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So here are the three reasons why every carpet cleaner should be sending a monthly newsletter to their customers:

1: Newsletters help you retain your clients.

2: Newsletters help with referrals.

3: Newsletters help build your brand.

Now, what should we put in the newsletter that’s going to achieve these goals?

The first thing we want to do is to actually get our newsletter read or at least welcomed by our customers.

That means write it with your customers in mind. In other words, write what they will enjoy reading, not what you want to write. The best content I’ve found over the past 15 years is a balance of content that informs, educates, and entertains! If your customers feel entertained and enjoy reading your newsletter, they'll look forward to it, issue after issue. And what happens if your customers read your newsletter issue after issue? You'll build credibility, increase your reputation as an expert in your industry and increase brand awareness.

Your customers will remember you, will do business with you again, and will refer others to you as well. Newsletters should be written in a conversational tone and you should avoid the use of technical jargon. Customers have no interest in psi or water temperature at the cleaning wand. In addition, make your newsletter fun to read by including trivia, maybe some humour (being careful not to include anything offensive), and general interest articles about health, home, and life issues and some leadership or management tips.

So what specifically can you put in your newsletter? Here are some of the things I’ve used:

Information About Your Other Services

Many of your customers will not know that as well as carpet cleaning you also clean upholstery…or hard floors…or curtains. How many times have you heard a client say “I didn't know you did that" These are all missed opportunities to increase your revenue without the heavy cost of acquiring a new customer.

Education About What's New In The Industry

Have you recently upgraded to a truck-mount that can mean a quicker job or faster drying times? Have you bought turbo-dryers that can leave their carpets dryer? Or a new, better stain remover? Don’t forget, your customers are not interested in your machinery or chemicals…only what these new things can do for THEM. Newsletters are a great way to educate customers and also position you as the expert who is abreast of industry innovations. People like to do business with a ‘leader in the field’.

General Interest Articles About Health, Home and Life Issues

The majority of my customers are women who are interested in health and beauty matters. I often include humorous pet stories that will appeal to them and have been very surprised that these are the type of articles most passed along to friends. Other topics include gardening, cooking, trivia and things to do with the home.

Carpet Cleaning Matters?

A little. Occasionally I’ve put articles about cleaning that will directly benefit my customers and position me as the expert. Like “Should You Replace Your Carpets With Hard Floors”, “How to Remove a Heavy Spillage From Your Carpet” or What Should You Look For When Replacing Your Vacuum Cleaner”. But these are few and far between.

Don’t forget…it's not about you. Customers are only interested in ‘what’s in it for them’. Inform, educate and entertain them, and they will look forward to your newsletter.

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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.

  1. 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.
  2. 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.

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If I had to use only one marketing strategy in my business, which one would I choose?

Without doubt it would be to send a monthly newsletter to my client base. Why? Because newsletters, pound for pound, dollar for dollar are one of the most effective marketing tools available.

Let's just consider the reasons why every carpet cleaner should be sending a monthly newsletter to their customers.

Reason 1: Newsletters help you retain your clients.

How often have you heard people say that they've had their carpets cleaned before and were "very satisfied" but just can't remember the name of the person or company they used. This is a tragedy. One of the most costly expenses in a business is the cost of getting a new customer. And now when it's time for the carpets to be cleaned again, the customer can't remember who cleaned them! Newsletters help keep you ;top-of-mind' with customers. When your newsletter arrives they are immediately reminded to think about whether their carpets need cleaning again. Newsletters also get in 'under the radar'. They are not perceived as a sales pitch and can therefore be used to educate and inform about other services without the usual resistance to a sales message.

Reason 2: Newsletters help with referrals.

If your newsletter is interesting and of value to your customers, they may pass it along to friends or relatives. In fact, just seeing your newsletter can prompt friends to ask what it's all about, perhaps leading to a conversation about the need for cleaning carpets. And of course, your name will be on hand to pass on.

Reason 3: Newsletter help build your brand. 

