[Mike Halliday]

As a well known trainer says Forums are The Blind Leading The Blind

But he was selling a £3000 coaching programme

Exactly!! the forums are the salesmen worst enemy ( & best friend) whern you're selling a £3000 programme the last thing you want is your target market communicating with each other

[james roffey]

Best response i have achieved was 4 enquires from 1000 leaflets the, worst 0 enquires from 5000

Leaflets they baffle me, i have 30,000 sitting in my office

[Steve Rothwell]

One thing for certain Jim, if they are in your office you wont get any calls.......

[JandS]

Do they baffle you 'cos there sitting in
your office   

John

[Ian Gourlay]

Must admit they do my head in

But when I was Selling Windows and Encyclopedia I was told it was the slow way . Why should Carpet Cleaning be different.

They only work if your system is automated

[feldon]

I don't get a great response but I can get 5,000 postcards from Dp Printers for around £57 and if I post a few after every job and then on the odd days or half days when I'm not booked then I will go out and deliver 250 or 500, work trickles in from them and it beats sitting around on your ar@e waiting for calls to come in! .
I get around 0.2% to 0.3% return from them but that is over a 6 month period, if you look at it in the short term then one lot of 5000 might bring in nothing and the next 0.5% but it evens out over time.

[james roffey]

One thing for certain Jim, if they are in your office you wont get any calls.......

Too true, but when 5000 go out at great expense and you get  absolutely zilch, you begin to think of spending it elsewhere, to me the first rule of any marketing is it must at least pay for itself. my other marketing is working so i invest in what works for me at any given time  and spend a small percentage on new areas.

That 5000 went out ten months ago in a very specific area, i ask every new enquiry how they found me i have had noone from that leaflet drop ever phone me, the results i have had on more recent drop have been about 1/ 2 calls per 3000 there are better ways to sell your services than leaflets, certainly more economical.

[Steve Rothwell]

That is very true, but maybe if you put some out yourself around jobs when you finish, at least they may be working for you rather than gathering dust.

Just a thougt.

[murky]

Just what Hector said, put them out when you are in a road where you are working, people will have seen the van, been curios as to what their neighbour  was haveing done. Very often they know the original custy and want to keep up with them.

Dont forget we are in whats called a 'stress business'.

Stress business are  where people are very often unsure of whats going to happen, will it go wrong, are they expensive, strangers in their house etc.

Filling up a car is stressful yeh I know price etc but think of it forecourts are now covered you dont get wet takes the stress out of it. Pay at the pump takes the stress out of it.  Going to the Bank, thers a queue, you get wound up, then you hate banks, now they have people comong round and taking cheques off you, put them in an envelope instead of queuing takes the stress out of it.

If you go to the same shop all the time there is no stress you know where everything is. We are a threat in peoples homes, they want comfort and assurance. Thats why it pays to keep in touch with previous customers they know you, what you charge, pat the dog and ask about there kids. NO STRESS.

Leaflets usually only work if you send multiples out, not 1 big hit. James you have 30k there. Send out 3 hits in the same area of 10k each. You have a better
chance of success, thats what they teach you in marketing. They certainly dont work on the office floor apart from stress you out.  You bought those leaflets wondering if they will work, you get stressed out, will they, wont they, you probably wont buy any again, because its a stress product.

There you are, send them out and you wont be stressed!Ha.

One of my busiest periods was when I had an operative and made him do the leaflets and cards when we loaded the van, 20 30 plus a time. Until he got the idea and bought his machine and van, but thats another story.

Adwords has been criticised for being lazy advertising, but it works, just. What do you do after you finish work, do leaflets or go down to the caff? we should do a poll on it. You dont get any work in the caff but its warm and comfortable, you know you should be out doing leaflets, which is a pain and boring but will bring work in and its stress which is what you dont want.

Ian Harper is the one to discuss marketing with, thats his forte. Well good luck and get those leaflets out.
Murky