A while back a a middle-aged guy made his way through my neighborhood, handing out fliers to promote his carpet cleaning business.
The fliers were standard fare – price per square foot, we do upholstery, we’ve been in business since 1985 – all that sort of thing.
You could tell the guy was comfortable with this process – beating the streets, shaking hands, giving out fliers and asking people to use his service. He was completely at easy. In fact, if we hadn’t just had our carpets cleaned we’d definitely have taken him up on the offer.
In other words, fliers are still very much an effective way to generate new customers for a small business (and great for people who are trying to figure out how to start a small business with no money). You just have to go about it the right way.
In my opinion, there was one particularly brilliant technique he used in handing out his fliers, and a couple points I think he could improve on.
The thing he did that impressed me the most was writing my neighbor’s name and phone number on his flier. He had cleaned her carpet, apparently done a great job, and gotten her permission to mention the service he’d given her when he went around to all the other neighbors.
Done wrong, this could come off as contrived and cheesy. But this guy handled it just right; he simply let us know that our neighbor, Raquel (whom we do know), had used his service and was willing to have us call her and ask how it went.
This took down our defenses. At the very least we didn’t have to worry if he was just some creep looking for an excuse to get into our house. A brilliant strategy overall.
The first thing I’d have improved about his approach was to go a step beyond the flier. Why? Because everybody knows the first thing you do is throw away a flier. If he had given me something more tangible – something like a refrigerator magnet – I most likely would have kept it. Heck, it could hold up my 4-year-old son’s water color paintings on the fridge.
On the magnet he could print some catchy slogan with his phone number or a special offer. Then, every time I open my fridge, I’m reminded that he’s my guy when I’m ready to have the carpets cleaned again.
The other change I’d make to his approach was to visit more frequently. This guy was genuinely likable. He presented himself well, wasn’t pushy at all, and I’d have been happy to have him come back another time to see if timing was better for us.
If you’re not at all abrasive or hard-selling, revising a neighborhood where you’ve dropped fliers before drastically increases your chances of getting new customers from the effort.
Overall, I’d say handing out fliers (with multiple visits, backed up by something tangible like a refrigerator magnet), is a great way to get customers when you’re trying to start a business with very little money. Practice it, persist with it, and you’ll do great.