Clean It Up
UK Floor Cleaning Forum => Carpet Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Daria Taylor on November 20, 2009, 07:45:48 pm
-
hey everyone,
just wondering if you getting busier now it's coming up to christmas? I know cleaning can go abit quieter but carpet cleaning should pick up?
We had leaflets done, delivered about 6000, what kind of return should we be expecting to get from them? we had 25000 printed so i'm just wondering what you guys usually get back?
An also we had printed leaflets with mobile number only because our free phone too a while to be set up, so do you think it reduces rate or return alot?
Dash T
-
Don't they reckon about 7 jobs per 1000??
John
-
if i could get 7 jobs per 1000 i would be a millionaire by now. i'd say between 1 and 5 depending on time of the year.
my business advisor said around 1 to 3%, i just laughed, what year is she living in. ;D
got 9000 going out next week and preying for 18 jobs.
next week is looking good so with the leaflets i "should" have a good end to 2009
derek
-
Don't they reckon about 7 jobs per 1000??
John
That would be great return, we will just have to see, i dont know what return is like on carpet cleaning, this is first time we doing it on large scale etc, i know return on cleaning etc just wanted to know about carpet cleaning in particular.
Do you do any leafleting?
-
if i could get 7 jobs per 1000 i would be a millionaire by now. i'd say between 1 and 5 depending on time of the year.
my business advisor said around 1 to 3%, i just laughed, what year is she living in. ;D
got 9000 going out next week and preying for 18 jobs.
next week is looking good so with the leaflets i "should" have a good end to 2009
derek
Derek what about mobile number do you think that puts people off alot? i know it was such silly thing to do and i'm just really worried i will not get anything back :( and also do you usually get people ringing you back straigh away or over a period of time like a week or 2 etc?
-
You should get a better response than average this time of year but it's usually 0.01% or 1 - 1000, as for a mobile number.....don't do it, people like to shop local also they like to know who they are dealing with so a land line gives them that insurance.
Offering a deal on multiple items cleaned at the same time can work in your favour and offering a discount will sway them into buying but do your sums and offer carpet cleaning at a decent price to make it pay.
Shaun
-
ask yourself one question, if you got a leaflet through and it only had a mobile number on it, would you call?
i advertise both mobile and landline and i would say 80 to 90% of enquiries go straight to the landline first. but then, they do have a choice. think you'll just have to keep your fingers crossed.
as for straight away, you should get half your total enquiries in the first week, another 30% within a month and the rest in dribs and drabs over time, (these aren't facts, just an educated guess from own experiences) got a job booked today from a leaflet i put out well over 6 months ago.
think shauns right in saying, this is probably the best time to get a good return on your leaflets, we achieved 7 enquiries per 1000 last nov/dec. but then we tried again in jan/feb and got zero. zilch. nottin. booger all.
would be intersting if you could quickly get another 6000 out with both numbers on and see the difference in responce.
derek
-
Also a leaflet on coloured paper as it stands out a bit more and may even be kept. Last week my parents got a call from a customer who rang my old (their land line number) and asked if I could clean her carpets, this isn't the first time that has happened and I haven't used that number for 15 years or so and she had an old old leaflet.
Shaun
-
Cant see why having a mobile number would cause any problems if other info were included.
Put a time limit on offers like ends bank holiday Monday 2010
Len
-
Dash can you post your leaflet so we can see it? is your profile picture actually you? if so i hope you have included it on your leaflet as you look quite respectable, I think a good photo goes along way to create trust.
-
'Quite respectable' LOL
7 per 1000 that's a windup merchant at work.
If you could do that consistently without having to resort to ridiculous offers then you could earn £100k plus working for some poncy ad agency.
-
Dash can you post your leaflet so we can see it? is your profile picture actually you? if so i hope you have included it on your leaflet as you look quite respectable, I think a good photo goes along way to create trust.
