How do you find a service company?

[lawnguy]

As you can see by my username, I'm in the service industry. I was recently talking to lady who owns a cleaning business, and we were wondering about how people choose a business to hire. Do the Yellow Pages motivate you to call? Do you read the coupons in the mail?

I have tracked my companies estimates for years, and most originate in the Yellow Pages, followed by personal referrals. Among those, the personal referrals have a much higher closing rate.

Would be interested in your thoughts on this subject.

[GSlob]

Well, referrals of course - referral comes from someone you know and whose opinion ans judgment you [more or less] trust - while Yellow pages acceptance standards are essentially unknown.

[DouglasKC]

Great question. In the past I would usually pick a service company based on the size of the yellow page ad. Now though I own a window cleaning company and wouldn't do anything except by referral.

[A knight without armor]

I have become jaded with the yellow pages and I've been very disappointed with personal referrals, too. Beginning a few years ago I go on my own observation. Like if I see Lawnguy's Lawn Service trunk in in front of a couple houses, I'd give them a try. I found great movers and pest control and internet service just from seeing their trucks. For services that are not so out there, I admit I'm influenced by radio ads. Much more so than by TV ads. I don't even look at mail fliers before I trash them.

[dhuffman@awod.com]

First it must be a service that I am incapable of performing, either physically or financially, then it will be entirely 100% personal recommendation. As far as I am concerned, ad copy/marketing, is a lie from first to last word. After nearly sixty years of 'new and improved' pasted on the same old crap that costs ever more, whaddya expect?

I ain't gonna pay someone to mow my lawn or clean my house!

[Xenalyte]

Personal referrals are all I use.

[trimom]

I use personal referrals and I have knocked on doors where I have seen work done to get them!

[End Times Sentinel]

I see I'm the first one here to say this, but I try to do and find everyting via the internet.  Something like a lawn service, well, most people probably wouldn't start there, but it's always the first place I look.  Usually, with something like plumbers or roofers, I end up actually FINDING them elsewhere, but if they were on the net, I'd have gone to them first.

That being said, I've recently hired several service companies for home improvements and went to all of them because they advertise on the radio station I listen to (WNPT, Salem Communications Bennett/Ingraham/Prager/Medved/etc.)  If they're willing to support a product I enjoy, then I'm willing to support them in their endevors.

Owl_Eagle

(If what I just wrote makes you sad or angry,

 it was probably sarcasm)

[HomeFree]

Gotta agree with "Knight without Armor" here. Personal referrals or maybe seeing the truck in the neighborhood (preferrably several times) will sell every time. Sometimes I use yellow pages, but only if I am really sold on their ad - that is, they have a large (at least 1/8 page) eye-catching ad that spells out what exactly they do.

[jigsaw]

A very interesting question.....

I try to use personal referrals with the Yellow Pages as a back-up.

If I'm interested in a specific company, I check to see if it has a website, and if it does and it's a clean, informative, well-functioning site, even if it's small, that's a plus.

Several days ago I checked one small local company's website and the owner and top management was each listed with title, responsibilities, years with the company, and email address. It was very impressive. I called them.

I also check the Better Business Bureau website for any company I'm interested in using. I prefer companies listed there and have sometimes uncovered companies that had poor histories.

Finally, when I see a company (even a tiny one) that maintains its trucks and equipment well and its employees wear shirts identifying themselves, they go on my list of potentials.

[wolfcreek]

Using the phone book for advertising is too expensive. Putting out fliers or simply going door to door seems a waste of time. Referals are great if they produce enough results.

I've been self-employeed in my own window cleaning business for 22 yrs. and I find the best way to get jobs is to have people see you actually doing the work. I must admit, 22 yrs. ago, I bought an existing company from an individual who owned a cleaning company and found the additional job of cleaning windows, too much work.

[jigsaw]

Owl_Eagle makes a good point. I try to hire tradesmen that advertise in the very small, local, very Conservative paper. That's been a home run everytime.

[SE Mom]

Referrals are first choice- unless it's for something obscure- then I'll go online or the yellow pages.

[MRMEAN]

For regular services, I'm not in the market that often because if I getting adequate service, I almost never change. When I do need a service I first think if anyone of my own clients can provide it.

After that it could be a referral or I'll if they have a storefront I might check it out...after that it's an Internet search, Anywho.com or Superpagers.com. After that it might be the local weekly advertiser, or the Yellow Pages.

My brother built a pretty decent service business that specialized in a form of kitchen remodeling, so there was almost no repeat business...he had some good referrals, but most of the business was from leads from Marriage Mail/ADVO or Valpak inserts. The response rate was low but he could cover a large area, and the cost of each piece was very low.

Obviously radio, TV, and newspapers work for a lot of local firms, but those media require a large enough business scale and geographic scope to be cost effective. I'm working on a very local direct mail piece which will have a pretty high cost per piece, but I can keep it very local, which for me means the most likely customers.

[Emmett McCarthy]

I almost posted almost the very same kind of question here today myself. I sell and install kitchen and bath countertops. I know there's a good market for it since I've been doing it for years. I had one excellent source of referrals at a local kitchen and bath showroom, but that company changed ownership and the new guy just doesn't seem to understand the business. No Saturday hours, for example, which doesn't make sense to me. I've always gotten referrals from individual customers - and a lot of repeat business, but it's not enough. I need to replace the phone calls I used to get because of the showroom referrals. I have one nice 1/4 page ad in a local magazine, but it hasn't produced much of anything for the $750 it cost me. I do use yard signs and they do get some results, but not enough. So, I pretty much have the same question: where to put my limited advertising dollars?

[lawnguy]

I have one nice 1/4 page ad in a local magazine, but it hasn't produced much of anything for the $750 it cost me. I do use yard signs and they do get some results, but not enough. So, I pretty much have the same question: where to put my limited advertising dollars?

This is kind of what started the original conversation I had with the cleaning lady. One of the posters said that they consider all marketing lies, and I'm wondering if that view is more or less prevalent.

I have noticed a generational divide in the way customers react to good or bad service. The older folks expect it and let you know if it's not correct. Many of the younger ones seem less likely to complain, but also less loyal.

I also wonder the effect of immigrant labor in so many of these industries. I don't have any hispanics working for me, but I'm the only company I know of around here who doesn't. The cleaning lady uses hispanic employees, but tryies to keep an english speaker on the crew.

[beaureguard]

Use referrals and then the Yellow Pages.

So far, I'm batting about .500 with the Yellow Pages.

If I'm not satisfied, I cross them out of the YP.

[Emmett McCarthy]

I sell a bigger ticket item than lawn service since kitchen counters installed will run from $1,000 to almost $5,000. I learned a long time ago that I don't handle criticism well so I avoid it by doing more than is expected. The difference I see between older and younger people is that older people are more likely to check references (which is always good for me) and then pay for quality. Mostly, it's their greater experience in having home improvements done over the years and having regretted a low price with quality to match. Younger people think they'll do better by "shopping prices". Basically, I figure that if the people don't "buy" me, it doesn't matter how good my price is. If they do "buy" me and trust that they're getting what they're paying for, a few dollars isn't important to them. I don't have the immigrant labor issue (unless you count the "immigrant" from Vermont who loves it here in Tennessee and fabricates many of my counters) since I have to communicate with the client to make the sale and most immigrants aren't fluent enough to do all that. I have seen contracts, though, that specify that at least one English-speaking worker be present on the job at all times. Not an issue for me since I'm personally on the job at all times.

[Fintan]

I'm doing a lot of research on starting my own business, and, hands-down, word-of-mouth & referrals are your best bet.