Starting a Services Business

[L&L]

Hi everyone,

I just like to say thanks for such a brilliant forum you've got here, it really is a complete resource of information.

I'm currently looking to start my own services business eg gardening/cleaning. I know it's not exactly an exciting or new idea but I'm looking to put a slight twist on it and potentially scale it to a regional/national level.

I'm in the process of developing my business plan however I do have a few initial questions (I'm sure there will be a lot more later on):

1. How do I go about marketing my business on a budget? I'm willing to distribute leaflets myself and know which particular local areas I am looking to target.

2. Can I run my own business and work full time as well? And would there be any tax implications on my employment salary?

3. How should I calculate my hourly rate? I know what the average local rate is so should I come in just below that or stick to a similar rate for the area?

If anyone runs their own services business and can offer any advice it would be much appreciated.

Many thanks,

L

 

[J4m3s@Finanscapes]

On your pricing question (#3), think about your service and what value you'll be adding. Why are customers going to want to come to you not anyone else - will you do a better job, be more reliable etc?
Also think about your market - and choose the area you market to very carefully. Target a wealthy area in town, it will be no harder to sell but they'll pay higher prices for your better service.

Once you're clear why you're better than the competition, and are targeting a more valuable neighbourhood you should be able to charge more than the average, not less. Do a web search for pricing - it's a really important topic that most startups get wrong, and it can have a phenominal impact on your success. Designing and positioning your service, and selling it to the right customers, will mean you set the prices rather than just copy the competition.

 

[Scalloway]

2. Can I run my own business and work full time as well? And would there be any tax implications on my employment salary?

As long as your employer is ok with it there is no problem. As you are already employed you will have to pay 20% tax on all your business profits. You have the option of having business tax paid through your PAYE code or paying a lump sum in January each year.

 

[TradeSmart]

1. How do I go about marketing my business on a budget? I'm willing to distribute leaflets myself and know which particular local areas I am looking to target.

Local newspaper advertising is always good and relatively cheap.

I have found myself saying this a lot recently, but try local church magazines. I advertised my Oven Cleaning business in them and the response was amazing.

 

[lumencreative]

1. How do I go about marketing my business on a budget? I'm willing to distribute leaflets myself and know which particular local areas I am looking to target.

Number 1: Seems obvious saying this (coming from a web designer) but get a website. Most people looking for any sort of service nowadays look online. It will be a good tool for you moving forward as you will have a platform where you can post photos of jobs you've done (before and after photos go down well) and you can post customer feedback on there too.

I would also consider looking at signing up to Rated People. I believe you pay an annual fee and then you get emails of jobs every day. Don't use Myhammer as it seems to be going down hill fast (last few jobs I've posted on there have ended without quotes).

Number 2: Don't pay for Yellow Pages ads.

Number 3: Create a Facebook account for your company and join loads and loads and loads of Buy/Sell/Swap groups on Facebook. Then on all of those groups post photos of before and after jobs and invite people to contact you for quotes.

Hope that helps

 

[MartynKeigher]

Hey,

As for marketing... the Facebook idea is a great one! One other thing i would do is start up a twitter account and start following accounts of people/companies in your sector of work, and interact with them. I know this sound s a little slly, (and at first you'll be thiking... "What the hell!" but you'll be surprised at the speed at which news travels and if you retweet the right stuff, interact with the right discussions... you'll have people noticing you pretty quickly.

Martyn T. Keigher
[email protected]
@MartynKeigher

 

[beasty]

WEB DESIGNERS suggest a website ,there is a big shock!

Before you think about regional or national it is important to entirely impress your local market, if you cannot impress your neighbours then there is not much chance of branding it somehow down the line.

Assuming you have a garden, make it immaculate with a big sign for people to see.

No gardener who advertises online should be taking business from you if you do all of this, it just will not happen as you will be known locally to everyone !

WEBSITE.. NOPE... it is not a priority and will be slow, knock on doors, advertise in local shops, offer discounts to staff of local businesses, local radio is worth looking at, trade associans. Chamber of commerce, look at what rivals do and improve on it. Throw up a website when you have a raft of REAL testimonials (Nothing puts me off a website quicker than fake OR VAGUE tesimonials WEB DESIGNERS TAKE NOTE!)

Take plenty of physical evidence of who you are to your customers for them to hand to their pals, always ask them if you can call in two weeks in case there is anything that was missed (In the meantime they will ASSUMING YOU DID A GOOD JOB talk about you and you should pick up more business)

Always cold call the neighbours of clients
Always ask for referals

A website.. sure, the guy round the corner is going to go online , and google your service? You should already have said HI i am bla bla and I do this.. here is my card, i am local.. you will see my advert in the local shop too..

it is not rocket science and just because technology exists does not mean it is the best way


NOTE ABOUT FACEBOOK AND TWITTER

You say you KNOW your hourly rate approx
Get some software that analyses HOW MUCH TIME you spend on TWITTER AND FACEBOOK

Then see if it is worth it..

