Clean It Up
UK Floor Cleaning Forum => Carpet Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: kinder clean on May 18, 2008, 10:14:24 pm
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Hello to all
I am a wet behind the ear newbie & this is my first post.
I am starting a cleaning services business, Carpet & Upholstery but other services may be added later.
I have spent the past few months doing my training, going to exhibitions, buying the best equipment I could afford, getting my vehicle signwritten etc and I feel about ready to take the plunge.
I have read many articles, forums etc with a multitude of different marketing schedules, it seems yellow pages is viewed by the majority as overpriced.
I believe the www is becoming the most popular place for the modern housewife to look for services, & have heard it from several people they are finding their returns from web generated sales are overtaking the big yellow book (the guys at cleansmart included)
I am having a website built right now, but want to get the ball rolling any way possible.
I would be interested in any advise on kickstarting a new business, is the best way direct marketing with the good old fashioned flyer?
I have done 3 paid jobs already as well as every blood relative still breathing. (see separate post for my first job NIGHTMARE. I will look back and laugh soon, so my therapist tells me)
Hope this is my first post of many
Thanks in advance
Paul
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Paul , Suggest adding to your profile by including your area ........... some may not offer the 'tricks of the trade' they use in case you are on their doorstep .................... many will still offer some help and advice to 'locals' though ;)
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Have a word with Mark Roberts, the one from Devon on this forum ;) if you are interested in the www
S
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You have to have carpet cleaning in the blood to make a go of it. You need to keep pushing hard for the life of the business to keep the wheels turning.
If we advertise Ariel and Sat installation, we have to cut or withdraw the ad in a short space of time just in order to keep up with demand with 7 vans, we are seriously inundated resulting in us subcontracting to a local communication business.
We run full page carpet cleaning ads like a national company all of the time and this only just keeps one van ticking over and results in very little return on investment. This side of the business is shocking at overall net profit but benefits us for taxation reasons.
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Matt perhaps you have your advertising all wrong. Big adverts have never created big work, you need to chip away at clients and then it omes back without doing anything and yu'll get a great cash flow for next to nothing spend.
Carpet cleaning customers aren't like arial customers they need wining and dining, an arial customer wants an arial because they've just gone out and bought a plasma and want to show off and want it now! the instant hit is good but the retention will be low where as carpet cleaning is exactly the other way round.
Try putting small ads and leaflets scattered in high quality areas for a few months and go out to quote, then remail them every 6 months offering your services, slowly slowly....
Shaun
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Cheers Chris just updated my profile
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Use printcarrier.com for a6 full colour leaflets, whip up a design on your pc and spend any spare time delivering them, do it for 6 weeks to your target area and then start again. A bit like painjting a bridge :D
Be patient as some work may come straight away but you will always get people calling months after getting a leaflet.
Use local mags too, forget big ads as i find people just look for the local number in books.
Alter your design if needs be and always ask where the custy got your number from..
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As a bit of a newbie myself I'll give you my tips on what works.
Local mags are very good but I find that many c/c's advertise in them you get lots of priceshoppers, however this makes up the most part of my jobs as well as word of mouth/referals
I got 10,000 leaflets printed up from printcarrier and have put about 2000 out and had a couple of jobs
I've had a yell.com advert for about 2 weeks and had 2 fairly lucrative jobs from it, I have it on a two month trial so that is looking good.
I've had a few jobs from advertising on my vehicle
A great one for me has been village noticeboards, especially near churches, also post office windows, they are about 10p per week and have brought in shed loads, just plug the LOCAL thing
Another thing, as a good man once advised me was to mention it to everybody, friends tell friends etc, mention it to anybody who works at an office or pub etc I got a fantastic office clean purely because my mother in law mentioned it to a guy who happened to be looking for one :)
My website is good for work too, it does crap in the rankins but wherever I advertise I make sure the web address is there, I also do a fair bit of charity runs/walks etc and my latest is the Cleveland Way, I'm doing it for the local press charity and get loads of free advertising from them.
