Marketing Ideas

Mr_futuristic

Hi guys.

Firstly would like to thank the members of MSE. I was really dreading doing door to door cold calls, but after reading about others who have been in the same situation, I finally got the courage to go out there and bang some doors down lol. Didn't get any clients, but hey, I've overcome my main fear =D so THANKS

Now, I have recently graduated from university, and after searching day and night for a job and not getting anywhere any time soon, I have opted to start a domestic and commercial cleaning business.

well, when I say started, I should really say going back into it. I started this in my 2nd year at university whilst living away from home, and although it worked well as I was living in the city, I have moved back to my family home - Buckinghamshire, and am now looking to start this again.

In the city, i used to market via Gumtree, and that worked fantastically well. However, Gumtree is not used as much here and so I need to find other ways to market the business. However, I'm on a shoestring budget as they say, literally! So I need to find as MUCH low-cost ways to get the business out there infront of my target market - home owners & offices.

I got the domestic side covered via flyers & cold calling, but its the offices I REALLY need help with as I don't know where to start =(
I want to get estate agents, but after cold calling some, its always the same response "we've already got cleaners we use, but leave us your number and we'll add you to the list of contractors"...

I will be trying networking events soon, but does anyone have any other ideas of what I can do to get the business out there and recognised?

thanks

cavework

Hi and well done so far..
Word of mouth is the best free advertising you will ever get.
Next , call your local newspaper the morning of the end of their advertising deadline. Negotiate an ad on the right hand page or better still at the top of the front page ... 2 colour if poss with your logo.
Don't agree to more than one week and trust me you will get a bargain.
Don't take the left hand side...
We got an add .. 2 colour .. top of the front page of a local free weekly paper with a huge dist area for £20 plus VAT ..
Cold call every office in your area.. also find out the head offices for the larger Companies and talk to them
Make sure you have the answers to any questions .. insurance , price etc. Convince them that you will have everything covered even if the cleaner calls in sick at the last moment and be prepared to go out yourself if needs be.
Don't give up if you get no result from the first call , we have one client that took 5 years to convince with a call every year, but the turnover from that account is now over 15K per annum.
Very best of luck with this.

Horace

Get your business onto LinkedIn (it is a bit like facebook for businesses only without the games), you can have a free account on there and connect with people that you have met - if you have been given a business card then look them up on LinkedIn and connect. By connecting with people on LinkedIn you then have access to their contacts and you can then ask your own contact for an introduction to whomever you want to speak to that they know..so it is less of a cold call and more of a warm one.

Use Twitter - again this is free. On Sundays between 5.30pm and 7.00pm you can tweet @TheoPaphitis with details of your business and the hashtag #sbs (you must include the hashtag which stands for Small Business Sunday). Try and be a bit quirky to have more chance of being picked. Theo will then retweet 6 businesses after 9pm. I know it works because one of my chums got selected on Sunday and his phone was glowing red hot with tweets, retweets, emails and people wanting to connect with him on LinkedIn. (You can link LinkedIn to Twitter).

People say you should have a Facebook Page for your business - this might be worth doing.

Have a blog on your website and share knowledge - people love free stuff so don't be afraid to share what you know. Eg. 10 top tips for removing stains and stuff like that.

Join industry-related groups on LinkedIn and join in the conversations there - you don't know where it might lead..one such conversation has lead me into working with a company to promote our athletes during 2012.

Now we come to networking - there is no need to fork out for membership of places like BNI (will cost you around £600 per annum plus cost of your breakfast,lunch or whatever) or 4Networking which has a similar annual membership fee and you have to pay for breakfast on top (although they do have a special offer for 6 months for £200 - personally I can think of better things to spend £200 on). Look for networking events on https://www.findnetworkingevents.com - look for free (or minimal cost events) such as Ladies that Latte, Business Biscotti, see if you can find a business club in your area as sometimes these have low membership fees and they are great places to meet business people. Pay As You Go events are much better and you can manage your budget a bit more.

Join the FSB - the membership fee is worth it because you get automatic cover if the HMRC decide they want to investigate you, you get free banking with the co-op, free legal helpline, free legal documents (you just take the logo off the page and exchange it for your details), loads of other benefits including a gold card worth around £300 which gives you access to all the Regus Business Lounges worldwide. Regus are serviced office people. FSB also have regional networking meetings which are often free.

