[Art of Clean]

We are using Act but have found some limitations.

Would like to know what is the most popular program out there.

I am in particular looking for software that can track Marketing Spend VS Sales.

Something where I can input lets say cost of yellow pages and then input sales from Yellow Pages against it so it gives me a £:£ comparison.

Also a package that incorporates a quote function that can be used on a laptop so sales staff can update the database over the internet using mobile broadband.

This will enable office staff the have instant access to quotes done.

This might be a lot to ask but as they say if you don't ask - you don't get.

Thanks for all the feedback

Pierre

[Jim_77]

http://www.carpetcleaningsoftware.co.uk/

You must have heard of this, launched recently?

[Ken Wainwright]

CleanersMate as mentioned by Jim above.

David Coker has been contributing some excellent articles In the NCCA's Newslink about marketing. Although I don't need to do much in the way of advertising and marketing, he brought something home to me in one of his articles.  Not only is a database a vital tool for generating sales, come the day you pack it all in or retire, with the database you have a business to sell. Without it, you just have a collection of old, worn out machines.

I regret not persevering and working on my database sooner as it's a hell of a lot of work to research and enter all the details you require, so, at the rate I work, it's going to take me all year to build up a worthwhile database. I have set myself a target, working backwards, of 4,000 entries. A few of them will have died before I get there

Safe and happy collating
Ken

[Jim_77]

as mentioned by Steve above.

Don't you mean "John" ?

[Ken Wainwright]

I've corrected my error above Dave, Steve, Bill, Bert, Jim

Safe and happy name remembering
Ken
(Having another senior moment)

[Mike Halliday]

is there anyone like me who just goes through their old diaries when they want to market to past customers? each postcard is handwritten.

if you have it all on your computer do you print the name & address onto stickers then put them onto postcards or do you load the postcards into the printer and address them directly?

[Jim_77]

Good lord Mike, do you use a quill pen too?!!

[Mike Halliday]

Jim the thing is when i look at a name in my diary no matter how long ago it was I can visualize the job & the customer, I remember the carpets or suite.  Then i can decide if I really want to send them a reminder card or perhaps they were a pain in the bum so I let them go.

I don't think I could do this if I was looking at a name & address on a computer screen

[Art of Clean]

Have you thought what the impact would be if you do not have to visualise the job but your computer can automaticly grade your client and by the click on the mouse you have 100s or thousands of postcards/maketing material ready to send out. On the top of that you can then track the cost of the letters you send out to know exactly what you made from it. This is what I would like to achieve.

Anyoune out there that does it alredy?

[Doug Holloway]

Hi Guys

I've been pretty useless at this , did put a lot of old custies on my Address Book, computer say no a few months later and this was the only data that couldn't be recovered.

However my girlfriend has offered to do it agian for me , starting on Tuesday !.

I think I am going to have an over 100 Pound list seperately.

The having a database thing is so obvious that sometimes we are too close to our businesses to see or too lazy/busy.

Cheers

Doug

[richy27]

hi

I have been toying with the idea of getting cleaners mate as seems easy to use etc etc

but will still back up on paper in my folders. to keep my records safe

Richard

[clinton]

I too use diarys 

Jim aint used my quill yet mind you

[derek west]

art of clean
cleaners mate does marketing Vs spend etc... but i don't think it does the internet link thing your asking for. certainly worth a look though, very tailored to the cleaner and very easy to use,
derek

[JandS]

The written word for me also.

John

[clinton]

Its like my diarys have a personallity of there own

[derek west]

me too clinton, some smell more than others and some are runnier, but i'm all better now,
ooooooh, diary's!.
sorry thought you meant, nevermind.
derek

i know they get worse.

[AJB]

I keep my diaries that jobs are booked in, I also keep a card index,
with each subsequent visit being a new card, so some old customers have
8 or 9 cards stapled together. I also print a daily worksheet, which are kept
as a weekly record.
At the end of each day worksheet info entered into Excel Customer worksheet, this gives
me percentages for new work, recommended, Thomson, signage etc, also totals for
each category. At the end of week work totals added to another Excel worksheet,
which compares previous years so i know if better or worse week than previous.
 Customer workbook annually added to Access Customer Database. When the feeling
takes me this can be merged with Word for a mail shot. Xmas 2006 even sent cards
to every customer that year.
An acquaintance of mine keeps comments on his database so when a customer rings he can
say hows Rover did his operation turn out alright, and hows Sarah doing over in Australia.
It really impresses his customers, he's considered a friend.

[james roffey]

hi Pierre

I have just purchased cleanersmate by carpetcleaning software, i have only had it a week and it seems very good, it is targeted at carpet cleaners, so you dont have loads of stuff on it you will never need, the back up you get is second to none so even a computer idiot! like me picked it up quickly if you dont have a client database software set up, this is the best one i found i am still finding new things i can do with it and i think it will be a good investment for the future.

[Art of Clean]

A real important bit for us would be if the software can analise your spend on marketing vs your sales from that spend. Also if you can do quotes for carpets, upholstery, rugs and hard floor directly.  And can I run several copies of the software in sevral locations and keep them up to date via FTP or network and would this be posible by wireless broadband.

Anyone out there that is using it for the above - please let me know

[Ken Wainwright]

Hi Pierre

I can't answer the questions you've raised as, like James, I'm a computer idiot.

Why don't you visit their website, look at the video demonstrations or maybe even try the 30 day free trial?  I gather you can even transfer your existing database onto Cleaners Mate.

I'm sure if you give Kevin Loomes a call he'll be only too pleased to answer your questions too. Just do a search her on CIU for him.

Safe and happy cleaning
Ken