Company Name: Mike Hurdiss Painter & Decorator

Type: Internal Painting & Decorating

Employees: One – Self employed

Years In Business: 22 Years

Products & Services Offered: Painting & Decorating. Aspects of Electrical work, such as like for like replacements.

What challenges were you facing in terms of finding new customers, before you started working with Local-Eyes?

“I had been very fortunate for the last ten years that I didn’t have a need to advertise. I had good regular and repeat business which helped spread the word through recommendation. One of the challenges I face is that January to March can be a quieter time of year for new business. It’s a pattern I noticed during the years when I didn’t advertise. When you don’t advertise it’s difficult to manage the ‘unknown’ – for all I had an amazing client base who booked repeat jobs and recommended me to others, it’s natural that this drops off due to peoples’ personal circumstances, which is out of my control.”

What were your main goals for advertising with Local-Eyes?

“For me, it was about getting more irons in the fire. I wanted to find the right new customers to supplement the repeat work I already had. I was looking for customers who appreciate a professional product at a product standard and professional rate. For every one good job, I get a few that don’t fully understand the effort and level of detail that goes into my craft. Having my name out there gets more irons in the fire and that allows me to be choosier with the projects that I take on.”

What advertising methods or platforms had you used before Local-Eyes?

“None. I’ve always been fortunate to have 60/70% of my work from repeat customers, at one point 90% of the work I did was repeat custom, but naturally, these numbers decline.”

How soon did you start seeing results from advertising with Local-Eyes?

“I would say by the time the first books hit the letterboxes, I saw a trickle of enquiries. I had 5/6 per week in the first month.”

What was your return on investment on your advertising with Local-Eyes?

“I’ve received around £7000 worth of work from my initial 6 month booking, which cost me £513”

What would you say to other tradespeople who might be hesitant to advertise with Local-eyes?

“It might seem like a significant outlay at first, but during the course of the 6 month booking, my advert generated in the region of £7000 worth of new business and that has put me in a privileged position of being able to be selective in the work I take on. It is already generating recommendations from the people who originally booked me from Local-Eyes, and have then told friends and family about me. My advice is to get another iron in the fire and you’ll have a return that massively outweighs your investment.”