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Category: Marketing

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For many years I used to wonder why the phone wasn't ringing more. After all, everybody has carpet that needs cleaning at some time don’t they? What could I do to get people to enquire about getting their carpets cleaned?

Of course, it’s all about getting the right type of person to call. Maybe you only want high-end residential customers. Or maybe you only want large commercial work.

However getting more customers doesn't have to be hard. In fact, it’s a very simple process. There are really only FIVE steps.

Here’s what you need to do…

  1. Identify WHO your ideal customers are – the ones that you’ll enjoy working with the most, the ones who are the most profitable or who will pay premium prices for high quality work and the customers who will not be a ‘pain in the backside’
  1. Find out WHERE they are - do they read certain magazines or newspapers? Do they attend specific events or seminars? Do they live together in a particular area? Are they gather-able together in ‘one place’ so to speak?
  1. Get in front of them - once you know who they are and where they are to be found, now you can get in front of them. That might mean setting up a meeting, writing an article, giving a talk, delivering a flyer or placing an ad. But you need to get in front of them.
  1. Create attention and interest - your positioning, value proposition and sales argument need to be relevant to your ideal customer. You must be able to get their attention and then get them interested and engaged so you can have a conversation with them.
  1. Make an offer - it could be a free trial offer or a free audit or inspection. Or some other ‘direct-response mechanism’ that causes them to respond to your offer.If you work through this process you will see significant results. Most carpet cleaners will not do this. Instead they have no idea of who they are trying to attract or where they can be found.

    Remember, we’re in the marketing business not the cleaning business.

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I recently heard a carpet cleaner complaining about a job he had quoted for but didn't get. Apparently the customer didn't understand that this was a “very good price” The cleaner simply couldn't understand why he hadn't got the job!

Zig Ziglar said, "Every sale has five basic obstacles: no need, no money, no hurry, no desire, no trust."

It could very well be that the last one was the problem. Trust is based not on a sales pitch or a low price offer but on behaviour. People are very skeptical when they are being sold.

It’s often been said that people buy from people they “know, like and trust” In this untrusting world, that is more important than ever before. But you already know this. Its far easier to sell to a customer who has used you before than to a new customer.

Its the reason why ‘brands’ often outsell ‘generic.’ People trust them. They’ve usually advertised heavily to build up awareness and familiarity. That equates to trust. This is not a strategy that I recommend for a small carpet cleaning business. It’s far too costly, but there are things that you can do to increase TRUST which in turn will lead to sales.

  1. Show Up on Time. If you say you’ll arrive at 8.30am be there on time...or slightly before. Good timekeeping conveys respect for the customer as well as self discipline and professionalism. Being late (and not letting the customer know if it’s unavoidable) greatly reduces trust.
  2. Do What You Say You’ll Do. Keep your promises and don’t make lame excuses. Unreliability reduces trust. Especially with the older generation.
  3. Dress And Groom Well. Make sure that your uniform is immaculate. Yes...uniform. It conveys an air of authority and competency. That you know what you’re doing. That’s why your doctor wears a white coat!
  4. Listen Before You Prescribe. Prospective customers want to be understood. They don’t want ‘glib’ answers that show you’re not really listening. They don’t want a sales close...they want a prescription to their problems.

Interestingly, I recently had an opportunity to have all of this demonstrated to me. I needed a new driveway and decided on block paving.

My first thought was “Who do I know that does this type of work?” (“Who do I trust?”).

Then, “Who do I know who knows someone who does this type of work?” (Referred trust)

Then, and only then did I start to look at adverts.

The results were quite interesting. Out of four that I asked to quote only two actually turned up. One turned up late as I was just going out. Only one showed up on time, looked the part and listened to what I actually wanted. Was he the cheapest? I don’t know. But he got the job.

Yes, build trust and your sales and referrals will increase.

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Want to know how to increase your profit in your carpet cleaning business IMMEDIATELY?

As soon as next week? It’s simple...

Raise your prices!

