Moving The Free Line

“Moving The Free Line” is a great marketing tool, which can bring you more new customers, and the great thing is many of them may have never even thought of having their carpets cleaned before. 

Would you like to know how to do it?  It’s very simple, just state in your adverts you offer…

“One FREE Room of Carpet Cleaning”

OK, so there is a little more to it than that, and before you click away, please bear with me and allow me explain.  By implementing the ‘Moving The Free Line’ strategy it can really help to bring in a lot of new customers…even for your local carpet cleaning business.

Although “Moving The Free Line” may be a relatively new marketing concept, offering a ‘Free Room Of Cleaning’ is not new, in fact it was first introduced to the UK in 1997, by a one-time carpet cleaner-turned marketing guru from America.

Over the years a number of UK cleaners have been taught to understand the true concept of offering a high valued service for free enabling them to build massive perceived value… and in return have gained many new clients and massively increased their profits.   You can knock it, but it has been working in the UK for over 15 years.

What Are You Already Giving Away FREE?

I know this may seem a bit counter intuitive, giving stuff or services away for FREE.   I understand many people would never dream of offering ‘Something for nothing'…as it goes against everything we believe.   However, most of us are already doing it in one way or another.  

• If you have a website, you’re giving away information about you and your services for free. 

• If you use Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Google etc… again you’re giving information away free! 

• If you offer ‘Free Quotes’ you are giving your most valuable asset … your TIME and it’s free.

All we have to do is learn how to ‘Move’ that free line across a little. 

More Proof FREE Works

If you really think giving your services away for FREE would fail … you couldn’t be more WRONG.

Take a look around you… or more importantly some of the tools you are using already… Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Google … all these offer FREE tools, and if you’re not using them you should.

So how can these companies turnover ‘$BILLIONS’ if their main service is given away for FREE?  Once they have attracted larger numbers of people to use their FREE services, they offer additional higher-end services and charge for them.

Why Moving The Free Line Works

The phrase ‘Moving The Free Line’ comes from a young man called Eben Pagan (below).  

Eben Pagan, talking about the 'Moving The FREE Line'

Eben, is a true marketing genius who has generated over $100million in the last few years from his own businesses.  

Eben teaches what he has learnt in the real world and says when you ‘move the Free Line’, your lead funnel opens up.   By this he means you appeal to a wider audience and you’ll attract more people.  It even works by enticing those ‘not looking’ for carpet cleaning to take you up on the offer.   In fact you’ll find a lot more people are going to be interested in getting something for free IF it is very valuable. 

Once you’ve got someone in your lead funnel you can nurture and convert them by upselling, and often you’ll be able to increase your service and move what Eben calls the ‘Depth line’ (or increase your top price by offering a higher-end package with more profit for you).

I strongly recommend you visit Eben’s YouTube video and watch him explain ‘moving the FREE line’ himself.   Link is below.

Eben Pagan, Extending the 'Depth Line'

Figuring out The “Free Line”

You may be wondering to yourself, “Why would I give away something of value for free, when I can sell it and make a profit?” The idea behind ‘Moving the Free Line’ is to take your smaller services and products and move it over and offer them for FREE. So, something that used to cost you a few pounds, like £5-£50, is now FREE to attract more people.

In the cleaning industry its well known people spend time trying to sell the little spotters … crazy.  Just think about this…you spend 5-10 mins in selling a £5 product and make £2.50 profit … compared to the great feeling your customer has when you GIVE THEM A FREE GIFT OF A SPOTTER, just for inviting you for a free quote (and of course you add the cost of the spotter in the clean).

Just move the Free Line right over, from the beginning. Market the fact YOU give away a massive amount of value… AND give it away to as many people as you can.

If the free room or even the spotter is too big for you, create downloadable PDF reports, or shoot a ‘FREE how-to video’ on ‘Coffee Stain Removal’, or 'Pet Odour Removal', add a value of £5-£20 and give them away on your website in return for their email. These are strategies that are being used by people to generate clients on a small budget. They move the Free Line.

Are You Using Other Companies FREE Lines?

