[woodman]

A report out this week by marketing file in conjunction with Pitney Bowes finds that the best day to drop leaflets and other direct and targeted marketing is on a Tuesday.

The survey asked marketers in the top 1000 companies what day was best for mailings to arrive, over 50% said Tuesday, the other was a mixture of various days and times.

It's good to let others find these things out for you and is certainly worth bearing in mind when planning your next mail shots, after all every crumb of information can worth hundreds of pounds.

[paulchambers]

I had that email i thought it was a interesting read, i normally just delete theses emails but something told me to read this one.    Paul

[Mike Halliday]

does it say if this is to bussiness customers or domestic?  i've always thought that for domestic its  best if it lands on the doorstep on saturday then usually the husband & wife is at home so can discuss it. this is why i think my bussiest day for booking appiontments is a monday morning.

mike 

[Derek]

On the other hand it could be that all those spillages we all love happen at the weekend...call a cleaner on Monday to get 'em out

Derek

[Ken Wainwright]

To take up on Mike's comments, I too find that Monday's are the best days for enquiries/bookings. But I don't do direct marketing! But I also find that the first Monday in the month is best (after the salary cheque) and especially so if it's been a sunny weekend (perhaps the feel good factor with the weather gives more enthusiasm for a cleaner home?)

Safe and happy scheduling
Ken

[Phil Marlor]

Same here,

My wife comments on how much the phone rings on a Monday compared to other days.

Phil

[woodman]

Hi Guys

report refers to domestic mail drops, many potential customers will keep the info until they need it,  monday's by all accounts

[Ian Gourlay]

Mr Woodman sir,

I use Marketing File for my tele number checks against Tps

However Im not sure about their reports.

I was reading one which said respondents were achieving in excess of 10 per cent on Direct Marketing campains to Domestic housholds across a wide range of services.

[Shaun_Ashmore]

After extensive trials over the last 12 years that I have been doing direct mail I find that a piece of mail which lands on a Monday will lead to far more leads, if it lands on a Saturday customers read it but don't act immediately because they think the 'shop' may be closed, Friday was the worst day as everybody is thinking of the weekend on a Monday there is forethought of getting things done.

Shaun 

[Doug Holloway]

Hi guys.

D'ont try to second guess the market.

My Leaflet  deliverers do it when they want to.

This week for me,

Monday, good
Tuesday rubbish
Wednesday manic  (9 jobs)
Thursday Q . Good
Friday , one v ,. decent job otherwise crap
Sat, Watch this space,

Cheers,

Doug

[Martin Sambrook]

Doug,
How many leaflets do you have delivered and how much do you pay the deliverers (curious as to how much people would expect for delivering)

thanks

[Scott Martin]

I Advertise in a few local rags and the best response days is a Tuesday.

Also, when i am working on residential properties i tend to drop a leaflet through the letterbox of the first 10 houses left and right of the property once i have finished. It has a better chance of being recognised as their is a good chance they have seen your van or car (if it is well liveried) and you know waht neighbours are like, if one has something then they all have to have! works well most times.

Also they tend to ask the the client about your services, which hopefully leads to a very good referral!

Cheers

[paulchambers]

Whilst i run a cooker cleaning business my local paper came out on a friday and had most calls on a fri or the following monday but if it was a bank holiday i noticed i had no calls so i stop advertising if a bank holiday monday was due.

  As i'm only doing carpet cleaning now  i dont advertise in the local paper as i dont get any calls.    Paul

[*paul_moss]

Strange how Mondays seems to be the best day for calls.My story is the same I advertise in 3 local papers which come out Wed and Thurs yet my phone is busiest on Mondays.
On the leaflet side I changed my plan last week ,normally I have leaflets delivered in A5 size green lettering on white paper,but after reading some of the guys comments on the forum I changed to A4 pink paper with black print and did them double sided.This gave me around 50% more calls than normal  from leaflets

Paul

[Dynafoam]

Paul,

I never advertise at all, but do tend to get more calls on Mondays.

This is probably the result of weekend discussions.

[*paul_moss]

John
How do you get your business other than your regulars if you dont advertise ,does that include yellow pages.
I have been going over a year now but have not got enough clients to not advertise,where i am in wales there is not the catchment size of area  locally as you would get in a city but i also find that people around here dont get there carpats cleaned very regular even after advice and recomendations.

