[Seattlepainting]

Is anybody else doing a winter mailer? Here is my mailer (jumbo size..about .57 per piece mailed) that just went out to 9000 homes in Seattle.

 

[6126]

Looks great John. :thumbsup: Im hoping and praying myself. My marketing budget is tapped

 

[ROOMINADAY]

Very nice.

Mike, keep your stick on the ice! What are you doing at the moment to generate leads?

Sent from my GT-I9000M using Paint Talk

 

[Rbriggs82]

Great flyer John! 9,000 homes is a lot. I hope you get a good roi on those.

 

[PressurePros]

John, are you using EDDM?

 

[Seattlepainting]

John, are you using EDDM?

I dont know what EDDM is? I am using a compnay out of California for printing nd mailing...modern postcard. they are more $ than other companies but I like the quality of printing and service.

 

[Rbriggs82]

It means "every door direct mail" basically there is no mailing list and the mail carriers deliver to everyone on their route. USPS gives you a good rate for eddm (14.5 cents) but you don't have control over where it gets sent.

 

[Repaintpro]

My post does not directly address mail outs but trying to get some brand awareness started



In Australia we don't have an off season so to speak. Apart from it becoming unbearably hot outside it flows all year round.

I have been trying to do a bit of branding.........the man with colour wheel is what I would like people to recognize. If I had seen some of the shirts etc from around here I would have done these differently.

In the last two months I have bitten the bullet on a lot of things as I have never advertised before. We are looking to have a bit quieter year next year with our commercial work down on turnover. I should have put this in place years ago to lift our residential profile!!!!

Started pay per lead advertising
Web site and blog
Company shirts
Company signage on car

 

[Roamer]

We do a mailer just about every 3 months to just about 11,000 homeowners that own homes on the Outer Banks of NC. We first started out with an over-sized glossy sharp looking card like the one above. The response and roi were less than desirable.

We switched to a smaller than standard postcard on DaGlo colored stock with just a black message about painting. We are able to mail them out for half what you are paying. The trick to success with these things is repetition. Get each home as many cards as you can. Your ROI will increase every time you do a mailing targeting the same addresses.

 

[Rbriggs82]

How much does 11,000 postcards cost including postage?

 

[Roof Cleaning]

Plan on using direct mailers for painting also. We have used them for roof cleaning (with a short good call to action up top like the one above) and they work. We mail them to our locals and then hand place them at the neighborhoods gym/publix etc for added repetition.

Now that I have a painting lic # I can send them out for painting.

When I first opened my roof cleaning biz, I would go 10 or so homes out in each direction on the street we were working. The personal direct contact seems to really work with me. Out of like 10 I would sell 2-3...with mailers out of 1000 we would get maybe 10 leads and not all would sign on. Need multiple mailers to same addies..

We are on our 5th house since I got my license 2 months ago. Along with our roof cleaning work it seems to be growing at a nice speed.

You actually need skilled workers to grow a painting biz...any moron can spray bleach and wash down plants....

painting has a hell of a curve to it...I love reading your posts!!

 

[PressurePros]

We do a mailer just about every 3 months to just about 11,000 homeowners that own homes on the Outer Banks of NC. We first started out with an over-sized glossy sharp looking card like the one above. The response and roi were less than desirable.

We switched to a smaller than standard postcard on DaGlo colored stock with just a black message about painting. We are able to mail them out for half what you are paying. The trick to success with these things is repetition. Get each home as many cards as you can. Your ROI will increase every time you do a mailing targeting the same addresses.

Same here. Smaller postcard that stuck out had better initial ROI. I am also a firm believer in repetition. If I want hit a neighborhood hard I send out intro letter with magnet, 3 postcards (all different but with same color scheme) and then canvass the area with door hangers. Add yard signs and perimeter marketing (hitting 15-20 houses with door hangers around every job performed) and the calls pour in.

 

[Ultimate]

Plan on using direct mailers for painting also. We have used them for roof cleaning (with a short good call to action up top like the one above) and they work. We mail them to our locals and then hand place them at the neighborhoods gym/publix etc for added repetition.

Now that I have a painting lic # I can send them out for painting.

When I first opened my roof cleaning biz, I would go 10 or so homes out in each direction on the street we were working. The personal direct contact seems to really work with me. Out of like 10 I would sell 2-3...with mailers out of 1000 we would get maybe 10 leads and not all would sign on. Need multiple mailers to same addies..

We are on our 5th house since I got my license 2 months ago. Along with our roof cleaning work it seems to be growing at a nice speed.

You actually need skilled workers to grow a painting biz...any moron can spray bleach and wash down plants....

painting has a hell of a curve to it...I love reading your posts!!

I need to get used to walking door to door like you are saying. I hear too may people talk about the good results from it to not just suck it up and try it. Painting, just putting a sign out and leaving it after the painting is complete along with vehicle signs, t shirts etc led to more phone calls than I could manage.

Respectfully, if I could give one piece of advice in which it seems you may already realize, grow slow in painting. Don't neglect the cleaning. If you kept the roof cleaning consistent, then you would have the power pick and choose and thereby to charge enough in painting to be profitable even if the job doesn't go perfect.

