Clean It Up
UK Floor Cleaning Forum => Carpet Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: tim handley on November 16, 2015, 08:01:48 pm
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folks, as a marketing tool, how highly do you rate giving away free spotters?????
i know you can sell them as well, but purely as a giveaway....do they work????
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Giving them to who?
I think you need to do the maths, say they cost a £1 each and you give away a 100 then you've spent £100 could you spend that £100 and get more response .
I bet spending £100 on Adwords would bring in more work than giving away spotters.
If you give them to existing customers so they act as a reminder then I think you could still find a cheaper method
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yes
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Mike is completely missing the point. Not everything is about return on investment, but even if it is in this case then it is a bloody good investment in my view.
1. People like two things, gratitude and something for free. So if you give a customer a bottle of spotter saying, 'here's a free bottle of spotter just to say thank you for your business,' you've achieved both in one sentence.
2. The labelled spotter serves as a reminder of who it was who last cleaned their carpets. It doesn't necessary matter how good a job you do, people don't always remember who you are.
3. Customers seem to love these spotters and often comment on how good it was, again reminding them of you.
4. Every time they use it and it does what it says on the label, they think of you.
The whole idea is to keep the customer's you've got and this technique is very handy tool in achieving that.
Need I go on?
Simon
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no simon you need not go on............... but if you do i will read every word!!!!!!!!!!!
ive yet to try free spotters to be left with clients but think i shall give them a go.....
thanks for all replies, helpfull as always!
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most look cheap and amateurish compared to chem-drys , and if they just contain watery microsplitter ,
then they are cheap and useless . :D
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Simon
I second that, I give away a bottle of spotter to all my new customers and offer them free refills for life
Stuart
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I have been giving away free spotters for over 7 years and I always advertise when you have something cleaned you get a free spotter. I have many clients phone up and say can they have another 1 or can they buy some from there friends I know they are a good marketing tool just last week I got a job off of 1 as the
lady had run out and thought it was time she had her carpets cleaned again. think of it every time she or
he has a accident your company is right in front of her or him so who will they call you no one else. the spotters I get look just as good as our specialist ones try it you wont be disappointed and as said on previous post people like to receive a gift just like we do happy free spotter giveways
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No Simon I did't miss the point he asked about using spotters as marketing tools, they are a terrible marketing tool thier return on investment is rubbish .
Do they serve other purposes such as showing gratitude or acting as a reminder yes they do that but Tim asked about using them for marketing and for that they give the lowest return for your money.
If he Had asked about customer retention then that would have been different.
Alltec a few years ago tried to push the spotter bottle as way to gain new customers, but it did'nt take off they are too exspensive
Spotter bottles are great, I give them away....... but they are not an effective marketing tool
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Everything....everything we do as professional carpet cleaners is marketing. It starts with the adverts we place, to the way we are in the phone, or during a quote, to carrying out the cleaning, delivering on your promises, to handing the customer a free bottle of spotter at the end of the job and right up to saying goodbye - is marketing.
In the beginning we are marketing for their custom and once we have that, everything else we do is about marketing for their loyalty and for them to be so pleased with every aspect of your service that they are happy to not only use you again, but recommend us to friends, family and colleagues. The marketing machine never stops - ever!!!!
So in my view , if part of that marketing machine has a unit cost of £1 or £2, so what? It is not the individual unit that matters, it is the totality of our entire approach to customer service and quality that is the marketing machine. - that is what matters.
Simon
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Everything....everything we do as professional carpet cleaners is marketing. It starts with the adverts we place, to the way we are in the phone, or during a quote, to carrying out the cleaning, delivering on your promises, to handing the customer a free bottle of spotter at the end of the job and right up to saying goodbye - is marketing.
In the beginning we are marketing for their custom and once we have that, everything else we do is about marketing for their loyalty and for them to be so pleased with every aspect of your service that they are happy to not only use you again, but recommend us to friends, family and colleagues. The marketing machine never stops - ever!!!!
So in my view , if part of that marketing machine has a unit cost of £1 or £2, so what? It is not the individual unit that matters, it is the totality of our entire approach to customer service and quality that is the marketing machine. - that is what matters.
Simon
You are spot on there Simon.
