[Timmy Boy]

How do all
I need to get hold of the watchdog episode in which Rogue Traders caught out Enterprise. I am doing a 'Public Notice' leaflet drop and want to refer to my Youtube Channel on the leaflet but can only find it on WOW Carpet cleaners Youtube channel which has there logo in the corner and it belongs to them. Any ideas?
Thanks
Tim

[Fran84]

try the watchdog website

[Warren Aldridge]

This guy has linked to them

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZlX9Qwr8vg

[Jamie Lindsay]

people dont give a poop about enterprise cleaning they just want clean carpets

[Timmy Boy]

thanks warren and Fran and thanks for your insightful comment Jamie My plan is to put together a public notice leaflet which will warn people of scammers such as enterprise operating in the area and to sell the benefits of fully insured, trained operatives, you use quality equipment and products etc. I will be warning people that 2 rooms for £15.00 is too good to be true and then saying 'go onto my youtube to watch the episode'. I have found since starting that this business and all businesses for that matter will go full circle from everyone wanting quality, then price is king, then you reach the cheapest it can go and quality comes back to the top. I think that with all these rip off merchants at BOTH ends of the scale there is a real opportunity for most of us on here. It is just a matter of informing your audience.

[robert meldrum]

Although very admirable.......I unfortunately have to agree with Jamie.

When some one has a soiled carpet they just want it cleaned and over the past year I've found more and more are not just asking " how much " but admit they are looking around which means they're looking for the best price.

 

[Simon Gerrard]

Timmy,
My plan is to put together a public notice leaflet which will warn people of scammers such as enterprise operating in the area and to sell the benefits of fully insured, trained operatives, you use quality equipment and products etc
If you're planning to do this you need to be mighty careful that you don't imply that any of your competitors are in any way similar to Enterprise or you could up end up being sued. Plus, I don't think deploying scare tactics is a worthwhile strategy when trying to instill confidence in people.

Simon

[Carpet Dawg]

yeah, sounds negative to me. Building a negative picture about the industry as a whole IMO.

I'm never negative when in a customer home, for example when they mention that they've gotten a quote or had work done from chemdry, I never say "expensive and not very good eh?" I say nothing, let them tell me they didn't do a good job! 

Anyway, just concentrate on your own business and dont worry about your competitors.

[Jamie Lindsay]

There is nt only large companys doing these scams ie bait n switch bt individuals like you and i

My advice is focus on your own business dnt get caught up in it

Cleaning carpets = sales get the sales right you will do ok

Ps wasnt being negative bout your idea just giving my thoughts hope your campange works good luck mate

[Timmy Boy]

Do you guys really think it comes across as scare tactics? That's something I want to avoid for sure but how else do you or can you explain what you get in a better service without letting people know. I am not trying to knock anyone but what is wrong with informing the general public that not ALL carpet cleaners are the same. I know that the episode was negative towards one particular company but knowledge is power, if someone thinks that a £10 carpet clean will be the same as £30 one as they do not know any different then the whole experience will generally be negative to the industry. They will get a guy come in and potentially do a terrible job. That person will then tell all her friends that she had a 'professional' company in who has done a bad job. Just my opinion but one that I think needs to be discussed.
Ta

[Simon Gerrard]

Timmy,
What you may not realise is that there have been shall we say, less than professional operators for as long as there has been carpet cleaning. You don't need to tell the public about them, they already know, many having experienced them first hand. And they don't have to be the bait and switch outfits either, god knows there seem to be plenty supposed carpet cleaners around doing an awful job as well.

Putting negatives in front of people in the hope of producing a positive and making yourself look good isn't the best of ploys IMO.

