[Richard Cole]

Had one of these through the letter box not so long ago and i was wondering how many people actually take them up on the FREE offer if they are not satisfied.  Whilst most customers probably realise that you can not work miracles and remove all spots and stains I can't think that with this type of leaflet you are asking for trouble, how do they get away with it?  We all know that its just a marketing gimmick and they are no better or worse for that matter than any other suitably trained carpet cleaner. 

Does anyone know the response rate for these leaflets?

[Jim_77]

Ask the "fast track" subscribers and the hundreds of other cleaners who just blindly copy that tag line!

The way this was incorporated into the fast track system, meant that they were aiming at big-paying clients... the kind with big rooms of not usually very dirty carpets.  All about clean & sell protector and a maintenance plan.  Not the sort of customers to usually be worried about quibbling.

Giving guarantees is proven to increase response rates to ads and conversion rates of quotes.

The statement you've quoted is actually meaningless - I'd like to see a court case based on it!  Obviously there are T&C's provided with written quotes, it is carefully worded and thought out.

As with a lot of things, we know it's BS but it sounds good to the prospective enquirer so that's how it does its job, by making them pick up the phone.

The statement is really a candid way of saying "we are not cowboys and we charge a fair bit".  If you were a council house dole scrounger looking for the cheapest price, would you ring an ad that said "Charlie's carpet kleenerz, cheepist in town" or one like the one you've mentioned?  It's a filter, it suggests you are not going to get a cheap quote from them.  Quite clever really!

My YP ad is very blunt to discourage price shoppers, it says in big bold letters at the top "For cheap quotes please enquire elsewhere"

[fenman]

I have said before that if you get a clever dick customer who refuses to pay because in his opinion the last time they had it cleaned the other company were more thorough you could not prove otherwise and would just have done a free clean.
Just because you are thorough does not mean you do a good job but that is what is implied by this meaningless advertising slogan and people are suckers for a slogan.
You could use a mop and bucket to clean a carpet and be very thorough in the way you used the mop and bucket but it would still be a crap job.

[garry22]

It's called risk reversal and is a very important sales procedure.

It could be the one factor that sets aside one business from the other ones that are competing for the same work. There's no point having a guarantee if you don't publicise it.

[Jim_77]

if you get a clever dick customer who refuses to pay because in his opinion the last time they had it cleaned the other company were more thorough you could not prove otherwise and would just have done a free clean.

You've go it the wrong way around!

There is absolutely no way anyone could prove you have NOT been "more thorough" because it's a completely immeasurable thing!!!  This is what's clever about that strap line because it makes it almost a no-brainer for the prospective customer but in actual fact it means nothing and carries no risk to the provider

[Craigp]

I would say Its more about getting a higher ticket than getting higher response.

Yes the customer will expect more, but then if your charging more - rightly so.


I like Jims line for filtering "For cheap quote try elswhere"    It does not put off too many then? might try that myself 

[Jim_77]

Craig I get the same, if not more, number of enquiries worth pursuing.... but almost zero price shoppers!  win/win

My success rate in the directory has rocketed since doing that..... just a shame the actual number of decent enquiries has plummeted over the last few years

[Craigp]

Thats really interesting, actually I can see it would work, as you know there are those that want the best man for the job as the first criteria.

heres one I use you might like; "Quaility workmanship never comes at the cheapest price."

I hate price shoppers and have always tried ways to filter them out, I never metion price in any advertising not even 'competitive rates' credit Ian Gourley

[Allan Simmons]

I'm with Jim and Garry.   

[Mike Halliday]

i would guess  this quote is just to get you in the door, once you are in front of the customer you can find out what their expectations are.

 If they say they want the carpet to look like it was just laid or all the cat pee stains removing then you can walk.

if you clean and exceed their expectations then they can't grumble or refuse to pay

[John Milnes]

It's probably better to base advertising on reality rather than:

the best or it's free
99% of stains removed
half price cleaning
win a phone
we are the cheapest
from £20 etc

People who live in the land of reality are well accustomed to cheap hooks.

The custys who do fall for the above, are more than likely to be the custys you don't want.

[davep]

Those claims ring a bell

[*Hector*]

You got one of my old leaflets there Carpetguy ??

 

[Allan Simmons]

We use "The Most Thorough..." headline and find it doesn't attract the clients we don't want, we find it actually reduces the number of calls from people looking for a cheap clean as most people assume 'thorough' means not quick/cheap, because it doesn't say cheap.  Bit like Jim said, we find less price shopper enquiries with that headline, so we're not wasting time dealing with price shoppers.

[JandS]

Why do people hate price shoppers?
Your all price shoppers anyway.
Don't tell me nobody on here looks for the cheapest price
for anything, including tradesmen.

John

[Shaun_Ashmore]

Everyone is looking for value cheap is one part of value as is getting what they want regardless of price it's up to you to where you can fit in to the customers wants needs and that is where your value price comes in.

Shaun

[Richard Cole]

As an experiment I used a version of this leaflet, when I say a version I kept most of the headline and the rest I used my own words and printed on pink paper, looks great, delivered 250 today and already have one job booked off it.

[wynne jones]

Getting back to answering the question.

Yes, it will increase response rates, I have tested it years ago and it's no different today.

When you make a decision the fear of getting it wrong can make you hold back. If you know you can buy something from argos and take it back because you made a mistake means you are more likley to buy it, but how many times do you take it back?

Behind all this is fear. Fear that they will go with a carpet cleaner and be dissapointed and carpet cleaners don't do it for fear someone will take them as a mug. If you have any common sense this will happen once evry few years if that. It's annoying but you have made a ton more money in the meantime.

The only downside is it's so common now.

[robert meldrum]

The origins of this statement are Joe Polish.....although he was very good at using other peoples ideas

[wynne jones]

The origins of this statement are Joe Polish.....although he was very good at using other peoples ideas

Think you are right Robert, i'm sure I originally got it from a Dan Kennedy ebook with real life examples, but I'm sure he got it from someone else too. It's basically a puppy dog, try it before you buy approach.