UK Floor Cleaning Forum => Carpet Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: rs_cleancare on January 17, 2005, 07:16:11 pm
Title: Leaflets / flyers (Print & distribution)
Post by: rs_cleancare on January 17, 2005, 07:16:11 pm
Hi all, I have been looking for a leaflet distribution company to put out 5000 leaflets a week in my area cheltenham. Every company i've spoken to will only do it on a solo basis at a cost of £45 per thousand. I have approched other companys to see if they would go on the other side of my leaflet to share the cost but to no avail. The cheapest way to put out my leaflets is with the local paper at a cost of £20 per thousand but i feel i will not get a very good response due to it getting lost in the middle of 6-10 other leaflets. Do any of you guys put your leaflet in the paper and what response do you get or have you got somone on the other side of your leaflet to share cost and what business. If anyone knows of anyone in my area who could put out my leaflets on a shared basis for a good price please let me know.
Cheers Rob.
Title: Re: leaflet distribution
Post by: malc on January 17, 2005, 08:02:14 pm
Around my area the cost is £12.00 per thousand with free papers and the best response i`ve had is of 5000 leaflets and they brought £650.00 of work which i thought was good hope this helps but you need to ask mike halliday as he sends out thousands per week. malc
Title: Re: leaflet distribution
Post by: Ken Wainwright on January 17, 2005, 08:11:26 pm
Not an area of expertise for me Rob, but a local company with very wide coverage is DLM on 0800 028 6353 www.directletterboxmarketing.co.uk (http://www.directletterboxmarketing.co.uk)
Safe and happy cleaning :) Ken
Title: Re: leaflet distribution
Post by: SMP on January 17, 2005, 08:12:42 pm
Don't forget that if you do a solus drop and your leaflet drops through the letter box onto a pile of other leaflets you just wasted some of your money - you could've gone with the other leaflets for less £'s.
Cheers
Title: Re: leaflet distribution
Post by: Doug Holloway on January 17, 2005, 08:18:57 pm
Rob,
I've been using my own people for the last 10 years .
Takes a bit of effort but it's worth it.
Cheers,
Doug
Title: Re: leaflet distribution
Post by: Mike Halliday on January 17, 2005, 08:22:34 pm
put out 5000 leaflets out every week rotating monthly and in 3 months you'll be working 6 days a week 2-3 jobs a day.
only you know what your average job price is but if spending £225 a week is worth 6 days worth of work then pay the £45 solus price.
stop thinking short term, most people put out 5000 leaflets once, get little emmediate responce then they decide 'leaflets don't work'
put out 20,000 a month for 5 years then say they don't work ;)
Mike
Title: Re: leaflet distribution
Post by: Martin_Riley on January 17, 2005, 08:53:41 pm
You are exactly right Mike. I get a lot of people who constantly say leaflets don't work. Then I find out they put out 500 one day when the weather was nice and didn't get any calls. So to them leaflets don't work. As Mike says you need to set up a campaign of leafleting numbering 10s of thousands over many months to generate the neccesary response. Leaflets do work, commit some money to them stick with it even if your scared of losing money and I promise you they will work. I was nearly fully booked for January before the new year and I put this down to constantly delivering flyers week in week out. The biggest problem you have is reliable distribution, nothing else. Hope this helps :) Martin
Title: Re: leaflet distribution
Post by: paul_smith on January 18, 2005, 04:14:54 pm
I put 20 000 out over 5 weeks with 5/6 other leaflets (too many) and got a fairly good responce, i did not have much control over the where and when the lady put leaflets out, and also she wanted to put them out with 5/6 others. So i changed to delivery with free paper £20 per 1000, i had full control over where and when they went out, guess what, not ONE call! I have reverted back to original lady £15 per 1000 for now . The best way IMO is to find a person (reliable ) who will put them out with 2/3 others 4/5000 a week every week as described before by Mike H and others and in time you will get results.The theory is easy but in practice its harder to achieve. Good Luck Paul
Title: Re: leaflet distribution
Post by: Mike Halliday on January 18, 2005, 09:12:15 pm
Paul you're right its easy for me to say put out 4-5000 leaflet every week and the work will roll in, it meens paying out £100-£150 a week, just for the delivery.
