Best advise for finding new clients

[scottish cleaning service]

Nice to see you back @scottish cleaning service

Thanks, Sad to hear about Davy G. I also got told about my best mate in the Fire Service
who died suddenly aged 47 las month and the funeral was last week. I tend to cope with sad news by working on windows or my van. I have already changed leaf springs, struts, brakes, shoes, discs, pads and today I was 8 hours changing a universal Joint because I bought the wrong one. There is 3 UV joints for my type of van and it turns out its the smallest one. Hope everyone maintains their customer base because the way diesel is heading we will all be wanting more local customers. Cheers m

 

[scottish cleaning service]

Why spend so much?
Does the work you get add up to more than 3k?
If it does then good but personally I wouldn’t spend that much to get my softwashing work

Exactly, Checkatrade is £1500 a year and the two councils is £1500 a year. Kept my council and have now dropped the other council. Will probably drop Checkatrade in August because I have a large (100) customer base now. This makes a big difference because I'm picking up one a week and losing the difficult ones that I have always wanted to get rid of. I wish I knew about the council book 4yrs ago when I started because all the enquiries are local. Nothing beats local custom which ticks all the boxes.

 

[Dave B]

Close to 600 customers here lol

 

[scottish cleaning service]

Close to 600 customers here lol

I would have deposit down for new van with that amount. Even with someone helping it must take a while to get round them all. I have moved a few to bimonthly because of access and height and charged double.

 

[Dave B]

That is easy
Around 20 houses a day Monday to Friday for 6 weeks

 

[Iron Giant]

This apparently worked in days gone by

 

[Truckcab79]

Exactly, Checkatrade is £1500 a year and the two councils is £1500 a year. Kept my council and have now dropped the other council. Will probably drop Checkatrade in August because I have a large (100) customer base now. This makes a big difference because I'm picking up one a week and losing the difficult ones that I have always wanted to get rid of. I wish I knew about the council book 4yrs ago when I started because all the enquiries are local. Nothing beats local custom which ticks all the boxes.

Advertising depends how much you need to drive work in your area I’m sure. Myself and my two closest colleagues between us do landscaping, kitchens, bathrooms, handyman, pressure washing. Been set up between 2 and 4 years. All intended to advertise but non of us have even needed too. Turn down as much as we do. Seems to be that you work in one road and then just get passed up and down the neighbourhood. We also generate work for each other if it’s something we can’t handle or don’t have time for. Works really well for us.

To the OP. At this stage just get out there. Do a driveway. Drop a card to the surrounding neighbours. Knock and introduce yourself if you can. It’s not hard and you’ll soon have plenty of work.

‘IF’ you don’t. Then think about advertising. Otherwise it’s just money down the drain.

 

[scottish cleaning service]

Advertising depends how much you need to drive work in your area I’m sure. Myself and my two closest colleagues between us do landscaping, kitchens, bathrooms, handyman, pressure washing. Been set up between 2 and 4 years. All intended to advertise but non of us have even needed too. Turn down as much as we do. Seems to be that you work in one road and then just get passed up and down the neighbourhood. We also generate work for each other if it’s something we can’t handle or don’t have time for. Works really well for us.

To the OP. At this stage just get out there. Do a driveway. Drop a card to the surrounding neighbours. Knock and introduce yourself if you can. It’s not hard and you’ll soon have plenty of work.

‘IF’ you don’t. Then think about advertising. Otherwise it’s just money down the drain.

Mercedes, VW, BMW and all the rest advertise. I'm advertising one thing and that's window cleaning. Picked up one today through my council book advert. Even established companies advertise so there must be a reason why? maybe they do it to save on their tax bill.

 

[ched999uk]

Even established companies advertise so there must be a reason why? maybe they do it to save on their tax bill.

You do realise that 'saving on their tax bill' actually costs them money? i.e. if you pay £1000 on advertising it lowers your tax bill by say 25% so you would pay £250 less in tax but you have £1000 less in your pocket, so paying the £250 in tax you have an extra £750 in your pocket!!! OK so an over simplification.

