Ever wondered how to make your booth the star attraction at any event? Join Shannon Miller and Kimberly Gonzalez on "Cleaning Business Life" as they share their foolproof strategies for planning an unforgettable booth setup. Discover how to set clear goals, from generating leads to boosting brand awareness, and why researching events is key to hitting the right audience. We'll walk you through the budgeting essentials, covering everything from booth fees to promotional materials, and offer creative giveaway ideas like free cleanings and local business gift baskets.
Unlock the secrets to effective booth engagement with our insider tips. Learn how to captivate attendees using eye-catching before-and-after photos and themed decorations. Find out why positioning yourself at the booth entrance, making eye contact, and even giving genuine compliments can turn casual visitors into potential clients. Organization is a game-changer, so we'll share our best practices for keeping your supplies in order and creating a welcoming atmosphere that invites interaction. Plus, we'll discuss the benefits of building rapport with neighboring booth operators to enhance your overall event experience.
Finally, we reveal the ultimate strategies for maximizing event engagement and follow-up. From remembering names through clever association techniques to leveraging social media for real-time audience interaction, we've got you covered. Discover the importance of timely follow-ups, with a recommended two-day window, and how the BizConnect app can streamline your business card management. Don't underestimate the power of a handwritten thank you note — Shannon’s personal anecdotes from her time at Nordstrom illustrate how this small gesture can build lasting relationships. Stick around for our call to action: submit your questions for our upcoming Q&A episode, and let's keep the conversation going!
Ever wondered how to make your booth the star attraction at any event? Join Shannon Miller and Kimberly Gonzalez on "Cleaning Business Life" as they share their foolproof strategies for planning an unforgettable booth setup. Discover how to set clear goals, from generating leads to boosting brand awareness, and why researching events is key to hitting the right audience. We'll walk you through the budgeting essentials, covering everything from booth fees to promotional materials, and offer creative giveaway ideas like free cleanings and local business gift baskets.
Unlock the secrets to effective booth engagement with our insider tips. Learn how to captivate attendees using eye-catching before-and-after photos and themed decorations. Find out why positioning yourself at the booth entrance, making eye contact, and even giving genuine compliments can turn casual visitors into potential clients. Organization is a game-changer, so we'll share our best practices for keeping your supplies in order and creating a welcoming atmosphere that invites interaction. Plus, we'll discuss the benefits of building rapport with neighboring booth operators to enhance your overall event experience.
Finally, we reveal the ultimate strategies for maximizing event engagement and follow-up. From remembering names through clever association techniques to leveraging social media for real-time audience interaction, we've got you covered. Discover the importance of timely follow-ups, with a recommended two-day window, and how the BizConnect app can streamline your business card management. Don't underestimate the power of a handwritten thank you note — Shannon’s personal anecdotes from her time at Nordstrom illustrate how this small gesture can build lasting relationships. Stick around for our call to action: submit your questions for our upcoming Q&A episode, and let's keep the conversation going!
To order All-Natural Cleaning Products: www.purevergreen.com See Shannon's latest courses: www.KleanFreaksUnversity.com
Speaker 1:
This show is brought to you by the Maids Network. Want to get serious in your cleaning game? Join my group. It's one of the larger Facebook groups just for cleaning business owners. I look forward to seeing you there. Recording in progress Welcome everyone to Cleaning Business Life. My name is Shannon Miller, I'm your host and I am joined today by my wonderful co-host, ms Kimberly Gonzalezley Gonzalez, and today you have put us into planning your booth setup. There's lots of times when you will need this information in case, during the summer or the winter months, you decide that you are going to promote your business, and this is a wonderful way of DIYing it for you. Kim, take it away.
Speaker 2:
Hey everybody, good morning, good afternoon, good evening, good night, whenever you're listening to us, thank you for joining us today. Like Shannon said, we're going to be talking about planning your booth setup. I see it a lot in groups. They want to do events. They want to do like these nonprofits or their kids are doing some sporting activities and they get to set up a booth. But when you have a cleaning business, you're like what do I do? Like I don't have products to sell, so how do I set up my booth? So we're gonna give you some great tips and some creative ideas to getting your booth set up and just understanding your setup process.