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Everything we do is not marketing, to say so is too wishy- washy, it's like saying everything we do is about customers care.... or everything we do is about company evolvement..... or everything we do is about sustainability, it's just a generic statement which has no substance
marketing has a specific definition and role with specific end result. My answer on spotters is based on them purely as a marketing tool (as asked by Tim)not as a small cog in a bigger machine, if he had asked "what do you think of spotters" my answer would have been completely different.
I have tried using spotter as a marketing tool, I bought 200 from Nick and I think a100 unbelievable spotters from DF ( I think) I walked into nursing homes, hotels etc and handed them out trying to gain work, I stopped doing it as it did work but not well enough to keep up the effort.
Use spotters as an over all part of your marketing & business strategy, but don't consider them to be an cost/ controllable/ effective marketing tool
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I give free spotters away and have done for about 20 years as an investment it's mediocre the best thing is that you can retain customers although I have a few stories about customers want to get free spotter to clean their own items or when you are really busy customers want a refill. It's part of the marketing mix.
Shaun
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In essence marketing is about strategies, making a play, a pitch, which lives and breathes in the minds of people you encounter, either through your advertising or seeing your van in the street, or through having used your services.
In the first instance they go to your website, or see your advert in yp and through what those adverts say pre-warms them to potentially using your services. Then they ring you for a quote and because part of your marketing strategy is to ensure that right from first contact customer service is going to be at the top of your agenda, the prospective customer has gone from being merely warm to red hot and WANT to use your services. If you've quoted over the phone then they have never met you until you knock on the door, so now it is personal. Again because of your underlying strategy of delivering a great carpet cleaning experience you are pleasant, dressed in a uniform and are respectful of their home. You are also mindful of the fact that all this person has bought through having booked you is a promise, the promise of a quality job. So once again having thought this through you deliver on that promise and cap it off by giving them something free, just as a thank you.
The ultimate of your overall strategy is to keep this customer and because everything you do has been focused on this one outcome, the customer is not only satisfied with your service, but now considers you, ‘their,’ carpet cleaner and is more than happy to not only use you again, but to recommend you to others, all of which brings you jobs that have no advertising cost, which is where the big profits are in carpet cleaning. And if you manage to achieve that then you have not only won over their minds, but their hearts too and that is absolute gold dust to any business.
Throughout this entire process you are manipulating the customers mind which is what in essence any marketing strategy is designed to do. To not understand this concept undermines any notion of business building.
Simon
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Of course it's marketing, it's part of your marketing mix as has already been pointed out.
£1 for a spotter and give out 200, can I ask anyone but especially Mike did you get just one new job, referral or additional work from those that you gave out.
I know its a broader question than the original but its important that we don't lose sight of that fact that everyday we are marketing and selling,every day.
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The Fire & Flood company I used to subby for decided they would add carpet and upholstery cleaning to their repetoire. We weren't happy about it but had to attend some training days. On one of these we covered marketing. There was a guy there, I can't remember who he was, told us a story about how he first started. He obtained a startup grant from the government but in return had to attend a business startup course. I did the same in fact and it was very worthwhile. Anyway as part of his course he had to do market research. This stumped him so he asked his trainer who said "well how many people get their carpets cleaned?" he said how do I do that and the trainer said "bloody ask them". Anyway it ended up this guy standing outside a supermarket asking people if they'd ever had their carpets cleaned. Can't remember the percentage who said they had but what did stick in my mind is of the ones who had, over 80% couldn't name the company who'd last done them.
This brought it home to me why it was important to market to existing customers but also to make sure they had some information about you which was easy to have at hand. Business cards, leaflets etc tend to get mislaid. Some people use fridge magnets and others in the past have put stickers on the customers vacuum cleaner. In my view (because I sell them ;)) spotters are the best option. Firstly as Simon says, customers love to receive something for nothing and it is actually a good spotter, ours are anyway despite being p issy microsplitter. We get lots of very good feedback.
What we also find is a lot of them are self financing as our customers tend to give half away and sell the rest.
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Of course it's marketing, it's part of your marketing mix as has already been pointed out.
£1 for a spotter and give out 200, can I ask anyone but especially Mike did you get just one new job, referral or additional work from those that you gave out.
I know its a broader question than the original but its important that we don't lose sight of that fact that everyday we are marketing and selling,every day.
