You may think traditional advertising is the primary way to acquire customers, but that is not how most successful small companies find their customers.
Venture out of your comfort zone and change the way you do business.
Using traditional advertising as your vehicle to make money is like trying to drive to Hawaii from California.
A car is the wrong vehicle. It doesn't matter how nice, fast or expensive it is, a car is not going to get you there.
Advertising is not the answer if you're building a residential carpet cleaning business.
Give it up. You'll get the same results thousands of others have.
Simply put, advertising is too expensive and attracts the least desirable consumers — price shoppers.
Carpet cleaning ads
Most successful small businesses spend very little of their resources on advertising.
You're probably not even aware of most of the successful companies in your area, for the simple reason that you don't see their ads. This is because they don't have any.
Unless you see their technicians on the road or working at a nice house, you have no idea they exist.
Start-up companies need customers.
They ask themselves what they believe is a logical question: "Where would I look if I needed a carpet cleaner?" Most owners think of the Yellow Pages, Val Pak coupons, Penny Saver, postcards or some other form of traditional advertising.
What they fail to consider is this: "Do they really want customers just like themselves?"
Hopefully, they want homeowners willing to pay for quality services.
The best consumers don't think like the average carpet cleaner. They don't use advertising to find their carpet cleaner or other home service providers.
The toughest challenge in business is to find a steady source of customers.
Wouldn't it be nice if you could just place an ad in the Yellow Pages and have the phone ring off the hook with unlimited profitable customers?
If that worked, a lot more cleaning companies would be wildly successful.
Advertising looks like a compelling shortcut. Unfortunately, it's a shortcut in the wrong direction.
Advertising is deceptive because it creates the illusion of being busy.
Some ads make your phone ring right away.
You pay for an ad and, if it "works," you get a fast response. But did you consider whether or not the work makes you any money?
Is there anything left for you after you pay for the ad and give the advertised discount? Not to mention the cost of fuel, chemicals, wear and maintenance on your vehicle and equipment and all the rest?
Evidence it doesn't work
Few ads attract profitable residential consumers for small businesses.
The search for an ad that works is the elusive "Holy Grail" of the carpet cleaning industry.
We tend to think that we just haven't found the perfect combination. Ads are visible to the public, so if you did come up with one that works, your competitors will copy it until it is no longer effective.
Industry studies repeatedly find that only 15 percent of carpet cleaning performed each year resulted from traditional advertising; nevertheless, most of the start-up companies are in a feeding frenzy over this small group of consumers made up primarily of "price shoppers."
If traditional advertising was effective, it would certainly generate more than 15 percent of the total sales of all carpet cleaning. The other 85 percent of consumers find their carpet cleaners some other way.
If traditional advertising worked, there would be a higher success rate in our industry.
Instead, only a small percentage of companies survive for more than three years.
Typically, companies don't fail because they don't have good equip- ment or don't do a good job. They fail because they don't have enough profitable work.
Advertising is an addiction
I've heard addiction defined as: "Something you can't get enough of that you never really wanted in the first place."
This seems to be an appropriate definition of advertising.
Even though no one likes paying for advertising, it is difficult for people to give it up, even if it risks their business success.
The answer is to acquire loyal customers who regularly repeat and are willing to pay a fair price for service and professionalism. Advertising does not attract this type of consumer. A radically different approach is needed.
Some consumers want more than you can afford to provide at the budget price advertising requires.
If you provide the level of service at the price these consumers really want, you will go broke.
You must build a base of loyal repeating customers from networking and referrals through precision targeted marketing.
Consumers obtained this way aren't concerned about price. They want good value. Once you get them — hold on to them.
It's not hard
It's not as difficult as you might think.
Building a clientele requires a much smaller pool of consumers. Once you build that group, referrals provide your growth and stability.
The 85 percent of consumers who don't use traditional advertising want more professionalism and service than they are currently receiving.
If you provide that, they want to know about you. You must convince them you are different because you provide the service and professionalism they desire.
Don't worry about your competitors. They are still fighting over the small percentage of consumers who use advertising.
Let your competitors battle to be the "low price leader." Plus, traditional advertising requires an endless supply of new customers to keep them busy.
Break away from the crowd.
Learn how truly successful companies build a stable clientele through networking and referrals. Break your addiction to unprofitable traditional advertising.
Steve Marsh is the creator of the Be Competition Free Marketing Program. He is a 30-year veteran of the carpet cleaning industry, an IICRC-approved instructor, and a Senior Carpet Inspector. Marsh is a marketing and business consultant who provides a turn-key program for attracting better customers. For more information, log on to www.BeCompetitionFree.com.
