[Jason Hedges]

Seems like both the cleaning doctors have gone, the one in Caister and Norwich. Good old franchises eh

Good luck with the van writing suffolkclean

All the best,
Jason.

[Doctor Carpet (Ret'd)]

Seems like both the cleaning doctors have gone, the one in Caister and Norwich. Good old franchises eh

Good luck with the van writing suffolkclean

All the best,
Jason.

Not to be confused with "Yours Truly". BTW I'm not a franchise.

[Dennis]

Seems like both the cleaning doctors have gone, the one in Caister and Norwich. Good old franchises eh
Jason.

I think CD Norwich has gone company owned as the website now has Beverley near Hull as the address.

http://www.chemdryclean.co.uk/norwich/about/contact

[clinton]

Think the cleaning doctor in the cheshire area has also gone :

[daysdeepclean]

NHS cut backs?

[Dennis]

Colin  (sorry Clinton)

[Fintan_Coll]

They must have caused some confusion for your customers Roger.

[robert meldrum]

The web sites are still in full flow and advertising the franchise.

Best wrap I've seen has to be Susan Dean's cost £3k

[Doug Holloway]

Hi Guys

The wraps look superb BUT are they cost effective, at 3k think how esle you could spend that money on marketing etc.

If you are really building a corporate image then it may be worth it, but a one man CC business, debatable.

Cheers

Doug

[Doctor Carpet (Ret'd)]

They must have caused some confusion for your customers Roger.

Well, there's Cleaning Doctor franchise, there's Carpet Doctor franchise and I've seen advertised a cleaning product called Doctor Carpet.

I've got legal ownership of the limited company, the trading name and ".co.uk" domain name. I've also spoken to a solicitor whose an expert in trade name legislation and he said that "passing off" as it's known is difficult to prove. But yes I am aware of passing -off and what measures can be taken if necessary.

To answer your question directly some clients have mentioned the confusion but it's usually resolved itself. Those few people who have used one of the other companies when they had actually meant me find that the customer service/job quality control wasn't the same and then they realised their mistake and come back to me.

Having said that those who wanted me, went to the other companies and then never came back to me, well.........

It basically comes down to building brand awareness/corporate identity

How do you guys build your brand awareness? Do you think you've got a strong brand, a strong brand name and how do you promote it?

[suffolkclean]

I think if you have a vehicle that people say wow look at that van - they will remember you, it's good to stand out from the crowd & be noticed. A new local florist has a van with big bright daiseys wrapped around it, you can instantly see what her business does & it looks very different to anything I've seen locally. I use them for any flowers I need

[Doug Holloway]

Hi Roger

I've thought about pushing the 1st 4 carpet Cleaning brand on a semi franchisable basis , through websites etc.

It's something I may gradualy build, although any brand name building is difficult.

The Dry60 dry (almost) is another possible brand idea I have.

Cheers

Doug

[Doctor Carpet (Ret'd)]

Doug

I agree. Whilst Doctor Carpet sounds like a brand, in reality it's just a man and a machine. Friends have said "You should franchise it" but of course what most clients are buying at the end of the day is not Doctor Carpet but a guy called Roger who they feel comfortable to have in their house, who does an acceptable job of cleaning their carpets and who they can identify with and build an on-going relationship with.

Roger

[richy27]

i personally think spending 3 k on signwriting is over the top. fair enough get done to look prof. but its an awful lot of money to have laid out. you can spend this money elsewhere and get a lot more back than you would do from the van.

[clinton]

Its a lot of money to spend 3k on a vehicle wrap i think

Does it really pull more work in

Always found a nice sign written van easy to read will get you noticed and bring in extra work

Roger

Is the carpet doctor still going near us

[Mike Osbourne]

I'm sure over time it will pay for itself, a very long time.

I think it's more taking pride in your business and to some extent ego. Each to their own, but a well crafted sign written van costing a few hundred quid does just as good a job I'm sure.

[richy27]

mine is simple you can tell what i do by the graphics and the text and it cost me 350 plus vat i have had it done for 2 months now and its just about payed its self back now. and bare in mind i live in a rural area so no passing traffic when not working.

to be honest we have to ask ourselfs how many times have we seen a van for anything and written the number down.

its all about building an image and a logo/ layout/ name  recognition that can bounce off other advertising eg logo mags/ papers flyers.

thats just my opinion.

if you change your van every 3 years 3 k is too much because before you know it you will pay again for it and by then prob more.

[Doctor Carpet (Ret'd)]

My van is just about to celebrate its 10th birthday. And yes it looks about 10 years old as well

My signage cost £250 and whilst I still get work off it at the same rate as I did in year 1 I would still have to say that as a generator of work it brings in very little.

Not planning in changing my van in the near future either. (Only do about 9000/9500 miles a year.)

[richy27]

vista print are doin a free magnet at moment you just pay the postage. i have go the words free  please take a flyer. will stick it on the van when working wonder if my £ 2.84 plus cost of holder and flyer will make me a profit. lol

[robert meldrum]

Can't talk for Susan/Justin, but I think the wrap was part of a completely new image suggested / encouraged by others who constantly told them it was wrong to charge low prices...........

Thing is, their original  business was very, very successful and had been running for around 20 years ...............should they have changed ?

A post a couple of days ago mentioned one t/m doing zilch for over a month and the other doing little.