Yes, I can't remember the exact number but I did get some work from handing them out, but if I had walked in with nothing I bet I would have still got the same work, the spotters just gave me an introduction and reason for walking in the door..... "Hi! I just wanted to poke my nose in and give you a free bottle of stain remover "
I've done lots of free gift introductions some may remember a couple of years ago me posting about handing out free cans of de-icer or the free newspapers or the free ice scrapers, it's a tested marketing concept but I'm not daft I always do the maths and work out if it's cost effective. Spotters are not cost effective, they cost too much money, why spend £100 to get £500 if I can spend the same £100 and get a £1000.
If you want your name to stay in your customers minds then put a sticker inside the airing cupboard door, or like some do on the Hoover, or ask for thier address book and stick it in page 'C' for carpet cleaner. stickers cost £50 a 1000, tell them...." that's my number, anytime you need me just call"
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Just for reference you can buy 10,000 of these stickers for £105 (full colour)you could stick them everywhere, in their address book, on the Hoover, back of pantry door, etc...etc
( of course you would put your details on the sticker ;) )
(http://www.cleanitup.co.uk/smf/1447770450_image.jpg)
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Personally if someone stuck a sticker in my house I'd hit the roof. Of course you would ask first and if agreed that would be ok but to not ask and just do it, no way.
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We hand out nice quality pens to our custys, they love them. Has our company name, website and tel number. Works a treat! Spotters, pens, calendars, etc all work in marketing.
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Of course it's marketing, it's part of your marketing mix as has already been pointed out.
£1 for a spotter and give out 200, can I ask anyone but especially Mike did you get just one new job, referral or additional work from those that you gave out.
I know its a broader question than the original but its important that we don't lose sight of that fact that everyday we are marketing and selling,every day.
Yes, I can't remember the exact number but I did get some work from handing them out, but if I had walked in with nothing I bet I would have still got the same work, the spotters just gave me an introduction and reason for walking in the door..... "Hi! I just wanted to poke my nose in and give you a free bottle of stain remover "
I've done lots of free gift introductions some may remember a couple of years ago me posting about handing out free cans of de-icer or the free newspapers or the free ice scrapers, it's a tested marketing concept but I'm not daft I always do the maths and work out if it's cost effective. Spotters are not cost effective, they cost too much money, why spend £100 to get £500 if I can spend the same £100 and get a £1000.
If you want your name to stay in your customers minds then put a sticker inside the airing cupboard door, or like some do on the Hoover, or ask for thier address book and stick it in page 'C' for carpet cleaner. stickers cost £50 a 1000, tell them...." that's my number, anytime you need me just call"
If I were actively looking for work, which I haven't need to do for donkeys years, I wouldn't use a spotter as an introduction, instead why not use a technique I call, 'show - don't tell.' So instead of telling people what you can do for them - show them.!! You can do this with a small spotting machine if you're into hwse and a minitex or a battery grinder type thing with a pad on it if you're into encap. That way they see what their carpets will look like when done, which far more effective than merely telling them. Only takes a few minutes and costs you nothing.
The difference between stickers and spotters is that stickers don't take stains off carpets and so a sticker is far less of a benefit to a customer.
I can't remember how many customers have commented on how good the spotter we left them was, which means they use them, gain a benefit from them and get reminded about us every time they use them.
Simon
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Just had this email in last night, we give away free spotters on all larger jobs:
Hi Ian
You cleaned our carpets in our 2 holiday homes in E***** back in February. I was hoping they'd last until next February but I think some of them will need doing before then.
It's S** D**** that needs doing, that's the house just next to C*****l. At this stage it's mainly the lounge and 2 bedroom carpets that need doing. They are all downstairs. The lounge is quite big but the 2 bedrooms are just normal size. How much would we be looking at for these 3 rooms please?
Dates-wise, the house is empty from 10am on Monday 30th November until Friday 4th if that's any good. Alternatively it's empty from Monday 7th December.
We could also do with some more of that magic stain remover, it's brilliant!
Many thanks in advance
Andrea
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Yes indeed marketing works.
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We could also do with some more of that magic stain remover, it's brilliant!
