Clean It Up
UK Floor Cleaning Forum => Carpet Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Mark_P on April 08, 2009, 06:16:38 pm
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hi all
Been in the business for around 6 months and have been using leaflets to date for advertising but am considering yell.com. Has anyone used yell and had good / bad response rate? Also can anyone recommend a company to get your website on page one of google?
Many thanks in advance
Mark
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yell.com
worth a shot but don't hold your breath
chris boswell got me to page 1 for 10 towns/cities and 1 county in 2 weeks. not cheap though
derek
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I would stick with your leaflets if they work for you.
I have recently taken out an ad with Yell .com with not much success, whereas I had a guy deliver about 1500 leaflets and I have had 6 calls and so far 3 jobs,so I am very pleased with the response.
KevinYell .com is also over £600 with the vat
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I would stick with your leaflets if they work for you.
I have recently taken out an ad with Yell .com with not much success, whereas I had a guy deliver about 1500 leaflets and I have had 6 calls and so far 3 jobs,so I am very pleased with the response.
KevinYell .com is also over £600 with the vat
Kevin,
Where does the £600 + vat for kevinyell.com come from. Are you refering to the domain name itself, or having a website developed for you. The domain name is available for less than a tenner and you can get a great website for less than £300.
However, when people search for a carpet cleaner, they usually search on location rather than a company name - unless the company is very well known - so the chances of them searching for kevinyell.com are pretty remote unless you are pushing that domain name on your leaflets. The only people searching for my company name are people who have seen the website address on the leaflet. Once on your website, you can give them as much information as you want. If you advertise on Yell.com , you pay for the space you use and you can't possibly tell people as much about your company as you can with your own website. Such as before & after photo's , customer testimonials, audio clips or video clips. Your best investment must be a website.
I fell into the trap of using company name for website, but have recently changed focus to location themed domain names. I bought carpetcleanerscoventry.com and carpetcleanersolihull.com and built a 1 page website for these domains which when accessed re-directed visitors to my main website. Both of these new domains were on Google's first page for that search term within 4 days. So, it is best to target location rather than company name in most cases.
Jim
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;D ;D
jim
i think its meant to read......
"I have recently taken out an ad with Yell .com with not much success, whereas I had a guy deliver about 1500 leaflets and I have had 6 calls and so far 3 jobs,so I am very pleased with the response.
Kevin.
ps....Yell .com is also over £600 with the vat"
nothing to do with kevinyell.com
;D ;D
derek
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Cheers for that Derek. I understand now ;D
Amazing the difference a little incorrect punctuation can make !! ;D
Jim
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got an enhanced listing on yell .com since nov with call monitoring free call option etc etc not one call from it. but like all advertising you dont know till you try.
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Had yell.com for a couple of months, not one call so far.....
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Thanks for the info guys. Much appreciated. I think I'll just wander the streets with a megaphone, that should do it!
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Thanks for the info guys. Much appreciated. I think I'll just wander the streets with a megaphone, that should do it!
Do you want to hire the wife ;D
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Hi Mark,
Have you any local magazines or parish magazine/newsletters near you?
They tend to be cheap and generate good business because they show local businesses with little competition
Regards
Gary
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Hi. You probably know you can request a free listing on Yell.com. The one line has got me the occassional work. Worth knowing hey?
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I have to agree with all the other comments
i bust my B"*/s with yell .com
basically if you type in carpet cleaning in your area or town on google
yell does not even get listed as a directory its only for people familiar with using it
But most people just use google , so my advice is this do as some other savvy others do on here and buy the domain for your area Example , carpet cleaning leeds.co.uk etc, and forward to your website that is a good start,
some others like Doug do a good job in essex i dont know how many domains he has a lot and it gets him top spot. in infact i think in many parts of the country
i think although i may stand to be corrected,
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have been with yell for about 6 months ,and the biggest waste of money so far 0ne call in the first 4 months, so for the last 2months have had moniterd calls phoned them on tuesday and asked how many call i have had, there reply was 6 of which 2 were missed calls i asked if they could tell me the numbers so i could check against customer records , they refused , but said the last 2 were from teeside which is about 60miles away these calls are from a teeside firm try to sell me insurance, so they were not even customers so all my advert is get is firms trying sell me everything think long and hard before signing to yell.com
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I do "OK" from yell.com. Without checking my stats, roughly 50/50 commercial/domestic (in terms of the number of calls). The rates for carpet cleaners have gone up in the last year or so, unfortunately, but I think a standard listing is only about 240+vat or something. If you do what I do and add on another area listing it costs about another 85. I spent about £400 last year and have made a profit from it, but it doesn't blow me away.
