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Started by cypresskayaksllc, October 09, 2011, 02:29:29 PM

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cypresskayaksllc

I want to do a demonstration at my local farmers coop store for advertising. I did a demonstration at the fair this year and had a lot of fun and met a lot of people. I didnt get any business from it directly but I think it gets me out there so people know who I am.
Its a small town farmers coop. They have known my family for 30 years. I thought that it would be mutually beneficial. Id get free targeted advertising and they would get an amusement for their customers. The only conflict I see is they sell lumber. But I dont think they sell a lot and most of its PT.
My idea was to make up a flier they could display and then approach them with it. Maybe do the demo on a Saturday 9-noon.
Before I do Id like to get your opinions on how to approach this. Anything I should be aware of like insurance problems. I do not have insurance.
Thanks
Also I thought to make it even more interesting I could have a raffle for the wood produced or bring in a unique slab for the raffle or something like that.
LT40HDDR, JD950FEL, Weimaraner

Magicman

Where would the proceeds from the raffle go.  In Mississippi, raffle proceeds can only go to charity.

I have done demos, and the lumber was always given to the host as a goodwill gesture.

Folks watching don't necessarily have a whack of logs at home to be sawed, so do not expect an instant influx of business.  You are simply planting a seed (idea) for future business.  Some folks will never call, some may call a year or so later, and some will tell their friends or neighbors who will call.
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

cypresskayaksllc

The raffle drawing would be free. No money involved. I thought it might convince some people to stick around.
LT40HDDR, JD950FEL, Weimaraner

Banjo picker

MM nailed it ...might not help now, but probably will on down the line...Tim
Never explain, your friends don't need it, and your enemies won't believe you any way.

Mooney

I have done similar things at fairs and businesses in the past. The ones that I did, didn't bring any business that I know of, but I didn't mind. I had fun, I brought something of value to my hosts, and I wasn't out any money.
But it might just land you your next big client, so I say, do it!

sealark37

What is perfectly obvious to you and us, may not be that clear to the casual observer.  Make up a half-sheet flyer that describes your portable sawmill service.  You should emphasize that you will come to their place for one log, or many, and saw it any way that they might desire.  Hand our business cards with the flyer and make it plain that your services are affordable.  If someone shows interest in your sawing, stop and talk.  Don't write off your host as a customer.  He may have a need for rough, ungraded lumber if the price is right, AND, he might have access to logs to be obtained for little or nothing.  Make a small show of how safety and cleanliness- conscious you are.  Have a good time, and good luck.  Regards, Clark

metalspinner

I wouldn't put sawing rates on your flyer.  Otherwise, 3 years from now, when he calls you for work he will expect that rate.  If you do, a little disclaimer that the rates are good through a certain date and are subject to change.

I think it's a good idea for the demo. Any chance to introduce the public to what you do is a good thing.
I do what the little voices in my wife's head tell me to do.

homesteader shane

I love the idea I am just staring up a portable sawmill in southeastern Ontario. I m in contact with the local fair boards for next years fairs in the area.  I never thought of the local co-op good idea. I worked for a lumber yard years ago and they had a portable mill operator supplying 2x2x2 steaks cut to a point for cement steaks and rough cut hemlock strapping for sheet metal. He had a number of contracts for the steaks and made a full time year round job out of it

T Welsh

Go about it at your own speed and take it in baby steps. get your name and what you do out there, get jobs, and do work for others and do the best that you can,go low and slow, stay under the radar so to speak. then if things progress start off by purchasing contractor liability insurance and creating a company that you pay taxes on. now you are real and the fun begins! you are going to pay 1/2 of what you make to others as in ins,adv,utilities taxes,ect. you get the point now! word of mouth has always paid off for me 3 times over,don,t overlook the simple things. hope I did not rain on your day, but thats how it works. Tim

Magicman

I do not post/print prices and do not quote prices until I have talked with the customer describing the job and preferably actually seen the job.  You can easily trap yourself in a loosing proposition otherwise.
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