Speaker 2:
So the first one I wanna talk about is just defining your goals. So what is your goal that you guys want to do? What do you want to achieve? Do you want to achieve, like leads, getting leads? Do you want to increase your brand? We always talk about branding your company, so is it increasing the view on your brand? Do you want to just talk about cleaning and selling your services while you're there? So knowing your goals, doing this will help get you prepared for getting your booth set up. Another one I'm really big on is researching your events, so really know what your target audience is. I've gone to some events that I've done both with my cleaning company and my products, and sometimes I did horrible but I knew that I wasn't meant to go and do those again. It was not my customer segment, it wasn't my audience. So really know, when you're getting ready to do the event, to do the research behind it first, before you set up. So, shannon, what's the other one?
Speaker 1:
I've had that happen where I've done when, way back when I was in a different industry, I did shows that were not pertaining to my um target market and it was just like why am I paid all this money? Why am I even here? But yes you're wasting time it wastes your time, it wastes your money. You're out there in the heat, people don't care, and you're just like I am melting. It's like the signer by Mr Bill. Oh, mr Bill.
Speaker 2:
They're expensive. Some of them are a couple thousand. So, like I know for me, I don't do any events that are over 350. Right, Because I know that I have to sell. This is where it comes into budgeting. You have to budget like okay, so if I spend $350 on this booth, then that's $350. So I know that I need to sell for me as a product. I know that I need to sell $350 worth of products to break even.
Speaker 1:
That's if you don't have any employees there.
Speaker 2:
No employees, which I usually do have somebody there, but I know it's going to be busy, so that's just for that. Then you have to count time. Like what am I putting into it? Did you make signs? So did you get banners made? Those banners cost money, so you got to have banners. What about a tablecloth that you want to brand? You want to put a nice tablecloth out with your brand. That costs money Paying for employees if you have employees there. Swag if you're going to do swag to do some stuff to give away that they can take with them Flyers or papers you've got that expense. So really, budgeting is huge. What are you going to do for a giveaway? So that's the budget part of it.
Speaker 1:
Exactly. And just because you raffle off free cleaning or two free cleanings or even three free cleanings, and they all try to redeem them at once, does not mean that you have to obligate yourself to redeeming them all at once. The verbiage is my schedule is really full, I have this spot available, and then, maybe because so that way you're not taking such a large chunk of money out, especially if you're new and you're trying to figure out what your budget is, you could also say I have room next month or the following month for that. So then that way, out of the three free cleanings that you gave, you're budgeting for one free cleaning a month. So it's not like, oh my God, I just ate 1500 bucks because I gave away three cleanings, right? Unless, of course, you can afford it and it's budgeted in your season, then that's a different thing.
Speaker 2:
And you could do other stuff besides just giveaways. One of my biggest things I like to do is support smaller businesses. So what I do is I go and I collected things from smaller businesses and I put together a gift basket and it was a great way to not only market these smaller businesses that were in the area, but I was also, and they gave them to me. So it wasn't like I didn't when I went and I said, hey, I'm going to be doing this event. This is a creative way you guys to get stuff together for free Say, would you, do you have anything that you'd like to give me? I'm going to put it in a gift basket and I'm going to market you to this event and then I'm going to market you to these customers. So you can do gift baskets for giveaways too, right, and if you're not comfortable, for asking for something free.
Speaker 1:
You can always ask to get it at cost Exactly. In case they're, you know, super small budget too and they're like ah, I don't know if I can afford to give you all that stuff. Right, so that there are ways to work around these things. And we're bringing them up so that you can learn the power of negotiation, because there's always a compromise. They're getting free publicity out of it. Gift baskets are fun to make if you've ever made one and they're very heavy.