Advertising must stack up and make a return on the 'investment' otherwise it's a waste of money.

 

[tommywilliams88]

You do realise that 'saving on their tax bill' actually costs them money? i.e. if you pay £1000 on advertising it lowers your tax bill by say 25% so you would pay £250 less in tax but you have £1000 less in your pocket, so paying the £250 in tax you have an extra £750 in your pocket!!! OK so an over simplification.

Advertising must stack up and make a return on the 'investment' otherwise it's a waste of money.

That’s not true. If you spend £1000 on advertising, you pay £0 tax on that £1000 and it’s written off as a business expense. If you keep the £1000 and then pay £250 tax, what are you going to do with that £750?… eventually you’ll spend it… Why wait to have your money taxed before spending what you’ll eventually end up spending anyway? And yes, it does reduce your tax bill. It’s a common business practice to reduce their tax, write off as a business expense.

The same way if you buy a car/laptop/equipment (or anything related to your business) through your business, you don’t pay tax on the money you’re spending on said car/laptop/equipment.

Advertising is always good if you can afford it. McDonald’s spent £80m a few years ago in the UK alone on advertising. Brand awareness is equally as powerful in terms of ROI.

 

[ched999uk]

That’s not true. If you spend £1000 on advertising, you pay £0 tax on that £1000 and it’s written off as a business expense. If you keep the £1000 and then pay £250 tax, what are you going to do with that £750?… eventually you’ll spend it… Why wait to have your money taxed before spending what you’ll eventually end up spending anyway?

You could spend the £750 on something you would like, say a holiday.
While it's good to invest in your business most people run a business to put money in their pocket.
Obviously if you are trying to really expand your business then reinvesting the majority of profit is a great plan.
I guess it depends on how big you are thinking and your long term plans.

 

[Truckcab79]

Mercedes, VW, BMW and all the rest advertise. I'm advertising one thing and that's window cleaning. Picked up one today through my council book advert. Even established companies advertise so there must be a reason why? maybe they do it to save on their tax bill.

Some of it will be tax. Most is brand awareness. Creating a feel-good in a market where consumers have much choice and their buying decisions are very rarely purely practical. McDonalds haven’t talked about their food in any advert since the start of Covid. It’s not been about how great their burgers are but all about service, convenience, ethics, caring for their customers and staff etc. And yet sales have rocketed without them actually showing you what they sell. For most of our businesses we just want the client to know we exist and will do a great job at a fair price. Once you have those clients or have a steady stream of recommendations you don’t need it. Don’t get me wrong, I have a website, Facebook, and a little used Insta and Twitter but they only exist to point new clients toward my portfolio of work if they haven’t seen examples.

Recommendations aside. My best advertising is my van. Has generated so much work. If you do one thing get a properly liveried van and keep it spotlessly clean.

 

[Iron Giant]

That’s not true. If you spend £1000 on advertising, you pay £0 tax on that £1000 and it’s written off as a business expense. If you keep the £1000 and then pay £250 tax, what are you going to do with that £750?… eventually you’ll spend it… Why wait to have your money taxed before spending what you’ll eventually end up spending anyway? And yes, it does reduce your tax bill. It’s a common business practice to reduce their tax, write off as a business expense.

The same way if you buy a car/laptop/equipment (or anything related to your business) through your business, you don’t pay tax on the money you’re spending on said car/laptop/equipment.

Advertising is always good if you can afford it. McDonald’s spent £80m a few years ago in the UK alone on advertising. Brand awareness is equally as powerful in terms of ROI.

