Know-How Exchange : Strategy

Think of the sales cycle to the fencing business. You buy a fence, and it is a one time purchase for most. Those who buy more than one fence will be long term property owners, yes a fence does need replacing.

So doing door hanging is not going to reap you much reward. These people already have fences. Your hoping maybe theyre going to replace theirs? You'll get a very small return proceeding this way.

New developments need new fences. People with a loss (tree falling, storm, etc) need new fences. Identify the commercial niches that need fences, not a lot of them do.

Subscribe to a lead service that will identify new construction and remodeling projects where permits are pulled. Those are who you send the sales staff to. Identify builders, architects, network with disaster restoration people, tree cutters (trees falling on fence-- kaput) and others who can feed you leads of those requiring a fence. Build a referral program.

Look for niches commercially. It really depends on your biz. Fences can be temporary, as in renovation or in the building stage, or required, as in day care centers, or just good business, as with companies in high crime areas, or high targeted theft, like heavy equipment.

There are a lot of places to go with this, just understand the sales cycle and the mentality of the buyer.

Good points above. In networking with disaster repair people, don't forget insurance agents. They often keep a list of service providers which they share with their clients when they are in need of repairs. You want to get on those lists if possible.

And, even with all of this, you may want to do some more basic, get the word out type of marketing. The proactive actions listed above (marketing to people with building permits, those with tree repairs, etc.) will get some people needing fences, but others won't be coming through these. So you want to be in places whee people would go when they find they need fences. Think through what someone would do if they decided to add a fence, and then how do you get he word out. Things like having an ad in the yellow pages or other directories.