[Simon Gerrard]

Theres a saying 'if you want something doing ask a busy man '. Quite likely because a busy person is organised , motivated so manage their time more effectively. I also think looking a different way that if your not busy you seem to be discouraged which has a very negative effect on your self motivation, you get lethargic , cant be bothered , lack enthusiasm. Just think of a day when you havnt got much booked in , nothing in the morning perhaps, you find you waste time in the morning which in turn has that cant be bothered effect on the rest of the day.
Its a vicious circle you have to sort , its more of a mental thing. You have to keep enthusiastic , your heart must be in it. Keep the go get it mentality , go looking for work and when you get it do it to the very highest standard. Remember people buy 'you' as much as the service you offer, are you a people person ? If they dont 'like' you they wont get you back !
Mike

Yip, agree wholeheartedly with that too.
I think to be successful in business you have to be willing to change and adapt to different situations. Complacency is also a terrible thing, thinking that you've done everything right so never think to look at how you could change things for the better.

Simon

[Richard Basey-Fisher]

I believe that most service based industrys are at a turning point times are tough out there face it 50 % of the population have less disposable income so its likely everyone is tightrning their belts . 

although i have only being going 6 years i nearly feel like a vete as so many seem to start up and disapear as quick as they appear . in these times i feel that you reap what you sow i am still doing ok because of my recom and repeats and every new customer is a bonus .  customer service is king in these times .

[*Hector*]

Yup that is why the move into ducks this spring..  

and now.....  




hypnotherapy is forefront, as the duckling market has taken a dive and is very seasonal... So no more ducks until next spring, but  





look into my eyes    

[wynne jones]

3-2-1 You're a DUCK! 

[Dave_Lee]

There will always be work for those that that aren't lazy, don't cut corners, pay attention to detail, go about every job as though it was their own and generally excel in their trade.
If you are simply one of the average carpet cleaners, that form the majority in our business, you are placing yourself in an area of mass competition. Why then should the public choose you instead of someone else. Of course you may think that by making impresive claims in your advertising should bring in the calls and if it's good enough, it may. However if the job is not up to expectations, you not only won't be going back there, but you will get a bad name. A bad name is passed around 5 times faster than a good name to 5 times the number of people.
Impress every customer with an excellent standard of work, one which exceeds their expectation and you will never be really struggling for business.
Dave.

[garybristow]

spot on dave
do a great job and show some personality,if the customer likes you and trusts you she or he will always ring again
i get a lot of work from a site that ladies in the area recommend trades they have used,when i go to give a price that is your moment to come across knowledgable and project yourself and your business in the correct manner.
when you get the job you impress,then you are there carpet cleaner for the forseeable.
i know its corny but word of mouth costs nothing so no advertising costs,you have to earn a reputation
image and quality is everything,that applies to any business
gary

[Jim_77]

Word of mouth is the slowest way of growing any business though, unfortunately.

Also you need to follow up your first dazzling impression with some sort of regular ongoing contact.  How many of us have had customers say they were really pleased last time but since it's been a couple of years they forgot our name and what our business was called.  Some of these only ever find us again by chance or by ringing through the numbers in the book.

[John Kelly]

There will always be work for those that that aren't lazy, don't cut corners, pay attention to detail, go about every job as though it was their own and generally excel in their trade.

Spot on Dave, spoke to a ceramic tiler the other week who was moaning he only had 2 small jobs booked in for the following week. Me thinking the ceramic tiling industry is on its knees.
Yesterday dealing with a flooded house the women told me her husband is a tiler and he is booked up for 6 months. They moved back from Australia and he went into Jamies Tiles asking for work, nothing doing, he offered to work a week for free and do any of the staffs houses free. Booked 6 months in advance tells its own story.

[John Kelly]

Think I've told this tale before but worth doing again. A carpet cleaner doing market research outside a supermarket asked the question "have you ever had your carpets cleaned" of the ones who had over 80% couldn't name the company who'd done it.
Just as Jims said.

[wynne jones]

I read a book a while back called 'the referal engine'. I was really irritated with it as it kept waffling on about amazing your customer and do things to make you stand out blah blah blah.

Anyway about half way through it gets to the actual referal 'techniques' to get loads of new customers begging you to work for them ..... you guest it, the 'technique' is  just amaze your customers. 

No, actually it is good and I have saved a lot on advertising, but there's no point trying to get referrals through techniques if you provide just an OK service. 

[Mike Halliday]

customers are fickle, you can do an amazing service but they still will be tempted away by a special offer, a recommendation from a friend or just that you don't answer your phone when they called with an emergency.... so called some one else.

then you've at best have  lost them for a year.... at worse lost them for good

this is the fundamental flaw with the thought that once you been in business for a number of years you don't need to advertise as you have a huge database of customer, but the truth is most/some of that database are now probably some one else customers

[Simon Gerrard]

this is the fundamental flaw with the thought that once you been in business for a number of years you don't need to advertise as you have a huge database of customer, but the truth is most/some of that database are now probably some one else customers

Only partially true, Mike.
In an average week our sales are made up of around 70% existing customers and so our advertising costs are tiny because we work hard on customer retention and try as best we can to put our customers in a position where they can't get what we do anywhere else.

