No customers, please review

[Cerberus LLC]

No pics of inside yet. I didn't want to get the woman's hopes up. However, I will call her and ask to get the key. I'll take some pics and post on this thread when I get them. It could be ineteresting. There are a lot of good points to this building. The building design is perfect for signage such as a large color printed banner. Also, the stop sign right out front. The parking is right out front on the road for perfect drop offs and pick ups. Update to follow.

Update: Spoke with the owner of the building. She is going to meet with me in a couple hours. I told her I wanted to see if the building was geared for a computer repair business. Can't wait to show some pictures and I really hope it has a bathroom lol

 

[Cerberus LLC]

Super idea

I've just started off working from home officially as a company the last month. All my jobs so far have come through friends although I have advertising and a website.

My plan is on every call is either:

I send a follow up paid invoice/receipt by post with a covering letter and three business cards. If the person receiving the cards gives them to people needing my service then each person will get a 10% discount and the originator will get a 10% discount as well off their next problem.

or

I give the cards out explaining the discount scenario.

Not sure which is best.

I'm going to get a stamper and stamp a certain percentage off, on the back of some of my business cards that are given out in this manner. Some of my cards aren't printed on the reverse for this situation

 

[Lefty]

Some options you might not have considered and cost very little money:

Residential flyers - have some printed out and hire a nephew or niece to distribute it.

Posters with tear-off numbers - post these on public bulletin boards, grocery stores, laundromats, etc. This can also be delegated.

Word of mouth - always have business cards with you and pass them out to everyone, even people who already know what you do. Offer a discount to people if they will refer customers to you. This takes next to no effort, you talk to people daily anyway.

Cold-calling to local businesses - with some quality fliers, visit some local storefronts and introduce yourself, what you do, etc. Practice a quick spiel you can give while giving a flier and business cards.

Focusing on a website is fine, I just believe that a marketing campaign should attempt to reach potential customers through as many mediums as possible.

 

[weezon]

I would hold off on the ad words myself. You need to get the site optimzied first and try to work things that way. In the long run that will benefit you more.

Adwords and site optimization are two totally different monsters. Optimization takes months. Adwords is $100 free advertising dollars right now. There's no reason to wait that I can see.


That location is a very nice looking spot. Some vinyl graphics in the widows will work until you can afford a channel letter sign. It's highly visible.

 

[Cerberus LLC]

Yeppers

Adwords and site optimization are two totally different monsters. Optimization takes months. Adwords is $100 free advertising dollars right now. There's no reason to wait that I can see.


That location is a very nice looking spot. Some vinyl graphics in the widows will work until you can afford a channel letter sign. It's highly visible.

Thanks Weezon. I agree on the site location and even though the place is small, I feel it has character and potential. The design of the roof is begging for a very large but very professional and tasteful Cerberus logo. This building is only about 30 seconds from my house as well lol.

 

[Cerberus LLC]

The Inside

Hey guys. The pics of the outside building are a few pages back lol. Here are the pictures of the inside. Other than the floor doing the wave, the inside is immaculate. All of the fixtures are brand new and never used. The fireplace is a real cool touch when you first walk in the door. It smelled really nice and was extremely clean. For a one to three man operation, this is perfect I think. Let me know what you think too. The actual price per month is $125 even. I misquoted the lady earlier today.

 

[Cerberus LLC]

More inside photos

Here are a few more inside shots. Not the best but it will do I think.

 

[14049752]

Is there any work area, or is it just a nice place to hang your coat and use the bathroom?


(Too soon, apparently! All I saw were your first set of inside pics.)


It looks fairly nice and isn't much money at all...actually it's a steal....but the question is: Will it get you business? Will you be able to do on-site calls while keeping your office open, or how will you manage that?

 

[Cerberus LLC]

Lol

Is there any work area, or is it just a nice place to hang your coat and use the bathroom?


(Too soon, apparently! All I saw were your first set of inside pics.)


It looks fairly nice and isn't much money at all...actually it's a steal....but the question is: Will it get you business? Will you be able to do on-site calls while keeping your office open, or how will you manage that?

LOL. I'm just one guy right now so there is plenty of room for my workstation desk and office furniture. I have a couple other guys waiting to join in when business picks up. My wife is more than willing to field any calls I may be unable to answer. Also, I have my iphone tied into my business line. When the business line rings, my iphone rings at the same time. Not just call forwarding.