Yeah cos it's me, the picture of me and my husband soon will be goin on website in part about us, i'm working on it now, but never though of putting it on the leaflet
-
'Quite respectable' LOL
7 per 1000 that's a windup merchant at work.
If you could do that consistently without having to resort to ridiculous offers then you could earn £100k plus working for some poncy ad agency.
??? you dont think so? haha anyways i'm not here to discuss that matter, just like to know what return to expect after i have been out there delivering these leaflets for hours with blisters on my feet.
Dash T
-
You should get a better response than average this time of year but it's usually 0.01% or 1 - 1000, as for a mobile number.....don't do it, people like to shop local also they like to know who they are dealing with so a land line gives them that insurance.
Offering a deal on multiple items cleaned at the same time can work in your favour and offering a discount will sway them into buying but do your sums and offer carpet cleaning at a decent price to make it pay.
Shaun
yeah we didnt include our free number because we only got it today, took ages to sort out, so i dont know what return we will be looking to get, hopefully we will get some return on it, if not will just have to bite the bullet and start again.
dash t
-
ask yourself one question, if you got a leaflet through and it only had a mobile number on it, would you call?
i advertise both mobile and landline and i would say 80 to 90% of enquiries go straight to the landline first. but then, they do have a choice. think you'll just have to keep your fingers crossed.
as for straight away, you should get half your total enquiries in the first week, another 30% within a month and the rest in dribs and drabs over time, (these aren't facts, just an educated guess from own experiences) got a job booked today from a leaflet i put out well over 6 months ago.
think shauns right in saying, this is probably the best time to get a good return on your leaflets, we achieved 7 enquiries per 1000 last nov/dec. but then we tried again in jan/feb and got zero. zilch. nottin. booger all.
would be intersting if you could quickly get another 6000 out with both numbers on and see the difference in responce.
derek
yeah i was thinking of doing that, and as regards to would i ring mobile number, well if the leaflet looked nice i would if it looked poor i wouldn't.
dash t
-
I get at least 10 new customers a week from 5000 leaflets a week so at an average job price of £100 I will make a grand from 5k leaflets that cost me approx £105 to print & deliver, that's what is important not how many replies per 1000 I get.
work out how much you are spending & how much you need to earn to make it worth while
-
my new leaflet ( mistakes rectified after this proof); don't go to website to watch video as its not on until next week ;)
-
....... is your profile picture actually you? if so i hope you have included it on your leaflet as you look quite respectable........
Very polite way of putting it Mike. Let's face it, "dash t" is a darn good looking girl. Hope she makes the most of it for promotional purposes.
ps. You look ok as well ;) - not to sure about your side-kick
-
'Quite respectable' LOL
7 per 1000 that's a windup merchant at work.
If you could do that consistently without having to resort to ridiculous offers then you could earn £100k plus working for some poncy ad agency.
??? you dont think so? haha anyways i'm not here to discuss that matter, just like to know what return to expect after i have been out there delivering these leaflets for hours with blisters on my feet.
It was they way he said it, nothing to do with your looks luv. ;)
Dash T
-
Paul that's not my sidekick its my 'stain & odour removal technician' ;D ;D ;D
-
Mike
I thought you had a different name for him recently ! ;D
Re: The video - about bloody time !
Steve
PS: Really good leaflet
-
Did you fancy a change with yor old leaflet Mike? or did it start to not work so well?
I would have thought you would have put your local number on.
Shaun
PS can't find your video on your website??
-
Who designed it?? looks great!
Mark
-
Shaun I wanted a leaflet that showed 3 important things; the new van, Beverley Minster & Me.
my old school mate did the leaflet ( he is a graphic designer) its good because that photo doesn't exist, its made up of 3 different images
the video will be on by the end of next week
-
Love the leaflet Mike. But I love the van even more. Anyone seeing that diving around Hull would just have to have to wonder what it's all about.
Absolutely unforgeable. Great marketing.
-
I can say that carpet cleaners are definitely in demand in the run up to Christmas. In the past week i have had two people come up to me & ask for a business card, which are my first two card requests as i am a newbie. I have had to rely on leaflets & my van signwriting to get my previous jobs and now i have put leafleting into overdrive.
