[Nameless Drudge]

Currently i regard the 2 hour proposed charge for artwork as an attempt at pure theft, the quote was e-mailed while i was still there working and hadn`t finished. I was given a good tip and they were delighted. There is a possibility , or i like to think there is, that the person pricing/quoting had no idea that i was the bloke doing the gutters but if they only charged me half price its still over the top. I`ve replied quoting stewarts cost and asked for clarification/justification of the 2 hour artwork charge,am still at quote stage but i was in there the day before for 10/ 15 mins outlining what i wanted.

                                Incidentally like most gutter jobs i have ever done the guttervac would have been totally useless, i mention that as slowly i have been thinking maybe i could be tempted with one, but no thanks.  I mention this as maybe there are new people out there thinking a gutter vac is the way forward and they wont need to go up a ladder. You will be very dissapointed with their capabilities,do they work?,yes, but you have to help them too much,standard house i would do a better job and faster without one.

[windiewasher]

dp print £56 for 5000 a6 full colour on 250 gsm card!

[Londoner]

Don't get the more expensive paper and don't spend any more than you have to on the leaflet. Glossy expensive looking leaflets not only don't work any better they often work worse.

You are creating the wrong impression with your leaflets. You are a window cleaner, a poor but honest tradesman. People will look at your leaflets and think "He's going to be expensive. Flash Git"

What you want is simple black ink on coloured paper, I use orange. Do the artwork yourself on the computer and take them somewhere cheap. The homemade style can be effective, remember you are promoting the "nice but not too bright" image. Thats what people want in a window cleaner, they will warm to your rather amateur efforts.

[Stewart01]

Vince, that is totally wrong my friend, I want my business to look its best so like the more expensive finish, home made leaflets give the impression of dole waller after some beer money and get thrown straight in the bin.

I distributed 3000 home made leaflets and got around 20 customers so decided they wernt the way to go, I had some nice ones made up at a printers and after giving out 2000 in 4-5 months I've got almost 200 customer off them including a £300 Every evey 8 wk job.

Who in there rite mind would want there business to look cheap as possible if they didn't have too??

[Matthew Bateman]

You are creating the wrong impression with your leaflets. You are a window cleaner, a poor but honest tradesman. People will look at your leaflets and think "He's going to be expensive. Flash Git"

Im sorry mate I have ro disagree with that in one sense but agree with it in another.

If you are looking to secure customers who you believe would prefer a humble but honest tradesman then go ahead, have cheap. BUT some customers dont want that. I have flash leaflets and purposely pursue flash properties. Combine that with a few other healthy marketing elements and cheap leaflets would be a dis-service.

Expensive works where its meant to work.

[Perfect Windows]

I always thought that leaflets were VAT free; that's what I was told by my printers!!!

In general, leaflets & flyers are VAT-free unless one of the following is applicable:
■If an area of your leaflet is designed to be written on by customers it is likely to be classed at the standard rate for VAT.


■Mentioning a discount promotion, such as “20% off when you show this leaflet”, means that the leaflet is classified as a voucher and VAT of 17.5% must be paid.


■Mentioning “free entry with this flyer” results in the flyer being classified as a ticket so VAT must be paid.


■Leaflets designed to be shown in shop windows are classified as posters and become eligible for VAT.


■Finally, the use of thick paper or card, or laminating the leaflet results in HM Revenue and Customs determining that the leaflet is designed to be retained by the recipient, resulting in it being classified at the standard rate of VAT.

Well, well, well, good information.

Fortunately, I suspect most printers don't read what they print...

Vin

[G Griffin]

I don`t know how relevant the gutter clean is . I can understand you being annoyed about it but some firms don`t work like that. The price is the price, whether you choose to do them a favour or not.

[Nameless Drudge]

Don't get the more expensive paper and don't spend any more than you have to on the leaflet. Glossy expensive looking leaflets not only don't work any better they often work worse.

You are creating the wrong impression with your leaflets. You are a window cleaner, a poor but honest tradesman. People will look at your leaflets and think "He's going to be expensive. Flash Git"

What you want is simple black ink on coloured paper, I use orange. Do the artwork yourself on the computer and take them somewhere cheap. The homemade style can be effective, remember you are promoting the "nice but not too bright" image. Thats what people want in a window cleaner, they will warm to your rather amateur efforts.