Lets say you are 15 hours a week (many people are) and your rate is 10 quid (i guess)

You are in effect spending 150 quid a week on FB and Twitter.. unless you are getting DOZENS of jobs weekly, it would obviously be a poor use of your time.

TWITTER AND FB is not free advertising it is time consuming and very wasteful for the great majority of business v what they COULD be doing.

I am wary of those that say to most business

GET A WEBSITE

FACEBOOK do this before a website (ADD BEFORE AND AFTER PHOTOS)
wait until you have a few and do not waste your day on FB, once you have some good content it will be useful, you can target locally using fb ads, which will work better if you have images that people who see them will recognise.

TWITTER

as an automatic response as this CANNOT work for everyone and trotting it out as a reaction to a question as a good idea is not correct.

You want LOCAL EVERYTHING, avoid national and online is ok once you have a name to put up there and can let it grown without spending your day caring about 3 more likes or followers.

You can spend all day online wasting time or you can go outside and get some paying customers

I type fast sorry for the long post!!

 

[businessfunding]

Google places

Free website. Yes, seriously - you are a small local business and won't be judged on it.

Facebook/Twitter - I Seriously doubt it in your situation

your promotion will be about what you do, not what you have

Get out there amongst the target community and get selling. Parish or local mags can be good and will reinforce your value in the community - do something for free or for charity & you could turn it into PR

Local networking =groups.


Pricing - it actually depends how you are differentiating yourself. The further you are from directly competing the more you can influence the rates.

It is important to set your value against your price - if you are offering premium service this must reflects - you can discount on a qualified basis eg 'work undertaken prior to December' 'first 5 clients' or 'in return for testimonial'

If you market yourself as the cheap gardener you will become the cheap gardener - market yourself as the premium Gardner with some hot rates you will be premium.

 

[citycm]

To those saying don't get a website and don't use Facebook don't really know what they are talking about.

A website (or at least a domain name) is important for a number of reasons. Say you call yourself 'xyz gardening', but don't register your domain name, someone else can see your advert, buy the domain name then can do whatever they like with it (especially competitors). You will notice that lumencreative also mentioned using it as a tool to upload before and after photo's - I can't see why this would be a bad thing.

Also, Facebook does not have to take up 15 hours+ per week. You can get free software called Hootsuite that will post your advert to all the groups you're a member of at the click of a button.

Take a look at a buy/sell group for your area on Facebook. In my area there are 10's of these groups and there are constantly people asking for tradesmen to provide quotes for things doing. I, myself, have had many tradesmen for all kinds of jobs (from removing stones/soil from garden, to decorating the entire house). Don't knock it til you try it.

All I am saying is that if someone decides they want some gardening doing, they're hardly going to think 'oh I'll just pop round to the corner shop to see who's advertising today', they are much more likely to turn on the computer and do a quick search for local gardeners.

 

[max_talk_cleaners]

Hi L&L,
always well come for the field.

i would like to talk to u more about this.
my webiste is maxtechcleaners.co.uk

Thanks
Max,

 

[Deleted member 231954]

On your pricing question (#3), think about your service and what value you'll be adding. Why are customers going to want to come to you not anyone else - will you do a better job, be more reliable etc?
Also think about your market - and choose the area you market to very carefully. Target a wealthy area in town, it will be no harder to sell but they'll pay higher prices for your better service.

Totally agree with you on the pricing. If you charge low rates just to compete with low earners, then in the eyes of your potential customer you're no better than the competition. When I started charging more in my man and van business, I started getting more business because when you quote a higher price, people ask the question WHY?. This allows you to sell the benefits you offer that your competition doesn't.
Good luck in your business.

 

[Simply Business]

Hi,

Yesterday we published a story from Gemma Falconer of GoToMeeting. Here she mentions six key ways to grow a small business on a budget. She specifically highlights some marketing tips which you may find helpful?

Hope this helps, and good luck!

http://www.simplybusiness.co.uk/knowledge/articles/2014/10/six-ways-to-grow-your-small-business/

 

[existenzgruender]

Hey,

As for marketing... the Facebook idea is a great one! One other thing i would do is start up a twitter account and start following accounts of people/companies in your sector of work, and interact with them. I know this sound s a little slly, (and at first you'll be thiking... "What the hell!" but you'll be surprised at the speed at which news travels and if you retweet the right stuff, interact with the right discussions... you'll have people noticing you pretty quickly.
@MartynKeigher