-
Mike,
Have to say fantastic looking van and leaflet. No doubt we can (and do) all learn a lot from your experience.
Thank you. :)
-
I love the leaflet and the van well executed leaflet and marketing just thought with the local theme you would have had a local number.
As you may know we have a dry cleaners out of my local std code, I used an 0800 on the leaflets I used but when I bought a local area code the response was far better nearly another 50% ontop, Dronfield is the area and they shop like Beverley people ie not out of the area.
Shaun
-
I get at least 10 new customers a week from 5000 leaflets a week so at an average job price of £100 I will make a grand from 5k leaflets that cost me approx £105 to print & deliver, that's what is important not how many replies per 1000 I get.
£105 to print and deliver 5000 leaflets???? really? do you have a link to this companys website please Mike?
The cheapest company i have found in my local area is £60 for 1000, And thats only for the deleiver!
Thanks
Tony
-
printcarrier.com
the post office deliver for approx £50 per 1000 but you can get far cheaper but not solus.
Shaun
-
Shauns right for the printing and £17/1000 delivery with a A5 booklet and a taxi card
-
Shauns right for the printing and £17/1000 delivery with a A5 booklet and a taxi card
your leaflet is very very good:) i must say if i saw that i would definatelly ring. it's funky bright and just very very catchy. Which companies do you use to deliver your leaflets? and which printing company to print them? we have used dp print last time, but i must say the leaflets are very thin and i dont think next time i will go for anything less than 200mg because from the past experience with cleaning i know that thicker they are more people tend to keep them. thinner they are it gives them more reasons to bin them.
My next leaflet will be much more different to this one i did recently, thats for sure, and yes you are rights about what you say as in terms of cost and return, i understand that we counting on around 2 leaflets a 1000 to bring return of 80-100 pounds, but manu factors are indicating right now that we may not get the return we are looking for, but end of the day we will learn from it, and next time will do better and better.
-
The way I see the battle with leafleting is trying to create something that is intriguing enough for the customer to have a little read of it on their way to the bin. If it doesn't raise that little bit of curiosity then they won't call you even if they do want their carpets cleaned. Because you haven't caught their attention. I believe that is the challenge. Making them read it.
-
If you can get them distributed cheaply enough you could put anything on your leaflets and get a good return. Cheap RELIABLE distribution is a major factor.
-
Dash, Dp will print your leaflet on any paper you like, I use 135gm
this leaflet is DN size ( 3 to an A4 sheet of paper) I'm using this size as I have a deal for 2 months with a leather clean/repair franchise who goes on the other side and we split the cost. hopefully this will work well so we can continue it.
last month I had a cock-up with delivery of the leaflets so didn't get them out, so we tested an A6 card leaflet, hand delivered we did 90 mins a day and have been getting good results from them.
-
ive got 5000 going out shared at £30 per 1000 + vat and 4000 going out solus at £45 per 1000 + vat.
hoping for 18 jobs in december from them, fingers crossed.
derek
mike
but you clean and repair leather?
and how many do you get out in that 90 mins, i'm guessing about 350 to 400
-
Derek, got sick of leather don't really enjoy it, so now just pass it on unless its an existing customer.
I sorted out 500 leaflets every morning ( put a mark on the kitchen wall above the work surface) and we set a target to get them out every day, so we were doing 2500 solus every week we did this for a month and almost got a call off every days delivery.
-
hi dash, try this way iam doing it and iam getting a very good result(roughly 1 in 100). i print out 25000 leaflet every 3 months the reson is coz i choosed 3 defferant areas where i live, 2 middle class and 1 working class.so i start leafleting in area 1 then 2 then 3 by the time all the leaflets are finished i start all over again from area 1.In this way ppl well know me in these 3 arera.theres 4 very impotant things though
1-the ppl that post your leaflet must be trustworthy(a friend of main is a leaflet distributor and got a team of 4) so i know that all my leaflets r posted not half of them thrown away
2-your leaflet got 2 be well desinged ( i got my mob number in it only)with some limited time offers.