There are many tools out there you can use in your business FOR FREE.  Of course one of the main tool providers you should be using is Google.  Google offer many tools which are FREE, like...

• Google Places -  Want your local business to show up before organic search results? For some keywords, it now can thanks to Google Places.  Be sure that you add your listing on Google Places, complete your profile, add photos & videos, and encourage reviews so that your business will make it to the first page of search results.

• Google Analytics - is probably one of the most powerful (yet FREE) Google tools that you can use as business owner. You can learn so much about your website’s visitors and what is and what isn’t working.

• Google Blogger - If you want to start a blog, but you’re not ready to commit to a self-hosted blogging platform such as WordPress, then you might want to consider Blogger. If it’s been a while since you last took a look at it, you might be interested in some of the latest improvements. There have been rumours in the past that getting links on Google-owned sites can help with the indexing of your website, so don’t overlook the power of Blogger!

• Google AdWords Keyword Tool - Need keyword ideas for your Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) campaign or paid search advertising? Try the Google AdWords Keyword Tool. When you enter a term that offers a wide range of ideas, like ‘cleaning’, you will get groupings of keyword ideas that you can dig deeper into.

• YOU TUBE (Google-Owned) - Last, but not least, if you want to dominate the video market, then start with YouTube. Not only will your video be available to YouTube’s millions upon millions of visitors, but it will also be on prime real estate for showing up in search results. Even if you can’t get your website on the first page of search results through traditional SEO, you might be able to get there with video.

I hope you liked my little Marketing Insight.  I really recommend you take a look at Eben’s FREE YouTube video, which explains the FREE Line in more detail. 

Watch Eben's Video Here:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3MrwYPRB-I

Regards

Keith Robertson,

NCCA Vice President and Marketing Director

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Watch Eben's Video Here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3MrwYPRB-I

The Cleaning Event for Carpet and Hard Floor Care Experts

Following the success of the event last year the second Carpet Cleaners Carnival (CCC) – aimed at soft furnishing and floor care industry – will be held in September this year reports the National Carpet Cleaners Association.

The National Carpet Cleaners Association (NCCA), the UK trade body dedicated to the cleaning of carpets, soft furnishings and hard flooring, has been setting the standard in this industry for over forty years through basic, specialist and advanced training courses for members and non-members at all levels of expertise.

On 15^th September 2012 the NCCA will be holding their second Carpet Cleaners Carnival at Wicksteed Park in Kettering, Northamptonshire.

The Park is a popular day out destination for families and boasts acres of beautiful parkland. It was also one of the first Leisure Parks in the UK and has one of the largest children's playgrounds in Europe together with in excess of 35 rides and attractions.

The event provides an excellent networking opportunity and will include an exhibition populated by top industry manufacturers, suppliers and advisors from within and outside the Association. Visitors will also be able to attend the workshops, which were so popular last year.

The Show is, which is free to attend, is open to all upholstery and floor care companies and their technicians throughout the UK.

However, the Carpet Cleaners Carnival is so much more than just a trade show. It’s a great day out and an opportunity to bring the industry together.

It’s also a family event and visitors are invited to bring their partners and children. In addition to enjoying a full mix of trade booths, workshops, demonstrations and associated events, families will be able to view the lakes and parklands and, if they wish, visit the playground, fairground and other park attractions.

NCCA Vice President and Marketing Director, Keith Robertson says “If you didn't attend the Carpet Cleaners Carnival in 2011 you really did miss out on a great day. Thank you to all the visitors and exhibitors who took part, many of whom came with their families. The Carnival is so much more than just a trade show. It's an opportunity to bring the industry together and a great day out for the whole family.”

As part of the Carnival, the NCCA has negotiated discounted rates for families wishing to visit the fairground and feature attractions, together with free parking for all visitors, generating substantial savings.

Contact the NCCA on 0116 271 9550 to pre-register and be eligible for all the discounts available.

Professional Carpet Cleaners have a Code of Practice

The National Carpet Cleaners Association believes in the importance of promoting best practice in all aspects of carpet cleaning.

