Getting new business

[slammedxonair]

Hello everybody, I have just been wondering what other people do to start getting new business when they first get there machines or are slow. I have had my Dynatorch for around 2 years now, I mainly use it to cut my line of custom automotive suspension parts and a couple art things here and there. I may run the table once a week if that. I would like to be able to do more with it and pick up more local business. If I had a store front I would offer more art type stuff but I dont have one yet. Thanks for the ideas I just thought this might start another good conversation like the pricing thread.

[CNCCajun]

Let us know what area of the country you are in . . .

Different areas provide different opportunities . . .

Steve

We have a Vermillion here in Louisiana . . .

[slammedxonair]

I'm in vermilion ohio a boring town on a boring lake haha. (I don't have a boat and not many people around here are into custom cars just the classics) Thats mainly why my business is online. www.illusivefabrications.com if you want to check it out. Been trying to do whatever I can to pay the bills. If I had a store front with a shop behind it it would be a great retail location for metal art and stuff like that. the problem is I can't find anywhere to have both at once. My town is pretty lame nothing to do and half of it is a bunch of rich stuck up snobby people (metal nautical art would probably appeal to) but I dont really have a way to get it in front of them. Maybe this helps lol.

[slammedxonair]

bump.....Hello everybody, my online custom auto suspension parts business is pretty slow right now and I want to start advertising the CNC plasma more locally if its doing art work or getting contracted work. I still do not have a store front. What are some of your advertising success stories or ideas if you care to share. Thanks

[millman52]

Originally Posted by slammedxonair bump.....Hello everybody, my online custom auto suspension parts business is pretty slow right now and I want to start advertising the CNC plasma more locally if its doing art work or getting contracted work. I still do not have a store front. What are some of your advertising success stories or ideas if you care to share. Thanks

Other local industry purchasing departments often need to farm out such work for repair & maintenance of automated lines. As far as advertising goes I have always found it hard to target larger & especially repeat parts. You almost have to "SHOW & TELL" someone that can give you the work. Also when dealing with other businesses you will almost always have to wait for 30-60 days on your payday. However this type of work once started usually is a payday you can count on over & over.

If there are local or regional weekly "traders bulletins". There is a good place to get walk in trade on art & one off parts. Not just a small 2-3 line text ad Buy 1/8 or 1/4 page for several weeks running. If you do quality work at a fair market price. Word of mouth takes over after a while. Print up business cards & pin several to every bulletin board at hardware, grocery, & every other place you can find a free spot. Check back regularly & replace them.

It just doesn't happen overnight.

[tobyaxis]

Originally Posted by slammedxonair bump.....Hello everybody, my online custom auto suspension parts business is pretty slow right now and I want to start advertising the CNC plasma more locally if its doing art work or getting contracted work. I still do not have a store front. What are some of your advertising success stories or ideas if you care to share. Thanks

Sent you an email at your site.

[slammedxonair]

Yea I've had the machine for well over 2 years now and I hardly ever run it. I have business cards printed allready. Im thinking about making some nice 4x6 flyers in photoshop and having them printed as well.
I also live pretty close to the Summit Raceway Park in Norwalk Ohio and my friend just got his drag car running, so I'm going to try to get him let me logo his car with some of the plasma info. Hopefully it will pull some of those guys in for custom brackets and things.
We also have a festivel coming up in town next month I think I'm going to try to find out how much a vendor spot is and make up some basic cut shapes but I have a feeling its going to be expensive.

Tobyaxis did you sent it through the contact us forum on the site? I didn't recieve anything. my email is brian@illusivefabrications.com

[WSS]

You could look into your local municipalities or large construction companies and see if they need "asset identification" tags out of 3/16" or 1/4" plate with their own logo and equip. number. Attached is a three minute/three layer sample out of Photoshop. Cut some bolt or rivet holes and do a whole program for them with installation. Or, my first project will be to overhaul my smokey joe wire grill with a nice stainless upgrade. Maybe a whole line of BBQ's? If you can't reach their hearts or wallets go for the stomach.

WSS

[slammedxonair]

I have a couple pre made product Ideas but Iguess my reall weakness is in advertising and marketing. I never had any formal classes on those subjects. Well I guess alot of stuff pertaining to my business has been self education reading books and up on the subjects, doing research, and trial and error. I do have some engineering classes and a welding cert under my belt though. Guess I need to get some marketing books or soemthing lol. Its just hard to do what I want with out being able to have a store front and a shop in one building on a public road, let along a store front other than the web site period.

[behindpropeller]

I looked at your website...

After 10 clicks I got one product to come up. After a few more clicks I got another picture of one part just a bit bigger than the thumbnail.

If you want to sell to yuppies you need to get rid of the goofy fonts and dark page.

Tim

[CNCCajun]

Originally Posted by behindpropeller I looked at your website... After 10 clicks I got one product to come up. After a few more clicks I got another picture of one part just a bit bigger than the thumbnail. If you want to sell to yuppies you need to get rid of the goofy fonts and dark page. Tim

I stared at your Home Page for 10 minutes before I figured out what you sold. You must remember a WEBSITE is nothing more than a descriptive brochure that is ALREADY in every home & business in the world. Your job is to direct people to it. If you expect people to "find" your website and give you business you will be sadly disappointed.

Then it must be fast & easy to navigate . . . .

Just my 2 cents . . . .

Steve

[slammedxonair]

Well I have revamped the site a couple times. My site is my store front as far as those products go. And is very catagorized most other companys like mine have the same or similar lay out it makes it easier to find what your looking for rather than looking though a page full of different parts. As for the inlarged pics some are good some are bad. Alot of them are supplied form distributors and are all I have untill I bring one in house and take a pic of my own. Most of that stuff is all drop shipped other than a few things I build in house. Once I can build more capital Im going to start building and stocking more of the metal products so I dont have to drop ship them and can have a stock of them giving me an advantage over alot of my comptetors that only drop ship parts not to mention the extra markup. I advertise on alot of custom truck forums where I get on and give tech support and help people lay out kits and, things like that, as well as post pics of my own projects. It seems to work ok. And I have been published in a national magazine a couple times. The site used to be a bit more cluttered but I have cleaned it up a bit and dont ever have any complaints from anybody with it so far. I think its running kind of slow lately so maybe the bandwidth needs upped or something from the server.

I guess I think of bringing traffic to my site by showing them links, talking about it, and advertising banners, rather than them finding it in a yahoo serch or something. At times I get so involved with the details and tech side of things its hard to rember what its like to be a newbie first starting out in the custom truck scene.

What I am more interested in now is local sales, advertising the custom cnc plasma cutting for part for tractors, race cars, art, whatever, I would also like to figure out a way to sell "stock art designs" maybe that can be easely customized with a name or something. I think there would be more markup in this type of stuff. Especially if I focus on the nautical theme in my town. I just have no idea how to get in front of the customer without having a store of just posting flyers around everywhere. Also looking for other ideas as well.

Thanks for your opinions.