I was recently consulting with a carpet cleaner and looking at every aspect of his business. After discussing what was different about his service from his competitors, his sales systems to convert a prospect to a paying customer, his systems for referrals and his advertising and marketing amongst other things, he said “Yes, yes, but all I want is for the phone to ring more!†It’s the view of many carpet cleaners.
All very good. But if you don’t have everything else in place to provide exactly what your customers want, the marketplace will just find out that you can’t deliver what they want. And if you advertise to get the phone to ring and it does…they’ll find out even quicker! Presumably there was a reason why this cleaners’ phone wasn’t ringing more.
Just getting the phone to ring may well get you an initial customer. But if the experience was not as expected they will not use you again or refer you. And repeat customers and referrals are the lifeblood of any business. Especially carpet cleaning.
So before you want the phone to ring, take a look at your carpet cleaning service from the viewpoint of your customer.
Is there a good reason for them to phone you in the first place as opposed to phoning your competitors? This is the first thing that should be addressed. It’s often been called a Unique Selling Proposition. I sometimes prefer to call it a Unique Buying Advantage. It’s the unique clear reason why your prospect has to call YOU. There’s two mistakes often made here.
- Selling by Price. If you can run profitably at the lowest price (and want to) then by all means just tell your marketplace that. You’ll have an instant competitive advantage. You probably don’t need much of a sales system either. Just tell them you’re the lowest price. However most customers aren’t looking for lowest price. They know there’s usually a reason for it. And often it’s poor quality. And don’t forget, there will be someone cheaper sooner or later.
- Selling by Method. “We use a truck-mount†is not a differentiator if your competitors use one too. But pre-vacuuming with a water filtration vacuum cleaner that improves indoor air quality might be!
It’s much better to design your business for the kind of service your prospects actually want and then charge a premium price for it. So if you can get carpets dry quicker…design your business around this benefit and then promote it to those that want it. If your customers don’t have to move any furniture at all…design your business around this benefit and then promote it to those that want it. Everything comes back to your Unique Buying Advantage. And make sure everything delivers on this promise.
So first give your prospects a good reason to phone and then deliver what you say you will. Suddenly you have a good (and unique) reason to communicate with prospective customers.
Once you have this clarity and are delivering exactly what your marketplace wants…and you can communicate this clearly…suddenly your phone will ring more.