[the red carpet]

Now that is the hard bit, and the reason most people say they dont work.

I do do some but am getting to busy to do them myself now.

Iv got one guy whos great £15 a thousand but it took me a year of searching to find him and i got stung plenty of times along the way.

And i was going out myself on a sat and sunday morning and taking two guys with me, but i hated it as i had no time left to myself im still doing a good few saturdays now but trying to cut it down. Its to expensive aswell i end up having to pick them both up drop them home buy, them both lunch and give them £20 each. So it works out about £60 a thousand by the time i buy lunch and put petrol in and i loose my Saturday morning

[Terry_Burrows]

now thats the kind of feed back I was hoping for we will try the drop,we will get it done pro like

[Mike Osbourne]

Please tell me my maths is wrong Red.

Say you dish out 10k of leaflets that's lets say £750 for the leaflets and your delivery 'boys'.

I don't know what your response rate is, but assuming it's 2 enquiries/1000 and say you get 15 of them with your average job is say £100 that's £1500 of which half is the cost of getting it. Then there's all your other operating costs plus enough profit less tax to live on. 

Is that close or am I missing something?

[Mike Halliday]

not wanting to answer for red but 10k leaflets @ £50  delivery solus at £35/1000 is only £400, way below your £750 figure but £17/1000 is common with 1-2 other leaflets so this would bring the amount to £200ish

Mike

[Mike Halliday]

sorry Mike I did'nt see reds post on his £60 comment, so I agree, this is way too high to get leaflets delivered

my amounts are what it cost me

Mike

[the red carpet]

Hey if it wasnt worth it i wouldnt do it, £60 a thousand is to dear for leaflets.
But i know there getting delivered, solus to the right houses at the right time and its better to spend £60 and get a result than say £20-£30 and get nothing coz they have been bined or have gone through the wrong doors.

This Sat i done just under a thousand leaflets, paid my guys £20 each put £10 in the van and spent £10 on lunch, the leaflets cost me £14 so a total of £74 and i had to give up my Saturday morning

But iv booked in
A through lounge at £69
Lounge, stairs, landing at £98.90
And a 2 bed house at £162.20

So thats just over £330 back from £74, that to me was worth doing, I will also expect to prob book in another job from it over the next couple weeks and iv added at least three new customers to my database who will hopefully repeat or recommend in the future.

[the red carpet]

Also to add to my comments of leaflets getting better work, all these jobs are within walking distance of each other so i can do them all in the same day as the travelling time between them is minutes.

[gwrightson]

Red.

2bedroom house £162.20p  !!!!!!!!!    to the penny then Red   ,and  h/s/l £98.90p    

yet exactly £10 lunch, £10 deisel     

come on knock the odd pence of for your custy , surly you dont qoute to the penny, Do you?

Geoff

[cleaning co]

lol were do u get the 90 and 20 pence from in your figures  u dont really giv these prices do u ? 

leaflets work on there own full stop  put them in a paper,through the door with 3 or 4 others and your responce rate changes big time,
dont pay someone by the thousand ,when they find out how hard it is to get out a thousand they soon bin them and tell  u big porkys
giv them a wage ,bit petrol money  and another good thing is a small bonus each job booked!
dont do council estates  just private  as thier is a big diff to responce and how much u earn of a job
keep the leaflets simple with prices and allways state half price
also rember with leaflets u can end up doing a lot of small jobs as they are just in most cases impulse buys
your work from yellow pages ,tompson, bt book etc  will allways be your cream work as u will get lot people wanting whole houses and flats done as they are moving in/out etc and u can get some very well todo custys also u will get comm jobs
i like mike done 5000 a week for over 5 years and made a living but 4 out of 5 were micky mouse jobs and a lot of the custys were lower end of the market
the leaflet work is def in decline and i just use these jobs as fill ins
and would expect someone starting out to find it hard surving of leaflets like i did and mike did,years ago every other job was a 3pc
how many 3 pcs u get now days of leaflets? very few
gary

[carpetguy]

Interesting and I feel realistic comments from Gary.  I have never been a leaflet fan, being more in favour of obtaining referrals, due to the customer satisfaction.

