[scott.]

How long ...on average do we have to wait, before we dont have to rely entirely on the phone to ring daily for new customers?
What size of customer base does it take before this happens?

Some of you must be at this stage by now....I dont know, but according to my stats...the recent demand for carpet cleaning has dropped significantly...going by "web searches", that is....from december until now, it's been very slack.
I dont rely on this as Ive got fingers in pies...but, would like to do it full time one day...but it aint looking promising.
This time last year, the searches on google were roughly 290 a day in this region...but thats dropped to 25 a day....anyone got any answers, before I start breeding wippets

[craigp]

hi scott,

how do you know googles search stats?

are you putting leaflets out?

local free paper can be good and economical, just linage is best, (most economical)

unfortunatly you always need new custys in just game, at least imo, repeats help boost work load but you'll still need new, this is the problem cost of advertising, i know c/c who stopped advertising after 14 years but had to resume again after 2-3 years not advertising

you always need new blood

[scott.]

I stopped y/p because they were crap...I use google adwords, and make sure im always number 1....as for papers...theres too many, and most of my customers are i nthe next county...from what I hear...leaflets are a lot of hassle....I thought the net was the ultimate advertising tool..but looking at the stats...im beginning to wonder whats going wrong...dont get me wrong, the jobs are getting better with better class customers, but the phone dosnt ring as often as it used to.

[scott.]

time to slash the wrists and rinse extract

[stains-away]

Ive been putting out about 1000 a week for the last few weeks  (got a deal with a distribution firm starting in 2 weeks, 20k a month), and Ive only just started getting calls off of them,Im averaging around 0.5% of these,down on normal but enough to keep me going, I missed the directories this year so I dont know how its going through them, I know a lot of small business owners and they are all saying the same thing, its been slow since christmas, Andy

[scott.]

cheers andy..I thought it was just me..

Craig...adwords cost as much as youre willing to bid, however on average, if you want to stay in the top 3, youre looking at around £1.50 per click.
If you are thinking about doing it, dont fall for these companies that call up offering to do it for you for a heafty fee...and guarantee to keep you at the top..theyre full of crap...do it yourself for free....and they cant guarantee that unless they bid £10 per click on your behalf.. Thomson are famous for trying that one on.
They were a bit stumped when i told them i was top, and i done it myself....and guess what...they still wanted to do it for me...weird people huh

[Art]

Scott,

Is your website the one with the world on the homepage?

Arthur

[scott.]

could be   yes I know its ...but im working on it.

[craigp]

thanks scott, sounds queit a bit, i might have a sponsered listing put on near.co.uk as they are up the top on google free listings, when i get there details that is, no contact info on there web directory, i think they are part of or a partner of tomson.

anyone tried near.co.uk??

[Art]

LOL I wasn't going to put it exactly like that.

What i was going to say is , it takes ages to load then it's to slow going through the pages.
This would certainly put me off.
There's lots of carpet cleaners in this area so chances are custies will give up and move on to the next one.

Constructive critisism Scott, only trying to help

Arthur

[scott.]

Arthur

Yeh I'm aware of that problem..Im gonna have a look later in the week...havnt got time at the mo..having trouble figuring out why its slow loading...

[mark_roberts]

The majority of my residential business is middle aged house wifes.  They DO NOT use the computer so stop wasting your time with the web for residential work.  Of course you will get a bit of work but not very much and not usually (from experience) the right type.

A little bit of

yellow pages
Flyers
Letters
Direct Mail
Door knocking
Van signage, etc, etc  will get you work.

Been doing cc for 6 years.  Only this year has been non-stop since last August.  It just takes time to build but you always need new customers.

Mark

[scott.]

craigp

Im on there, but cant remember how...I see what you mean...there as hard to get hold of as goodmans customer services.

[craigp]

mark,

not van signage though, i got great looking van signage, never ever ever a single job from it

[craigp]

scott,

its barmy is nt it!

i resorted to a search, 'contact near.co.uk'

furums came up people asking the same, buisness owners wanting to advertise on there and they can't get in touch!!

[scott.]

Mark
totaly disagree about the middle aged housewifes not online stuff.
Dont know where abouts you are, as you have no profile :....but most of my customers are a variety of ages...and statisticaly...most homes down south, anyway, have pc's these days...The stats from goolge adwords which tell us how many people have entered those search terms, tell me youre guessing, unless youve surveyed the whole country, in which case, i stand corrected..

I would think its safe to assume that the method people use to find services is split. I make a point of asking people about Yellows pages, and half of them say they chuck them out, because of its size, and the rest either have lost the book by april, or never received one.
I seem to be getting a lot of gay men lately though...must start checking all the phone boxes, just incase.  

[scott.]

craigp

Try touch local

[mark_roberts]

Scott Im in Belfast.  From my experience women aged 40+ may have a PC in their house but do they use it for contacting a cleaner.  I dont think so.  Any work I get from yell.com and the like is younger single people, rented work, little commercial, lots of price shoppers.

Be interesting to have others commenting on this.

Craig post a pic of your van.  On average i get one job a month from my van but lots of I seen you last week..........  Doing a job from van tomorrow and Thrusday for £784

Mark

[craigp]

no work comes from vans, where im based at least signage imo is for your custys to feel better only.

[the red carpet]

http://www.net-profit-ideas.com/privado/ThankYouForYourOrderCptClng.html