[Ryan @ Transparent, Carlisle]

Some may have seen my recent topic 'carpet cleaning in a bar'

Well the client was so impressed ive had a call off them to clean it 4 times a year!

this is a new venture for us, although we have done quite a few jobs now, we are ready to start advertising full on! Just wondering if you guys/girls think it is possible to bring a turnover of £500 p/w JUST off carpet cleaning?

we have a healthy income from the window cleaning business aswell!

Thanks

[andrew stone]

to turnover 500 quid a week just carpet cleaning should be pretty easy for you to achieve.
market to all of your window cleaning customers and leaflet drop.
good luck

andrew

[Ryan @ Transparent, Carlisle]

Thanks for that. Our shiny new flyers should be here this week. We normally only work 4 days a week on the windows, so we have plenty spare days.

Thanks

[Mike Halliday]

come at it backwards....

what do you have to do to earn £500? if your average jobs price is £75 ( an easy target) then you need to get 7-8 jobs to earn £500 if your average is £120 then you need 4 jobs

either way you are looking at min 2 days work, have you 2 days spare?

what marketing have got in place to get those 4-8 jobs? its all about the numbers

[Ryan @ Transparent, Carlisle]

this is why im asking Mike. The biggest job i have done was £180, and the smallest, an empty living room £40.

Im looking to learn from others, as im new in this game, but i think i've got what it takes to make it work, i setup the WC business from scratch, from earning nothing to what i am now.

Im intrested to know of peoples approaches to larger commercial premesis, hotels, shops, etc... In window cleaning, i would go in & ask to speak to the manager, however with CC, the manager generally has a larger amount of ££ to fork out for CC. So is a more professional approach better? ie; send in a flyer with a cover letter, requesting an appointment?

The only marketing stratagy we have in place at the moment is leaflets, and by talking to our existing customers, out of the last 4 CC jobs we've had, 3 of those were an existing WC customer.

Thanks

[Simon Gerrard]

Ryan,
If you're aiming at the domestic market as well you need to be aware that there are a lot more things than can go wrong, so training is essential.
Every carpet cleaner on the planet markets hotels, pubs, restaurants etc and that makes them hard to get. A website would be a good place to start along with adwords until your site ranks on page one, which takes forever these days.

Simon

[peter maybury]

The main difference between carpet and window cleaning is that few people will have a budget for carpet cleaning where as most will have a budget for window cleaning. Even regular domestic customers may only have their carpets cleaned annually. Large commercial customer that have the budgets go out to tender where you compete with productive well equipped competitors with established credibility.
There is a lot of money in carpet cleaning but you do need to be very good at it,  for every 50 people making a good income there are 100s just scratching a living.
The greatest hurdle is gaining your customers confidence to let you loose on their prized possessions.
Simon mentions training and that would always be my advice to anybody new to the industry. A two day training course will not make you a good carpet cleaner but it will give you an insight into the type of equipment and knowledge you need to become one.

Peter
www.carpetcleanercardiff.com