No Flyer Responses…

An email that I thought was important for everyone to read along with the response.  Please read this post in its entirety.

Hi, I know that the marketing game is in the numbers.  My granddaughter and I have passed out 400 flyers this week, and will do another 200 this afternoon.  But have not received any responses.  We have gone into expensive house areas, and followed your instructions.  I know that the average is 1% response, but 0% response can be discouraging.  Just thought I would let you know what is happening so far.
 
George

My Response:

Hi George:

Good morning.

First I’d like to say that not a day goes by where I don’t here that the response rate works.  That’s been proven so many times that I’ve lost count.  So regardless of area, regardless of situation, or regardless of whatever else comes into play, it does work over and over again.  The calls may not necessarily come in within a few days as we might like them to, but you will get the numbers eventually as I talk about in point 3 below. 

So now that we got that out of the way, let’s talk about 3 specific points:

1.  July and August are traditionally the slowest months for window cleaners.  This is just the way it is.  Folks are on vacation, and their focus is on family, not their house.  As we go into september, october, whew.  Watch out. I generally don’t like to mention that there are any slow months straight out of the box to new window cleaners. Why?  Because many folks would use this as an excuse to not start.  I know this is kind of negative, but it’s just the way it is.  Some people are looking for excuses so they can justify delays, and "slow months" would be the perfect excuse.  Not everyone is like this obviously, but some are. 

I talked to someone the other day who told me he’s still looking for a "connection".  In other words, he still has not fired up a serious marketing campaign after over a full year in the biz.  There are customers needing their windows cleaned.  And they’re just waiting on a professional window cleaner to contact them.  Well…they’re still waiting.  It’s a waste of good profits.  So if I start going around telling window cleaners it’s a bit slow in the summer, that wouldn’t be good. Folks will wait until that "perfect" time to start.  And there is no "perfect time".

In addition, I personally think july and august are great set-up months where you set the stage for your business in the Fall.  I use to put extra effort into my marketing during this period.  Some window cleaners may slow down and justify it by saying it’s slow. But I doubled my efforts.  It worked and brought in more customers.  Side note:  Do the opposite of what most window washers do.  )    

2.  Direct mail (I consider "flyers" direct mail.  You’re simply hand delivering your direct mail piece) as you may or may not know, is a crapshoot.  There is no guarantee that an area you target will be a good neighborhood.  There have been neighborhoods I’ve gone into only to find out that it might be a bit tougher to crack because there are window cleaners firmly entrenched.  They have relationships built with homeowners within the neighborhood.  This is ok. It just takes double the effort to crack the neighborhood.

3.  The last pont I’d like to make is "patience".  I realize that it can be discouraging not getting calls right away, but we don’t always get the calls right away.  Do window cleaners get calls many times the same day or next day?  Without a doubt.  But not always.  It might be a week, maybe 2 weeks, etc. before the calls come.  I got a call from a window cleaner on friday who told me that the other day he got a call from a prospect who held onto his postcard for 2 years.  2 years!  Now this is definitely the extreme.  And no, you’re not going to have to wait 2 years for calls. The point I’m making is that people don’t necessarily call right away. 

Again, we all want prospects to call within a day or two or a few days of receiving our flyers.  But they’ll wait to call until the time is right for them.  Keep in mind that with 400 flyers, you’re only talking about 4 calls, right?  If you combine this point #3 with point #1 above, perhaps these 4 people are tied up with family this summer and will call you when they’re in the frame of mind for clean windows.  See what I mean?

Anyway…I know this might sound kind of strange.  But I wouldn’t be discouraged in any way shape or form.  I guess maybe because I know what kind of businesses window cleaners are building, and also what I personally have done in my business with flyer distribution.  As stated above, there is no doubt that it works.  No doubt at all.  Now all you have to do is just prove it to yourself. 

Again, keep in the back of your mind that it’s only 4 calls.  I know 400 flyers sounds like a lot.  And I know the distribution efforts of those 400 flyers probably took some time.  So you want something for your efforts.  I understand that.  But…the numbers say you’ll get only 4 calls. 

And finally…the thing that makes this whole thing tougher for you is that you personally got out there and did it.  Ok…you got your feet wet.  Great.  But you have to ask yourself whether it’s worth it.  I mean you work retail which I know demands a lot of hours.  So on an off day, do you really want to spend your day hoofing it through neighborhoods delivering flyers?  So please give some thought to faster and easier distribution methods.

Why not try what I’ve mentioned before?  Hire some teenage kids at $20 a pop and get out there on a saturday morning.  You’ll get 1000 flyers out in 2 to 3 hours.  This was quite literally a gold mine for me for minimal investment.  If you do this every single saturday at the start of your business, you will build one heckuva client base.  These are serious numbers, 400 is not.  4000 flyers each month will turn your business into a serious contender. 

Take care for now and talk soon.  Please keep me posted. 

Regards,

Steve

An Update:

The very next day after receiving the email above from George, he sent me another email saying he got 2 calls. Here it is:

This relates to point #3 that I talked about in my response above-Patience. The calls will come most definitely. Some come right away, some take a little time, but they will come. The key is to just keep on "doing the numbers" as I’ve mentioned probably a few thousand times over the last 4 years or so. )  See ya all later. 

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