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We were having one of our slower winters in a number of years. I went back to an old but effective idea. We created our mailing list from about 4 years ago until now. Selected some, but not all of those customers. Put a 20% discount on the card with an expiration date of March 15. Called it the best special of the year. . Sent them out around Jan. 10th and have received almost 45 jobs since from the card. Will probably get 65-75 jobs by the end of the promo. Investment was around $720. We’re averaging about $175 per ticket. I hate giving that discount, but it has really helped our winter. Point is . . . we can make things happen with a little thought and effort. If it’s a little slow for you right now, try something like this!
Great reminder for everyone Bryan! We send out a holiday postcard every year that gives $25 off, and 10% off any additional services done. Expires Mar 31st, minimum charge still applies (if we chose anyway). It really helps those winters months and is a good ROI. Bryan is right and I highly recommend doing this. We had a great January and this is part of the reason why. I even noticed some commercials for Stanley soak and sucker offering $35 off any job over $175 thru end of Feb I believe. Obviously, you can create any type of special you want, but something simple like these examples seems to work best IMO as long as it is enticing. You may have to go a little above your comfort zone, but I think it is worth it to help keep the phone ringing during the snowy/freezing months. We initially sent it to a select group of our good customers, but now we’ve expanded it to almost all of our customers the past 2 years and our numbers are much bigger for these slow months after expanding the mailing list. It is nice when you can get some of the “cheapskate” customers trained to get their cleaning done during this slow time of year, so you have more time for better customers during your busy months. Many of our regulars will ask about it if they didn’t get one or can’t find it. Some will even ask in December if they are scheduling close to our mailing date. I’m always afraid this will hurt our numbers later in the year, but it hasn’t yet. One other thing we put on the postcard is that they can give it to a friend/family if they like, which many do.
Excellent idea. I hate discounting my services as well so instead of a percentage discount I offer some “additional services” for free. For example, “free protector” or “free area rug cleaning”. These are cheap and quick. I also like to use these type of promotions as an opportunity to cross-sell, so I will offer a free chair (upholstery) or free bathroom (tile) with the service. This way customers get to experience all the other great services I provide.
Give it a try next year.
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