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Understanding Why Junk Removal Customers are Cheap, and How to Get Told "Yes" More Often

Wed, 12 Jul 2023 23:49:04 GMT

Josh! Every Phone Call is a Price Shopper! Well, Yeah..

Today we're going to be covering probably the most important topic when we talk about advertising a junk removal or dumpster rental business: Price shoppers. This is one of the biggest complaints I get from clients who hire me to run Google Ads. They say "Josh, we're getting some good leads, but it seems like a lot of people are just price shopping." Well, of course they are. We're going to talk about that. Here's what you're going to learn from this article:

Why people are so cheap.
Why standing out from your competitors is so important.
What you can do to hear "Yes" more often and make more money.

Let's get to it then!

I WANT TO SHARE A FACEBOOK POST THAT I WROTE IN ONE OF THE JUNK REMOVAL GROUPS

This entire blog post stems from a Facebook post that I wrote. I'd like to share that with you first, and then we'll start breaking everything down. *Warning* It's a long post, but worth the read.

The Facebook Post Reads:

When you’re having a hard time closing jobs, you need to ask yourself: Why should people hire our business over another?

Let’s do a quick rundown. There’s this flooring company (franchise) that really piques my interest as a marketer. I love seeing what other industries are doing so I can learn from them. Every now and then, I stumble across a landing page that just blows my mind. This flooring company's landing page blew my mind. I thought to myself "If I needed a floor, I'd call them immediately."

I bet you would too.

Let’s put this into perspective. YOU are a customer, looking for new floors.

You go to the internet, and here are the first 2 options that pop up:

Company A’s Advertisement: “Flooring Installation | Free Estimates”

Company B’s Advertisement: “We’ll Beat Anybody’s Price | Lifetime Installation Warranty”

Let’s be honest. Company B’s ad is significantly more appealing. This is already looking rough for Company A.

But let’s say you check them both out.

You give Company A the benefit of the doubt and have them provide an estimate.

They come out, give you a quote for your floor, and it seems sort of high. They want 50% down, 50% on completion. Their work is backed by the manufacturer warranty. The contractor tells you he’s been doing this for 20 years, and he’s not the cheapest but he will do the best work.

You decide to get Company B to give you an estimate as well.

Company B comes out and quotes you an even HIGHER price.

The salesman is really nice, but you’re not sure why they’re advertising the best prices , if they charge more than everybody else. What happened to the price match guarantee?

The salesman explains that they’ll price match ANYBODY that installs the same floor, with the same warranty. He explains that they provide a LIFETIME INSTALLATION Warranty, as well as a manufacturer warranty. See, Company A is backed by the manufacturer's warranty, which means if the floor itself fails, the manufacturer would replace that part of the floor. However, the contractor isn't going to come back out and fix the floor for free.

With an INSTALLATION WARRANTY, the contractor WILL come back out and fix the floor for free. Therefore, although Company A's price is lower, they aren't offering the same product.

The salesman will follow up with something like this: "So IF you find a company that will offer a lifetime installation warranty AND they're backed by a lifetime manufacturer warranty, and they give you a cheaper quote, we will beat their price."

Just so we're clear - If your new floor were to have any issues or separation over the next 30 years, they will fix it free-of-charge.

By the way, they offer 0% financing, AND you don't have to make a single payment for a whole year. How does that sound?

Let’s be real here… Company B is getting the job. You don't care if Company A is locally owned and has a bunch of 5-Star reviews. Company B has all that and more, and they've given you an offer that's almost impossible to refuse.

They advertised as the best. They came out here and did everything they could to convince you to hire them and it worked.

Now, how does any of this relate to junk removal or dumpsters?

Well, here’s what’s important to understand: People WANT a new floor. Nobody WANTS to pay more to get rid of junk.

It’s a reality of this business. That’s not to say that the typical approach doesn’t work sometimes… obviously it does, or you wouldn’t be here.

But it doesn’t work most of the time. That's why most junk removal companies only book 20%-30% of their phone calls.

It’s important to identify what our customers' needs are, and we need to try to fulfill their needs and do it better than our competitors.

We have to understand what is going through our customer’s mind. When we’re trying to figure out what makes us the best, we have to be real with ourselves.

There are 3 things that are simply fact, whether you like it or not.

- They don’t want to pay more to get rid of junk. If there’s another company that will do it cheaper, they’ll probably get the job.

- We are not going to do a “better job” of picking up a couch. There are multiple insured junk removal companies with pretty trucks, uniformed employees and great reviews in your area, that will give them a better price if they hang up and call around.

- It will be very difficult to “convince” people to spend more money, because in reality, there is no good reason to. You can’t make a junk removal job “look better.” You can’t offer a “warranty.” There is no skill gap or craftsmanship here.

Lots of people aren’t going to care for my take on this, but it’s a reality of this business.

If you don’t have the best pricing, or the best availability, or the best offer, it’s always going to be a dog fight with your competitors, and you’ll only land 25%-30% of new customers who call you.

Now, let's create the same scenario, but for a dumpster rental business.

Dumpster Rental Company A’s Ad: “Same Day Dumpsters in Cleveland | We’ll Beat Anybody’s Price”

Dumpster Rental Company B’s Ad: “Affordable Dumpster Rentals | Call for Pricing”

Company B’s Ad might work.

But 90% of people are going to prefer Company A.

*Customer Calls Company A*

How Company A Gives Their Price on the Phone: “For one of our 20-yard containers, your total would be $450. This includes 2 tons of waste, and you can keep it for 3 days, free-of-charge. If you’d like to keep it for longer, that can be arranged! If you’re just getting rid of household trash, 2 tons should be plenty. If you go over a bit, then we just charge the difference in disposal fees as any company would, none of that goes to us. I highly doubt that you're even going to hit 2 tons.”