See John Martin our p issy Microsplitter does work ;D
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giving away spotters is also getting the client involved in looking after her/his furnishings with out the
free spotters we give away they will turn to household products that will ruin there furnishing they will
then replace rather than reclean all of a sudden giving away a spotter for 1-2 pounds potentionaly loses
us a client and possible a days of cleaning no brainer can you really afford not to give a free spotter?
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Can you simply do your own spotters using any microsplitter like spm, pure clean etc?
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giving away spotters is also getting the client involved in looking after her/his furnishings with out the
free spotters we give away they will turn to household products that will ruin there furnishing they will
then replace rather than reclean all of a sudden giving away a spotter for 1-2 pounds potentionaly loses
us a client and possible a days of cleaning no brainer can you really afford not to give a free spotter?
Not sure of your point, Scott?
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giving away spotters is also getting the client involved in looking after her/his furnishings with out the
free spotters we give away they will turn to household products that will ruin there furnishing they will
then replace rather than reclean all of a sudden .......NOT......giving away a spotter for 1-2 pounds potentionaly loses
us a client and possible a days of cleaning no brainer can you really afford not to give a free spotter?
Not sure of your point, Scott?
I believe He missed out the word 'not' ( as highlighted in bold) now it makes more sense in context to the rest of his post
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Can you simply do your own spotters using any microsplitter like spm, pure clean etc?
Yes , mix up your microsplitter , order 500ml spray bottles, I pay 67pence and buy 200 at a time, labels are printed by my signwriter ,under a pound each including labour to fill them.
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Can you simply do your own spotters using any microsplitter like spm, pure clean etc?
Yes , mix up your microsplitter , order 500ml spray bottles, I pay 67pence and buy 200 at a time, labels are printed by my signwriter ,under a pound each including labour to fill them.
Cheers
Will do that.
Mpower is much much better as a spotter, but mirosplitter as a free spotter is good enough.
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This is true . I wouldn't give anyone a 'spotter" without a chance they could use it to remove an oily footprint for example. Dilute Microsplitter is basically just softened water .
Something like citrus pre spray would be a propper spotter.
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This is true . I wouldn't give anyone a 'spotter" without a chance they could use it to remove an oily footprint for example. Dilute Microsplitter is basically just softened water .
Something like citrus pre spray would be a propper spotter.
John,
Disagree with you on that one.
I've lost count of how many customers have said the free spotter we give them is brilliant. Lots of them ring up wanting refills, which we also provide for free!!!
Simon
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thanks mike for adding word in ,was in a rush this morning just wanted to post before leaving hope it
makes sense now .I was cleaning a tattooist carpet today he had ink on his carpet at the end of the job
I gave him a free spotter he was over the moon with this and said how nice it was , he also mentioned
when he tattoos someone he gives them a small jar of cream for there skin he has also booked us to
now clean his large through lounge happy days . also we have saved him from claiming for a new carpet.
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This is true . I wouldn't give anyone a 'spotter" without a chance they could use it to remove an oily footprint for example. Dilute Microsplitter is basically just softened water .
Something like citrus pre spray would be a propper spotter.
John,
Disagree with you on that one.
I've lost count of how many customers have said the free spotter we give them is brilliant. Lots of them ring up wanting refills, which we also provide for free!!!
Simon
They must just want a chat .. couldn't be the spotter ;D
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Well then its mission accomplished because at least they rung me, I wonder where they got the number from? ;D ;D
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Can you simply do your own spotters using any microsplitter like spm, pure clean etc?
Yes , mix up your microsplitter , order 500ml spray bottles, I pay 67pence and buy 200 at a time, labels are printed by my signwriter ,under a pound each including labour to fill them.
Btw, not much cheaper then when your buying it from supplier, reasd spotters.
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I haven't read all the posts on here but by giving spotters out will this not mean carpets being cleaned less often?
I do lots of jobs that have relatively clean carpets with just an odd spot here and there.
Just thinking that if I'd given out spotters I'd not be called back as often ??? ???
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Can you simply do your own spotters using any microsplitter like spm, pure clean etc?
Yes , mix up your microsplitter , order 500ml spray bottles, I pay 67pence and buy 200 at a time, labels are printed by my signwriter ,under a pound each including labour to fill them.
Cheers
Will do that.
Mpower is much much better as a spotter, but mirosplitter as a free spotter is good enough.
