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How to get new business |
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duckcountry 
Master Carpet Cleaner 
Joined: 29/October/2005 Location: USA Status: Offline Points: 1082 |
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 Topic: How to get new businessPosted: 28/September/2007 at 1:34pm |
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My work comes from repeat, word of mouth and a consistent canvassing of the same neighborhoods ever month. And that is the order by work volume. If I don't do the third one, I will lose out on the growth of the first one which drives the second source.
Got to plant the trees and then care for them if you expect a fruitful crop every year. And the real money comes from repeat customers because no advertising costs are involved in those sales dollars. |
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Are you in a high paying business or are you just a self employed low paid grunt who thinks this business provides dignity?
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CCandmore
Senior Member 
Joined: 07/December/2006 Location: Virginia, USA Status: Offline Points: 150 |
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Posted: 28/September/2007 at 9:43am |
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I'm sure you'll get a lot of different answers to your question. Here is what does/doesn't work for me:
The best advertising is word of mouth. Be pleasant, do a very good job and then ask the customer to recommend your service & leave a few extra business cards. If you get a reasonable callback, fix it AT NO EXTRA CHARGE. This will get you a happy customer who says good things about your company. Remember to promise small and deliver big. I use a yellow pages ad because a lot of people will not remember your name - they just go to the yellow pages. My competition is going to be in there, so I am too. You don't need a full page ad, just get in there and make sure the words "Carpet Cleaning" are prominent. I've found that yellow page ads are overpriced, but I get enough business back to at least break even on the expense. I advertise in the services section of the local newspaper. I feel that it is also overpriced, but it gets more business and seems to be a better deal in my area than the yellow pages. I don't go around knocking on doors. I don't want me or my business associated with the pain in the ass people who do that sort of thing. But, if after a residential job you hang 5-10 mailbox/doorknob hangers, this is a cheap and effective way to pick up more business. My hangers say " We cleaned your neighbors carpets today... blah, blah, ... Call for a fee estimate." Something else I'm considering is leaving a "free" bottle of spot remover with my company name and number printed on the bottle. Some suppliers (Ted?) offer this type of product. I'm thinking if they've still got the bottle in the cabinet, they'll grab it instead of the phone book when they want carpet cleaning. If anybody has tried this, I'd like to know if it's effective. |
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duckcountry
Master Carpet Cleaner
Joined: 29/October/2005 Location: USA Status: Offline Points: 1082 |
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Posted: 28/September/2007 at 1:17am |
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If you have a domain name it will not get you more business. Add a website and you might get noticed. But use the domain name for an email address and now you have some perceived credibility. What looks better on a business card? bestcarpetcare@aol.com or ceo@bestcarpetcare.com?
It is expected these days that a business has a domain name along with a phone listing and business license. Times are a-changin'! Domain names are cheap and you can get a low cost web presence complete with easy to use email account setup these days. I might be able to help direct you if you ask real nice. |
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cambrey
Newbie 
Joined: 30/December/2005 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 10 |
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Posted: 11/September/2007 at 11:07pm |
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A website is not a must but it definately gets me a much better return than any other advertising I've tried. Also once it is up and running it is pretty much on autopilot with just some weekly updating to keep your good ranking. Updating takes just a few minutes. My site costs me less the $60 per year, including the domain, web space and maintenance. I bring in about 6-10 jobs per month directly attributed to the site.
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hcciam
Newbie
Joined: 21/July/2006 Location: Canada Status: Offline Points: 35 |
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Posted: 15/August/2007 at 9:08pm |
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didn't read to close, did you laddies.
