A couple of months ago, a prospect contacted me about his carpet cleaning business that he wanted to grow. We had initially met when he cleaned our carpets a couple of years ago.
He initially wanted a quote on using Google Adwords to find more clients. After looking at the cost per click and typical conversion rates, it was clear that Adwords was not a good fit.
Then we started talking about Facebook. While this is less expensive per click, it is also a lot less targeted, particularly for something like carpet cleaning. People are unlikely to want to learn more about carpet cleaning unless they are already thinking about it.
So, we started talking more about how he finds customers and how he gets repeat business. While he was using direct mail, which is expensive but works, he was not taking advantage of an email list of nearly 5,000 past customers. These were people who already knew him and presumably liked his work.
The lightbulb went on for me! This was a great opportunity to generate repeat business at a low cost. Here was a valuable asset hiding in plain site simply because it was not the way most carpet cleaners generate business.
So, we just sent out the first email. We made it informative and not just a sales pitch so people who received it want to open it. And while only about 3,500 of the email addresses were still in use (some of the email addresses were several years old), the first newsletter generated at least 20 jobs for a lot less than online advertising or direct mail.
Are you missing a valuable asset in your business? When we are too close to our business and the way the industry does business, it can be hard to see things differently. Getting an outside perspective can help you find assets that are hiding in plain site.
If you would like to review your business to find valuable marketing assets that you may be overlooking, let’s talk.