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Do you think TARGETED postcard campaigns would boost your sales?

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Post by Matt; My carpet cleaner Mon May 30, 2016 12:41 pm

Sendjim is a good concept. I watched the videos, it is time consuming going around taking pics and then sending a card. I, personally would prefer to do eddm style.
Years ago I did bulkmail postcards...1000/week. Was getting 3-4 jobs a week. Did it for 12 weeks. Then turned around and did 1500/week, 4-5 jobs pet week.
Would be interested to see your card for window cleaning.
How many times did you hit those neighborhoods?
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Post by Freemind1 Mon May 30, 2016 1:14 pm

They were hit 3 times, a week apart. Prime real-estate for me. No response.

SendJim is WAY too time consuming for zero response rates. Even if you use a stock photo, it's killer getting in addresses from home. Doing anything more than taking a quick pic gives people the impression you are casing the place to rob it or something.

It would be fine for someone with an office manager. However, if you are grown that large, you'll likely be using another program with more capabilities than a post card program.

Knocking on doors is a no go here. No one is doing that anymore, and if they did, it really upsets people.

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Post by milspec6 Mon May 30, 2016 4:41 pm

It is a real shame reading that last line.....why are people so reclusive that they would be upset by a nice guy coming to their door introducing themselves and providing a little flyer about themselves and what they have to offer?

It must be true in a lot of areas as I do hear this all the time, but why is that way? I'm not talking stick your foot in the door and hard sell, I'm just talking about a simple hello and a heads up that you are in the area.

Okay, compromise and see if you can get a small flyer added to deliveries by the local pizza joint? I've seen that done over the years and that flyer will make it into the home every time. I'm sure some of the smaller pizza shops would be willing to do that for a fee or even an exchange of services.

I start door-to-door next week and I expect success, but maybe things have changed that much since the last time that I did that. I really hope not, I hope people around here are still people who don't act like Howard Hughes.
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Post by Freemind1 Mon May 30, 2016 6:01 pm

well, I think the reason is, we are all REALLY busy. Run there, call this person, kids sports and school activities, etc.

Our home is about the LAST place we have left to slow down and be left alone. With the few hours of "me" time left of a day, who wants to be bothered with a sales call?

Besides most people are very leery and suspicious of sales men. Sometimes they are actually casing a home to break into. So there is that less than warm reception.

Our pizza joints are all national/regional chains.

I've talked to our local newspaper about distribution. Twice the price of EDDM postage (you supply the flyer/card). And not to mention they are just as untargeted with routes. If you pick the shopper/free paper, you have to do ALL stops. Same with the newspaper.

Small town marketing is fickle. I've just decided I'm going to commit to the cards, good or bad, for the remainder of this year. Each week, I will hit a different lake, of the four where the most wealth is. May even hit two in the same week, to blanket these lakes every other week with cards. So this would boil down to somewhere in the neighborhood of 2000 homes a week, hitting 2 lakes. So, if I could hit ten jobs a week from it, that would be 4k a week.

Or this could cost me 300 plus a week for nothing.

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Post by milspec6 Mon May 30, 2016 6:25 pm

With that kind of coverage, you should be able to get some hits, don't see why not.

Do you spend time at these lakes? Might be helpful just to be around them to make some contacts and get a foot in the door.

Even if private lakes (I suspect that they are) there must be a near by quick shop or tavern where these people frequent, right? Park there, have a cup of coffee there, hang some flyers, drop some business cards in the bathroom or at the pumps.

Even if the local pump monkey gets to know you by name because you stop in every couple of days for a soda, that is a contact that might suggest you to the clients that you are chasing.

You want lake people.....become a lake person.
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Post by Matt; My carpet cleaner Tue May 31, 2016 8:57 pm

The way I see postcard/flyer marketing;
1st flyer.... They look at it and "naw, nope"
2... Nope
3.... To busy
4 time.... Still nope.
5th.... Not now
6th.....
7th... They just noticed a few dirty spots, when the next day the flyer is in their hand and they think"hmmmmm, maybe I should...call!" BAMM!
Its getting the AD in their hand when they see and realize a need.
Carpet/windows/chiro/burger or what ever.
So let's say they receive a postcard every month for a year, before they act upon it. Cost< $1 per mailing =$12. Job ticket; $150-250-350...
Then the cost of repeat business is less. Add some referrals!
I've experienced in the past when I made a soft push for referrals. 1-2 referrals per 5 active customers, within 6mo-year.
Advertising is also known as = investing in your business.
I would stick with targeting those streets and lake areas. I think results will come afew at a time. Next thing you know, you own the lake neighborhoods.
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Post by Mo Wed Jun 01, 2016 7:09 am

Freemind I think its too soon to decide weather direct mail is a failure for you. I suspect the reason your response was not there was because of the number of homes you targeted. I think the frequency might have been too short as well.  Don't be surprised if one of those 16 residents put that card in a drawer and calls you months later

I would target entire neighborhoods with EDDM and send a post card every three weeks to that neighborhood. If those neighborhoods have clubhouses I would ask permission to leave the post cards there as well. That post card would be close to a third party referral to the neighborhood.
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Post by Freemind1 Wed Jun 01, 2016 7:55 am

May have been too soon Mo, bit at over 200 a month to target such a small audience, and figuring in the PITA factor for adding new neighborhoods, it's just not worth it to me. Out of 3 soft sales to potentials, not one call for a quote even.

