Help! How to Increase Local Residential Customers?

[CompTech]

It seems my computer repair business slows down to almost a grinding halt this time of year. I have a good website but had to let go of my adword account due to low funds. I only show up on search engines to a very small local area, but not in surrounding townships, and not sure how to get mentioned in those areas on search engines without paying for adwords. Would appreciate any help at all concerning boosting local customers base, especially when business is very slow and not much cash to advertise. Thanks all for your help! Have a great day!

CompTech

 

[Krilus]

Get on facebook groups in your area; helps bring in Residential customers for me. Hopefully you have a facebook page aswell!

 

[Lebones337]

This is always the time of year when we are slow also. It time to start running sells on service you do especially the one that are all profit like Tune-ups, Virus Removals and, Data transfers and OS re-installs. I would do all, but you can select a few.

Some low Budget Ideas for bringing in customer are like Krilus said above. Get on Facebook, Twitter and other Social sites with force. This down time in business should give you some extra time to network, Not only online but maybe look up some local business group meetings that are going on in your area. It is a good way to get your name out there.

 

[Cambridge PC Support]

Was AdWords not working for you at all? You know that you can get Google to give you a call to improve performance, they are very helpful.

I have a good website.....

Let's have a look at your website then

 

[Martyn]

Three things that don't cost a lot - word of mouth - car advertising - always do a good job, give 110% every time

 

[cypress]

Word of mouth is absolutely big but car advertising will help out as well. Been slacking in that dept. myself.

 

[Calx]

I rely on word of mouth and a monthly editorial in the local free magazine. People tend to cut it out and keep it until they need me, months later. Really hits my target customer which is 50+.
I am on free index and free listing pages like Yell.com
Haven't tried google adwords, although I do have a website and facebook page.

Not sure about messing up the paintjob on my hot wheels though @Martyn !!

 

[Martyn]

I rely on word of mouth and a monthly editorial in the local free magazine. People tend to cut it out and keep it until they need me, months later. Really hits my target customer which is 50+.
I am on free index and free listing pages like Yell.com
Haven't tried google adwords, although I do have a website and facebook page.

Not sure about messing up the paintjob on my hot wheels though @Martyn !!

My Smart Car is ideal for advertising. I have vinyls on it, total cost £275 I think. One customer alone has given me £2-3000 worth of work after spotting my car!

 

[Calx]

My Smart Car is ideal for advertising. I have vinyls on it, total cost £275 I think. One customer alone has given me £2-3000 worth of work after spotting my car!

do they peel off then with out marking?

 

[Martyn]

do they peel off then with out marking?

Never tried it but I know the person who did it nd he said it would be fine when I asked. You could get magnetic ones which I have for my Land Rover. I need to remove them when towing the caravan as some sites don't like advertising. They were very cheap. I had them on my Golf when I first started out, very cheap.

 

[PCX]

If you are concerned about the paint getting damaged on your car, then do a full wrap. Magnets get dirty under the magnet and scratch the paint if you do not keep up with cleaning it Anything (decals, half wraps, magnets, etc) that only covers a portion of the car will be a different shade of the original color once you remove it due to weathering (mostly the sun). Other than that, a decal will not scratch or mark up the car once removed as long as you remove it properly.

 

[Ed_Zipper]

Free Classes. Of course you need to feel good about public speaking and have the ability to teach. This is one way I buried my competition. "How to stay safer on the internet"

 

[buzzcut]

I put a free ad in Kijiji (Canada) "spring cleaning, recycle your old computers for free"
I usually end up with a truck load of old monitors/towers/laptops/printers, but also will end up with 3-4 calls from this.

 

[Cambridge PC Support]

I kinda toyed with the idea of putting something on the car. But, I don't really like the idea of someone breaking into it thinking that there's valuable equipment in there.

Also, it's probably worth checking with your vehicle insurance company that modifying it doesn't invalidate your insurance.

 

[Kurt]

My Smart Car is ideal for advertising. I have vinyls on it, total cost £275 I think. One customer alone has given me £2-3000 worth of work after spotting my car!

That car in your profile pic looks awesome. Instantly gives a "professional" vibe.

 

[JohnKennex]

google adwords - only target your city. facebook - same deal. / follow local companies, people, etc.

twitter find your cities hash tag (try and follow your Mayer they will use some

look up local festivals and such and see how they target your local area.

 

[FremontPC]

Go check in on small biz in your area. They typically get ignored by outfits looking for biz with 10 PC's and up and usually have a fit when they try to get even simple tasks done. Be willing to answer a few tech questions, ask them if they need a tech tip about one or the other problem, you'll be their go-to guy. Let them know you're local and can get to them quickly when they need help.

 

[atlasmike]

I am really really slow right now. I have been using this time to go to networking events all around me. I also locked out my city with all the different networking groups except one. I have a full wrap on my scion. But I tell ya it is really slow. I mean I am almost done with it and ready to find a regular job type of being done.

 

[wickedmojoit]

Go to where the residential users are. Sports complexes, baseball fields, grocery stores, small neighborhood markets, local coffee and pizza shops. Talk to the owner or manager and tell them who you are what you do and you are trying to grow your business, ask if you can leave some flyers/business cards and a coupon for their customers. You can make flyers your self, target the coupons to the most common residential services and make sure you use a call to action. For me that would be virus removal, tune ups, hardware repair.
Search Facebook for local town groups and join them. I am in town groups for the 6 towns around me. People in the groups ask for referrals all the time. I check them once or twice a day and when some one is looking for a computer repair shop I recommend my company.
Ever customer you work with give them a tell a friend coupon that's good for their next service and good for their friend to use too. Ask your clients for your referrals. tell them that your business relies on referrals and if they are happy with your service to tell a friend.
My biggest R.O.I on residential is a sign board in front of our shop. If you don't have a physical location get a sandwich board (you can even find them used on Craigslist sometimes) and find a business owner on a busy road that will let you put it on their lawn. Put your name number and a simple message.
I have never tried door hangers but I have talked to others that have had good luck putting them up.

Good luck, hang in there, keep plugging away and you will see the return.

 

[PCX]

For those who are not doing adwords or not doing a whole lot of adwords, you should really reconsider. We probably spend about $750 a month on adwords and it accounts for over half of our customers each month, which comes around $15000 to $20000 of revenue each month and that is just from Google. Of course, it helps to have a good website, tons of great reviews and a good staff answering the phone. The rest of our business mostly comes from referrals and other various advertising outlets.