Clean It Up
UK Floor Cleaning Forum => Carpet Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: JM SELECT SERVICES on April 02, 2005, 04:18:04 pm
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dont know whats happening, since going it alone in feb 05,, only had one job.
i know it`s quiet , but one job, what am i doing wrong, done all my leaflet drops, advert`s in local rag etc etc, lucky enough my old servicemaster boss has been keeping me going with 3-4 days a week, subbing to him on his restoration work.
i just cant seem to get a client base going, i know it`s early days, but any ideas lads,, ???
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Hang in there buddy!!
I moved accross the country, and restarted about 6 months ago, but it is super slow right now for everyone. In my area, the small town newspaper has done very well for me, gets me like 1 or 2 jobs a week. No other cleaners advertise in this paper, so Im the only one here......unlike the yellow pages where you are placed right next to your competitors. I'm sure things will pick up soon!! Jon
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JM
First year and especially first 6 months is hard,you have just got to bite the bullet and keep going.Mark my words 6 months time things will be different.
The only secret formula is to keep working at it.
Paul
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Jim, you started up around the same time as me, so I know what you're going through.
For the first couple of weeks I had just a couple of small cleans to do, and they were really bad ones where probably all other local cleaners had refused to touch them. I did them because I wanted the experience more than the money. I've now got my leaflets done, and they're being distributed now, to be completed over the next two weeks. When you say you've done your leaflet drops, how many have you done? My distribution, full colour double sided glossy paper jobs is around 50,000 across Ipswich and Colchester, and they're now beginning to pay off.
My marketing campaign is now moving on into the advertising sector, with one classified ad appearing in a weekly newspaper. It only appeared on Thursday (booked in for a six week run) and I've had two calls this afternoon alone. One of them is looking as if it could be a couple of hundred quid (or around £500 if I change my name to Martin Riley ;D) so that's pretty much paying for itself.
April also sees the start of my advertising in local monthly community magazines, so hopefully they'll come good too. With commercial work, I'm designing commercial orientated mailouts (my leaflets were very much aimed at the domestic market) and will mailshot them as I don't believe facilities managers or decision makers ever get to see leaflets plonked on a reception desk.
In short, yes it's been quiet, and at times I've already wondered if I've I done the right thing. But, I was prepared for a very tough first year at least, and had enough resources to invest in some excellent equipment (a plug for you there, Nick. Commission??? :)) and to cover living expenses whilst the business develops.
Jim, I've also been quiet, but you have to keep busy. If you're not out there cleaning carpets, sit by your desk and plan marketing strategies. There's lots of great (and in some cases untapped) areas out there, so try to find them. Do you have a van with signwriting? I have a car, but if I ever go out on non-business purposes, I try to take the van with me. If people see your van around often enough, they'll have a sort of subliminal connection when they finally get one of your leaflets. It's already happened once to me with someone phoning to book a job because he had a leaflet, and swore he'd heard of the company before from somewhere - could only be from the van.
Don't lose heart if the first leaflet drop doesn't come off. Keep planning for the next step of the campaign. You could possibly do my mum's carpets in Bow. I did promise I'd do them, but haven't yet had the energy to get myself up to east London with all the equipment yet.
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Don't
" hang in there" or "bite the bullet"
forget about being self-employed and and ask your mate at Servicemaster to give you a full time job,
you've gone 2 months, done leafleting & put ads in the paper and still only done one job. Something is seriously wrong. If you stood on a corner with a sign saying "will clean carpets for food" you'd have got more than one job!
You obviously know how to clean carpets but as you can see that's not enough to run a successful company, perhaps your not cut out to be self-employed.
Mike
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Thats a bit harsh mike ,,how many business' earn a living in two months ?
I did a part time delivery job when i started ,also subbed from another cleaner and subbed fire/flood work while building up my own clients.
I am proof if you do' hang in there' you won't regret it ,becoming self employed and running a business is a learning curve but well worth it when you become established.
I would carry on subbing JM and give it at least a year you'll soon be cutting down from 3/4 days a week to 1/2 and eventually none.
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Completely agree Matt. Couldn't fault that answer.
I would ask Jim one question though. When you decided to go it alone, what preparations did you make? I had always been in the financial field within the publishing/advertising industry before accepting redundancy and starting up in carpet cleaning. I therefore had numerous years experience in both the financial and advertising businesses, yet I knew I didn't have the necessary grounding to start my own company from scratch.
I went off to the local enterprise centre, and went on loads of business start up courses. They were free, and an invaluable source of knowledge. Have you done anything similar, or any other type of business start up learning? If not, I suggest you do, as they are excellent courses for everything from learning marketing strategy, through to developing the business it as it grows.