this could have been half a weeks wage for someone coming into the industry, and they might only make £150 a week in the beginning, it seems stupid to expect them to spend that amount on putting out leaflets.
but thats the problem.
they think its easy to start a carpet cleaning bussiness. they think if they attend a couple of course, buy a top of the range machine thats all they have to do.
what they should do is get 4-6 months wages in the bank before they start the bussiness, then they can afford to keep reinvesting the money they earn back into the bussiness.
everyone wants to start on a shoestring budget, counting every penny. this is'nt the formula for success ;)
Mike
Title: Re: leaflet distribution
Post by: Chris Bailey on January 19, 2005, 03:18:30 pm
Mike
When you say "put out 5000 leaflets out every week rotating monthly" - does this mean you target a specific area for a month, then move on to the next area? If so, do you re-cover the specific area more than once within that month so that housholds receive, for example, a leaflet at the begining of the month then another two weeks later?
The reason I ask is that I have order 10,000 leaflets and I am planning my strategy for delivery. I am considering delivering twice to an area to try and raise awareness as well as enquiries as I would suspect that most of the leaflets go straight in the bin after just a glance, especially if the man of the house picks it up.
Can you spell out your delivery campaign for us newbies so we can understand the best way of maximising our investment.
Thanks
Chris
Title: Re: leaflet distribution
Post by: Ian Gourlay on January 19, 2005, 04:13:39 pm
Mike,
In Theory if someone with little cash resources put out 10k leaflets for first two weeks themselves, and do Audits.
by week 2 they should have 20 jobs to book in for week 3 @say £60 and a further 20 booked in for week 4 so in theory they should be able to spend Apro x £1200 on living and invest in future leafleting campains.
Ideally they would need to involve Partners Childrens Mum Dads Uncles and anyone else who really wanted them to suceed in intial leafleting.
I do realise that it is highly unlikly that anyone will deliver 10k leaflets personaly over two weeks. And the Job yeild may be a lot lower.
Title: Re: leaflet distribution
Post by: Mike Halliday on January 19, 2005, 04:20:18 pm
Chris all I can say is what I do, I put out 20,00 a month to house within 3 miles of my home they get a leaflet every month ( so they get 12 leaflets a year) so in the last 5 years they have recieved 60 leaflets :o :o
I never stop putting them out, even during the xmas busy period I still kept putting them out (so I'm as busy now as any other time of year :) )
no one ever forgets my name and all my existing customers also get a a leaflet every month so I've no need to send out reminder cards.
Mike
Title: Re: leaflet distribution
Post by: Mike Halliday on January 19, 2005, 04:24:53 pm
Ian you jumped while I was typing ;D
I think leaflets have a cumelitive(sp) effect so the first 2 week the may get only a small reponce but over time the response builds up some one might get a leaflet and think 'thats a good Idea' but forget to call, the next time they get a leaflet it prompts them into action
Mike
Title: Re: leaflet distribution
Post by: rs_cleancare on January 19, 2005, 08:27:12 pm
Thanks very much for the positive feed back. Ken i have been intoch with DLM and they have come out at £35.50 per thousand + vat as aposed to £45 which is a great result. DLM can deliver anywhere you ask all over the country. What they do is have a team of leaflet distridutors which are droped off in the area by the supervisor and then the super back tracks knocking on doors and asking if they have recived your leaflet then getting a signiture. They check 7 in every thousand and you will recive a copy of all checks. I'm taking your advice Mike and in three weeks starting a massive leaflet campaign putting out 5,000 a week forever. Hopefully the work should start rolling in. Thanks very much everyone all advice has been greatly appreciated. Rob.
