A pool cleaning business entrepreneur always struggles with two questions.
To answer these two questions I share the wildly successful low cost way that Karen, from Houston, Texas grew her business.
As a 26-year old, her pool-cleaning story is her own, but it does have significance if you're about to start your own pool cleaning undertaking.
In the beginning your first temptation is to make a brochure on the cheap, get plain (and unremarkable) business cards printed and, of course, place an ad in the local newspaper.
Then you’re ready for customers to start rolling in.
You begin to doubt your decisions. You just spent about $450 or so (the newspaper ad is expensive) and your cell phone remains silent.
So the moral of your failed marketing effort is simple: don’t market your company this way. It simply will not work.
Karen says, being aggressive in her pool cleaning business, taking the initiative and meeting one-on-one with prospective clients, pool equipment/supply distributors and others was the key to her initial success.
Here is what worked for Karen.
Nothing works better in any business than relationship building with your customers.
I don’t mean just sending them periodic notes in the mail, although this may be part of your effort.
Relationship building is personal.
Karen had a real knack for this.
She contacted each customer multiple times a year. This consisted of in-person visits and follow-up telephone calls after a customer’s pool was cared for.
When her
business was about 15-months old, she had a website built for her with photos
of customer pools and customer testimonials. After some research she choose Solo Build It to make her money winning Site.
She told me that after she could be found on the Web, her sales increased by 12-customer pool cleaning business contracts during the next pool-cleaning season. This more than paid for her website.
A website also gave her increased credibility and far more leads for her to contact. She said, “Does anyone use the phone book anymore?”
I hope you found Karen’s marketing experiences helpful.
I thank you for visiting Pool Clean Business Marketing Made Simple.
Association of Pool & Spa Professionals
U. S. Small Business Administration