Posted by paul@ctcs (paul@ctcs), 15 November 2003
Easy one for you all tonight and a one word answer will do,It will be interesting to see what works best for each of us and may help us all save some of our hard earnt cash..Question:which means of advertising works best for you??yellow pages,door to door fliers,local papers,etc,etc
Many thanks
Paul
Posted by Dave_Lee (Dave_Lee), 15 November 2003
Cost for cost for me, its got to be leaflets, self delivered (Cause then you know theyre delivered), some immediatte response and long term response. Downside is the time they take to deliver, Im fairly fit but Im still knackered after taking all day to deliver 1000 to the right type of homes.Dave.
Posted by paul@ctcs (paul@ctcs), 15 November 2003
cheers Dave i thought leaflets would be a favourite its my most succesful method too,typical it would also be the most hard work!!Paul
Posted by Ivar_Haglund (Ivar_Haglund), 16 November 2003
I let my customers advertise for me.Called Referrals
Try this
For each home or business you clean at
drop a card or flyer off on both houses accros the street and on each side of the house you cleaned
This also works for business to
and write on the flyer who's carpet you just cleaned too.
If you do this method every day over a long period of time will be TEN FOLD
Yellow pages are for price shoppers
IVAR
Posted by paul@ctcs (paul@ctcs), 16 November 2003
Thats a very good idea Ivar,I can see that working well.Paul
Posted by John_Flynn (John_Flynn), 16 November 2003
Yellow Pages Yellow Pages Yellow Pages Yellow PagesYellow Pages Yellow Pages Yellow Pages Yellow Pages
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Yellow Pages Yellow Pages Yellow Pages Yellow Pages
Yellow Pages Yellow Pages Yellow Pages Yellow Pages
Yellow Pages Yellow Pages Yellow Pages Yellow Pages
Yellow Pages Yellow Pages Yellow Pages Yellow Pages
Yellow Pages Yellow Pages Yellow Pages Yellow Pages
Yellow Pages Yellow Pages Yellow Pages Yellow Pages
Yellow Pages Yellow Pages Yellow Pages Yellow Pages
Yellow Pages Yellow Pages Yellow Pages Yellow Pages
Posted by mike_halliday (mike_halliday), 16 November 2003
I do 4000 leaflets every week. I think leaflets are the best way to get new bussiness, but they have to done right.put your address on them and only have them delivered within 4-5 miles of your home so they know your local ( this only works if you don't live in the rough end of town
)have them delivered on a 4 week rotation, so that the same house gets your leaflet every 4 weeks.
this cost me £100 a week for printing & delivery but it only takes one good job to cover this cost.
You cannot justify delivering them yourself. For me to spend 1 day putting out leaflets would cost £200+ and I would only put out a 1000. I can get a 1000 put out for £17.
if you're just beginning and have lots of free time put them out your self, otherwise use a company
Mike
Posted by Tony_Browning (Tony_Browning), 16 November 2003
Mike....Do you use a local or national company for leaflet dropping?....The only folks in my area seem to be the local advertiser newspaper...trouble there is your leaflets gets mixed in with several others.
Rgds
Tony
Posted by Ken_Wainwright (Ken Wainwright), 16 November 2003
I'm fortunate enough to be in a similar position to Ivar on this one. I just wait for the phone to ring.I've heard much praise for the leaflet drops that Ivar suggests, especially from the US. The numbers that were talked about to me were 5 each side and 10 opposite. There are two schools of thought about wording on these types of leaflet. If you include the name or number of your client where work has been completed, she may or may not object to using her name. You may also find that the neighbours do or do not like the person
So think out your letter carefully.Safe and happy cleaning
Ken
Posted by mike_halliday (mike_halliday), 16 November 2003
Tony I use a local company, they put out all the local free papers, and also do leaflet delivery. I could pay £36 a 1000 and they would put them out by themselves.l have a good relationship with the company so they tell me when they have alot of leaflets going out and I stop mine and have double put out the following week.
I put out leaflets around jobs but I'm going to stop doing it because It does'nt works for me, I don't get any response at all.
the best advertising you can do is to have a memorable name, you can do a great job of cleaning someones carpet but if they forget your name they can't recommend you
Mike
Posted by Dave_Lee (Dave_Lee), 16 November 2003
Mike,I think I have a good trade name, though by no means unique "Deepclean Services" though most people know me by my christian name and seem to forget my trade name. I have heard people refer to me as "Deepclean Dave" though - could be worse!
Dave.
Posted by Ian_G. (Ian_G.), 20 November 2003
What I have found interesting in this post is that a Fastracker reccomends leaflets.The other Yellow pages.
No one has mentioned letters, direct marketing
Personally i have found talking to people and telling them I sell Cleaning Solutions works the best.
You can canvas in person telephone or use the 6 inch rule.
Anybody who gets within six inches of you tell them what you do. Good news I got a £220 job out of my supermarket advert last week. I dont recommend this.
Posted by Tony_Browning (Tony_Browning), 20 November 2003
6 Inches is very,very close!
Posted by mike_halliday (mike_halliday), 20 November 2003
no ones mentioned letters & direct marketing because they don't work. I've tried them all Cost wise, leaflets are the most effective way of getting new customers ( apart from reccomends)
the 6 inch rule:
" Hello my names michael and I'm a carpet cleaner, I've just escaped from the looney farm, I'm a teapot- I'm a teapot,la- la la-la
everybody thinks I'm mad already without me talking to every strangers who comes within 6 inches of me
mike
Posted by chrisw (chrisw), 20 November 2003
Yes Tony, 6 inches is very, very close, saves you having to talk to them but, you can whisper instead I think it is the 3 feet rule, could be wrong. Works well for some people if you script it and have enough confidence.Chris
Posted by John_Flynn (John_Flynn), 20 November 2003
Hey Mike, what did you do to my phone this morning, it's singing something about a Teapot to me still !!!!!Posted by Ian_G. (Ian_G.), 21 November 2003
I thought the six inch rule would get you going.Actually its the 3 foot rule.
In one Network Marketing company there was a guy who used to where a badge which said Im not a loony ask me what I do?
Posted by Londoner (Londoner), 23 November 2003
A tip I learned a long time ago was to send all your customers a Christmas card.Inside put a voucher for £10 off their next clean.
It works!
Also when you clean any customer always give them a sticky label with your name and phone number on.
Tell them to put it in their adress book in case they get a spill or a flood etc.
It means they don't lose your number and every time they open the book they see it.
Posted by Ken_Wainwright (Ken Wainwright), 23 November 2003
Or put the sticky label on the inside of a kitchen cupboard door. All the family will be seeing your name and number on a daily basis, and will know where to find it in an emergency.Safe and happy cleaning
Ken
Posted by Ivar_Haglund (Ivar_Haglund), 25 November 2003
word of mouth works best
I think I have said this before
drop a flyer or door hanger on each house around and accross the street of the one you cleaned at.
Over time this works great
IVAR
Posted by Dave_Lee (Dave_Lee), 27 November 2003
Ian,Fast Tracking includes the use of leaflets & YP, its what they are and how you use them, thats the key. Dont get the idea that operators signed up to Fast Track, only do Fast Track strategies. In my case and Im sure most others, the Fast Track material is just one marketing tool of many. We dont go tunnel visioned, down a one way street, theres far too much info out there for that. Its all about picking the bones out of this and that - like the new manual by Chris Thurlow, got yours yet?
Dave.
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