I often hear carpet cleaners complain about sending out large mailings that have yielded little results for them. Or they've contacted a large list of commercial prospects and then become frustrated because there's very little interest. I have also used this shotgun approach in the past and I've seen the same dismal return on my efforts.

It's been my experience that blanketing the market using the shotgun approach may not produce as much as if we target a handful of key prospects. Firing a shotgun into a crowd is likely to hit something, but it's not the strategy for hitting the desired target. No target = no sale.

I've seen that when we intensify our efforts (targeting) on a handful of choice accounts we will invariably yield better results. I prefer to do "farming" as they call it in the selling books. Farming, as the name implies, is where you go into a specific field and cultivate it until you reach a harvest. This has been a very successful method of selling for our commercial accounts. I'll pick a few desirable accounts and I'll stay in front of them till they're ready to use our service. This has been a lot more effective for us than the 1-2% yield that we could expect from a direct mail program.

And don't forget that timing is everything...
You've put together a great marketing letter and you've sent out a mass mailing to several hundred commercial prospects. Well unfortunately most of that effort lands squarely in the garbage can without ever being considered by the prospect. And the few prospects that may have possibly been interested in becoming a new customer - might not need carpet cleaning at this particular moment in time. So now the only hope of any success is dependent on hoping to cash in on a couple of potential customers out of the midst of a very large number of failed attempts. Not so promising.

So my advice, for what it's worth, is this. Select 10-20 of the CHOICEST accounts in your market. And then persistently work with those prospects. Make yourself known to the decision maker. And as the group of 10-20 prospects shrinks (because they either become your clients or they're simply not going to buy) you'll need to add a couple of more key targets to the list. This targeted/farming strategy has worked very well for my company and I believe it may prove to be rewarding for you too.




Rick Gelinas

This is great advice Rick. We do this on a consistent basis and have great success at it. This way you can pick the higher end clients which we are all looking for and target them specifically. I mentioned the other day that we like to earn around $200.00 /hr and this is a great way to target those places that will go for a high end service experience. Everybody can learn alot from Rick.

Kevin Pearson

agreed Kevin, excellent advice.

myself, i havent exactly hit my targets like that. instead i will cover an area and drop off my info at all the businesses i find (well around 80%, some i dont want, ie: restaurants).

RJ Karsten once told me a good idea that he practiced on the "choice" offices that he wanted....he'd drop off chocolates, donuts and i think he mentioned flowers??, once every 30 days and it paid off for him many times.

but i do find some choice offices as you mentioned Rick and hit them continually. i try not to be a nuisance as someone mentioned back a few months, but i dont get negative or give-up either. when i call the prospect for the very 1st time, sometimes i've gotten a negative vibe, or i end up calling the decision maker a few times a week for literally months on end. i end up figuring they have caller-id and dont have the guts to pick up the phone and tell me to get lost. surprisingly, when i finally get ahold of these ppl, many of these prospects end up becoming my clients and hire me.

so i can verify that what Rick said does work great!

thanx --- Derek.

Good points Derek.

I do the same thing with insurance companies. I was trying to get on Nationwide's preferred provider network for two years and two months ago it panned out for me. I tried every week for two years and no return phone call. I had the decision makers office number, cell phone, email and went to see him and always got rejected. Then one day out of the blue he calls me. Now we are a preferred provider and loving it. Stay persistent.

Kevin Pearson

Another idea is to ASK your residential customers if they could use your services at their business. It does not matter what the customer's position in the company is, they will know who to contact, and if they give that person their own referral, that knocks down a lot of barriers.

When the customer is the owner, or very high up, and could actually make the decision, that is great, but ya gotta ASK!!

Gary