Customer responds: “Ok thanks! I’m just gonna call around.”

Company A Responds: “Sounds great. Here’s what I’ll do, I’ll send over a text message to this number. If you call around and find a better price for the same dumpster and the same terms, we’ll beat their price.”

Text message reads: “Hey! This is Josh with ABC dumpsters. Just remember, I’m happy to work with you if you do get a better quote from another insured company in the area for the same terms. Our quote was $450 for a 20 yard container for 3 days, 2 tons of waste. This is my number, please don’t hesitate to call or text me if you have any questions. It was nice talking to you on the phone, and I look forward to hearing from you.”

Company B Gives Their Price Like This: ”20-yard container is gonna be $550 for 7 days, 2 tons included.”

Customer responds: “Ok. Thank you.”

Company B responds: “No problem. Have a good day.”

Now, the choice is obvious. The customer can hire the friendly company that seems competitive and cares about earning her business, or she could choose the more expensive company that didn't seem to care if she ordered a dumpster or not.

If the customer only needs a dumpster for a day or two, there’s no reason whatsoever to choose Company B. She’s going to go right back to that text message and call Josh back to order a dumpster.

Love it or hate it, talk all the smack you want, understanding how to compete is part of the core fundamentals of running a business.

We can try to be the best and win people over, or we can deal with cheap price shoppers all day long and complain.

Before anybody jumps ship, I’m not advising you to work with a customer who wants to pay $100 to get rid of a full load of trash.

I’m not telling you to compete with a guy who has a pickup truck.

But why can’t you match another company's price that also has employees, pays taxes, has insurance, expensive equipment, and franchise fees? They're not working for free. They're finding a way to beat you on price.

I know people are going to hate this advice, but companies have been selling themselves on price for a hundred years. Leaf Guard, Empire Today, Stanley Steemer, the list goes on.

You have to sell. You have to convince people.

*IF YOU WANT TO CHARGE MORE* Then you’ll need to give them a reason to pay more, 75% of the time.

And good luck doing that by giving them a price over the phone as soon as they ask for it.

*END of Facebook Post*

SO, WHY ARE PEOPLE CHEAP?

Hopefully, the Facebook post has given you some insight on looking inward, but we're still going to break things down.

People are cheap when it comes to junk removal, because any junk removal company they call is going to make their junk disappear, and they're not going to be happy with your service for years to come. They don't want to spend any more than they have to. This is an inconvenience for them, not something they're looking forward to.

People will happily pay top-dollar for a Mercedes, because they want to drive a Benz. They're going to love that car every single day for the next few years.

When a customer pays you $150 to pick up their old couch, they're going to say, "Thank God we got that stupid thing out of here." That's it. That's all they want out of it. Having junk is simply a headache, and you're the solution. People don't want to spend any more than they have to, they just want their junk to be gone. If they don't want to pay $150 to get rid of their couch, they're going to keep calling around until some company agrees to do it for $79 while in between jobs tomorrow.

Again, there is a percentage of people that won't even think about calling around. There is a percentage of people who need something done immediately and can't afford to shop around. These people are the ones currently keeping your business running. But you're not better than your competitors, and you're not stealing their business.

Referrals and repeats are always going to choose you. New customers could care less about your cute logo. It's just simply true.

WHY STANDING OUT FROM YOUR COMPETITORS IS SO IMPORTANT

I hate asking people what makes their business stand out. You know why? Because I have to listen to the same, boring "pick-me" responses every time.

"We're insured."

Everyone is. Especially everybody on the front page of Google. Your customers who find you on Google aren't going to give up and hit Craigslist to find some crackhead to haul it away for free. They're hiring someone on the front page of Google, and they're insured.

"We have great customer service."

Ok? I expect great customer service. I'm not paying $50 more for great customer service. If you have terrible customer service, then I just won't hire you. Great customer service doesn't sell $150 couch-removals. Maybe sometimes, but most of the time it's just not a differentiating factor. You're no different than the next 3 companies that have great customer service.

"We have great reviews."

Customers absolutely care about reviews. I'd be lying if I said reviews don't matter. But, at the end of the day, great reviews alone aren't going to swing most people to give you money. Excellent reviews will convince people to call, not hire.

Similar to having great customer service , people expect good reviews. 1-800-GOT-JUNK has tens of thousands of 5-Star reviews. Some of their locations have 2,000+ amazing reviews. They're important, but you're not the only one with good reviews, bud. People use reviews as reassurance that they're going to have a good experience with your company. As soon as they call you and you tell them it's $750 to haul away their hot tub, they forget about your reviews.

"We offer same day service."

Join the club.

"We do the best job."

You're picking up a loveseat at the end of a driveway while the customer is at work. There is no "best job" in most cases. Are we or aren't we all going to pick up the loveseat and take it with us? Ok then. Any company is going to do what you do.

"We're reliable."

Unless the customer has already had a no-show, they're not going to Google while thinking "I hope I can find a reliable company." They just aren't, man. They're thinking "I hope this doesn't cost a ridiculous amount of money." Being reliable is obviously important, but good luck convincing them that you're the only reliable junk removal company in the area.

"We use the best tools and equipment."

Nice. Your dump truck is going to remove my mattress from the garage in half the time! Not.. they don't care, guys. They just want their junk to disappear.

"People respect that we charge our worth."

I hear this all the time and... I can't. This is just dumb. Nobody wants to pay more, just because you charge more.

You get the point. None of these things make you the best. They don't really provide any additional value that your competitors can't provide.

People want to hire the company that provides the overall best value.