Do it today, right now...by at least 10%. Your customers won’t even notice.

I know what you’re thinking... If I raise my prices, I'm going to lose customers. But first, have you considered what is happening if you’re NOT increasing your prices? The answer is that in real terms your prices are going down because of the effects on inflation.

Yet increasing prices is one of the easiest and quickest ways to increase revenues and profit.

So how do you raise your prices? The answer is more to do with YOUR mindset than what your customers will think. If you’re convinced that your customers wont pay more, think again. After all, many, many people buy BMW’s and Mercedes when a simple KIA would get from A to B. (and probably not much slower). When I last looked these cars are considerably more expensive than others! In fact, in every category of ‘something for sale’ there is a budget range, a middle range and a very expensive high quality range.

The best mindset to have is the latter, that of ‘Premium Pricing’ to those who are quality seekers.

I've heard from a few carpet cleaners recently who have told me how they originally set their prices?

Does this sound familiar?...

You phone all your competitors and then price yourself either at the average or just below theirs...then you’ll get all the work!

Simple.

And their minimum charge? Well, I can tell you that its a third of what we charge. Yet they insist that customers will never pay it.

An increase in price might actually make your customers view you differently - in a positive way. Robert Cialdini’s famous book, Influence tells the story of a jewellery store inadvertently pricing some jewellery too high...by mistake!.

The result?

Whereas previously it couldn't sell, now it sold out. The items hadn’t changed...peoples perception of it had.

Price equals quality in their minds.

Before you think...”but my customers will never pay higher prices” here are some facts about dealing with those who are only concerned about PRICE:

  • People who buy on price are slow to pay and expect you to jump through hoops to please them at the same time
  • People who pay low prices are looking for a bargain and almost always want more than what they pay for
  • They'll also be quick to complain and ask for a refund
  • They’ll also tell their friends how they managed to get you to clean their carpets for such a low price., especially if you gave them a discount. Their referrals will now be price shoppers too
  • And of course, you have to make it up in volume, by doing MORE WORK

On the other hand:

  • People who pay premium prices are easier to deal with but they wont accept shoddy work or second-best
  • Price is simply not the most important thing for most people. Quality is
  • Most people equate a cheap price with low quality
  • The price of your service is based on its value to the customer and has nothing at all to do with your competitors prices
  • And of course, with higher prices you make more money for doing LESS WORK

Hmmm... MORE WORK or LESS WORK? Which would YOU rather be doing?

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I’ve always welcomed complaints. It’s an opportunity for my customers to see how good my complaints department is.

I’ve recently been on the other side of the equation. My van needed some bodywork repaired and a few areas of paintwork ‘touched up’. I took it to a specialist who was recommended to me. When I picked the van up three days later, I was frankly shocked by what I saw. There were at least three runs of paint on the bodywork, one of them about eighteen inches long. Also he’d sprayed over rust on a wheel arch. And there was paint on the trim.

The workshop was closed when I collected the van on a Friday evening so he’d left the key in a hidden place for me. It gave me the weekend to reflect on the quality of the work. I began to realize how we Brits hate to complain and the effect that the thought of complaining has on a customer. I lay awake at night wondering how he would respond...

Would I have to argue with him? Would he try to justify his bad work? At one time I thought “should I just pay him and never use him again”? And I realized that our customers must sometimes go through the same thing when they have concerns about our cleaning.

There’s a wonderful scene in the British comedy Fawlty Towers where two elderly ladies are complaining about the food but when the owner Basil Fawlty asks how things are they pretend everything’s fine. Instead they say to each other that they “will just not come back here again”. And that’s the worst situation for your carpet cleaning business.

So what will help in this situation?

A strong GUARANTEE actively promoted in advance. People need to trust you before they will commit to using you to clean their carpets. And of course, all buying decisions are based on emotion. Prospects need to FEEL that they can trust you to look after their best interests. People perk up and pay attention to a guarantee so it’s an excellent selling tool not just a statement of company policy.

