Not mine – yours.

One of the things that intrigues me about developing a business is the process by which you get work and how a business expands.

Recently the ‘quiet’ time has ended and I have picked up some new customers – some ongoing work and some great leads for future work. A builder, a couple of real estate agents and a brick paver have all asked me to do work for them and it adds to the consistency of work.

Currently I rely on several different sources for work:

a) My website

b) My community news ad

c) Referrals from happy customers

d) Previous customers

e) Referrals from a local retic shop and turf supplier

f) Occasional letter box drops – although these are now very infrequent.

I’d probably allocate 50% of my work to web based contact and the rest would be mostly ‘b’ and ‘c’.

That’s been how things have developed so far but I’m curious to experiment with targeting a specific area and seeing if I can really grab a huge share of the work there.

Up the road from us is a new estate currently under construction and designated to be the next big regional centre in Perth. It is called ‘Alkimos‘ and currently is only about 80 or 90 houses still being built and about 2 or 3 months away from completion.

I am wondering what I would need to do to really get the lion’s share of the work in that estate. Is it possible to be so well known up there that Brighton Reticulation & Turf becomes the retic and turf contractor that everyone chooses?…

Maybe…

But I am thinking now is the time to really crank things up if I am to get known and to get the jobs. Right now no one lives there, but I’m guessing people go there regularly to check on the progress of their homes. I’m guessing someone has a database of who’s building there… and that might be available for a fee…

I’m wondering if the land sales office would pass on my name to new families building?… I’m wondering if a bottle of red for every family who use me might be an incentive?…

I’m wondering about some signs that post my name and logo around the place, but I’m not so sure of the legality of these. I’m also wondering about the expense if they get stolen, removed or vandalised.

But I’m open to ideas from those with some marketing nouse. If a new suburb sprung up next to you where people were going to need your services how would you go about getting the lion’s share of their business? We are told that Alkimos is going to be the new Joondalup so its going to be BIG and to get in on the ground floor would give me a huge edge.

So – tell me your marketing secrets!