[floridacut]

Hi everybody, my name is Lisa and im new to this site in regards to posting but have read most of your valuable advice.

I purchased a large commercial landscaping company / lawn maintenance company 6 months ago and since that date have tried ALL types of marketing from direct mailshots / door hangers to adverts in local newpapers to no avail.

My target market is commercial management companies in Florida / Orlando - Anybody got any ideas how to "get a foot in the door"?

Regards

Lisa
www.floridacut.com

[Lawn Lad]

Direct mail without a follow up phone call, particularly with commercial properties will yield next to no results. Direct mail may get you 1% or less. Follow up with a phone call and you may get that number to 5 to 7% according to a sales trainer I spoke with. He recommends that you not mail out more pieces than you can follow up with a phone call.

You could hire an 'inside sales' tele-marketer to do the phone calls. Hire a professional company/individual to do the work. Pay them a commission on what you sell. You can find people that are good at this, that will make the phone calls to find the right person/decision maker in the organization. Your mail may not be making it past the receptionist to begin with. Once you know who to target in the company you can begin calling/mailing until you get to them.

You can also canvass or target properties you want to work at and inquire as to who the decision maker is and cold call them. This is a much larger investment in time and may or may not be successful. The same sales trainer suggested that when you do go on a sales call, do a 'side by side' where you drop off literature and inquire to the left and to the right of the business where you do have the appointment. Since you spent the time driving to the one spot, it doesn't take that much more energy to stop in at a business on either side.