You should never underestimate the power of a guarantee. Tom Monaghan of Domino’s Pizza built his fortune-building USP on one: "...delivery in 30 minutes or less...GUARANTEED!"

If you cannot strongly and fairly guarantee your carpet cleaning, you ought to find other work to do.

For you to get real benefit from having a guarantee, you need to use it as a marketing tool. If you don’t advertise your guarantee, you have the liability of one without the benefit. (because you would always put something right anyway, wouldn’t you?).

And it matters how guarantees are worded. “Satisfaction guaranteed” is OK but you can make it sound much more exciting than that…and you should!

How about a 100% No-Risk Iron-Clad Money Back Guarantee? And then explain exactly what that means…that they have no fear of complaining!

Why not add a multiple guarantee, say a 30 day Spot Removal Guarantee?

Or a Seven Day Spillage Guarantee? That if they have a spillage in the next seven days, you will return and spot clean it free of charge?

And why not preface all that by saying “I’m very serious about my guarantees.” And mean it.

All of these things put the prospects mind at rest. After all, you do want to correct any problems don’t you? It’s an opportunity for your customers to see how good your complaints department is. But tell them in advance with a strong guarantee.

Once you've cheerfully corrected any concerns, you will likely have a customer for life.

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I’ve recently had a couple of experiences that demonstrate some good marketing lessons. In fact, I think they’re essential for a successful carpet cleaning business to grasp.

The first involves a recent job in a nice area in the next town to where I live. All the homeowners are reasonably ‘high-end’ with large detached houses. I had cleaned the carpets for this lady some years ago. As I entered her living room, I asked how long the carpet had been down. I assumed that she had changed the carpet fairly recently as it looked immaculate. To my astonishment it was the same carpet we had cleaned years earlier. But it’s what she said next that surprised me the most.

“Do you think it will clean?”

Isn’t that interesting? My perception was that it looked as though it didn’t require cleaning. Her perception was that it may be beyond cleaning. I thought to myself “How can I get more clients like her?”

Contrast that with a man I visited for a quotation a few years ago. After telling me on the phone that the carpet was not really dirty or stained, I made a home visit. His living room carpet looked at though it had been left outside all night in the rain! Needless to say it was beyond cleaning. But it was his perception of the state of his carpet that irritated me. And that’s often the case with the bottom end of the market for carpet cleaning.

The lesson: Your target market is very important. You cannot really serve two ends of the market with the same business. It’s much better to focus on high-end clients. They have the money to pay for quality... in fact, demand it. And their carpets are often much easier to clean.

And there’s another benefit: I've recently lost a regular carpet cleaning contract for some commercial premises. I've been cleaning the carpets for over five years. I managed to clean the carpets when a national franchise was unable to get them clean. I cleaned extra areas at no extra charge and came out to remove stains at no charge on occasion.

I was then informed by phone that our contract was ending. The reason? Their office cleaners were now branching into carpet cleaning and they wanted to give them a chance. No negotiation. It was a done deal. This rarely happens with high-end clients. If you do high quality work and look after their best interests, they are just glad they've found you and will use you again and again.

By the way, the lady above paid just under five hundred pounds for work that took just over three hours. The carpets were so easy to clean. She has just written to me saying that she is delighted with our service and will happily refer us to others.

Now,… “How can I get more clients like her?”

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Did you know that 20% of your carpeting is likely to get 80% of the wear? If you did, you’re probably familiar with what’s commonly known as the Pareto Principle.

It’s named after the Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, who in 1897 found a consistent mathematical relationship between the proportion of people living in England and the amount of income or wealth this group enjoyed. He found that 20% of the population enjoyed 80% of the wealth!

This principle has since been expanded to this:

The minority of causes, inputs or effort usually lead to a majority of results, outputs or rewards.

In other words, 80% of what you achieve comes from 20% of the time spent. And 20% of customers produce 80% of the revenue; 80% of what we accomplish comes from 20% of our time and so on.