Most of my work though is domestic and I've yet to break into much commercial but just keep plugging away, some weeks I get nothing, some weeks I'm snowed under (which is nice)
Hope this helps
Andy
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Andy, why don't you learn how to optimise your website and get it to work for you.
S
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Because I'm dumb Spencer ;D ;D ;D Just can't seem to get my head round the reciprical link and meta tags thing ;D
Any tips or points in the right direction to websites that help would be much appreciated, I have surfed for this but just get lost, a nice easy going explanation woul be most welcomed ;)
Andy
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Where abouts do you live Andy?
There are 2 good guys for optimisation, what's you're site?
Shaun
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What did you pay for the yell.com thing Andy?
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Kinder clean I have always thought the most important form of advertising before anything else is the presentation of your vehicle and yourself.
A clean well presented sign written van pays dividends, many years ago I was a butcher and the most important thing was how you presented your shop front.
Veiw this the same way with your vehicle and your own presentation wear a polo shirt and matching trousers with company logo on .
Wear the blue overshoes whenever you enter a customers house , be punctual and polite.
All this wil go a long way to building your business up ,and in 5 or 6 years 80% of all your work should come from repeats and referals.
Advertising whether its yellow pages ,internet local mags or leaflets etc should only be for about the last 20% of your turnover.
Obviously for the first couple of years you will probably have to plough a fair bit of money into advertising but if you do the basic common sence things the work should come to you and you shouldn,t have to go looking for it.
All the best and good luck
Andy Locke. Melling Carpet Care.
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Hows business your end of Liverpool Andy?
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Dave you eco friendly photo has got to be the best tag line I have ever seen on any type of mktg material (and I've seen more than most). Brilliant, well done.
If you want any advice on yell.com feel free to give me a call
Pete
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The home page one? Missed your yell.com thingy but may take one later with them, 2 month trial like Andy..
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Hi Shaun, I'm in York
Dave, the yell.com guy rang me and offered me a one month trial and I said no ta but he persisted and offered me a two month free trial. I can cancel anytime and pay nothing. After the two month is up it's £42 per month direct debit for 10 months. But nearer the time I'll speak to Pete and see what he suggests as to getting the best deal.
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Andy, call him and say i was offered the same at £390.. Think they pluck numbers out of the air!
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Yep the home page one. Where did you get it. How much did it cost to use etc. etc.
Like I said Dave. Happy to help on how to work yell properly. The trial deals tend to differ area to area so you need to find out if you can get on one first.
If you do, give me a bell.
Pete
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I have one just need to send the paperwork back, is it too late for tips or can i change things after i go live?
I dragged some kids in off the street for the pic ;)
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You can change it any time you like Dave.
Think it might be worth us speaking. Call me if you want. 07816 276290. am free at mo.
Can I use your photo on my website?
Pete
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Sure you can use it, I will call you tomorrow if ok, whens a good time?
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Sorry davep just seen your post been catching up with at home with the Hattons.
I,m pretty busy here not from yellow pages though even though i give them £370.00 a month ,lucky if add pays for itself.
Luckily I am in the position of being in business for over 14 years so dont really have a quite spell.
Must admit the advertising side is slightly down on last year but I never do leaflets and dont ring regular customers with reminders ,wait for them to ring me.
I am sure a must loose the odd one or two because of this but I tend to average 3 to 4 jobs aday more at xmas so happy enough with that.
Are you busy yourself, Regards Andy Locke.
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Fairly busy Andy, do you venture to South Liverpool much?
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Sure you can use it, I will call you tomorrow if ok, whens a good time?
Hi Dave
Anytime tomorrow mate. Have you got that photo on a jpeg or pdf or something you can send me. I'd be surprised in Spencer did'nt want it too.
Pete
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Pete, you got a date off yell yet.
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You have mail Pete ;)
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Dave how do you get the picture thing on your web site, the one with loads of beforeand after pics
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Its part of my website template (one of the options) im with 1&1.com. I think there is software that is similar about..
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I have some customers around Aigbourth ,Allerton ,mossleyhill etc and do work for a few estate agents around Liverpool town center but the majority is more my end ,Aintree, Maghull,ormskirk, kirkby etc.