Speaker 2:
Definitely and get creative with them Designing your booth. I have gone to so many events and I see their tent up and I see a table and their table is. And I see a table and their table is really close to the front and there's like no color. There's just a table with a plain tablecloth with some flyers on it. I've seen that. Have you seen it? Does that draw you to it? It doesn't draw me to them.
Speaker 1:
I, as you guys know, I was in a different industry a long time ago. And if you, if I'm at a, we have them downtown on the square. If you don't gauge me, if you don't give me eye contact, you don't smile at me, you don't say good morning to me, I'm not going to bother, it's your job. And if you have your table out in the front, you're blocking people from coming in and having that conversation with you.
Speaker 2:
Exactly so. It's like really setting up your booth to make it stand out, like having those banners, those signs, all those things that we talked about branding, getting people to draw them in. What is going to draw them in? I just recently purchased off of a Facebook site like a group and they were giving away cornhole like little boards, and so I had Kenzie make my logo, so she put my logo on the cornhole bowls. So I've seen them and so I'm going to have that at my events. So it's going to be something that people can do, that's interactive, to draw people to my booth, which brings up. I like this one. This is my next one I really like. So booth layout and essentials.
Speaker 1:
Yes, Booth layout and essentials is actually a lot of fun, and when it's hot if you pay for electricity sometimes that's an additional charge and if you're creative or your husband's a plumber, you can actually have him hook up spray mist so that your booth is nice and cool for people to come in and get some respite for the heat that's out there there.
Speaker 2:
You know, what I do is I get um, this is my, since my husband's not a plumber I have, I get one of those buckets that you can get at Lowe's. You know one of those buckets you can get at Lowe's. And then you can go to home Depot and get the Ryobi. Um, it comes with a battery, but it's a thing where it has a hose, so it's a fan and it's a mister, so you could connect the hose. You put the hose in the bucket up with water, love that.
Speaker 2:
And I will tell you guys, it was two summers ago and it was so hot here. It was ridiculous. And I was at an event and it was so slow because it was so dang hot. I think it got to 110, which is really hot for Colorado and I was the only one out of over a hundred booths I was the only one that had that set up with the bucket and the mister Guess who made all that money that day from just vendors, right, cool. So they're standing in there trying to get cool and they probably felt bad that they're taking all my cold air and, you know, are standing there not buying anything. So I did over a thousand dollars and there was like nobody that showed, it was pretty much the vendors.
Speaker 2:
So, creating that inviting, inviting space, what can you bring in to engage with them? Um, you know, I've seen magnets've seen, like Shannon and I talk about the magnets on the fridge all the time Something that they can take away. What can they get? A value that may not cost you a lot of money. It can even be like a checklist of a cleaning list, like things to declutter. Before and after pictures is huge.
Speaker 1:
Definitely, and giving demos of how things work. A lot of homeowners, it's amazing to me, still don't know how to do very basic things that we take for granted because we do them thousands of times every week. Right, Giving demos at like at two o'clock or four o'clock or whatever always draws a crowd and say, after the demo you're doing a drawing or whatever. These are a lot of ways that you can help get people into your booth and get their email address.
Speaker 2:
Emails are important. The power of emails is so important. You guys bring a paper and a pen. I have both, so I have a system that they can do it virtually, like on my, on my phone, they can sign up for their email, but I also do a paper and pen because we have the older generation that does not like doing that kind of stuff. So I'm able to reach both target audiences by collecting emails that way.
Speaker 1:
And emails are the way to go. I mean because you just when you're slow, you can send out email campaigns. You should always be collecting emails, even when you're getting regular phone calls. You should always say hey, we send out offers. Would you be interested in being on our email list?
Speaker 2:
Yes, go ahead. Well, something else too I was thinking about was when you're slow at those events, go around and introduce yourself. I know it's kind of hard because a lot of us have that anxiety going to other people, but these are all other small businesses that are maybe getting busy. They're going to get into their busy season. That is a great market. I focused on a lot with my cleaning company to target business owners because I knew that they were busy and so that's a great way. So, going around, introducing yourself, giving them some information, asking them a little bit about their business, engaging with them, you guys can get customers that way. I got a lot of customers that way.
