I agree with you.
That’s one way, it’s not the best way I use in my business. I scower the streets and find new commercial buildings that I would like to clean, then I show up and talk to the head people, and most of the time get that business.
I look for high paying jobs, that I can use my WFP on to make maximum profit.
I think you are focusing on the number 200 too much. I just landed a commercial building that is going to take my crew 4 days to complete, and it will bring in more than what we make on about 32 regular houses. My crew doesn’t do 32 houses in 4 days. So to me, this is a much better way of me growing my business, and by growth, I mean profitability.
I would rather do less work and make more money in a shorter amount of time. 99% of the Commercial buildings that my company does, we get set up on maintenance cleans, so they are profitable all year long.
Charlie
Thanks for sharing Charlie. I like hearing the things that people are actually doing to grow their business. I know there is more then one way to skin a cat and I like hearing the truth, I don’t care what the heck you did. I’ve heard of everything from door knocking to standing on street corners with signs. I dont’ care what people are doing to do it. I just like to research the most effective ways people are using and implement them into my business and into other businesses. When I first heard of Groupon I was super against it and said it was the stupidest thing a person could do.(the person that ran it was a client that I was helping grow her business and she did it, even with me saying it was stupid. Until I saw the results and was like okay I’ll eat my words. Thanks for showing me I don’t know, what I don’t know)
So I continue to ask people how they grow their business and what they would do today to grow different businesses, with hearing multiple perspectives and listening it starts to help my ignorance that was really high at one point and probably still higher then I know it is.
The only reason I focus on 200 is because I’m keeping this within the thread. A guy started cleaning some windows and overnight he’s able to sell 200 customers in a day with a potential to turn them into clients.
By the way I really like your tag line!
Yup, primarily. PPC and SEO stuff, too. And of course, client communication on a constant basis. Carefully and regularly cultivating your existing list (once it comes into existence).
Each segment has particular media that work well for them.
Magazines, HOA newsletters, newspapers, video, yellow pages, postcards, letters, inserts, money-mailers, etc.
Like Dan Kennedy says, you have to create a Market-Message-Media match.
Assuming also that by your phrase “growing a business”, you’re speaking about building and growing a profitable client base.
Don,
Have you signed up with groupon yet?
If yes how did it go, if not why not you seem to be very much in favor of it?
My expereince doing a similar thing locally is very very mixed. Some have added more work most seem satisfied with the deal. Some will use us in the future but I have a sneaky feeling that most will wait for the next coupon. If they have had it once they figure it will come around again.
In the end it’s a 70% discount 40-50% going to the sponsor of the ad then the discount you give. That being said I wouldn’t be opposed to doing it again BUT
- the deal will be given during the slow season in San Diego end of December- early March depending on rain. I figure if you want a great deal you get it when we aren’t busy with high paying jobs during the busy season. Plus this will allow us to schedule another cleaning during summer.
- The deal will be either super simple 10 exterior windows or something where I can set the price very high a like home rejunvantion regualry $1199 now $629. Which would be $398 for me at 40% going to the sponsor. More or less having people [I]feel a discount[/I]
We are not selling a product that we can mess with the margins like a coffee shop or resturant where the meal is discounted but made up on buying drinks etc, people are purchasing [U]labor[/U] at a very reduced rate.
Believe you will get plenty of people who when you ask to do this or that stare at you and say “Thanks but just the coupon” and you get to clean windows for maybe $20 an hour.
Structure the deal so you win, the customer feels like they win, and everybody is happy. This way those who respond won’t be a crazy amount that messes up your schedule and since they did spend a good chunk of change they will likely be a good paying customer down the road, not just a coupon clipper with no loyalty.
BTW- Please don’t think I’m ragging on you or anything. I think your smart to dig into this stuff and look at every possible way and opportunity. In the end there really is no right or wrong way to do it. Just different ways.
In my experience the people who bust out our coupons when we arrive and are solely worried about price, are not the customers I necessarily want to be building my business on. My best and most lucrative customers are the ones who pay the higher price and even tip for our service. Then they tell all their friends and it goes on from there. An optimized website, fine tuned magazine ads, flyers and postcards and really working the referrals are the way to go. It is your business, so get creative and put your energy into it and you will be rewarded. A customer base built overnight has no foundation.
Kevin, if it wasn’t profitable(thinking longterm), why would someone do it?
I wasn’t sure if you meant managing your people and building systems and all that. I was simply commenting on the marketing stuff.
Hey I am really interested in how you approach them. How do you convince them on the spot that they need you service. Do you have a handout you use explaining your services and what they will get?
Groupon isn’t in my area, I have worked with a client in a very labor intense industry that did it while I was working with her(against my advice btw) and it worked out very well for her. That’s when I started looking at how this could benefit me and others.
