Buffalo wrote:

>> your business, how would they know to call you??
>
> Probably by word of mouth ie: ("most repeat customers that ask for
> five or more business cards whenI visit because they loved the work I
> did").
> Let's see. 250 satisfied customers x5 = 1250. That should keep a
> one-man operation going.

Things dont work like that. I give out over a thousand business cards a
year, and if it generated a hundred jobs, i would be exceptionally pleased.
I generally do about 750 jobs a year.


>> people look in the yellow pages, listen to the radio and watch TV,
>> maybe you have even seen or heard a commercial??
>
> You sound like an idiot or scam artist making a statement like that.

Advertising works. It would be best to think of sector that you are less
familiar with, for example, if you needed to get your vehicle serviced, or
need a locksmith, like most people you would be drawn in by an advert.
Yellow Pages, here in the UK is key to such advertising.


>> when you need to have something fixed and you don't know anybody that
>> fixes what is broken what do you do??
>
> I usually ask friends for references, not just go to the first 'Joe'
> in the Yellow Pages.

Again, it is about a sector you are familiar with. When i first started, the
Yellow Pages and the phone book (BT here) were, without doubt the major
source of new leads.


>> I am also in a very competitive area, the listing for computer repair
>> in my area in the yellow pages contains I would say a hundred maybe
>> more computer shops.
>> I do get more referrals than I do from advertising, but that just
>> happened two years ago or so,
>> until then I did not have a customer base large enough to be busy
>> every day.
>
> Then it was necessary. When the business is slow, advertise. No
> question.

I now have a large pool of repeat customers, but it has took five years of
very heavy advertising to get to this stage.

Gaz