Kansas

No doubt about it. What a customer describes when he talks about his job, and what you actually find when you see it, can be radically different things.

cypresskayaksllc

I know its easy to convince everyone on this forum the value of getting their logs sawed into lumber. How do you convince someone whose life is not consumed with wood the value of it? How do I convince someone that has only bought wood commercially (from box stores) to consider using me as a service?
LT40HDDR, JD950FEL, Weimaraner

zopi

Most direct marketing does not produce immediate results...unless you are giving away beer or pro football cheerleaders or something....it takes time...

Take samples of native woods with you to demos...take a board, rough sawn...then sand two thirds of it, apply a nice stain to one third, and then poly the bare and stained thirds...pick really good looking examples...nice wide boards that folks cannot buy, but like are a plus...make up a few pieces of simple rustic furniture...like porch grade, out of slabs or flitches...and sell em cheap.. might take a couple rustic benches along...for folks to sit and watch...and talk...one guy I know amuses himself between demos, by hacking together little novelties from the sawn wood amd offering them to kids..or cute ladies...hey...opportunity knock, but rarely...
Got Wood?
LT-15G GO chassis added.
WM sharpener and setter
And lots of junk.

cypresskayaksllc

Is part of my job (as a portable custom sawyer) to show potential customers what my product could be used for? Should that be incorporated into my advertising?
LT40HDDR, JD950FEL, Weimaraner

Brucer

Quote from: cypresskayaksllc on October 09, 2011, 11:28:29 PM
Is part of my job (as a portable custom sawyer) to show potential customers what my product could be used for? Should that be incorporated into my advertising?

Your job is to make money. To do that you have to sell your product.

Every time you give a potential customer an idea for using your product you've increased the chances of selling it. When you demonstrate a product that looks much better than the store-bought junk you've increased the chances of selling it. Every time you deal fairly with a customer you've increased the chances of selling your product.

You can add to this list indefinitely.

Everywhere you go, be sure to carry business cards and hand them out. If you order something (no matter what it is), when they ask for your phone number give them a card. If someone asks for a card, give them two. Find excuses for handing out your cards. Give them to people you gave them to before ("I can't remember if I gave you one of my cards before.").

If the idea of designing a business card causes your brain to freeze up, make yourself a simple one:
- what you do.
- your name.
- your phone number.
- your mailing address.
No logo, no fancy lettering, just the facts, man. I did that for a year before I came up with a proper design.

If you've got a halfways decent printer, buy yourself some business card stock and print your own. I use Avery stock -- 10 cards per sheet with extra fine perforations. After I'd been in business a while I bought 500 cards from a commercial printer. But then I changed my business model, got a cellphone for business calls, and I still have 300 commercially printed, useless business cards. Now I print off 30 or 40 at a time, and I can change them as the business changes.

There's another excuse for handing out business cards -- "Have you got one of my updated cards?"

Going to shows and giving demos is great advertising. People are going to remember the mill, but are they going to remember you?
Bruce    LT40HDG28 bandsaw
"Complex problems have simple, easy to understand wrong answers."

Cedarman

Business cards have 2 sides.  I have the cedar scale printed on the back of mine.  This gives people a second reason to keep my card.
I am in the pink when sawing cedar.

Magicman

I offer a portable sawmilling service.  The great majority of my customers are farmer/landowners.  Lightning, disease, wind, and beetles kill trees.  Since there are generally just a few at the time, logging/selling them is not practical.  To prevent the trees from just going to waste, they fell and skid them up, and then call me.  Farmers always need lumber.
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

metalspinner

Driving around town on a Saturday with a trailer of rough sawn lumber will always elicit a few questions at your stops. Giving your customers a few extra business cards will allow them to efficiently answer questions about their trailer full of lumber, too.
I do what the little voices in my wife's head tell me to do.