Speaker 1:
Definitely so, utilizing the full aspect of your experience at the show. And then obviously you know it can be exhausting when you're out there in the heat. So make sure that you're taking steps, that you are being safe and that you're hydrating yourself and your staff those types of things, especially if you haven't got the setup that we were talking about with the options of keeping yourself cool, the interactive elements. Besides the demos before and afters, is there anything else that you would recommend? I know for a while there I saw a lot of people do that remember the old picture frames and it would slide through whatever the photo. Those everybody had one right. I don't even know if we have them anymore. We probably tossed them somewhere.
Speaker 2:
I don't even know. I have the board. I went and just and you guys could do something so simple like what I did, is I just and I don't know where it's at right now, so I should have a core board or what.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, so what I did is I just went to like the dollar store and I just got one of like. They're like a three panel, so it's one, two, three and they're smaller, so it wasn't too big and it can close up so I can take it with me and I put before and after pictures. I put pictures of the stuffed animals, you know, like playing or something with the books and like with toys, and so I took pictures so people could see that as they walk by. That was my old school way. I don't think I ever did interactive. I've always wanted to, but there's a lot of setup.
Speaker 1:
It's like doing that, you know, the big consumer show in Vegas. We used to actually have a large banner stands, so we'd have two, one on each side, and then, of course, your banner on the inside, and then you have your skirt branded as well. So these are all things to think about if you are considering doing shows. We have a dentist who gives out toothbrushes.
Speaker 2:
They give out candy too. I've seen them have like a chance.
Speaker 1:
All dentists give out copious amounts. I'm like, are you guys diabetic?
Speaker 2:
And then they give you a toothbrush like here let's give your kid cavities, and then you could come and use us.
Speaker 1:
Right. I'm like oh my God, this is a lot of candy. And like one time the one dentist I'm not going to name his name, but he, he gave out a thousand toothbrushes. My husband took one. I'm like why we already have toothbrushes. My husband took one. I'm like why we already have toothbrushes. Why are you? He's like, cause they gave it away for free.
Speaker 2:
I'm like I'm not holding it. It's like you go to a plumber. It's like the plumber you know they have a garbage disposal and then they say don't put so. Whenever I do an event, I stand most of the time, unless I'm talking to some people really in depth about some stuff. Then I sit down and just chat with them. That's only if I had an employee with me, because there's going to be other people coming to the table. So my goal is just to try to make them feel comfortable, because it's very awkward walking up to these booths and you don't know if you want to make eye contact, you don't know if you want to talk to them. So you want to make it comfortable for them, make it inviting, like how would you want your space to look to bring people in?
Speaker 1:
Definitely. And then storage Storage is a big one. Having your stuff organized. And then storage Storage is a big one. Having your stuff organized there's nothing worse than trying to find an item when you're like I swear I put it in this one, when it's in the, you know it's in bin number seven. So labeling them and categorizing them and making it easier for yourself and having extra, of extras, like you know, bringing your icebox so you have your lunch there. You know, when you make friends with your neighbors, they can watch your booth for you while you have to go tinkle those types of things, right?
Speaker 2:
Exactly, and I have a notebook that I keep and it's organized so it's our, it's our event notebook and it has a checklist. So we made, we typed it all out and then we put like a clear slip in it, so that way that it's inside the clear slip and then it's a checklist. So it's a checklist. So before we even walk out the door we have to check everything off that list to make sure that we have everything. So that way we're prepared. And then when we come back, you're exhausted, right, you're tired, you're just hot, you want to shower, you want to just de-germ. And that checklist is great because you can go back to that checklist and restock everything and it's ready to go for the next event.
Speaker 1:
Right, and then that way you don't have to think about it, because usually it's always the time the kids act out or the husband wants something extra and you're like I gotta get this done. Then they're trying to help you. You're like, no, don't help me. Don't help me until I get it to this pile over here.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, that's storage and keeping it under, keeping like just everything organized is going to make everything run smoother.
