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I would be interested in doing a little research into how much a commercial would cost and what kind of prices we’d be looking at for airing the commercial.
I was able to go online to yellowpages.com and type in “Chamber of Commerce” under business name and “KY” for my state, and was able to print up a list of 20 different chambers throughout my state. I will be sending out a letter, similar to the one you posted, to each one of them tomorrow. Thanks for the idea.
Welcome Hector,
It sounds like what you’re doing is great. The best advise I can give you is-take a deep breath, relax. I know it can be a little intimidating at first but you’ll settle into your own groove. You sound like you are very motivated and you have already put a lot of thought and effort into your current advertising program. You will soon discover what forms of advertising produce results and which ones don’t. Talk with your state owner often and ask for advise from him as well. That’s what they’re there for. Good luck to you, and feel free to contact me anytime as well. 888-313-3533That’s the million $ question(s). I think were heading in the right direction, and if nothing else at least we are actively communicating and brainstorming. Advertising is the hardest part of almost any business. By us keeping in touch, even if it’s only the 6-7 of us in this discussion, I’m confident that we will produce ideas that will generate sales. I’m going to post a new topic “Ad Ideas”. Hopefully it will grow in “view and replies” twice as fast as this topic did.
Dennis,
We have had this conversation via phone before and again I couldn’t agree with you more. I think ALL of the state owners should be REQUIRED to participate in the message board and not only show up at the once a year meeting. I would be curious to know how many have actually even logged onto the system. This is a great way to come up with ideas and brainstorm. Other large franchises, I’m sure require much more participation from their “Higher Archy”. Its a little hard to swallow the idea that some state owners have become so complacent with their incomes or position in the franchise or the “it’s a great return for the investment” theory, that they have lost touch with the goal of growing the franchise. Maybe its just that the three of us are a little more hungry for the satisfaction of reaching that goal and our own personal success. I don’t know.Mr. Ferris,
Thanks for the reply. I value your ideas, however, I don’t know that I’d let our friend up in “the great white north, eah” (Learned that from the movie “Strange Brew”) skate so easily. Love ya Dennis. Seriously though, thanks for the reply. I’m watching this post closely and again anxious to see what others have to say.Dennis, thanks for the reply. I would like to hear from other state owners about how they feel about the program. Are any of you out there? How about state owners who own less densely populated states? My main reason for this post is because I have been contributing the $200 per month without a single lead. I feel I could use that money to advertise in my states business journals, newspapers, etc. and receive more leads. I have a state with a little over 4 million people in it. I don’t see it being equitable when other state owners who have 10-20+ million are paying the same as I am. Also I don’t see how it could be equitable forcing state owners who own multiple state to have to pay $200 per state (which I’m assuming has not been happening), and if they aren’t then they too have been benefiting more than others from this current program. The reason I say some are benefiting more than others is because I looked back at the June 2006 state owner news letter (that’s where the report on how many leads each state is getting) and realized that the states with the greatest populations are the states receiving most of the leads. I am all for keeping the internet advertising program, but again I think it could use some restructuring. I anxiously await others feedback and ideas on what they think may make this program more beneficial and equitable for all of us.
Bryan,
It sounds like he needs to think about a second van. When I really got motivated to earn in this business I too worked every Saturday. In a perfect world people would wait for our service, but the reality is there are a lot of carpet cleaners out, and people want and expect quick service. I found I was losing a lot of jobs trying to schedule people out a week. By adding a second van I was able to take those jobs and the revenue generated more than paid for the employee and van payment. More profit, happy customers, flexible schedule-life is good.Our franchise is going through a huge change. We as state owners need to be encouraging our operators to be successful. I myself would love to make another sale in my state ,however, I wont be accepting just anyone. I am looking for people who are motivated and driven to succeed. I want an operator who is going to want to grow and not always be a one truck operation. Operators who only want to work part time or who have the opportunity to accept new customers but wont, only hurt our franchise. We are trying to grow the HB name and size of the franchise but I think we need to be a little more selective in who we accept into our franchise rather than what we accept into our pocket books.
In reply to a post under “new website look/website changed” – I think the site is a hundred times better than what it used to be. I’ve had three “potential” customers, who by the way are now “current ” satisfied customers, find me through that site in the last couple of days. To wish for customers not to find you through the site because it doesn’t meet your standards is ridiculous! I guess some of us would rather whine and complain about everything rather than see the huge benefits of these changes. These kind of transitions take time and are rarely without complications.
Jeremy and I (but more so Jeremy) have done quite a few home and garden, Pet and companion, Kids fest, and propety management shows with great success! I would say everyone should try at least one. They are a lot of work but they pay off. If anyone has more questions contact Jeremy @ 503-522-0411