Chuck White

Quote from: Kansas on October 09, 2011, 09:48:19 PM
No doubt about it. What a customer describes when he talks about his job, and what you actually find when you see it, can be radically different things.

Absolutely correct Kansas!

You may arrive at a customers site ready to saw some big logs and they end up being around 28-30 inches in diameter and ONLY 4 feet long.  :o

Do as MM said, go look at their logs and location before you agree to saw the logs in the first place.
~Chuck~  Cooks Cat Claw sharpener and single tooth setter.  2018 Chevy Silverado and 2021 Subaru Ascent.
With basic mechanical skills and the ability to read you can maintain a Woodmizer  LT40!

Tom the Sawyer

"Free Site Visit"   It avoids many problems.  When I go to them I can see if there is a suitable place to set up the mill, evaluate the logs they have, make staging suggestions and provide them with a current price list.  Some don't understand air drying and I take handouts for that too.  Not only do I want to make it efficient for me, it has to be a success for them too.  I did a site visit for one potential client who still doesn't have his logs ready to saw... but he has sent me two referrals that resulted in jobs. 

Now my surprises are usually when they bring logs to me.  I had a client who needed 7 cedar logs sawn the next day if I could fit it in on short notice.  "Sure, I'll see you at eight in the morning."
He rolled in on time driving a Nissan pickup with no trailer.  The seven logs were in the bed of the pickup.  Nothing over 7' long or 12" in diameter.  Wasn't very profitable but he was elated.

Most people have never heard of a portable sawmill service.  There are many ways to get the word out; school wood shop programs, farm store bulletin boards, state forestry listings, Craigs List (farm and garden services), local ad papers, woodworkers guilds, contact with extension agents, demonstrations, a simple website and handing out hundreds of business cards.
07 TK B-20, Custom log arch, 20' trailer w/log loading arch, F350 flatbed dually dump.  Piggy-back forklift.  LS tractor w/FEL, Bobcat S250 w/grapple, Stihl 025C 16", Husky 372XP 24/30" bars, Grizzly 20" planer, Nyle L200M DH kiln.
If you call and my wife says, "He's sawin logs", I ain't snoring.

mad murdock

Quote from: cypresskayaksllc on October 09, 2011, 10:19:51 PM
I know its easy to convince everyone on this forum the value of getting their logs sawed into lumber. How do you convince someone whose life is not consumed with wood the value of it? How do I convince someone that has only bought wood commercially (from box stores) to consider using me as a service?
Have some side by side comparisons in the wood quality of what you have to offer against what they sell.  To a woodworker, or boat builder or other wood hobbyist, the choice should be an obvious one.  Most stuff I have seen from the box stores is not that good.
Turbosawmill M6 (now M8) Warrior Ultra liteweight, Granberg Alaskan III, lots of saws-gas powered and human powered :D

Magicman

Unless you have a huge well stocked stockpile and an established market, I don't think that relying on selling hobby lumber is going to generate a significant amount of income, especially at start-up.
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

Brucer

Quote from: Cedarman on October 10, 2011, 07:38:01 AM
Business cards have 2 sides.  I have the cedar scale printed on the back of mine.  This gives people a second reason to keep my card.

I use the back of the card as well, but I learned to leave a bit of white space back there so the customer can write something on it -- like a quoted price etc.
Bruce    LT40HDG28 bandsaw
"Complex problems have simple, easy to understand wrong answers."

T Welsh

I almost always go out and look at on site saw job,s! it avoid,s problems when you show up to actually do the job. current job had one big problem, he stacked 5 white oaks on top of each other and was up hill from where he wanted to set mill. I said if one gets away from us it will roll down hill and knock the mill out of whack, and then we are going to play h-ll getting it out from the area because his tractor was to small to move them. got there and he was having a bad time trying to move them in position,then he rolled front tire off rim(not my fault) he is on my clock now,I called a buddy to bring the hoe down and move them!5 minutes away. I saved his butt.  Tim

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