Speaker 1:
And then it's easy peasy You're not spending five hours and you know when you could have spent an hour. And then marketing and engagement strategies. There's a lot to this, as I mentioned before. If I go to an outdoor event and you can't smile or give me eye contact or engage me in any way, I will not do business with you. I've been doing it a long time, just like Kim has and I just. Unless you have something shiny that I'm interested in, I'm probably not going to go by. It's really important, even if you're there and you're hot, that you at least give eye contact and a quick smile and let me know if you need anything type of thing. It makes such the difference because we're so tied into these phones I mean I can't tell you how many times they're like on their phone just doing whatever.
Speaker 2:
mindless, we're not looking right, they're not acknowledging people coming in their booth. Um, I know for me and I train my staff this is that we stand at the end of the booth and I always give compliments to people because I know it's going to brighten their day. So I'll see a lady with like a really pretty earrings or an outfit, or a little kid, you know, like a little girl with their hair all cute. I love giving compliments out and that draws people into. So not only are they feeling good, they're getting these cool compliments, they're more, they're feeling more invited about coming in, like wow, they're really like nice. So that's huge. Just really. Um, doing that and listening, asking them open ended questions, listening, shannon and I talk about this all the time listening, listening, listening, ask them what their their um, what is the word for it, shannon? My brain's tired. What is the word for it? Like asking them for it. Kind of like the problems, like how can we help you solve that problem? Right? So what's your goal to solving that problem?
Speaker 1:
Sometimes it's a direct like I've been over to my auntie's house and she lives not the way I expected that she need help. And remember that there's gift certificates that you can do. There's a lot of things that you can do on the fly if you're prepared and really engaging. It really hello, good morning, how are you? I've got you know this over here. If you're interested in participating and blah, blah, blah, your spiel becomes natural. By the end of the day You're like cotton mouthed.
Speaker 2:
That's why I always carry a big thing of water and I'm constantly like I always have that's another Don't ask me to talk at the end of the day.
Speaker 1:
I don't want to.
Speaker 2:
Another thing I recommend putting in your little setup booth.
Speaker 1:
Altoids.
Speaker 2:
Having something at least in your mouth that smells good, cause as you talk and you get that cotton mouth you're like and you feel like your breath is horrible. Nobody wants to be by you when your breath stinks, and I'm not a big Altoid fan. So these are only when I do events, because I'm not a big Altoid fan. I just put it in there just to make my breath smell better.
Speaker 1:
And then I'm catching giveaways. We've kind of touched a little bit about this. There are more things that you can do the more creative you become. Sometimes it's just having someone think outside the box. Kim, when she does shows, she's actually selling a physical product, so they're walking away with it. You're not typically selling a physical product unless you're doing a giveaway for the gift basket or you're selling gift cards or maybe you're giving them your checklist or whatever it is your giveaway is. There's a lot of things that you can do. Just because you're a cleaning business doesn't mean that you can't participate in that element of the show.
Speaker 2:
I love like the reusable tote bags. I know here in Colorado they have done away with bags completely.
Speaker 1:
We're not there yet. Well, we're slowly Sprouts just now is like charging for bags. I'm like, oh, took time, took the time.
Speaker 2:
I get rid of our bags and I have produce bags, like I sell produce bags, so I'm using them all the time. But I went to go and we got some like big thing of meat and to do a roast and I was like, where's the bags to cover those? They got rid of the bags to cover the meat, the raw meat.
Speaker 1:
Oh, wow, so it doesn't spill all over the place.
Speaker 2:
Yeah. So now I have no options and I'm like, okay, I got to come up with plan B for that because they don't offer that. But what I love is like people always love little tote bags, things that they can put their swimming suits in towels, whatever. People love little tote bags, so that can be something that's really creative with your logo, your branding on it, with your logo, your branding on it with your phone number, because they're pretty much marketing for you. Think about it. They're like walking around with your tote bag and it's got all your information on it. It's cute. They're marketing for you. So by you giving that away as a gift, you can include that in your marketing budget Right, and it can be a little pricey.