I think success on yell.com really depends the most on how many other firms are also using it. Not many others use it in my area, therefore my chances of calls and then conversions into jobs are greater.
Secondary to this, your description text or bullet points have to do the right job. You get six bullets... I try to make mine three service descriptions and three benefits that the customer will get. Very tricky with limited characters.
They don't let you capitalise whole words to stand out, which is annoying :(
Web link is a waste of money IMO, the decision to call is made on nthe yell site, not by clicking through to your own.
Try a standard enhanced listing for a year and see how it goes, you only stand to lose a couple of hundred quid, which is one decent job!
One other factor you have to consider is the ability to SELL. You have to remember that if you shove a leaflet through a door, you are the only carpet cleaning company presented before the customer. A lot of folks would get you round to quote without shopping round any further. However, in any directory situation the customer is presented with multiple choice. They can and do ring more than one, so you have to GRAB them.
I shudder to think how many jobs we all lose because we can't sell properly. Most of use are tradesmen first and salesmen second.
I'll stop rambling now :)
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Jim
Wise words as ever.
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stick to leaflets .Not going to renew my yp advert this time they can stick it
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Good post jim :)
Jim do you go and do on site quotes or just on the phone ???
cheers
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Well this is the final throw of the dice with Yell/YP
Dropped the Yellow Pages advert but spent nearly the same on Yell, on the basis that most new business after recommendations will come from people using the computer. So it's full steam ahead with the sponsored listing and all the trimmings.
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Well this is the final throw of the dice with Yell/YP
Dropped the Yellow Pages advert but spent nearly the same on Yell, on the basis that most new business after recommendations will come from people using the computer. So it's full steam ahead with the sponsored listing and all the trimmings.
Hi there,
it all depends who is looking for your service on the yell.com bit,but some times you think is there any one out there looking for your services!
Its all a gamble as they say,and you can poop out big time,both ways :)
Regards Gary :) :) :)
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Thanks Roger & Clinton :)
Clinton - I almost always try to get an in-home quote arranged. I have got pretty good at filtering out the time-wasters, usually it's their first line that gives you the best idea. The price shoppers ask for a price, simple as - I don't waste my time and simply give them a nice high estimate but emphasise that I can't fix a price until I've seen the job.
Those more quality-oriented ask for a quote or say "I'm interested in having XXXXX cleaned...", to which I'll respond by asking them when they'd like me to pop round and have a look - most are happy to oblige and that's where I do the selling. Quality customers generally want to know what you're like before they book you in.
I have had a few surprises from phone quotes actually, some of them do phone back later to book in, but not many.
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Jim ;D
Like the part when you say you give them a nice high price to put them off well same here as i dont waste time either. :)
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I try to get rid by offering high prices but they keep coming back ;D
Shaun
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i haven been goin long about 6 months now and things are goin pretty well. haven quoted over the phone whatever the job but got kind of forced too on thu evening tried to arrange a time to go and quote she wouldn have it excuse was goin on holiday in morning not back till 28th and her new tennants moving in on the 1 st need to book it in for the 28 th. so it was 3 bed new build carpets through out but 2 carpets in bedrooms being replaced lounge was bigger than normal asked her approx size sorry haven a clue. so gave her price of £105 but said i would give her a written quote before on the day i arrive. guess what text in morning cancel 28th found someone to do it for 30 quid.
