Frequently Asked Questions - This area will shortly have a list of FAQ's specifically for new members.

Leaflets  - are they any good?
Posted by Londoner (Vince Green), 10 April 2004
Some people swear by leaflets and use nothing else. Many people have built up a good business from just leaflet advertising.
Other cleaners will tell you different stories (good and bad) about the value of local papers and yellow pages.

The big problem with leaflets is that they are time consuming to deliver if you do it yourself.

What is the best way to advertise?
Posted by DG (David Glassey), 10 April 2004
I find the best way is through your existing clients, make it worth there while to get you new prospects.

An even better way is what is called Host/benificiary relationships. I started two quite a while back, one with an office cleaning company who would rather use us than start carpet cleaning themself. The other is with a high end Carpet Retail shop. Between the two we get a huge amount of work.

If you need instant work, I found the best way is selective direct mail. It's in effect a letter, printed out on your pc including amongst other things, a compelling offer, also, it must have a deadline otherwise you cant controle the response. Once you have done the letter, say 200 as a test, select the area you want to target and record the responce so you know if it worked.

Regards, David
Posted by Ian_G. (Ian_Gourlay), 10 April 2004
David,

What  compelling offers do you use?

Which one pulls the best?

Which one makes you the most money?
Posted by DG (David Glassey), 10 April 2004
Without doubt, somthing free. For egsample, if you offer a free room of carpet cleaning with no catches to the right area, a small % will reply, usually about 3% if you get the letter correct. No one likes to feel indebted, so they buy another service. Do a good job and they tell all there friends about you, hey presto more work.

I only used this type of marketing if things are very quiet, but when I do, from a small time investment I usualy fill the book for a couple of weeks.

Hope this was helpful.

Regards, David Glassey

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