My wife is ready to be whatever I need her to be for the business. Hey wait...oh never mind...I'm not going there lol

As far as knowing if I'm getting the business I do not know. I suppose I'll get what I put into it. The location receives an extreme amount of traffic every day so I can only hope that I can work a good game plan.

To me it's nice, quaint, and has a cuteness that may go very far depending how I promote it. But yes, it is small lol. I was actually surprised as hell to see a kitchenette and a bathroom with a shower ha ha. But I am glad it was there

 

[14049752]

My wife is ready to be whatever I need her to be for the business. Hey wait...oh never mind...I'm not going there.....


I was actually surprised as hell to see a kitchenette and a bathroom with a shower ha ha. But I am glad it was there

Right, because after your wife finds out what you had planned for her, you might be staying there for a while.

 

[rainking]

hey Brian, looks like a nice place. sounds like it's all going in the right direction...

 

[Smooth Gecko]

On the right track

I think all the ideas in this thread are really good advice.
Myself, I have been at it for 5 years and starting to make a wage. If this advice had been given me at the beginning I feel I would be about 4 years ahead of where I am.
One thing that really worked for me was tapping into the local community by having dinner out and talking to other small business owners that had some gumption. I would go without food most of the day to afford dinner, but it worked
If there is a local club, force yourself to go and have a giveaway "PC tune up" on a wheel or raffle.
This lets you meet prospective clients in a low pressure situation, and adds a lot to building good relationships. The time that you give, is very little for what you get back. ( compare to newspaper ads, for instance)
It also allows you to develop your "sales pitch" and get very comfortable with what paperwork you need and when / how to fill it out. I do all the paperwork, even for a giveaway.
Within months, the majority of your town will automatically know who to go to without thinking.
All the best

 

[Cerberus LLC]

Thanks rainking. It's scary but exciting. I'm wearing others out with my excitement lol. I don't think anybody that I know will ever understand what it feels like to create something like this, watch it grow, and know in their heart it was meant to be a success. It's funny though, some things I am doing. I never let anybody tell me "NO", when I want something this badly. I can smell negativism a mile away while in discussions regarding my business. When I hear them, I just smile. The neigh sayers make me work that much harder. I realize that I have a lot to learn and will remain flexible in doing so. The most important thing that I know is that I don't know as much as I think I do.

 

[Cerberus LLC]

Beautiful

I think all the ideas in this thread are really good advice.
Myself, I have been at it for 5 years and starting to make a wage. If this advice had been given me at the beginning I feel I would be about 4 years ahead of where I am.
One thing that really worked for me was tapping into the local community by having dinner out and talking to other small business owners that had some gumption. I would go without food most of the day to afford dinner, but it worked
If there is a local club, force yourself to go and have a giveaway "PC tune up" on a wheel or raffle.
This lets you meet prospective clients in a low pressure situation, and adds a lot to building good relationships. The time that you give, is very little for what you get back. ( compare to newspaper ads, for instance)
It also allows you to develop your "sales pitch" and get very comfortable with what paperwork you need and when / how to fill it out. I do all the paperwork, even for a giveaway.
Within months, the majority of your town will automatically know who to go to without thinking.
All the best

Thank you so much for those words of wisdom. You get the credit for giving me a great idea. Where I am from, there are many large catholic churches who have bingo nights. I will give away a free complete tuneup, etc. as one of the prizes for bingo. I will also be playing that night and have the announcer announce that if I win all of the money will go directly back into that particular church. Well done.

 

[AustinB]

Im stuck with the templates that word press allows me to have. Or at least as far as I know. Web design is not my forte. Due to my budget, I had to do this on my own.

Are you sure it's Wordpress? It sure doesn't look like it in the source code and BuiltWith doesn't recognize it as Wordpress, either. I guess it doesn't matter much, but I think you can find much nicer free templates for Wordpress than the NetworkSolutions static site ones.

As for the site you have now, I personally find the homepage to be a bit too wordy, detailed, and messy. When I look at the site I basically skip all of the blocks of text and end up at the "WHAT MAKES US DIFFERENT?" list. That stands out and it gives 80-90% of the information you need. As is, the homepage looks overwhelming and impersonal. This site is a good example of one that's simple and to the point. I don't expect your site to look like that, but I think you could simplify and get your message across more effectively.

I would say turn those three columns into three links. Then those pages you link to can get into specifics.

The book now widget looks too small. It seems like it should be larger and more prominent, since that's basically your "call to action" and it's currently buried under all the other content.

