Marketing Case Study – Home Removal Services

Is the furniture removal industry stuck in the old days?

Ok maybe it is not a sexy industry to do a marketing case study on, however they do provide a much needed service and like all small businesses have a need for effective marketing.

Recently my wife and I sold our house. Here in Melbourne the most effective sales method is to use the Auction system. Approximately 95% of homes in our area are sold through Auctions.

The Auction process involves a four week advertising campaign, then the results of the Auction are published. The reason I share this with you is to let you know that for at least four weeks we were advertising the fact that we are about to move to everyone who would take the time to look.

During the four weeks leading up to the Auction we had a grand total of ZERO marketing efforts from removal companies … I was suprised by this being a Marketing consultant and all.

Not a single contact, flyer, letter, phone call or door knock from an overly keen Removalist Sales Person!

Then three days after the sales results were published in the paper it happened.

On the same day we received a total of 9 letters from removalist companies. All on the same day …

Now let me say well done to those 9 companies for making some marketing efforts to win our business. I am sure there are far more companies that made no effort at all.

Here is the challenge, and this challenge is not just for removalist companies. This is a marketing challenge for all small business owners regardless if you are a coach, consultant, professional advisor such as an accountant, lawyer or recruitment agent. The challenges is gaining the ATTENTION of your potential client.

The nine removalist companies all sent nice flyers talking about how long they had been in business, how many vans they have, were they could move us to, how much care they take etc etc.

They all basically said the same things.

Two of them included a tea bag in with their letter which is kind of novel but lacks marketing punch.

All of these flyers came in plain white envelopes addressed to “The home owner”.

Now here is the killer point ….

None of them have contacted us again!

Think about it … here we are busy renovating our new house in another city, both my wife and I run businesses, we have active interests in other areas as well so we are flat out busy.

To busy to analyse, study, research and make a decision on which of the nine (who all sound, look and smell the same) removal companies to contact.

Imagine if just one of them contacted us again … ie followed up … we just might use them

It is interesting to see how similar and ineffective the marketing efforts are within this very narrow industry. It is what I would call the dumbing down of marketing initiative. This is where businesses within an industry all start to copy each others marketing activities until they reach a point where they all look the same and the potential customer has no way of identifying which company to choose.

You see this dumbing down of marketing occuring in many industries such as Real Estate, Accounting, Mortgage Brokers and Financial Planners, Personal Trainers and Life Coaches. They all tend to replicate the marketing of each other.

So what can we learn from this?

Well here are a few thoughts on what these removal companies could have done differently:

* First & Early – The first thing I would do if I was in removals is to make sure that I was the first to market my services to the potential customer. I would be sending my initial marketing peice as soon as the sales campaign started … something along the lines of … hey we see you are selling your home, good luck with the campaign and let us know if we can help.

* Database – I would then follow up within the same week and offer a FREE Report along the lines of ‘How To Maximise The Sales Value Of Your Home’. The report would be available at the website of course and require people to enter their names and phone numbers etc. Who knows … while they are at the site requesting the report they just may look at your removal services.

* Follow Up Prior To Sale – Next Step would be to send a good luck card the week of the Auction with a simple reminder of your services.

* Congratulations – When the property is sold at Auction I would send a letter of congratulations that included a booklet on how to select the right removal company.

* Offer A Quotation – I would then follow up three days later with another letter offering to drop by for 10 minutes and provide a comprehensive no obligation quote. If you can get in the door and meet them, or get them on the phone you will seperate yourself from the rest.

* Have You Decided Letter – Finally I would send a letter about two weeks later along the lines of have you decided yet and if not let us handle it for you.

Now these ideas are straight of the top of my head with no real thought gone into it but I am sure you get the idea, right? Marketing needs to have the right strategy in place. It is a process rather than a single event.

So how can you take these ideas and implement them into your business?

Do you look, feel and smell like all of your competitors? Now I’m sure you think you are unique … but what about your potential customers?

This is one of the reasons why we provide our complimentary Sales & Marketing Audit (Valued at $297) to help small business owners identify where there marketing challenges are and what they can do to attract more clients.

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