Selling your services based on these "benefits" alone is not going to lead to 70% book rates.

SO HOW CAN YOU STAND OUT FROM YOUR COMPETITORS AND HEAR "YES" ALL YEAR-ROUND?

In order to stand out, you need to do things that your competitors wouldn't dare to do.

Your competitors will say they're the best.

Your competitors will ask for good reviews.

Your competitors will advertise same-day junk removal.

If everyone is doing it, it isn't special.

You know what your competitors are scared to do?

Offer an $85 Minimum.

Offer a PRICE MATCH GUARANTEE.

Offer a First Time Customer Discount.

Offer 20% Off When They're Slow.

Scary stuff, right? Now I'm not saying that the only way to win over more price shoppers is by lowering your price, but it's definitely the best way.

Now, I know what you're thinking: "Josh, anybody picking stuff up for $85 isn't making money."

But YOU'RE NOT MAKING MONEY BECAUSE CUSTOMERS DON'T LIKE YOUR PRICING!

There are companies picking stuff up for cheap because they're making more money by doing it.

Let's do a quick rundown of cost for 2 guys, picking up a loveseat in between jobs.

The job: Picking up a loveseat in someone's garage.

Labor: We'll assume you're paying 2 guys $15/hour. Essentially, we're paying $30/hour in labor, but after payroll expenses and worker's compensation it's closer to $42/hour.

The job is 20 minutes away, 20 minutes to load, and 20 minutes to the next stop. 1 hour flat.

Mileage: For wear and tear, we'll use $0.40/mile. 10 miles there, 10 miles to the next stop. That's $8.

Gas: Every truck is different, so we'll just use 10 MPG as our reference. Since we're driving 20 miles, we'd use 2 gallons of fuel. Let's say $10.

Dump Fees: Realistically, we don't really need to consider dump fees if you're throwing this on another load and have a minimum at the transfer station. We'll include it anyways. Assuming you're paying $100/ton with a 1 ton minimum, and we can fit 9 couches in the back of our truck, we only need to account for $11 in dump fees.

Overhead: This is going to vary so wildly. We're going to assume you have 1 truck, and your overhead for insurance, payments, parking and software is $2000/month. 200 hours per month would mean we're spending $10/hour in overhead. That's another $10.

Cost per Lead: Now this is where I disagree with most of you. If you're running a Google Ads campaign, and you're paying $50 per lead, then you're going to say this lead costed us $50. But in reality, it doesn't make sense to look at it this way.

Your ACTUAL cost for a lead is determined by your book rate, average job price and your ROI.

If you're like most junk removal companies, you book 25% of your leads. Let's assume you're doing 33%.

I f you get 100 leads at $50 each, you'd spend $5000 total. You'd book 33 jobs. If your average price per job is $400, then you'd make $13,200. This puts your ROI at 2.64. Basically, 37% of your revenue goes towards advertising.

So essentially, when you book a job for $100, that job only ends up costing you $37 to acquire. Even if you spent $50 today and only got one call, you're going to get calls this month that are much bigger jobs. You're going to get 4 calls some days, and no calls other days. So, you can't calculate costs per call, or per day, because they're not all created equal.

Total Cost to do this job at $125: Get ready..... $127.25. How? $42 in labor, $8 for mileage, $10 for fuel, $11 in dump fees, $10 for overhead and by the end of that month this job would've costed you $46.21 in ad spend, because you only book 33% of your calls.

Ouch. You're more expensive than some of your competitors, and you're not even making money.

Now, we're going to go over the same scenario for the company next door that has a $79 minimum , doing pickups with 1 guy on Fridays only.

The job: Picking up a loveseat in someone's garage.

Labor: They're trying to offer more competitive pricing, so they can book more jobs. In order to do that, they're only going to send 1 guy to do the job. Before any of you say "It's going to take longer with 1 guy." No, it isn't. It's a loveseat in the garage.

The job is 20 minutes away, 20 minutes to load, and 20 minutes to the next stop. 1 hour flat. At $15/hour, we're actually spending $21/hour on the high side when we account for payroll expenses and worker's compensation. Total labor is $21.

Mileage: For wear and tear, we'll use the same $0.40/mile . 10 miles there, 10 miles to the next stop. That's $8.

Gas: Going to use the same costs here. 10 MPG, 20 miles, we'd use 2 gallons of fuel. Let's say $10.

Dump Fees: Once again we're assuming you're paying $100/ton with a 1 ton minimum, and we can fit 9 couches in the back of our truck, we only need to account for $11 in dump fees.

Overhead: *Copy and Paste * This is going to vary so wildly. We're going to assume you have 1 truck, and your overhead for insurance, payments, parking and software is $2000/month. 200 hours per month would mean we're spending $10/hour in overhead. That's another $10.

Cost per Lead: Now this is where the whole thing shifts. This company is going to spend much less for leads, because they're advertising that they'll beat anyone's price. They're only going to pay $30 for leads , AND because they're cheaper and they'll beat your price, they're going to book 65% of their calls.

If they spend $3000, they're going to get the same 100 phone calls as you.

Because they're cheaper, their average job price is going to be much lower than yours. Let's call it $295 . They book 65% of their calls, so they do 65 jobs. That means when they spend $3000, they'll make $20,650. Their ROI is 6.8. They only have to put 14% of their revenue toward ad spend. Every $1 earned costs them $0.14.

So, if they pick up this loveseat for $79 , they're only paying $11 for the lead.

Now, when you factor in your organic calls, your marketing costs become even lower. Too often, we tend to look at costs per "job." What matters is how much we make every month, and how much we spend. Period.