For less than 200, I can get a big box of postcards and bomb my targets. A much larger batch of people. I can dedicate a morning every week to selling/marketing. It just has to be productive.

I know some guys love EDDM. But you have to remember who my clients are. They are really wealthy and have plenty of disposable income. Those people here are concentrated in smaller areas. EDDM or blanket marketing is a waste of my time and money. Both in the advertising dollars and people wasting my time doing quotes they can't/won't afford.

The easiest thing for me to do, is blanket the neighborhoods I want to work in. I've already got internet leads covered. Now I need to move on to making people think about cleaning glass, that aren't or haven't.

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Post by milspec6 Wed Jun 01, 2016 9:22 am

I think you have come to a very wise decision or group of decisions really.

If I can offer up a point of view on the windows....from the stand point of someone who is not known to clean my own windows above the first floor.

One word, "Convenience". I don't even think about the windows on my upper levels as I generally don't bother to look out them really. However, if someone came up to me and said they were in the neighborhood and could clean them today for say $100 (6 windows)...I would say do it.

IF I received a flyer, post card, or saw an ad in the paper for it, I would never respond to it. I respond to a lot of things in ads, but only if I was actively seeking it out and windows is a nuisance task to me so I don't seek it out.

Everyone is different of course, but as a stoic non-window cleaner, that is my thinking. Catch me out mowing, staining the deck, washing the siding, or even cleaning the garage and you ask if I would like my windows cleaned....you would be on the clock. Any other time, you would be ignored.

BTW: Have you tried targeting the real estate agents in your area for window cleaning? Seems like the ideal marriage to me.
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Post by ACpower1 Wed Jun 01, 2016 2:07 pm

Windows are always needing cleaning after construction or pressure washing etc,   landscaping project..   the list goes on....   wind storms  


We did a funny one the other day,    $360 carpet cleaning ticket then $285 in windows...      the guy called in some pressure washers who were pretty bummy looking.       They pressure washed the back patio and basically moved the dirt from the patio onto the side of the house.      It was covered in wet scum from the patio all over the windows and siding.


really got me thinking about the controlled vacuum recovered pressure washing game. perfect example of the benefit right there.
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Post by Mo Wed Jun 01, 2016 7:13 pm

You can target mail carrier routes in a neighborhood you want to mail to with EDDM

This home is in a nice neighborhood in town
955 Broken Ranch Rd
Do you think TARGETED postcard campaigns would boost your sales? - Page 2 IS56804o7etpay0000000000


Plug that address into EDDM and choose mail carrier routes with in a 1 mile radius of that house
Do you think TARGETED postcard campaigns would boost your sales? - Page 2 Carrie10

Choose the mail carrier routes whithin  in that 1 miles radius or just choose the mail carrier route just for that house. Get you postcards from vista print or post card mania etc and your good to go.

In the example below I chose all three routes that came up
Do you think TARGETED postcard campaigns would boost your sales? - Page 2 Mail_c10
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Post by milspec6 Wed Jun 01, 2016 7:35 pm

Were you  Laughing actually hiding behind that wall when you took that picture?  Tell me that is a stock photo....please tell me that.
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Post by Mo Wed Jun 01, 2016 8:28 pm

Its an MLS listing photo in neighborhood I have cleaned in
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Post by milspec6 Wed Jun 01, 2016 8:41 pm

Oh good, had me worried for a moment. "Targeting" a neighborhood would have meant something entirely different with that picture.
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Post by Freemind1 Wed Jun 01, 2016 8:43 pm

milspec6 wrote:I think you have come to a very wise decision or group of decisions really.

If I can offer up a point of view on the windows....from the stand point of someone who is not known to clean my own windows above the first floor.

One word, "Convenience".  I don't even think about the windows on my upper levels as I generally don't bother to look out them really.  However, if someone came up to me and said they were in the neighborhood and could clean them today for say $100 (6 windows)...I would say do it.

IF I received a flyer, post card, or saw an ad in the paper for it, I would never respond to it.  I respond to a lot of things in ads, but only if I was actively seeking it out and windows is a nuisance task to me so I don't seek it out.

Everyone is different of course, but as a stoic non-window cleaner, that is my thinking.  Catch me out mowing, staining the deck, washing the siding, or even cleaning the garage and you ask if I would like my windows cleaned....you would be on the clock.  Any other time, you would be ignored.

