Business expo I did yesterday! was great!!

[Scott S.]

I raffled off a microfiber mop as our gift. Candy brings everyone in. Thanks to everyone who posted tips and ideas when i was asking about stuff last month. You guys are great. The expo was a hit. People loved the bottles of spotter and microfiber towels i gave away (to people who seemed very intested in my service)

Things i wanna change for next time. make my business name bigger on the poster board. maybe have a bigger rug half clean half dirty

Thanks everyone!

 

[floorguy]

damn next to the food joint to.....nice

how many you book right then??

 

[Scott S.]

a couple its not a real big show. yes the food was right there it was great.

 

[Hoody]

Great job Scott, its all trial and error. I hope the next one is even better for you. You're a good dude, I knew that ever since I met you at WF 09. 8)

 

[Scott S.]

thanks hoody!

 

[Desk Jockey]

Good spot Scott!

Like Hooty said trial and error, just keep doing it and improving your dog & pony show. It's not always immediate but it's almost always worth the effort.

 

[Ron Werner]

what did you have on the clip boards?


You were giving away microfibre towels and Spot Cleaner? How many did you give out?


What would you say was the main thing they were interested in, ie what drew them in?
Was there any particular or common question?

 

[Scott S.]

on the clip boards were a sign up for the home pro spotter newsletter and the other was a contact request form. the newsletter sign up got a few full pages of names with emails and the contact request form a few people. the contact request form was for people who wanted to get stuff cleaned really soon and/or have a free quote done.

what drew them in? CANDY!!! They loved candy, had bite size snickers, twix, etc. and a variety or hershey kisses. i was the only business there not giving away super cheap candy and or hard candy.

how many spotters and microfiber towels did i give away? i gave away 24 spotters and about 20 towels. not always together. i had 1 sitting out just for show but i did not hand them out to everyone. I only gave them to people who were honestly interested in my business and people that wanted stuff done. i kept them under my table so people wouldnt assume i was giving them away. but did that to hopefully lock in some customers.

Common questions were:
where are you from?
How far do you go?
is your cleaner better than my bissle?
can you get out pet urine?

so next time im going to put where im from on my display, and how far i go. probably a video (walking from tm to pet extraction spot and show how its done all in one vid and display it with my laptop)

 

[Desk Jockey]

It's a little cold blooded but we always try to get the kids and the parents follow. :mrgreen:

We've not only give out candy, but popcorn (too messy), helium balloons (worked fantastic, but they eventually changed the rules to no balloons), whistles (plenty of complaints from the other vendors LOL), Clicker (very annoying!).

The other thing is a potential customer who is cold and standoffish, warms up fast when you give their child something. The they feel an obligation to at least find out what you selling.

It's a foot in the door.

 

[Brian R]

Looks really cool.

I would of had a big sign that said "Carpet Cleaning" or "Healthy Home".....something people could read from accross the room.

 

[mirf]

The shows I have done they really do not read the sinage anyway
and I like them to have question to start the conversation. Did you have a show special price?

 

[Ron Werner]

Thats a great response.
Do you mail your newsletters or email?
How long would you keep them on your mailing list before taking them off if they didn't call you right away?
I was thinking along the same lines as above. Don't rely too much on your signage to answer their questions otherwise they've no reason to talk to you to discover why you're different than the other cleaners.

I like your idea of the giveaway under the table. SOmeone that takes the time to talk to you and signs up needs a little reward. Be even better if you have your logo or name on the cloth. Even a fridge magnet, something substantial, would do.

I had a $50off special, only a few took me up on it. I just called the list again of those that never responded by the deadline. I might pick up another couple jobs from that.

Have to tweak that somehow to get a better response. ANy ideas?

 

[Scott S.]

Ron,

Yeah i threw it all together in like 2 days. like your ideas though. would love to get a table cloth with my name and logo on it. also the idea of signage with "healthy home" on it would be great.

as far as newletter it sends out automatically once a month from home pro, and i will send out quarterly specials via email and mail. post cards every so often also.

 

[Ron Werner]

what's it cost you for the Home Pro newsletter to be sent out? How many in your mail list and do you filter it?

I bought a nice looking table cloth for my table, nothing fancy but not plain. You could mount a sign to the front of the table. Just go to the sign shop who did the sign work for your truck.

I've been trying to think of a question/statement I could put on a sign, something to grab their interest and draw them in, something intriguing or controversial.