3-Be very honest and straight forward with customers(iam very sure that you are)which help building up your reputation and get a free ad to newer customer by word of mouth
4-choose huge estate areas.(roughly 40% of my jobs come from working class areas and i do have a good time doing these jobs)
wish you all the best and luck hope that ive been a help..
regards jim
-
Regarding using Mobile number on leaflet i would never use anyone who only had a mobile number it screams out "cowboy" to me, thats only my opinion though.
-
we quiet right now picking up a bit getting 10000 postcards done with calendar on back hopefully this works or santa going to be in bad books lol
-
hi dash, try this way iam doing it and iam getting a very good result(roughly 1 in 100). i print out 25000 leaflet every 3 months the reson is coz i choosed 3 defferant areas where i live, 2 middle class and 1 working class.so i start leafleting in area 1 then 2 then 3 by the time all the leaflets are finished i start all over again from area 1.In this way ppl well know me in these 3 arera.theres 4 very impotant things though
1-the ppl that post your leaflet must be trustworthy(a friend of main is a leaflet distributor and got a team of 4) so i know that all my leaflets r posted not half of them thrown away
2-your leaflet got 2 be well desinged ( i got my mob number in it only)with some limited time offers.
3-Be very honest and straight forward with customers(iam very sure that you are)which help building up your reputation and get a free ad to newer customer by word of mouth
4-choose huge estate areas.(roughly 40% of my jobs come from working class areas and i do have a good time doing these jobs)
wish you all the best and luck hope that ive been a help..
regards jim
thats a 1000 jobs a year just off leaflets jim, some going that is.
fingers crossed i get the same results with mine next week.
derek
-
Mark Powell was on about this a few days ago now but can't find the thread.
Basically though he said he put 200 out every morning every day and gets
6 to the 1000.
Then he started doing them on an evening and was getting 8 to the 1000.
Apologies Mark if I've misquoted you but think those figures are right.
John
-
what i don't understand john is... if people are getting 7 to 8 jobs per thousand and it costs at the max £100 per thou printed and delivered, then as long as your not charging silly low prices you could build a massive company on leaflets alone. ???
if someone could garauntee me 5 jobs per 1000, i would be a millionaire in 2 years.
derek
-
If I could get 7 or 8 jobs per thousand leaflets I would happily pay someone over the odds for delivery. I'm not saying it's not possible to get that kind of response but it doesn't tally with my experience of leafleting.
-
If your leaflet looks ' instantly binable ' it will be instantly binned. ;)
try to be a bit different.
Paul
-
I have experimented with all sorts of leaflets throughout the 30 years Ive been in this business. Some have been more succesful than others, with my later ones working really well and producing up to 10 enquiries per 1,000 and on a good day even more. Only problem is, I dont get time to put them out very often, and the only way to the intended response is to deliver them yourself. However I dont believe it is possible to sustain that kind of response over the long term with a good leaflet, it has to be better than that. The answer to creating the desired number of enquiries is getting the leaflet content right, worded correctly in the right order, first creating an impact and leading the reader to want to read more and then to get them to pick up the phone. Get it wrong and in the bin it goes.
Theres no perfect leaflet because prospective customers dont all look for the same thing and priorities vary, so some will work with some people and not with others.
They do still remain one of the best ways to generate business though, particularly during the early years.
Dave.
-
its getting a distributor i have trouble with because its all about getting volume out. have been putting out 2-3 hundred a day myself but havent had time lately but must admit its not my best form of advertising so far to date. but like most say its quantity may get some one to do 5-10000 a month for a while and see what response i get
-
There's an old truism in business which says it's cheaper to retain and service an existing customer than to continually acquire new customers.
So picking up on Derek's observation; if you are getting all these jobs from leaflets then surely, the longer you are in this business , the more repeats and regular clients you should be acquiring and therefore the need to continually deliver leaflets should diminish over the years of trading?