Hi Radek, yes i would agree spotters based on colloidal chemistry would be more effective, just imagine how many 250ml ready to use spray bottles you could produce from a 5 liter concentrate of mpower, giving one out to new customers would yield a great return and bet would guarantee plenty of new clients for you in the future. Tadgh
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You could water down any surfactant Tadgh and call it effective , who came up with whatever random dilution rate is chosen for the plant detergent , can u name him , is he an expert on carpet cleaning .
*awaits vague reply about the new technology , metabolic chemistry and the universe .
Why dont you push your own m-power to the carpet cleaners here Tadgh , u have the concentrate , have u some agreement with your friend Nick not to step on his toes .
and why am i even asking like i care :D
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You could water down any surfactant Tadgh and call it effective , who came up with whatever random dilution rate is chosen for the plant detergent , can u name him , is he an expert on carpet cleaning .
*awaits vague reply about the new technology , metabolic chemistry and the universe .
Why dont you push your own m-power to the carpet cleaners here Tadgh , u have the concentrate , have u some agreement with your friend Nick not to step on his toes .
and why am i even asking like i care :D
John if you don't care then why are you asking.
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even vaguer that i anticipated :o
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I haven't read all the posts on here but by giving spotters out will this not mean carpets being cleaned less often?
I do lots of jobs that have relatively clean carpets with just an odd spot here and there.
Just thinking that if I'd given out spotters I'd not be called back as often ??? ???
Are you often called to the spotting jobs only? I am not, could count them on my fingers, per year.
Imagine, customer spiled something, cleaned it with your spotter and realized that surrounding the stain carpet is dirty, will not use the spotter on the full carpet will call you.
The true is that not many stains they will remove without extraction, they need you.
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Can you simply do your own spotters using any microsplitter like spm, pure clean etc?
Yes , mix up your microsplitter , order 500ml spray bottles, I pay 67pence and buy 200 at a time, labels are printed by my signwriter ,under a pound each including labour to fill them.
Cheers
Will do that.
Mpower is much much better as a spotter, but mirosplitter as a free spotter is good enough.
Hi Radek, yes i would agree spotters based on colloidal chemistry would be more effective, just imagine how many 250ml ready to use spray bottles you could produce from a 5 liter concentrate of mpower, giving one out to new customers would yield a great return and bet would guarantee plenty of new clients for you in the future. Tadgh
Ha, how will I now whats dilition rates.
Nick sells Mpower spotter and mpower carpet cleaner. I like the first one but totally dislike diluted 1:100 mpower carpet cleaner. Probably same stuff, and probably carpet cleaner is a concentrate. Diluted too much for carpets is a poo, not much diluted will be too expensive probably.
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Can you simply do your own spotters using any microsplitter like spm, pure clean etc?
Yes , mix up your microsplitter , order 500ml spray bottles, I pay 67pence and buy 200 at a time, labels are printed by my signwriter ,under a pound each including labour to fill them.
Cheers
Will do that.
Mpower is much much better as a spotter, but mirosplitter as a free spotter is good enough.
Hi Radek, yes i would agree spotters based on colloidal chemistry would be more effective, just imagine how many 250ml ready to use spray bottles you could produce from a 5 liter concentrate of mpower, giving one out to new customers would yield a great return and bet would guarantee plenty of new clients for you in the future. Tadgh
Ha, how will I now whats dilition rates.
Nick sells Mpower spotter and mpower carpet cleaner. I like the first one but totally dislike diluted 1:100 mpower carpet cleaner. Probably same stuff, and probably carpet cleaner is a concentrate. Diluted too much for carpets is a poo, not much diluted will be too expensive probably.
Hi Radek, Mpower concentrate is diluted 120-1 as a ready to use cleaning solution, so if you were diluting it say 20-1 as a ready to use spot and stain remover, 5 liters at 20-1 would produce 105 liters which would produce 420 x 250ml trigger spray bottles of spot and stain remover which would make them very cost effective as you could write off the cost of them as part of your marketing budget. Tadgh
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Will make a bottle like that and will try.
For me, geting stickers and botles from poland would not exceed about 60-70cents each spotter.
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The product in spotters has little bearing on the price it is actually the time producing them which makes up the bulk of the cost. We actually put the labels on as well not just supply them in sheets.