Speaker 1:
So it would be something that you would plan a year ahead for and then budget every month or quarterly or however. You're doing your ordering for that type of stuff. And then collecting leads is probably the most important thing. You're doing, yes, you're engaging, yes, you're giving eye contact, yes, you're giving stuff away and you're jumping around as a circus, but, um, unless you collect the leads, there's really no point of going around and doing your dance. I hate to say that, but the reality is is you need to.
Speaker 1:
The only way you're gonna, you know, benefit is that you have that symbiotic relationship that you're going to establish with your email sequence because you got their email. So you, you don't. Yes, you can use snail. Use snail mail very expensive, print is very expensive, mailing is very expensive, but email, for the most part, still is free to do. I mean, there is a cost to having a CRM and you have to follow the new rules now, but it's the way for you to remain in contact with your audience, your core audience. So if someone is nice enough or generous enough to give you their email, take advantage of that opportunity to establish a relationship with them so that you can sell to them later.
Speaker 1:
I mean, I have people sign up on my website all the time and when you sign up, typically you either get a checklist it just depends on you know the season and type of year, my cleaning checklist or you get what's the other course? Oh, the bootcamp, the price increased bootcamp that comes. You get it absolutely free just by signing up on my website. So and that's not all the time, it does change all the time. I'm just giving two examples because I can't remember what the third item is for some reason, bayfart. But those are the ways that you can start to establish and expand your audience. The more connection you have with your audience, the more opportunity they like, know and trust you. Subsequently, that ends up being a buy right, whether it's one time or, hopefully, regular maintenance, cleaning. What's your?
Speaker 2:
name and then I really listen to their name because I think we're already ready. Like, when you ask for their name, you're already thinking about what to say. Listen to their name. How can you remember their name? Like how can you pair it up with something you know? Like this is Lisa and she's got really long hair, or something? That's how I've always tried to remember names, and everybody's like how do you remember names? So, while you're so good at remembering names and that's my little secret I always pair their name up with something about their personality.
Speaker 1:
Don't tell them what that is.
Speaker 2:
No, you know. But when you talk to them, say Lisa, it was so wonderful meeting you. Thank you so much, lisa. If you have any questions, say their name again. It's a great way, because then they know that you're really listening to them.
Speaker 1:
Definitely. And then social media integration. We talk a lot about this. It's important. If you are not utilizing the free products that Zuckerbox and everybody else is offering, you're not taking advantage of what social media is. So please consider utilizing that with your page. People like to see your event. They want to see the behind the scenes. They want to see the funny stuff and the engagement that you're having. You can do video clips. You can actually do a live from your event. You can do that on YouTube Rumble. Facebook offers lives. I think Twitter still offers lives. It's been a while since I've scoped around any of there. It used to be like Periscope or whatever is what they called it. I don't remember. It's been a while since I've been on Twitter.
Speaker 1:
You know, TikTok, I'm at my event. I'm looking forward. Please come on down and visit me, right.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, Just use that to your engagement. Have fun. Just have fun with it. I love doing hashtags are huge. I love doing hashtags because then you could see that people have been there like hey, do you mind doing a hashtag shout out with me or do you mind doing a selfie with me for our stuff, our events, and then using that hashtag? People look up hashtags.
Speaker 1:
Definitely, and that's how they search for things, definitely on social media, and then obviously the more. It's a little tedious, but it's well worth it. I've gotten lots of sales from the follow-up or, you know, even at chamber events I'm like hey, it was great meeting with you If you are interested in having coffee or whatever it is. Your dynamic is not everyone has time to drive across town to have coffee with you, but there's always the offering. It doesn't mean they have to jump in on it with you. Timely follow-up. So what would be your recommended amount of time? You should go after you've engaged with people.
Speaker 2:
I usually try to do two days, unless it's a Friday, and then I try to make sure to reach them out on Monday or Tuesday. Tuesday is a better day because everybody has their long to-do list on Monday and it's overwhelming, so everybody's always overwhelmed on Mondays, so I say Tuesdays are the great day to do it. These are all ones that just those of you that were watching on YouTube, these are just all the ones that I've collected just at an event that I did, and these are all business owners that I've collected with. So, and there's an app that you can actually put it on your phone and download the business cards informations.
