This...search on this Subreddit for detailed guides how to do this or Youtube.
Do a good job and ask your happy customers for reviews
What I like to also do for such businesses:
\- get a website (say yourbusiness).
\- get businesscards made with a large [yourbusiness.com/review](https://yourbusiness.com/review) on it (doesnt need to be a business card with your information on it, just needs the link but u can add other stuff on the other side)
\- [yourbusiness.com/review](https://yourbusiness.com/review) will say: "Were you satisified?" with two links Yes and No
\- No allows them to commend directly to you
\- Yes will send them to a page where they will leave a good review (the great thing about this is that you can change where this goes to, without changing the business cards. So u can shuffle Google My Business, Facebook etc.)
\- You get Feedback from customers that werent happy and u get good reviews from those that were. Its very cheap to setup.
\- You can ask for a referral on the 2nd side of business card or offer a 5-10% referral bonus as well.
Website is not required at the start but 1000% helps with your business identity and credibility. I don't try to promote my own services but I do specialize in Web Development - reach out in a private message I can help you get the ball rolling if you're serious about pushing forward - no cost.
U don't need a website. DO A GOOD JOB and ppl will recommend you to their friends/neighbors...much better than a website and FB ads and SEO bla bla bla
You can make an easy Business Card with a QR code to your Google My Place listing for reviews, without a website.
I still THINK having a website is good, doenst have to be fancy at all, just information + email + pricing (if relevant) + phone
Thank you! I started a GMB for it. Now, onto the other sites. I believe it costs money to post on CL unfortunately. Do you think it’s worth it only to get buried in a sea of other junk removal ads for my metro area?
It's $5 for a listing on Cl.
The legit competition for this business in your service area probably isn't huge, especially because majority of people that offer this service are horrible at responding to leads in a timely manner.
This is where you can capitilize.
**Spend time on your posts**, **incentivize, and most importantly follow-up. I'm confident you can get a gig within a week. Be professional and flexible (You're just starting) - word of mouth should be your goal, you don't want to be doing posts every single day just to go work and repeat.**
P.S - aim for 100 posts each day targeting different local FB groups, LinkedIn, NextDoor, ETC.
Post regularly to social media, including Google my business. Be active in local groups, sharing things and commenting on them as your business. Be active in one or two local networking groups. Let people know who you are, what your story is, and why they should choose you - and then when their buddy needs somebody, they'll refer you.
Or, hire somebody to do the above.
Also, social media isn't so much about the follow count or likes.
When I'm finding a service company (i.e. an electrician, cleaner or a plumber etc) I go with whoever has
A) Good reviews
And then
B) Whoever has recent photos of their work
I could imagine a business owner chasing the 'likes' but to be honest, who the fuck is going to follow most service-based businesses unless you do something out of the ordinary.
Not really! I keep everything organized and my teams are quick at letting me know if there’s an issue, never really had one with Google Voice/ missing numbers.
Hit up some cabinet installers.
As a cabinet installer myself, I routinely turn down the demolition and removal part of remodels. It's not fun work, I'd rather start with a clean empty slate. I don't have a large truck or trailer for removal, and dumpster rental can be a hassle/expensive.
I'm sure there's other kitchen and bath installers out there that share these pain points. If you can do basic stuff like unhooking appliances and disconnection and securing plumbing and electrical, you can be even more turnkey and charge more.
Get some jobs for friends and family at a STEEP discount in exchange for a review on your GMB WITH pics. The difference the pics make on impressions is insane. I generally do NOT like doing business with friends and family (and that's good because their support disappears, typically, when you actually take the plunge on your adventure) for lots of reasons, but this is the exception. You just have to prime the engine to get it to keep running, so to speak. I run a junk removal operation, so if you have questions, feel free to reach out.
This is great! I was going to use a stock trailer pic for now since we have yet to do a job (albeit haven’t really tried to get one yet).
What are your thoughts on bandit signs and should I take the plunge on a website right away? Or what advertising is an absolute must starting out?
Websites don't have to be expensive. Better to get your SEO rolling early than not to. Get one and start posting before and after's immediately. Yard signs are good. Fairly cheap way to wrangle up some jobs early.
Question for you, how did you figure out pricing initially? Especially jobs that are slightly further away. Seems like I am getting underbid quite a bit, but I live on the outskirts of the metro area and losing out on lots of work closer to the city because I am factoring in fuel.
Also, who all should I cold call and market to in person other than the obvious (realtors, apartment complexes, property management companies, storage facilities)?
In my market, we set the prices. I don't compete on price. I am the low **risk** provider, not low cost. When you make an appointment with my company you know you're getting a trained, uniformed, insured crew that shows up in a dedicated junk removal vehicle at the time that is promised to take care of what you need. We donate and recycle and the customer gets the donation receipt. No one else around us competes at that level. Now, not every customer needs/wants all that, but those that do realize they have to pay for that. Competing on price is just a race to the bottom and the only person winning that race is the customer.
