Broadly Q&A: Twin Cities Furnace Cleaning

Broadly Q&A features our small business partners. This week, we are featuring our chat with Lisa Adwan, of Twin Cities Furnace Cleaning of St. Paul, Minnesota:

Tell us more about Twin Cities Furnace Cleaning. What makes your business stand out?

“One of the things that we always try to do is keep straightforward pricing. Vendors in the air duct cleaning industry have a reputation for getting the technician in the home and charging extra fees, and we’re countering that with extremely straightforward pricing: What you see is what you get, no hidden pricing.”

What have you learned about marketing Twin Cities Furnace Cleaning?

“It’s a work in progress. We made a lot of mistakes along the way. The biggest mistake was casting too wide of a net. For example, we advertised directly to new homeowners, but the cost-benefit ratio was really disappointing. Direct mail is very expensive and time consuming. We don’t do cold calls. We buy Google AdWords, which can get pretty costly, too. For a good job, though, it can be worth it.”

What made you choose Broadly?

“The first thing Ben said was that Broadly could help us get more reviews. To be honest, we almost wanted fewer reviews… because of the way a negative review can bring you down. It’s so stressful. However, I was intrigued by what Ben told me about how Broadly worked.”

From the customer feedback you’ve received so far, has anything surprised you?

“Customers that have some criticism are very, very valuable to us. We are now able to head off any complaints beforehand – that’s how the feedback has really helped us. We also provide additional information on our website if people are complaining about upgrades. I feel like I’ve learned so much in the two years I’ve been here.”

How would you assess the return on investment in Broadly?

“Almost every day people will say ‘I’ve been looking around, and your reviews are awesome.’ The biggest gift that Broadly gave us is Google reviews. Prior to Broadly, we didn’t have much of a web presence on Google, so I was really thankful to Ben for pointing that out. Google is what matters. Considering that we are buying AdWords, it would make sense that we would build out our web presence. I learned a lot from Ben and from our conversation. In terms of our ROI, Broadly has been huge – it really has.”