Hello all, I am glad I found this forum, it looks great.

I run an air conditioning service business here in Phoenix.

I have been in business for myself for almost 3 years now. I have a few good customers that keep me and my family eating, but I wish to grow.

I have been trying to target medium to large businesses as they are my best customers.

To date I have never lost a customer and they are all very happy with me. I truly feel that I offer the best value in the business.

My problem is that I cannot seem to get any new customers. I am very low on working capital at this time, due to the time of year. I cannot afford to place any ads or anything like that. I just can't seem to get my foot in the door. I can't even get past whoever answers the phone in most cases.

I am looking for advice on how to set appointments with prospective customers. I have no problem giving my sales pitch and I have gotten every customer I have met with personally.

Can anyone give me some advice on how to get my foot in the door?

Thanks in advance.

There was another thread recently that dealt with ways to get the word out. You might want to search around for it.

It sounds like your doing the right things. Pounding the pavement. I know it is a frustrating exersize.
Do you have literature that you leave at your stops?
How about offering a "Free checkup" as an incentive?

You say you have several satisified customers already. Maybe they can help spread the word.

Just off the top of my head

Air conditioning service in Phoenix?!?!?!!???? I would expect them to be banging your door down. "Take my money please, just make it cooler!" (I'm just bitter from all this cold Ohio weather).

In all seriousness, come up with a marketing plan. If you are going to compete with the big-boys you have to beat them at their own game. Here are some of my recommendations:

- Advertise in the phone book (its the first place people look)
- Print quality business cards with your 24hr service number (pass them out everywhere)
- Service stickers (place the sticker on the unit after a job to increase repeat business)
- Ask for referals (politely ask clients for referals)
- Maybe a mass direct-mailing campaign in spring reminding people of a AC check up.

If you are wanting the big companies business, maybe you could offer your services discounted to one business to establish creditability. "I do the AC at General Motors office in Flagstaff AZ." I would find 5 or 10 businesses that I want to work for. I would research until I found out the name of the building manager. I would call them directly and try to get their business. "I can save you money...", "I've provided quaility support to ...", "When your current service agreement expires, I can save you 40% on your current maintenance..."

Be ready for lots of rejections. The experts say you'll hear 20 No's before you here 1 Yes! Keep 'em Cool!!

Do you play golf?

I can save you time, headache and lawsuits with three valuable words.

"Don't Do It"

It sounds sweet when your reading the sales literature on those e-mail list websites, but you are asking for trouble and a bad reputation.

The honest approach is to earn your customers e-mails through your website and market to those who have directly expressed interest in your product or service. You can do this with a free newsletter, free offer, reports, or just simply ask if they would like to be kept up-to-date on your future offers.

Even then you will need to strictly adhere to the laws on sending e-mail as some of these folks may forget that they registered on your site.

Best of luck to you,

My suggestion is to target the hotel/motel market. My family has a lot of interest in different franchises in this market, and are always looking for quality low-cost alternatives.

Many of the mid-size hotels/motels are franchised, so getting to the manager or owner will not prove impossible because a lot of times they live or work on-site. It sounds like you already have a sales pitch, but I would recommend keeping referrals and past experiences to help with closing the deal.

Many times this type of work thrives on referrals...so getting work done at one property can provide many new leads and referrals.

The reason I ask is that a lot of your potential customers play golf. It's a well known way of getting past the 'gatekeeper'.