Brand-building is normally too expensive for a small business to use as a standalone strategy. This is because the usual way for a business to build a brand is by means of image type advertising which is very costly and the results uncertain. However, sending a regular newsletter automatically builds your brand name. I like to think of my ˜brand" as the likelihood of my clients using me again and of referring me to others. I know that technically a brand is the sum total of every experience with my business and how my clients and prospects perceive it. Or something like that! Branding of course is all in their mind. Therefore a regular newsletter has the potential to affect how clients and prospects think about my business. And that's very powerful!

Here's an example of the cost-effectiveness of sending a regular newsletter:

A lady who had not used our services for a few years recently responded to an offer in my newsletter. I estimate that she has received about 75 newsletters in that time. If the cost of sending a newsletter including printing, paper, envelope and stamp is say 50p (here in the UK) that means I've spend less than £40 to re-gain her. (Work out YOUR cost of acquiring a customer and you'll be very surprised!). The PROFIT on the job will be in excess of £200. That's a return on investment of over 5 to 1. Even sending a newsletter for many years without response can pay off eventually. Most of our clients respond long before seven years, making it even more profitable.

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There's a statement that many carpet cleaners dread...

"I've had other quotes and they're much cheaper than you."

I had it myself recently when upon arrival at a job the elderly lady asked me to confirm the price and then said that her son had obtained cheaper quotes. She then told me that he would soon be arriving to question my price.

He arrived just as we were pre-vacuuming and asked us immediately to stop work. Although the lady was a repeat client, her son was very concerned about how much she was spending on having her carpets cleaned (which by the way was only £144). To say he was very agitated is an understatement. He had obtained three other quotes that morning, all of them around half of our price.

Now how would you have handled this? The tendency for many carpet cleaners is to agree on a price reduction immediately. However, what message does this send to the client? Surely that we were overcharging to begin with! And don't forget: business is all about profits and margins. No margin = no profit. It's then only a matter of time before the business folds.

So what can we do when a prospective client questions our prices? The first thing to remember is that people buy value and not price in most cases. That's why the Ritz-Carlton can charge £35 for a fillet steak and why BMW can get people to part with over £30k for a 3-series when a cheap and cheerful Ford would easily get them from A to B. People will pay more for what they perceive to be better value

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.

So what did we do on the job? The lady's son thought she was buying a commodity, that all carpet cleaning is the same. Now that's the last thing we want to be as then price is the only consideration. The only time that people buy on price is when they think that everything else is the same. It's critical that you differentiate your service. And you must be perceived as being different in your prospects mind.

So we calmly explained to him what is different about our service and built up the value in his mind. Once we had done this, he was happy for us to continue. It appears that she had been the victim of some unscrupulous salesmen recently and the son was simply trying to protect his mother.

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 prospects can perceive as "better value" for them.

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Should a small carpet cleaner focus on "building a brand"? Surely you say, well that's OK for the likes of Coca-Cola and Nike, but I just run a small business! And don't make the mistake of fondly imagining that all you need to have a brand is a new slogan or a redesigned website or brochure.

But what exactly is a brand? Too often even marketing professionals don't have an answer, and too many have their 'own' answer.

But it really all boils down to this: A brand is a collection of perceptions in the mind of the consumer. I like to think of branding as the likelihood of someone using our service again. (or for the very first time). Therefore it's something that is intangible!

This definition makes it clear how to build a brand. A brand is built not only through effective communications or appealing logos. A brand is built through the total experience that it offers.

According to Al Ries in the book The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding, the power of a brand lies in its ability to influence purchasing behaviour. But a brand name on a package is not the same as a brand name in the mind of the consumer.

A few years ago on a Greek island I wanted to buy a cola drink. Now I don't particularly like cheap cola. All the labels were in a language I could not understand. But one had the clearly defined logo and corporate identity of Coca-Cola. And so I bought it. Now it wasn't just that the logo was the brand. It was the fact that it would deliver a promise, that I knew it would be the same as I could buy back home. In other words it would deliver the quality I wanted. The brand was all in my mind!

