I live in the Kings Lynn area and am starting up carpet cleaning (maybe im 1 of the 2 Ian), i dont post very often, the main reason being that i feel that people who have been in the business for a while are much better qualified to answer on a lot of the threads than me,i am however more than capable of working out my own marketing and finding what works for me, i understand that sharing marketing ideas with others in the same industry living/ working close by is not good business, but then when any business puts out flyers, ads in publications etc it is plain for most of the world to see,i personally wouldnt copy a competiters advert,price,customer insentive scheme etc as to me thats just following the herd, far better i think to look outside the box and come up with something unusual/original and try it on a small scale to see if it works, if it doesnt then back to the drawing board,another angle of looking at it is "whats the competition?" i have read in a lot of places that only 20% of carpets across the country are ever cleaned,rather than worry about what others are doing id be more interested in finding out how i could tap even 1% of the local market in carpets that dont ever get touched, now theres a challenge!!!
thinking for myself, Andy