Make an offer they can't refuse

Up your game by offering reasons for carpet care.Keith Robertson (NCCA) gives some advice on combating the effects of recession

Possibly, like me, you have found this to be a strange year.One week the phone is busy and there is plenty of interest, with estimates and bookings and the next it feels as though all our customers have disappeared.

One or two I have spoken to tell me this has been the best spring they have ever had where others say it is absolutely the worst.My own straw poll suggests that far more are struggling than would like to admit.

So what can be done about it? Well, it's either a case of minimising purchases and cutting out all unnecessary expenditure or moving into an attack mode.

If you have had a quiet spell, have you put the time to good use leafleting your best target areas? Have you increased your direct mail advertising and circulation of monthly newsletters, or have you used the time to improve your website and find new ways of marketing yourself? The heart of good direct marketing is always the offer.However, no matter what offer you make there must still be enough in it for you to make a good living. I have read all the stuff about concentrating on the back-end at the expense of front-end profit and although I understand and agree with the principles I have a nagging suspicion that there are lot of customers that no matter what we do will never use us again.

One of the four main reasons why someone decides they want to have a carpet or upholstery cleaned is appearance.When do many think about appearance? Well, it's mostly when they are selling their property.

There is nothing we can do about that, but if we were to ensure that much of our marketing was directed towards health and environmental concerns then it might be that we can attract a different sort of customer, those who will want to use us again.

The message Why don't we let them know that their carpets act as a filter which catches and holds dust, bacteria, fungi, pollen and pollutants including tobacco smoke, which of course hard floor surfaces don't, but like all filters it needs to be regularly cleaned or else all the nasty stuff will go back into the air and into our lungs? Why don't we explain to them that the double glazing installed in houses or offices creates an ideal eco system for breeding other nasty little bugs like dust mites? Regular cleaning with a proprietary system will help make these environments much safer.

Now we can turn these stories into an irresistible offer by offering discounts that are tied to multiple-room cleaning and offering price reductions to some of our add-on services.Many of us regularly forget to offer these extras such as carpet protection, anti-static treatment, mattress cleaning or curtain cleaning to name only a few of a least twelve extra services that most of us can offer.

Doing that will encourage prospective customers to find a reason why they want to use us and in turn we still make our living because we have increased our average job size. If they are happy with the results we should ask them for a testimonial and for them to refer us to someone else.This is one way of helping us through any quiet time we might be experiencing.Come to think of it - if we did this all the time then perhaps we would never have a quiet time.