Young Entrepreneur is All Ears

[w4zzk73]

Greetings All,

Young entrepreneur here. Ever since I graduated High School in 2008, I have been running/building a multi-facet Event Production Company where we provide Sound, Video, Lighting and Staging to Concerts, Festivals, Special Events, Weddings, Corporate Events, etc. where we communicate and 'make the sale' with Event Promoters, City/Town Officials, and people of that sort. We have been coasting along on word-of-mouth business since things started to "take off" in 2009. We've recently seen the need to expand our Coverage and Service Area. In all this time, I have put little to no effort into any Advertising/Marketing to speak of, as Word of Mouth appeared to 'make ends meet' and keep things going as needed. Now, Local competition is getting 'hairy', and we have grown to a caliber where we can compete head-to-head with other companies like us.

Again, I am young but seem to have came along way to keep a business like this afloat for this number of years. Sure, there have been some 'life lessons' along the way, but those are the best ones, right?

Facebook posting seems to be a waste of time lately. Our current page has over 800 'likes' and a post may reach anywhere from 50 to 150 people... the whole 'innerds' of Facebook seem to be pretty out of whack and don't favor the user too much. I may be using Facebook wrong... I have no idea.

I would like to hear advice, trial and error, real-world approach to 'selling our company' to unknown potentials. I have been doing direct mail and e-mail in the last month to 40 or 50 'potentials' where one or two have actually paid off, but I don't know if I am approaching it wrong, not enough... maybe the approach appealed to those two customers. This is new to me.
Tell me what works for you? Your success and failures in similar scenarios? Ask questions to get more pinpointed to my scenario if you must.

I really do appreciate your having this type of forum available, and I look forward to hearing things from you all soon. Let's all be successful together.

Best,
Josh

[vangogh]

Welcome to the forum Josh. Congrats on keeping the business going. I think it's great you started right our of high school and followed your entrepreneurial spirit right away. When it comes to approaching potential customers who are you reaching out to? Who are you mailing and emailing? Are these people who have expressed an interested in your services or are they random people?

Looking forward to chatting with you and thanks for joining the community.

[w4zzk73]

When it comes to approaching potential customers who are you reaching out to? Who are you mailing and emailing? Are these people who have expressed an interested in your services or are they random people?

Thanks for the kind words!

I am reaching out to those potentials that regularly 'call on' a company like ours for their timely events. For example, a City or Town always hosts a Music Festival, they always will call on a company like us to serve them in the facets they feel they need. 90% of the time it's the same "facets" with every customer, unless they have special requirements or requests that may be added to a given 'production package'. Some customers only know one company and call on them time and time again... our goal with those is to introduce ourselves and express our wishes to be a part of their event however we can best be of service. Some customers know of several companies, and take 'bids' from them for every event... whether they look for the lowest, middle or highest bid depends on the customers own "morals of business" whether they want "as much for as little as possible" or do they recognize that "you get what you pay for" in all cases and avoid the lower bids. You never know exclusively at this distance. We wish to be a part of the 'bid resources' of those that take bids. There are many other scenarios, as it varies to the past and present financial situation of a customer, any existing budget for the customer's event, or worst case, if they don't know anything and want to put on a good event, we guide and educate in all processes to make a great event with them time and time again. We strive to be versatile with every customer and not be 'cookie cutter' based on what we offer and how we execute the service.

So... to further answer the question, I am mailing and e-mailing virtually ANY entity/facility/establishment we could cater to in our coverage area. The majority have not expressed direct interest to us. But we express interest in supporting them however we can. Every initial correspondence is personalized to the individual/group I am contacting... no 'form letter' messages, except simple mail promo's.

I look forward to your ideas and others as well. Very eager to see what ideas can be exchanged.

Many thanks!
Josh

[David Hunter]

Hey Josh,

Do you have a copy of the mailings and emails you're sending to these companies? 40-50 mailings is not a lot at all. You'll have to increase the numbers, but you want to make sure you're mailing the right offer.

Also, you need to market to your past customers too. You know the old saying, "Out of sight, out of mind." You never know what event they have going on, or who they know who has something going on (but doesn't tell their buddies about you because they forgot who you are).

[w4zzk73]

Do you have a copy of the mailings and emails you're sending to these companies? You'll have to increase the numbers, but you want to make sure you're mailing the right offer.

Also, you need to market to your past customers too.

Most definitely. Increasing those numbers is actively being done now, as we do our homework to find those potentials. I make regular communication to past customers, and have them calling time and time again, so that is well in wraps.

Sure, I can hash out a copy of the mailings and emails. I'll see if I can post a link to the ad mailings shortly.