I tend to get 8 / 10 jobs i quote on site generally i work out how long its goin to take me and look for about 40 pound an hour.
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Thats good richard the way you quote over the phone thats what i do and spec on commercial jobs rather than per sq metre etc and they seem to like that way :)
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8 out of 10 is great selling, 9 out of 10 and you're not charging enough.
Like Clinton I charge commercial based on what I see but will measure up to look the part I'm usually about 80-100 an hour on commercial.
Shaun
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i find it hard to quote by sq m on domestic tend to do it by eye take in to account all aspects work out how long its goin to take me then quote my price then try to sell protector. always quote comercial by sq m . when i quote in person have been 2 or 3 times dearer than yeehas with there a4 white leaflets quoting 30 quid for a suite still got most of jobs quite satisfying
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Looks like your selling protector on some jobs then ???
Sometimes i do the hall for them or if am doing the bedroom the landing as an extra free :)
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Protector isn't sold much because many believe it doesn't work, you have to really believe in the item/product/service if you want to sell it.
Shaun
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Right there and because i have lots of regulars i dont sell it as much as i used to do as they do question the method and price.
I have not seen many good jobs done on protector done as they dont leave it to cure long enough ::)
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i agree clinton i offer them protection give an advice sheet about keeping off the carpets for as long as possible etc etc. thats all you can really do i dont pester them to have it i show them a quick demo test piece of carpet i have in my quote bag a consumer leaflet and then they make there own mind up. at then end of the day we are all working to make money and it does boost income dramatically especially on those smaller one or two room jobs makes it more worth while
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I'm surprised that Alltec haven't done courses on selling and applying protector a bit like a cheap skate version of fast track but for the ones that don't subscribe to higher priced cleaning.There's a big hole in the market for the middle ground carpet cleaners that could be utilised also that would include the average to low end of pricing structures, ideally Alltec could show them the way to high end prices.
God I ought to be in marketing!
Shaun
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shaun do you subscribe to higher priced cleaning or would you say you are middle of the road (not criticism just curious)
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Shaun ;D
Was chating to alltec last week am going to ask that question next time :)
The only ones i do ask is the new clients as you get a feeling if its just a one off or they are going to be a client for a few years.
Just myself i didnt really trust it as its the taking time to cure and also the ventalation issue nowadays as we have to be carefull ..
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I'd say middle ground may be someone may tell you better as I don't know what middle is really, Fast track boys charge another 50% ontop, a guy in Blackpool charges 60p per sq ft plus protector at I think 40p so that's £1.
If FT could show me how to sell properly I would join.
Shaun
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Saw brian do the big sell years ago thing is he was good at the selling side with the waffle ;D
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The Alltec stuff is premixed and ready to use providing you do your job right there should be no problem, I always turbo even after applying, a dry carpet may not be a cured carpet but will give a far better chance of working.
Shaun
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I'd love to see a good presentation, Jim Neal has offered to show me but I have been too busy to take him up on his generous offer, I hope it still stands.
Shaun
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Yes read that post when you were going to go to see how he presents it must say he sounds professional a bit like roger ;D
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I can see how customers book Roger he sounds and looks like a school master or policeman, he looks like a professional not like us lot!
Shaun
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Yes he does ;D good job he never saw me n mike years ago in the local pub near us after a few pints(dozen) ;D
Think more of a headmaster and when he came for a cuppa a while back gave him a cup and saucer not a mug ;D
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I know what you mean but that's not giving the poor guy a good light, there's a lot of sales experience and presentation and knowledge in that grey head ;D
Shaun
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If I may break into this dialogue....
...a teacher? .....a policeman? These are figures of authority....what about a medical person.....like a doctor? ??? Hmmm, I know I think I'll market myself as a doctor :)....even better Doctor Carpet ;D ;D
Actually guys, there's a serious bit to this. AS you know I worked in banking and selling the bank's services was (regrettably) a big part of the job. Without sounding too big headed I was extremely good at it. Somebody told me I was probably the best in Stockport. But the bank didn't value it so instead my clients in carpet cleaning benefit instead. :D
One thing I did learn was a very simple trick. And that is to say of something "I recommend it".