Title: Re: leaflet distribution
Post by: paul_smith on January 19, 2005, 09:41:17 pm
I sell the space on the reverse of my a5 leaflet to a plumber and electrician, 35.00 pounds per week gets 4000 leaflets out on average every week, this is printed and delivered price.worth considering if your starting out, the cash saved could go on other adverts. got this idea from Mike H and it makes things a lot easier on the pocket. Cheers Paul
Title: Re: leaflet distribution
Post by: Shaun_Ashmore on January 19, 2005, 10:10:39 pm
Mike, in the last 3 months what is the furthest you've worked away from your home?
Shaun
Ps I can't believe you have 20000 homes within 3 miles of yours, I live in a big city and unless you go into the council areas or rows of terraced houses where there is volume but no real 'good buying' customers I'd find it hard to get 20K homes in that small amount of area.
Title: Re: leaflet distribution
Post by: Mike Halliday on January 19, 2005, 10:26:45 pm
Shaun thats because you live in 'sheffield'
there are 15,000 house within beverley which is 2-3miles across I live in the centre so really most of my leaflets go out within 1.5 mile of my home!! ( I run around the outskirt of beverley in 55mins) the other 5000 goes out to the surrounding villages all within 5 miles
i remember seeing a website some where that tells you all the demographic information of any postcode I'll try and find it.
'Beverley' is our posh area, most people who live in beverley are good carpet cleaning material ;)
Mike
Title: Re: leaflet distribution
Post by: David_Annable on January 19, 2005, 10:52:00 pm
Mike
www.upmystreet.com (http://www.upmystreet.com)
Dave
Title: Re: leaflet distribution
Post by: Ian Gourlay on January 20, 2005, 07:29:25 am
Mike,
As you know I a a regular visitor to Beverley and have often wondered if you leaflet drop to the Terrace Houses and do you get a good response,
Also parking your truckmount must be a nightmare.
Have tried to capture a leaflet you dropped but yhe students my daughter shares with have been house trained and clear up regularly.
Title: Re: leaflet distribution
Post by: Chris Bailey on January 20, 2005, 10:11:55 am
Cheers Dave!! ;)
Just pumped in my postcode and....... well I guess I'll be working further afield
Family Income : Low Interest in current affairs : Low Housing - with Mortgage : Very low Educated - to degree : Very low Couples with Children : Very low Have satellite TV : Low
Anyone want to buy a 3 bed semi? ;D
Chris
Title: Re: leaflet distribution
Post by: David_Annable on January 20, 2005, 02:10:03 pm
Chris
I dont know your post code, I just looked up Leicester & the average house prices in postcodes LE2 LE3 & LE4 are :
So there are plenty of houses not a million miles away that have a good dispossable income.
Im assuming that you are a newbie, there is a big market out there you have just got to find your neich.
Dave
Title: Re: leaflet distribution
Post by: Mike Halliday on January 20, 2005, 05:53:41 pm
Ian i usually don't have a problem parking, and I do all houses in beverley, even the terraced & small council estate.
a small terrrace in beverley cost the same as a 3 bed semi in Hull ( 8miles away)
that 'up my street' is a load of crap according to that all beverley residents watch rugby and play bingo ::) ::)
Mike
Title: Re: leaflet distribution
Post by: gwrightson on January 20, 2005, 06:04:24 pm
Mike completly agree, with you , " I had a look at "up my street" Nth ferrby is low income!!!! , now that does surprise me ;D nearly as desirable as beverly to live ??? an ex council house here no mod cons is fetching around £15000 , where do they get these facts. geoff p.s. only me in ferriby on low income
Title: Re: leaflet distribution
Post by: David_Annable on January 20, 2005, 06:17:18 pm
Mike
What was the website you ment then.
PS Dont you play bingo ?
Dave
Title: Leaflets / flyers
Post by: cleanability on January 30, 2005, 09:22:02 pm
Delivered £3000 leaflets September/October. Have had £1100 of work directly from these leaflets without the referred work from these jobs. Is that a good return or not? Chris
Title: Re: Leaflets
Post by: Mike Halliday on January 30, 2005, 09:33:01 pm
chris are you saying you spent £3000 on leafet delivery or had 3000 leaflets delivered?