Here's the text of the e-mails:

E-mail to one whom we sent an introductory letter via mail:
Some things have been removed for internal privacy and customer privacy

Hello!

I'm Josh XXXXXX, President of XXXXXXX, a leading Event Technology and Production Firm based in [Our Location].

We sent an introductory letter via US Mail to your Event/Entertainment Coordinator a few weeks ago essentially introducing ourselves and telling a bit about our history as one of the area's leaders in Event Audio, Video, Lighting and Staging, and giving a 'glimpse into the future' with where we are going with the company and how we'd like to be a part of you in providing Production Services for your [time frame: monthly/quarterly/yearly/etc] event.

We hope the introductory letter reached you successfully. We'd love to hear from you in regards to our submitting of production quotes for the annual event. We would love to work with you and be your source for all things Event Production and more.

I look forward to discussing a mutual workforce in this great event's entertainment as soon as possible!

Regards,

Josh XXXXX
XXXXXX
[Contact Info]



------

A cold-sent e-mail:

Good Afternoon!

I'm Josh XXXXXX, President and Chief Engineer of XXXXXXX, the parent company of XXXXXXXX located in XXXXXXX! We are a turn-key Event Production Company catering to events like yours in the facets of Live Audio, Lighting, Video, and Staging. We've been in business under our parent company XXXX since 2003 and have a great track record and testimonial from clients all over the Southeast US!

I am reaching out in regards to your upcoming [Name of event] event, and would like to speak to someone in regards to any possible needs of Audio, Video, Lighting or Staging for the 2015 event.

We develop to any and all event budgets, big or small. We are passionate about Event Production, and love what we do. I would love for someone to shoot us an e-mail in return or allow us a phone call for discussion, for this possibility. We'd love to be a part of your event!

Take a look at our Up-and-Coming Web Site.
XXXXXXXXXX, Click on "Client Login", and use User Name "XXXXX" and Password "XXXX" (Case sensitive and without quotes). Also find us on Facebook with tons of pictures and information at XXXXXXXXXXX.

I look forward to a talking with you soon!

-----

[David Hunter]

Hey Josh,

I see one part of the problem. You're talking about yourself and your company and not focusing on the prospects (and, according to the follow up email, your mailings are talking about the same problem... YOU).

Remember this: What's In It For Me (WIIFM).

This line in your cold email is good: "I am reaching out in regards to your upcoming [Name of event] event..." At least it shows you're paying attention to them and you mentioned something specific! Heck, you could even include the date of their event (could act as a deadline).

You always want to include some kind of offer. Doesn't have to be "Get 20% off" or whatever. It could be adding other services in for free, like a photo booth or something creative just for trying you out.

So, talk less about yourself and more about your prospects needs.

Get Dan Kennedy's book The Ultimate Sales Letter so you can learn how to write the sales letters (long, short, postcards, ads, etc.). Two other good books are John Caples' Making Ads Pay and Tested Advertising Methods.

[vangogh]

You're talking about yourself and your company and not focusing on the prospects

I agree. You have to talk about your customers and how you can help them. You always have to think of this from the perspective of customers. They care about how you can help them so that's what you should focus on.

I also like the same line that David pointed out.

[justperry]

Hi Josh,
Just curious... how big is your team? Do you have a team member who could maybe drop everything else and concentrate on managing marketing and advertising? Having a dedicated marketer can spare you a lot of headaches as there are so many aspects of marketing/advertising/promotion involved for any business.

[w4zzk73]

Hi Josh,
Just curious... how big is your team? Do you have a team member who could maybe drop everything else and concentrate on managing marketing and advertising? Having a dedicated marketer can spare you a lot of headaches as there are so many aspects of marketing/advertising/promotion involved for any business.

I apologize for the delay, guys.

I have people 'helping' as they can but this is really all on me. I'm determined to do what it takes to make things a success.

[Lantisz]

I kinda agree with Perry. It really pays to hire the right people or team that will grow with you in your business.

[w4zzk73]

I kinda agree with Perry. It really pays to hire the right people or team that will grow with you in your business.

I'm sure it yields a different set of positive results. We're just not at a place financially to hire on people for these type of tasks.

[shawn.griggs]

Josh,
Once again, as stated earlier, great job for following your entrepreneurial spirit early! Facebook posting is great, but in terms of conversion, Facebook is very ineffective. You can use Facebook Ads and that helps to promote your business but in terms of Social Media platforms, I use Facebook for mainly Brand Identity and promoting your business. In terms of conversion, I would use Twitter for PR purposes and LinkedIn to establish connections and even the all-new LinkedIn Sales Navigator, which targets professionals on LinkedIn. Also, make sure to put a face to your business, go to Networking Events, MeetUps, join with the local chamber, which establish that reputation in the community.