BTW:  Have you tried targeting the real estate agents in your area for window cleaning?  Seems like the ideal marriage to me.

The problem is Rob, you are thinking like you. If you were wealthy, there would be certain things you would not do for yourself. Like mow your lawn. Like move in your own new appliances.

I recently bought a new refrigerator. Delivery and install was 85 bucks. Do you think I paid them to deliver, or do you think I did it myself, with my own hand cart and my own truck?

I don't work for blue collar people. They don't have 400 dollars disposable income. That is likely a week of their wages.

Some people will not do things for themselves.
Blue collar people are more DIY then wealthy people. Blue collar people here, rent a rug doc once every few years, and call it good.

Real Estate agents don't pay for services like window cleaning or carpet cleaning for homes they are trying to sell. The ones that rent, are all slum lords. I haven't met an agent yet that rents upper class homes.

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Post by milspec6 Wed Jun 01, 2016 10:48 pm

True, I do think like the broke guy that I am, so you have a point there.

My area is very different though regarding Real Estate Agents. Down here, they hire me a lot to clean homes that are being listed. I am not talking about the low rent district either, the last 2 that I did were being listed at 1.5 million dollars.

Agree fully on the slum lords as well...I stopped cleaning for apartment owners last year. I hate the work, slow pay, no parking, and lots of stairs.

You might want to ask around about those Real Estate Agents though....like you said, do you think the wealthy are cleaning their homes themselves before putting them on the market? They sure don't around here.
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Post by Freemind1 Thu Jun 02, 2016 5:35 am

I have heard that in other areas of the country, agents pay to have houses prepped for sale.
We have 5 or 6 different agencies here and none of them do that. Even on the luxury homes.
Wealthy people that own the homes already pay for lawn maintenance, maids, carpet cleaners, and power washers.

I asked my agent about what they did, when I bought my house. He told me they don't suggest carpet cleaning or the like to sell homes. He said the people that keep clean homes already do, and those that don't, won't.

He did take some cards, but it's never turned into a lead in over a year.

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Post by milspec6 Thu Jun 02, 2016 5:58 am

Sounds like not only are the Agents different, but the wealthy are also different in your area.

The wealthy down here only hire a carpet cleaner due to their warranty requirements. Many of them have asked me to just give them a receipt, but not actually clean the carpets. I have never done it.

Still, the thought that anyone would pay millions on a home, but not insist that the flooring be cleaned first just baffles me. Would they buy a Rolls Royce with bird poop on it as well? Razz
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Post by Freemind1 Thu Jun 02, 2016 8:33 am

Wow. That's definitely different.

This is why I have said for a long time, marketing in every area is different. Even how people conduct their lives varies much, from place to place.

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Post by milspec6 Thu Jun 02, 2016 8:49 am

It sure does doesn't it. One of the flaws with boards like this one is that every region is different...sometimes vastly so. The soil is different, the installations different, the house styles, the people, prices, etc. are all different.

I guess the key really is just knowing your own market. Idiots like me can't do that for anyone except those in my area and even that can be different.

Good luck on your whale hunting, hope you land a big one!
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Post by Freemind1 Thu Jun 02, 2016 8:50 am

P.S.
I bombed one lake today with cards. 50-66% of them have newspaper boxes. So I got out about 600 cards today, in about 1.5 hours. It would have taken me a week to get all those addresses in SendJim.

I should also add, one of those addresses that I previously sent cards to, returned to me as undeliverable. This was supposed to have been the third card in the series. The first two didn't return to me.

So I have to wonder how many cards were even sent out to begin with. Something doesn't add up.

Maybe it didn't work because the printers weren't actually sending the cards? Maybe the P.O. where they sent them tossed a bunch of them? Who knows.

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Post by Matt; My carpet cleaner Thu Jun 02, 2016 6:16 pm

With any level of customer your targeting; the mssg needs to be: "I'm your guy". "Yes, I can take care of that".
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Post by Freemind1 Thu Jun 02, 2016 8:40 pm

Within 2 hours of delivering the first batch, I have a quote scheduled for tomorrow.

It's already worth it, marketing this way.

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Post by Mo Fri Jun 03, 2016 5:48 am

Wow thats alot of cards delivered in 1.5 hours Freemind.

When I send out a high volume of cards I address them to the homeowner or current resident it reduces your return rate. Th more you mail out the better your response. Matt is right on , the message is critical.
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Post by Freemind1 Fri Jun 03, 2016 8:28 am

The houses are stacked in shoulder to shoulder. It's barely 3 car lengths between boxes. Some places have 6-10 boxes all beside each other.

Went and did the quote. About an hour's worth of work. 200 bucks. Boom. There is only 20 outside windows that are high reach. Nothing to worry about, with a WFP or even traditional pole work.

No ladders, no fuss.

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