£1100 of 3000 lealfets is a good return, how much did they cost to put out?
Mike
Title: Re: Leaflets
Post by: Shaun_Ashmore on January 30, 2005, 09:39:47 pm
would you put £3k on a horse to get £1.1k back?
I know it's not like for like because these clients could be for ever £1.1k for the next 10 years becomes £11K but it would be long odds.
Shaun
Title: Re: Leaflets
Post by: cleanability on January 30, 2005, 10:08:10 pm
ooooops my mistake !!!! 3000 leaflets for £1100 of work sorry. Got 10000 from Tradeprint Warehouse for £108
Chris
Title: Re: Leaflets
Post by: cleanability on January 30, 2005, 10:08:50 pm
Delivered them myself.
Chris
Title: Re: Leaflets
Post by: Mike Halliday on January 30, 2005, 10:17:21 pm
so £30 worth of leaflets made £1100, sounds like a good return to me! as long as you had nothing better to do.
so if you could put out 3000 leaflets a week you'd be making over a grand, no need to bother with the yellow Pages :D
Title: Re: Leaflets
Post by: Shaun_Ashmore on January 30, 2005, 10:34:39 pm
Why not pay someone £120 per week to put out 3K leaflets and then you could £1100 back and look at other ways of expanding your empire.
Shaun
Title: Re: Leaflets
Post by: Fintan_Coll on January 30, 2005, 11:43:22 pm
That is an excellent return,do you plan on putting out to other homes in your area or to repeat the exercise in the areas where you are getting a good response from.
Title: Re: Leaflets
Post by: Martin S on January 31, 2005, 10:30:10 am
Chris,
How many actual responses did you get from the 3000 you delivered? And from how many individual customers did that £1100 of work derive?
Regards.
Martin S
Title: Re: Leaflets
Post by: Macarthur on January 31, 2005, 08:45:02 pm
On a smaller scale I recently (this week) delivered just 250 leaflets which resulted in £200 worth of jobs. Would not have time personally to deliver as many as 3000 though due to other commercial contracts, congratulations Chris, good return. I agree with Shaun, better off paying someone else to deliver this amount, allowing more time for jobs, at the moment I am on the lookout for someone myself.
Nigel.
Title: Re: Leaflets
Post by: Ian Gourlay on January 31, 2005, 09:10:15 pm
On a recent post I suggested exactly the same on leaflet delivery. Get all your friends children and family to help get the business of the ground by doing mass delivery drops for a month 12000 plus then invest half your return in paying people to carry on with process.
Chris as a matter of interest did you have an offer on your leaflet as I need an extra grand fast to pay for a new head
Title: Re: Leaflets
Post by: Shaun_Ashmore on January 31, 2005, 09:56:39 pm
For £500 I'll sell you the Mother in laws head, she'll not miss it as she has 2.
Shaun
Title: Re: Leaflets
Post by: cleanability on January 31, 2005, 10:24:19 pm
No offers on my leaflet. Lots of colours. A photo of me with my van. And the usual 'FREE', GUARANTEED', '24/7 AVAILABILITY', 'FREE DEMO', 'BEST CLEAN ANYWHERE EVER' and FREEPHONE NUMBER.
Chris
Title: Re: Leaflets
Post by: Ian Gourlay on January 31, 2005, 10:27:40 pm
Ok then Whats the Free Demo?
Title: Re: Leaflets
Post by: cleanability on January 31, 2005, 11:31:24 pm
With the 'Free Demo' I offer to clean an area of carpet/upholstery if they are unsure if it will clean up very well. Then they can contact me at a later date if they then want to book me. Offered this for about 3-4 years now and had to do it about 5 times only.
