I live in Long Beach, CA and I need help on finding neighborhoods to advertise my painting business. I used craigslist already and dropped off flyers and doorhangers around various neighborhoods already. Craigslist sends me to Orange County and the LA area. I want to paint in Long Beach first and then expand to other areas so I need help finding good neighborhoods in Long Beach.
I would suggest you go to real estate offices with independant agents and offer them your services. Often people are moving and don’t want to paint their house, or want to hire someone for it to be done quickly. Plus, they can tell you where the new houses are going up…. you won’t get work out of new housing tract, but you might from areas around that new houseing tract.
Good luck
September 18th, 2009 at 7:48 pm
I would suggest you go to real estate offices with independant agents and offer them your services. Often people are moving and don’t want to paint their house, or want to hire someone for it to be done quickly. Plus, they can tell you where the new houses are going up…. you won’t get work out of new housing tract, but you might from areas around that new houseing tract.
Good luck
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September 18th, 2009 at 8:16 pm
drive around, or search the MLS. Try to find out where the pricier homes are and leave flyers on the door. Also incentives are good too, like buys two rooms, get 3rd free. or 1 free room per referral, etc.
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September 18th, 2009 at 8:48 pm
Contractors. Give great rates to contractors and they will continue to recommend/use your service. When painting, ask if anyone needs work on their homes or if they know anyone that wants to ADD-ON to their homes, then HIGHLY, HIGHLY recommend targeted contractor. After so many referrals, that contractor will begin to return the favor with paint referrals. I live in long beach, and the painter’s that work for the contractor that built my house, have endless amounts of work. THIS same technique works wonders with Realtors. When doing work on a house, try to get info on the house, are they selling? Team up with a Agent and HIGHLY recommend his GREAT SERVICE to home owners. The scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours mentality really works! MOST important of all, be RELIABLE and do GREAT WORK. Nothing will kill a relationship with a good contractor faster, than the clients of the contractor complaining about your reliability or Quality.
Also, don’t stop sending flyers and doorhangers. Home owners may not have a need RIGHT NOW, but eventually they will and when they do, they will think of your service if you continually market to them. Don’t forget your INCENTIVES. Give home owners a reason to call you. Mark your service up 20% yet offer a 20-30% DISCOUNT COUPON for owners. Trick us into calling you. Once we dial your number, its up to you to close the deal.
Craigslist is a great resource, but much of the users are penny pinchers trying to scout the best price so be wary of how you use its service.
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September 18th, 2009 at 9:03 pm
Check out the schools – 99% of the time the areas with good schools are good neighborhoods. School data is available form most real estate agents and certainly online.
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September 18th, 2009 at 9:14 pm
All of these are great suggestions! I would also suggest that you join a local "category exclusive" group like LeTip: http://www.LeTip.com . All the professions in my Orange County LeTip chapter get a lot of business, and I’m sure there are chapters in Long Beach too.
One of the things you can do for the Realtors when you advertise your services to add value is TAKE PAYMENT THROUGH ESCROW. One of the most important things when selling a house is fresh neutral paint, and if the sellers don’t want to pay for that, then it makes it difficult for the agent to sell the property. You can assist these agents in selling their properties by offering to do the services upfront and get paid through escrow. You may have to "pay it forward" until the house sells, but you can probably even charge a little MORE than other painters because the perception of the sellers is that they don’t have to pay out of pocket.
I will warn you in advance to BE CAREFUL to make sure you are painting a house that will sell on this system…because not all are selling lately. If you do your homework, you are not only benefiting yourself…you could be the difference between a sale and a foreclosure!
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Member of LeTip, Personal experience having a painter paint my house and get paid through escrow, Licensed Realtor