I find myself agreeing with Vince to an extent and know my mate is excelling (200 miles away)with a cheap and simple leaflet and all his customers are in the high end bracket. He has got an old escort van and thats what the customers probably like to see.I think people have an inkling theres good money to be made but dont want it rubbing in their face when they are tolerating coughing up every month for a service they are rarely aware of the benefits of.However the leaflets i am wanting to get done promote gutter cleaning,conservatory cleaning/restoration  and a pressure washing service and there are plenty of tales circulating around the public of bad service/cowboys in these areas. Around where i am is well quite saturated with established window cleaners and my door knocking has been  unproductive but just the other day a woman remarked to my  wife after seeing my van,"i might get him to do the conservatory",this woman has had the same window cleaner for 8 years.So i am after a different angle and i probably expect to get work thats not regular window cleaning and i want to portray that the bloke coming is a professional,in my mind this type of leaflet doesn`t go straight to the bin. I didn`t want any leaflets at all believing door knocking is all it takes and the way to do it but am truly shocked at my little success and am confident enough its not me or the technique at fault so not having many customers i need another strategy.
 

[craigR]

Hello,a few months ago there was a thread about leaflets and stewart at h20-powercleaning.com had enjoyed success with his new leaflet and was happy to actually send an example to interested folks and happy for them to use it. Today i got my quote back from the printers in York,incidentally i spent most of the day cleaning their gutters for a very very reasonable price and i jest not there was nearly enough crap to fill a min-skip,inc 3 small trees!
Anyway the leaflet size is 99mm by 210mm,210 is the width of A4,and they are 350 gsm so they have a nice card like feel and are printed front and back. I took one in yesterday,asked them to change the text to mine,altered a colour and asked them to add a photo.The basic template is still stewarts design.

Heres my quote and after feeling it was a bit too much i rang stewart and got his cost for printing and the original design and artwork.

   6000 at £355.00 + vat and 2 hours artwork £80.00 +vat  they are DL 400GSM,total £511.12

   Stewarts original cost a few months ago,

   5000 at £170.38 including 1 hrs artwork and design and including VAT, DL 350GSM,

alright there is a difference in the gsm(card thickness ish) but they quoted me 400gsm as( original supplied)and theres a difference in quantity obviously,20% though in general less is more per item.

So did stewart get a cracking deal or am i getting shafted?

Any advice welcome as i know nothing in this sphere.

    Leaflets are zero rated, so you shouldnt be paying vat on them ? 

[craigR]

Leaflets are zero rated, you shouldnt be charged vat on them. The artwork maybe ,but not the leaflets.

[Wc Solutions]

printmarket uk £80 5000 double sided full colour ... inc vat, full design and del.

i didnt even have a logo and they designed that for me aswell - which was included in the price ...

franks window cleaning put me in touch with them and im so glad he did ...

if 5000 flyers is too many then i think its £68 odd for 2500 flyers - a5 size

so far brought me in over £150 per month in income within 2 months ...

[bobplum]

The good thing about these is they actually work, I posted 1000s of leaflets and had little success as the usual a5 flyers generally go from door mat to bin, these are more card like and get the attention of the custy, you also price up the card as there's 5 price boxes on the back so you can price windows,gutters, soffitts etc all at once. You post it and walk away, you don't bother anyone yet they see what your offering all at once, I'm still getting phone calls from areas I posted 6months ago. Whenever I post an area the phone doesn't stop then when it tails off I go out again it really does work. Obviously your pricing has to be rite or your wasting your time!!!

any chance of seeing one
bob

[Stewart01]

The good thing about these is they actually work, I posted 1000s of leaflets and had little success as the usual a5 flyers generally go from door mat to bin, these are more card like and get the attention of the custy, you also price up the card as there's 5 price boxes on the back so you can price windows,gutters, soffitts etc all at once. You post it and walk away, you don't bother anyone yet they see what your offering all at once, I'm still getting phone calls from areas I posted 6months ago. Whenever I post an area the phone doesn't stop then when it tails off I go out again it really does work. Obviously your pricing has to be rite or your wasting your time!!!

any chance of seeing one
bob

Bob if you pm your address i will bung you some in the post and show you the changes i would make.

Stewart

[Londoner]

You are creating the wrong impression with your leaflets. You are a window cleaner, a poor but honest tradesman. People will look at your leaflets and think "He's going to be expensive. Flash Git"

Im sorry mate I have ro disagree with that in one sense but agree with it in another.

If you are looking to secure customers who you believe would prefer a humble but honest tradesman then go ahead, have cheap. BUT some customers dont want that. I have flash leaflets and purposely pursue flash properties. Combine that with a few other healthy marketing elements and cheap leaflets would be a dis-service.

Expensive works where its meant to work.

I don't mind you disagreeing at all, I know there would be disagreement when I posted it, but I am comfortable with my views. I have a new van and work some of the most wealthy suburbs of London. Lots of £ million houses on my books and I'm not cheap.

I just believe you have to pitch to peoples expectations and if you over egg it they feel uncomfortable with your leaflet rather than being drawn to it. Its very hard to get that balance right.

I feel my way is a more subtle marketing ploy. And it does work.

A leaflet only has to get you a phone call, after that you can present yourself when you get face to face.