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It puzzles me Jim, I know when starting out things will be slow ,but not that slow. I see from your profile you live in London where you have access to millions of potential clients. Jim, would you consider getting some good quality leaflets printed ,and armed with them go around knocking on doors, introduce yourself and tell them what you do. I am suggesting this because it worked for me when I started out many years ago and I operate in a very sparsely populated area compared to London.
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which bit was harsh? ok some bussiness don't earn a living in the first 2 months but I've got to ask when does a company become a company? , when it is trading, and doing business.
I could start a business as a roofer but until I start putting roofs on houses I don't have a business
JM has said he's been going for 2 months and only done 1 job, if I wanted to be harsh I would have told him to pack it in because he's a lazy git who should be out looking for work and not asking here for ideas ;) ;)
just to look at the other side of the coin, when is it best to call it a day, in 6 months when he's heavily in debt or now when he's stll solvent, we can all look at things through rose couloured glasses but most business don't last a year.
if Jm is insistant on going for it then perhaps he should read all the marketing info on all these sites and start selling his service.
Mike
no insult is intended to JM in this post :) :)
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Insult must be for me then :o
Its just my opinion,and yes 1 job in 2 months isn't good but it may just be down to lack of marketing etc.
There are a lot of different avenues to explore and its a bit trial and error to start with. I just think if you can sub work in a similar field(carpets/upholstery need restoring in fire/flood work) and keep the wolf from the door you hopefully will hit on the right formula for your area eventually.
I don't personally think you can start a carpet cleaning business overnight ..its not an everyday occurence for the public so repeat business takes time to build up and good reputation also takes time to build.
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Agree with Mike, you have to buy a lottery ticket to win the big one!
Have some leaflets printed and go out and deliver them in a shirt and tie, meet the public your new customers!
Get white knuckle vibrations from all of the hands you shake!!
Shaun
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Agree with Mike, 1 job in 2 months is below breadline. Doesnt say how many leaflets he's dropped. Needs to be at least 4 or 5 K per week. Forget local papers and inserts imo complete waste of hard earned. Make sure you have a good leaflet, 1 or 2 colours and get them out there. Also would suggest parish mags, usually cheap and even london must have them. Finally dont upset your servicemaster boss, sounds like you need him.
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This has been the quietest jan and feb for new business for a number of years jm...something you can't really judge if you're just starting out.
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I think you really need to take stock of where your going or at least how your doing it. Two jobs in two months is very very poor no matter what time of the year it is.
It sounds as if your waiting for the phone to ring. You should be out there selling your business. Knock on doors, send out letters and follow them up with a phone call, hand delivery flyers and knock the door, etc etc.
Also think about what sort of message is your marketing giving the customer. It may need changing asap.
Post a copy of your flyer and well give you ideas.
Mark
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JM,
Can you clarify, are you getting enquiries but not getting the work for one reason or another, or are you just not getting any enquiries?
What are you putting in your advert that is deterring people from ringing you?
Mike is right, you should have had more work than that by now, the Easter holidays are over, people are starting to get the spring cleans done, even crap cleaners are getting enquiries for work.
I would suggest that for now you go back to relying on someone else to employ you and give you a guaranteed income, then, have a good think about why it didn't work out and what needs to change to make it work next time. Make out a business plan.
What was the reason for leaving Servicemaster in the first place
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Jim,
Welcome to the reality of establishing a business, it really is very difficult.
If you can piggy back on Servicemaster while you become established all the better, by the way is it Keith Tolan?
I never found newspapers any good when I tried several times in North London.
Leaflets will work but involve a good design , determination and a plan to do lots .
I would set a target to do at least an hour a day.
The best way to kick start is to go and call on businesses as this is very low cost and gives you a good insight into how customers minds work.
Cheers,
Doug
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A few years ago I had the chance to have a look at some Chem-Dry videos.. :o
Their instruction to a new franchise was to work the normal hours i.e. nine till five..five days a week
If there was no actual cleaning work..then you work at getting the work...nine till five.
This may mean leaflets, doorknocking etc.etc.
Gosh I never thought I would be quoting Chem-Dry but they made it....didn't they?
Derek
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Maybe being a wage slave is your best option after all jm judging from most of the post's.Perhaps you could work at it at weekends / evenings. You certainly need determination to make it work but your heading of doom and gloom seems to sum up most people's feelings who have replied.
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thanks everyone for your replys, some positive , some negative,
i know this is early days and i am taking everything as a learning curve on the business side marketing etc etc, i knew it would be slow, as a lot of my time is going on my sub work with service/ m, but i was hoping to start with getting a couple of jobs on a fri or sat each week, and build from there.
just turning forty and you got to start somewhere.
thrive or fail at least i have to give it a go.
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I think Jim has a similiar problem that I have with my blinds.
His other work is taking to o much time thus stopping the cleaning developing as fast as I would like.
