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It Pays to Advertise
Page 58
Page 61
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IN my previous article 1 dealt with some of the most obvious ways of making the name and business of a haulier known to potential customers. 1 mentioned the use of attractive letter and bill headings, and advised the operator to get a camera and take photographs of unusual loads, as well as citing other matters of a like nature which cost little and are useful as publicity far beyond the actual expenditure. This week I want to refer to some of the more expensive methods of attracting the attention of potential customers and letting them know that you are there to be of service to them.
To appreciate the value of newspaper advertising, it is essential to bear in mind that advertising rates are based, theoretically at least, on circulation. If, therefore, the subject of the advertisement is something for which every reader, or nearly every reader, is a possible buyer, the advertiser gets full value for his money. If, on the other hand, the subject is a commodity which not one reader in a thousand would be likely to want, or be persuaded to buy, .the advertiser is getting only one thousandth part of the value of the money he has spent.
Take as an extreme case an advertisement put in one of the national newspapers, one with, say, a circulation of three million. The price of an advertisement in that paper may be £100. If every reader of that paper is interested in the subject of the advertisement, the cost of reaching all those potential customers is £100 divided by 1,000,000, which is about one-fortieth of a penny. But assume, as may be, that only 10 readers are interested in the subject: the cost of reaching each of those readers is £10, which might well be ridiculous.
Farthing a Reader Such a condition is unlikely to arise in connection with the business of a small haulier: the example does, however, illustrate my point.
The circulation of a local paper is likely to be around 5.000 and the cost of a small advertisement, not what is called a "small ad " but a display advertisement, may well be £5 per insertion. In that case, the cost of reaching each reader, assuming for the sake of argument that every reader actually sees and reads the advertisement, is approximately one farthing. That is likely to be good value indeed. It would certainly be that if, in addition, every one of those readers was also a potential buyer of the goods to which the
n24 advertisement referred. The advertisement would be a most inexpensive way of bringing the goods to their notice.
Unfortunately, that is not the case in regard to haulage. In that case it may possibly be that one in 10 of the readers of the paper are concerned in work that needs the service of a haulage contractor. Therefore, supposing that every one of the potential customers sees the advertisement—and that is by no means certain—the cost per person is 21d. That is in no way excessive and it would probably pay to arrange to take that space continuously, provided that the total revenue from the business justified an expenditure of at least £5 per week on advertising.
Doubtful Wisdom
In most cases, however, the number of readers of a local paper likely to" become customers of the average haulier is not one in 100. It may be an exaggeration to assume that one in 500 is a potential customer. Then, the wisdom of advertising in the local journal becomes doubtful. It means that the £5 has to be expended in order to chance catching the eye of 10 readers. The cost of reaching each one would then be 10s., and as it is likely that half of them would miss the advertisement, the real cost of reaching those who do is £1 each, which may be excessive.
Probably, it would turn out to be excessive if it were to be maintained, for as time went on the number of those potential customers who do not know the haulier would gradually diminish and the time must arrive when nearly all of them are well aware of the services the haulier offers and are doing business with him.
-A good deal, of course, depends on the kind of business
the haulier is doing. If he is mainly concerned in the haulage of sand and banast, the local paper advertisement will be a waste of time and money: he can reach all his potential customers by letter or by calling in person. If, however, he is mainly concerned with parcels carrying, or the sort of work which is usually done by the local carrier. the local paper will be an excellent medium for his advertisements and will be likely to show a good return.
If the kind of work he does is such that only a few potential customers are available, obviously there is no point in spending money on this form of advertising. The haulier can get into touch with all of them personally, and that is perhaps the best if. indeed, it is not the only way of reaching his likely customers
While I am on this subject I may well mention an interesttg scheme which one parcels-carrying and general goods aulier has adopted in connection with his local newspaper. ach week he writes an interesting little paragraph relating ) his business or the goods he carries. He has an arrangelent with the management of the local paper whereby his ailing is placed—as an advertisement, of course—at the 3ot of a news column. He has had good results from this dvertisement and proposes to continue it.
I have taken, in the foregoing calculations, a figure of £5 s the cost of an advertisement That may strike the reader .s rather a large sum. Perhaps it is in some ways. It Mould not be excessive in the case of a man owning upwards if half-a-dozen vehicles, because it would be worth it to dm merely to keep his name constantly before possible ;ustomers.
In the case of a small haulier, who has the same object n view, he may be able to achieve it by means of a single:ulumn advertisement about 1 in. deep. The cost should 3C only a few shillings, and if there were sufficient numbers readers likely to be customers, it would no doubt be worth while.
Most hauliers are engaged in a business that lends itself to direct canvassing of customers, either by letter or by personal visits. In some cases this may well be supplemented by the small advertisement, but more often the direct appeal is sufficient.
