Greg Cole
Member
I coined a term years ago about marketing. “In a room full of blondes , you want to be the redhead”. You want to stand out in a crowd. Failure to do so will keep you in the middle of the pack.
There are many ways to do this in business. It can be as simple as a dynamic van wrap. Or a crazy slogan. Or a Purple Truck (brilliant move Ken). There must be a qualifying difference between you and your competition. You MUST name it, claim it, make it your own, and market the heck out of it!
Carpet cleaning can be difficult to do this in for the inexperienced or linear thinking. If you are incapable of doing this : Hire someone who is an out of the box thinker to help you. A little tip : DON’T put an emphasis on the type of equipment you use. I realize that you are proud of the $30k machine you bought that is so strong that it will hold a bowling ball : However the general public couldn’t care less.
Focus on your best asset! Call attention to it.
a) If you are ALWAYS on-Time - then stress it – promise it, give away free service if you are EVER late. Better yet- be creative and instead of following the rest of the pack (plumbers, ac companies who do this) give away a voucher for a free puppy from a animal shelter (might cost you $50 - $75) Then market it in everything that you do. Few people will ever redeem these but if they do : you get more business due to all the pee in the carpet!
b) If you are like the rest : create something that makes you different. A local plumbing company in Atlanta just painted everyone of his trucks pink and put the breast cancer ribbon on it. A portion of every job goes to that charity. BTW: his business has increased 112% over last years number and he attributes it solely to this.
c) Avoid negative statements as a form of marketing. Saying ‘We suck less than others” is very common in our business and sadly rarely works long term. Negativity = negative results. I personally don’t want customers that have had bad experiences with other cleaners. They are usually more of a headache than they are worth.
Hope this helps.
-Greg
There are many ways to do this in business. It can be as simple as a dynamic van wrap. Or a crazy slogan. Or a Purple Truck (brilliant move Ken). There must be a qualifying difference between you and your competition. You MUST name it, claim it, make it your own, and market the heck out of it!
Carpet cleaning can be difficult to do this in for the inexperienced or linear thinking. If you are incapable of doing this : Hire someone who is an out of the box thinker to help you. A little tip : DON’T put an emphasis on the type of equipment you use. I realize that you are proud of the $30k machine you bought that is so strong that it will hold a bowling ball : However the general public couldn’t care less.
Focus on your best asset! Call attention to it.
a) If you are ALWAYS on-Time - then stress it – promise it, give away free service if you are EVER late. Better yet- be creative and instead of following the rest of the pack (plumbers, ac companies who do this) give away a voucher for a free puppy from a animal shelter (might cost you $50 - $75) Then market it in everything that you do. Few people will ever redeem these but if they do : you get more business due to all the pee in the carpet!
b) If you are like the rest : create something that makes you different. A local plumbing company in Atlanta just painted everyone of his trucks pink and put the breast cancer ribbon on it. A portion of every job goes to that charity. BTW: his business has increased 112% over last years number and he attributes it solely to this.
c) Avoid negative statements as a form of marketing. Saying ‘We suck less than others” is very common in our business and sadly rarely works long term. Negativity = negative results. I personally don’t want customers that have had bad experiences with other cleaners. They are usually more of a headache than they are worth.
Hope this helps.
-Greg
