Are you "new" to the suction excavator business or are you already an "old hand" and would like to obtain more jobs for your machine? The following 9 tips will help you to obtain new suction jobs.

 But first a few general remarks. "Anyone who becomes involved in battling with the competition has already lost. On the other hand, positioning yourself accordingly will allow you to successfully avoid a ruinous price war, make healthy profits instead and stop worrying about the competition", as Peter Sawtschenko says. In other words: position your company! Be the problem solver for your customers and the success will look after itself.

Don't know exactly how positioning works? No problem. I have 9 tips for you that will increase the number of suction jobs that you receive. You can implement some of it yourself, but some of it should be left to the experts.

1. Branding

Have your suction excavator marked with your logo, your contact data and your Internet address so that you set yourself apart from the competition.

2. Become a reporter

Document every one of your jobs with pictures and videos, make notes of the problems that you have solved, and particularly the time taken and the equipment that was used.

3. Go online

Once you have collected a sufficient number of pictures and videos of suction jobs, put your suction solutions on your web site. If you wish to put the effort in and possess the relevant Internet skills, set up a blog in which you regularly document your suction work. When doing this, always report about the problem that you solved using the suction excavator and how quickly you were able to carry out the work.

4. It's all about the mix

Have an advertising flyer produced for your services. Pay attention to the content. Display your problem solution in big pictures and describe it with a little text. Don't forget to refer to your social media profile, the blog and the web site in your contact details.

5. Blow your own trumpet

Send the flyer to your customers with a personal letter, pictures and videos on a memory stick, the building departments of the surrounding towns and municipalities and also the local gas, water and energy suppliers. Invite them all to a demonstration of your new technology.

6. PR

Send the same invitation to your demonstration to the local press and magazines that specialise in your line of business. Provide enough information about your services to awaken their interest. Keep providing the press with new, interesting information and advertise your services. Mention the problems that you have been able to solve for your customers.

7. Reminders

Reminders are important. It's easy to overlook the occasional appointment in the flood of information. In order to avoid this, 2 days before the day of the demonstration send a reminder e-mail containing pictures of the new technology and possibly a link to a video to all potential customer that you have invited.

You can also use the reminders for other purposes such as: if the local press has written something about you, share this information with your customers and business partners on the social network, in your blog and in the newsletter.

8. Build up your social network

Social networking is on everybody's lips, and is extremely important in the business world. Where are you going to get your information? From the Internet, of course. The information that you trust the most is that which is recommended by your friends. It is therefore important for your friends, customers and business partners to know and recommend you and your solutions.

You should therefore create a profile on Google+, Twitter, Linkedin, YouTube, a fan site on Facebook and a Google Maps entry for your company. Connect with your friends and business partners. Share your blog entries on these profiles. If you use a Wordpress blog you can use share plugins that will take care of this for you automatically. This also cuts down the amount of time that is required.

9. Keep your customers up to date

Produce a newsletter and write reports about your latest suction work at regular intervals (at least once per month) for your customers and contacts. Don't forget to update your blog and your web site. You can find out how to set up a newsletter here.

Now get started.

If you devote a lot of work and attention to your marketing, you can set yourself apart from the masses, which will pay for itself in the long term. Consider which of the tips you can already tick off as completed. It's best to create a "to do" list for things that are still outstanding. This should also specify who is responsible for what. When doing this, don't forget that you can explain your service in a much more convincing way than a third party. To begin with you may merely need somebody to help you a little and point you in the right direction.

I am convinced that you will manage this, and will soon be receiving more suction jobs for your suction excavator. If our article has helped you and you think that it may also be useful for your friends, let them know about it on the new social media profiles that you have set up. I hope that you enjoy implementing these new ideas! Angelika Eisenbeiß - RSP Marketing.