Spending a £1,000 is still a bill you aren't saving anything really as you are shelling out 1k, spending £1,000 doesn't lower a tax bill by £1,000 and tax and NI combined is closer to 30% spending money for the sake of it is pointless money needs to be well spent not wasted,

Mcdonalds needs to spend that kind of money as there are usually another 2-3 fast food outlets within 100's of meters of each of their places

 

[tommywilliams88]

Spending a £1,000 is still a bill you aren't saving anything really as you are shelling out 1k, spending £1,000 doesn't lower a tax bill by £1,000 and tax and NI combined is closer to 30% spending money for the sake of it is pointless money needs to be well spent not wasted,

Mcdonalds needs to spend that kind of money as there are usually another 2-3 fast food outlets within 100's of meters of each of their places

The point isn’t to save £1000. The point is you can spend £1,000 instead of spending £1,250.

 

[scottish cleaning service]

You do realise that 'saving on their tax bill' actually costs them money? i.e. if you pay £1000 on advertising it lowers your tax bill by say 25% so you would pay £250 less in tax but you have £1000 less in your pocket, so paying the £250 in tax you have an extra £750 in your pocket!!! OK so an over simplification.

Advertising must stack up and make a return on the 'investment' otherwise it's a waste of money.

 

[scottish cleaning service]

I got a good PVC clean today through advertising. Picked up another for tomorrow and a few maybes from today's job. Wouldn't have got it if I didn't advertise so it works for me but sometimes you can be run off your feet with new work. I just turn down the jobs I don't want but I will be cutting down on my advertising to £720 a year from August.

 

[scottish cleaning service]

Some of it will be tax. Most is brand awareness. Creating a feel-good in a market where consumers have much choice and their buying decisions are very rarely purely practical. McDonalds haven’t talked about their food in any advert since the start of Covid. It’s not been about how great their burgers are but all about service, convenience, ethics, caring for their customers and staff etc. And yet sales have rocketed without them actually showing you what they sell. For most of our businesses we just want the client to know we exist and will do a great job at a fair price. Once you have those clients or have a steady stream of recommendations you don’t need it. Don’t get me wrong, I have a website, Facebook, and a little used Insta and Twitter but they only exist to point new clients toward my portfolio of work if they haven’t seen examples.

Recommendations aside. My best advertising is my van. Has generated so much work. If you do one thing get a properly liveried van and keep it spotlessly clean.

I think advertising keeps momentum with big companies. I picked up a new customer today and if it keeps going I will have to stop advertising by year end or take someone on and expand. What I have done is put my prices up and now I feel better getting a good pay to do the job, this single act is the best thing I have done in my short career.

 

[tommywilliams88]

I think advertising keeps momentum with big companies. I picked up a new customer today and if it keeps going I will have to stop advertising by year end or take someone on and expand. What I have done is put my prices up and now I feel better getting a good pay to do the job, this single act is the best thing I have done in my short career.

Nice to hear. I hear of so many underpricing work they may as well go and work PAYE for a firm on £11 p/hr.

 

[Truckcab79]

Nice to hear. I hear of so many underpricing work they may as well go and work PAYE for a firm on £11 p/hr.

As a finance director client of mine told me. ‘Don’t be a busy fool’. He puts his prices up every year and every year he has one or two who query it. Very occasionally a client who leaves, but mostly he works less and gets more.

It works….so long as you’re good at what you do.

 

[Herm]

Exactly, Checkatrade is £1500 a year and the two councils is £1500 a year. Kept my council and have now dropped the other council. Will probably drop Checkatrade in August because I have a large (100) customer base now. This makes a big difference because I'm picking up one a week and losing the difficult ones that I have always wanted to get rid of. I wish I knew about the council book 4yrs ago when I started because all the enquiries are local. Nothing beats local custom which ticks all the boxes.

Hi mate, can I ask how you got onto the council work? I have emailed my local CC but haven't heard anything back from them?

 

[Part Timer]

Hi mate, can I ask how you got onto the council work? I have emailed my local CC but haven't heard anything back from them?

If you go on your local Council website and click on the procurement link most have a "buy local" section. If not they should still have a registration area where there will be certain criteria you'll have to meet to be included in future tenders.