What was your first couple of years like

Paul

[Dynafoam]

Paul,

I placed one advert in 1965, produced ten customers, all the rest has stemmed from repeats/referrals.

Bear in mind that in the early years I had NO competition. About 1988 I ceased to have sign-written vans because I ceased taking on new customers without a personal invitation from an existing client.

[Shaun_Ashmore]

John how do you get them to have regular work?

Shaun

[Dynafoam]

Shaun,

They normally accept my recommendation of 12-24 month cycles for domestics and 3-12 month for commercial.

It's really a numbers game, with enough regular customers it does not matter that individuals are not seen every year. They do know, however, that if they exceed the recommended interval there will be a price penalty.

[Shaun_Ashmore]

in view of clients either forgetting a yearly clean or just forgetting your number how do you get them to call you?

Do you give them a timely reminder or book there next appointment in 12 months time?

Some clients however good they are forget that 12 months have passed and will argue that you only came last month!
I put it down to the bust lives we all lead but it doesn't pay for my wife's expensive habbits!

Shaun 

[Ian Gourlay]

John do you book them into your diary at the time of cleaning for next clean

[Dynafoam]

Ian,

When I wrote my database software many years ago, I included two fields, one called "Cycle"  and the other "Memo_req".

At any point I can run an applet which compares the current or up-comming month with the date last cleaned and the cycle period (eg 12 months), then if memo_req is set to "true", that customer will appear on a reminders list.

Having said this, for the past several years I have not bothered as customers tend to mark their calendars and phone me a couple of months before the clean is due.

[Mike Halliday]

John, how many customers do you service per week? your circumstances seem perfect, no advertising and all customer traced back to an original 9 clients.

unless you only work 2 days a week  

Mike

[Doug Holloway]

Hi Guys,

A lot of people must be getting very exited as its less than 4 hours to Tuesday

Cheers,

Doug

[Len Gribble]

Doug

Not really here they and everywhere, Thursday Great one job be home by 2pm.

Len

[Dynafoam]

Hi Mike,

I have been through the 7 days a week stage but try to get most of the weekend time to myself now, with perhaps an early job Saturdays and Sundays.

I seldom do more than three jobs per day, some days only one, but that could be 10 hours or more. Tomorrow I have  about 1200 sq. yds. of commercial carpet tile, which I recon to be enough for one day.

[Shaun_Ashmore]

John although you have a data base do you find that some clients need a gentle reminder?

and how do you remind them?

Shaun

[Len Gribble]

Shaun

A very very gentile reminder not received it!

Len

[Dynafoam]

Hi Shaun,

Most customers no longer get reminders from me, but there are some (mainly commercial) who never make appointments. They have left the scheduling entirely to me - I just turn up and do what I feel is required. For example the Chinese restaurant I did this morning I do roughly every 3 or four months. I have my own key and alarm code and they get a nice surprise when they open up in the evening - and a not so nice one when the invoice shows up 

These are useful jobs to have, because if I get a last-minute cancellation, I have these as stand-bys. on the other hand, when pressurised to do an urgent job, these are the ones that I squeeze out, and sometimes by the time I do clean them, I have a harder job because of them being left too long. 

[Shaun_Ashmore]

that's the way the fortune cookie crumbles!

I was mainly thinking of domestic reminders, perhaps Mrs didn't want to or forgot to book in for next year how do you get them to book for it. I appreciate if they don't want to book they will not but I send out reminders and the response I get is a 'welcome response' as clients often forget to put their shoes on the correct feet.

Shaun

[Dynafoam]

Shaun,

Some years ago I did use to use the facility built into my database programme.

I use to phone the appropriate customers and say "It's your carpet/suites' birthday next month - shall we book the party?"

The call was always well received, but there came a period when I was allowing myself to work seven days a week, getting home late, with half a dozen messages on the answering machine and I found myself spending half the evening on the telephone. The only way to reduce the phone time was to cut out the reminder calls.

Having broken the habit, I find that most customers have been educated to the benefits of planned maintenance and do not need me to hold their hands.