[the red carpet]

Who said i dont ask for referalls? i do though i will be honest and say that i leave a client satisfaction/referall leter with clients and allthough i havent been doing it that long i have never got a referall from it. I was also sending out postcards to all previous clients offering £10 for referalls and i sent loads and have only ever got one i can trace back to that.

However i do allways get calls saying "Hi you cleaned my neighbours, aunt's, mums, daughters etc carpets before can you do mine?"

[ianharper]

red

the price promise is to say that i have services that fit everyone budget let me quote for you without any fear. never had to give out.

sometimes people can look at your marketing and think to themselves that you are to expensive for them. often i get a reaction when i give the price, "that's cheap" its about getting a balance to the message. that's why i don't worry to much about spelling or how it sounds. i do my checks but some mistakes always get though.

In fact Jim wolverton did a test where he did a leaflet then he gave it to a school teacher to check then he did a A B test and his one with some mistakes and voice out performed the teachers perfect one.

in fact i have had people call to tell me how they like the copy and that it had mistakes in it. one way to get the phone to ring

As you know, i like to develop ideas from other people. the "free room" is free lifetime spillage cover" my money back is my "price promise"

my site is based on a Dan kennedy idea of what he calls a sales path. instead of letting people click all over your site aimlessly. you lead them down a path.

its improved response.

backend is about "critical mass". where you only have to do frountend to replace the clients dropping out. every ideas works its a mater of making it pay. by tracking the numbers for each idea you can see the level that it works at. then you know the level of investment to put into that idea. i see it as buying customers. repeat business is a direct refection on

what value for money you give. (giving them a good deal)
how much they trust you. (they will not recommend you if they don't)
how well you cleaned (speaks for itself)

respect

Ian Harper

[Buster Ingram]

Funny you should mention a referral program, I started one many years ago along the lines,
I shell be moving south soon and my referral program in my new area will include Agos vouchers for clients that recomend their friends and family.

[craigp]

Red you posted as i was typing but you are making the same piont as me but without all my waffle. so I've added this bit 

......................................................................................................................................................

I spent a lot of my late 20s to early 30s working in various sales jobs ( I thought sales would lead to riches & happiness ) I sold double glazing, cars, maintenance chemicals, etc etc.

often I was told to trawl through the old files and look for orphan customers ( customers who had been previously sold to by a departed salesmen)  to contact.

I was constantly told that its easier to sell to (& keep) an old customer than it is to gain a new one. In double glazing we were told it cost £500 to get a new customer through the door, but getting an existing customer to buy again cost £75. so as you can see it is cheaper to keep old customers than try and get new ones.

in high value sales this is true but we cannot use the same theory with carpet cleaning, if you spend all your marketing money selling to your existing client base you will not get the same response as if you used that money gaining new customers especially when used with marketing you know will work.

I have many times spent over a £100 sending out:

 reminder cards,

thank-you letter,

next door letters,

Easter cards,

Xmas cards etc..etc.etc

all to existing customers IT NEVER BRING IN MORE WORK THAN IF I HAD USED THE SAME AMOUNT OF MONEY ON FRESH MARKETING.

 carpet cleaners have said to me, " i sent out 200 reminder cards and got loads of work from the them" now this is true but how many of these customers would have contacted him even if they hadn't received a reminder card? I've stopped mailing out all the stuff I used to send out, and I still get old customers ringing me and recommending me to the their family and friend.

We all need to take a logical look at our marketing and put a price on it ( including the amount of time used ) and we need to stop believing everything we read, just because its works for car sales doesn't mean it will work for carpet cleaning.

  befere spending hours printing out all them letters and buying all those stamps ASK YOURSELF CAN THIS MONEY BE SPENT MORE EFFECTIVELY.

Mike

Good post Mike, i have never really bothered with backend marketing, newsletters ect. and was somthing i was getting round to doing shortly, now im thinking maybe i should'nt bother.

Just to add somthing else no ones mentioned regarding marketing to exsisting customers, many of my exsisiting customers get my leaflets regular anyway as they live in areas i leaflet so do i really need to send them letters?

Thanks Mike i think you saved me alot of time licking stamps.

[ianharper]

guys

with respect this post is about directories. so what you are say is that you don't need to spend your money on directories?

no your not are you? what you are saying spend money on what works.

it all works to a level. its down to us to work that level out.

for example its no good mailshotting when you are low on work you must do it on a regular basis. and the shot might not work for many reason, like poor offer, headline. copy, etc.

you find out what work by testing.

what you charge also has an effect on what you can offer or what media you use.

for example if you make big profits on one form of media and take that as profit each time without testing other ideas or media you will be selling yourself short. you will be limiting your earning potential.

its been proved that people have favorite media, for example if a prospect buys from a mail shot the chance are that they will not buy from other types of media. so i can see where you are coming from with you point that why bother with other media when each of my customers get a leaflet each month.

sure that's true. how about the prospects that don't like buying from leaflets?

ask people how they should buy and they will say recommendation. how do you build up a relationship with someone? by a personal approach. sure if you are putting an offer in you advertising to past customers then you are going part way to doing this. but i feel that a personal letter with their name on it works better.

I'll bet most cleaners that use the one step approach, frountend only, don't do this.

BTW its not a mater of believing what we read its believing what works, and you get there by testing something until it does and then you stick with it.

The reason for this post was that i have read lots of cleaners giving up on something because it looks like it does not work. mike you said that you get great returns on your directory adverts. so you would recommend others to use them.? so what every one with adverts that don't work just copy mikes and you'll be making money and great returns

my point is understanding what makes something work. when you understand that you can leverage it. i am sure that mike would not want everyone in his local area to copy his marketing. but understanding why his advert works and then using this info with an unique approach will.

that's what direct response does it sets out guide lines that are the rules, headline, offer copy etc. and its up to us all to develop a USP with these.

tracking gives you the limits to how much to spend and on what and when.

respect to you view guys

ian harper