I often work with my friend who is a contractor/finish carpenter and he gets most of his work through word of mouth. He looked into angies list and I believe they wanted a fee even though they advertise/claim its free so there is no bias. But check into it. He has a large banner on his trailer and on the front on the trailer he has a business card dispenser with a sign saying take one. people actually do. Yes i know its different having a truck or van vs. a 17ft enclosed trailer, but an idea. Getting back to the word of mouth, He started doing work for a client and now does work for all their friends and then their friends. Every time he gets a new job, reference through the original client, he does small projects for them for free as kind of a referral fee thing.
Once again this is just from the viewpoint of a carpenter and not appliance repair. The guy that my family used to use for our appliance repair was great. He was a small one person company and was around for decades and has only recently retired. I'm not sure where my parents found him but I know it wasn't online or out of a phone book. I'm pretty sure they were longtime friends and met through word of mouth.
I ran my fathers landscaping business for a few years before he retired(due to an on the job accident) and we did no advertising yet still got calls from people who would just find us in the yellow pages so that does have some use still.
Obviously as you already know, how you interact with customers is the most important aspect of how your business will do and grow. Giving a customer a discount or a break is a good way to make repeat customers. And advising about future repairs without making them feel pressured is important as well. Also charging for estimates isn't always good practice, yet some guys do that. Appliance repair is not a huge industry as far as I have seen so many people don't know who to call if they need a serviceman, outside of sending it back to the manufacturer. From what I've seen in the home improvement industry, In those cases, the customer will mainly rely on personal references over trusting anything they read online.
All in all, An easy name to remember without being flashy or cheesy is good and it can distinguish you from any of the "fly-by-night" serviceman. Whatever way you decide to advertise, I wish you luck, and if my family ever needs work done, I will keep you in mind.
Last edited by V; 01-18-2015 at 06:56 PM.
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