I reconize the problem and am taking corrective action.
.
The question Jiim needs to ask is which one is more profitable.
Could he breakaway from Servicemaster at short notice if a job came up.
I know Mark has invested a Hell of a lot in his marketing, I hope he is know getting a return.
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I know Mark has invested a Hell of a lot in his marketing, I hope he is know getting a return.
It's starting to pay off Ian. The leaflet campaign is ongoing (or so the distribution company tells me, and how can you ever check) but so far I've recovered about 50% of the total outlay. I was only ever looking to cover costs, as my aim for the initial campaign was to get my name familiar to people in the area. If it ends up making a profit, then it's a bonus. From a long term perspective, I'm hoping that the work I'm getting will lead to repeat business and recommendations.
Things seem to be going pretty well so far, and I'm very pleased, particularly as my YP ads won't appear until the new editions in July. Setting up your own business is very tough, and can never be a 9 to 5 operation, as I'm sure everyone on here can vouch. Which is why I'm still up at gone 2am working on publicity/presentation documents when I'm supposed to be starting a job 30 miles away at 9am! :(
That's me finished for today (or should that be yesterday?) so goodnight to anyone who's suffering from insomnia, and I'll be back bright as a button in 5 hours time. Yeah, right!
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Mark,
As someone who has spent considerable sums on non profitable marketing, I think you are wrong. Although I beleive Feb is not a good month to start so hard to judge results I beleive your Market cost should be no higher than 25% of sales. Perhaps 50% as its early days, but that would mean something is not right.
In my opinion (is that what imo stands for? ) you should be getting a return on your leaflets. I beleive they have cost you 3k.
so is your leaflet right? or your distribution plan correct
How many times have they been dropped to same house? Or are you trying to cover too large a terriority in one hit What is going to be your repeat frequency.
So are you going to spend another 3k doing it again because that is what you need to do to get your name established. This is now your big delemour.
Its like betting on a horse race and recovering half your money.
Interested to read Derecks post about Chem Dry it appears he knows more about marketing than he let on in the past.
Although he has been there bought the tea shirt etc he must have done somthing all those years ago .
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Ians right, you need big pockets for your marketing not to pay for its self, just using it to get your name in the customer mind is a bad ploy.
My wife has a hard time understanding that I have a 9-5 job she thinks if I finish at 3oclock I've got time to cut the grass or start cooking tea :o :o :o but I do believe that if I'm not working I should be doing some thing to within the bussiness, either marketing or machine maintanance.
Mike
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JM. What you dont give us is the responce, how many replies have you had?
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Well you think youve got doom and gloom me i started out in september had a month of peace and quiet so delivered a few leaflets work started comming in slowly. I am fully booked now but know have had some bad news my back has gone which means no lifting or anything to cause it pain even lifting the wand gives me pain so i gotta sell up and do something else so im in the process of cancelling my jobs and put the old prochem on ebay.
All i can say is you gotta want it to work go out and hassle people if you want the work knowing your name means nothing in this game
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Paul, sorry to hear about your back problems.
A while ago you claimed you were getting a phenomenal response from leaflets you were using.
http://www.cleanitup.co.uk/smf/index.php?topic=6391.0#msg47290
You said that you would post the leaflet on here but I'm sure you haven't.
Why don't you really help JM Select out (and the rest of us) and let us see the leaflet you have used as promised?
Isn't selling up a bit drastic when an osteopath or similar could solve your problems?
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unfortunatly i cant get help for my back its something to do with the bones in my back not being strong enough but i aint leaving the cleaning buisness alltogether im gonna invest in the staffing market being as most of you on here say you have problems finding staff on a perm and temporary basis so keep watching and i will let you all know when its up and running
as for leaflets i will post it up here when i get the copy back from the printers
It really worked for me and dont mind helping those who need it so will notify you all when its posted
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JM select service you probably feel hard done by.
After all all you did was ask for help.
Maybe some of the wording was a bit harsh. But if you watch The Aprentice you will find Alan Sugar does not beat about the bush either.
What you are meant to do is defend yourself.
We all need a kick now and then, Mikews words have inspired me to clear my Diary tommorow and get out there and market.
Plus there is someone out there prentending to be me giving away a free room by Tele canvas. Think they forgot the Audit though. But have had two complaints today.
Ian
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I think you've got a really good chance jm...you have regular sub contract work, are already trained presumably by servicemaster , all you need now is a better advertising campaign and to build it up bit by bit until u can stop subbing.
You have a head start on most because of the training and working for a major franchise....i would imagine most cc start without a clue other than perhaps a 1 or 2 day course. I'm sure you will have seen a few ups and downs at servicemaster ,already tackled a few problems etc etc. i think this forum is a bit negative sometimes it often seems like a "who has the biggest wand " ;) competition.