Writing in favor
I started my business in 1995. Unlike many owners, I knew nothing about carpet cleaning or advertising.

All I knew was how to create a business and be the best in that industry.

Up until February of 1999, I had no interest in advertising in the Yellow Pages and flyers, or on radio and television.

All I had was a three-line classified ad in the newspaper. Since I had a lot of free time, my three lines said, “Able to do today: Clean, repair and install”, with my telephone and license numbers.

That same month, I left the business and worked for a bank utilizing my degree in finance.

That got old and I left the bank in September of 2000.

In October of 2000, I decided to go back into the carpet cleaning business. I sub-contracted from the company that had the largest Yellow Page ad.

His ad said, “Whole house for $59.” I explained to him that this was not how I priced, and the deal fell through.

Looking over the phone book and reading all the carpet cleaning ads got me to realize that I was different from all these companies.

So I decided in 2003 to place a full-page ad and make it different from the others.

I told my sales rep what I wanted and the ad came out great. However, the ad, aimed at restoration work, was placed in the carpet cleaning section.

I received some restoration work from it, but very few carpet cleaning jobs.

By the following year, I decided to make an ad just for carpet cleaning. That ad (see next page) was an instant success.

The first month it came out, I did $14,000 in carpet cleaning alone. Interestingly, 95 percent of these jobs were from the Yellow Pages.

When I asked my prospects why they called us, almost all said my ad was different; I did not talk about equipment or try to advertise a cheap price.

They said they loved the guarantee that I had and felt like my company was trustworthy.

How have the Yellow Pages helped me?

Let’s now talk numbers.

• In 2000, I had nearly $60,000 in gross sales.
• In 2001, that number hit nearly $75,000.
• In 2002, it went up to about $80,000.

My advertising and marketing expense was $4,512 each year ($376/month), or an average of 6.5 percent. 

In 2003, I increased the size of my Yellow Page ad and paid $32,544 for that service. Even though my advertising costs went up, my gross sales tripled to $234,000.

In 2004, I increased my presence in the Yellow Pages to be able to have ads under carpet cleaning, and flood, fire and water damage sections.

My expense has gone up to $41,820 and I will know what the ratio is to my sales when we calculate the figures for our fiscal year that ended in February.

I do not deny that I get price shoppers calling me; no matter how I word my ad to say we do quality work, price shoppers will never go away.

The good thing about price shoppers is that it is very easy to quickly let them know that they do not fit our customer profile.

With that being said, I also get many good customers who appreciate quality work and will pay our prices. One water damage job that was $6,800 turned out to be a $35,000 per year account for us — and it came from the Yellow Pages.

We also have many clients who became loyal customers, some of whom gave us referrals, through the Yellow Pages.

Will we be advertising this heavily in the future? I think we will.

In my area and for my business, Yellow Page ads are the best thing to do.

Rebuttal
David Day

Yaser has noted that his Yellow Page ad separates him from the competition.

Just think about how effective his ad might be as a flyer, postcard, or self-mailer, when 30 or 40 of his closest competitors do not surround it!

As for the restoration business, it does seem to make sense to be in the Yellow Pages.

However, there are a good number of companies out there doing quite well in flood and fire work with just a line listing in the Yellow Pages, relying upon direct sales campaigns to win the lion’s share of their business.

My business officially started in October of 2002, and my best month each of those three years (including that very first month) has been October.

My October numbers are:

• October 2002 — $3,679
• October 2003 — $6,958
• October 2004 — $14,269

Those are my carpet and upholstery cleaning numbers for residential only.

All of it was generated without even being in the phone book, let alone having a display ad in the Yellow Pages.

Interestingly, 100 percent of this work has been within 15 miles of my shop, 90 percent within 10 miles, and 75 percent within six miles.

I have done this without spending a large amount of money on advertising.

My average costs are closer to before Yaser’s Yellow Page expansion.

Since I’ve started, I have not spent close to the $74,364 dollars Yaser spent on just the Yellow Pages over the last two years.

If I were to commit that much to marketing for new business (one would hope that you are not using the Yellow Pages so that your past customers can “find” you), I would still stay away from the display ad in the Yellow Pages.

Instead, I would do the following:

I would target about 20,000 homes in the areas in which I wanted to work.

I would then mail my flyer to them at a cost (postage + printing + label + labor) of slightly more than 44 cents each per mailing.

Now, $74,364 would put my flyer directly in the hands of 20,000 homeowners who lived in my targeted areas at least eight times over. I could do this in the course of two years.

What I hope to accomplish with my marketing dollars is to gain what marketing gurus refer to as “top-of-mind consciousness”.

In my market, when someone decides they want or need to have carpet or upholstery cleaning, I want to be the one they think to call without them having to turn to the Yellow Pages where they will have the opportunity to decide between me and 40 other cleaners.

Don’t get me wrong; I am not there yet.

However, most of those who called me and became my customers have not seen my competitors’ display ads because most never consulted the Yellow Pages in making the decision to call me.

Admittedly, I will never get every prospect to call me.

Some folks already have an established relationship with another cleaner; some won’t see my postcard or flyer no matter how many times it is stuck in their door; and some will see my flyer but will decide to call someone else because my prices seem too high or too low.

And, yes, a few will reach for the Yellow Pages.

