In business you’re either growing or dying. There is no standing still. If you keep doing what you’ve always done, in the way you’ve always done it, you will be left behind – guaranteed.
So it’s imperative you keep educating yourself, look for new markets and innovative ways to solve their problems.
And most of all, you need to separate yourself from the crowd that are you competitors, so you become a class all your own. That way you can name your price and get it.
Take William and Michelle Kim, our house cleaners.
We first came across them about 7 years ago when they dropped a letter into our letterbox. Not your normal flyer, this letter contained written testimonials with real names and real phone numbers, all extolling their virtues – the foremost being trust and dependability.
And they’ve been our cleaners ever since.
I should point out neither William or Michelle are “just cleaners”. Constantly improving their skills, William undertook TAFE courses and got a Cert III & Cert IV in cleaning technology.
And over the years we’ve watched them start other side businesses, including designing and manufacturing a drip free paint tray for rollers.
But none of the side businesses took off, until they decided to go into carpet cleaning.
And once again, not just any carpet cleaning. They invested heavily in education and a system from the USA. William spent tens of thousands of dollars on this own education once again. And then even more money on state of the art equipment.
But as we all well know, being good at something doesn’t bring a flood of clients to the door. You have to market yourself!
And that’s where they learned the biggest lessons of all. It takes time to get your name out there, to build a loyal client base, especially if you’re almost twice as expensive as most of your competitors.
It’s been a long, hard couple of years. They used letterbox drops (only to find the delivery people often “dropped their flyers” – en mass into a nearby bin. They tried local newspaper advertising and even have a website http://redcapcarpetcleaning.com.au/.
All through this, they had two things really going for them. Persistence and a drive to succeed.
And it’s paid off.
One of William’s goals was to get local Real Estate Agents to recommend him to their clients selling their homes or moving out.
A local agent here in Gordon had his and three other cleaners on her list. However, William was twice as expensive as the next one down, so even though he got upwards of ten enquiries, he never got the job – as the decisions were made on price alone.
Until one day a couple of months ago.
The Principal of the Real Estate company needed her own home carpets cleaned and asked one of the cheaper cleaners to come and do the job. Which they did. Problem was the carpet looked the same.
So she spoke to William, and asked him to come and look at it. He warned her that it would cost twice as much (and she’d already paid the last cleaners). But here’s the thing. He guaranteed he’d get it clean or she didn’t have to pay!
She accepted and was wowed by the result!
And as a result he’s now being recommended left, right and centre.
Couple of lessons here...
The first is persistence. Keep putting your name out there. Then you’ve got to articulate your value in a way that make price irrelevant. In their case, before and after photos and testimonials would go a long way to convincing people to give them a go.
And finally, removing the risk of doing business with you.
Carpet cleaning is pretty precise. The carpet is either clean or it’s not. So if you stand by your service, give a guarantee.
In fact William provides two:
“If for any reason you are not completely satisfied with any aspect of my service, we will promptly return to your premise and take care of the problem.
If we are still unable to satisfy you, we will be happy to provide a refund.”
So if you’re in Sydney and want your carpets cleaned, give William a call on 0411 225 880.
Rashid.
P.S. If you’re wondering if we’ve used them, yes we have. They removed stains NO OTHER carpet cleaner has been able to in over 7 years.
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