Home › Forums › West Seattle Rants & Raves › RANT – businesses ignoring Do Not Solicit signs
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July 24, 2009 at 2:31 pm #671483
jseaversMemberMy name is Justin Seavers and I am part owner of 2 Guys And a Bucket. I know that there has been a lot of discussion concerning the fliers left on peoples cars and houses. I would like to first apologize for any inconvenience my fliers may have caused it was not our intention to have them distributed in that fashion. I also am not a huge fan for getting fliers on my windshield or to be honest at my home.To tell you a little about me, I moved here from Memphis,Tn 6 months ago because due to the recession I was out of work. I came to Seattle for work and was laid off soon after I arrived. Not one for collecting unemployment, a friend and I started this business together and we started with very little. Since then our business has grown quite substantially and it all started with an idea and a handful of fliers. We do good work and we are affordable. Every client I have done work for is happy. I believe in doing a good job and working hard and treating people with respect and kindness. So again we apologize for offending anyone. So with that said I am open to ideas and suggestions and if anyone would like to contact me you can reach me at 206-940-4591 thank you.Justin Seavers
July 24, 2009 at 2:56 pm #671484
AimParticipantJustin, thank you for posting. I respect what you said, and what you’re trying to do. In West Seattle, word of mouth is definitely the way news travels. We’re kindof a small town in some ways, still.
That said, I don’t need windows cleaned but if I hear of anyone who does I’d be happy to refer them your way based on your post here. I appreciate the apology for the delivery method, and I think all too many of us understand the position you find yourself in.
Welcome to the community. Do you also live in WS? If so, please keep getting involved in things here. The business will come.
July 24, 2009 at 4:29 pm #671485
JoBParticipantcharlabob..
it doens’t look like you will have to wait for a flier…
i don’t like the fliers much either.. or the people who ignore my dog warning signs and no trespassing signs and come to the door anyway…
but i will take them any day over the advertising robocalls.
July 24, 2009 at 4:55 pm #671486
beachdrivegirlParticipantJustin thanks for the post!
July 24, 2009 at 4:59 pm #671487
cjboffoliParticipantSeems like Justin figured out THE best way to get the word out to the 60,000 or so people who live in West Seattle: Advertise in the West Seattle Blog! :-)
July 24, 2009 at 5:25 pm #671488
JanSParticipantwow..snarkiness at an apology..you can’t win for losin’, huh…
July 24, 2009 at 5:32 pm #671489
YardvarkMemberJustin:
Welcome to West Seattle, and thank you for stopping your practice of flyer distribution.
Word of mouth is far less annoying, and far more effective and enviromental.
Nonetheless, I think you still owe us one for the violation.
If you’d truly like to get in our good graces on this issues, you’d get DEX to stop delivering unwanted phone books to our homes.
There’s your penance.
You shall be forgiven, my son.
July 24, 2009 at 5:38 pm #671490
JoBParticipantJanS..
I have to agree… considering cj initiated the discussion… and the subsequent advertising… that was a pretty snarky remark.
Yaardvark…
if only it was just DEX … the latest delivery sits on my porch in it’s plastic sack awaiting direct transportation to the recycle bin…
i think we ought to charge them for recylcing the plethora of phone books we didn’t ask for and don’t want.
July 24, 2009 at 5:57 pm #671491
beachdrivegirlParticipantJoB your DEX desciription founds just like mine. I finally moved it after looking @ it for three weeks!!
July 24, 2009 at 6:17 pm #671492
YardvarkMemberDidn’t someone collect a bunch of these phone books last year and use them to blockade the DEX offices?
July 24, 2009 at 7:30 pm #671493
JoBParticipanti wish i had known.. i would have contributed.
my personal “gift” from DEX has only been there a week.. it will get moved this weekend.
i would much prefer that they would deliver it directly to the recycling bin.
July 24, 2009 at 8:46 pm #671494
YardvarkMemberMaybe we could take a page from the bicyclists in Critial Mass. Each year, we’ll designate a day to clog Alaska Juction with the phone books until our kind political leaders pass better legislation on door-to-door solicitations.
July 24, 2009 at 9:10 pm #671495
cjboffoliParticipantJanS: I think you may need to have your snark detectors re-calibrated. I was serious in my post. I think that advertising in the West Seattle Blog is a much more effective use of advertising dollars than putting fliers under the doormats or every house and under the windshield wipers of every car on the peninsula. It was savvy of Jason to hit the WSB Forums. And it looks like he’s already picked up some new potential clients.
July 24, 2009 at 9:29 pm #671496
datamuseParticipantI take your point, cjboffoli. And yet, I wonder. Advertising on WSB is great…for ME. Yet quite a few of my neighbors are still unaware of the blog.
As annoying as I find flyers personally, I’m having a hard time thinking of ways to duplicate the coverage they provide, particularly for potential customers who still aren’t online (they exist!) or who don’t know about WSB.
In any case, as I said, for me a flyer in my mailbox is inoffensive at worst. I can deal with it at my leisure. It’s coming up and knocking on my door that drives me nuts.
July 24, 2009 at 9:38 pm #671497
JanSParticipantsorry, Christopher…my radar has been out of whack for a while now – lol..
datamuse…one of the reasons I love being in a secure apt. bldg., is, no one knocks on the door, unless it’s a client or someone else I know.. Now…about those piles of phone books that sit outside for months at a time……
July 24, 2009 at 9:42 pm #671498
YardvarkMemberI think we need to institute a “clean-up” cost that’s build in to the permit required to distribute business solicitations door-to-door.
