Originally Posted by lee8 (Post 5747802)

He does, not as well as you`d think for somebody 18 yrs in Spain, but he can manage to argue in the ITV quite well.

Originally Posted by aspeangel (Post 5747807)

We have had to sll 2 properties in order to provide us with enough time/money to stay here in Spain. We have worked very very hard to get where we are and we are looking forward to the next few years being successful and happy here in Spain.

Originally Posted by jdr (Post 5747827)

He only spoke Scottish when I saw him. lol

Originally Posted by lee8 (Post 5747848)

Maybe he didn`t understand your Castellano.

Originally Posted by rugbymatt (Post 5747438)

Oh dear god!

Originally Posted by rugbymatt (Post 5747857)

bet yours is better.

Originally Posted by lee8 (Post 5747921)

Scottish or Castellano.

Originally Posted by rugbymatt (Post 5748155)

Does it matter?


Its gonna be better 'cos its you.

Originally Posted by lee8 (Post 5747754)

One problem I found in the South is trying to market yourself beyond word of mouth.

In the malaga area there are several Brit newspapers and free books to advertise in, but many are simply dumped in the darkest corner of Spanish Newspaper shops or in brit shops spread out in the Campo.

Leaflet drops are a waste as the Urbs are either abandoned most of the year and locked with only key access, the finca`s are so spread out it`ll take all day just to get to 100.

Estate Agents usual know several people all ready.

The only way really is to work for several years hoping that the community will spread the word.

Even yellow pages arn`t any good as nobody really uses them.In the UK there are about 8 pages in my profession, in Malaga there are only 5 businesses, and there are more than 5 Refrigeration Engineers in one poly in Malaga city.

Advertising I found to be the most frustrating.

And the fact there`s no A-Z type maps and the Sat Nav only work 60% of the time.

Originally Posted by lcortez (Post 5748804)

Looks like all my options out the window then:eek:

Originally Posted by aspeangel (Post 5747807)

I agree word of mouth is the only way to get ahead over here. We have been here for 3 1/2 years now and a lot of time, money, patience and freebies to potential customers has helped us to build up a successful business. We now only really take on customers through word of mouth. We don´t speak fluent Spanish but we more than `get-by´and our customer base is mainly english. We have had to sll 2 properties in order to provide us with enough time/money to stay here in Spain. We have worked very very hard to get where we are and we are looking forward to the next few years being successful and happy here in Spain.

Originally Posted by Mitzyboy (Post 5749178)

There are always networking groups as I already mentioned

Originally Posted by lee8 (Post 5751970)

How do they work ?

Got any advice for the South ?

Originally Posted by Mitzyboy (Post 5751989)

Well BNI is the only one I have experience of. They are once a week meetings where you have maybe 20 members. Each member stands up every week and tells the group (and visitors) what they do and what kind of work they want. Every so often you get a chance to give a 10 minute presentation. The others in the group are active every week in looking for business opportunities and work for their fellow members, and every week the members have a chance to give "referrals", which are basically leads and new business they have picked up for their fellow members during that week. So basically you have a group of unpaid salespeople looking for work for you every week. It does work. You have to commit to it though and turn up every week otherwise eventually you get dumped.