With this in mind we have developed, along with BSI British Standards and with collaboration from industry experts, the professional document PAS 86: 2008 - Professional inspection, maintenance, cleaning and restoration of textile floor coverings - Code of Practice. 

PAS86 is the only government recognised code of practice for professional carpet cleaning. When considering employing a professional carpet cleaner, consumers should ensure companies and technicians are committed to following PAS86 Code of Practice.

Serious carpet cleaners have already adopted the PAS as their official guide to professional carpet cleaning but the PAS is also relevant to government bodies, trading standards, the insurance industry, carpet manufacturers, consumers, retailers, training bodies and those involved in the management, cleaning and inspection of textile floor coverings.

The PAS86 is applicable to all types and styles of textile floor coverings within domestic and commercial environments.

As a consumer who can I trust?

A recent report from the Local Government Association highlighted the number of false claims made by food suppliers. 'Devon ham' that came from Denmark, 'Welsh lamb' from New Zealand, 'Somerset butter' from Scotland.

They concluded from their inspections that 18% of claims were false and another 14% were most likely false as the claims could not be verified.

Most of you have perhaps wondered, from time to time, if the free-range eggs you purchased were genuine or were in fact battery produced. Well, you were probably right as it is certainly going on. But there is more...  

The honey you bought, thinking it came from a local cottage, might well have had 90% honey from China added. The organic meat may not be, the West Country fish may have been caught off the coast but has gone to China and back to process. The British beef advertised on the restaurant menu could well be Zebu from South America just as the cod from the fish and chip shop may be Vietnamese catfish. 

It has been suggested that we are paying £7 billion per year on food that is not what is claimed. Well if that is the case, and we live in such an age of dishonesty, who can we trust when it comes to having tradesmen do work on our behalf? Do the tradesmen you use come up to your expectations? If they do, how did you find them? In most cases it was probably by recommendation. In many cases we turn to a friend, a family member, or a neighbour and if they show enthusiasm about a specific tradesman, or company, that is the one we contact.

If no-one can provide you with a recommendation most likely you turn to a directory or perhaps an Internet search engine. How do you make your choice from the list?  

Some years ago I conducted a survey of how people made their choice of a Carpet Cleaner from Yellow Pages and found that the most common reason was location. The first thing they looked for was the phone number and if it was near to them that was the company they were most likely to contact. 

In some ways this is understandable. If the company is local you probably feel they would be more likely to actually turn-up, or possibly be cheaper because they haven't travelled far, or even that because they are part of the local community they will be more honest. Unfortunately in practice these things may not actually be true and you end up still feeling let down. Perhaps they didn't come when they promised. Perhaps they quoted you one price on the phone but charged you twice as much at  the end of he job, or maybe the results didn't come up to our expectation. Where do you turn? Who can you contact to make yourself feel better? Truth is there is no easy answer.

Can I instead give you a recommendation? Many years ago a group of carpet and upholstery cleaners saw the need to set-up a group of tradesmen who valued service, quality and honesty and formed the National Carpet Cleaners Association. Now over 40 years later nearly 600 carpet and floor care professionals throughout the UK, have subscribed to, and closely follow, the association's motto which is SERVICE WITH INTEGRITY. The members follow a strict code of practice which you can access and read by consulting the NCCA website at www.ncca.co.uk

Should you choose to use a member, and in the unlikely event that you experience a problem, the NCCA operate a mediation process to assist you resolve whatever issues you may have.

Each member is required, not only to follow the code of practise, but also to undergo basic industry training and are encouraged to invest in further training to develop their knowledge and business acumen.  

If you need to find a reputable carpet or hard floor care cleaner don't simply stick a pin in a directory, consult the NCCA website to check out which members are in your area, or telephone the National Carpet Cleaners Association office on 0116 271 9550 where the staff will offer you help and advice.

In an age where we are becoming less and less trusting, this is one way that you can feel confident of getting the work done to a high standard, which I hope will put you in the position of being able to help others as you pass on your recommendation to them. It may only be one small segment of our life but it is reassuring to know that there are still honest, upright professionals in at least one of the trades.  

Keith Robertson

NCCA Vice President and Marketing Director