If both of these companies were getting the same number of calls from organic sources as well, with the same book rates, then Company A would only be paying $23 to pick up a loveseat for $125, instead of $46. Company B would only be paying $5.50 to pick up a mattress for $79, instead of $11. This is because you can spread your overall marketing costs across ALL jobs, not just jobs from ads.

All I'm trying to do is help you realize that charging more doesn't always equal more money. A lot of the time, it just means less customers and less revenue. Tweak these values and see what you can come up with for your company.

Let's look at a few different ways you could provide more value.

LOWERING YOUR MINIMUM

If you're sending 2 guys out 30 minutes away to pick up a box spring for $85 while in between jobs, you're going to lose money. As business owners, we have to think outside the box. Instead of complaining about how cheap our competitors are, we could find ways to lower our expenses, so we can compete and win more business.

So, here's an idea:

Instead of quoting everybody $150 to send 2 guys pick up their box spring, send ONE guy. Don't let these inconvenient jobs get in the way of your busy days. Schedule all of your minimums for ONE day per week. The customers should be happy to wait a little bit longer if it means they're saving money.

They're also going to be happy to put it outside for you sometimes. So, you could try offering a $79 single item pick up, if it's outside in the driveway, and you can pick it up on Friday. Even if they won't put it outside, tell them that you're only able to offer killer pricing if you can send one guy. Sometimes people don't care about the convenience of having us load it. Sometimes they just want to get rid of it and will be happy to help you load it.

Now, because you're giving such an excellent price for single items, you're going to feel much more confident on the phone, and you're going to book more of these single item calls.

Just to be clear - We're getting 15 calls this week for mattresses, we're quoting $79 each, we're going to book 10 of them, and we're going to send 1 guy to pick them all up on Friday. 1 guy is going to make you $790 without even having to hit the transfer station.

You don't have to use this exact model. I know everybody's bills are different. I'm just trying to help you think outside the box. Play with the idea of lowering costs so you can lower your pricing and win more jobs.

OFFER BUY NOW, PAY LATER

BNPL (Short for "Buy Now Pay Later") is a great way to swing people to spend more money. Just stick with me here.

If you go to Amazon to buy something, you'll see an option to check out with Affirm at the bottom of your cart, where you can pay for the product over time.

If you look at any large service brand like Refloor, Empire Today, Roto Rooter, they all offer financing.

Now, this might not be very helpful for $100 jobs, but there are plenty of options out there that will finance transactions as small as $200.

HouseCall Pro offers financing for your customers if their transaction is at least $500.

Now, you're not actually financing the transaction. You're not waiting to get paid. You're getting paid in full, upfront. The "lender" is going to pay you and let the customer pay them back over time.

Next time someone doesn't want to pay $750 to have their fence torn down, you can offer 0% interest financing, letting them pay it back on their terms.

People will happily pay more if they can pay for it later.

Just think about how this could help your business. You might not always be the cheapest, but your competitors aren't offering financing, that's for sure.

OFFER TO TAKE SOMETHING FOR FREE

This could potentially be a good way to get more people to hire you, even though you don't have the cheapest price.

Instead of telling a customer that it will be $150 to pick up their fridge, tell them that first-time customers can add an additional 1 cubic yard of junk for FREE.

Now, someone might have given them a price of $125 to pick up their fridge, but you're taking the fridge and something extra for $150.

Even though your price wasn't the cheapest, you're offering a different service, and you're providing more value.

Think about this and come up with some ideas on your own that might work for you.

PRICE MATCH GUARANTEE

No, you don't have to compete with crackheads who charge $40 to pick up a truck load of junk.

Offering a price match guarantee allows you to be competitive. Some customers will hire you without getting other quotes just because they know they're getting a fair price.

Any big brand that offers a price match guarantee, always includes specific terms.

If your customer gets a better quote, ask them who quoted them.

Most of you who do offer a price match guarantee, usually require that the customer must provide a written estimate. This is pretty useless, because the customer isn't going to ask another company for a written quote for $175.

If they don't like your competitive quote, let them know that you'll beat any price that your competitor offers. A good way to make sure you don't get screwed would be to require that the company is sending out 2 guys and is including dump fees and taxes in their quote.

If you decide to offer a price match guarantee, don't just mention it - spam it. Put it on your Facebook page, your website, your truck, your brochures, everything. Tell the customer on the phone that you offer it and send them a follow up text reminding them to call you back if they find a better price.

If you do this correctly, your book rates will double or maybe even triple.

CONCLUSION

So many guys are going to be mad at me for writing this. People are going to accuse me of contributing to saturation and cheap pricing.

But I wouldn't be too worried about that. 95% of you will just disregard everything I said here and continue to do what you do.

At the end of the day, nobody wants to pay more than they have to to get rid of junk. This is the industry that we've chose.

You need to sell people on value.

Business Owners in every industry have to deal with price shoppers. Towing, house cleaning, pressure washing, asphalt paving and every other service industry out there is struggling with cheap customers, and that's because they don't understand that the only way to get somebody to spend money on something they don't want, is to convince them to do so.

We do not have it worse in junk removal and dumpster rentals.

You don't have to take any advice that I've given here. I don't think I know it all. I just want my Google Ads clients to make more money, and I'm constantly trying to better understand our customers.

This article is not The Bible for Junk Removal Companies.

There are lots of people that will tell you to stand your ground, and your pricing isn't the problem.

But the way I see it, if you can lower your costs while still being profitable, you'll win many more customers. It's a win-win.

And if there's a guy out there with an average job price of $500 and books 50% or more of his calls, I'll pay good money to hear from that guy.

