New Shop Advertising, what did you do?

[john.k]

Damn right .....my bosses gave money to politicians ,I got stopped in the company Mazda truck ....it was really a POS,anyhoo ,the copper got out his book ,and says "Is this your vehicle " ......Im ,no ,it belongs to (my bosses) ..they are both friends of the Police Minister ......"Oh ,well see if you cant get it fixed a bit ...Have a nice day"......if it had been mine,it would have been a major defect notice ,and towed .

 

[seve7]

Wow.

You have a really screwed up vision of what "employer" means.

I've worked in many machine/die shops. If an employee came up with a better mousetrap, the employer usually made his machines and services made available at shop rate, if you needed them.

I myself have utilized wire EDM time many times.

I can think of no employer that would do such a thing, other than the D.O.D. types, But they don't count. They not employers, they're lobbyists.

most corporations have a ip clause in their employment contracts that says anything you invent on or off the job related to the work they do, they own the ip defacto. mom and pop tool and die shops didnt have me do this.

 

[EmGo]

My question is, what methods of advertising does everyone do?

I put an ad in the yellow pages the first year. Probably wasn't worth it, maybe barely paid for the ad.

Have you guys ever heard of 'kickbacks' ?

 

[john.k]

Actually ,Yellow Pages was good for a small shop ........I used to get lots of walk ins from the YPs......cash payments ,too.....Basic list didnt cost any more than a business phone .....and in those days ,phone connections were rationed out,with business connections done first.............With the rented shop ,the landlord paid me to make some big 25ft high sign frames ,every tennant was given a 6x4 sheet of steel ,and had to have sign on the sign frame on the street frontage ........I had a sort of a joke sign ,and called myself "Dirt Mechanix" which was an old time insult for low grade car shops..........Geez,I wish I had registered that name , a few years later 4x4s became a big thing,and someone else stole the name and franchised it.

 

[john.k]

Funny to think its nearly 50 years ago......my sign was Dirt Mechanix.............main agent for Old Smokey pistons and rings ,Seizmore bearings,and Skidmore Tires .........landlord hated the sign ,but I actually used to get people wanting to buy ......the good old days..........I used to sell remold car tires for $1...sold hundreds of them....even sold remold motor bike tyres.

 

[Doug]

Started in 1985, never advertised. Except when the phone company found I was using our home phone line for business. They made me get a business phone line which included a listing in the Yellow pages. When the new Yellow pages came out I was getting a couple calls a day wanting to know how much I charged to machine brake drums. Never got a single machining job from the Yellow pages.

I had never worked as machinist so no contacts. I visited small local shops and told them my story. Usually the founder of the shops was still working so understood my situation and what they had gone through getting started and would give me small jobs. I always told them to tell me what they wanted to pay for those jobs and if they weren't satisfied with my work it was free.

Gradually I started getting referrals. One of the small shops gave me a big customer who needed everything yesterday. Fine with me since I didn't have much work anyway. That one customer gave me enough work I could afford a CNC lathe all cash. In 1987 a small shop having a CNC was unusual so that got me a lot of work. Then a CNC mill and it was all down hill from then on.

And the weirdest part of all is I never answered any RFQ's. Very seldom quoted jobs, most all time and material. Sometimes I was asked for ball park estimates. When my biggest customer retired I asked him why he never required quotes from me (like he did for other vendors), he said because my invoices were always about what he expected to pay. When I retired 5 of my customers had been with me at least 25 years, 2 of those for 30 years.

My advice is establish relationships with customers, only locals. Treat them fairly and they will return the favor. And be honest with the customer about what you can and will do. An important thing to realize is whether there is work in your area, in my case there was.

One good source of contacts for me were live auctions. You could meet lots of people, strike up a conversation and you might find they need your services or you need theirs. Salesmanship is a big part of being a small business owner. Always hand out business cards. Unfortunately with online auctions that opportunity doesn't exist any longer. My wife called live auctions a "machinist's social event".

The sad thing is when I retired I tried to find shops to take over on-going work as a favor to good customers. 4 of 5 of those jobs went to hell. One high tech shop made 5,000 bad parts for a 30 year customer and couldn't understand why the customer wouldn't return their phone calls. 3 raised prices after they told me they could easily do the work at my prices. One of the 3 insulted the customer by asking for payment in advance after I had assured him they paid like clockwork. That whole effort to place jobs with shops gave me a whole knew lack of respect for other shops. No wonder so many shops don't do well or last.

 

[Donkey Hotey]

I can think of no employer that would do such a thing, other than the D.O.D. types, But they don't count.

Yeah, this is pretty much all large employers. You say DOD types but, Apple, Google, Tesla, General Motors whatever, they all have intellectual property agreements you sign while processing in. Many smaller companies do the same. Some of them claim to own everything you ever invent, even after leaving. It's debatable how enforceable that is and varies by state. They still try.

 

[john.k]

I designed and built a machine from bits of junk that earned the sandblasters $12 million over 4 years .........I told the boss that I expected a bonus ,and he told me that anything I did at work belonged to the company (him and his partner)........and I would get the same bonus as everyone else ....a coffee mug with his picture on it ,and a $5 gift card ..........I saw lots of simple improvements and cost savers ,do you think I ever did anything else for them?

 

[EmGo]

One good source of contacts for me were live auctions. You could meet lots of people, strike up a conversation and you might find they need your services or you need theirs.

I had that exact same experience, got more work from auction blabbing than any other single method. And found more sources for other stuff/services, too. However, as you say, no more real auctions.

I can't believe people put up with this online crap, btw. How can you tell what anything is really like without being there ? And how honest the bidding is, and all the other little stuff you find ... some ways, people are just such saps. DON'T DO online auctions and they will have to return to the real thing.

Auctions is good.

 

[Garwood]

I can't believe people put up with this online crap, btw. How can you tell what anything is really like without being there ? And how honest the bidding is, and all the other little stuff you find ... some ways, people are just such saps. DON'T DO online auctions and they will have to return to the real thing.

Auctions is good.

I miss in person auctions for the same reasons, but online auctions have thier perks too. Good deals to be had, especially in listings with bad pictures.

 

[Vancouver Island Waterjet]

All paid adverts are a waste of money. None of them brought us a dime. We did not advertise at all after the first year. Word of mouth is by far the best.
When I first started I gathered my waterjet samples and spent 4 days on the road, made 120 personal sales calls in 4 days to everyone and anyone that might need such service. Everyone was very kind to me, listened to my sales pitch, asked the right questions, looked at my samples. Only 2 told me to get lost. This did not result in much but did get the ball rolling. Whatever, do not fall for the newspaper or radio ads they will just waste your money.