That's why it's so important for us to focus on giving our customer what she wants and to have systems in our business to make sure that happens.

Here's an example:

I've just come back from a two week holiday in Cuba. I stayed at the Melia Cayo Guillermo on the north of the island. I've never stayed at a Melia hotel before but what I experienced there made sure that it won't be the last.

From a welcome drink on arrival, very quick check-in time to problems being sorted quickly it was evident that we were going to have a good time. All the staff including the gardeners who kept the place immaculate said hello and were very friendly. When we left I saw something I have never seen before. Virtually the entire staff including the manger came to wave us goodbye. The manager even remembered the names of repeat guests. I found out over the course of the two weeks that several of the guests had been here multiple times. The staff genuinely cared about the satisfaction of their guests.

So using the test of ˜the likelihood of using you again" the Melia in my mind has created a strong brand. I would definitely stay there again. I have never felt so well-cared for on holiday. And I am more likely to try other Melia hotels.

Now how can we transfer this to our carpet cleaning business?

According to Al Ries, a brand is a singular idea or concept that you own in the mind of the prospect. In other words we must be unique in the customers mind. The worst thing that we can be is a commodity, interchangeable with any other carpet cleaner. So we need to give the perception that there is no service on the market like ours.

We also cannot appeal to everybody. We cannot be "all things to all people" We can't be the lowest priced and the highest quality service. So we need to choose our target customer, price accordingly and exclude everybody else.

And we need to be in the "relationship" business. Genuinely care about our clients. Give them exactly what they want. Regularly keep in touch with them through a newsletter and reminder cards. Thank them when they do business with us or refer us.

And most importantly, put all of this into a system so our clients get the same experience every time.

Ideally we'd like to get to the point with our business where people instead of asking for an expensive Swiss watch, ask for a Rolex.

That's why it's so important for us to focus on giving our customer what she wants and to have systems in our business to make sure that happens.

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If you were to seek advice on improving your business, you would likely be told that you need to “build your brand” or create “brand awareness”

Typically this means spending money on a fancy logo and generally telling the marketplace what a great business you are. If you do this, you are following the lead set by many, many corporate type companies.

But is this the best way for you as a small carpet cleaner to get more sales?

I was intrigued recently while watching Manchester United play Arsenal at football (soccer) to see that the travel firm Thomas Cook have changed their logo. It was on one of the electronic billboards.

A bit of research on the internet revealed more:

  • “This week the Thomas Cook Group unveiled the next stage in its journey back from the edge of a financial abyss: a new corporate identity known as the "Sunny Heart"
  • According to the firm, "The new, unified brand captures the essence of Thomas Cook: how it delivers inspiring personal journeys as the trusted pioneer in global travel." (The Independent)
  • “Thomas Cook says that the new visual identity and branding looks to reflect the ‘warmth and approachability’, ‘trust and personalisation’ and ‘message of High Tech, High Touch’ of the brand.”
  • “Tour operator Thomas Cook has ditched the globe logo it first used in 1880, replacing it with a 'Sunny Heart', as the tour operator continues its recovery from near collapse. The 172-year-old firm unveiled the design alongside a new slogan - 'Let's Go' - spelling the end for its famous motto 'Don't just book it, Thomas Cook it.' The rebranding is part of a root-and-branch overhaul by new boss Harriet Green, who was recruited last year to save the household name from collapse, after it was bailed out by its banks.” (Daily Mail)

You’ll notice that in response to near collapse, they have decided that the answer is…a new logo!

But surely the most important question of all is..will this lead to SALES?

Let’s ask one of its valued customers…ME!

I’ve travelled with Thomas Cook twice in the last 18 months. What has been my experience? On my recent trip to Mexico the transfer took two and a half hours arriving at my hotel at the equivalent of two in the morning. The problem? The advertised transfer was one hour. The previous year with a rival firm was 35 minutes. Apparently they had crammed in more drop-off points before ours!