When giving free chemicals away you also have to consider what liability you are opening yourself up too. By giving away a Microsplitter, which works, there is very little risk imparted by you because if a child was to get their hands on it and drink it it would do them no harm.
If you were to leave them a harsher chemical containing solvents lets say, then the the consequences could be a lot worse. You would also have to be covered under your liability insurance to supply chemicals which isn't standard and needs to be added to your policy.
Then we had the clown a few years back who left their customer some Champion in a Coke bottle. Her 4 year old son drank it and was seriously ill.
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Have to agree what a waste of time making up your own when you can buy them already prepared and at very little cost.
Crazy!
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Hilton. It depends how much your own gonna cost. If I do it myself then it would be 4 times cheaper with nicer stickers :)
The price Jason pays makes not much saving.
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folks, as a marketing tool, how highly do you rate giving away free spotters?????
i know you can sell them as well, but purely as a giveaway....do they work????
I think it is a very good idea. Where would you get them at that price?. I'm based in Lancashire and if you don't mind telling me I would appreciate it.
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great point john ,why wouldnt you just not buy the spotters ready made it would take ages to do them yourself.
and as john said you are putting your company at risk leave it to the companies that specialise in these
products. after all you should be making enough money cleaning to budget for these extras
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sorry clayton many companies supply these spotters just choose a local 1 neariest to you just
make sure there safe we use eco spotters
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sorry clayton many companies supply these spotters just choose a local 1 neariest to you just
make sure there safe we use eco spotters
Cheers I've looked locally and they all seem to be expensive. We also give a4 calendars out with our details taking half the page and they love them. When we go back it is always hung up with pride lol. We use fair print on eBay which is really cheap.
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Have to agree what a waste of time making up your own when you can buy them already prepared and at very little cost.
Crazy!
So I pay 80 pence including labour to make my own , vs £1.89 plus vat to buy them in, not at all crazy, just prudent and sensible, powdered microsplitter has no risk were a customer to ingest it , 1001 etc are far more likely to harm people , they do not hold insurance, customers are responsible.
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Oh sorry Jason, my misunderstanding, I though you pay under a pound just for one sticker :)
Yes, thats worth a play.
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I agree with Wayne why would give people spotters, isn't that our job to clean their carpets
by all means leave them a pen, fridge magnet etc
They shouldn't need reminding how good you are if you done a great job in the first place
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nobody looks at pens they just go on the side useful I agree but not as useful as a spotter there is more client value in
giving them something that reminds them of you. can you remember someone from 2 years ago ? the spotter works
brilliant as my clients always comment, when it runs out they phone up and either book a job or want to buy a spotter
win win win
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nobody looks at pens they just go on the side useful I agree but not as useful as a spotter there is more client value in
giving them something that reminds them of you. can you remember someone from 2 years ago ? the spotter works
brilliant as my clients always comment, when it runs out they phone up and either book a job or want to buy a spotter
win win win
Totally agree Scott, i have been giving bottles of spot and stain remover for years to clients who have come back with amazing stories on all sorts of problems our little bottle has sorted out for them.
The return on investment i honestly could not calculate but i know it has been tremendous since we started this many years ago now. Tadgh
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I leave all my customers a 1ltr bottle of unbelievable they cost me just under £4 each I put a sticker on bottle with all my details on. I tell them to bin all of the shelf harsh chems and explain problems they can make using them they love it and always say what do I owe you for this I say nothing it's a thankyou from me to you and also to stop you using crap etc.
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I leave all my customers a 1ltr bottle of unbelievable they cost me just under £4 each I put a sticker on bottle with all my details on. I tell them to bin all of the shelf harsh chems and explain problems they can make using them they love it and always say what do I owe you for this I say nothing it's a thankyou from me to you and also to stop you using crap etc.
' unbelievable ' ? is that M-power or microsplitter
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Here it is.....
http://www.cleanerswarehouse.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=1120
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Thanks :) it was more an effort at humor
The data sheet dosnt tell all , but solvent and surfactant and a couple of things . Im sure its well capable of spotting all right .
Australians and they're odd names for things ... there is also ' sensation' and ' trusty '
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I leave all my customers a 1ltr bottle of unbelievable they cost me just under £4 each I put a sticker on bottle with all my details on. I tell them to bin all of the shelf harsh chems and explain problems they can make using them they love it and always say what do I owe you for this I say nothing it's a thankyou from me to you and also to stop you using crap etc.