The reason it’s so valuable is that it’s counterintuitive. It’s not what we expect.

It’s strange how business seems to be governed my unwritten rules. I’ve recently discovered one of my own.

I’ve recently checked my database of unconverted leads for the past few months. That is, prospects who have asked for an in-home quotation but have not gone ahead. It’s brought up an unusual principle that I’ve called ‘The Principle of the Inverse Appointment Time’

I discovered that in the last few months I have only eight in-home quotes that have not turned into jobs. Of those eight, I noticed a similarity that I’ve turned into this rule:

“The more impatient they are to get a quote, the least intention they have of getting the job done.”

Of those eight quotes, SIX told me there were in a hurry to have the work done and I needed to provide a quote as soon as possible. In nearly all of these cases, I changed my schedule to provide a quote quickly. Once in the home, it seemed that the urgency had dissipated.

Now, we always qualify our prospects. In fact we try to DISQUALIFY them to be absolutely sure that we are not wasting our time with people who don’t want our level of service or can’t afford it. And yet six have fallen through the net! (Interestingly that’s 75% - almost following the 80/20 rule).

There’s always going to be time wasted with prospects that will not go ahead. So how can this be kept to a minimum? Well, now I follow the rule: “The more impatient they are to get a quote the least intention they have of getting the job done.”

I only want to visit homeowners who are pre-interested, pre-qualified, pre-educated and pre-disposed to using me. If they’re NOT, I spend time to make sure they are…before I visit.

If they want me to quote in a hurry, I direct them to my website and ask them to come back to me if they are (pre)interested (and now pre-educated). This also is counterintuitive. They expect me to drop everything and come round immediately. Do I lose a few? Probably. But I sure save a lot of time in relation to the inconvenience and frustration caused.

Probably around 80%.

 

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The beauty of direct response marketing is that it produces a result. Your campaign is either profitable or it’s not. You know exactly whether a mailshot or advert has worked.

But do you test? That is, test one advert with a different headline or offer against another.

Just recently I decided to run an unusual test with an offer to my existing clients.

A while ago, I sent an offer to 750 of my newsletter subscribers. The offer was that there was going to be a price increase but if they booked now (even if the job was a few months ahead), they could benefit from the current price.

I had quite a number of responses.

Now, what if I sent a different offer to some of those who hadn't responded? Well, surely they had all seen the offer of the price increase and those that wanted carpets cleaning took advantage?

Just two weeks later I sent a different (inferior) offer on a postcard to just 49 of those that hadn't responded. The result? A further FOUR jobs booked in with a total value of £784.30 at the new increased price.  And all this for a total outlay of under £30!  That’s a return on investment of over 25 to 1.

Imagine that. Customers who have already received a better offer just two weeks earlier paid MORE money to have their carpets cleaned.

Did I think it would work? Not really. But I'm glad that I tested it.

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I’m always interested in seeing how successful businesses market themselves to see if there’s any lessons to be learned. I’ve usually found that the larger the organisation, the worse the marketing and customer experience. However, a while ago I found an exception.

I went to the Yucatan Peninsular in Mexico for two weeks, staying at a fairly large RIU hotel. I have to say, I was very impressed with this hotel chain and how even the little things that affect customer satisfaction are not left to chance.

So let me relate just four of the ‘lessons’ I learned.

Firstly, I was amazed at the All-Inclusive restaurant. No queues. No waiting for drinks. Everything running smoothly. How could this be, I wondered?

So I took the free ‘Kitchen Tour’ on Sunday at 12pm. Now this really should be called ‘The Free Marketing, Advertising and Branding Tour’ because that’s really what it was. It’s purpose was to show us exactly how RIU have the customers' experience in mind. The end result was to change or improve our perception of the RIU brand (which of course is all in OUR minds). Hopefully we’d choose RIU next time.