Regards Andy Locke.
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Pete, you got a date off yell yet.
Not yet mate
Sorry, had to take a few diverts along the way but hoping to get a date tomorrow
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Did you get the email Pete?
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Andy h can you confirm your got a two months trial did you give them your Direct Debit Details
The reason I ask is two fold
We have been told for £40 a month we only pay 10 months making it look like you get two months free.
I was not ver keen and wife has been speaking to them, but I did make a suggestion that I was prepared to give it a go for three months and then give a months notice to Cancel if not happy with results , with no comebacks from Yell Com they turned me down
I was not happy with restrictive postcode
Ie My Town or search for all of Norfolk or East Anglia
Yet if some is 7 miles down the road and uses area or Postcode Search for that spicific area I would not be highlighted without paying considerably more.
I asked for a 13mile radius Postcode search for my money not unreasonable in a rural area for my £400 a year plus VAT
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Yes Ian, I had to give my dd details before it could go ahead, I made certain though that I had in writing no money would be taken from my account if I cancel before the trial ends.
Price wise it seems they do indeed just pluck figures from the air.
I'm not sure what the area coverage is, The guy (Matt) just told me it would cover all of York so I didn't think to ask about radius.
It is working though, I've had another job book in today from it and a few price quotes
Cheers
Andy
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Andy, how much are you paying on trial?
Pete
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If they had acepted my deal I would have risked £160 I am told that is the price you have negotiated for a full year Pete?
However I was prepared to experiment for three months followd by a months notice.
I did not put my name down for your deal Pete as at the time I had o interest in Yell. Com
I only got involved as they had contacted my wife with all the sales talk etc so I said I would sign on that condition.
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Andy,
Get a link page added on your website and start exchanging links with other c cleaners, make sure you get your link titles right, for example have your hyper link behind your title, for example carpet cleaning Brighton & Hove rather than getting someone to add your web address to their site, which isn't very uselful.
Regards
S
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May need to change mine from 'liverpool carpet cleaner' to 'carpet cleaning in liverpool'
Would that be more effective Spencer?
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whats the reasoning behind that Spencer?
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I would leave out the 'in' also. I ask all customers which search terminology they use, this format is by far the most used.
Best regards
S
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Pete, I'm paying nothing untill the trial ends, I can cancel any time untill then at no cost.
Is it good to call you tomorrow mate, about 1'ish???
Spencer, would I need to ask the person linking to my website to put that as a title and hyperlink it to my website?? (Did I mention I'm dumb when it comes to this stuff ;D)
Andy
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Yes, your link sits under your title, you can change your title to suit the specific areas you are trying to optimise, I change mine fairly regularly.
S
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Yeah give me a call
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I was away Yesterday but Yell Com phoned backed.
Jenny mentioned two month Free Trial in York wastold no such thing
They also did not want to do my deal
Fine I had no intention of using Yell Com this year put my resourses elsewhere.
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Hi Ian, the guy I was dealing with was called matt, I don't have a number for him but his direct fax is 02890323682 if you fancy marvering him ;D
The offer is 'try before you buy web link'
Andy
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Knew I had this info somewhere
Matt Palmer
Telesales Consultant Yell.com Prospect
TEL: 02890305213 | EXT: 48113 | FAX: 023890323682
matt.palmer@yellgroup.com
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I wouldn't waste my money, all we have on carpet cleaning searches in this area is a small sponsored listing to yell on page one, anyone can do that and and have the link to their website rather than a yell page with dozens of other carpet cleaning companies.
S
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Just got another email offering a listing that will appear before free but below £400 one plus website listing for £90 a year
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Thanks for that today Pete, very helpfull, It was good to talk to you
I'll let you know the results
Spencer, I just tried to add my site to yours (your link to us bit).........How confusing is that....... please email me and put it in simple terms, I am so very very dumb :'( ;D I'm guessing it's simple when you know how.... but I sooooo don't know how. Any further advice on improving the ranking of my site would also be gratefully recieved ;D
andy@accyork.co.uk
Cheers
Andy