Recession Proof Your Thinking to Recession Proof Your Business

We spent Thanksgiving Day with relatives in Miami yesterday as I am sure you did. Well, maybe you didn't spend the day in Miami -- although you may well have preferred the warm 80 degree temperatures in South Florida over where you were! But I'm sure your turkey dinner was just as good as ours.

The Subject Turned to the Current Economy

One of the women present specializes in selling high-end homes here in South Florida. Her typical listings are in the $1 million to $4 million range and some for even more. I asked her if the current economy has affected her business. She said there are lots of buyers in that market; perhaps even more than usual. Why? Because today's home shoppers are looking for real bargains and making ridiculously low offers. It's not that they don't have the money, they're just taking advantage of today's economic climate to strike the best price they can. In fact, many of her clients pay cash for their million-dollar-plus real estate purchases.

Recessions Have Little Impact on Upper Income Households

A couple of days ago I read an article in our South Florida newspaper on the current sales picture for upscale automobile retailers across the country. I wasn't all that surprised that sales of high end Mercedes, BMWs, Bentleys, Alfa Romeos, Aston Martins and the like are as brisk as ever. And there's still a long waiting list for customers waiting to plunk down a few hundred thousand dollars for a new Ferrari.

But It's Not Only the Wealthy Willing to Spend NOW!

Just this morning my wife and I visited a local big box store chain selling household appliances and home entertainment products. BrandsMart has a number of stores in the states of Florida and Georgia and they're absolutely enormous in size. Even on a slow day they have to have attendants outside directing traffic. Well, I knew it would be extra busy today, being the day after Thanksgiving when American retailers generally advertise big sales events. But I was amazed! Busy wasn't the word for it. Cars not only jammed the humongous parking lot, they lined local streets for blocks. After finally parking, we stood in a line to get inside the store that was just as long as the voting line I waited in during the recent presidential election. People were walking out loaded down with multiple boxes and bags of electronics and related items. Big screen televisions were flying off the shelves like hot dogs at a ball park. I have no idea how many millions of dollars of "non-essential" goods that one store will sell today, but I hazard a guess that it will be more than some of their competitors sell in months. I turned to my wife and asked, "what recession......!?!?!?!?!?"

Yes, they have a huge array of every brand appliance and home entertainment product on the market. Yes, they offer great prices on their merchandise. BUT, what they do best is marketing their store and their merchandise. Throughout the year, in good times and bad, they advertise heavily in the media. They have several full page ads in the major newspaper almost every day, and at least once a week they'll insert an 8 to 12 page advertising supplement in addition to their normal advertising schedule. They never stop advertising, unlike the approach taken by so many retailers in a poor economy. Simply put, they outmarket their competition -- including the big guys like Walmart, Sam's Club and Costco.

Lessons We Can Learn

Never Stop Advertising: It stands to reason that if we have to advertise to get customers in a strong economy, we're not going to get new house cleaning clients if we don't advertise in a weak economy. As I have said over and over again to people in the residential cleaning industry, "If you could clean an entire house for one dollar, how many clients do you think you'd have if nobody knew about your service?" Obviously, not a single one. NEVER STOP MARKETING YOUR BUSINESS IN ANY ECONOMY! Just because someone doesn't buy your service today doesn't mean they won't buy it tomorrow, or next week or next month. People don't buy when you're ready; they buy when they're ready, That's why you MUST keep advertising in order to be "the master of the moment."

Target Your Market:: Get demographic information on the various neighborhoods within the geographic area you want to service. Target your advertising at the top 20% household income bracket in your this market and select the dual income and single professional homes in that group between the ages of 35 and 65. Use proven advertising messages to reach this target audience and advertise to this group frequently. If you only advertise to this market once or twice, you may as well not advertise at all. It's the frequency of your message which brings brand awareness and what is referred to by advertising experts as "share of mind."

Your Potential Clients ARE BUYING NOW: I have spoken to several cleaning business owners lately and I always ask how their business is faring. Among those who indeed abide by the above advice, their answers are always something like, "Well, I did lose a client last week, but I also picked up 4 new ones. We're doing just fine, Gary." Remember that if you target the correct demographic households, the majority of these folks are not substantially impacted by an economic downturn. This is why you MUST deliver your advertising message to the right demographic audience. As I have often said, you don't waste time and money trying to sell a $30 bottle of wine to someone on a $5/bottle budget.

IN SUMMATION

Think about the mad-house I experienced at Brands Mart today. Literally thousands of people spending $1,000, $3,000 and more on televisions and home entertainment equipment. Do they really need this stuff? Well, society got along for thousands of years without Desperate Housewives, The Sopranos and Animal Planet. They don't NEED a 50" plasma or LCD TV set do they? No, they WANT a 50" big screen high-definition television and, on top of that, they're willing to fork out another $100/month or so to receive high definition signals and premium channels from their cable company. Most of the folks I saw today were by no means in the upper echelon of wage earners either.

Yes, I will not argue that the hordes of shoppers who flock to retailers like BrandsMart on black Friday are motivated by great prices. However, price is only ONE of the 4 Ps of marketing discussed in our House Cleaning Biz 101 program. Price is unquestionably a factor in the successful marketing of any product or service, but the other three Ps are in many ways even more important (Product, Positioning and Promotion). Once you grasp and utilize all of the four elements of marketing your business and recession proof your thinking, you'll be well on your way to recession proofing your residential house cleaning business.