The tour was carefully choreographed. They saw exactly what they wanted us to see in the order in which they wanted us to see it. But a key word that was repeatedly used was “Organisation” (in FIVE different languages!). It couldn’t be stressed enough. They wanted us to see that customers were happy, not by chance but because they had systems in place that ensured it. I was really impressed. I had no idea. Everything done at a set time and in a set way.

It was explained that they cater for a possibility of 600 hungry guests at 1pm every day. And that one hour later a further few hundred could arrive. And all had to be seated, drinks ordered and delivered and food cooked, ready and waiting immediately. And this they did!

Later, I joined the tour of the next door RIU hotel. This time one that is referred to as a ‘Palace.’ The reality was that it was hoped the next time we would ‘upgrade’ to this hotel. What better way than showing it to us? Again, everything choreographed.

So…the lessons?

Lesson 1: Your customers don’t know what you do unless you tell them. I had no idea that everything behind the scenes was so organised. Nothing left to chance. Customer satisfaction an absolute priority. My view of this large hotel chain has been positively changed.

Now…do your customers know exactly what it is that you do that other cleaners don’t do? Do they know why you vacuum the carpet before you clean them, something that most of your competitors don’t do? Are they aware of how much training you’ve undertaken? Do they know that you are National Carpet Cleaners Association (NCCA in the UK) members and why it’s important?

Lesson 2: The importance of a set way of doing EVERY activity in your business. In other words, to quote Michael Gerber of ‘The E-Myth’ “this is how we do it here.” The customer gets the best experience possible because we’ve worked out what that is and then written it down in our Operations Manual. It’s done that way every time.

Lesson 3: Always up-sell. And demonstrate if possible. What better way to show how carpet protector works than to SHOW it? If you added protector to only 30 percent of jobs… well maybe you could go to the Yucatan Peninsula next year.

Lesson 4: Remember, everything you do affects your BRAND, an over-used buzz word today. But put simply, a brand is a collection of perceptions in the mind of the consumer. So even being just systematic and organised can increase your ‘brand value’ in their minds. In real terms, they are more likely to use you again and refer you!

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I wrote recently about my visit to a local travel agent. It was a lesson in how NOT to sell a holiday. You may recall, amongst other things, the advisor assumed I wouldn’t pay the quoted price and so I was immediately offered a discounted price WITHOUT even asking.

If anyone’s been to Egypt, one thing you can say for sure is that although you may be hassled in the shops, they certainly know how to SELL.

I remember going on a Nile cruise a few years ago and amongst the ‘trips’ was a visit to a perfume factory. By the way, there was no choice about this. It was part of our visit to Karnak temple. There I witnessed a masterclass in selling. Again, there are some good lessons for us as carpet cleaners. Now, this was not just an education in perfume…it was a SALES meeting. Here are four lessons I learned.

1. Use Joint Ventures

Firstly, how did we just happen to end up at the perfume factory? Well, no doubt this was a ‘Joint Venture’. The tour guide would have made an arrangement to ‘deliver’ a coach load of prospective customers to the factory door. And no doubt taken a share of the profits. This is an excellent low cost, no-risk way of getting customers for the factory. There’s no expensive advertising, in fact no work at all other than divvying up the profits at the end. Even if the factory paid as much as 50% of the profit – it’s 50% for them that they wouldn’t have had. And a tremendous incentive for the tour guide! A win-win.

Now, who could give YOU access to their customers for a share of the profits (that they wouldn’t have had!). Ask yourself: Who services the same type of customers as you do? Could you give these customers a preferential offer that would induce them to use you for the first time? Even if you paid a high percentage of the sale to the other business, you would have gained a new customer and made a small profit on the first sale. When they use you again or refer you…there’s a much greater profit.

2. Use a Structured Approach

Nothing was left to chance…an initial ‘trust and rapport’ building cup of herbal tea, passing out order forms at the beginning to ‘assume’ the sale and demonstrations of the products were all clearly scripted.

Are your in-home quotes fully scripted? (I like to use the term ‘choreographed’ – like actors on a stage, nothing happens by chance). For example, are you demonstrating how protector works (tissue in a glass?) not just explaining it? Could you even clean a very small area to show just how soiled the carpet is?