Speaker 1:
Um what's the name of that app?
Speaker 2:
App is biz. Oh my gosh, so I need my glasses. Um, I'm looking, I'm looking, I'm looking, I'm looking at it. I like it because it sends you reminders. Now I can't find it. Oh, here it is BizConnect. And BizConnect is really cool because you can put the customer information in. It has a CRM, you can export stuff, you can group them, you can put them in notes, you can take pictures, you can. There's just, it's a whole, and I don't know those of you watching YouTube. It's just a whole, you know. Wealth of information.
Speaker 1:
How much is it? Is there a cost for it?
Speaker 2:
It's free. I just it's free. And then I think as you get bigger and you add more cards in and stuff, then that's when you have to pay for it.
Speaker 1:
Gotcha. So that's BizConnect. It's an app that you can get on the Android or the Apple store for your phone, if you have room, and then sending thank you notes. I think the art of a thank you note is still carrying a lot of weight.
Speaker 1:
When I worked at Nordy's, they actually paid for me to send thank you notes and they paid for the postage, they paid for the cards. All I had to do is, you know, put my sweat equity into it. And there was times I worked in the lingerie department at South coast Plaza for many, many years. Very interesting experience in the lingerie department. We won't talk about that here. Lots of stuff.
Speaker 1:
I always have stories. Give a podcast for that one. So lots of stuff. I always have stories. Give a podcast for that one. But the great part about working at Nordstrom's was the fact that they provided these tools for you because they wanted you to connect with your clients and they always knew that I would always follow up. So there were 17 girls who worked in the lingerie department. They would always call me because they knew I could follow through with whatever I said, I did, or the other girls just floated to the next shiny object. So thank you cards are immense. I mean, think about when the last time was you actually got a card in the mail, let alone a thank you card. I mean that. I mean we all have seen Kim's thank you. I don't want to say cartoons, drawings from when you purchase her product and it's, it's done, it's not photocopied, these are done on the fly, like Picasso work.
Speaker 2:
That's something I'm actually working on right now. That's, that's cool. We talked about thank you notes, so I had, um, sarah, pull up a list of uh, like a spreadsheet which spreadsheets, by the way, you guys give me anxiety. So this is like I'm trying really hard to like keep my anxiety under control, but I had to pull a spreadsheet up of all the customers for my products that have been with me from day one since I started, and then the ones that have purchased from me the most, so their records. She pulled up a CRM, like a spreadsheet, of who purchased the most, and this is literally what I've been doing writing thank you cards, handwrite thank you cards to these people who have been with me from day one, and I'm sending that to them. So thank you cards are huge, you guys.
Speaker 1:
And you can also send a coupon if you do coupons. I'm not big on the discount, but there are certain occasions where it could be utilized to your benefit. Not big on the discount, but there are certain occasions where it could be utilized to your benefit.
Speaker 2:
Sure, Send it for once a year for your outstanding long-term clients that have been with you guys, you can even do a coupon that says you know, free oven cleaning. Thank you for being with me, for you know five years. You know, in supporting my business To me, the fact that they invested five years, and if they were bi-weekly clients, that is a lot of money that they have spent. So I think that you can afford to do a free oven cleaning for those people that have been with you from day one and think about how many referrals they've given you as well.
Speaker 1:
Right, you're keeping your fingers crossed, hopefully. Yeah, 99% of the time they are, but there's always, you know, we can talk about that later. Yeah, offering a special deal, a post-event discount or special package. Kim is really big on packaging different packets. I love her concept of the real estate package. I think it's an awesome idea. If you are interested in doing that, you can check out her website. I believe she is either doing them on a on a service offering I'm having a brain fart or you can just buy them a la carte. Yes, I believe so.
Speaker 2:
So you can design them on your own if you want to just do that, or you can have me customize them with your colors and branding.
