I assure you were are not out for someones credit card, nor are we out to scam someone, we are offering a legitimate offer to people who are legitimately looking for help. Our product is not for everyone I will admit but we are for some people.
Thank you so much to the people that have responded so far we will be setting your accounts up in the next couple of days. We have not nor will not ask for any kind of a payment method to try our service out. We are interested purely in the feedback of in the trenches carpet cleaners.
I know their are a lot of scammers out their who try to take the money and run, we are not we have been doing this for 10 years and have a perfect record with the BBB etc....
I love the feedback I have gotten so far, it has not scared me off John Olsen said you guys would be tough so I put on my kevlar and battle gear when I joined.
A little background on me personally I used to be a residential carpet cleaner I was for 7 years until I sold my operation as part of a divorce settlement. (I was not going to be partners with my soon to be ex-wife and money divides evenly)
It is with that experience that I took the initiative to create this system. I qualified the applicants the way I did as this product does not help as effectively the guy with a marketing plan that is already generating enough business and doesn't need anymore. This is for the guy that doesn't have enough business and needs more.
Just because my techniques are older ones does not mean they don't work. My creation of this system is under the knowledge that many newer or inexperienced carpet cleaners don't have the time or experience to set up a marketing plan or have the know how to do it.
My program is designed to use basic principles to create a new influx of business for your business.
I am going to answer several of the naysayers on this board one at a time:
First of all @Dave Yoakum comments are listed below
Dave Yoakum Comment #1 Using a live answering system is a loser.A stranger can't close a sale or have much knowledge about your business' operations.
My Answer: I called 10 carpet cleaners in my area only 2 of them answered the phone the rest sent me to voice mail jail. only 2 of them called me back within an hour. This is not a way to get clients attention. With our live answering the customer will always get a live person and then the notification of the lead goes directly to your cellphone and/or email for you to call them back.
Dave Yoakum Comment #2 No website in this day and age. What?
My Answer: Yes many business do not have a website but worse yet the ones they have are grossly ineffective. Most people treat websites like an online brochure. Our websites are able to take leads, gather them into a database for safekeeping (Customer CRM) and at the clients option schedule an appoinment. Many carpet cleaner websites out there are nothing more than a brochure with a phone number, whereas our is a customer point of contact system.
Dave Yoakum Comment #3 Must use it exclusively for lead generation. Multiple streams of lead generation works the best.
My Answer: I couldn't agree more and we are still open to working with whomever. The point of the BETA test is to work with business that don't have any lead generation system at all so that we can easily measure the results of our system. If you start out with no leads and you wind up with say 10 per month then you can direclty attribute the 10 per month to our service. For the guy that already has multiple lead generation system we can work with but the results can be harder to track. We are still willing to work with these people we are also looking for people that don't have any.
Dave Yoakum Comment #4 Must have no marketing plan. Definition: must be ignorant about what you are doing.
My Answer: Not in the slightest in fact I have met more carpet cleaners that think they have a marketing plan and don't than ones who actually admit they don't have one. I am shocked that so many business claim to know what they are doing, that when you really dig into what they are doing and you find out that it is really just a lot of guesswork or shotgun marketing. What we are offering is an actual marketing plan with measurable results and specific goals and matrices that need to be met to get results. I applaud you for having an actual marketing plan many claim they do and really in fact do not.
Dave Yoakum Comment #5 Cold direct mail is one of the most ineffective and costly ways to advertise,
My Answer: I never said it was cold direct mail that is your assumption. (We all know what happens when we assume don't we) What we do is part of a larger marketing plan. For our direct mail pieces what we do is we scour all of the newspapers and online classifieds in your area and pull down lists of all For Sale By Owner Properties (FSBO'S) We then take that list and send them a direct mail piece explaining that one of the best ways to get more value out of their sale is by having freshly cleaned carpets. That plan is in no way a cold direct mail piece these are warm leads in a specific niche that is not only ready to do business with you but have been advised by any real estate agents or how to website to get done ASAP. Our system is not a Cold direct mail system at all it is a customer acquisition system that works. Also our system is also designed so that your existing customer database can be imported and you can direct mail them as well, initiating a return business appointment. For a cost of around $200.00 our system would let hundreds of FSBOS in your area that you can come in and get their carpets looking their best for their planned home sale. In your marketing plan I am sure you understand clearly the lifetime value of a customer and would find a few hundred dollars spent for a customer acquisition to be a bargain.
Dave Yoakum Comment #6 Have to use a untested marketing system exclusively for 90 days. That could be for over 1/3 of the productive months of cleaning.
My Answer: Again we have doent his for 10 years not untested. We are only new to the carpet cleaning industry. I dont care if you use it exclusively or not. My post may have implied that and for that error I apologize. my intent was not exclusivity but I meant that you put your exclusive effort into using it. We are not looking for passive users that will play with it for 3 days and then stop. Our system only works if you will set aside time each day to put the tools to a test and actually see for yourself the results. So many people that try our system and fail used it half assed for a couple weeks and then stopped claiming that it didn't work. In this way Exclusive merely means that I want a focused and consistent use of it for 90 days to effectively show how it works for you. Since I am not charging anything for 90 days and am absorbing your costs I am the one that will lose here not you guys.
