Welcome to Be Competition Free™
Win the best customers before your competition even knows they’re there.
Avoid the crowd competing for the consumers’ attention and expense of traditional advertising by using a “preemptive” marketing approach. Preemptive marketing builds professional relationships with quality-minded consumers before they need your services. This process introduces your company and builds loyalty so that consumers have no need to look any further. Take advantage of winning consumers before your competitors have a chance to shout how low their prices are or how great their service is.
It’s the timing
Get the jump on the competition and win the loyalty of consumers before others have a chance. While your competitors are waiting for just the right timing to sell, you establish a trusting relationship with quality-minded consumers and snag them as yours before your competitors. Quality-minded consumers are going to have their carpets cleaned sometime in the next 12-24 months. Preemptive marketing persuades them that you’re a better company -- you lock them in for the next cleaning. This gives you the ability to build a loyal clientele before you actually clean for them, making this the best marketing approach.
Preemptive marketing requires an investment of time and resources to build relationships. It’s like a farmer planting seeds and nourishing them through the growing season before they yield a profitable crop. A farmer does not expect an immediate return, although he is confident he will be rewarded for his efforts.
If you need an immediate flow of carpet cleaning jobs, this marketing approach is not the answer. But if you can afford to invest now for an outstanding return in the future, preemptive marketing gives you a great advantage.
Advantages of preemptive marketing:
- Your presentation is made “competition free”. Your competitors aren’t paying attention to consumers not currently looking for a carpet cleaner. You have the opportunity to introduce yourself, present persuasive evidence that your company is superior, and build the consumers’ confidence that they have made the right choice in choosing your company to use the next time. Companies that offer lower prices or different methods of cleaning never get the chance to be heard.
- Preemptive marketing opens opportunities to persuade otherwise closed-minded consumers. Consumers who have their carpets cleaned regularly and are willing to pay extra for quality have stopped using traditional advertising to find cleaners. These consumers have used professional carpet cleaning services for years and are disappointed by the cleaners they found through advertising. The companies they tried all claimed to be “the best” but didn’t produce the service and professionalism they wanted. These consumers have given up the hunt and have settled for the best of those they’ve tried. When the time comes for the next cleaning, these consumers, unless they develop a trusting relationship with you, will use the same company as last time or search out a reliable referral.
- Preemptive marketing is more effective and less expensive for building a profitable clientele. Preemptive marketing is a precision targeting approach. Advertising depends on finding the small percentage of consumers currently looking for a cleaning service and then positions you to compete with other companies -- and that requires tens of thousands of consumers as a target market.
In contrast, preemptive marketing does not depend on that small window of opportunity of when consumers are actively looking for a cleaner—instead it builds professional relationships ahead of time so that when the time comes for cleaning, consumers are locked in with you. Preemptive marketing only requires a target market of about 1,000 quality-minded consumers per van, making your marketing more focused and cost effective, saving you money.
Three ways to use preemptive marketing
- Prospecting
- Client follow-up
- Referral encouragement
These are the three ways to develop professional relationships with consumers before the next time they have a need for cleaning.
For the fastest growth, attention to all three is critical. A company could grow using only one of the above, but it will be slow. For example, a company could grow from referrals only but without the other two or traditional advertising, growing a profitable clientele will take years.
Prospecting
Prospecting is the process of building a professional relationship with people you have not yet done work for. There are three divisions of prospecting.
- Sphere of influence: Your sphere of influence is all of the people who recognize your name. The average person knows approximately 250 people. Assuming you have a good reputation, these people if in need of a carpet cleaner, would much rather call you than a stranger from an ad. Capturing these consumers for their next cleaning requires them to know: that you’re in the carpet cleaning business, how to contact you, that you know what you’re doing, and that they have permission to ask you to do work for them. Your sphere of influence should be the easiest group of consumers to win. If your sphere of influence is limited due to age or being new to the community, tapping into the sphere of influence of a friend or relative also works.
- Networking: These are the new people you meet casually or through formal business networking opportunities. You meet people at social gatherings or while working that are interested in your services. Typically cleaners hand out their business card and leave the responsibility to the consumer for remembering and calling you when they have a need. Unfortunately, even though these consumers wanted to use your company, by the time they actually need your service they can’t remember you or they have lost your contact information. Instead of just handing out a business card, ask for their contact information so you can stay in touch.