The next aspect of this subject takes into consideration the use of circulars or handbills. Now here I reach a fork in the road, a point where my treatment of the subject must differ according to whether I am considering the case of a man new to the business (one, in fact, who is only about to start as a haulier), or a haulier already well established but who thinks that there is more business to be obtained if he can devise some means of finding where it is and how to get hold of it. Readers will readily agree that some difference of approach is needed.
I will take first the case of the beginner. Novices, again, fall into two classes. Most of those who write to me stating that they are going to start in business as hauliers want to know only what I think of their chances and how I should advise them to set about obtaining work. Perhaps in the majority of cases they have a firm offer of work from one customer but not enough to keep their vehicles fully employed: they want to know how to get that extra weekly load which will fill in the blanks. In this class are included those who write to tell me that they are eagerly awaiting the result of having bid for a unit of ex-B.R.S. vehicles and want to know what they are to do to find work for the vehicles if and when they arrive.
Contract in Prospect
The other class of beginner, not so numerous, comprises those who have taken delivery of one or two vehicles and write to me in a strain similar to that of the novices described above. Often it is the case that the inquirer has a small contract in prospect sufficient to justify launching out in business. What they now want is to know how to go about obtaining work to supplement that embodied in the contract offered so that the vehicles can be fully employed.
As a matter of fact, I am just a little worried about these convenient contracts which are on offer. I fear that they are the type of deal which only a beginner would entertain and that the haulier who engages to operate them will regret having entered into them as soon as he becomes aware of the cost of operating his vehicles.
To absolute beginners, there is to my mind only one piece of advice to be offered. They must obtain work by personal canvass. Generally they would be well advised to start in their own towns where they are known and where, too, they know well the potentialities of the place and can negotiate accordingly. They can, in any event, in the course of a week's keen canvass obtain a fairly clear idea of what the chances of success are likely to be.
In such a case, the man who has already taken delivery of his vehicle or vehicles with, of course, his special A licence. is at a tremendous advantage over those who must first ascertain the prospects of work before they can take the plunge and send in a bid. With the vehicle already there, smartly painted, lettered and varnished, the haulier is already in a position to say not merely what he can do but can demonstrate his abilities.
As to the method of carrying out the canvass, no hard-andfast rules can be laid down. If it has to be done without the vehicle, the canvasser must apply the same rules respecting smartness in attire as have already been recommended as advisable in relation to vehicle and driver. He will need to have some ideas about his rates and charges. For data on these he cannot do better than make use of The Commercial Motor' Tables of Operating Costs," which give not only information as to operating costs but suggest what the haulier should earn.
A word of warning: the newcomer should not adopt the method of giving away his profit as a means for obtaining work in the first instance. If there is one thing more difficult than obtaining work in the first place, it is getting a better price from an established customer. If a haulier starts in business working for no profit, there is every probability that he will continue to do so: he will not be able to get out of that rate-cutting rut. It is far better for him to stay at home than to work for no profit.
If he finds that he is confronted with competition in prices, he should use as his sales arguments some special service which he is able to offer, or will contrive to offer. It is advisable to follow up personal calls by letter, if it is not actually just as advisable to precede a ?all by a letter of advice. There is a little doubt about this. Unless the letter is carefully written, the effect may be that the potential customer may decide that he does not want to see the caller, in which case the sending of a preliminary letter may do more harm than good.
Attractive Notepaper
A follow-up letter is nearly always advisable, whether the call has resulted in business or not. In this respect the advice given in last week's article may well be reiterated: the haulier should be careful in his selection of the kind of paper he will use and the design of his notepaper heading. The former should be of the best: the latter both attractive and neat, certainly not flamboyant.
Alternatively, it is sometimes a good plan to prepare a forceful preliminary circular letter, following it up by a call. In that circular letter the special features and advantages which the haulier offers should be enumerated as briefly as possible A primary essential is that he must offer only what he is prepared to give. He must promise nothing that he cannot perform and does not fully intend to perform. He must be sure that he has the equipment and ability to fulfil his promises.
Here, again, the methods followed must depend to some extent upon the class of work in which the haulier is prepared to engage or, in the case of an established business, the class of work on which he is engaged. If it is the haulage of building and roadmaking materials, for example, clearly the number of potential customers in the locality must be small. In such cases the best plan is to think out an attractive personal address and send that personal letter to each.
It is as well, in this way, to write each letter so that it makes a personal appeal to the recipient, taking into account some particular foible of his, or some particular characteristic of his business. Something depends, too, on whether the haulier is personally known to the builder or roadmaker. The letter should be followed by a call and, after that, by further correspondence, as circumstances make desirable.
In the case of a haulier who proposes to specialize in the haulage of "smalls," a difference in methods is desirable. Every shop in the town, as well as each resident in the suburbs and the area round about, is a potential customer. More extensive publicity is needed. It should comprise a regular small advertisement in the local paper and a circular designed for distribution through the post or in the form of a bill to be circulated by hand.