Re: Advertising suggestions sought, or stratagies

[Jim <alarminex@xxxxxxx>]

On Oct 8, 8:13=A0am, tourman <robercampb...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> On Oct 7, 1:43=A0pm, Jim <alarmi...@xxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> > On Oct 6, 10:47=A0pm, tourman <robercampb...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> > > On Oct 6, 6:41=A0pm, Jim <alarmi...@xxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> > > > On Oct 6, 9:13=A0am, tourman <robercampb...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> > > > > On Oct 5, 8:38=A0am, "Bill" <billnomailnosp...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> > > > > > Perhaps you could have say 4 inch by 12 inch cards printed up a=
nd a
> > > > > > door knob hole punched out, then go stick those on doors in you=
r spare
> > > > > > time.
>
> > > > > > The advantage to that would be it would get people's attention =
better.
> > > > > > Then they have your phone number there at home (you could also =
print
> > > > > > one of those cell phone graphics to dial the number for them).
>
> > > > > > And you could do just a little at a time. Then if you got a goo=
d
> > > > > > response, you would not be overwhelmed with phone calls /
> > > > > > appointments.
>
> > > > > > Or if you got "no response", then change what the card says, th=
e
> > > > > > offer, etc.
>
> > > > > RHC: I tried that early on in my business with marginal success.
> > > > > Expect a !% response rate at best and it will usually be someone =
from
> > > > > the "something for nothing crowd" who calls back.
>
> > > > The only thing that worked for me is now too common-place to work a=
ny
> > > > more.
>
> > > > Back in the 70's I got the idea to go to the library and check the
> > > > Cole's Directory which lists =A0people by zip code, telephone numbe=
r
> > > > town etc, etc. (There wasn't any Internet as there is today.) I pic=
ked
> > > > Zip codes in high end areas and cold called them on the telephone. =
I
> > > > spent a considerable number of evenings calling people but ultimate=
ly
> > > > was landing appointments with about 2 or 3 people out of 10. I was
> > > > offering a free small fire extinguisher or simple door alarm as a
> > > > giveaway. That turned out to be a pretty good source after awhile.
> > > > After I learned what to say and how to tell if I was going to have =
a
> > > > chance at an appointment or not. After about 3 or 4 hundred calls a=
nd
> > > > a number of sales calls, you begin to get the "feel" of who's good =
and
> > > > who's not.
>
> > > > Nowdays, that's all old stuff and the Federal Do Not Call law put a=
n
> > > > end to that. Other things I've tried have never produced enough to
> > > > make it worth the expense. Yellow pages, local newspapers, mailers,
>
> > > > Another thing that "would" still work today, however, =A0is walk-in=
 cold
> > > > calling on small retail businesses. That was always a successful
> > > > method for getting work for me. Ya gotta keep track of who you talk=
,
> > > > their location and when and really do a lot of follow up but if you=
're
> > > > diligent about it, you can pick up a lot of new business.
>
> > > > However nowdays, the younger people are too lazy, =A0have no person=
ality
> > > > nor the balls to do cold calling. They'd rather stay home and take
> > > > care of the house and baby while the wife works and gets free medic=
al
> > > > benefits. Besides, if they were out working, how would they ever ge=
t a
> > > > chance to try out the scented crystal bubble bath powder when the b=
aby
> > > > takes a nap?
>
> > > RHC: Uh...what about all those door knockers for the phoney "free
> > > alarm systems" and all those other utility contracts near scams? Thes=
e
> > > people are usually young students trying to sell whatever they can,
> > > and they are both young and hungry. So I'm not sure that what you say
> > > about the young folk is always true. And cold calling has always been
> > > the hardest way to sell something for the person involved. Yah gotta
> > > have a very thick skin to take all the "no" responses to get that rar=
e
> > > "yes" response.
>
> > Oh yeah! I forgot about them. But I've had a couple of the Varint (or
> > whatever their new alias is now) come to my door and they seemed more
> > like high school kids trying to sell chances to get money for the
> > Cheerleaders club. If that's typical, then the people who would buy a
> > security system from them ...... deserve what they get.
>
> > > But I do share your sentiment about many of the younger workers today=
.
> > > It seems they don't have that "nose to the grindstone" work ethic tha=
t
> > > we do. And you don't find many that will put the job ahead of other
> > > personal life issues.
>
> > > And sometimes (not always, but sometimes) =A0I think they may have
> > > something there. It seems they work to live not live to work.
>
> > Could be we're looking at it from the perspective of our past where it
> > was necessary to work for a living because no one, including the
> > government was going to take care of us .... .if we didn't. =A0Now,
> > there's a free handout to anyone who doesn't want to work to maintain
> > themselves. That old saying "you have to produce more than you
> > consume" isn't true anymore. I'm not sure if I'm missing it or not but
> > one thing I seem to notice missing in younger people, is the pride in
> > accomplishment. If you don't have that then you don't have any reason
> > to extend yourself , no motivation to do more than what is only
> > basicly essential for your existance .... if even that.
>
> > > You can't take it with you....there are no pockets in a death
> > > shroud......:)) =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 (a little gallows humour...:))-
>
> > Hmmmm. I'll have to talk to my undertaker about how much more that
> > would cost.
>
> > But, if I'm lucky, I'll have spent my kids inheritance.
>
> RHC: Hey, is my imagination, or are we the only ones still
> participating acitvely on this newsgroup ?-


You have an imagination?

Well anyway, I don't think so. I'm guessing that now that the "saga"
is not ongoing, as it used to, that people don't check in as often ...
which reduces the activity which reduces how often people check in.
HOWEVER, I post via Google and it shows how many people check the
group each day. It's hardly ever below 200 and most times it's around
3 to 5 hundred. So somebody is still interested. I don't think that
there would be that many random checks. But ..... maybe I
underestimate.

Some time ago I suggested that if someone could ask a question and
start a thread, now and then, it would stir up some posts, but after I
asked a couple, got some threads going ....... and then no one else
did .......  I figured ....  what the hell.
It's just part of my routine to check in, just takes a few minutes and
sometimes it interesting and sometimes a few days goes by with
nothing. I figure it should slowly die. I don't know if Steve
Ryckman's  "private" group is doing anything and I haven't checked his
open group for a few months but last time I checked that group,  there
were only a couple of posts by Steve, me and I think Nick. I keep
thinking that I should look around at some of the trade magazine
websites to see if their are any groups worth getting involved in. I
just forget to do it. The magazines always say that they have lots of
activity in their groups but I haven't checked them out. If I come
across one, I'll let it be known here and maybe we can "invade" it. >;-
>

OR ..... does anyone know of one that's got an meat to it?  I always
thought that this was going to be a great place for lots and lots of
people to come to  for sharing information. At the beginning we had
people from manufacturers, technicians and owners from companies from
all over, and from related fields,  but they just got tired of the BS
that went on here and left. I've thought about going back in the
archives and trying to gather the E-mails of some of the good old
people and try to contact them but I'm sure that even if they're still
around,  many of them wouldn't want to have much to do with me ......
either. I'd think that a lot of them never caught on to the fact that
I was just being purposely disruptive but wouldn't have been if there
hadn't have been a catylist. Even afterwards, I thought that gradually
new people would find this group but with Facebook and other social
network sites, I'd guess they'd rather go there. Newsgroups are "out
of style" now.

I wonder if we could rename it  ....  alt. security. rocking. chair.
and alarms.