I don't really know you, so don't take this as if I am saying this because of some specific thing. This is for anyone to consider, including myself. I'm noticing a grass is greener on the other side thing happening a little bit. Painters wanting to wash and washers wanting to paint. Considering all of the variables with painting, once you get into depending on help, I personally think the roi considering time and effort as well as money is more appealing on the washing side. Just me though and just talking in general.

BTW: Flyers look good there to the OP.

 

[premierpainter]

I'm with Roamer. We do the same thing. Sending one card, once might get you 1% return. If you are the only painter in the mailbox over and over, the return jumps to a very high return.

I hope the cards work for you. This past year we have printed, mailed and every door direct mailed nearly 100,000 cards. We also do proximity mailers to every house we do. A card saying we will be starting, the next card says we are at the house, stop over, and the final card says that we have finished. It works great

 

[Roof Cleaning]

I need to get used to walking door to door like you are saying. I hear too may people talk about the good results from it to not just suck it up and try it. Painting, just putting a sign out and leaving it after the painting is complete along with vehicle signs, t shirts etc led to more phone calls than I could manage.

Respectfully, if I could give one piece of advice in which it seems you may already realize, grow slow in painting. Don't neglect the cleaning. If you kept the roof cleaning consistent, then you would have the power pick and choose and thereby to charge enough in painting to be profitable even if the job doesn't go perfect.

I don't really know you, so don't take this as if I am saying this because of some specific thing. This is for anyone to consider, including myself. I'm noticing a grass is greener on the other side thing happening a little bit. Painters wanting to wash and washers wanting to paint. Considering all of the variables with painting, once you get into depending on help, I personally think the roi considering time and effort as well as money is more appealing on the washing side. Just me though and just talking in general.

BTW: Flyers look good there to the OP.

Ty for your post and feedback. Hopefully with my reply I can bring some washing reality here to the forum.
The postcard leads to why I'm here. We all want that systemized biz that runs like a well oiled machine. Each part doing its job contributing to the goal.

Well this is why I'm expanding my biz into painting. *try to keep this short*
FL is FLOODED with pw'r and roof cleaners, not that it is hard to sell against any of them (pure ****). One falls in 6mnths to be replaced by 10 that drive the price down further before they fail in 6mnths. Consumers down here understand and can recognize a biz owner with a weak backbone and name their price. And BTW, they know to do direct mailers ,they know to have a ranking website market to correct demo etc...

We are having a tough time getting systems that work into place. You can't send out two guys (1) being responsible for thousands of dollars of plants (2) Here tie down when you climb up on the roof so you don't fall...
Don't get me wrong, roof cleaning has been great to me and I will nurture and polish that side of my biz into a beautiful $$ making soldier.

IT is too much liability for our operation. I do not do flatwork or anything hot and never will, just roofs and buildings. We have built up to 1000 annuals and I'm still watering F'ng plants?
So, I do not get a call of either ding dong fell off the roof or ding dong killed thousands of $ of plants.

My good buddy has 17 painters working for him and he works ON his biz not in it and is KILLING it. I fig'd with my client list I could make this work out marketing to them. After all they ask anyways to paint..

End game washing is tougher than it seems, I know of maybe one guy that is totally off of the wand running a legal company you would want to work for around here and is making $. And I'm in Tampa the land of washers, he's a hot water guys that does roofs houses anything you could think of not a internet guy either. When I see another washer when I'm out working, I think to myself, thank god for the motivation to learn and expand into painting. It will be much easier for a trained seasoned skilled painting crew to take on roofs, than a crew of washers expanding into a trade that takes SKILL. I can't wait till I get a seasoned skilled crew of painters..$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

 

[Andyman]

Repaintpro- nice logo, I like it.


Roamer- how did the outer banks hold up to sandy? I go tuna fishing out of pirates cove. Is the paint work any good there? Maybe I'll come give you some competition. Paint, fish, paint, fish ha.

 

[AllClean/GA]

Ty for your post and feedback. Hopefully with my reply I can bring some washing reality here to the forum.
The postcard leads to why I'm here. We all want that systemized biz that runs like a well oiled machine. Each part doing its job contributing to the goal.

Well this is why I'm expanding my biz into painting. *try to keep this short*
FL is FLOODED with pw'r and roof cleaners, not that it is hard to sell against any of them (pure ****). One falls in 6mnths to be replaced by 10 that drive the price down further before they fail in 6mnths. Consumers down here understand and can recognize a biz owner with a weak backbone and name their price. And BTW, they know to do direct mailers ,they know to have a ranking website market to correct demo etc...

We are having a tough time getting systems that work into place. You can't send out two guys (1) being responsible for thousands of dollars of plants (2) Here tie down when you climb up on the roof so you don't fall...
Don't get me wrong, roof cleaning has been great to me and I will nurture and polish that side of my biz into a beautiful $$ making soldier.

