How would YOU like to receive the service - well, just do it that way!

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Sit down and think about your USP - your Unique Selling Point. What do people love about you? What do you do really well; better than your competitors?

Keep focussing on this...it is one of the keys to bringing you in new and repeat business.

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Thank you for all your comments, they are all good advice!

But what I would like to know if anyone did something that nobody else has done to make a small difference to their business that could help others.

Or did you try something that was a complete waste of time!

Cheers.

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www.dapaservices.com Private and Holiday cleaning. Property Management.

My own opinion: most people in Tenerife really haven't got much of a clue about business, they have had a lot of knockbacks in the UK and think they can do better on the Rock, but I would put the failure rate at 60-70%. running a good business is a mixture of experience and intelligence.

smile before you answer the phone, then pick up the handset.

It costs nothing and it uses fewer muscles than if you are frowning, but most importantly, the customers can notice it, even though they cann't see you.

Try it and see - it really works.

I suppose my apartments are my business in future. When a person enquires from me I always send back a personal note rather than a "yes its available and the price is so and so"

I always finish with something like " we would be delighted if you would become our guests in future but is you find another alternative then have a wonderful holiday"

I find it works and gets a reaction.

Where I work here in Dublin , the most important thing is make the customer feel like what he is , the person paying you money for a service. No matter how annoying this person is, at the end of the day he pays your bills. (Well I do have a limit as sometimes no money is worth the BS). Chat to them , make a suggestion, give alternatives even if its a cheaper alternative etc etc.

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Holiday Rental Apartment in Royal Palm

Thanks for that TomA, very good advice cheers!

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Business is easy!. It is not rocket science. If your income is more than your outgoings, then you are OK.

EVERY business involves selling, FACT. If you manage or clean apartments you have to sell your services to your potential clients. Whether your selling a service (apartment cleaning, washing machine repairs etc) or a product (TV´s cars etc) you must always give the customer what they want, NOT what you want to sell them. An example....

When I had a thriving computer business I used to advertise, week in week out in the local press. I had a full page in the paper every week. I advertised the most expensive, all singing, all dancing PC. I knew that the ad would bring the punters into the shop. The ad was more “awareness” than a direct sale technique.

The punters would walk in and wave the ad in front of us and want a 2000 quid PC system. My sales guys would ask what they needed the PC for. “My kids home work” would be the usual response. “In that case, you dont need to spend 2 grand Sir, this PC at 699.00 quid will be everything you require”.

As a marketing tool, it was awesome. They would walk in happy to spend 2 grand and walk out spending half than less of that amount. Due to this, they would tell all their friends, and tell everyone how we saved them over a grand. However, we made more on the 699.00 PC´s than we would have if they had spent 2 grand. Do you see where Im coming from here?

Marketing your service or product is key, and to be totally honest, I'm @@@@ hot at it. You have to remember there are 2 types of marketing, direct product marketing and brand awareness marketing. Example......when you see adds for the latest burger at McDonalds, they are not in fact advertising that specific burger, but the McDonalds brand. Same goes with Audi, Ford etc. When you see Audi´s ads for the latest Audi A8, they are putting the brand name in your head in the hope that if your looking for a new motor, you will the next day pass and Audi dealer and say....Ill pop in there to see what they have. I bet you dont walk out with a 50 grand Audi A8. When you see adds for Pringles or Colgate toothpaste, they are in fact marketing a product, not a brand. There is a difference.

How do you find your marketing areas?. Once again, it ain't rocket science. If you, like my good mates the Rock boys have, an apartment cleaning and key holding service, would you advertise in the paper. NO, why, because you will get nothing from it. Would you print 1000 flyers and put them on car windscreens...NO, why? Because only 1% at most who got a flyer on their car would own an apartment here and from that 1%, probably only .1% of them would be looking for such a service.

Would you “get into bed” with the Brits who do airport runs and ask them to give your cards out in return for a percentage of the margin you would make? YES, why? Because the majority of those people who are being collected from the airport own apartments. Also, if the cabbi recommends someone (and its in his interest to because he is getting a small cut) people will listen and call. Does that make sense?.

Know and research where you need to market your product or service, be forward thinking and innovative and exploit.

Parkforce is my big baby in the UK. The 2nd largest Company of its kind in the UK. We are a private parking control company, the ethical and non confrontational alternative to wheel clamping. Its a big business and my brain child some 7 years ago.
Now, I spend nothing, or very little on marketing. Why?, i get others to market our service for us. How?, I have worked with the Police promoting the service, Trading Standards, Councils etc. They now put clients onto us. All it took was a few meetings with these people to explain how I was going to eradicate wheel clamping in the UK.

Due to getting these people on board with me, I have been on national TV and radio a few times talking about the system and how it should be done. National TV and radio coverage for FREE!

Use others to generate you business!.............

Blimey, I could talk all night about this topic, I will post some more tips in a few days. Im waffling now thanks to a nice whiskey

Wise words Treb!!!! Especially "marketing your service or product is key".

Great post

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Sound, sensible and honest advice Treb. A great post. Thanks for your insight. This was exactly the sort of post Paul had in mind when when starting the thread.

I'd like to add a couple of things too. One word sums it up and that is Diversify. Our first year we came to May and June and made nothing as all the apartments were empty. We moved into private cleaning work as a regular fall back income. We have that every month and the holiday apartments are now a bonus to us.

We started getting regular guests call us looking for apartment availability so we added that to our website and charge the owners a small booking fee. It gets them business and it also gets us more work.

Don't stand still and always look for sidelines that will dovetail into what you already do

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Private and holiday cleaning, apartment letting , key holding and management services

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Tenerife long term letting