I’m in the works of doing something similar with a much smaller type of Groupon. When I do this I will put together a case study on my plan of attack and results if I end up putting the kind of deal I want and at a time that makes sense for me.
I just love the risk free nature of it instead of traditional advertising example: You pay your local newspaper(or insert any media you like) $700 and then they say good luck pal and I would sit and listen to these people and cross my fingers that they would work.
Here’s a post from another Groupon thing i was chatting in a few months ago but feel the same way:
When looking at this I would look at the Life Time Value of the client. If you were even at a break even point or even at a loss it would still work out if you had a good system in place to not only keep them as clients but I believe the real money will be in the referrals with a good referral system in place . You’re paying for clients one way or another. But who ever before has ran a campaign and gotten paid before you did any of the work. Again I think with the right systems in place for 1. upsells 2. turning into a regular 3. Most valuable part referrals.
So lets see if my math would work. $100 of work = 2 hours of work, avg. $50/man hour. Groupon deal $50. Your cut $25.00
200 deals sold= $5000
1/3 to you= $1665
Lets say you upsold 10% of them just $100 of additional window cleaning/gutter cleaning/chandelier cleaning etc.(I guarantee you would do more than this if you ran through a simple script)
And 20% referred you to 1 job of an avg. of $200
For this we’ll only use first year and not year 2 or 3 or 4 or 5 or 6.
20 upsells x 100 = $2000/ 50hr= 40 hrs
40 referrals x 200= $8000/50hr=160 hrs
Groupon $5000 400 hrs
Total revenue = $15,000/ 600 hrs= 25/hr at least a breakeven to acquire new customers and turn them into clients. I think I would do it for new customers only. I did low estimates of hourly pay(I see many people topping $100/man hr) Low estimates on the referrals that you would generate with referral systems that work in place. And a monkey could upsell more than 10% of the jobs. I see it as a risk free way to grow with the proper systems in place and with the mindset of creating long term value for your clients and not making a quick buck off of 1 cleaning.
Almost forgot every referral that you got from the referral wasn’t added in and just think if you’re taking care of your clients like you know you should be just think about year 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and all the referrals that kick off of that, plus all the additional services that you well.
Yeah, I agree with you on coupon shoppers. I know them very well my uncle likes to use coupons and he doesn’t eat somewhere without using a coupon has binders of these things.
But I think the majority of people if really excited about the job done, with the proper follow-up and right message I think you will convert quite a few of them to clients.
I also agree with you that during slow time is the best. I also agree with you on either doing something quick and simple 10 windows or a big deluxe package.
I also agree with you here.
I think in the end we’re all looking for a win-win and I feel if it’s structured right it’s possible for all parties involved. You make some great points but I feel for the reason I pointed out above it’s a good opportunity to build a sustainable, profitable client base.
I don’t understand what you mean here. Could you explain it a little further?
I agree with you that consistent client communication is the number one thing a company needs to be doing to keep client attrition low, combined with follow-up calls to make sure they were happy and doing a great job of course.
Okay, thanks for clarifying this. I agree with you different segments respond higher to certain marketing and there isn’t a one size fits all campaign. That’s what makes it fun when looking at your opportunity costs of each, then tracking to see what your actual ROI is.
Landing and attracting clients is one thing. Having the right team in place once you get these people to hire you is something else. Building a strong business requires attention to both. That’s all.
[I think in the end we’re all looking for a win-win and I feel if it’s structured right it’s possible for all parties involved. You make some great points but I feel for the reason I pointed out above it’s a good opportunity to build a sustainable, profitable client base.[/QUOTE]
Time will tell, I think these types of deals will go away once and if the economy ever turns. You seem to have thought it out well so you should do good with it. I wouldn’t be as optomistic with the referall rate (unless you already are doing that, and I think some areas in particular smaller communites where people are friendlier tend to refer at a higher rate) or upsell rate but you will get both.
I had 61 buys about $1800 up front I have done about 20 so far and generated and additional about an additional $1500 so far so that works out to an avg of $105 for each of the completed deals. 20x $30 = $600 +1500=2100 /20=$105. Out of the twenty 2 jobs the highest paying a total of $629 didn’t use the deal. oNe saw the coupon new her house was way to big but called anyways and then referred me to a friend. Out of the paid deals 40% have added a little extra. I’ll dive in and get the real numbers later.
Definitely agree.
I have three referral campaigns going on at the same time. This is probably what I’m best at so I’m sure that will do well. My upsell rate stinks unless I’m on the job then it’s really good. I’ve been working on systemizing this to have it more consistent but haven’t cracked the code yet.
Thanks for sharing, it definitely needs to be orchestrated right, to maximize it’s effectiveness.
How long are each of the jobs taking you on Avg.?
Do you have referral systems in place to get referrals from all of your jobs systematically? Do you have a system you run through on every job to consistently get upsells?