Chris
Title: flyers
Post by: maclock cleaning on February 08, 2005, 05:26:25 pm
hi to all
can anyone give me some ideas what to put on flyers i have a few?
thanks
Title: Re: flyers
Post by: stevegunn on February 08, 2005, 05:32:26 pm
SAMPLE PACK Why not email us your Company Name & Address and we will send you a Carpet Cleaners Sample Pack to view at your convenience.
info@tradeprint.karoo.co.uk
Title: Re: flyers
Post by: maclock cleaning on February 08, 2005, 08:10:24 pm
HI STEVE THANKS IVE EMAILED U WITH DETAILS.
THANKS
Title: Re: flyers
Post by: Don Atkinson on February 08, 2005, 10:03:07 pm
Tradeprint are very cheap the but certainly not up to the standard and quality I would want my prospects to see.
I use RCS, they are quite expensive but I personally would rather pay more for a quality product. http://www.rcs.plc.uk/start.asp
Title: Re: flyers
Post by: Mike Halliday on February 09, 2005, 07:05:41 am
Don have you had some leaflets from tradeprint? I've been getting them for years and the only problem I've had was when I did'nt proof read them corectly.
they are a good quality leaflet, Ok they arn't the best you can buy but why pay top prices for some thing that mostly goes straight in the bin ;)
Mike
Title: Re: flyers
Post by: Ian Gourlay on February 09, 2005, 09:08:23 am
Ive got the RSC cat very good high quality work.
But I think its to good for us Carpet Cleaners unless you are running a Franchise and past the cost on to you Franchisees,
Great for night club prmo tickets etc
Cant find a standard leaflet in Cat.
Full Colour printed on 100 gram or 130 gram
Price out of my leaque.
I would rather have Two Sided A3 leaflet than high gloss.
Sticking to A5 and A4 at present
Title: Re: flyers
Post by: Big_Fish on February 09, 2005, 10:24:38 am
I'm just waiting for 10,000 leaflets - A5, double sided, full colour, gloss to be delivered from Tradeprint.
I must admit that some of the stuff in the sample pack made me cringe but mainly due to bad grammar and spelling mistakes.
They obviously churn out tons of cheap leaflets for hundreds of different industries. Personally, I'm not interested in putting a leaflet in someones door that feels like loo roll as it will not be read.
I think that to give the right image of quality work etc, it has to start from the very first contact - whether that be on the end of the 'phone or via a leaflet drop.
We regularly have tatty, cheap, plain black text leaflets delivered here for everthing from carpet cleaning (the £35 for a 3ps type) to estate agents looking for business. Every one ends up in the bin.
It's the first time we've used Tradeprint, I'm waiting to see what they're like.
Nicky
Title: Re: flyers
Post by: maclock cleaning on February 09, 2005, 12:36:46 pm
thanks for all the replies but has anyone got any different ideas on what to put on the flyers ive got things like 3 for 2 get cheapest free etc...... any ideas would be a help????
thanks
Title: Re: flyers
Post by: Mike Halliday on February 09, 2005, 12:54:47 pm
why try and reinvent the wheel, you don't want something different, you want something that brings in the work.
in the end no matter what the leaflets says it won't make the customers carpets dirty, so the key is how many you put out to find that person who has dirty carpets.
but the leaflets needs something to grab thier attention, they will pick it up off the doorstep and walk towards the bin, in that 15 seconds it take to get to the bin your leaflets has to give them a reason not to be thrown away.
Mike
Title: Re: flyers
Post by: Don Atkinson on February 09, 2005, 10:01:44 pm
they are a good quality leaflet, Ok they arn't the best you can buy but why pay top prices for some thing that mostly goes straight in the bin ;)
Mike
Not wishing to be rude Mike but could that not be the reason why poor quality literature ends up in there in the first place?
I hope I have not upset you, just my opinion.
don
Title: Re: flyers
Post by: Ian Gourlay on February 10, 2005, 12:13:29 am
Don.
