I completely understand what you are saying and you are right to want a "return" on every £1 spent. Of course we would all like that, but that is not real life, what works for one carpet cleaner, doesn't always work for another. We all started somewhere and we all had to come up with our own ideas, which some have been listed on this thread, which works for the people concerned. They may or may not work for you. You won't know until you try. Business life whether small or large changes daily and you have to change with it, so what may work one month, won't necessarily work the next and so on.
Your question was "what can I do to make sure that each new customer calls me the next time they need their carpets cleaned"
Ok what do you think you should do? Make it unique to you (or believe it is) Try it and see if it works, remember this isn't going to be an overnight success and it could be years before you see a return.