On a previous holiday to Egypt, they cancelled an entire plane leaving passengers bound for Manchester to travel via Gatwick. An add-on of several hours. Incredibly they didn’t let the Manchester bound passengers know until they got to the airport in Egypt. It also meant that although I had pre-booked a window seat, I ended up sitting in the centre row.

I decided there and then that I would NOT travel with this company again unless I had very little choice.

Would the money spent on “re-branding” not be better spent on improving the experience for the customer? Frankly I don’t care about their logo or their “trust and personalisation” or their “warmth and approachability.” But I do care about getting what I’ve paid for. A re-brand (“new pretty logo”) does not fool me!

So what brand strategy should you follow?

  • Forget “brand awareness” You don’t know whether it’s successful or not as it can’t be measured.
  • Forget advertising to simply remind people of your existence. Killer advertising is simply salesmanship multiplied according to copywriter Gary Halbert
  • A good ad will work the first time. They don’t need to see it 7, 15 or 20 times
  • Don’t be fooled that a brand is the most important thing. The people who give you money are!
  • Forget ‘clever’ type advertising with just your ‘image’ displayed. If your salesman acted strange or did a silly dance and then mentioned the name of your company at the end you wouldn’t want it. Instead you want them to find out what the persons problem is, what their objections are and present your product as the best solution. That’s salesmanship!

I’ll give the last word to Claude Hopkins who wrote about silly logo’s and image type advertising this way: “Instead of sales, they seek applause”

I say…Let them have the applause - my bank doesn’t accept it!

 

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How do you give quotes or estimates? Do you just wing it or do you have a structured system in place? A marketing guru once commented that if you don’t have a system for selling in place you fall victim to the prospects system for not buying!

A recent experience shows the benefits of having a selling SYSTEM:

I live in a 1930’s house that needs a new front door and two small windows that join to it. Outside the front door is a small wooden porch that has seen better days.  I recently invited a reputable company to give me a quote for replacement for all this. What followed was a lesson in how not to sell!

First, remember that all salesmen are problem solvers.  In other words people do not buy products or services for the sake of it – they want a specific problem solved.

I was hoping for the salesman to educate me as to what could be done and to offer advice so that I could make an informed decision. Instead he highlighted several reasons why I couldn’t have what I wanted. Admittedly the porch was a problem as it was old but he simply didn’t want to deal with it. What he should have said was “If I were you, I wouldn’t waste your money on the porch…but maybe think about this…”

Lesson: Always act in the best interests of your customers. Educate them as to what is possible. If they would be better off replacing the carpets…tell them! Use photo’s, testimonials etc. They need to view you as a trusted advisor. When they do, price becomes less important.

He proceeded to lecture me about his windows but didn’t find out what my concerns were. Was I worried about security or keeping the heat in or did I just want the cheapest option? Why did I want to replace my windows? When I told him clearly which door I wanted, he began speaking about the others in the brochure.

Lesson: Use consultative selling. Ask a systemised series of questions to first of all qualify your prospect. Then find out exactly what they want and give it to them. Listen to what the prospect really wants. Find out their main concerns. It could be quick drying or whether a particular stain can be removed.

I asked him why I should do business with his company and whether all windows were the same. When I asked the difference between windows he replied “Price and Quality.” I asked what I would get if I paid more. The answer - “Better quality.” But what does this mean?

Lesson: Be clear why customers should use you versus your competitors. Reject those who don’t fit your criteria. It’s important to have a clear Unique Selling Proposition rather than “choose us because we’re no worse than anybody else”

When I asked about Thermal Rating he responded by telling me that his windows are C rated and that A rated windows are very expensive. And that his competitors would rip me off! In fact he spoke at length about bad fitters and their practices. The salesman constantly used the word cr*p, when describing his competitors.

Lesson: Don’t bad-mouth your competition. It’s not until you hear someone do this that you realise how bad it sounds. It makes you seem very unprofessional.

Speak and act professionally at all times. Also, you are not your own customer. Don’t assume they cannot afford to buy, particularly when offering protector. Last year we cleaned the carpets for a lady living in an area we would not normally clean in. I wondered whether we would actually get paid, yet she had protector on her carpets and gave the technician a £20 tip!

