[stuart_clark]

I was just wondering how many ccs on here still use flyers ? And how many jobs you actually get per 1000 flyers ? The reason I ask
I was talking to a local carpet cleaner last week that markets his business purely with flyers, he dosent use the internet or yp and is always booked up, I think he gets his flyers from mark at dp print , he said to me he gets about 3% = 150 jobs per 5000 flyers which I thought was very good, as I have tried flyers in the early days of my business and I barely saw 1%
this guy isn't the cheapest at all in my area and averages about £300 a day which equates 2-4jobs a day all domestic , he dosent do
cometcial at all and insists on cash only

Stuart

[Mike Halliday]

If he gets 3% then he should pack in carpet cleaning and just market his flyer to other carpet cleaners as he's got the holy bible of leaflets, I bet it's closer to 0.3%

I heavily use leaflets having 2 part time leafleters working 9hrs a Week. ( one evening & sat-sun morning)

If you get 1% then you are getting 10jobs a 1000 which takes 7hrs to put out so imagine doing 90mins of leafleting every morning before work you would get 2 jobs a day and work only the mornings........this would be all you need to do .

Pity no one get even 1% on a  consistent   basis

[stuart_clark]

So what is your average % mike ? I know you are thought of as the leaflet God !

Stuart

[Mike Halliday]

To be honest I don't know the exact figure, i don't measure the success of my leaflets by the response percentage.

 i mark in my diary where every job comes from I know some weeks every job came from leaflets , they.  might  be an existing customer who has recieved my leaflet and its reminded them to call or a completely new customer.

I do 2-3 customers a day say 2 or from leaflets that's 12 a week from approx. 3000 leaflets so that 4 jobs a 1000   = 0.025%???  Like I say i don't ever do the maths....... I know how much They make and how much I spend.

[Hilton]

Hi Mike

That's  around .4% , which is pretty much normal response rate.

I don't know what your average order is but I would guess that on 3000 leaflets you more than cover your costs, do you know what your retention rates are like ?

[stuart_clark]

Cheers for the information Mike, I will bare that in mind if I ever look to do a leaflet drop


Stuart

[Mike Halliday]

Hilton, Delivery & printing on3k is less than £100 so  the response massively covers the cost ( otherwise why bother?)

Again I don't keep a track of my retention of customers, i can't be bothered.......which goes against all the business advice given 'experts' but I'm not Tesco or Vodaphone, Its not difficult I can look at my diary and within 2 seconds know how business is going,

although to be honest I bet most of us on here know in our heads how well we are doing

[Dave_Lee]

Just my opinion, but I don't think flyers work like they used to. At one time, going back some years, you could virtually be sure of that immediate response, which was only one or two per thousand, but it was there almost guaranteed. It seems to be very hit or miss these days, often resulting in a zero response. I'm not talking about a flyer campaign, just a one of leaflet drop. One of the reasons I don't bother with them so much now.

[Mike Halliday]

18yrs ago I did 5k a month and that kept me in work full time, now if I was starting I would need that a week.  The return has definitely decreased over the years

[Robin Ray]

Do you do local magazines/booklets in the areas you leaflet as well Mike?

[Mike Halliday]

No, they tend to be quite expensive, for the same cost  it works out cheaper to put out more leaflets.

I got a price for a quarter page at £120 a month and there's 3 other carpet cleaners in the same book!

[Robin Ray]

Wow!! £120 a month we are spoilt down here.

Just mentioned it as I find that mags and flyers work well together....

[SimonW]

@@@Mike Halliday
although to be honest I bet most of us on here know in our heads how well we are doiidoing

Was it just an irony or you really meant something how well we're doing
[/quote]

[Mike Halliday]

Simon I mean ...... Any one man band must know in their heads if they are having it hard or doing well, it's not like we have a lot complicated accounts.

If someone said to you "how business? " would you know the answer or would you say........ "let me check my books and I'll Tell you tomorrow"

[SimonW]

Simon I mean ...... Any one man band must know in their heads if they are having it hard or doing well, it's not like we have a lot complicated accounts.

If someone said to you "how business? " would you know the answer or would you say........ "let me check my books and I'll Tell you tomorrow"

yes you're right Mike. I got you now At first I just took it another way!

[Tom Molloy]

That ad cost seems very expensive Mike? My local free ads mag is £53 for a quarter page ad. You get a 20% reduction for three months. Not used it yet. I know when the deadline is so will contact then a day or so before going to print and try and strike a discount.

[Hilton]

Hilton, Delivery & printing on3k is less than £100 so  the response massively covers the cost ( otherwise why bother?)

Again I don't keep a track of my retention of customers, i can't be bothered.......which goes against all the business advice given 'experts' but I'm not Tesco or Vodaphone, Its not difficult I can look at my diary and within 2 seconds know how business is going,

although to be honest I bet most of us on here know in our heads how well we are doing

So if you did 6000 at a miserly £200 you would return 24 jobs if your returns remain at .4% I will guess your average order at @ £75.00 it's probably more but that would return £1800 in sales.
And that's just on a few flyers imagine what it could be if you did structure your business .
I'm not knocking it, it works for you
Incidentally that would put you on £87k a year or £45 an hour....

[Mike Halliday]

Isn't maths a wonderful thing,........take 1 number times it by another, divided it by half the original number,  times it by your birthdays  and you get the next lottery numbers

Your theory starts falls apart at the double it to 6k, which would mean me doing 2 nights a week and full days on Saturday & Sunday. I find the 3k manageable without  the delivery taking over my life.

[stuart_clark]

There are a few companies local to me that charge £30 per thousand flyers delivered ! But I think that is a shared distribution and it probably wouldn't have the same effect as if your flyer was delivered solo ! I imagne it would take approx 7 hours to deliver 1000 flyers ?  Its been a long time since I've dealt with flyers and I am a lot older now and less fit, Dont think I could be bothered personally if the response rate is so low , but it seems to work for some if not many


Stuart

[Ian Gourlay]

I am ancient and putting out flyers is hard work  I think 7hrs to put out 1000 works out 142 an hour you could hit that if you do line of terrace houses with no gardens I think they have them UP North    But us Easterners tend to have Gardens and even space between the houses. New Estates  are different just little boxes made of ticky tack

Stuart you should capture this guys leaflet as You are Rich already you could share it with all of us and it will obviously help Young Carpet Cleaners to success like that Pink Flyer did

Another thing is Mike has consistently put out leaflets which probably makes him the go to man I do not know if he started from scratch with leaflets wasn't his dad a Carpet Cleaner?

I would love to know what the response rate is from those homecare flimsy half price leaflets although I have not noticed any recently through my door


Im not working at present but as I  would want to control my workload and traveling I think I would use leaflets if I start again along with the daily phone calls I get anyway from Internet and previous advertising etc