But, I still say that, dollar for dollar, there is no more cost efficient and effective way to sell your services through advertising than direct marketing through flyers, postcards and self-mailers.

Add monthly — or at least quarterly — mailings to your customer base, and you will find that a Yellow Page display ad is one expense your business does not need.

Writing in oppostition
David Day

That time of year is here, once again, when I am faced with that perennial question: “Is this the year I start to shell out $473 per month to advertise in my local Yellow Pages?”

It has now been three years since I decided that, if I’m going to push a wand for a living, I might as well own that wand instead of pushing someone else’s through life.

And thus far, I have not only managed to grow a successful business without advertising in the Yellow Pages, but, until July of this past year, I didn’t even have a dedicated business line in my company’s name.

Now, as to the latter, I would not recommend anyone follow my example.

As to the former, however, I would argue that most could profit handsomely by eschewing the Yellow Pages for two other methods that have rewarded me well.

I have been able to build a steadily increasing business that keeps two trucks going full-time nine months out of the year, and one to one-and-a-half trucks during the winter slowdown.

I have done this without a substantial marketing budget.

Additionally, I have been able to concentrate the geographic focus of my marketing with the result of keeping expensive “windshield” time and fuel costs to a minimum.

The first thing I did upon finding myself the proud owner of a used, but reconditioned truckmount installed in a neatly lettered Chevy van was to create a flyer on my home computer and have 1,000 copies printed.

The cost for this two-sided flyer was $89.

I chose several neighborhoods within a five-mile radius of my home, and started walking, placing these flyers door-to-door.

Believe it or not, my first call from my first batch of flyers came in over my cell phone within an hour of having started.

I was on my way!

This was October of 2002.

How much revenue was directly attributable to that first batch of 1,000 flyers with the whopping $89 price tag? $2,277.25.

Incredibly, that is almost a 26 to 1 return.

You can bet that I was excited. I ran to Office Depot and had another 1,000 printed.

I again selected neighborhoods nearby, this time extending out as far as 10 miles.

Again, the phone rang.

Quickly I had generated another $1,987.50 in revenue.

Not as good as the first 1,000, but at 22 to 1, who was I to get depressed?

Then winter set in. I kept putting the flyers out. I trudged through the snow. Many days I had to thaw my frozen (well, they felt frozen) toes in a basin of hot water.

The calls kept coming, but in trickles rather than geysers.

Mike Hogan, a friend who had helped me with my flyer early on, suggested that I start mailing postcards to my past customers.

I thought that was crazy, since I had only been in business a few months, and therefore these folks had no more work for me until the following fall at the earliest, right? Wrong!

The second prong to my low-cost marketing strategy was put into place. For less than 40 cents each (some cleaners get more than that for cleaning one little square foot of carpet!) I could send a monthly postcard to each of my customers, offering them a special incentive to have more work done “right now!”

I adapted some advertising material I had, used Microsoft Publisher on my home computer, and printed the postcards on my home printer.

My first mailing went out to a mere 98 customers.

The total cost was an astronomical $38.71.

I had just three calls off of that first mailing for a total of $591 in revenue, an almost 15 to 1 return.

This does not include the cost of toner and ink, but I get quite a few postcards off of a cartridge before it needs replacement.

I have since added some mass advertising efforts to my marketing campaigns. However, several things have not changed.

I still target neighborhoods in close proximity to my shop.

I will travel farther for referrals, but I choose to advertise in media that let me target by zip codes to keep travel time down.

It is not uncommon for us to do two to four jobs in the same development or subdivision in a given day.

The use of flyers delivered door to door, and then a regular keep-in-touch direct mail campaign to keep those customers who came to you from your flyers, can help you build a strong business quickly — and conserve your cash.

A well-crafted flyer, with compelling reasons why your company — and not any other — should be your prospects’ cleaner of choice, will get you high-quality customers.

Your persistent direct-mail campaign will help you keep your customers.

Your cost of acquisition and retention will be insignificant when compared to the cost of almost any other marketing methods you can try.

Rebuttal
Yaser Amireh

I would rather have my name in front of these potential customers 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and 52 weeks a year.

A direct marketing promotion is forgotten and thrown away along with junk mail.

Great job, though, David.

I have never seen such a return on a flyer, and you exceeded the industry average by a large margin — 26 to 1 is a great return indeed.

I am sure you figured in your valuable time spent putting the flyer together, printing, distributing, etc.

I see many flyers at my customer’s doorways when I go clean for them.

Many of these flyers had prices lower than my charge of the living room alone. Yet, these customers do not even look at them.

This really affirms my thought of associating cheaper cleaners with flyers. No offense meant.

No doubt, there are many ways of marketing, and flyers are definitely one of them, as are referrals, direct marketing, etc.

All I am saying is, for those new businesses that want a fast way of getting a huge database of good quality customers, Yellow Page advertising is the way to do it.

Thanks to the Yellow pages, I am now known as the carpet cleaning expert in my area.

Both customers and other cleaners alike are calling me for advice on spots they ruined.

Having the largest ad in the book, and making sure it is different from what my competition has, makes a difference in high-end customers looking for a quality cleaner.

Yaser Amireh is owner and operator of Aladdin’s Cleaning & Restoration, Fresno, CA.

David Day is owner and operator of Healthy Homes, Inc., Allentown, PA.