3. Use Education Based Marketing

This is often a very under-used method of persuasion. I was thoroughly educated in the process of perfume making. By the time they had finished, I trusted that they knew what they were doing. I also knew about the ‘extravagant’ mark-up by the well known brands.

Do you educate your customers? You know, the ones who think that all carpet cleaning is the same? For example, do you tell them about the importance of vacuuming first because 79% of soil in a carpet is ‘dry’ and will vacuum out. Educate them as to why this and every other part of your process is so important.

4. Packaging

Yes, they offered three packages (4 bottles in a pack vs 6 vs 8 in a ‘fancy’ box), even throwing in a ‘bonus’ on the most expensive package.

Do you have different packages? If not, at least put together a high-priced top quality package and offer both. There are some customers who just want the BEST and are prepared to pay for it.

Many of my fellow travellers left the factory with boxes of perfume. A testament to a highly efficient, structured, educational, choreographed SALES meeting.

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What a great business we’re in!

Over the past few years, I’ve made my own business a ‘lifestyle’ business. I have no staff (whereas previously I’ve had up to five), work a maximum of three days and take at least four holidays abroad every year. And I don’t ‘phone home’ to check the answerphone every few hours!

All this has been possible by effective marketing. Selling to the ‘right’ customers at the ‘right’ PRICE. And giving them ‘best value’.

So just the other day I thought about booking my first holiday for next year. I checked online to see what sort of price I would have to pay. Then I went into a high street travel agent to see if they could perhaps do a better deal.

The education in ‘pricing’ was invaluable.

There are at least four lessons that easily translate to our business of carpet cleaning.

Here they are:

The lady I spoke to immediately informed me that she was not a sales advisor but in fact was ‘cabin crew’. She was pregnant and so the travel agent was simply making use of her as cheap labour in the shop. After taking note of all my requirements, a total price came up on the computer screen. The very first thing that she did was to immediately say that she could discount the price as it seemed a bit high. As it happens the price was in the region of another quote I had.

LESSON 1. Make sure that everyone involved in selling has some sort of sales training and understands the psychology of the buyer. Otherwise they will react to price exactly as the cabin crew lady did here. And what impression did it give? That I was being overcharged to begin with!

LESSON 2. Don’t capitulate on price. People are buying value NOT price. People don’t buy a Mercedes just to get from A to B. Yet, Mercedes dealers don’t discount to compete with Vauxhall or Ford. There’s always more involved that gives them greater value. I always recommend using a computer program to come up with the costs so that it’s very hard to change the price. Many times my computer has produced a price that I thought the customer would never pay, only to be surprised. Customers can sense if we’re uneasy about our price and will then try to negotiate. I’ve repeatedly found that customers take the view that “the laptop has spoken” when it comes to price and simply accept it as “the price”. Which of course, it is. And of course, if we provide a high quality service target Mercedes customers NOT Ford customers.

LESSON 3. If they want to change the price…you change the package. The price I was originally quoted for was All Inclusive and for a Water Villa over the sea. (Can you guess where I’m going yet?). So…could I drop down to Half Board or have a plain old bungalow by the waters edge instead of over water? If your customers want to change the price, get them to ‘empty the room of all furniture’ for example.

LESSON 4. Don’t discount…add value. Could she have added something to my holiday that costs them very little but has high perceived value to me? For example, how about pre-booked seats on the plane or late check out or something else that costs them very little?

Of course, if your clients are only concerned about price…it may be better to sack them and get clients that will pay more for a quality service. She asked me how much I was expecting to pay. I gave an artificially low price...about a thousand pounds less! (Don’t all buyers do this?) She then tried her best to see how low she could get the price. Instead she should have just ‘sacked’ me.

We mustn't be timid in explaining our prices to prospects. We must be able to confidently justify our charges compared to other cleaners. And do this in a way that our prospects perceive as ‘best value’ for them.