Clean It Up
UK Floor Cleaning Forum => Carpet Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Shaun_Ashmore on February 25, 2007, 07:34:46 pm
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advertise?
I often have an idle mind on a Sunday so I was thinking of maybe advertising in other areas, how far afield do you advertise?
Advertise on a regular basis ie 20 or 30 miles away??
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We cover all of Northumberland and into the Scottish Borders, in reality probably up to 50 miles north into the Borders, 30 miles south to Newcastle and 30-40 miles west into the back of beyond!!!
Wish I lived in a high population area where I only needed to cover a couple of miles radius!
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That must tuck right into your cleaning time?
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20 miles is the limit of my advertising, but most of it is in a 10 mile radius.
Dave
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uptil 2yrs ago I tried to only cover Beverley which has a radius of about 2mls. Now I've moved to a village 4 miles outside of Beverley I travel into Beverley and 2 miles in the opposite direction into hull.
I'm in the new Y/P which unfortunetly cover an area 20mls away so I've arranged to pass work to a C/C in the next town.
I have 50-60,000 homes within 5miles of my home, why do I need to travel any further?
Mike
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Although Sheffield is a highly populated area there are 2 reasons why I ask this question
1. I have regular customers that have moved out of my area and I still service them providing they are not just having 1 carpet cleaned.
2. Not everyone wants to pay my price so would I be better casting my net a little further?
Obviously with a higher volume of calls I could be even more selective of my jobs,
or I could do what Mike does and just concentrate all my efforts into 1 area.
Shaun
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shaun, its Ok to work 20 miles away, but do you really want to do a 40ml round trip to quote a job you might not get :-\ :-\
I'll do a relative or recommend up to 20miles, but I'll never to go quote that far
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and if its 20 miles away they have to pay more
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Most of my quotes are done on the phone but I still don't want to do a job 20-30 miles away for £100.
You have single handedly answer my question, thankyou.
Shaun
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personally
i will go to the work wether its 20/30 or even 40 miles way
but i inform the custy of charges(travel time/ congestion charge/parking) all get added to the bill.........
most of my custys accept that and pay!!!!!!!
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Shaun, Ron Mayers used to recommend that if the job was quite a distance away you should book an appointment to quote, then if they agree do the job there & then.
I do this on jobs that have been recommended to me and are far away. most see the sense in it.
if anyone does work miles from home they should ring up existing customers in the same area and tell them you're working in their town/village/area and ask if they need any stains dealing with. (this is a very nonthreatening way of getting work)
Mike
PS; spindle for me to do a 80mile round trip would take 1hr 15 mins so if they are happy to have an extra £80-90 on the bill fine :)
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I have just done a job in Portsmouth, and bought a small cc biz in London, which I will travel to every couple of weeks, I am in Sheffield 3 hours away, its about profit fo me, not distance. I alsociver selct homes in Manchester,50 miles away
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Jason are you still working on the job or is it done by technicians?
Mike
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A bit of both , depends on the job and what else I am doing, there is no set way.
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around 15 miles is my most, cant believe some do 50 :o
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Shaun
Why not spend a little time on a newsletter to past clients, either for referrals ( with a carrot ) or just to remind them of your wonderfull service.
rob
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i only travel 15 miles most jobs are within 5 miles though
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Shaun
You have hit a very important issue. demographics as you say you live in a city and not all the population are the right demographic for your services.
Its importance to make your marketing budget go as far as you can, and being all things to all people can water down your message, and waste money.
The trick here is to be a big fish in a little pond. spending your money where it will give you the best return. mapping out the city selecting what areas you feel will match your customer profile.
I have some information that jim wolverton (pink leaflet fame) had in his info pack about profiling. i review it on my blog some time this week when i get a chance to look it up.
Mike's point on quoting is valid. I have an answer to this. fast track guys use a call centre service that i have use as well and is very personal sounding to your prospects. charges works on a per call basis. if you are thinking of going out off the city then using a 0800 number linked to this services would cut out the need to quote.
The guy that set this service had a carpet cleaning franchise and knows how to get his staff to quote over the phone. so its not like they don't know about carpet cleaning. two benefits here are first the 0800 number will let you track response as you get a statement each month. if you only use one number for this idea you will be able to see if it's worth the trouble.
second is that they can run a online diary that can be linked to your PDA.
they can if you want text you with the numbers so you can call back yourself.
sending out consumers guides and say an information DVD will impress an od these prospects. you would have to hide the distance issue from prospects as they will discriminate with regards this.
Or just set aside say one or two days a week where you work and quote only in this area.
hope this helps
good luck
Ian harper
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Hi Guys
Since I have become internet based I am travelling much further sometimes into Kent and Suffolk, but only if the price is right.
It's a fine balance and I will probably sub contract the more distant work .
Cheers
Doug
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I cover the whole of the north east including Northumberland.Also cover North Yorkshire if the price is right.
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me too! :D and cumbria, and even been know to clean in Norway.
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Whitby and surrounding area - 10- 15 miles keeps me going.
Mike
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The important thin about advertising is to monitor where your leads come from. Any one can spend mint on advertising and fill their diary - the trick is to spend less and still keep your diary full.
I only get about 10% of my work from my nearest town, but get probably 40% from a town that is a 35 minutes drive away. It's also good quality work an therefore well worth it.
As a result, I advertise very little locally (but get work by recommendation) and spend a little more in the town furthest away.
I spend around £120 per month on advertising in total - no y/p, no phone book, no Thompson's.
Sorry to rant on at my first posting. ;D
Elfyn
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I have customers who are around seventy miles from me, and as I operate in a very rural County I never really give it a second thought. Some days I only travel a few hundred yards, other days I could find myself in Dungloe about thirty miles away. The nearest big town to me is Letterkenny, about twenty three miles away where I do a lot of business.
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Hi there Finton
the same here living in the sticks.
though most of my work is with in 20 miles say about 60% i wll
travel a far bit sometimes as well ie 45 miles to Belfast.
but to be honest i dont really mind as when i go to Belfast its generaly a good days work for me. Just have to get up an hour or so earilyier in the morning.
Another thing to remenber is in some parts of the country 45 miles can be very time consuming, depends on how much of it is city driving
for me its about an 50 min drive for some it may well be an 2 hour drive
or more.
Davy
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I choose to live in the countryside with a 23 mile view, so most of my patch is a 6-8 mile run before I get to the town. I cover a large area and yesterday went 35 miles to a well paying job only to have the machine virtually explode on switch on. Both vacs and I suspect the pump as well. I am waiting now for a delivery of the replacements. Last thing I want as its a busy week at last.
Trevor
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Mike has it best I think to work as local as you can. Having said that I work all over the place. I cover the whole of the British Isles and also have a few clients in mainland Europe. I still have clients I service back in California and I am at present having talks with a client in Austria so I may indeed be cleaning there too. I am not saying that traveling too far away is the way to go but if I stayed local then I would be cleaning the same type of houses as most people do. As you should know by now I m not prepared to do that. Best, Dave.