Simon

[John Kelly]

I can see where people are coming from regarding negativity. There has always been this unwritten rule about not slagging off competitors but concentrating on your own business.
I am beginning to have doubts whether this is truly relevent in this age of multi media advertising.
Lots of big companies are now doing this. You just need to watch the adverts. Asda aren't saying come to us our stuff is better, they are actually saying come to us our stuff is cheaper than Tesco, Sainsbury's etc. Dishing their competitors prices. Broadband providers are comparing prices and naming other companies.  That blows the idea of not dishing your competition out of the water.
Chem-Dry have the soaking carpets video which is dishing everyone who uses hot water extraction. I think in these tough times we are going to see this more and more as companies fight for an ever decreasing market share.

[james roffey]

John

A supermarket saying we are cheaper is different they are selling the same product, if i am buying the same product i don't care who sells it.

It's when it becomes a service or they are selling quality i have noticed over the past twenty years that Tesco used to be known as a cheap brand but know they are known for selling better quality products i love the ready meals from Tescos they are superb quality better than most it's competitors, i'ts the same with Waitrose v Asda.

Are you Asda carpet cleaning   or Waitrose Carpet cleaning ?

The public know about cowboys too i think it's a wasted effort you walking the streets delivering leaflets telling them this.

[John Kelly]

Yes but I was getting at the principle of never dishing your rivals. This has changed now.

[Simon Gerrard]

I think the public are well and truly aware of less than professional carpet cleaning outfits and in my experience they are always on the lookout for someone to do a proper job at a reasonable price. Reminding them that it is basically a lottery as to how good any carpet cleaner is just reinforces the doubts they may already have and that can have an effect even on someone saying, 'we are better than the rest' because how do they know that other than to try you and for all they know that could be just of much of a lure as the Enterprise bait and switch guy's, espically as you have just focused on that powerful negative.

Far better in my view to focus outright on the positive aspects of what you do and let the customer choose you because you offer a different experience to one they've had themselves, or have heard of from others.

Simon

[james roffey]

You are probably right John i cant remember if this used to happen years ago, how else can they compete selling many of the same products most of them are conning us anyway with reductions loss leaders etc.


Totally agree with Simon push the positives of your own expertise and professionalism.

[John Kelly]

"I think the public are well and truly aware of less than professional carpet cleaning outfits"

Do you really think that Simon?. Personally I think the majority of the public haven't got a clue. Thats how these cowboys are so succesfull.

[Hilton]

I agree,
by far the  majority of the public know nothing about cow boy operators.

Any marketeer will tell you that fear sells...you see it every day in advertising.

I think what Timmy is planning to do is a good idea and he should go ahead with it, put a little bit of doubt/fear in a potential customers  mind when opting for what is clearly a too good to be true offer..

[Simon Gerrard]

"I think the public are well and truly aware of less than professional carpet cleaning outfits"

Do you really think that Simon?. Personally I think the majority of the public haven't got a clue. Thats how these cowboys are so succesfull.

Absolutely.  Let's not forget, this indystry has always been heavily populated by people who are just in it to make a quick buck and couldn't care less about training, professionalism, or standards, which is why people are wary of carpet cleaners and while they may want their carpets cleaned, don't know who to trust. Hardly a day goes by without someone telling you of their last experience with a carpet cleaner and all of those negative experiences get passed from neighbour to friend, to colleague, fuelling the low public esteem which this industry had been plagued by in all the years I've been in it.
"I think the public are well and truly aware of less than professional carpet cleaning outfits" not least by programmes like Watchdog highlighting (quite rightly) those negatives to the entire nation, after that, how can they not be wary?

Simon

[Mike Halliday]

You are going to deliver a leaflet trying to get people tp log onto your YouTube channel,

It's hard enough to get them to pick up the phone let alone log onto YouTube, if you want them to make the effort of going to the computor at least get them to log onto your website then put the video there.

 Space  on a leaflet is precious, I wouldn't use it in a negative way as you don't have the space to fully inform the reader, you have nearly limitless space on your website (you could have a full page)

use a headline on your leaflet to direct them to your website......then use the video

EG: Visit our website to see the horror story of 87yr old OAP Mavis Riley who trusted a 'proffesional' carpet cleaner..... but lived to regret it