 

And finally… the salesman drove off in his flash Audi TT and never followed up. I’ve not heard from him since!

By the way, I've just noticed that the company is no longer in business!

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Here's a reprint of an article I wrote for the National Carpet Cleaners Association magazine in the UK back in 2009. I think you'll find that it still applies!

Earlier this year I was watching a football agent being interviewed on Sky Sports. It was the day after the football transfer window had closed. The reporter asked him “Is the recession affecting football clubs?” His was response was that in general it wasn't. In fact he made the point that more players had been sold for a sum over £10 million than ever before. Determined to report some doom and gloom, she said that smaller clubs must surely be having a bad time. When the answer was again a negative, the reporter concluded with the comments “So at the moment, football is not being affected by the recession but how long it will be before it does…we will have to wait and see!”

This interview was a prime example of the media of today. Report ‘doom and gloom’. And if there isn’t enough, make some up. I’ve found it helpful to remind myself of the real economic situation in this country at the moment. After all, I’ve not really found my business that affected by the “recession”. In fact, two weeks ago, we had our busiest week for well over 12 months. All residential work I might add.

So here are the facts: According to the National Statistic Office the workforce in the UK is about 30 million out of a population of around 60 million. Unemployment is around 6.5% as we’ve now passed the critical two million mark.

Hold on…doesn’t that mean that 93.5% of the workforce are…in employment!

Even if it rises to the dizzy heights of three million as the worst predictions seem to be, doesn’t that mean that 90% or 9 in every 10 people who are able to work are actually in a job. Suddenly it doesn’t seem so bad. Not only that, but the public sector (ie: taxpayer funded jobs) has actually taken on more staff over the last year and given them above average pay rises!

Parallels with the ‘Great Depression’ of the 1930’s doesn’t help either. Paradoxically, life got much better for those who kept their jobs back then. The cost of living fell sharply, so their spending power rose sharply. Some parts of Britain were actually more prosperous at the end of the 1930’s than before.

I now make it a point to tell these facts to as many of my clients as possible. Many seem to think that soon nobody will be in work or have any money. Yet there are many firms doing well. Cadbury’s for example has recently reported a 30% increase in annual sales, up from £430M to £559M. A Daily Mail article in February had the headline ‘Fee Paying Schools Beat The Recession’. Apparently record numbers of parents want to put their children into expensive private schools.  There are many, many more.

Getting through the “Recession” is largely a mindset thing. I have heard of several people who have stopped reading the newspapers over recent months. The effect has been that they have simply stopped worrying about any “downturn”. For us, we have made sure that we target PWM (people with money), explained very clearly why we are the best value for them and have not reduced our prices at all. When things are ‘tight’, people still spend, they are just more careful with whom.

Oh by the way, in a recession, nearly every business cuts its marketing spend. If you increase yours to find high quality, high service seekers who are prepared to pay a premium price for it, your business can not only withstand a recession, it can positively thrive!

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It’ was 4:30pm on Friday 9th January 2009 and I’d had several phone calls to book in work. Normally January and February are expected to be quiet months in the carpet cleaning industry. Yet, we were busier than ever…even more so than December.

What had caused these homeowners to phone my office on this day? Quite simply…a deadline!

I had sent out a number of reminder cards to existing clients telling them that if they want to take me up on an offer they must respond by Friday 9th January. And they did. In droves.

It’s amazing how a deadline focuses the mind of potential clients. Why a flurry of calls right at the end? I imagine my prospects mentally going through a fear of loss. That if they didn't phone by that day they would miss out. They simply cant just ‘put it off’.

I clearly remember about 11 years ago agonising over a buying decision. I had received a very good offer from a company saving me money on a particular product…but only if I responded by a certain date. And today was the date. I had to make a decision. I wanted the product but it was a lot of money. I was going on holiday the next day. If I wanted to buy I had to make the decision NOW. And I did. I bought. This was one of my first experiences with the power of a deadline.

