Advertising may be necessary when a carpet cleaner is just getting started in business, but it is a serious mistake to think that owner/operators should continue using traditional advertising in the long run.
For many single-truck companies, advertising may stand in the way of success.
Advertising should be treated with care, as it has been the cause of business failure for many.
In last month's column, I pointed out the hidden costs related to advertising. These hidden costs can cause you to lose substantial profits and threaten your success.
I believe advertising poses another, even larger, threat. It influences whom you attract for customers and what level of service you can afford to provide to them. It is also easy to develop a dependence on it.
It is important to build your business to the point where advertising is no longer needed. Eliminating your dependence on it is critical to success as a small company.
There are many ways advertising limits your success.
It focuses on a small part of the market
According to Cleanfax magazine's Carpet Cleaning Benchmarking Survey Reports, advertising accounts for only 15 percent of the cleaning done each year — a small fraction of the total dollars spent on carpet cleaning.
Most cleaning consumers completely ignore advertising and choose their cleaner from other sources.
There are four sources of customers: Advertising, referrals, repeating clients and networking to meet new people. The last three account for 85 percent of the work. Focusing on a small portion of the market doesn't make sense.
It attracts one-time customers
Most consumers turning to advertising don't use carpet cleaning services very often. They don't know whom to call, so they have to look for a service provider.
They might search the Internet, look at the Yellow Pages of the phonebook, or hope an ad arrives at their home.
It is difficult to build a solid base of clients with people that rarely use cleaning services. Once serviced, these one-time customers disappear and must be replaced.
It's competitive
Consumers use advertising to compare many different companies, benefits and prices. This results in several companies fighting over each prospective customer.
Consider your competition. Most successful small businesses drop out of the competitive advertising arena.
This is where "bait and switch" companies look for their customers. This is where companies willing to sell their services for the lowest price are fighting over the same few prospects.
It's a tough battlefield for any company that wants to provide a good service at a fair price.
It dictates your message
If you invest in advertising, you expect a good return on your money. It makes sense to shape your message to get the best response from the consumers who look at ads.
The themes that interest these shoppers are: Low price, big and powerful equipment, speedy service, big guarantees and dramatic "before and after" pictures.
These popular themes for ad shoppers do not go over as well with consumers who are willing to pay for quality and service. These themes make quality consumers wonder if you provide the level and type of service they want.
Shaping your company message to get the most from your ads discourages customers who are looking for higher levels of service.
You can't please everyone. Your repeat and referral work is probably suffering because of this conflict in messages.
It limits your quality of service
Charging competitively low prices places a limit on how much service you can profitably provide.
Competing in the advertising arena pressures you to offer the most service you can for the lowest price.
This is very frustrating if you take pride in your work.
How long can you survive providing high quality service at budget prices? If you want to provide good service at fair prices, advertising is a tough way to get customers.
It's easy to become dependent
Advertising does not fulfill the long-term need of building a solid base of repeat customers.
Many of the customers you obtain from ads are probably only going to use you one time. You have to continue to advertise in order to stay supplied with customers.
Once you shape your business to appeal to shopping consumers, the other options of getting new customers become less effective. If advertising represents a significant part of your revenue, it can be scary to consider dropping or even tampering with it.
You may find yourself dependent on advertising indefinitely.
Approach with caution
Owner/operators should be careful with advertising. At first glance, it may look like the easy and natural way to get customers. But upon closer examination, there are serious risks and costs.
Advertising leads down a path appealing to only a small market of less desirable customers.
It is filled with low-price competitors and it pressures you to shape your message and lower your quality of service to meet the demands of this market. It is easy to become dependent on this expensive source of customers.
Your success as a single truck company depends on your breaking free from using advertising. Focus your attention beyond getting just any customer, and work to build a client base of customers who will repeat.
Steve Marsh is the creator of the Be Competition Free Marketing Program. He is a 30-year veteran of the carpet cleaning industry, an IICRC-approved instructor and a Senior Carpet Inspector. Marsh is a marketing and business consultant who provides a turn-key program for attracting better customers. For more information, log on to www.BeCompetitionFree.com.