I believe you said you obtain your leaflets from RSC
How much do you pay per thousand
How Many do you put out a week
What is your sales % per thouisand leaflets
We know what Mike does and have an idea what his uptake rate is.
It been consistant over the past three years and probably longer.
Title: Re: flyers
Post by: Jim_Lynch on February 10, 2005, 12:30:13 am
Here are a couple of sites operated by two American cleaners, Wayne Miller and John Browder. You may be able to use some of the content contained there.
http://pdqpostcards.com/
http://www.wcnet.net/cleancarpet/flyers/
Jim
Title: Re: flyers
Post by: Mike Halliday on February 10, 2005, 07:48:30 am
Don if I got a really great full colour, glossy leaflet today on colonic irrigation :o :o no matter how proffessional it looked it would still end up in the bin.
but if today I got a nice simple leaflet on gardening even if it was a bit amauturish I'd keep it.
I think the reason most leaflets end up in the bin is because the contents don't interest the reader.
Mike
Title: Re: flyers
Post by: David_Annable on February 10, 2005, 11:33:02 am
Mike
Could you send me that one on " colonic irrigation "
Dave
Title: Re: flyers
Post by: Mike Halliday on February 10, 2005, 12:20:17 pm
dave, I would send it too you but I got so excited while carrying it to the bin I stuck it up my bum :o :o
Mike
Title: Re: flyers
Post by: Ian Gourlay on February 10, 2005, 05:20:14 pm
Got another sample pack today.
If this was Cleanpros I would be contacting Nick for a prize for the Flyer of the Year Comp. As many of them are from names on the board
Its amazing how every one looks alike when cleaning
Title: Re: flyers
Post by: Mike Halliday on February 10, 2005, 05:32:52 pm
Ian, did it have mine in it? if so which one
Mike
Title: Re: flyers
Post by: gwrightson on February 10, 2005, 05:53:31 pm
All 15 different designs of yours Mike ;D geoff
Title: Re: flyers
Post by: dave401uk on February 10, 2005, 06:21:43 pm
Ian, i am on the scrounge!! where did you get your sample pack you mention from??
Dave
Title: Re: flyers
Post by: stevegunn on February 10, 2005, 06:34:47 pm
Dave Contact tradeprint warehouse http://www.trade-print-warehouse.co.uk/index.htm
Title: Re: flyers
Post by: Ian Gourlay on February 11, 2005, 07:36:02 am
Mike,
Tour Jan Promo Leaflet but you did not win Cleanitups non exsistance prize.
In my opinion Back stood out and hit you in face, but Origional Green ink leaflet did not due to Green Ink esp in dull room such as hall.
But what do I know as it bought you a lot of business.
Title: Re: flyers
Post by: Mike Halliday on February 11, 2005, 07:41:43 am
Ian I thought that, so the offer has been extended into FEb but on the front of the lealfet I've removed the price guide and put on red
TURN OVER TO SEE OUR GREAT SPECIAL OFFERS
this leaflet has worked really well for me.
MIKE
Title: Flyers
Post by: Ken Wainwright on February 11, 2005, 07:39:05 pm
For anyone into Letterbox Marketing.
I called in at my usual printers today to collect some new business cards. Whilst there, I couldn't help but notice a few pallets of flyers for a carpet cleaner. In case anyone is dissatisfied with their current printer, I asked for some prices. On a 20k run, he charges £3.82 per thousand on 80g Bond Paper in one colour. If you'd like to find more out about them, then visit: www.sdmprint.com or bbprintdigital.com (http://bbprintdigital.com)
They have a claim to fame too. If your town has an edition of the "Roundabouts of......" calendar then these are the publishers.
Safe and happy cleaning :) Ken
Title: Re: flyers
Post by: Ian Gourlay on February 11, 2005, 08:53:11 pm
Mike,
When I saw it I thoight I would have done that in Red.
I can confirm that Jacko would have won the A4 prize if we had one as the only entry.
But this would be subject to Nank Statement chexks and customer verification ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D