Danny writes in:
Good Morning Steve. Can you explain the benefits you received by purchasing the rights to the 1-800-PAINTING in your area? How important do you feel this was to your success?
When a company is starting out and needs to keep their overhead low, do you feel this is must have or a nice to have?
Thank you for your generous service.
Thank you for your great question Danny!
Here are a few of the awesome benefits I received from purchasing 1-800-PAINTING for my service area.
The first and most obvious is it makes it very simple for others to refer me. When I first purchased 1-800-PAINTING, I pushed that number AS my brand for the first year, many times not even mentioning “Burnett Painting” but just 1-800-PAINTING. I even had this short video made just to promote the number (on Fiverr and it shows the number on coffee foam, yummo!).
Then I merged the number into my logo from:
to:
The second thing it did and this is very powerful, is it communicated commitment and authority to my community. When our community saw our brand with the number, it made a very big and lasting impression.
In fact, when one of our HHR’s pul into the carwash, the manager, Guermo, hollers out with his hand in the air “1-800-PAINTING” is here!
The number works so well, that we went ahead after the first year and secured ALL of Southwest Florida. From Tampa all the way down to Naples.
All this to say it’s was very important to our success. But you can’t view it as a direct lead generator, although it will generate a lead here and their, it is for branding purposes and to position you high above the other painting companies in your community.
Should you have one, YES!
The cost to secure your area code is just $200 a month. However, if you are a startup, you should wait until you pass the $200,000 – $300,000 mark so to float the investment. But once you do hit that make, secure 1-800-PAINTING, ASAP!
What are your thoughts about the number? Do you already have one, thinking about securing your area? Please leave your thoughts and comments below!