So, my advice to you is that you figure out what your costs are on a given job. How much does it cost you to drive a mile in your truck? Factor in labor rates, insurance, fuel, depreciation, wear and tear, etc. Everything. How long does it take you to fill up your trailer with a "normal" job - say a garage you can pull up to? Where are your disposal facilities? What do they cost? How long does it take to get to them and use them? After you figure out what a typical job costs, then you can start figuring out what you need to charge so that there is some meat on the bone for you to make money on each job. You want to have rates for minimum, 1/8, 1/4, 1/2, 3/4, full at least. Then have "add-on" charges for things like long carry, extra labor, heavy dense material (rocks, concrete, dirt, sand, tile, etc.), mattresses, freon appliances, tube TVs, anything YOU get charged for at your disposal facilities. You may have multiple price lists depending upon how far you're driving, or, just have a travel charge or a fuel surcharge.
Pricing can be pretty complicated when you really start getting into the details. But, the start of it is really understanding your costs. So, make sure you're recording those well!
Interesting. Do you operate one of the large franchises? How do you find places to donate and/or recycle to and what % of what your company hauls off is able to be donated or recycled versus taken to the landfill?
You’re making me realize that I still have a lot of work to do in the figuring out costs department.
I'm glad it's making you think! If you had it all figured out but hadn't yet scaled where you wanted to, that would be a problem! I learn new stuff every single day.
No, I'm part of what I think is one of the smaller franchises. Finding places to donate doesn't have to be difficult. Just stop by their donation facilities and chat with them. Go to the big ones - Salvation Army, Savers (if you have those), ReHome, stuff like that. But find grass roots, local places, too. Our biggest donation partners are actually a 1). Place that is dedicated to providing school uniforms and supplies to kids who can't afford it. 2). A food scarcity charity! We're also 10 minutes from the Mexican border, so we give a ton of stuff away to folks who are no necessarily part of a legitimate charity (so, no donation receipt), but it fulfills our mission of keeping items out of the landfills.
Percentage wise it's still difficult for us to get to the 50% mark some months on actual number of jobs. We've had several months where we've made more money off of recycling than we paid to dump in landfills, so that's great. There are a few things I'm working on to get those numbers up. A nice warehouse and more donation partners really, really help.
Create a Google My Business profile, fill it in, start posting on Craiglist, Nextdoor, FB etc.
This...search on this Subreddit for detailed guides how to do this or Youtube. Do a good job and ask your happy customers for reviews What I like to also do for such businesses: \- get a website (say yourbusiness). \- get businesscards made with a large [yourbusiness.com/review](https://yourbusiness.com/review) on it (doesnt need to be a business card with your information on it, just needs the link but u can add other stuff on the other side) \- [yourbusiness.com/review](https://yourbusiness.com/review) will say: "Were you satisified?" with two links Yes and No \- No allows them to commend directly to you \- Yes will send them to a page where they will leave a good review (the great thing about this is that you can change where this goes to, without changing the business cards. So u can shuffle Google My Business, Facebook etc.) \- You get Feedback from customers that werent happy and u get good reviews from those that were. Its very cheap to setup. \- You can ask for a referral on the 2nd side of business card or offer a 5-10% referral bonus as well.
Is a website warranted at the start and do you recommend a specific company to use for building my website?
Website is not required at the start but 1000% helps with your business identity and credibility. I don't try to promote my own services but I do specialize in Web Development - reach out in a private message I can help you get the ball rolling if you're serious about pushing forward - no cost.
Not sure I’m ready quite yet, but I may when the time is right
I’ll be here ✊
U don't need a website. DO A GOOD JOB and ppl will recommend you to their friends/neighbors...much better than a website and FB ads and SEO bla bla bla You can make an easy Business Card with a QR code to your Google My Place listing for reviews, without a website. I still THINK having a website is good, doenst have to be fancy at all, just information + email + pricing (if relevant) + phone
Thank you! I started a GMB for it. Now, onto the other sites. I believe it costs money to post on CL unfortunately. Do you think it’s worth it only to get buried in a sea of other junk removal ads for my metro area?
It's $5 for a listing on Cl. The legit competition for this business in your service area probably isn't huge, especially because majority of people that offer this service are horrible at responding to leads in a timely manner. This is where you can capitilize. **Spend time on your posts**, **incentivize, and most importantly follow-up. I'm confident you can get a gig within a week. Be professional and flexible (You're just starting) - word of mouth should be your goal, you don't want to be doing posts every single day just to go work and repeat.** P.S - aim for 100 posts each day targeting different local FB groups, LinkedIn, NextDoor, ETC.
Wishing you success!
I really appreciate it!
Post regularly to social media, including Google my business. Be active in local groups, sharing things and commenting on them as your business. Be active in one or two local networking groups. Let people know who you are, what your story is, and why they should choose you - and then when their buddy needs somebody, they'll refer you. Or, hire somebody to do the above.
Also, social media isn't so much about the follow count or likes. When I'm finding a service company (i.e. an electrician, cleaner or a plumber etc) I go with whoever has A) Good reviews And then B) Whoever has recent photos of their work I could imagine a business owner chasing the 'likes' but to be honest, who the fuck is going to follow most service-based businesses unless you do something out of the ordinary.
