Poll- How would you find a Tradie?

[Elsewhere]

I do a search on the internet and find those who have their own website.

[MDS69]

Without giving too many specifics I have a few national customers and occasionally need to arrange work in all sorts of places like Christmas Island, Albany, Cairns, Port Hedland, Broken Hill, Dubbo etc you get the idea. I will google/yellow pages online for companies in the trade in the area I need and look at their websites. Also it simply also comes down to contacting the office/branch of the business I need to arrange the work at and asking who is their current company they use then engage them to work on my behalf. As some of the stuff we do you need certain accreditations I will look for companies registered on the applicable website and look further into them as well.

For personal stuff I ask family/friends for recommendations.

[Azz]

I am a tradie, so I can speak from some (little - 23 years) experience.

I have found most (about 90%) of our customers come from word of mouth and repeat business.

Look after your customers and they will look after you.

Now please remember this is my opinion only, but I have found advertising ( which failed dismally for us the couple of times we tried it!!!) gets us lousy customers only after rock bottom price.
It usually attracts those who are quote shopping. This usually spells grief.
I hear all too often people complaining about tradies, but let me tell you with a sincere heart, that customers can be a royal pain in the little donkey.
I now choose my customers rather than the other way around.
If your good, I'll work for you, but if you are just price gouging and whinging, I can recommend some great tradies....

A good customer base is worth a lot and once established work hard to keep it.
Trust is the key element.
As far as getting new customers, I have no problem in asking any of my customers for referrals and recommendations.
They are always happy to oblige as not only do they feel a mutual respect and bond, but they also get the feel good gratification and knowledge that you will remember them.
Its a win - win.

Good luck with it all
Brian

Cannot agree more, been working for myself for the same amount of time.

Have not advertised in any form for 20 years now, our number is not even listed. Word of mouth is excellent.

In the last few years half our kids have moved out and the others are old enough to look after themselves more, so we are spending more time on the business.

So in last year we have really worked hard on our website and Facebook presence. It is working extremely well.
We are trying to arm our clients with knowledge, so when they do ring and get quotes, that in our business can vary radically the client has a basic understanding of what our product is compared to others.
i.e We are the Handcrafted Australian product compared to the dodgy $2 shop Chinese crap.

We find that clients google what they are after, get a Facebook link. Far easier to get yourself higher in a google search with Facebook we have found.
They then click on from our FB page to our website. On average they will spend 5.5 mins on our website and the trend is for them to read exactly what we want.

When we do talk with a client about their project, we know what they have read on our website by the questions they ask and what they tell us about the various products we use.

To be honest, I really did not think a web presence was such a big deal for what we do, but I have learnt otherwise. A well thought out website is a valuable tool to have.

We now have a marketing budget and its all going towards an online presence.

[Hairs]

Good luck with it all

Great post Mate.
 
Couldn't agree more Brian.