[mark_roberts]

Im putting the text for my website together which is no easy task.  Have you every thought about your business and they write in down on paper.  Not easy.

Anyway Ive looked at a good few sites for 'research' and quite a few offer this 30mins dry time with dry fusion.  SO im wondering do customers actually go for this and what happens when you arrive and it needs HWE.  What then.

Some sites actually put HWE down even though they offer both which IMO makes for confusion in customers.

Finally do customers actually read all of your site or just ring from the first page.

thanks
Mark

PS. Id hate to be a customer looking for carpet cleaning

[benny d]

I say carpets virtually dry as we leave, which is true.
Different fibers take a different amout of time to dry. 

[clinton]

I still advertise dry in thirty mins for the l m system.

Dont think the customers dont read most of the pages..

[Doug Holloway]

Hi mark

The mixed messages thing was the reason I set up the Dry60 website some years ago.

I also have a couple of other dry carpet cleaning sites but do mention it briefly on some of my other sites.

Generally customers will ask if drying is really a big concern and then you can go through the HWE drying options if you think that is important.

Best to keep things reasonably simple, customer really do not care too much for technical details.

Cheers

Doug

[JS2]

As far as marketing is concerned, surely a statement to this effect (see title) ALWAYS appeals to the potential customer.  They will expect a satisfactory job and the ability to use the carpets after this time.  However various physical and technical factors may mean this can't be achieved.

Pete (JS2)

[Doctor Carpet (Ret'd)]

Clients may read things, but do they actually take it in or understand it?

How often have we had a conversation which starts "Do you clean carpets?"

Yes, I know this can be only an opening gambit but it does often tell you something about the person phoning you.

I think most people when asking about drying times are coming from the point that they have heard horror stories or carpets taking days to dry (remember that thread recently about cc's using a hose and a squeegee to clean carpets?) and when we say about 5 hours or so to be touch dry there is a huge sigh of relief.

Most people can avoid a room for a number of hours during the day or by going out or just making a conscious decision to not use a room till the following day.

Personally I take the view that especially with HSL you cannot avoid walking on it but providing you are in slippers/indoor shoes, then in the grand scheme of things it's not going to make a significant difference if they walk on a damp carpet providing they've not gone outside and they are careful not to slip on a hard surface.

[Amethyst]

Hi Mark,

I think it's mostly been summarised already but, in my view, very rarely will a carpet be "dry" in 30 mins. Drying time is an issue for customers only because of horror stories and as doc carpet says most customers are more than happy to hear a dry time of 4/5 hours or half a day. I don't think its the big issue we think it is. Most savvy customers want the carpet cleaned as thoroughly as possible not dry as quick as possible! And of course actual dry time will vary wildly according to fibre density, ambient temperature etc, etc.

One tip I would suggest - don't get to hung up on technicalities. Customers are generally more interested in benefits not  features - two different things.

Good luck!

[mark_roberts]

All true but I would have thought dry in 30mins was a benefit.

Mark

[Jim_77]

Something you'll find in many a sales manual...

"Features tell, benefits sell"

Dry in 30 minutes is a feature.  One benefit of that feature is that the customer can use the room very quickly after cleaning.

In sales seminars and training days, "distinguish a feature from a benefit" is an exercise that many folks struggle with initially.

Eco-friendly products are a feature, of which a benefit is no pollution to kill the fishy wishys.

Your TM is a feature, a benefit from that is that you work quicker and cause less disruption to your customer's day.

And so on...

[Amethyst]

Very sweetly (and quite concisely) put Jim.

Someone used to say "award winning truck mount" - but what did that mean to the customer? Cleanest? Prettiest? Most Colourful? etc etc.

[Shaun_Ashmore]

What about "ready to use in 30 mins"

Shaun