I wouldnt advertise in newspapers - advertising can be expensive especially if you have the right hand side page edge, I know that when I get a newspaper, I read the news and then chuck it not even bothering with the adverts. There are better ways to advertise without wasting your money on paid adverts. Although what would be a good idea, approach your local university and ask if they have a newsletter that goes out to staff and students and ask how much an advert would be to go in there - you would only need a few lines of text. I know that Bham Uni has a magazine called Buzz which every student and member of staff has access too and adverts were always read. University staff tend to have money for cleaners.

Also carry your business cards everywhere because you just never know who you might meet and where you might meet them. I found myself networking in the middle of Hyde Park a few weeks' ago as I was walking to Marble Arch, the guy I met worked in a stockbrokerage and his company have a marketing budget to spend on teambuilding events etc.

Remember to register with the HMRC as well, if you haven't already done so.

HTH

PS. With networking events you might have to stand up and do a 40 sec or 60 second elevator pitch. Try and make it memorable - I can remember hearing a carpet cleaner's pitch once and I was scratching by the end of it:eek:

pitkin2020

Horace has raised some good points but sorry to say they don't work in all areas and not for all businesses, linkedin, twitter and a blog are next to useless unless you live in one of the major cities and have something interesting to offer in terms of information. Telling people the kirby hoover is better than a vax isn't interesting, unless your in the trade and even then you wouldn't be using a a henry or a kirby lol. Telling people how to get the red wine stain out will just allow people to get the red wine stain out themselves, your then surplus to requirements!! I'm not saying some people can't make them work, but you could be better spending your time walking into the businesses and introducing yourself than sitting behind a computer writing tip bits.

I see you have the domestic side tied up but the commercial side is far harder to get into, simply because everyone wants it as its usually week in week out work. You have to offer something different to your competitors which could be in the form of qualifications, services or even from a price point. Most of the time you have to be speaking to the right person, speaking with the secretary or some other employee will give you the same response "we'll take your details blah blah", actually presenting yourself to the right person can make a huge difference so make sure you get that right. Another way is to offer extra services that you don't currently do, so they only have to employ one company instead of several, obviously be realistic in what you can offer. Speak with the people you know and your family knows they maybe able to find a way into a business if they work there etc, they can certainly give you information that maybe useful like the existing company is giving up, not providing the service etc etc.

Time, this is nearly as important as everything else. Over time you will be seen (as long as you get out there and don't spend 12 hours a day writing a blog lol). The more people see you the more they will remember you, the more you appear in demand the more they will want your services as obviously you are in demand. Businesses like to use one service in general and not have to think about it again until they are forced too so they are likely to use someone who is established and isn't just going to give up and disappear overnight leaving them in the lurch.

Like Horace said take business cards everywhere, everyone is a potential client. Don't go on and on about your business but there is nothing wrong with chatting about it once in a while, you never know where it may lead.

Savvy_Sue

Sabka, if that's your business name you're using then you need to take a look at the Forum Rules and email forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com to get it changed.

Mr_futuristic

Wow guys. The response and replies on this thread were incredible and I want to say a huge thank you to all for providing me with such fantastic and useful advice! Thanks! =D

@cavework Thank you for the tip on contacting the local paper for the right hand page advert at their deadline. I will definitely be giving my local paper a call in the morning to enquire more about when their deadline is and will be sure to keep you updated on the outcome =D Also, it's inspirational to learn that once again, persistence has paid off and you've got the client after 5 years of hard work I'm doing that with my student accommodation I was staying at in Birmingham for my final year at uni. They said the best time to contact them is in March (unfortunately I contacted them a bit late this year), but there's always next year, and this time, I'll hopefully be more prepared and experienced to get it Thank you for you advice again

@Horace, thanks for the advice on Linkedin and Twitter, as well as the theopaphitis tweets. I've currently got a Twitter and Linkedin account - think i need to explore Linkedin more as I'm not using it to its full potential. I'm regularly tweeting though, and will definitely take up your suggestion on theo. you are right about the networking, I am definitely going to look into this more and see what's available in my area as this is probably the best way to market the business whilst being on a low budget. Business cards and networking are the way forward for now i think :P Also, never heard of FSB, but will look into it more as well


pitkin2020 you are definitely right about getting in front of the right person, and that is what I'm struggling with the most right now. It's soo disheartening when every time you ring a company, a gatekeeper/ receptionist answers and rejects putting you through to the person you wish to speak to. I tried another tactic by saying I would like to speak to the person in charge of cleaning as I would like to discuss your office cleaning standards, and she said she would pass on the message. Asked for the name and she replied she cant reveal their name either but I should simply post my letter to "the facilities manager" How annoying!

