At a Meetup group sponsored by I Love Marketing (lots of good tips and videos), we listened to a local entrepreneur who has developed a 6-figure home cleaning business. She has built both a loyal clientele and workforce by delivering consistently superior results and is able to charge a premium - heck, who hasn't gone through multiple cleaning ladies (this tends to be a female dominated profession) and thus is willing to pay for reliable results.
She's expanding her product portfolio - one offering is targeted at renters who often don't get their full deposits back because the landlord finds something on final inspection. Her solution: guaranteed deposit returns. She created a checklist, which the tenant provides to the landlord to complete - her staff ensures that whatever is checked is spotless. If the landlord later refuses to return the deposit because the property isn't clean, she will send a check to the tenant for the full amount they paid. So far, no one has taken her up on it.
A good niche product, which will lead to longer term growth. But she was looking for new ways to expand her core market - two-income middle-to upper-middle class families with children - no time for cleaning, but who want spotless homes. She had tried distributing flyers offering discounts to try her services. Which, not surprisingly, didn't work. For a very good reason.
The buyers are, again, largely women. To allow someone unknown into every part of their homes is not a likely scenario (no sexism here - all the women attendees agreed vociferously). No matter how well the flyer is written, it is difficult, if not impossible to overcome the trust barrier.
As the questioning proceeded, she realized that what she selling was not clean houses (that is, of course, a necessary outcome), but trust. She is now rethinking her entire market expansion strategy.
Trust matters.
She's expanding her product portfolio - one offering is targeted at renters who often don't get their full deposits back because the landlord finds something on final inspection. Her solution: guaranteed deposit returns. She created a checklist, which the tenant provides to the landlord to complete - her staff ensures that whatever is checked is spotless. If the landlord later refuses to return the deposit because the property isn't clean, she will send a check to the tenant for the full amount they paid. So far, no one has taken her up on it.
A good niche product, which will lead to longer term growth. But she was looking for new ways to expand her core market - two-income middle-to upper-middle class families with children - no time for cleaning, but who want spotless homes. She had tried distributing flyers offering discounts to try her services. Which, not surprisingly, didn't work. For a very good reason.
The buyers are, again, largely women. To allow someone unknown into every part of their homes is not a likely scenario (no sexism here - all the women attendees agreed vociferously). No matter how well the flyer is written, it is difficult, if not impossible to overcome the trust barrier.
As the questioning proceeded, she realized that what she selling was not clean houses (that is, of course, a necessary outcome), but trust. She is now rethinking her entire market expansion strategy.
Trust matters.
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