The BEST Phone Script for Junk Removal Companies

Wed, 28 Dec 2022 07:30:53 GMT

If You Want Consistent Paychecks, You Need Consistent Strategies

There is absolutely no point in advertising your business if you can't turn leads into customers. Too often, the phone call is an overlooked part of our business. What you say on the phone WILL determine how much money you can make. I know you don't care to hear this - but you have to stop giving quotes over the phone.

Some of the most successful junk removal companies, such as 1-800-GOT-JUNK refrain from giving quotes over the phone. The reason? Because it works. Let's dive in.

WHY YOU NEED A PHONE SCRIPT

Consistency

It's impossible to see consistent results if you're not consistently doing the same thing. When you go to the transfer station, you're paying the same disposal fees. When you pick up junk, you're charging the same amount for every customer. If you want to consistently hit $1k, $2k, or even $5k every single day, you need to consistently answer the phone the same way - every single day.

Higher Booking Rates

There is a reason why it feels like most customers are saying no. That's because they are . The #1 way to get customers to hang up the phone is to give them a quote. I always have and always will be an advocate for onsite quotes. Junk removal business owners struggle with this. Most of you will provide a rough estimate or ask the customer to send you pictures so you can provide them with a quote. This is why you're not staying busy.

I listen to over 1000 phone calls each month, and NOBODY who gives quotes over the phone is happy with the results. They could be working on their sales skills and figuring out what needs work. Instead, most of them are complaining about low-ballers, cheap customers, and lack of call volume.

On average, my clients who give quotes over the phone see a 17% book rate. This means it takes 6 phone calls to land a single job.

My clients who do NOT give quotes over the phone see a 72% book rate on average. This means they book 4 jobs for every 6 calls . You didn't read that wrong. This isn't make-believe. Junk haulers who don't give quotes over the phone book 4x more jobs than guys who offer quotes over the phone.

Let's quickly put that into perspective.

Company A gives quotes over the phone. He spends $4000 on Google Ads this month and receives 100 phone calls. He books 17 jobs with an average job price of $350. His total revenue from Ads this month is $5,950.
Company B only offers onsite estimates. He spends $4000 on ads this month as well. He receives the same 100 calls, but books 76 of them. 10% of those appointments decided not to hire. Thus, they complete 68 jobs. With an average job price of $350, his total revenue from ads this month is $23,800.

Now let's assume I'm lying. (I'm not, but let's assume.)

Let's pretend that I'm only half-right. Company B only books HALF as much as I'm saying he did. This would mean he only booked 38% of his jobs. Once again 10% of those appointments decide he's too expensive. He only does 34 jobs out of the 100 phone calls he received. Even in this made-up scenario, Company B would still make $11,900. That's DOUBLE what Company A made.

It's 10x easier to land a job onsite because you're already there and the customer has had a chance to meet you. Most customers won't want to send you away and call around only to find out that you weren't even overpriced in the first place.

Here's how advertising a junk removal company online works:

Your ad sells the customer on clicking to your page.
The page sells the customer on calling your business.
The person who answers the phone sells the customer on booking an appointment.
When you arrive at the appointment, you sell the customer on hiring you.

You don't sell the job on the phone. You sell the job when you're onsite.

Having a phone script will help you avoid giving quotes over the phone, which means you'll book more jobs and make more money.

HERE IT IS: THE BEST PHONE SCRIPT FOR JUNK HAULERS

*Phone Rings*

You: Thank you for calling [XYZ Junk Removal], this is [Name] speaking. How can I help you today?

Customer: Hello, I'm looking for a quote. I have an old box spring and mattress that need to be hauled away.

You: Perfect! We can definitely help you with that! What's your first name?

Customer: [Name].

You: Awesome. Where are you located?

Customer: [City].

You: Great. How soon would you like us to pick it up?

Customer: As soon as possible. I'm just wondering how much that would cost.

You: Sure thing! So, here's how our service works. We can send out one of our crews, and they'll remove your stuff from anywhere in your home and haul it away. Our pricing is based on the amount of room your stuff takes up in our [15 Yard] dump truck. Our prices start at $99, and this covers up to 1/8th of a dump truck load. Prices go up incrementally, and you only pay for the space you use. I know you mentioned you only have a couple items, so what I can do is send the guys over, and once they've seen everything in person, they'll be able to provide you with an exact price. As long as you're happy with the price, we'll haul it away right then and there. If you decide not to hire us, there's no charge for the visit and our guys will be on their way. We can have a crew over to you as soon as [4 PM today] would that work for you?

END OF SCRIPT

Obviously, there's a lot that can come after this. What's important to understand here is that you need to successfully mention your minimum pricing and how you charge. Then, you want to try to book an appointment without giving them a firm price.

If it doesn't work for you right away, keep trying. You have to create your own variation of this and make it work for you. I guarantee that with a little effort, you'll get it down in no time. Next, we'll go over some common rejections and how to overcome them.

OVERCOMING REBUTTALS AND REJECTIONS

Rebuttal: Could you just give me a ballpark price?

Response: Well, here's the deal sir/ma'am. We have no intention of coming out and wasting your time. However, we do have to pay to get rid of everything we pick up, and we really can't agree to anything until we've seen exactly what we're taking in person. I'd be happy to send the guys over, the estimate is completely free. As long as you're happy, we'll haul it away right then and there.

Rebuttal: So, you're thinking around $99?

Response: It could be, as long as your items take up less than 1/8th of a load. But we really don't know exactly how much it will cost until we've seen it in person. We have to pay to get rid of everything we pick up, so it's hard for us to guarantee a price without seeing it. If it does end up being more than 1/8th of a load, the guys will let you know before they do anything, and you can make a decision at that point. As long as you're happy, we'll take it away right then and there.