I know Clinton's emphasis on paid advertising has diminished over the years, as has mine, yet our businesses have grown over the years.
So, my question to all those of you who push out leaflets non-stop, month in-month out is why are you not getting the business growth which would allow you to tail off your leafleting with all the associated aggro of delivery?
Is is that there is little or no loyalty from these customers or are the jobs paying so little/clients so unprofitable that the need to generate lots of new business customers is a pre-requisite?
Roger
PS Sorry for asking such deep questions so late at night on a Saturday.
-
I think there are alot of cleaners at different stages but Roger has hit the nail on the head make a connection with your customer they may not have their carpets cleaned by you forever but may be at least more than once.
Shaun
-
We all know the power of compound interest over time (well it used to be good anyway ::) )
Well the real power of marketing is when you do the same with your marketing methods.
If you have one sledgehammer method to get new business that's great but if you do nothing more the guy down the road who gets a modest influx of new Clients but applies all the other stuff it then multplies out way way more, and more cheaply too.
So every new client, he looks after, does a good job, asks to clean all Madams other stuff, has a referral system, has a reminder system, he notices what she's interested in, goes the extra mile, finds out where she/hubby works....etc etc
There's one big BUT though, it's a bit like hard work though and some haven't go time/patience or want to communicate with custies, so they would prefer to bung out some more leaflets.
Whatever works for you. :)
-
A lot of people don't understand the logic of a planned leaflet campaign as opposed to sticking a few leaflets out will nilly.
You need to have a decent leaflet to start with but then you need to sit down and think of where the type of customers you want to attract actually live. You then need to leaflet those same areas every month or 2 months. This has to be done over a period of at least 2 years.
Think of an estate with 300 decent houses on it. You put 300 leaflets through the letter box once. If you are lucky you will get one job. You might get one or two others put the leaflet in the draw for a later date. You do that one job and a few people will see your van. Now think if you go back next month and put 300 leaflets out. Thats twice they've seen your name and you might get another couple of jobs. So you are back and your van is being seen again and your company name starts to become familiar. Now imagine you have leafleted that estate every month for a year or two. Instead of just having that one initial job you may have been back there maybe 30-50 times and each time as your van is sitting on your customers drive the neighbours are looking and saying thats that leaflet that comes through the door.
This is how you can build up a really good business using a planned and well executed long term leaflet campaign. Its not cheap and its not easy but I know people who have done it and succeeded.
I talk to cleaners all the time and there a lot who are constantly complaining about a lack of work. When I suggest this method I always get the answer " oh I've tried leaflets, waste of time" and when I press them they have made that exact mistake of getting a few thousand printed, sticking them through doors and sitting back waiting for the work. Don't bother it won't come.
-
I agree with what you say John, but if one were to go to that estate of 300 houses and instead of dropping a flyer through each letterbox were to knock on each door instead. Then when the occupant came to the door, introduced himself and told them who he was and what he did.
I am suggesting this because that was how I built up my customer base many years ago, and the areas and districts where I did this are still my best areas for business after almost nineteen years.
Pick the type of places where you prefer to work, much easier working at a detached house with plenty parking space that a four story block of flats with no lift.
-
a quick reply ( off to work,,,, on a sunday :-\ :-\ )
I constantly leaflet min 4000-5000 every week and have done so for the last 8-10yrs.
you could ask why I need to do this, my leaflets goes to the same houses every month, so every house in Beverley has received approx 92 of my leaflets.... every one of my customers gets a leaflet from me every month.
I have no involvement in my leafleting and it cost me the equivalent of me working for 4hrs work, so what is the difference betreen this and me actually spending 4 hours sending out reminder cards (inc cost of them) or newsletters or any other marketing.
-
I constantly leaflet min 4000-5000 every week and have done so for the last 8-10yrs.
you could ask why I need to do this, my leaflets goes to the same houses every month, so every house in Beverley has received approx 92 of my leaflets.... every one of my customers gets a leaflet from me every month.
