Winter Slowdown

Hi All,

Found this online... seemed an interesting read. More of a game plan. May help in planning your marketing.

Now, plan the entire year

The following is a simple guideline of what a successful carpet and furniture cleaning company can follow, utilizing the above information.

If the seasonality does not match up for your area you should adjust the timing.

January

This is the dead of winter and most people are not thinking of carpet cleaning because they don’t want to leave their door open and there is a lot of winter soil still to be tracked into the house. Think about a special on upholstery cleaning or air duct cleaning.

January is also a great time to “fill your pipeline”. Line up work for spring. Try making those personal sales calls in commercial areas.

If they are not ready for cleaning right now, get permission to call in March.

A newsletter this time of year might contain an offer to pre-book their spring cleaning.

Mention that spring gets very busy for you, so pre-booking is a good idea.

If they would like to beat the spring rush they can save 20 percent (you have to choose the actual discount) by cleaning in January or February.

February

The same activities as January should work well.

Consider a post card to previous customers restating your January offers.

March

This is the month that you have to get them thinking about spring cleaning.

Be sure to contact all of your referral sources — your Realtors, carpet retailers, etc.

Their customers will be asking them to refer someone good to clean for them.

A special early spring offer to your referral sources could get you some early business and assure that they will remember you when their customers ask.

You should send out a direct mail piece to your target market areas and your previous customers.

This can be a newsletter or a personalized letter with an accompanying brochure. Be sure that you list all of the services that you offer.

April

You should be very busy now, but don’t let that stop your marketing effort.

The most important thing when you are busy is to make sure that your technicians are well-trained and have an incentive to do add-on sales.

Be sure that they are doing their “5-arounds” so that they can maximize your marketing effort.

They have to bring in every possible dollar from every job.

April is a great month to send a post card to previous customers with a special and a referral offer. “Dear Customer, did you know that you can earn free cleaning when you refer us to your friends and neighbors?”

May

This should be about the height of spring cleaning. Focus on your referral sources.

A post card reminding your previous customers to clean now before they get too busy this summer would be in order. “Let us help you clean up the interior of your home this spring before you get busy with gardening, golf, boating and all those other summer activities”.

A Mother’s Day special is very much in order.

June

How about a Father’s Day special? “Give your husband the gift of clean carpet for Father’s Day. He won’t notice, but it will make you feel better.”

This should be a newsletter or target letter month. Summer is a great time to clean, and you can tout “quick drying, long days and great cleaning specials”.

July

Offer a two-service special. For instance, “Have your carpet cleaned and get 20 percent off any upholstery or tile floor cleaning.”

Many families are on vacation in July, but a well-thought-out special offering will keep you busy.

August

Either they are on vacation or winding down from vacation.

Send a post card: “You are busy with your end-of-summer activities. Make time for cleaning and we will make it worth your while.”

September

Fall is big for cleaning. This should be a newsletter month.

Offer back-to-school specials and maybe a “beat the holiday rush” offer.

Hit your referral sources very hard this month.

They will have a lot of requests for cleaning between now and Christmas.

October

Post cards like the following do well in October: “Colors change in the fall. Let us change your carpet to the color it used to be.” Give them an incentive they can’t refuse.

November

You are no doubt in a busy season, but don’t lose touch. Send out another post card like this: “We are thankful for our customers. We would like to show our gratitude by offering…”

December

This is the final push of the year before things get slow.

Get a post card out early or take the month off from mailing.

Once the Christmas tree goes up people don’t usually think much about cleaning.

This is a great time to visit your referral sources with gifts to build the relationships for next year.