Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

You might also want to get together with some home-stagers, who help make a home look good for selling. Another thing is to send out a direct mailer to all real-estate agencies and brokers in your area. Promote yourself as a "Service Provider."

Everyone uses the Multiple Listings Service (MLS), which includes notes for people who can fix up a house. There are basement sealing companies, roofing, driveway, carpenters, etc., and a garage fixer-upper would come in very handy. By making sure on your direct-mail piece that you highlight the concept "List me as a Service Provider in your MLS account," you`ll get some attention.

I think this would be a great business venture. Search through magazines, remodeling books, websites; make color copies of the photos and collect them into a folder or binder of good organization & remodeling ideas. Also collect photos of organizing products and other renovation materials. Figure out which products will be most popular and versatile, and price your services based on combo packages or a la carte selections.

Find some strategic partners that will create a comprehensive renovation/reorganization team. Do a couple garage projects and barter with a good photographer to take some before and after photos. Your best marketing products will be in a visual format.

I would love to work on developing this business concept. This has a lot of potential.

I am also starting this same business. I have been doing a lot of research to find out the best suppliers as ell as making it catchy for the eye appeal. I have been working in sales and installations for years. I have found that if you can really WOW the customer and under promise and over achieve you will succeed.

One web site I read about this guy does this and he also goes to home and garden shows ect.., but he gets a lot of his work by setting up at car and motorcycle shows.

If I run across anything else I will be glad to share it. All of the other posts have been very helpful. Thanks!!

Getting together with a staging company is a fantastic idea.  I can at least give them some marketing materials.  As for the MLS, that is also a great idea and I`ll have to talk to some realtors about adding me.  Thanks again!

Denise,

I have been doing exactly what you recommended except I keep it all in a spreadsheet.  I`m still doing lots of research and finding suppliers.  I love the bartering with photographers idea!  Everyone can use a clean garage if nothing other than an epoxied floor or some cabinets.  If you have any further ideas I would (of course) love to hear them!

Thanks!

Phil,

I like your suggestions of going to trade shows and the like.  I`m sure those could be very profitable as long as the allow consumers and not just industry.  If you want to chat some time, I`m sure we could bounce ideas off each other and it would be mutually beneficial.  Where are you located (hopefully I`m not competing against you :).

Thanks
Rob

Rob,

Keeping together a collection of resources is good, but a spreadsheet? How can you include color copies from magazines and photos in a spreadsheet? lol. Seriously, you need to have visual images to work with. Go ahead and keep your data on a spreadsheet, but print out color copies of photos (and add reference information as a caption or on the back so you can remember the source of the photo). Then put the images into clear protective sheets and put them into a binder. You can also add your own marketing materials in the binder as well. But have something together that you can SHOW to the people you want to partner with or market to - even when you`re just in the conceptual stage or starting out. THAT will help you explain your concept 1000 times better than words.

Same thing for trade shows. (the key word being "shows") You need images to show what you can do. Not every business service lends itself to using images (think of how accountants are at a disadvantage by not being able to show visual images of their work). But you ARE in an industry that is visually oriented, so use it to your advantage!

How about you, Phil - are you using photos to market your services? And how about the guy you came across on the website? I bet he has lots of photos, and maybe even a 3D display to show the products he offers, when he exhibits at trade shows.

I am in San Antonio. I have found a few distributors, but I am still looking for more. I would really like to find a local supplier, but I am not finding a whole lot of that. I am  also trying to figure out labor bids. I have called some people for quotes and all I get is they either need to try and sell me something or they are so busy that there minimum labor is $650.

As far as the trade shows. You should be able to pay an entry fee and set up. The prices are different per show. Hope to hear some more ideas. I have a sales team in place and they are eager to get started.

I am working on getting a software that I can take a picture of the customers garage and put it on my computer. Then I can insert the items I sell and install. This way the customer will get a good feel on what there garage will look like when I am done.  I have been told microsoft publisher will do this.

Thanks for all of your great advice.

I had called a local closet cabinet manufacturer (melamine) and he didn`t seem interested in working with me to come up with my own line of cabinets branded with my company`s name.  He said they also do garages now and then but not too often.  I guess some people aren`t open to new ideas.  This would`ve been a perfect opportunity to break into this market with no investment on his part.  I`m sure he will regret his decision once he starts seeing some of my marketing material around his area. :)

I have decided to stay far, far away from melamine coated particleboard because of how heavy,brittle, and damage prone it is when wet.  I believe slide-lok has a great product and they`re only using the particleboard for the shelves (wish they didn`t) and cabinet fronts.  There`s also another company called GSC and they make a similar product.  I`m still trying to get a hold of slide-lok to find out what their reseller polices are.

It sounds like you`re taking a bit different approach than me with your labor and sales crews.  I`m very handy and good with communications and customer service so I decided that I will go on all of the consultations until we have X revenue.  Additionally, the reason I got into this is because I`ve done my own garage.  Because of this I will be leading my crew of 2 or 3 people (inclusive) until I find someone I trust to do it for me.