[craigp]

Hi,

i been wondering how do fast trackers compete with one another, say i went to fast track they would teach me to compete with other carpet cleaners, but say i had 6 or 7 other trackers in my area,

or say i went to price a job, the only other guy qouting was a tracker, nither of us would stand out then,

we cant all use that system or it would stop working,

is there a shelf life to the Joe Polish marketing, IE. it will stop working when theres over a certain amount in an area, my area has had around 7 or more do FT, If i were to do FT i would be right up against other FTers, whom probaly done well when it was only them doing it.


Craig

[brights cleaning]

fast tract is just a system
it's you that people buy off, so you just have to be confident and explain why they should use you and not the competition
i tell people that i don't have competition because i am the competition!!!!

[maxcarpets]

I have five fast trackers in my area?

[Ian Gourlay]

If Fast trackers have had the same training, use similiar marketing material the quality of clean should be similiar.

Just as you would get eith Chem Dry.

The public has no way of judging an individuals  performance apart from buying of people they feel comfortable with.

[craigp]

do you think there are fast trackers in some areas that are struggleling because of other fast trackers?

can there be too many?

[carpetguy]

As Colin says.............Fast Track is a marketing system and how you present your individual business, will determine how you fare against the opposition................besides...........just because 5 people have been taught the same marketing methods............they won't all charge the same................use the same products, or get the same results.

rob

[jimmy tarbuck]

we have four fast trackers , literally around us in a circle, we see their advertising, yet we are in and out of their towns like yo yo's busy with work they should be doing, we never see their vans, we do see the main franchises on occasion, they have been active for i would say 3 years or so but have absolutely no presence, they all use the same advert and sales speal, if it worked so well we would be worried....but we are busier this year than any other....as for their dont call any other carpet cleaner until youve listened to this....well if anyone could be bothered to listen right to the very end it would put them off calling anyone to clean their carpets.......but thats ok with us, we are very well established...........go figure.

[ianharper]

Jimmy

with respect, it might be that the FT guys invest so much money in marketing that you are benefiting from this without knowing?

One other reason that you might not see these guys is again the large investment in equipment they make and that they don't want every bad guy to know where he can get his hands on some free equipment. one big drawback with sign written vans. and the fact that most average ticket price is so large that they might be starting early and working all day on just one job?

My point is the more we All invest in marketing just makes the market bigger for us all.

As far as you seeing a presence this is down to good marketing, they spend their money where is will have the greatest return. in other words you might not be in the demographics that they are targeting.

Craigp, no. FT has been setup like a franchise, "this is the system that works, us it". my view is that direct marketing is much more than this, where is the USP? well its Jim wolverton's USP that they all use, from the pink leaflet to the money back. this way is fine, if you want to look like other business, it has it advantages, and this is what i am trying to tell everyone that when you see direct marketing it's not JP or FT, it's just direct response.

The bad side to FT is not developing your own USP and being taught how direct response works, if more was given to this area many that fail would have something still to work with after FT. after all Robert is not their boss and what they do and when they do it up to each person, so if they fail its not Roberts fault. and its not a franchise so they can carry on if they drop out.

I think that the Joe polish kit has much more value in it. and now you can get it online secondhand, its has Evan greater value. It teaches you how direct response works in carpet cleaning. one step more would be to read other markets in Dan Kennedy's inner circle that work in other areas for ideas that work.

its an advantage having Ft guys in your area, use it!

Respect

Ian Harper

[Liahona]

I dont have my van sign written for my own reasons.  Is there a fast tracker out there that doesnt have his van plastered with an add resemlbing the entire yellow pages? Seriously though, are there ft's that have blank vans?  To my limited knowledge there arent else whu join the programme in the first place?  Best, Dave.

[craigp]

Ian,

i understand your point,

But, i'll keep refering to them as fast trackers as BY far the majority of c/cers using this system are or have been FTers.

[jimmy tarbuck]

hi Ian, with respect having a multi van operation ( vans on the road to keep busy, we throw one hell of alot of mud at the wall, and only a certain proportion will stick, if anyone is benefiting from anyones advertising it is them from ours, we dont use yellow pages, we dont use parish mags, we do use flyers, we dont offer the best carpet cleaning ever or your money back, because in our opinion thats quite an obvious statement, ie it bloody well should be or why bother in the first place, the public are not stupid, if you have developed a presence in the area you operate in the public know, they are not stupid, you do not need fast track to do this, you need cash, or credit, alot of it, and over a sustained period, full stop.The idea that a pink or yellow a3 flyer can turn your bussiness into a multi van or even 1 man band success story is just nonsense, the simple fact is if you throw enough mud at the wall some will stick, if you continually do a great job to a very high standard it will stay stuck,to build a business with thousands of loyal customers you need to keep throwing that mud at the widest possible area that it makes sense for you to throw it at, or be content with growing your bussiness very slowly and surely knowing what your limitations are.
the law of averages says fasttrack will work for some, but its not working for the the guys round here, if it was working it would of been to the detrement of our bussiness , it is not.
the thing about bad guys and not advertising there equpment in case its stolen....maybe they should take the pictures of all the equipment they use along with their adresses off of their websites then your statement may make some sense
Their average ticket price ian is not so large that they are starting early etc, what a ridiculous thing to say, they wish that was the case, but its purely fantasy.
You say ian that they spend their money where it has the greatest return If fastrack was teaching these guys correctly why are they putting there ads in parish mags and the like, small village mags, etc, these most definately do not have the highest return, you'll be lucky to get 2 calls per ad no matter what ad you use.
One fast tracker dropped the better areas with their 'special' flyer' including the rural areas twice, he soon realised he didnt have enough mud to throw at the wall, he has now been relegated to a half page yellow page ad which wont work for him, his fast track has been slowed, dramatically.

[ianharper]

Hi Jimmy

you sound like a man that knows his stuff. whats your business name and what area do you work in? do you have a web site?

So tell us how you have done so well? whats your secret?

whats your setup van, machine etc?

Respect

Ian Harper

PS I would have emailed you but you have not put one on your profile?

[jimmy tarbuck]

Ian we dont have a secret, and if we did, we certainly would not disclose it on a forum such as this,yes i do know my stuff as you put it, yes we do have a website,  very hard work, very heavy marketing over a number of years, we do not see the need for truckmounts, a van is a van, we run nissans, renaults, citroens, rascals, all kinds it doesnt matter, i will not disclose the name of our business or our coverage although from previous posts some of our coverage can be desifered, it is our privelage to remain anonymous.

[carpetguy]

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm if it's a very colourful and informative site, with a long haired, but mature individual, it's a damn good site.

[Ian Gourlay]

A point to remember not everyone who uses this system is a Fast Tracker.


They may have aquired Joes Kit etc and gone it alone.


It is starting to remind me of a Network Marketing Organization from Bristol where you receive the same catalouge each week from a diffrent member of the Network.

[Doug Holloway]

Hi Guys,

Some people will go for the 'American bull' approach but a lot will not .

I contra advertise against JP, i.e clear, concise, honest and it works.

Cheers

Doug