It’s been said that the deadline is one of the best things ever invented. It forces people to make a decision. One they probably would have put off and put off until they forgot about it. It seems to be human nature to procrastinate. Now we never send out an offer without one. Often we will have prospects phoning us AFTER the deadline pleading with us to do business with them because they have just come back off holiday and found our postcard, flyer or letter. And of course that changes our positioning. All of a sudden they are just relieved that we will even consider doing business with them.

But you must be believed that the deadline is genuine. So make it genuine. After all, if you offer a discount (or as I prefer, to add value rather than discount) you must have a good reason for doing it. It could be that you are making an offer (perhaps 3 rooms cleaned for the price of 2) in a certain area until a certain date. Or you could be limiting the number of jobs you will do with the offer. Whatever the reason for the offer being limited in some way, it must be believed. It then stands a good chance of being acted upon.

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I’ve just returned from a local business exhibition with over one hundred small businesses exhibiting. It’s a great place to learn.

Marketing experts like Dan Kennedy and Jay Abraham speak about the need to look at businesses outside of your own and learn from what they do well. I must admit that there didn’t seem to be much to learn from what they did well but plenty from what they did badly. These lessons are so much easier to see in a different industry as we are usually too close to our own.

Lesson 1. The need to qualify. Virtually everyone who stopped me failed to find out if I was a qualified prospect. (A qualified prospect is someone who: 1. must be able to buy, 2. must be able to enjoy a benefit, and 3. must be the decision maker)

Here’s an example: A very pleasant man on the Freesat stand proceeded to give me a long spiel about how I needed to have Freesat in my home as it would save me money. “I may not need to subscribe to Sky, particularly if I don’t watch the movies or the football” was his pitch. After about one minute I stopped him and told him that I’ve already got a Freesat receiver (which actually wasn’t true, but it was the only was to stop him). He’d fallen in love so much with his product that he forgotten to fall in love with his clients. Freesat is a High Definition service and I have only just bought a new plasma tv so I simply wont be using Freesat for the foreseeable future. He simply wasted his time with me when he could have been speaking to someone interested (wanting to enjoy a benefit) and ready to buy.

Lesson for us: Have a system in place to make sure prospects are qualified and filter out those who don’t. Many people have dirty carpets…but they don’t care! Or they don’t want to pay premium prices to have them cleaned.

 

Lesson 2. Need for a USP (Unique Selling Proposition). A business owner of a very high-end hi-fi stand caught me looking at his gear. That was enough for him to launch into his pitch. Again he failed to qualify. He simply assumed that I was interested. I bluntly told him that I wasn’t his target market or ideal client as I would never spend that amount of money on hi-fi. He did then explain that they also sold lower-end televisions. So I asked the all-important question: “Why should I do business with you versus your competitors?” His answer was the usual “we give better service; we look after you blah blah blah”.

By coincidence I have just bought a large screen LCD TV which was faulty. I bought it off the internet through Amazon. When I phoned to tell them that it was faulty, it was absolutely no problem at all. They simply asked “would you like it changed or would you like a refund?” No arguments or fuss. I changed it for a plasma TV. Now that’s great service. To just say that you give “better service” is not a compelling reason for a prospect to choose you.

Lesson for us: Make sure we are able to give prospects a compelling reason to discriminate in our favour. This must be specific reasons not just “good service” It must also be different from all our competitors. In our industry we can’t all “give the most thorough cleaning or it’s free” or it’s not unique now is it?

Lesson 3. The need to look the part. A firm of painters and decorators caught my eye because their target market was clearly high-end work. Everything on the stand indicated that they do a quality job except the young man who was sitting there. I can only describe him as unkempt and scruffily dressed with long hair and jeans. Not the sort of person I would want in my house. This is what’s known as an anti-USP because it works against the USP.

Lesson for us: If we are targeting high-end clients make sure that we look and act like they want us to. This includes having our vans clean and tidy, wearing a uniform and saying ‘please’ and ‘thank you’. Make sure that our whole business is congruent with our message.