Rebuttal: Sorry. I don't know about that. I'll have to call you back.

Response: No problem. If it helps at all, I could provide you with an estimate if you're able to send me a couple of photos. Is that a possibility?

Only Request Photos and Provide an Estimate if the Customer is About to Get off the Phone or Call Someone Else.

I know that I said not to give quotes via photos. That rule can be broken once you've tried to get them to book and they've refused twice. You're probably going to lose them anyway, so it can't hurt to try at this point. Please, do not do this without first going through the script.

CONCLUSION

There will always be the guys who claim "I book 95% of my calls and I give everybody a quote over the phone. You just have to learn how to talk to people." I ask the same question every time. When I ask, "Care to share your call reports?" Crickets. They don't have one. They're not tracking their calls. If you're not tracking things down to a "T" then you really don't know how well things are going.

I track every single call, for every one of my clients. Numbers do not lie. If there's one way to change your business overnight, this is it.

"In God we trust. All others must bring data."

-W. Edwards Deming

Google Ads for Junk Removal Companies | Do They Work?

Wed, 14 Dec 2022 21:18:31 GMT

Google Ads is Expensive. But it's also the Fastest Way to Grow Your Business.

It's no secret that Google Ads is considered to be one of the best ways to generate leads for junk removal companies. While other forms of digital advertising such as SEO can take a while to start paying off, Google Ads will start generating leads almost immediately. If you run a junk removal business and are considering paying for Google Ads, keep reading.

HOW MUCH DOES GOOGLE ADS COST?

This is a huge topic. In order to make sure we cover every aspect about the cost of running Google Ads, we have to break it down into sections. As always, there are lots of variables to consider.

You're Paying Per Click

Google Ads is often referred to as "PPC" or "Pay-per-Click" advertising. This means that you're paying every time someone clicks on your ad. You don't actually pay a flat rate fee, and you don't pay per lead. If you're not running ads properly, it's very possible that 85%-90% of people who click on your ad don't end up calling your business. The cost you'll pay per click is determined by the following:

Your location
Your competition
Your daily budget
Your keywords
Your bid strategy
Your Google Ads Quality Score

Now, let's take a closer look at each of these.

Market Location

The cost of running ads is going to be primarily determined by your location. Advertising a junk removal business in Los Angeles is going to be a lot more expensive than it will be in Huntsville, Alabama. I recently had a business in LA ask me to audit their ads account, which was being managed by another PPC agency. They were paying $20 per click, and almost $120 per phone call. This campaign specifically was not built properly, but the high CPC (cost per click) is due to the amount of competition in this market. Los Angeles has an enormous population, as well as LOTS of competition.

Competition

More people to serve = More competition.

So why does more competition mean higher cost per click? Because regardless of the YouTube videos that have told you differently, there is a limited number of people looking for your service. The idea that there is always enough work for everyone, is just not true. It just isn't. In a busy market with a high population, there will absolutely be more search volume, but it's not an infinite number.

In Los Angeles, there are roughly 10,000-15,000 searches every month for terms related to "junk removal," according to Google's Keyword Planner Tool. This might seem like a very high number, but that's for terms related to "junk removal." This includes people looking for donation centers, trash pickup, scrapyards and all kinds of stuff we don't actually do. When we filter everything out and look at only the good terms, such as "Junk Haulers" or "Junk Removal Service," that number shrinks significantly. Now, there are only about 6,000-7,000 searches per month that we want to show up for.

This is still a lot of volume. However, you have to consider the fact that only a small percentage of people searching will actually click on your ad. An even smaller percentage of people will click on an ad that isn't in the #1 position at the very top of the page. Every time someone searches for your service, a virtual "auction" takes place. Every competitor is bidding "X" amount of dollars to have their ad show at the top, for that search.

In Los Angeles, you're not competing against 5 companies. You're competing against 30+ junk removal businesses. In order to show your ad over theirs, you have to be willing to pay more per click and outbid them in the auction.

However, it's not always that simple. Sometimes in smaller markets, there will be much less competition, and you'll still pay a lot per click. If there are only 1000 searches per month on Google for your service, even having only 5 or 6 competitors is going to have the same effect as 30 competitors in LA. If your competitors are willing to pay $25-$35 per click, then that's what it's going to cost to compete. Not all is lost, though. Having ads that outperform your competitors will give Google a reason to show your ads over your competitors at a lower cost. This is why it's so important to hire someone who knows what they're doing.

*Shameless Plug*

It's me. I know what I'm doing. But anyways, enough about that. Let's take a look at the next "factor" on our list.

Daily Budget

Ok, this one is simple. If your competitors are willing to spend $400/day, and you're only willing to spend $50, Google is going to show their ads much more often than yours.

In most markets, we aim to get leads (not clicks) at a cost of $35-$50. So, if you're only spending $50/day, it's unreasonable to expect multiple calls every day. Personally, I recommend at least spending $100-$150/day, but it depends on your specific needs and what you want to get out of Google Ads. It's definitely possible to get great leads with a lower budget, but it's unlikely that you'll get a lot of them.

Keywords

The keywords that you're bidding on plays a huge role here. For example, you might be able to get clicks for $1-$3 for search terms like "Free Scrap Pickup" or "Mattress Disposal Near Me." These obviously aren't great search terms. Even if the searcher ends up calling, they likely won't turn into a customer.

Terms like "Hoarding Cleanup Near Me" and "Same Day Junk Removal" might average a $25 cost per click. That's because your competitors are willing to pay more to show up for these terms, since the searcher likely has high intent to purchase.

Bid Strategies

Your bid strategies will have a large impact on your overall costs. We won't dive too deep into this topic, but I will explain why this will affect how expensive your campaign is, followed by an example.

