It’s morning-so now what?

[Kerrya]

So I start another day. I have no tickets to work on. My new break/fix business is barely off the ground. I’ve had a few customers and they all went well, but now what?

I have an ad running on AdWords but so far that has only brought in about 3 clients in the last month and only about 2-3 calls/week.

I have a free ad running on Craigslist which brings in nothing.

I operate from home so I have no walk in traffic.

I feel like there is some steps I should be taking that will directly result in new business but I’m not sure what they are. Knocking on doors? Cold calling? Yuk.

We talk about newsletters and blogging but to me they feel like make work projects to keep myself busy and trick me into thinking I’m moving forward, but all my previous experience tells me it’s a waste of time.

What am I missing? What would your next move be if this was you?

 

[lan101]

Any local newspapers?

 

[Mr. Ingram's Computer Repair & Shoppe]

What's the possibility of renting a office suite for $200 a month? then you have a brick-n-mortar walk-in location? I ran a second location in a 200sq ft office suite at $275/mo I had to shut it down as two locations is impossible for 1 person...

 

[nerd2u]

Get out to community events and business groups and introduce yourself.

Hand a card to everyone you meet.

You didn't mention if you have a website or not?

Sent from my SM-G870W using Tapatalk

 

[mraikes]

How's your website? Before newsletters, cold calling, whatever else you might be thinking of, make sure your website is up to snuff in quality of information, presentation, and SEO. If unsure, post a link to it in one of the website feedback forums like this one: https://www.technibble.com/forums/forums/website-development-seo.47/

How's your competitor situation? Lot's of established competitors, or mostly pizza tech come-and-goers? Any technical or service niche you can exploit?

The fact is, there's no magic bullet to take over the market as a new guy. Longevity is going to be key. You need to continue to stand while others come and go.

 

[HCHTech]

The fact is, there's no magic bullet to take over the market as a new guy. Longevity is going to be key. You need to continue to stand while others come and go.

Yet. The first year is definitely the hardest. Spend your spare time on SEO and hang in there.

 

[Markverhyden]

Get out to community events and business groups and introduce yourself.

Hand a card to everyone you meet.

^^^^This. In this whole Internet/Social Media world people forget how important it is to, as they say in the politics world, press the flesh. After all it requires a human to effect the repair.

Have you put together a business plan @Kerrya ? People don't plan to fail, the fail to plan.

Some other thoughts on meeting people.
1. See if your local library sponsors learning events. If so whip up a few small, simple
2. Lookup local business groups.
3. http://sba-canada.ca
4. Find places that allow you to post [/URL]flyers with tear-off tabs

 

[cr85tx]

One thing that has worked for me is to get to know the isp techs. Be it residential or commercial depending what your target is. They can defiantly get your name out there.

 

[fencepost]

I haven't tried this, but

1. are there things you can do from a laptop (and do you have one),
   
2. can you make a decent looking sign (no crayons!) with "Computer problems fixed, free advice!" or something similar and appropriate,
3. is there a high-traffic location you can go work in with that sign draped over the back of the display? That might be a coffee shop, local library, community college central lounge/snack bar.
4. Don't try to actually do any business and get paid at that location, provide free advice and see about scheduling visits or work - or if you are going to actually transact business, get the OK from the location you're at first.

Edits:

• The above would probably be mostly for residential type services, but you said break/fix.
  
• if "coffeeshop" in this case means Starbucks, remember that refills are only $0.50 (or free if you're a regular enough to be "gold" in their rewards program).

 

[Mick]

I'm going to echo what some have said about targeting your local market. If you have - and I guess you have - a limited budget, spend it wisely. That's to say: Go after folks who live nearby and can easily get to you and vice-versa. Sure, you can spend a lot of time (and money) on SEO and a crackerjack website but the really main lever the web has is that it's global. That's a colossal help if you are, too, but not so much if you just want to get noticed by your own community. What use is it to you if someone like me stumbles across your website because of all the SEO wizardry you've put in to it? * So I'd forget the likes of Craigslist and start looking at local publications - even shop windows, or a bunch of leaflets in a busy restaurant or hairdressers or car showroom - anywhere where folks are going to go and spend some time. Maybe you have a local radio station that will carry ads for not too much? I'm not saying you should ignore the web. If you've got the time and budget to do both, that's great. But if you can only focus on one thing right now - go local.

Edit: What I mean is - someone who lives thousands of miles away, not someone who is also a tech....