This does require some patience, which is lacking in modern society. Not the fault of any individual, but the result of unrealistic expectations which were instilled in the generation who now make upa high percentage of  the work force.

If you want volume, simply to get started, or to give your customer base a boost, you could advertise in your local newspaper and expect to get around 10 jobs, for an outlay of £50 to £90.

It's what you do with these jobs, that determines your future. If you don't deliver genuine quality, you will not get and don't deserve referrals.

good luck with your chosen method

robbie

[craigp]

Gary says it how it is. i've noticed that about 3 pc's too, must be all the leather upholstery thats about now.

[Mike Osbourne]

For a newbie with some time on my hands I think the way to build up is to knock on doors. In an afternoon I can get 3 jobs and can convert lounges only to include hsl or another room, sometimes with protector. I'm getting suites too, but rapidly going off them. :

I realise this is self limiting when the work increases, but the money I save can go toward Parish mags. Booked one last month and it cost £60 for a year in a nice parish. So far one suite and two biggish lounges well over £300.

Having said all that, Red has grown his business very rapidly, just wondering if my mindset is a bit too tight arse?

[Ian Gourlay]

Mike,

If you read Reds previous posts you will notice that prior to buying his truck mount he spent what looks like vasts sums building his company.

I was a bit surprised to Read that he intends to concentrate on Leaflets as I thought he recently joined Fast Track.


Mike Haliday in previous posts has always said that you need money to invest marketing.

Money to live on for a least three months plus buying machinery vans etc.

Some try part time route but this slows down developing business.

However Mike   O believe  you come from a door knocking background.

Its a skill not everyone can do and succeed at.

In the Ashbys Marketing and motivation day they used to  possibly still do recommend The Knock as a Fast start method.

Works best if you can put together a team of Knockers.

And then learn the Secret of THE DOOR

[Mike Osbourne]

I've never door knocked before except some collecting for a charity. I do have a sales background though. Skills aside that improve your odds, the simple truth is you will get a better return on your time even if you just tell them what you do and would they like a quote.

Facing and dealing with rejection will save a lot of time and money. My issues are that I get the work but not a very good CC yet. I am completely giving up doing oriental rugs and suites despite very good prices.
 

[craigp]

Mike oriental rugs are easy, there normally just dusty, i just pre-spray with my wand, then rinse, ie. no chems just ultimate master in the solution.

As for upholstery i felt like that once, and still give me a carpet any day over upholstery, your probally ok with the velvets? they always clean well, its the flat white or cream cottens are hard particularlly on seats where worn, the only thing you can do is your best, and pre-quilify, but i dont think you should turn it away,  just my advice.

you'll get better the more you do.

[cleaning co]

yes craig is right never turn work down   allways state before u clean carpets or 3pc that u cannot be sure u can get all marks out that way u are coverd for payment if custy aint happy 
craig hows that truckmount ? u liking it ?

[Mike Osbourne]

Craig,

No mate, totally don't want to know about rugs. I got bitten bad and I can't afford to take any more chances or I'm out of business.

I now take into account my lack of experience when someone says just do this that and the other.

[the red carpet]

You should allways quote the odd penys, its a good way to get a tip

For instance the job i mention £162.20, it would be all well and good for me to say "just call it £160 madam"

But i bet you i end up with £165, coz there unlikley to have the correct change and if you have done a good job wich i allways do, just as you reach in your pocket to give them change they say "oh gosh no dont worry about the change you have done a great job thanks" "keep the change"

So thats a extra £5 and i do that a couple of times a day, four days a week thats a extra £40 for nothing

[Liahona]

Red, charge them 200 and then thats an extra 320 a week for doing nothing. Or is it? Worth a thought, best, Dave.

[craigp]

Hi Gary, yes im liking the TM alot, the extra heat and pressure do make life alot easier. i run it at 300psi i find thats plenty.