Is that not quite annoying to your customers tho Mike? (or potential customers) to constantly get these leaflets coming through the door.
Do you use the post office to delever the leaflets or another compeny? or do it yourself?
Cheers
Tony
-
I constantly leaflet min 4000-5000 every week and have done so for the last 8-10yrs.
you could ask why I need to do this, my leaflets goes to the same houses every month, so every house in Beverley has received approx 92 of my leaflets.... every one of my customers gets a leaflet from me every month.
Is that not quite annoying to your customers tho Mike? (or potential customers) to constantly get these leaflets coming through the door.
Do you use the post office to delever the leaflets or another company? or do it yourself?
p.s. whats Solus? been mentioned a phew times on here but i'm cluless about it :-[
Cheers
Tony
-
the good thing about the internet is if your not sure what something means, you can type it into google and find out. simples
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/solus
try it, you'll love it. ;D
ps... i knew what solus meant, and should do as ive got 4000 going out like that.
derek
-
Tony I have had some sent to me in the mail asking for me to stop sending them!
but its not like I'm forcing them to read it, they glance at it, don't need it, so bin. Sometimes they will just pick up the junk mail off the doorstep and chuck it all straight in the bin.
I speak to my customer who ring me from leaflets and they don't even consciously remember all the leaflets they have received because at the moment of delivery carpet cleaning is'nt on thier minds, but they leaflets keep coming
until they do need me
solus leaflet deliver mean the leaflet get delivered by is self - nothing else
-
To get the best response Solus is better but by far the most expensive, you do have to try a few companies to get the one that is the best value for money, some free papers are dumped before they even see a letter box where as solus is guaranteed to land but may be 3 times as much but that's only part of it you do need a good leaflet. A good idea is to ask a few people who are more like your customers/buyers for what they would like to read and would make them call.
Shaun
PS I think Mike does get the deal of the century with his leaflet delivery
-
We had 5000 A6 Marketing Cards digitally printed last month ready for distribution. We were advised to go for the A6 Marketing Cards rather than a4 paper leaflets or A5. It is also double sided with a bit more info and special offers available.
We paid £140 + VAT to have 5000 printed. It was our design and layout that we took to them andthey created the marketing card.
I notice a few of you say as do we agre, that the look and info on leaflets etc has to be good inorder to attract atention and i would welcome feedback.
Thanks
-
Dash, Dp will print your leaflet on any paper you like, I use 135gm
this leaflet is DN size ( 3 to an A4 sheet of paper) I'm using this size as I have a deal for 2 months with a leather clean/repair franchise who goes on the other side and we split the cost. hopefully this will work well so we can continue it.
last month I had a cock-up with delivery of the leaflets so didn't get them out, so we tested an A6 card leaflet, hand delivered we did 90 mins a day and have been getting good results from them.
Yeah i know they do different paper, we currently had 135gm printed, and like i said it's good quality leaflets but not what i was looking for, as i like them much thicker like post cards as i do think we get much better return from them. So next time it will definatelly be 200gm, also we had a cock up with delivery, only had half delivered, and rest gone to other people and we received theirs. Wrong order had to be confirmed by sending bk so many leaflets which we did, but due to postal problems we seems to have even further delay, which set us back another 2 weeks or so. We do some deliveries our self and we have relatives delivering 1500 every friday to selected areas, but i am hoping to find a reliable delivering company anytime soon.
dash t
-
20% off sounds a lot.
Could get burnt with that one.
One way or another.
John
-
Just note you will have to pay Vat on the flyers if your putting offers on them !
Did this on mine,and just put an extra 20% on,then knocked it off again ;D
-
But that way you'd have to ask them first question how they found you when they ring up.
Then they'd know you were padding out the price to cover the discount.
John
-
There is no VAT on leaflets.
-
glynns right, even with offers on theres no vat, unless you leave a space for writing on.
derek