Advice Needed

ducts101

Hi,

I am wondering if anyone would have advice for me. I own and operate a duct cleaning business and things have slowed down considerably. I was recently investigating different methods to bring in more customers.

Do you think that it would beneficial to send a letter out to new homeowners for duct cleaning? If so would anyone be willing to share a sample letter to introduce the company to homeowners.

I am also wondering if anyone would have a sample letter that they could share that would be a sales letter to contact home builders, HVAC contractors, etc to introduce and sell our company services.

Any advice on this topic would be great!

Thanks,

__________________
Michelle
DUCTS 101
www.ducts101.com
contact@ducts101.com

ron schenker

Your toughest sales pitch is probably convincing the home owner that duct cleaning is a worthwhile investment! In your letter I would include a list of all the health benefits and maybe a couple of testimonials from satisfied customers. You could target newly developed neighborhoods explaining how dirty ducts get during construction and maybe promote your hi tech furnace filters. BTW here in Toronto, H.Depot sells a fancy battery operated one for
$120.00

__________________
Don't worry, the baseboard will hide it!

Elaine

Hey Ducts,

If your sales are down, it's time to get very savvy with your marketing. IMHO, a shot gun mailing may not be the way to go. Ron's right about duct cleaning being a tough sell to most homeowners. It's not a tough sell, however, to people who already know its value. Preach to the choir. While you're building up sales, direct your mailings & other marketing to people who don't have to be convinced: people who have breathing problems and members of environmental groups, etc.

And don't just do mailings. Make phone calls and ask if you can make presentations to organizations and support groups. (Make sure you show the picture that's on your website of the grungy-looking duct) And/or ask if you can write something about the importance of clean ducts for an organization's newsletter. Network with your local contractors. You'll get a much better response eyeball-to-eyeball. Get out there and fight for your business!!

Can you tell I've had a lot of caffeine tonight??

Mike Finley

Hell yes. If you need to convince yourself just find the stats on what new homeowners spend compared to no new homeowners in the first year of ownership.

Duct cleaning is a great product for them, it's the old, we moved in who knows what the hell we are moving into mentality, lets get them cleaned just in case. Get some kind of coupon, call to action message in there and be like Nike and just do it.

mdshunk

You need to somehow get a mailing list of people who's children have asthma who live in your area. That's what we call a "lay down" (easy sale) in marketing terms.

I've treated myself to a couple of duct cleaning sales presentations. The better one's used tactful health related scare tactics throughout the pitch. Most people don't give a crap if the ducts are clean or not, but most do care about their health. If you can tie the two together, you've got a sale.

Don't sell clean ducts... sell healthy living.

reveivl

The words "cat hair and dander" make lots of people squirm.

__________________
From where does knowledge come? If you need to know what is in a box, you could ask someone (not reliable), you could pray, (not useful), you can consult with the scripture (not helpful) or you could open the box (science)

Glasshousebltr

I heard that line of work was in a slump due to the rising cost of soap colliding with the seasonal migration.......hell Disney even laid off Donald.

Bob

__________________
Bob

RobertWilber

May sound nuts to you, but .....
Have discount certificates [nice looking things] printed up, or print them yourself with a color laser and GIVE THEM to EVERY real estate salesman, broker, mortgage broker, settlement company, etc. to distribute to their clients, either when they pitch them, or at settlement.
Establish a ledger system and assign "dispersion record numbers" to each individual who gets them. Locate a small block in one corner and tell everyone to write THEIR "registered id number" in the block.
Offer a cash "bonus" to anyone who gives out a certificate converted for a cleaning discount. or enter them in an annual give-away drawing for some item, like a selection from one of those prepaid gift catalog services. Cover the packet of certificates with a letter describing the "prize"

coinggrazy

Add dust mites and allergens into the equation and you're on your way to a new niche. I work in pest control and some related contractor work. I've suggested to homeowners having their ducts cleaned when I ve found rodents have chewed their way into ducts. Perhaps you can meet pest control tech or company and offer them a refferal fee if you get the work. Like someone suggest some value added services such as selling hepa filters for furnaces, air duct sanatizing or deoderizing. Air flow efficiency and Air duct sealants. How long have you been cleaning air ducts? Isnt it seasonal? Like when people start their furnaces in the fall ?

AllGoNoShow

You may want to grab up all of last thursdays Gannet News newspaper article to make sure noone sees it! Was saying how big of a problem indoor air pollution is-then said EPA does not reccomend cleaning your ducts unless directed by a doctor and that "there is no evidence that duct cleaning does anything to prevent health problems".

john elliott

No advice to offer I'm afraid other than to get your email address off the forum before it gets auto-harvested by spammers

John

__________________
Ed the Roofer said "John too, in his crass and blunt demeanor.............."