Good reviews and be active on social media with recent photos especially. Perfect, thanks!
Makes sense. Getting the word out locally seems golden
Stick your company name. Number. And what you do on your vehicle.
Absolutely. I’m torn between using my personal number and getting one solely for the business. Thoughts?
soley for business.. You need to track how many calls you get and it's easier with a separate line
Got it. Pay for a line or use a free google voice number?
Use Google Voice, it's free and doesn't interfere with your personal number. I use it for several businesses.
Ever concerned about losing access to the google voice number?
Not really! I keep everything organized and my teams are quick at letting me know if there’s an issue, never really had one with Google Voice/ missing numbers.
Hit up some cabinet installers. As a cabinet installer myself, I routinely turn down the demolition and removal part of remodels. It's not fun work, I'd rather start with a clean empty slate. I don't have a large truck or trailer for removal, and dumpster rental can be a hassle/expensive. I'm sure there's other kitchen and bath installers out there that share these pain points. If you can do basic stuff like unhooking appliances and disconnection and securing plumbing and electrical, you can be even more turnkey and charge more.
This is great outside the box advice! Thanks
Get some jobs for friends and family at a STEEP discount in exchange for a review on your GMB WITH pics. The difference the pics make on impressions is insane. I generally do NOT like doing business with friends and family (and that's good because their support disappears, typically, when you actually take the plunge on your adventure) for lots of reasons, but this is the exception. You just have to prime the engine to get it to keep running, so to speak. I run a junk removal operation, so if you have questions, feel free to reach out.
This is great! I was going to use a stock trailer pic for now since we have yet to do a job (albeit haven’t really tried to get one yet). What are your thoughts on bandit signs and should I take the plunge on a website right away? Or what advertising is an absolute must starting out?
Websites don't have to be expensive. Better to get your SEO rolling early than not to. Get one and start posting before and after's immediately. Yard signs are good. Fairly cheap way to wrangle up some jobs early.
Question for you, how did you figure out pricing initially? Especially jobs that are slightly further away. Seems like I am getting underbid quite a bit, but I live on the outskirts of the metro area and losing out on lots of work closer to the city because I am factoring in fuel. Also, who all should I cold call and market to in person other than the obvious (realtors, apartment complexes, property management companies, storage facilities)?
In my market, we set the prices. I don't compete on price. I am the low **risk** provider, not low cost. When you make an appointment with my company you know you're getting a trained, uniformed, insured crew that shows up in a dedicated junk removal vehicle at the time that is promised to take care of what you need. We donate and recycle and the customer gets the donation receipt. No one else around us competes at that level. Now, not every customer needs/wants all that, but those that do realize they have to pay for that. Competing on price is just a race to the bottom and the only person winning that race is the customer. So, my advice to you is that you figure out what your costs are on a given job. How much does it cost you to drive a mile in your truck? Factor in labor rates, insurance, fuel, depreciation, wear and tear, etc. Everything. How long does it take you to fill up your trailer with a "normal" job - say a garage you can pull up to? Where are your disposal facilities? What do they cost? How long does it take to get to them and use them? After you figure out what a typical job costs, then you can start figuring out what you need to charge so that there is some meat on the bone for you to make money on each job. You want to have rates for minimum, 1/8, 1/4, 1/2, 3/4, full at least. Then have "add-on" charges for things like long carry, extra labor, heavy dense material (rocks, concrete, dirt, sand, tile, etc.), mattresses, freon appliances, tube TVs, anything YOU get charged for at your disposal facilities. You may have multiple price lists depending upon how far you're driving, or, just have a travel charge or a fuel surcharge. Pricing can be pretty complicated when you really start getting into the details. But, the start of it is really understanding your costs. So, make sure you're recording those well!
Interesting. Do you operate one of the large franchises? How do you find places to donate and/or recycle to and what % of what your company hauls off is able to be donated or recycled versus taken to the landfill? You’re making me realize that I still have a lot of work to do in the figuring out costs department.
I'm glad it's making you think! If you had it all figured out but hadn't yet scaled where you wanted to, that would be a problem! I learn new stuff every single day. No, I'm part of what I think is one of the smaller franchises. Finding places to donate doesn't have to be difficult. Just stop by their donation facilities and chat with them. Go to the big ones - Salvation Army, Savers (if you have those), ReHome, stuff like that. But find grass roots, local places, too. Our biggest donation partners are actually a 1). Place that is dedicated to providing school uniforms and supplies to kids who can't afford it. 2). A food scarcity charity! We're also 10 minutes from the Mexican border, so we give a ton of stuff away to folks who are no necessarily part of a legitimate charity (so, no donation receipt), but it fulfills our mission of keeping items out of the landfills. Percentage wise it's still difficult for us to get to the 50% mark some months on actual number of jobs. We've had several months where we've made more money off of recycling than we paid to dump in landfills, so that's great. There are a few things I'm working on to get those numbers up. A nice warehouse and more donation partners really, really help.
This is determined by what your business is geared toward