[Aaron stanton]

I'm currently carpet cleaning any spare time I get, evenings, weekends and any time I have off from my full time job. I've had a busy few months dipping a bit in December so have decided to drop two days from my full time job and do more carpet cleaning. I start these new hours next week and surprise surprise the phone has gone quiet.

Any tips on marketing or things you learnt from when you first started would come in very handy right now thanks.



Aaron

[Steve Chapman]

Many years ago when i first started and was really desperate for work, I printed up some of my own flyers that basically offered a hallway clean at half price for my neighbours and posted them through letterboxes in surrounding streets.

It was just really an exercise in gathering leads etc  - it worked well because it was nice and local, hallways are easy to clean , no faffing about and once you're inside the home demonstrating how good you are it nearly always leads to more work.

Have a time limit though of a day or two otherwise you wont get the phone ringing...

Always worked for me in the early days,.......... still got some of those customers now 25 years later.........

[tim handley]

when i first started i was doing mobile valeting/detailing as my main business and the carpets were intended as a side line......
on quiet days i would go out leafletting estates and offices, pubs,care homes etc etc, i also did a lot of face book adds on buy and sell type pages. I sonn started getting jobs but on fb in particular the pricing was an issue you dont ( or i didnt) get high ticket jobs!!! However things started ticking along quite well for me, started getting repeats and word of mouths etc etc, but my business really only kicked in when i  started my on line presence, then it was very fast to grow, and i havent done any cars now for two years.... i only wish id started carpet cleaning earlier, best move i ever made... good luck!!!!

[Paul Clapham]

............phone your boss at your full time job and ask for the 2 days back.

 Don't go full time carpet cleaning until you have at least 6-12 months take home pay in the bank as a back up, going self employed is a roller coaster way of life if you don't have any backup savings .

[Dave_Lee]

When it goes quiet, and it does, don't waste money on panic marketing. It's true what they say "You cant spend your way out of a quiet time". It will pick up, when it picks up!
The half price hall carpet may have worked years ago but is unlikely now, as most properties have wood, laminate or tile in their hall these days. We have long lost those jobs we used to get mainly because the hall carpet got dirty.
Dave.

[Steve Chapman]

The point was to market something that is quick & easy but gets you into peoples homes, as once you are there you have a much better chance in gaining more work and refering your services to others.

Waiting for the phone to ring doesn't pay the bills.............

In my area we still do a great deal of hall, stairs and landings every week..............

[Aaron stanton]

Cheers for the replies guys, some good advice to take on board. Never going back full time at that job so that's not an option. I have some savings to keep me going but not 6 to 12 months worth. I won't need that anyway as I have seen the potential and I am sure I can make it work. Just got to put the graft in.