Company A is using a Maximize Clicks strategy. Their goal is to send as many people as possible to their landing page or website, for the lowest cost. With this strategy, they apply a Maximum Bid amount of $12 to the campaign.

Company B hired Ads by Josh to set up conversion tracking on their landing page and their account. (Ok - I'm really done plugging myself.) We use a mix of different conversion-based bidding strategies. Instead of just sending everybody to our landing page, we bid more for searchers that are likely to convert, and less for searchers that are unlikely to convert.

An example:

With Company B's campaign, we've found that people are more likely to convert if they are:

Male
Between the Ages of 35 and 50
Searching on a Smart Phone
Searching on a Weekday
Searching Between 10AM and 12PM
Searching from Zip Code 12345

and people are less likely to convert if they are:

Female
Between the Ages of 20 and 35
Searching on a Desktop
Searching on a Weekend
Searching Between 12PM and 2PM
Searching from Zip Code 67890

In this made-up scenario, we would bid MORE when a searcher meets the first set of parameters, and less for the latter set.

We would bid more to show up for men during those times on those devices, bringing our average cost per click to $19.

However, we would bid less to show up for women searching on a desktop, resulting in less clicks overall.

Even though Company B has a higher cost per click, our campaign is more targeted. We're only paying for the best searches possible, yielding a high conversion rate of 40%. This means for every 10 clicks, 4 of those searches end up calling our business. At $19/click with a 40% conversion rate, Company B would be receiving leads for $47.50.

Company A has a lower cost per click of $12, but they're converting at a lower rate of 20%, since they aren't targeting specific groups of people. So, the overall cost per lead for Company A would come out to $60.00.

Even with a higher cost per click, Company B will spend less to hit their goal.

There are many different bid strategies available to choose from, and there's really an endless number of possibilities here. But hopefully you get my point - bid strategy has a lot to do with your overall Google Ads costs.

Quality Scores

"Quality Score" is a metric used by Google to determine how well your ad will perform in an auction. I don't want to focus too much on this section, because nobody fully understands how Quality Scores are determined, aside from Google. Here's what we do know.

Google will assign a Quality Score for all of your keywords in your campaign. The Quality Score is measured on a scale of 1-10. 1 being the lowest quality, and 10 being the highest.

If your ads aren't relevant to what people are searching for, it will have a negative impact on your Quality Score for that specific keyword.

If your landing page isn't converting well and people are just leaving right away, it will negatively affect your Quality Score.

Lastly, if people aren't clicking on your ad, it will lead to a lower Quality Score.

If you have a 10/10 Quality Score for the term "Junk Removal" Google will show your ad higher than your competitors a lot of the time, at a much lower cost per click.

If you have a 1/10 Quality Score for the term "Furniture Removal" Google will make sure your clicks cost a ton of money, or your ad doesn't show.

At least this is what Google claims. I personally have never noticed too much of a difference in performance between low and high Quality Scores.

Nonetheless, I had to include it. It's safe to say that if your ads suck, over time Google will catch on and make sure it costs you. If your ads are amazing, Google will reward you.

Google Ads costs a lot of money. If done properly, you'll get lots of work from it. If done poorly, it will burn a hole in your wallet quickly. On average, junk removal businesses should expect to pay $35-$50 per conversion with a well-rounded campaign.

There are many other things that will affect the overall cost of your campaign. Some of these include:

Your landing page
Your service radius
Your manager's fee

While I won't go into detail about all of these, I will give you a quick piece of advice:

There is no point in running ads that send people to the homepage on your website. You need to use a landing page that is built to convert. Your website will not work. I've done a ridiculous amount of testing in this area. Take my word on this.

If you don't want to hire someone to run your ads, you will NEED the following:

Landing Page Builder

I recommend using Instapage. It's extremely user friendly, and there are many templates to choose from. Once again, skipping this step is not optional. You will waste money sending people to your website, regardless of how great it is.

Cost: $199/Month

Click Fraud Protection

You need some sort of click fraud defender protecting your ads from fraudulent/competitor clicks. Without this protection in place, there's nothing stopping your competitors from clicking on your ads over and over again, costing you money. Clickcease is the best option in my opinion.

Cost: $69/Month

Call & Form Tracking Software

This is absolutely required. If you're not tracking conversions and reporting them back to Google, you'll never know what is working and what isn't. You'll also never be able to use conversion-based bidding strategies. CallRail will easily integrate with Google Ads. Every time you get a phone call or form submission from your Google Ads, CallRail will automatically report it as a conversion to Google.

Cost: $95/Month + Minutes

The total cost of all the tools needed to run your own campaign comes out to $363/Month.

If you are wondering what it costs to hire a manager, I will build and manage your campaign for you. Everything I just listed above is included, no strings attached. I charge anywhere from $400 to $500 per month.

You won't save much money by running ads yourself. But, if you're wanting to do them on your own for the experience and knowledge, knock yourself out.

HOW LONG DOES GOOGLE ADS TAKE TO WORK?

This actually isn't very difficult to answer. My short answer is 60-90 days. Earlier in the post I boasted about Google Ads being the fastest way to grow your business. I also said that Google Ads can provide results almost immediately. With a well-built campaign, you will start getting phone calls as early as the next day, but optimizing the campaign takes much longer. First, let's talk about the typical Google Ads timeline.

Day 1: We submit our ads for approval.

Google will take at least the first day to review and approve our ads. There are all kinds of rules and policies we must follow in order to show ads on Google's platform. Although this usually only takes 1 day, it can take longer. I personally have never seen this take longer than 3 full days.

Week 1: Our ads start showing.

