perfectly ok with doing biz with E local roofers and blasting out their services which is really no different than what i do except they charge 4x the price as me when its all said and done. They call you constantly as well because they have a trillion reps that do it for them when it is really just me and my assistant that call each and every company. I started this for roofers only a year ago and 1200 roofing companies across the US are doing this with me. So when its all said and done i was doing great business well before i even came upon this site. I came here to share my knowledge and what i was doing with you guys for one reason, to help you reach out a set of customers that you arent now at a price that cant be beat even if you were to mail out flyers to your local consumers! Those are the facts. And instead of some people asking hey whats this about, basically they assumed that i was a scam without even spaeking to me. The people that have spoken to me and have taken the time to listen to me actually love the business model and some have even signed up with me. Those who dont or dont want to even speak to me or arent interested thats fine too i dont bash anyone for not being interested i bash back when people who have never spoken to me about my site or what im doing procedd to come here and think that they are know it alls and know me and try to dig up dirt on me and my company that has no merit whatsoever and try to ruin it for others and get satisfaction out of it. Bottom line is this roofing forum might be free for everyone to post etc, but it is here for profit and nothing more and anyone who says different is a complete and total idiot. Vickie isnt doing this out of the goodness of her heart, shes doing it for profit in the long run. She lets companies like e local list here because they pay her very well to sign up companies like you who frequent this site. She doesnt care about whether or not you get business from it, as long as her residual checks come in and her monthly ad fees from e local keep coming in. They probably sweetened the deal by asking her to be the exclusive lead genration company that lists on the site. Probably why I didnt get my press packet or the chance to link directly to the site. Why do you think she post on here FREE OPPORTUNITY PLEASE READ!!! POST. GO LOOK AT IT FOR YOURSELF.

Great advice Ole willie We all share a need to make money . We all have businesses . A rule here is if you want to check me out go for it . We can bring our expertise in our fields talk about what we do and how we do it. Money $$$$$ , if you want to join in don't solicit . We want to know who you are . Talk about your services from a working place . Don't be narcissistic . We already know how to contact you . I think it is brilliant . You have the tenacity to stick to a business model when you meet resistant . I wish you all the luck in the world with it . Be who " you " are here . You have much to share .

Hi, Making$$$! I personally don't have a problem with what you are doing for money. I might even be willing to try it someday but not at the present because i have more than enough leads coming in as it is. Getting in more leads than you can have "Professionally" ran by a qualified roofing tech doesn't make you any money at all but it will give you a lot of anxiety. lol Post your advertisement for your services in the proper place and by all means come on the forum and share ( not sale ) with us how things began, how things are coming along and future plans etc.. You could just say if anyone is ever interested check out my ad in the advertising section of the forum.

KAGE im no longer looking for customers on sites like this.... all you have done from day one is try to bad mouth me every where you see me. Now that i have proof of what the real story is now you try to be an innocent bystander.... get a life....my year end 2010 i willl own the nations largets roofing directory and roofing forum. You better come up with a new screen name.

Boy...if i talked to my future customers like makingmoney does,i dont think i would have any..

And by the way all of your info that you get off of sites like ripoffreport and whocallsme .com are run by guys like this. Like i said learn the facts before you blab your mouth.. hgere is the link and read with pleasure.

Come to think of it it kind of looks like JED BOY with hair!!! Beware all!!!!

http://www.reportsripoff.com/edmagedson.php

Hard to make friends when you come in here with good intentions and the local yokels of the forum bash ideas to which they no nothing about and all they do is look for the negative in someones ideas rather than focusing on the positives... Im not looking to help roofing companies take over the world, in fact im looking to help the little guys out there in more ways than just one. I dont need you to tell me how to run a business sir... I was a self made millionare in business by the age of 26 years old. Not looking to boast but those are the facts. I know how to develop relationships but they can only be if there are 2 people who come to a common ground. Its hard to bite my lip when you have people in here who despise what i do and what im about yet the founders of this forum affilate themselves with companies just like me!!!!! Sorry ole willie you might not be interested and thats your right and thats fine but the facts are that there are people out there that are and my point is they should have the right to choose for themselves. You cant get referrals without having the base to do so my friend.

Sorry dude but i don't think your ranting is going to get me more referrals! I get plenty as it is without any further efforts beyond being professional,doing a great job and providing excellent service after the sale. If i was trying to overtake the roofing world then im pretty sure i would be interested in your service and a lot of others. But im not. I do VERY well as is. P.S. If you really want to make money and have a long lasting business then i think you need to learn that its all about relationships. As in making friends! Which is all i think Jed preferred you do first before you just jump in here trying to make money for yourself on a roofers forum that is not for advertising your service. Not in this area of the site its not. As far as YOU getting referrals, you are off to a miserable start. At this rate you will be your own worst enemy. Good Luck!

And i suggest that if you are that smart Jed boy or any one of you in here to get on the phone and call every company in america that has a sponsored link wioth google or any search engine and tell them how stupid they are. Im sure they would love to hear how you can do it better. For all of your bashing of my ideas i havent heard one comment on how you would do it better than i have....

Keep in mind my company and my propursuit model is only 1 year old. 1200 companies nationwide is a great start and i will only be getting bigger no matter what you or anyone else says on here because i back up what i say.

And if you want the truth, i was willing to pay the 1,000 a month to get my name out on this site but my calls were never returned for a press packet. Now i see that i saved myself some money too considering hardly any traffic comes here and for the most part roofing companies that are truly busy and want more work dont spend their time here because they are out making money!!!!! I am also in the process of starting a brand new roofing forum that will surpass the rankings of sites like this and it will be complete by fall of 2010. It is my mission now in learning how these forums are created and how they work to build the ultimate roofing forum/company directory in the US by this time next year. Good luck.

P.S I will also be the Admin of the forum so i can delete- posts and block people that i presume to not agree with. Forget about freedom of speech or fair trade or having an open mind and sharing ideas for which the forum itself was intended for. If I dont like it, it will be banned. Sound Familiar? NRG huh? Who gives a rats ass about NRG? Invite only? Sounds like a major sausage party. Count me out Jed boy, i dont swing a hammer that way.