The money I spent on my website initialling was over 6yrs ago. Now it costs about $250/year. It more than pays for itself every year with 1 job. PLUS I have a place to refer people to where I can let them investigate my busn and get good info about choosing a cleaner without me having to spend 15-30minutes on the phone. AND, should I ever get around to actually marketing the website, ie, just using all the freebie stuff to get it higher in search engines, it will bring in that many more jobs. I have not regretted spending the money I have on a website. If you're so busy you never have to worry about any marketing then fine, don't worry about a site. Why waste your money to get work you can't service or have a place to provide info when you have no new people calling. |
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Ron Werner
Owner Happy Carpet Cleaners Victoria BC |
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John L
Carpet Cleaning Guru 
Joined: 29/November/2004 Location: I'm Right Here! Status: Offline Points: 4013 |
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Posted: 15/August/2007 at 8:30pm |
Thats my point..
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nightrider
Marketing Master
Joined: 12/March/2004 Status: Offline Points: 4656 |
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Posted: 15/August/2007 at 5:25pm |
 Edited by nightrider - 25/November/2007 at 11:26pm |
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John L
Carpet Cleaning Guru
Joined: 29/November/2004 Location: I'm Right Here! Status: Offline Points: 4013 |
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Posted: 15/August/2007 at 5:21pm |
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I have a FREE website.. OH YEAH !!
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hcciam
Newbie
Joined: 21/July/2006 Location: Canada Status: Offline Points: 35 |
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Posted: 15/August/2007 at 4:20pm |
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Yes, they either email me or phone me. its www.gethappy.ca
pretty simple site. |
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Ron Werner
Owner Happy Carpet Cleaners Victoria BC |
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MR. STEAMER
True Patriot 
Only in the GTA Joined: 03/March/2004 Location: Canada Status: Offline Points: 14544 |
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Posted: 15/August/2007 at 4:11pm |
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do you get calls from your web site??? and how do you get the calls???
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www.mr-steamer.com
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hcciam
Newbie
Joined: 21/July/2006 Location: Canada Status: Offline Points: 35 |
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Posted: 15/August/2007 at 4:06pm |
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I would like to append to Nightrider's comments.
I would say you do not NEED a website. It does not cost a lot to have a website or maintain it. There are some inexpensive softwares available that allow anyone with decent computer knowledge to create and maintain their own website. All you need is a host. Mine costs me about $17.50 a month for hosting and I think it was about $150 for 9yrs for my domain name. While I do get people that call me from my website my main reason for having it is to be able to refer people to it to answer there questions instead of me taking 30 minutes to explain what I've already written. I don't make a lot from my site but then I'm not busy promoting it. Since 2000 I've made $5238 attributed to website source alone, doesn't include people that were referred and then saw my website. My costs involved are about $1000 for creating it ($600 for an original programmer, $400 for do it myself software), 17.50/mth for 6yrs=$1470 for hosting, About $210 for domain registry, totalling $2680. So my website has brought it 2:1, not including repeat cleanings. Do you NEED one. No. Is it good to have one. Yes. |
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Ron Werner
Owner Happy Carpet Cleaners Victoria BC |
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nightrider
Marketing Master
Joined: 12/March/2004 Status: Offline Points: 4656 |
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Posted: 15/August/2007 at 2:31pm |
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Edited by nightrider - 25/November/2007 at 11:26pm |
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MR. STEAMER
True Patriot
Only in the GTA Joined: 03/March/2004 Location: Canada Status: Offline Points: 14544 |
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Posted: 15/August/2007 at 1:33pm |
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you have to watch out...lost off companies go broke using web based advertising like google ad...
Wanna drive a Guy like Lee from Fresh and clean out of business?????? google his company and keep clicking that link... it's cost him everytime someone uses that link... it cost him even if you book or not... |
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www.mr-steamer.com
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Video Marketer
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Joined: 14/August/2007 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 3 |
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Posted: 15/August/2007 at 1:19pm |
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Take a look at web marketing. The web is growing and there are literally thousands of searches every day for cleaning services. But be warned, there is a lot of competition, so your website needs to stand out. By the way, if done right, internet marketing is one of the lowest $/customer costs.
If you have a website already, we offer a free web analysis on how to improve your site. |
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The Video Marketer
www.LeadingEdgeiSolutions.com |
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