Once our ads have been approved, Google will start showing our ads to potential customers. Google doesn't trust a brand-new campaign, so expect to wait 1-5 days before your website actually starts getting traffic. Google places our campaign in what's referred to as a "learning period." Every time we make significant changes to the campaign, Google will restart the learning period. This typically takes a full 5 days.

Weeks 2-4: The campaign starts getting traffic and generating data.

During this period, the campaign should not be paused or interrupted. We need to let it run and gather data for us. We should make only necessary changes and adding in negative keywords.

Month 2: We start using a conversion-based bidding strategy and using data to our advantage.

Since we have 30 days of data from the campaign, we can start to use it to figure out who is more likely to convert in our campaign. From this point forward, we will be making continuous changes to further improve performance.

Month 3: Things start to become more consistent.

Now, we have 60 days' worth of data. We want to audit our campaign to identify patterns. We use those patterns to make further improvements and find out our best days, times, etc. We will reallocate our budget accordingly.

Month 4 and Beyond: The campaign gradually improves, and we continue to do what we've been doing.

There will always be work to be done. Whether we're testing new ad variations, inserting different headlines, A/B testing our landing pages, or testing new ad extensions, we're always improving something. The longer the campaign runs, and the more data we collect, the better our campaign will perform.

If you're strapped for cash, and you need something to bail you out so you can pay your bills by Monday, Google Ads isn't for you. You have to look at this as a short-term investment.

SHOULD YOU RUN YOUR OWN CAMPAIGN, OR HIRE A PROFESSIONAL?

I already touched on the cost of running ads yourself or hiring a manager earlier in this post. Let's just do a quick recap.

Costs

Running Ads Yourself: At least $363/month

Hiring Ads by Josh: $400-$500/month

Average PPC Agency: $600-$750/month

DIY Ads Pros and Cons

Pros:

You will learn a lot about the platform
You will understand everything that's going on in the account
You can make changes as you see fit

Cons:

It will take a long time to learn how to do everything correctly
You'll need to invest lots of money before you understand what works and what doesn't
If something goes wrong within the account, you're responsible for fixing it
It will take time away from running your business
You'll probably get a lower ROI for awhile

Hiring an Agency Pros and Cons

Pros:

An agency will have more experience, and we know what works
We run ads for dozens of other companies just like yours, meaning we have a lot more data to go off of
You don't have to do anything other than answer the phone
In most cases, you'll make much more money, especially from the start
You won't waste as much money on poor traffic
You can focus solely on running your business
It really isn't that much cheaper to do it yourself

Cons:

You will have to pay a monthly fee, and if you don't pay your manager they will stop working on your campaign
There are lots of digital marketing agencies out there that will take your money even if they don't know what they're doing, so you have to vet them thoroughly
You may feel that you have less control over your campaign

Conclusion

It all really depends on what you're looking for. If you're only looking to run ads yourself to save money, you're doing it for the wrong reason. You won't really save any more than $100 or $200, and it could cost you tens of thousands of dollars if the ads don't perform like you thought they would.

If you want to do them yourself because you want full control of your campaign and you're ok with investing lots of time and money into this, give it a shot. But please for the love of God, make sure you're using a landing page, conversion tracking, and click fraud defender.

HOW MUCH SHOULD YOU SPEND ON GOOGLE ADS?

Earlier in this post I briefly discussed budget. We'll go a bit more in depth here. The amount of money you spend on Google Ads should be based on how much revenue you want to get out of it.

When trying to determine estimated revenue, there are a couple variables to consider.

Your average job price
Your average booking rate

If you're charging what most junk haulers charge in your market, your average job price should be around $400. If your average sale is less than this, you it will negatively impact your ROI.

If your average booking rate is less than 50%, it will adversely affect your ROI. "Booking rate" is the percentage of people who book an appointment versus the amount of people who call you. If 10 customers call you, and you book 5 of them, you would have a booking rate of 50%.

If you aren't booking at least 50% of your calls, it's likely due to what you're saying on the phone. Check out my Junk Removal Phone Script article.

If your pricing is average, and your booking rate is average, you should expect at least a 4x ROI. If you spend $1,000 you should make $4,000.

So, if you want to make $20,000, you should spend $5,000.

Please understand, simply running ads isn't a foolproof machine that spits out $4 for every $1 spent. The campaign has to be well-rounded, you have to be good on the phone and you have to be a great salesman to convince people to spend money.

THINGS A JUNK REMOVAL COMPANY SHOULD CONSIDER BEFORE RUNNING GOOGLE ADS

I think I've covered a lot in this article. Hopefully the information I've shared with you today will help you decide if Google Ads is right for your business. Let's just do a quick recap.

Should you invest in Google Ads?

You should only consider running Google Ads if:

You're willing to give it time.
You understand that it's an investment, and you'll get what you give.
You're in a busy area.
You're a great salesman or you have great salesmen on your team.
You're currently advertising in other ways.

This is not a switch that you can turn off and on. It is not as simple as giving me $400, spending $50/day on ads, giving it 2 weeks, and making $1,000/day. It just doesn't work that way. I made sure to mention that you should be using other methods of advertising before running Google Ads, because you should never put all of your eggs in one basket. There will be bad days with Facebook Ads. There will be bad days with SEO leads. There will be bad days with referrals. There will be bad days with Google Ads. You can't rely on any one system to run your business for you.

Although it may seem like I'm talking you out of running ads, that's not my intention at all. This platform is only for businesses who are serious and want to give it everything they've got.

When done properly, Google Ads is extremely profitable, and the fastest way to make more money for your junk removal business.

"Ultimately, the business that can spend the most to acquire a customer wins."

-Dan Kennedy