Dave Yoakum Comment #7 How can it really be free if it uses direct mail?
$350 Set up
$150 Month
$ 2.00 per call
+ direct mail costs
+Marketing materials printing.
I said free and I meant it I am absorbing these costs, I am seeking to prove its value before you pay a nickel. For those of you that don't understand what a BETA test is I will tell you. A BETA test is a FREE test of a system, it wont cost you anything but time and a promise to give feedback etc.... on weaknesses it may or may not have.
Dave Yoakum Comment #8 It seems like this guy is using old styles of marketing that are not very effective now days and can be very costly.
My Answer: I am not sure what you are even talking about here? Direct mail to a warm list is still used today by major fortune 500 blue chip corporations as a viable lead generation tool. Servicemaster, Stanley Steamer, Sears etc.... all use lists colder than the one I provide to market directly carpet cleaning and they continue it because it does prove profitable. If you can't make it work maybe you should aks yourself what are you doing wrong? The large companies I have listed all use the techniques that I do and are thriving business with multiple trucks in just about every state. Unless you are more successful than they are I would submit to you that maybe you shouldn't say these systems don't work at all but rather that you haven't been able to make it work. Comments like these lead me to believe that you are more like the businessman that thinks he has a marketing plan but really doesn't
Dave Yoakum Comment #9 How stupid does this guy think carpet cleaners are? Or are stupid cleaners his target market?
My Answer: I actually don't think carpet cleaners are stupid. I think that like all business in America they are hurting for business right now and actually need help with new client acquisition. If you are not one of those business then I commend you for your business prowess. It sounds like you could make a lot of money teaching these skills to the rest of us on here. My target market is the carpet cleaner who is interested in alternative ways to generate leads and wants to do it on a trial test for free. I can understand that you are not one of these but I know there are many that would be.
Dave Yoakum Comment #10 I have a upfront review and qualification process. If they don't have what it takes to execute. I don't want to deal with them.
My Answer: Well you are definitely the exception and not the rule. I commend you that business is so good that you can turn away customers. Many others out there are not in that position and that is who we are designed to help.
Dave Yoakum Comment #11 The problem I see with this guys stuff is that He is used to using "1-800 I buy houses" yard signs and other materials that are channeled to an operator. I bet that it works very well for Real Estate to give the buyer leads. But, in carpet cleaning to prospects want immediate answers to their problems and they need to be closed immediately on first contact. Unlike in Real Estate where a buyer may take longer than 2 seconds to make a buying decision. They likely don't mind having a operator set up a call back. In carpet cleaning however, there usually won't be a second chance to get back to them. Because after they end the call to your business they are calling and being closed by your competitor.
My Answer: Again you understand so little about what we re doing and are making lots and lots of assumptions. The yard signs etc... that we use are proven to work. They work for Pest Control, Handyman services, Maid Services, Pressure Washing Services, they work for all these industries but they wont work in your hogwash !!!! If they haven't worked for you you obviously did not have a marketing plan you obviously just had a few scattered ideas of what you wanted to do with little or no execution and follow through. I agree that carpet cleaning clients want immediate answers to their questions but unless you can stop what you are doing 24/7 and talk to each and every client and never send one to voicemail then you need some kind of live answering. Again as a test that has proven consistent in most every market I can call 10 carpet cleaners and typically only get 2 to 3 to answer me live the rest send me to voice mail jail. You expect the people on this board to believe that it is better to send these clients to voice mail than it is to have a live operator take the clients information down and promise a prompt return of his/her call? As well consider the value you provide your existing clients when you stop working on their carpets to talk to another client on the phone. I'll be they are put off by the fact that after they scheduled specific time out of their busy day or work week to have you clean their carpets and yet here you are wasting it by talking to another client. If they go to the courtesy of making time for you don't you ow it to them to show up when scheduled, and do the work quickly and effectively without distractions? Our service makes that possible. It doesn't work to stop work and answer phones for your clients. That's why the nationwide chains don't let their technicians use a cellphone in a clients house at all. It is professionalism like this that makes them a household name.
In Closing Dave Yoakum I welcome the criticism and i am definitely not afraid of it. The only thing I question is your willingness to make snap judgements without asking any questions. It is often our own unwillingness to learn new things that keeps us small and where we are. I have not now or ever purported to be the end all be all of lead generation. Anyone that says that would be a fraud. I do thank you for your feedback and everything you have said has been noted and we will strengthen our FAQS to deal with these issues thank you for your feedback.
Now onto Chads post
@Chads
Question #1 Sure did remind me of the 15 telemarketing calls I get every week just now I have to read it, I am just not interested in being scammed out of my money.
My Answer: I am not charging anything nor do I need a credit card so I dont know how i will be scamming anyone out of money?
Thanks to all that have provided comments on the board it is not as bad as
John Olson said it would be. I was expecting really hard questions, whereas most of these questions are comments really made out of ignorance or unwilling to being open. I would love to talk intelligently and openly to all those that are interested in trying out my service so please drop me an email out to
mwaters5@gmail.com and we can arrange a conference call to get all your questions answered.