If you are selling, as in this thread, protector, then if you come across as a professional then you are in a position of authority. AS such if you then recommend something chances are your customer will accept what you say as gospel. Now I know this relationship between cc and client could be abused and that is why "less is more" and why I will dissuade some customers from wasting their money on it but in other cases be quite forceful in pushing it. For some reason clients will often subliminally be able to pick up on this.
But at the end of the day recommending something works best when it appears to the client that you are not desperate for the sale and that it bothers you not which way the client decides.
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I can just image him with a cuppa and a nice piece of battenberg while the granny was writing him out a nice big cheque ;D
Shaun
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Hopefully Roger you take this as banter?
Shaun
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Am sure he will :)
Not sure about the battenberg ;D
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Shaun
There's only one thing worse than being talked about.....and that is not being talked about. :)
Long may it continue. ;D
Actually I prefer fruit cake! (With a name like mine..Roger Peach ??? ???)
Confucius say "always offer change when people are offering to pay you in cash-they'll usually then insist you keep the change" ;D
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My bills always end in 7 or 9 it doesn't look as though you have just made a figure up also I read in a marketing book that 7 is a good selling number as it is classed as lucky, Jeremy Beadle once advertised his house for sale at £777,777 and it got in the papers now that's good marketing, 9 is because I want 10 but by giving away a £1 then I get it back anyway.
Shaun
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Never thought of that as i always round it up to 45 or 50 pounds ???
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Shaun
ending in 9 simply makes it look like all retail pricing ie. trying to make the client think the price is £10 cheaper.
For that reason my prices are often ending in 8 even if it means dropping £1 in price; swings and roundabouts-if they pay cash and tip you, you still get what you wanted.
Actually if I price something up and it comes in at say £100or £99, I would normally then advise the client that it is £102. That way it really does look as if you haven't made the price up. Going back to the professional thing, by deliberately pricing outside what most clients would expect you come across as different to most other sellers and more believable. In any case you can always justify a couple of extra quid by going that extra mile on some little aspect of the clean.
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That's true, we (me and the wife ;D) are looking for a new bathroom suite, went to one shop that does it all take out renew ready to use no mess, no fuss, he asked my budget and after some jokes I told him as we wanted to look at which range we could afford, a week later he came back with a price approx 15% above what we wanted to spend, obviously a good salesman, obviously a bad customer as I wanted a quick in and out.
Shaun
PS not buying it though, still go the holed bucket over the tin bath
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I got mine all done by a guy over in saddleworth and was top notch shaun and got our stuff from a dealer in oldham might be too far for him to come,but was freat worker..
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You know when you get tele sales ring you and asking for the 'decission maker' then you'll understand that I was just there for moral support.
Shaun
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Shaun
In the words of Monty Python," You were lucky...."
You know when you get tele sales ring you and asking for the 'decission maker' then you'll understand that I was just there for moral support.
Shaun
caller:"Can I speak to the owner?"
me: "No"
long pause
caller:"why not?"
me:"she doesn't speak to anybody who hasn't taken the trouble to find out her name."
Whilst definitely not true it gets rid of unwanted callers; and those who are serious will be able to find out the information that Nurse Carpet isn't the owner but is in fact the Company Secretary. :)
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Roger
You did that when you were at my house and the day we went to oldham to do that clinic ;D
Must say it was funny as you stopped them right in there sales patter ;D
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Nurse or Matron?
My mate once said to a telesales guy who asked him "can I speak to the owner of the business", My mate "sorry we are just clearing his desk he's dead!" teh poor guy didn't know what to say and hung up.
Shaun
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Nurses are sexier :P
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I just like the way Kenneth Williams used to say it ;D
Shaun
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And the way Hattie Jacques used to look at him.
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;D
Shaun