The window washing guys are bad enough and I won’t be using them until them make up for what they did. But what really bugs me is when Jesus leaves pamphlets by my door.
He can be such a jerk sometimes.
July 24, 2009 at 9:47 pm #671499
JanSParticipantI’m so glad I wasn’t drinking anything when I read that – lolol..
July 25, 2009 at 5:38 pm #671500
windowguyMemberHello, West Seattle,
My name is Nick and I am Justin’s partner with 2 Guys and a Bucket Window Cleaning Service.I will start with this, we found out about this blog from an existing customer who hired us
after seeing one of our fliers on their home. He apparently did some research and found us on here and decided to hire us after reading this RANT, so we had to see what was being said. With that in mind, we always like feed back about what we are doing in our business regarding client satisfaction, quality and marketing practices, even if it is negative feedback. We always want to find ways to improve our product(our window cleaning service)and our community relations. As many of you fellow entrepreneurs out there know that a lot of building a business is trial and error.
I think Justin mentioned that we started this biz with a bucket and a couple squeegees.
We came up with the idea and started with very little money, about enough for some soap
and to print 100 or so fliers actually! Originally we knocked on doors by ourselves but
found that usually if people were home during the day they were usually busy and/or not very receptive to DTD sales. We got a better response from the ones that we tucked in the
door jam of the houses that no one answered the doors. In fact, just this last week we did
a few jobs of people that had held onto some our first fliers we did 4 months ago!As far as how we ended with our flier where it was posted no soliciting,it happened by accident! We
had been parked in an alley, because we working nearby. and it was a group of townhomes so we must not have seen the sign. Also after several emails with the person in question they suggested the WSB!
Some of you say that method of advertising has a bad response rate, but it has been
quite the opposite. On average for every 1 new client we get, we have gotten as many as
10 or more referrals from that client.From every 100 fliers we get 2-3 customers, which
could be the possibility of having 20-30 new clients.To our existing customers out there
that may read this. Thank You for your support and all your suggestions regarding marketing, and all the great conversation. We couldn’t do this without you. We believe in providing an excellent service at a reasonable cost.
Thank You,
Nick Probst
206-574-8926
July 25, 2009 at 10:08 pm #671501
JoBParticipantHe’s right.. fliers actually work… especially if the business does a good job and gets referrals..
2-3% return on cold calls isn’t bad.
20-30% would make most marketers pretty happy.
July 25, 2009 at 10:10 pm #671502
KevinParticipantJustin/Nick,
Leaving a flyer is not that bad, but it is a question of HOW it was left. On my street, the flyers had been left out on the street. It looked like someone had just tossed them out the window of a car as they drove by. I think this is what got a lot of folks stirred up.
July 25, 2009 at 10:26 pm #671503
christopherboffoliParticipantEvery client producing an average of ten solid referrals for you seems like an unusually high number. I can’t remember the last time I recommended a window washer to ten of my friends. You must be doing an exceptional job.
But what you should also consider is that, at least on my block, there were several neighbors who decided NOT to use your service based on your method of getting the word out. So you should factor in the opportunity cost of lost business in your total rate of ROI.
July 26, 2009 at 12:00 am #671504
windowguyMemberFirst, I’m not sure how they ended up in the street. I know I wouldn’t throw them out my car window, that would be just silly! As far as the referral rate I am saying that even if every customer referred 2 people each one of those new people may refer 2 more and so on. not necessarily ten from 1 person. But I do understand that this is an issue and some of our fliers may have been misplaced and that is why I am on here to learn from all of you, because all of you are who I work for. I know it is not possible to make every person happy, but I sure will try! I am also currently working on finding on affordable means to make a door hanger that will stay where it is meant to be. we also are trying to use the most affordable means of getting the word out about our company in order to keep overhead low thus passing the savings on to you.
July 26, 2009 at 3:10 am #671505
JanSParticipantwell, I, for one, welcome you to the community, and to these forums :)
Now…about those second floor apartment windows..outside, I mean – lol….
August 15, 2009 at 4:00 am #671506
windowguyMemberHey everybody just wanted to show the latest news around my business, and in a way give you a more personal introduction via a News interview we did for Kiro7 this week.Just click on the link to check it out. Thank You for looking and if you need your Windows or Gutters cleaned please give me a call.
Nick
2 Guys and a Bucket
206-574-8926
August 26, 2009 at 5:42 am #671507
CGWCMemberWow! I am so glad I read this rant. I have been tossing the idea around about sending fliers to customers homes via the mail or walking right up and posting them on the door. I will NEVER do both now. These days we are getting bombarded with ads and annoying junk in the mail everyday. I do not want to add to the mess. I told Verizon Superpages not to renew my phone book ad a few days ago. Its really all about internet marketing these days. If someone is looking for a service they can hop online and go to one of many review sites. Putting fliers on cars is very selfish and inconsiderate, oh and definitely not Environmentally Friendly.
If you think about it, who really wants to come home to a flier on the door? The home is the sacred place.
So thank you West Seattle Blog, for helping me decide not to go the print shop!
Oh, BTW I am a local window cleaner. Beacon Hill to be exact. I own and operate Crystal Green Cleaning and am fully insured. Check out my site!
Eric
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