Marketing Strategy 25: Dealing With Bait & Switch

It’s appalling really. There a literally dozens of great ways to grow a carpet cleaning business. Yet, every day I see people makethe exact same mistake. Instead of using proven, fast and efficient marketing strategies, they resort to tired and unethical ‘bait and switch’ nonsense.

They advertise low, low prices. Then when they arrive at a client’s home, they bump up the rate.Ofcourse, I’ve talked about this before, so I know you are probably not doing it. But your competition might be.

That’s why in today’s lesson I want to talk about how to compete against scam carpet cleaners. Let me explain… It can be really frustrating when there is someone in your area using bait and switch strategies. It can tarnish the industry the industry and reduce your income even if you have done nothing wrong…

The secret to dealing with low-priced competition is to move the focus of marketing away from price.

You can do this in a number of ways:

1. Only advertise in high-end suburbs. Wealthy people value quality more than cheapness. If you advertise to low-income neighbor hoods, you will live and die by price.
2. Whenever you create marketing materials, focus on the unique benefits you offer. Show the client that you offer value for money and they will happily pay your rates.
3. Create great offers to get your foot in the door.Many carpet cleaners say “Buy My Services”. You can stand out by saying “Here’s How I Can Help Make Your Life Better.

TODAY’S TASK: Dealing with ‘Low-Price’ Competitors

1. Look at your local area. List the postcodes where wealthy middle-class families live. If you provide carpet cleaning for businesses, list the areas where established companies set up shop (i.e. the CBD). These are the areas you should focus on.
2. Start gathering the adverts that cheap carpets use. For each advertisement list the reasons that you are better than that person. Then explains these reason in your marketing. If you don’t tell clients the advantages of your service, they will choose the lower cost option.
3. Make great offers.The ‘FREE Carpet Cleaning Audit’in the resources section of this program is a good example.

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