[allergease]

Hi,
Only found this site today and have been busy reading all the old posts.
I've recently started my own mattress cleaning business and am finding things extremely difficult.
Sent out 5,000 flyers (professionally designed) with the local paper for three weeks running....... not a single reply.
Have advertised in the weekly paper for three consecutive weeks ... had a few responses but yet to have a confirmed booking.
Have delivered 150 flyers by hand to local houses, no response.
I am offering a free allergen test on my flyers / adverts with no mention of cost but am not sure why the response is so low.
I'm now considering paying someone to deliver flyers for me as they might have a better chance than those delivered with the paper (can't be any worse  ).
Does anyone have any first hand knowledge of uptake on flyers put through doors versus flyers in envelopes addressed to "The Homeowner) please.

Thanks,
Conrad

[Ian Gourlay]

Do a search for leaflets.

I think your problem is you are in a market that is a new concept.

I think you would do better door knocking and explaining benifits.


Could try  Guest houses.


But also General door knock

[allergease]

Thanks Ian,
I've sent about 100 letters with flyer to guest houses, B&B's etc just a few days ago and will follow up with a phone call next week.
I am thinking about handing out flyers in the city centre as, although I haven't really got the gift of the gab, I believe that I really need to talk to prospective clients to promote my service.

I guess I'm just a big baby worrying about the lack of interest at the moment and really have to get off my butt and really sell myself and the business. Like a fool I presumed adverts in the paper and flyers delivered with a newspaper would generate sufficient leads.
I was considering approaching a few carpet cleaners to see if they could put any work my way (10% commission). What do you carpet cleaners think, would you be offended thinking I was after your business or would you be more than happy to hand the work over ?

Conrad

[Neil Grainger]

Hi

What cleaning process do you use? As carpet cleaners offer this themselves with the right equipment.

[mark_roberts]

Its too small a market.  I havent been asked to clean a mattress in 4 years.  Even when I was advertising it I cleaned very few.

Some will say they need cleaned because of all the bugs etc but really only a very very small number of homeowners care.

Best advice is to get in with carpet cleaners, house maids etc so they can offer your services as an additional part of their business with you giving them a commission.

Why did you start this business?  Is it a franchise?  Can you clean carpets with your machine?

Mark

[conallon]

Hi Conrad,

 flyers delivered with local paper total waste of time, unless of course yours was the only one,find a local distributor who never delivers more than 3 leaflets at any one time

regards Conrad 

[Fintan_Coll]

Difficult one Conrad. I think it will take a long time to build up a business by just offering mattress cleaning alone. Maybe you should target Hotels who might be interested from a hygiene point. I always cleaned a few mattresses yearly but only since I began using the Allerg- Stop products I have started to promote mattress cleaning more.

[allergease]

Answers to your questions

I use vacuum, UV light and sanitising spray. Also have dry steam if required.
No I don't clean carpets, I can remove dust mites etc from carpets but the equipment I use won't remove any stains etc. unless I use the dry steam, and that's very time consuming.
Not a franchise.
Why did I decide to get into this ... I'm a single father with a five year old and needed to find something that I could do which would allow me some flexibility regarding working hours.

Cheers,
Conrad

[ianharper]

Hi Guys

Speak to Richard at http://www.comfortsector.co.uk/ he is the expert.

Respect

Ian Harper

[Doug Holloway]

Hi Guys,

Mattresses are a niche within a niche.

Possible to sell to certain people if they are already pleased with your carpet/upholstery cleaning but as a stand alone not much chance.

Conrad,

It would be perfectly possible to clean carpets etc as a single dad.

Good luck,

Doug

[Martin S]

Speak to Richard at http://www.comfortsector.co.uk/ he is the expert.

Nice Website  Richard.  Appealing to the ladies methinks 

[garyj]

When you think of the millions of homes and therefore millions of mattresses in the UK you would think this would be a HUGE market. In the past there have been a few mentions on mattress cleaning but nobody seems to be making any money out of it and all seem to struggle to get customers.

I think this could be because unlike general cleaning and carpet cleaning, mattressess are 'out of sight and out of mind', and as long as you have clean bed linen etc then we perceive we have a clean bed!

If I was tackling this sector of the market I would go with a heading on my leaflets that reflects this like the one I have already written " Out Of Sight, Out Of Mind" with a picture of a clean bed asking what lurks beneath?

Sorry to hear you're having a struggle at the moment, but with all the thousands of leaflets you have distributed you should have had a few calls, some of the people on here have reported that they have increased sales by using a certain product but at the end of the day it is ALL down to getting the marketing right. Is there any chance you can post your leaflet on here or send it to me by email so I ( or we ) can pull it apart and see if we can come up with any ideas or let you know where you have possibly gone wrong.

PS, Just back from holiday, missed this forum ( believe it or not ), bright eyed, bushy tailed & raring to go, and at the moment in a really good mood!!!!  

[allergease]

Thanks for the offer of advice on the flyer Gary, I tried to post it here but it wouldn't display so I've E-mailed you a scan of it.
Conrad

[poles apart]

Conrad
Try doctor's surgeries. Speak to the practice manager and tell them the benefits for asthma suferers. They may let you display your leaflets.
Rod

[garyj]

The leaflets are very good, and to be honest much better than I could do!!!

Next step then....... have you tried targeting different housing areas and villages?

[allergease]

Gary,
I live in a city with about 120,000 houses so I'm sure there must be more than enough people there who need my service. I have thought about smaller villages for flyer drops but thought I would see what response I get from my own backyard first.
I think I'm just going through a "lack of confidence" phase at the moment. I am confident that the sevice I offer is of a very high standard, I am polite and courteous and not that ugly that I'd scare clients off when I meet them face to face. I haven't got much experience in actual sales but am reading books etc to improve that side of things it's just getting the initial response that's lacking.
My local newsagent has allowed me to put fliers in the local daily paper tomorrow and they will be delivered free of charge. I'm then going to visit a few doctors surgeries to see if they will allow me to put my flyers in there. (my local surgery does not allow private enterprises to advertise unfortunately).
It looks like I'm going to have to knock on a few doors soon. This is something that I probably won't enjoy until I'm more experienced but if I want to suceed it's probably something I'm going to have to do.
I'm also thinking of writing a press release and see if the local paper would print it as this business is unique in my area so there might be some public interest.

I suppose the problem that I have is something that many start up businesses experience and it's easy to feel sorry for myself and sit round the house worrying all day instead of going out and chasing up work.
I'll let you all know when I get my first paying customer.

Conrad

[Fintan_Coll]

You will get your first paying customer. Mattresses do have to be cleaned and mattresses are being cleaned every day by someone somewhere. Maybe you should knock on a few doors, I knocked on doors myself when I began my carpet cleaning business.

[allergease]

Thanks for the encouraging words. It looks like door knocking is the way to go, it's free aswell
Conrad

[Ian Gourlay]

I dont know about the rest of you but our mattress only lasts about three years.

Conrad,

Look out for a good CC machine put the two together then you will have somthing to sell when you Door Knock.

[mark_lane]

Hi allergease 'your set up sounds impressive,have you tried offering a free demo in hotels?