Michael, what have you found to be your best marketing tool to get you the most leads? How many leads are you getting from it per month and how much are you spending? Please don’t include internet leads or referrals.
I HAVE to include internet leads as it IS the tool that gets me the most leads. It produces better AND costs me the least. $6/month hosting fee. Higher close rates and higher ticket prices.
Other than that, direct mail produces leads but at a poor ROI but is averaged out with ALL marketing and budget is still met. We are trying RSVP next month only because it is very targeted. There is no ValPak here… it went under due to a lack of repeat biz from local companies. They were not finding it useful. I probably wouldn’t use them either because of high percentage going to non home owner households. (Apartment renter might use window cleaning but not pressure washing)
Yellow pages is fair but only after I reduced size and cost to be more inline with what they were producing. Included a call to visit website for coupon and stayed small. ($35/month average x 4 phone books) Each book only generates about 6 calls/month with a low close rate(price shoppers).
Home and garden shows get plenty of leads and work well. Well enough that I wish we had more than one a year.
Apartment Association functions generally lead to one LARGE project each year ($7-8000) Pretty good for $350/year and a few luncheons.
Repeat is good due to a follow-up and reminder system.
As you see, this is why I continue to network and read. Asking other folks what’s working and what isn’t. Still looking for the holy grail of making the phone ring while keeping the cost to the budget guidelines. Don’t want to be simply trading dollars all year.
Two ways to keep budget within guidelines… Find cost effective ways to reach target market or raise gross price according to what it actually costs to produce a lead. Either way, the percentage has to be met or bettered.
Percentages do need to be looked at, except for the response rate percentage. That
is the number that confuses people the most. High response rates don’t mean profits.
The ROI is first, across the board.
Your numbers are not factoring in lifetime value of a customer. You are treating it as
they all will pay you once. This is where percentages come in- what percentage of
your new customers hire you again? How regular? For how much? Any referrals?
Most people look at advertising as how much do I pay A to get B. When they need
to also think about C, D and E as that is where the REAL money is.
We need to figure out what that $53 per lead really got us. It usually ends up a hell
of a lot more than a $350 window cleaning…
I would not use Val-Pak because my other methods work well… unless I got a deal
on it. I don’t like my ads mixed in with 20 others, but I know of businesses making
a good profit from it.
I have not even received a Val-Pak in 3 years
If that is your best source of lead generation, you may want to find out why your
other devices are not working.
Online leads come in waves and with no control. You could get five today and none
for 4 days.
I would be terrified to rest my business on the small searches for local window
cleaning services. It’s like depending on referrals.
People love the internet and referrals for two reasons- It takes little effort and it
is cheap. ROI is great but volume is low.
Referrals and searches are a teeny, tiny part of what is needed to make real
money.
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The other devices work but not well enough to call them efficient or cost effective. Reason? Lexington, KY! Folks here don’t like/want to be marketed to. There is still a whole lot of the “good 'ol boy” going on here. Folks ask thier neighbor or friend who they used to complete a project and a referral is passed. Mostly “bad” referrals though. Bubba and his washer will do more volume than I will just because he might rub elbows at local bar/pub every evening with folks. Doesn’t matter if Bubba has a clue about washing.
Much better lead generated from online searches. Better type of customer.
Lifetime value is difficult to nail down. If you have a good system of “touching” your customers with frequency, you can successfully keep repeat business with them. Also, it helps with the referrals. However, it is not Guaranteed. This is why I try to limit how much weight I place on those numbers when determining how much I will spend to land a client/lead.
In perfect world, marketing will be 25% of your gross in the first couple of years and start to lower each year due to repeat, referrals etc. This is why some folks don’t make it past the early years. Under capitalized and can’t pay expenses including owner salary.
BTW, not arguing. Paul is correct in statements. I am simply pointing out more factors that go into deciding where and how much to spend on marketing. We have a set number that we won’t exceed for obtaining a lead. We use that number for checking against the different forms of advertising out there. Also, keep in mind, I DO NOT DO WINDOWS. Way different business model. Actually so different that in this threads examples, I’d be willing to wager that the Valpak results of 32 leads last month would be 1/4 that if the coupon was for House washing instead of window cleaning. Window cleaning is WAY more familiar to folks than House washing is as a form of “accepted” service. My window cleaning friends do more house washes than I do just from a simple higher number of leads for a more popular service that turn into upsells for the washing services.
You got that right. Pricing for profit and SELLING your service will do more for the bottom line than anything else. We price to make a profit while some folks try to price to win a job.
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No argument at all here.
I do need to say that this entire country hates marketing and advertising. It is no worse
in KY than anywhere else, unless it’s economics. Mostly it is the business owner
who hates marketing/advertising.
I am not sure I want “Bubba’s” customers. 
Lifetime value is easy to nail down as it is all about averages. Unless we are new in
business, we have the numbers.
There is not enough online searches to support a localized service business. PLUS
we are competiting with others directly.
I can do a keyword analysis on Adwords and find the volume of qualified searches
is likely very low. If few are looking, way less are buying…
EVERY business needs to advertise
