[Gabriel Nagy]

Like the above saying: get a website and SEO for it...nowdays papers and yellow pages advertising seems to go down...lots of people use internet if not the most. Belive me, all yellow pages stay outside unopened...internet marketing is so high now. Talk with as many guys as you can at training courses for ideas, tips and advice...pay attention to course as wll...but mistakes will be done and you'll learn your lesson for sure. Good luck

[creighton foyle]

if you train at cleansmart you will get exactly the same training course as with the ncca only a lot cheaper, derek bolton who does the training for them contributed heavily to the ncca course and was once a director i think.
 I have done both courses and in my opinion they are almost identical.

[Kinver_Clean]

Phil- what are the last 3 digits of your mobile no? I forgot to make a note.

[AshWhite]

Oh, and one tip I wish I'd have given more consideration from when I started:

Keep your database of customers from day 1!

I'm in the process of trying to do mine now, and it's a long boring slog - if I'd have kept on it from the start it'd be a piece of cake.

[Colin Day]

Oh, and one tip I wish I'd have given more consideration from when I started:

Keep your database of customers from day 1!

I'm in the process of trying to do mine now, and it's a long boring slog - if I'd have kept on it from the start it'd be a piece of cake.

Couldn't agree more. Get hard copies too, I've lost 2 data bases thanks to my computers crashing....

[Stevieoneill1967]

Hi Phil,

Good luck to you!  I've been in the trade for three and a half years.  On every job or on site quotation, I always take the time to do a proper survey no matter how big or small the job is, and I fill out my survey sheets religiously.  As well as giving my customers the right first impression, the survey helps to hopefullly elliminate any complacency.

When I started up, I went to the biggest church in town and offered to carry out a clean at a heavily discounted rate.  I done some work, then asked the minister for a testimonial.  He gave me a glowing report, and I have used his testimonial on my leaflets, letters and website etc.  As a leading figure in the local community, his testimonial has worked wonders!

[phil doyle]

Phil- what are the last 3 digits of your mobile no? I forgot to make a note.

Hi mate 07852142883 cheers

[garry22]

Keep your database of customers from day 1!

I'm in the process of trying to do mine now, and it's a long boring slog - if I'd have kept on it from the start it'd be a piece of cake.

Brilliant advice. Your list is your most valuable asset. I cannot believe I used to throw names and addresses away when I first started!

Couldn't agree more. Get hard copies too, I've lost 2 data bases thanks to my computers crashing....

I use a system called Carbonite ( www.carbonite.com ). it costs £ 40.00 a year. It backs up the whole of your hard drive to secure storage online. It keeps uploading stuff as you use it on a minute by minute basis. Like Colin, I had a hard drive fail recently and all I ahd to do was restore the contents from the online database.

[Robert Watson]

Constant Contact is good as well. Easy to create a good email newsletter.
Its online and you can save your database to an excel file at any time you want.
Just got to make sure you keep on top of it.

I use Invoice2go to email a PDF receipt using a mobile app. I CC it to myself then I can transfer the info into Constant Contact very quickly on the move or whenever I get the time.
Two birds, one stone, well almost.

[phil doyle]

Cheers everyone, cant believe the amount of feedback im getting, which drives me to think its a good business. You have all gave me ideas that i wouldnt of thought of, Not knowing the businesss first hand. If there is anything i can help anyone out with just ask. I appreciate all your advice and cant wait to get stuck in and will keep you updated and will keep picking your brains. Cheers.

[ian harper]

respects

[Kinver_Clean]

And make a note on the job sheet where the job came from to monitor your advertising.

[phil doyle]

I have quite a large job on the 2,3 and maybe the 5 Jan at Kinver.
You are welcome to come and give me a hand and see what it is all about.
0800 1957 062 around 4-5pm Thur or Fri if you are interested.

Hi mate are you still looking for a hand on 2nd Jan. Im still keen to meet with you if thats ok. Phil 07852142883
Cheers

[Seymour Sunshine]

I'm just doing the feasibility study at the moment. I've found that Youtube is an amazing resource.

There are loads of videos on carpet cleaning. Some show it done really well and others show people making a real pig's ear of it. There are a couple of videos that show the 4, 5, 6 or 7 stages of carpet cleaning (and I seem to recall one showing 9 stages!). Watching these before or after the course will be excellent prevision or revision.

Here are a few examples:

Cleaning of heavily soiled office carpet: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5j_7Ssee2M

Principle 1 Dry Soil Removal: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3QBd-uD74w
Plus the other Principles

And my own personal favourite:
Happy Carpet Cleaners - Like you'll rarely see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cX12YXs7rk

And I think that this one shows how NOT to do it:
Commercial Carpet Cleaning | Steam Carpet Cleaning Service: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIrODpdIwrA&

[phil doyle]

Cheers Seymour will check out those links. Appreciate that. Phil.

[Abijah Mandela]

Hi Phil,

I have not long started and recently found these sites :

http://sfs.jondon.com/ and www.mickeysboard.com

Lots of really good articles!

Good luck!

[M.Acorn]

Oh, and one tip I wish I'd have given more consideration from when I started:

Keep your database of customers from day 1!

I'm in the process of trying to do mine now, and it's a long boring slog - if I'd have kept on it from the start it'd be a piece of cake.

And keep it backed up on cd,lost all my work stuff recently when my pc died,still waiting for a sata enclosure so I can,fingers crossed recover all my stuff from the h,disk,if not,it's a case of loading up the last one I backed up,about 3 years ago,and sitting with 3 years worth of diary's,and starting again !!!!  :