Most likely if I post it, it would be the gatekeeper opening it and sorting the important from the "not so important" post and mine would most likely end up in the trash.




If only we had the mind of richard branson to come up with ways to get out there ourselves and not only put our brands on the map but also get ourselves on the map :P

I was thinking, to get into the papers, (Call this crazy) but getting a male french maid costume and distributing flyers in town :P lol

not only would this make people see me and increase the chances of them paying attention to the flyer, but it would also get me into the local newspaper for FREE

(now time to find the guts to do this lol)

Sorry for the essay guys and thanks again for all your helpful replies

Mr_futuristic

Hi Sue, It actually is my business name and I didn't realise it wasn't allowed at the time I was registering with MSE, and have since been trying to find a way to change it, but there wasn't an option to do so in my account section.

Will use the email you suggested to try and get it changed now though. thanks

Horace

On LinkedIn, you make connections with people whom you have met networking etc. Look at the contacts that your connections have - if you see someone that you would like an introduction to the ask your connection to introduce you...thus you will not get stuck at gatekeeper level and will have a warm introduction as opposed to a cold one. LinkedIn is global and to say that it won't work if you live in a small village is complete and utter twaddle.

If you did cleaning at Bham Uni Sabka then you will know that they used copious amounts of baby oil for cleaning the brass and steel fingerplates on all the doors around the campus. Baby oil is great for removing sticky finger marks.

pitkin2020

Horace wrote: »

On LinkedIn, you make connections with people whom you have met networking etc. Look at the contacts that your connections have - if you see someone that you would like an introduction to the ask your connection to introduce you...thus you will not get stuck at gatekeeper level and will have a warm introduction as opposed to a cold one. LinkedIn is global and to say that it won't work if you live in a small village is complete and utter twaddle.

If you did cleaning at Bham Uni Sabka then you will know that they used copious amounts of baby oil for cleaning the brass and steel fingerplates on all the doors around the campus. Baby oil is great for removing sticky finger marks.

Like I said some can make it work. Funny though as today I have visited several clients some of which were clients when I ran my cleaning business, anyway as we were discussing signage I asked them what their current marketing consisted of. That reminded me of this thread. Out of the several businesses, some small some quite large 4 used facebook, only 2 used twitter and none of them had even heard of linked in and 5 of them are part of morning network group.

Like I also said it depends on the business sector, facebook etc are good for getting you known but if your in the service industry it does nothing more than that. Where as if you provide a product that people can see it also does that aswell as getting you known.

If i'm looking for a cleaner my first stop would be a recommendation not someone on facebook or twitter. If i'm looking for a photographer then a recommendation would still be first port of call but I would also want to see their work which could be done through facebook and the alike.

cavework

Horace .. baby oil smears. We use a product manufactured for us that also shines all stainless steel and is not harmfull or slippery!.:eek:
We sourced our own supplier of cleaning materials, who now makes all our cleaning chemicals on site, when we first started up. If we find a product on a supermarket shelf that really works we ask him to reproduce it and it saves us a fortune.
He has even named a couple of the products after us!
Best advice for marketing is to get your name out there from referals.
If you give a great service people will recomend you to other business associates without the need for breakfast meetings and expensive advertising.:)

Horace

The uni buy baby oil by the caseload which always tickled me to be honest with you, I thought it wierd when they said it shifted sweaty finger prints although I never noticed that the finger plates were smeary. I spent 7 years working in cleaning services and can remember being told off for mopping the floor after I spilt something in the kitchen - it then resulted in my having a lesson in mopping and was encouraged to learn the 10 key tasks which I deftly avoided doing because it wasnt actually part of my job:eek:

When buying goods or services I always go by recommendation - I was holding LinkedIn up as a way of connecting with business people as I know a lot of company directors are on there and it makes life easier to make a warm call than a cold one.

Twitter is good on Sundays for Small Business Sunday with Theo Paphitis - if he selects you then it is like he is endorsing you which can't be bad if he RTs your message to 148,000+ followers.