Also, I mistook the flash banner on the right for a 3rd-party ad, not as something meant to sell your services. The size and placement contribute to this, as does the fact that it doesn't integrate well into the look of your site. All of these are cues that tell people, "This is an ad, ignore this."

Hope that helps!

 

[Cerberus LLC]

Thank you

Are you sure it's Wordpress? It sure doesn't look like it in the source code and BuiltWith doesn't recognize it as Wordpress, either. I guess it doesn't matter much, but I think you can find much nicer free templates for Wordpress than the NetworkSolutions static site ones.

As for the site you have now, I personally find the homepage to be a bit too wordy, detailed, and messy. When I look at the site I basically skip all of the blocks of text and end up at the "WHAT MAKES US DIFFERENT?" list. That stands out and it gives 80-90% of the information you need. As is, the homepage looks overwhelming and impersonal. This site is a good example of one that's simple and to the point. I don't expect your site to look like that, but I think you could simplify and get your message across more effectively.

I would say turn those three columns into three links. Then those pages you link to can get into specifics.

The book now widget looks too small. It seems like it should be larger and more prominent, since that's basically your "call to action" and it's currently buried under all the other content.

Also, I mistook the flash banner on the right for a 3rd-party ad, not as something meant to sell your services. The size and placement contribute to this, as does the fact that it doesn't integrate well into the look of your site. All of these are cues that tell people, "This is an ad, ignore this."

Hope that helps!

I'm sure it's wordpress. I think that there is a fine line between a home page being too wordy and not informational enough. I'm still trying to sort that out but I feel that I am pretty close. The three columns are links, if you click their respective column icons.

I'm not sure what you mean by my website being to detailed AND messy elaborate if you can.

I agree that the book now button is small. I will see if there is a way to enlarge it a bit.

What look do you think my site has? The flash portion is color coded to the rest of the website. However, I will see if I can remove the flashvortex.com tag at the bottom of it. Not sure if the file is protected. Probably is.

That website you linked me too just looks like a brochure. I want more interaction that that. It's just to hollow for me and doesn't scream credibility.

We have to keep in mind what the customers impressions are going to be in the end.

Thanks again for the help.

 

[layoric]

I made friends with a local neighbor who also has a home business. He's made referrals to others on my behalf. Word of mouth really took off from there.

Other ideas would be to canvas local businesses in person, with some simple marketing materials or even just a business card with a website/phone number for more info.

As for your placing the ad in the paper, I don't think you can really expect much to occur from that at all. It takes constant ads in the paper to start gaining recognition. For the price to payoff ratio, I skipped the paper entirely and used the funds for the yellow pages. I believe that will be more bang for your buck. Also, if you do some more research in the forums, you'll find that most people who used the yellow pages stated it really paid off.

 

[layoric]

Oh yea, the price. The lady called and offered it to me for $110.00 per month with a one year lease. I am going to take a picture of it and post it here if I can.

Sounds cheap and doable, but, that's $110 for a blank space. What about all the store fixtures, signage, merchandise (if any), cash register, etc. Sure, you could have a store front on the cheap, but hopefully it won't look cheap. I'm sure you can come up with inexpensive ways to furnish it, but it'll still take some money, and definitely time and more effort.

 

[AustinB]

I'm not sure what you mean by my website being to detailed AND messy elaborate if you can.

I just mean simplify. Give some highlights, but not so much text. So people can understand what you do at a glance. Then dig in to what interests them.

What look do you think my site has? The flash portion is color coded to the rest of the website. However, I will see if I can remove the flashvortex.com tag at the bottom of it. Not sure if the file is protected. Probably is.

I'd say it's corporate/abstract. And sure you may have tried to match the colors, but the banner is much edgier than your site overall and, to me, anyways, it sticks out to the point that it looks like an ad. You probably have to pay to remove the text at the bottom, though.

But these are just my opinions, maybe others disagree!

 

[Cerberus LLC]

Thanks again

I just mean simplify. Give some highlights, but not so much text. So people can understand what you do at a glance. Then dig in to what interests them.


I'd say it's corporate/abstract. And sure you may have tried to match the colors, but the banner is much edgier than your site overall and, to me, anyways, it sticks out to the point that it looks like an ad. You probably have to pay to remove the text at the bottom, though.

But these are just my opinions, maybe others disagree!

No, that's cool. The corporate is exactly what I intended. The flash addition was added just a day or so ago. I was told that I needed something to grab the attention to tell people what I do.

Thanks again friend.

Brian