Posted By Clarke Kent
Jane,

I have been on the register for 2 years now and have only had one contact via this method and this did not result in any work.

Posted By Geoff Burt
By the number of emails I've received on this (5 to date) it should be an interesting thread!

Anything that follows is purely my experience, no doubt others will have different views. I've put in what works and what doesn't - for us.

First (and foremost) must be YP. It didn't work for me for 9 months when I first started but just as I was about to pull it two phone calls meant two jobs - so it stayed.

My experience of YP is pay as much as you can afford, the bigger the advert the bigger the client. A small add gets lots of replies but mostly time wasters. You still get time wasters with a large ad but a better class of timewaster!

Have two YPs, one for consultants and the other for training.

Cold calling - personally I hate it. Tried it a few times and gave up. How these cold callers earn a living beats me.

Business Link - got some auditing work with an NVQ organisation at the beginning. Very poorly paid work assessing very poorly paid people but learnt a lot before giving it up. Dealing with some of the private care homes from this side is a very depressing business. However, through the Business Link I got a couple of jobs paid for by the HSE so it was a useful contact.

Wrote a monthly H&S briefing for a local paper - great hopes with that one. Not a single response. So sent out copies to every business on a local business park - again not a single response.

Had some plumbing work done and persuaded the plumber to accept a full H&S policy and assessments free of charge with the proviso he recommended me if it was ever raised as a topic with other trades. Got 3 jobs off that.


Filled with success on that one spoke to a local insurance broker offering the same deal and got two London jobs from it (and as we all know a London job is generally worth 2 locals).

And two of those jobs resulted in retained clients paying an annual fee.

Obviously networking - try the local chamber of commerce but ....

I joined and was inundated by cold calling from local companies. But with persistence and talking nicely to the CofC I was appointed first call if members had any H&S queries. In 12 months not a single call - but it might work in your area.

Yell.com. Two areas for the last 3 months (talked into it by the YP guy) and not a single response.

I also applied to NEBOSH as an examiner - an excellent move because I thoroughly enjoyed doing it and learnt a lot about H&S, or perhaps a better familiarity with some of the subjects! Also it gives something back to the profession.

A conversation with one of the examiners struck a chord - he was a consultant but also had a part time job with his local council. There are a number of benefits to this!! if work is not filling the week. So I did that for two years until my work load built up to an extent where I couldn't afford to work for the Council.

I stress this is a personal view only - what works for me. It may not work for anyone else.