Hello From The North Country...NY

[nnyparts]

Hi Guys, Came across this forum as I was looking for designs for making a flier for the local area to kind of increase exposure. As you guys well know it...its hard for a new business to get word out that your even here to help. Any thoughts or suggestions are appreciated. A little about us....We run a full service small engine repair shop as well as selling on-line 2.4 million parts and counting. We are dealers for MTD, Briggs, Honda and many more. We can get just about any part out there at a reasonable price. We also have a 120 X 40 barn that I converted over to house used parts that also sell well. We sell to a lot of small engine repair shops and lawn care businesses to fill their needs for filters, belts, blades and more. We do give discounts to volume purchases. Our prices are very reasonable and we value our customers. If I can be of any help to any of you guys...let me know!

[Steve]

Lawn care business tips

Welcome to our forum! Who is your target audience with the flyers? Are you getting into offering lawn care services too or would you be sending the flyers out to attract lawn care businesses? What is your marketing plan? Do you have a website for your parts business? Why not promote it here and put it in your signature?

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[nnyparts]

Hey Steve,

Our target group would be home owners and of course lawn care service providers. We don't go out an do any lawn mowing or lawn care, more in the way of supporting these people by doing service work, repairs or supplying needed parts in a hurry.

We do have a website http://www.nnyparts.com and do have a on-line store with about a third of the parts up there and more being listed daily.

What I am trying to do is promote our repair service in the local area. I hired one full time mechanic last year, kept our labor rate reasonable at 30.00 hr and the customers we do get always walk away happy. We just need more of them to cover the bills.

So the thought of placing fliers around the different townships in our area to get word out might bring in some more shop hours. I tried local advertising in print with little to no success. I have posted on craigslist about once a week offering our services and have seen some work, but not enough.

I also thought of making brochures and handing them out to golf courses, landscape companies and other companies that work with anything to do with small engines and giving them discounts on parts and catering to their needs of a speedy repair.

Our business is actually two fold:

Our parts & sales business that sells on-line and carries the majority of the brands with OEM and aftermarket parts. We also stock and sell New Honda, Kohler and Briggs engines and do warranty work on all of them and can ship them anywhere. We have access to 2.4 million parts. The OEM includes...Briggs, Honda, MTD, Poulan, Husqvarna, AYP - Craftsman, Murray, Dolmar, Oregon and more

Service and Repair Shop that repairs all makes and models and can perform warranty work. This is where I need the help getting more work

So you guys tell me...if you lived local, what would you want to hear and see from me to get your repair work? Is price a factor? Most shops in our area charge 78.00 hr and some have told me by offering ours at 30.00, it says to people that they are somehow getting less for their monies.

[Steve]

Service and Repair Shop that repairs all makes and models and can perform warranty work. This is where I need the help getting more work

I don't know much about the business. But I would wonder, which customer group would potentially bring in more business. Homeowners? Who I would figure would be more along the lines of one time customers?

Or would lawn care businesses bring in more repeating business?

It would seem, getting the local lawn care business to utilize your services would be a lot easier. The base you would be marketing to would be a lot smaller. You could also develop some kind of contract that kept them paying all year long for simple maintenance.

Could you also potentially offer a mobile service? What about blade sharpening? Where you could pick up the blades and drop them off each week?