£4 a bottle :o oh my god you will some here chocking on their Cocoa Pops this morning when they read that....
You mean you pay as much as £4 to get or keep a customer, quite shocking, how on earth do you survive. ;)
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its quite a mixed opinion on here about giving away free spotters . they say on average it will cost approx. give or take £50
to get a new client so is it not worth an extra £1 to £4 to keep that client using your services I don't know about others but
where I am people love them and cant get enough of them also tell there friends about them we get so much referral work
from them so look at the bigger picture don't be tight as you are probably throwing money away not giving out these gifts.
happy cleaning
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Who's spending £50 to get a customer?
I can see that giving away spotters gives people a nice, warm fuzzy feeling inside, but as for actual return on the cost I can't see any evidence they are an effective marketing tool, customers love them, they are a nice give away, but this doesn't make them cost effective marking.
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I don't think that's a surprising statement from yourself Mike, if you can not see any return or benefits then you are not doing your numbers, which I think you admit you don't do any way, so that explains why you do not see any evidence....... BUT it's there.
A very large if not a majority will be spending more that £50 to get a customer, I think that a low figure.
By the way if every customer feels warm and fuzzy you are over half way there. ;)
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Hands up anyone spending £50 to get a customer........ ::)roll ::)roll
But your are exactly wrong, I am doing my numbers that why I can see the bad return on spotters
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I have got both arms in the air.. ;D
You have mentioned on here before you are not very good at your numbers but that's fine I take your word for it.
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50 per customer? Jesus, someone likes to buy a nice holiday to his marketer :)
50 would be correct (even more) in stone restoration.
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Can someone tell me the formula for working out how much a new customer is costing me?
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It's not just customer acquisition cost it's also life time value, this is where so many get it wrong..
The actual basic calculation is.....
Total campaign or marketing costs divided by total customers acquired in a specific period.
3 months 6months 12 months what ever.
You have to include ALL costs when working out total costs and remember NOT to include retention costs which are separate.
You then need to work out life time value which is very important.
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For example ,in November
I spend £700 putting out leaflets, that's total cost, production,delivery and administration I get the industry average of 1% return that's 7 acquisitions so therefore it has cost me £100 to acquire each customer.
So what now would be the life time value of each customer?
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Gave up on sending out leaflets many years ago now as above always found it to be a very poor return on the marketing budget, have been giving out bottles of soil and stain remover for years and the return on investment has been tremendous, high retention of clients and plenty of referrals, can genuinely say its been a wonderful marketing tool for us.
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I have used leaflets in the example because so many use them but it applies to all your marketing tools.
Local press, mags, spotters etc, where ever you have been marketing.
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Not trying to knock leaflets but its fair to say a very high percentage of them end up in the bin, one of the reasons we gave up on them, its said that you can talk about a product all you want and a person might try it, but if you demonstrate they will probably buy into it, giving a quick demo on a bottle of soil and stain remover and a quick explanation of its many uses does leave a long lasting impression and yields to a great return.
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Leaflets work only for restaurants. :)
Never seen any professional leaflet from carpet cleaners in my door, just some cheap home printed ones.
Too much hassle with leaflets.
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Clearly they do work as some on here have built successful business's using them, albeit as part of the mix
It seems a no brainer to me that you would use spotters as part of the touchy feely part of your business along with Calenders (very important this time of year) and good quality calenders at that.
What better right now to give your customers a decent spotter plus an excellent calender with your business name and number on every page of the month that remains right in front of your customer for a full 12 months,
If its a crap calender it will be binned,ignored or put in a draw, make it a full size bright coloured with good content that people want to look at every day and mark with important dates, including their next clean.Any time any acquaintance,member of the family ,business contact anyone, mentions carpet cleaning they will have the opportunity to refer you to them as your name has been drilled into them month after month.....
Oh but the cost !!!!!!! ;D
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Can someone tell me the formula for working out how much a new customer is costing me?
Pie squared with chips and gravy, simple ;D
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and mint sauce....???
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Ya for def, a little bit of magic in a bottle can and will generate a great return on investment, marketing is all about working smart not hard.
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got 50 nice looking spotters coming today, ill let you know how they work for me.................