Marketing a service is unlike marketing a hard goods commodity. It is intangible until it is produced. A customer or prospect cannot among other things, test drive it, admire the color, or feel the texture of a service. In advertising, a service could be distorted or misrepresented before it is actually performed.
Unfortunately, our industry has "bait and switch" operators. They make it tough on the rest of us, as an unhappy customer may feel all carpet cleaners are the same. Be on the alert for such cleaners and be prepared to adjust your advertising to combat them.
Other warning signs may point to your current advertising strategy. Some questions to ask yourself.
- Do sales gimmicks and promotions no longer bring in calls? They may be stale or or out of date.
- Price becomes the driving force in booking jobs. Do not "sell" your company short.
- Customers tell you they did not know you offered a certain service. Re-evaluate your marketing.
- Referrals and repeat customers drop in proportion to total sales. Is your service still as good as it once was?
Continued monitoring of these and other aspects of our business, is something that we do at Bane-Clene® on a consistent basis.
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The Bane-Clene® Team.