Speaker 1:
With like a one-on-one service type of thing. So, and it's you know who doesn't want to be pampered.
Speaker 2:
Branded and let somebody else do it.
Speaker 1:
Right. And then measuring your success. Remember, everyone's measurement of success is different. So what my success looks like might be different, what Kim's success might be different. Um, what? What Michelle, or Susan or Karen, or whoever, monique, monica, um, everyone has a different. So measuring up in your mind to what my version of success is please do not compare apples to oranges. Everybody has their own journey. In this lifetime I've spent a lot of time I was talking about this the other day and when I had Castle Keeper Cleaning, it really was about how much I was a big whale and I could scoop up everything in my path. I didn't care about anybody else, and that's your. That's not my goal anymore. My goal is to push the rest of you guys up. I love seeing your success stories, and so evaluate your performance and make sure that you have set a goal, a sales goal for your show, and then make sure you're taking an email list.
Speaker 2:
Email list Like this is how many emails I'm going to try to collect and I'm going to make a goal to follow up with all these emails. That's a great goal, but it's hard to follow up, don't you think, shannon?
Speaker 1:
sometimes it can't it can be very tedious, especially short on time and then analyze what worked and didn't work and make sure you take notes right after the event. Don't wait a couple of days because you'll forget. And then when you go to pull up that show the next year if they only have it annually then you can reference your notes and see if it's worth it or not. Eventually you'll be a pro at it and you'll be able it'll streamline, you'll be able to give that responsibility over to an employee and they have. They just have to follow whatever it is.
Speaker 2:
that's I recommend taking pictures. That is huge. So take pictures of your booth setup, take pictures of where your banner is. I did this, um, and I did an event that I did for my second year and Mark and I were like, how did we put up the banner? Cause the banner wasn't going up Like it normally did, like last year, and I was able to go back in my Google Drive for my photos and I was able to pull that picture up of my booth setup and I was able to look at it and zoom in to see how we set up the banner to make it look nice. So that helps you guys for future events and what you need to change, so you can look at the pictures and be like I need to change this or I need to do this differently. It's great to have pictures.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, or you're just become a roadie and go where is that true value? I need duct tape and some bungee cords. It's just like oh, my sand thing broke, right. It's just up in there, down that the wind, the wind, right. Um, so yeah, that's a wrap on today's episode of Cleaning Business Life.
Speaker 1:
Setting up effective booths at an event can significantly boost your customer base and brand visibility. It can be kind of crowded to try and figure out how to learn all that you need to know to become a professional house cleaning business owner. At Clean Freaks University we have over 35 courses to help you learn how to run the back end of your cleaning business. That is K-L-E-A-N-F-R-E-A-K-S-Universitycom. I look forward to seeing you there. With careful planning, engagement, gauging, booth design, articulation with my enunciation and strategic marketing, you'll be well on your way to attracting new customers. If you enjoyed this episode, please be sure to subscribe, download, leave us a review and you can even chat. It's a one-way chat. It's a new offering on Buzzsprout so you can text us at the show and we can. Actually, we have one on there. I was like what do I do? What do I do? How?
Speaker 2:
do I respond? Oh, I saw that one. I was going to ask you. I know I saw that and I was like Shannon, I forgot to message you the other day. I was like we got a message.
Speaker 1:
I'm like it had nothing to do with anything, but I was like, well, it's only one way so you can text us. We cannot respond back, but how we can respond back is through our show. So they'll actually. Eventually, if we get enough of you guys asking questions, we'll have a Q&A session where we do that, and if we get a whole bunch, we can have a whole episode of just Q&A questions or an episode on that. So keep it clean and keep it successful. Oh my goodness, thanks for coming in.
Speaker 2:
We enjoyed you visiting with us and we look forward to seeing you soon.
Speaker 1:
You guys take care. Bye, everybody. Cleaning business life is sponsored by pure, evergreen cleaning products. That's P? U R E V E R G R E Ncom pure, evergreen cleaning products.
