My Projections

[rudy323]

From experience, coming from pretty much the exact situation as you (prior preferred company to the non-standard world) You need to lower your expectations in the early going, especially if you have alot of personal expenses(car, mortgage, college) have some money saved up
or
Prepare to eat alot of Ramen otherwise

 

[nayers]

From experience, coming from pretty much the exact situation as you (prior preferred company to the non-standard world) You need to lower your expectations in the early going, especially if you have alot of personal expenses(car, mortgage, college) have some money saved up
or
Prepare to eat alot of Ramen otherwise

lol
Tell me how it was when you started out. What were some of the pitfalls, what did you least expect, did you do it alone or with a partner?

 

[Guest]

I too had the partner option in the beginning and went in solo. You probably wabt a partner to help with half the work. In reality your agency will need to do double the work in marketing. Common lets be real who cant handle writing 3 apps a day? Go in solo market market market and youll be a lot happier.

Also you may want to reconsider ur office situation: i pay $465 / month for rent ur gonna pay $2400. $2000 difference is about 15 policies. Consider the possibility that walk in traffic could cost you more than make you

 

[nayers]

I too had the partner option in the beginning and went in solo. You probably wabt a partner to help with half the work. In reality your agency will need to do double the work in marketing. Common lets be real who cant handle writing 3 apps a day? Go in solo market market market and youll be a lot happier.

Also you may want to reconsider ur office situation: i pay $465 / month for rent ur gonna pay $2400. $2000 difference is about 15 policies. Consider the possibility that walk in traffic could cost you more than make you

The rent is the big ticket item that I wish was a little smaller...It is a great spot that just opened up and you know the saying, LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION. From experience, I feel like a location like this one would give us an average of at least one walkin a day, and given that it is next door to a Starbucks drive through, a Costco, and a Subway, I can work those steady streams of people all I want to with an IPAD and my browser based rating software.

 

[Guest]

I agree with the location saying but my personal belief is that if you had to choose, virtual real estate has a better chance to yield a higher roi. From personal experience working next to high traffic retail does not necessarily equate to moderate walk ins. I would just be careful on assuming 1 a day not to say its not probable.

 

[nayers]

I agree with the location saying but my personal belief is that if you had to choose, virtual real estate has a better chance to yield a higher roi. From personal experience working next to high traffic retail does not necessarily equate to moderate walk ins. I would just be careful on assuming 1 a day not to say its not probable.

I say 1 a day because I have been in worse locations, with little to no advertising and done the same....If we MARKET, MARKET, MARKET in a great location, we could do the same.

 

[Guest]

You are right a "worse" location will bring in more walk ins because walk ins are more common in lower income areas.

What dan is saying is the same thing i am. dont limit yourself to your surrounding area. I promise you being a good sales man is only half the battle. Consistant inbound lead generation should be #1 on your priority list. Out bound calling gets old and tiresome really fast.

Im curious do you have appointments?

 

[nayers]

You are right a "worse" location will bring in more walk ins because walk ins are more common in lower income areas.

What dan is saying is the same thing i am. dont limit yourself to your surrounding area. I promise you being a good sales man is only half the battle. Consistant inbound lead generation should be #1 on your priority list. Out bound calling gets old and tiresome really fast.

Im curious do you have appointments?

When I say "worse" I mean bad location, bad signage, little community traffic, one way street, etc...we have no set appointments yet, we are looking to open in January of 2013, so right now we are finalizing our business plan, or marketing plan, negotiations on a lease, budget, etc so that when we speak to marketing reps for the appointments we have everything down and are as organized as possible.

 

[Guest]

Sounds like you got it under control. My whole point of bringing up the rent is just remember to weigh the pros and cons. Start up money is usually always limited and certain investments could prove to be more lucrative down the line. I mean if its just 2 people is 1200sq ft really necessary?

 

[nyc2phi]

What dan is saying is the same thing i am. dont limit yourself to your surrounding area. I promise you being a good sales man is only half the battle. Consistant inbound lead generation should be #1 on your priority list. Out bound calling gets old and tiresome really fast.

What are some examples on consistent inbound lead generation ?