Missing child gone bad.

[itswillist]

I know I didn't just have 50,000 ads go out on the back of the "Missing Child Report" only to get 4 calls ... Live and learn I guess...

Can anyone help me with the best ways to make the phone ring. I don't mind spending money, but I'd like to get a return ...

 

[PressurePros]

I'm glad to read this. I was thinking about using that form of media for my Restore-A-Deck product line. If you don't mind me asking what was the charge? (You can reply to me at sales@restore-a-deck.com if you don't want to reply here)

Keep in mind that from your first mailer you can expect a miniscule response..especially this time of year. Stay with it.

I prefer direct mailers. Start small. Send out 500 introduction letters to a key demographic (houses with 75k+ median income). If you can hand address them, all the better. Introduce yourself and your services..nothing fancy. If you can afford it, put a magnet in there. Send a postcard mailer to the same 500 houses 2 weeks later. Send another mailer 4 weeks after that and place support ads in the local paper for your demographic and find out the majority religion in that area and support the church bulletins. By the third mailer you should get 10-12 calls and close 6 jobs.

What happens at this point is that the people you have mailed to have seen your name in various forms of media and have probably seen your (logo'd) truck several times. Make sure you have your ad in the local yellow pages (use the lower distribution book.. Around here we have Verizon and Yellow Book and I get three times as many calls from the smaller Verizon book)

Start accumulating photos of your work. This will help your close ratio. Learn to overcome objections and DO NOT leave proposals in door jambs or mail them. Meet with every customer you can.

If you continue in this fashion and reintroduce another 500 homes every couple of months you will start getting referalls as well as capture a 2-3% return rate on all your mailers.

To give you an idea of effectiveness I can send out 1500 mailers to my target demographic and get 50 calls and close anywhere between $15K to $25K worth of work. The mailer might cost me $750 including printing, postage and amortized mailing list cost.

 

[Mathew Johnson]

I know I didn't just have 50,000 ads go out on the back of the "Missing Child Report" only to get 4 calls ... Live and learn I guess...

Can anyone help me with the best ways to make the phone ring. I don't mind spending money, but I'd like to get a return ...

I try not to market my company parrellel with a negative attribute, sad or "unfortunate" promotion. For example.. I would try to avoid having people thinking about my company and a missing child in the same sentence of context unless I was marketing a service or product related to getting the kid back to its parents.

It was a real challange for me to market my flood clean-up services this year with all of the tragedy that people sustained here.

 

[CaroliProWash]

I would have to agree with Matthew on this one.......I don't look for ads when I have just realized someone has lost someone as precious as a child! It feels just wrong to be trying to distract from the purpose of that communication.

Not knowing where you are or specifically what you are trying to market - are there property management groups or home owners associations that you could get cozy with?

Celeste

 

[PressurePros]

Good point.. today's world is so desensitized to tragedy unless it is happening to us personally. Thanks for the insight.

 

[bigchaz]

not to be rude but i have never looked at one of the missing child report flyers

the few i have glanced at one they show a kids that been gone for 13 years. i would never recognize someone by a picture

so therefore i throw them all away..and def dont look at the back either

 

[itswillist]

Hey Pressure Pro's ..

I don't mind saying what it cost .. For a mailer to go out to 53,000 people, including postage, and graphic work it cost me $800.00 This is why I couldn't pass it up. You can choose what zip codes or areas of the city you want to target, it's not a bad deal cost wise, I was expecting more than that. However, I have yet to see any big results from it. Like I said I've had only around 4 calls from it.. woe .. I think I will try your method out, I did it through "ADVO advertising" if you want to give it a shot, I think it may work better if you put flat rates on the add. Like 2500 - 3000 square ft. = ??? and so on with your pricing rates, give them a special flat rate for drive ways as well, like 1000 - 1500 square ft drive way 75.00 (for a close sweep) I'm just giving you some ideas, I believe this would have worked much better than my "Save 10% if you show this coupon" .... I'm pretty new to this work, but atleast I know what not to do ... Also, I would wait untill your season picks up as well, but you need to get on the schedule way in advance b/c they fill up pretty quick ... Thanks so much for the advice, and I really will put it into practice.. I'm going to print it out and work if from that angle.. and see whay happens .. God bless, John .... (225) 278-9892 for any other questions about the "mailer"

 

[grasshawg]

not to be rude but i have never looked at one of the missing child report flyers

the few i have glanced at one they show a kids that been gone for 13 years. i would never recognize someone by a picture

so therefore i throw them all away..and def dont look at the back either

Having a missing child is as tragic and devastating to a parent as anyone can imagine.
I myself have never had a missing child, nor do I know anyone who has. I only know how I feel about my kids, and how I pray that if any one of them should ever become missing, the general public WOULD look at the reports.
I drive a truck full time, and unfortunately, see a lot of missing child reports. They put them up in truck stops because truck drivers cover a lot of ground in a short period of time.
I DO look at them. I study the child's face and try to make a mental picture of it. If he/she has been missing for a number of years, they usually have an "age-progressed" photo. They are surprisingly accurate.
Bigchaz, how many missing kids have you looked right in the eye and never known they were missing because you never look at the reports? Maybe none.
But maybe more. Maybe that's why so many kids have been missing for so long. Noone pays attention.
Before I close, I want you to know I didn't take your post as rude or insensitive. I understand your point. But the world needs to wake up and pay attention. One of these missing kids might be living in your town or even right next door. They deserve a chance.
Sorry for the hijack, but I felt I had to get that off my chest.
Randy

 

[itswillist]

It's hard not to offend people on here .. You can't please one without offending another. I pray to the Lord that all of those children are found. But you can thank my little advertisements on the back of them for the funding of the report in the first place ..

 

[grasshawg]

It's hard not to offend people on here .. You can't please one without offending another. I pray to the Lord that all of those children are found. But you can thank my little advertisements on the back of them for the funding of the report in the first place ..

That's very cool. I didn't know that's how it worked. That being the case, you've done a valuble service to the community even if you didn't get one single phone call. Feel good about it.
Randy