There are formal networking opportunities such as business leads group or city Chamber of Commerce mixers designed to educate people about your services. These are great opportunities to meet a lot of people. Be sure to include these people on your prospect mailing list to help them remember your contact information and learn more about your services. Networking is the fastest way to add qualified consumers to your prospecting list. - Farming: This is the process of developing a professional relationship with a selected group of consumers that you have not yet personally met. Farming is different from advertising because you are emphasizing building a relationship instead of selling. Farming informs consumers about you and your company and how you can best meet their needs. Consumers learn to recognize your company and that you are interested in developing a long term professional relationship. Proper farming persuades consumers that you are a more appealing company than the companies they have tried in the past and are worth the risk of trying.
Client follow-up
Good client follow-up is more than repeat selling to existing customers. It builds loyalty, educates clients of other services your company provides, encourages referrals, optimizes the frequency your clients use your company, and ensures clients always have your contact information. Past clients have already been impressed with the service you provide. Follow-up allows you to strengthen that relationship, demonstrate that cleaning is more than a commodity and develop her confidence that you are the expert she can rely on. This is also the opportunity to express your appreciation for her business.
The higher percentage of customers you can get to stay loyal and repeat, the fewer new customers you will need to build your business.
Referral encouragement
Referrals are a natural result of providing quality service and good value. The number of referrals significantly increases if you:
- Let people know that you seriously desire referrals.
- Recognize and give thanks for efforts made to send you referrals.
- Reward people for successful referrals.
- Provide tools to make sending you referrals easy.
Similar to the previous two ways of building preemptive marketing, referral encouragement is building relationships with clients and other people who can refer you. Once again this is done before a cleaning opportunity arises. Confidence is a critical element in getting good referrals. Confidence is developed by having used or witnessed your quality work and professionalism or by getting to know you personally.
Referrals are the best source of getting new quality-minded consumers. Since referrals aren’t restricted to only past customers but can come from anyone who knows you, they can be a powerful tool for building a clientele fast.
Tools for preemptive marketing
Professional relationship building —not sales— is the goal in preemptive marketing. Tools that reflect this purpose are most effective.
The best tool for developing a professional relationship is a consumer newsletter. Since the goal is to build an image of you being the expert, well-written articles relating to the services you provide are the goal. A professional, yet personable style of newsletter that gives the impression that you are the author is very effective. Generic newsletters containing trivia, recipes, and articles unrelated to your services are not as persuasive. Bare in mind that “experts” don’t sell, they “advise”. Keep the sales pitch to a minimum. Ideally the consumer receives a newsletter consistently every two to three months.
Other valuable tools are annual reminder cards, customer thank-you cards for after the job, and thank-you cards for people who send referrals. Consider implementing a referral reward program to aid in motivating additional referrals.
Works best for “quality-minded” consumers
Preemptive marketing works best for companies wanting to build a clientele of people who regularly have their carpets cleaned and are willing to pay extra for quality. Budget-minded consumers who are event-motivated for cleaning don’t usually have their carpets cleaned frequently enough for this type of marketing to pay off. Traditional advertising is better suited for building a budget type of service business.
The most difficult aspect of preemptive marketing is sacrificing our instinctive habits of wanting to “sell”. What makes this marketing approach work is understanding that the consumers we are trying to win are already sold on “carpet cleaning”. Instead we only need to convince them that we are more professional and reliable than the companies they have experienced. Preemptive marketing is persuading quality-minded consumers that your company can confidently and reliably manage some of the service needs they have.
Set your company apart from the rest
It is common knowledge that “good service is hard to find.” This marketing approach is novel and refreshing. If you want to differentiate your company from the competition and claim the best consumers before the others even have a chance, preemptive marketing is the smart way to do it.
Remember, it is the timing. While your competition is waiting for consumers to come looking for them, you can take the initiative of getting to know them first. Preemptive marketing is your opportunity to seize the advantage and do all of your marketing with no competition.
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The Be Competition Free™ Program
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