IT is too much liability for our operation. I do not do flatwork or anything hot and never will, just roofs and buildings. We have built up to 1000 annuals and I'm still watering F'ng plants?
So, I do not get a call of either ding dong fell off the roof or ding dong killed thousands of $ of plants.

My good buddy has 17 painters working for him and he works ON his biz not in it and is KILLING it. I fig'd with my client list I could make this work out marketing to them. After all they ask anyways to paint..

End game washing is tougher than it seems, I know of maybe one guy that is totally off of the wand running a legal company you would want to work for around here and is making $. And I'm in Tampa the land of washers, he's a hot water guys that does roofs houses anything you could think of not a internet guy either. When I see another washer when I'm out working, I think to myself, thank god for the motivation to learn and expand into painting. It will be much easier for a trained seasoned skilled painting crew to take on roofs, than a crew of washers expanding into a trade that takes SKILL. I can't wait till I get a seasoned skilled crew of painters..$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Sorry if this seems like a hijack of the op but I am kind of looking at the same thing Peerless. Thinking of expanding into painting also. I posted this before but I didn't get much response on here. Maybe I could contact you sometime and we could discuss this topic some more.

 

[Repaintpro]

Ty for your post and feedback. Hopefully with my reply I can bring some washing reality here to the forum.
The postcard leads to why I'm here. We all want that systemized biz that runs like a well oiled machine. Each part doing its job contributing to the goal.

Well this is why I'm expanding my biz into painting. *try to keep this short*
FL is FLOODED with pw'r and roof cleaners, not that it is hard to sell against any of them (pure ****). One falls in 6mnths to be replaced by 10 that drive the price down further before they fail in 6mnths. Consumers down here understand and can recognize a biz owner with a weak backbone and name their price. And BTW, they know to do direct mailers ,they know to have a ranking website market to correct demo etc...

We are having a tough time getting systems that work into place. You can't send out two guys (1) being responsible for thousands of dollars of plants (2) Here tie down when you climb up on the roof so you don't fall...
Don't get me wrong, roof cleaning has been great to me and I will nurture and polish that side of my biz into a beautiful $$ making soldier.

IT is too much liability for our operation. I do not do flatwork or anything hot and never will, just roofs and buildings. We have built up to 1000 annuals and I'm still watering F'ng plants?
So, I do not get a call of either ding dong fell off the roof or ding dong killed thousands of $ of plants.

My good buddy has 17 painters working for him and he works ON his biz not in it and is KILLING it. I fig'd with my client list I could make this work out marketing to them. After all they ask anyways to paint..

End game washing is tougher than it seems, I know of maybe one guy that is totally off of the wand running a legal company you would want to work for around here and is making $. And I'm in Tampa the land of washers, he's a hot water guys that does roofs houses anything you could think of not a internet guy either. When I see another washer when I'm out working, I think to myself, thank god for the motivation to learn and expand into painting. It will be much easier for a trained seasoned skilled painting crew to take on roofs, than a crew of washers expanding into a trade that takes SKILL. I can't wait till I get a seasoned skilled crew of painters..$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

The guy who does my water blasting thinks a similar way...........oh, your killing it, you painters make too much money. It must be so easy sitting back and having guys do it for you. Oh, it's easy alright. He works 7-1or2pm with one guy, takes 4 trips to Bali each year, complains when he has a $1k or $2k service bill for a machine (fark I spend that on paint in a day) if he gets stressed he just does not answer his phone and he is still in business!

I want to be a stress free high pressure cleaner that only has to work 6 hours per day and has virtually no running costs! (can't be more than a bit of petrol for the machine and someone getting paid cash on the side while they collect welfare!)

 

[PressurePros]

The guy who does my water blasting thinks a similar way...........oh, your killing it, you painters make too much money. It must be so easy sitting back and having guys do it for you. Oh, it's easy alright. He works 7-1or2pm with one guy, takes 4 trips to Bali each year, complains when he has a $1k or $2k service bill for a machine (fark I spend that on paint in a day) if he gets stressed he just does not answer his phone and he is still in business!

I want to be a stress free high pressure cleaner that only has to work 6 hours per day and has virtually no running costs! (can't be more than a bit of petrol for the machine and someone getting paid cash on the side while they collect welfare!)

You guys invest in what a paint brush and a few tarps? :jester:

Just playing. I love spraying water for a living. I did painting and its a loser (for me). The northeast is way different than Florida or Georgia though. Everybody down there pressure washes.

 

[Roamer]

How much does 11,000 postcards cost including postage?

We pay around $2300 per mailing, that includes printing and postage, for 10,700 cards.

Roamer- how did the outer banks hold up to sandy? I go tuna fishing out of pirates cove. Is the paint work any good there? Maybe I'll come give you some competition. Paint, fish, paint, fish ha.

The roads on the lower banks got washed out. Our crew operates out of Kitty Hawk/Kill Devil Hills area and they cannot get south to do estimates in Avon, Salvo, Hatteras etc. The northern OBX was largely spared. We are currently working in Corolla. The norther OBX is where all the big money homes are. Everything north of Southern Shores is juicy turf for us.