Simon

[Mike Halliday]

but if you kept only 10% of your yearly customers after 10yrs you would never need another customer ( i think)

which says the other  side of the coin is you also lose 90% of your customers

[Shaun_Ashmore]

To some point I agree with Simon but unless you have contact with customers you don't know when they will contact you and also you have to have some advertising to carry on getting customers to fill the void also recommends work 2 fold from a customers point view they can use you then pass your details on but another person can use a competitor and pass their details on then you are classed as recommended cleaners competing again for the same job, impressive cleaning is as standard to customers it's the little things that they remember you by ie personality or freebie spray bottle etc

Shaun

[Doug Holloway]

Hi Guys

Carpet cleaning has always been a tough business to get established in as a stand alone, many combine with other types of cleaning.

There are  always willing new entrants attracted by the relatively low start up costs and perceived easy entrance. Howeer as we know there is an alwful lot more to running a CC business than just buying a machine and doing a 2 day course.

This tends to force many to compete on price alone and makes the bottom of the market much more crowded than the top.

Almost all those doing well charge relatively high prices, I would say you need to take a least £1000 a week to make any sort of living, taking into account the high costs of being a start up, advertising etc.

Is the market shrinking, well people have been saying this for as long as I have been in the industry and will be saying it for the next 30 years too.

Cheers

Doug

[*Hector*]

I would say you need to take a least £1000 a week to make any sort of living,

That might be what YOU need to take a week, but not everyone has the same overheads. It is very subjective.

Chemicals are cheap as chips now.

The major running costs in this business are IMHO fuel both for vehicle and TM
and Advertising.
The more advertising the more business and hence the more fuel.

So these 3 things are irrevocably linked.
And should be the same with anyone in this business.


#What is different and purely subjective is the overhead aspect. You may live in a 10 bedroom mansion that is mortgaged up to the hilt, and run a fleet of high price cars and women, so naturally your overheads are going to be high.

I on the other hand live in a barn, with no mortgage, very low rent and no real outgoings, so my overheads are negligible.

You may need to earn £1000 a week to make any sort of a living.

I on the other hand only need to earn that in 3 months and still have a good standard of living.

So as said at the begining everything is subjective.

[Simon Gerrard]

I noctice Mick uses the tactic of, 'You tell us how much you want to pay.' While that might seem an attractive way of doing things from a competitive angle, I think it could be a major 'put off' for many who dislike the aspect of 'haggling' as a way of buying a service. And whilst the hagglers may respond well to it, the majority may simply see it as a sales ploy where you ring up, name a price and then have heavy sales tactics used to get you to agree a higher price.
I think you've got to set out your stall as you want it based on prices you are happy with to provide a top quality job. Being competitive is not about price, it is about quality and it is the quality end of the market where the money, or should I say, profit isWe've got zillions of customers who have used a cheap and cheerfu cleaner, weren't happy with the result and realise that if you want a quality job done, you've got to pay for it and that is where the quality cleaners quite literally, 'clean up.'

Simon

[peter maybury]

customer loyalty is an important factor as it does seem harder to pick up new customers. I am just very happy that I am now established. Went to one of my regulars yesterday, the last time I cleaned her carpets was 21 years ago. She has not used anybody else since the last time I did the carpets and would not contemplating using somebody else. Carpet cleaning is just not a priority for some people. I do have sa few regulars that I see every couple of months but the norm is about every 5 years with the majority.
Markets change and you have to change with it and notice the changes. When I first started I had several pubs that we cleaned once a month and were doing several pubs per week including nightclubs. I still clean most of the pubs in my area but the pubs that were once a month are now four times a year, the pubs we were doing twice a year are now every 2 years. We saw the decline in that market and have moved on.
I am just glad I am not starting from scratch as you do need such a large customer base to make a successful business and feel that with the additional competition and current climate, that that would not be as easy to achieve as it was when I started. Even with the enthusiasum and motivation I had at the time, a lot of sacrifices had to be made to get the business established. Perserverance is important but so is the sense to know when you are flogging a dead horse. Unless you make money that you can reinvest into yourself and your business then you will not move forward, the more you make the faster it happens. I was taking £1000 per week from quite an early point and with the cost of advertising training, good equipment, £1000 a week I do not see that as a large amount of turnover in this day and age. I would have thought most people in start ups will not be fortunate enough not to have a morgage or rent to pay.

Peter
www.carpetcleanercardiff.com

[wynne jones]

Starting  a business today has never been easier and running a profitable business has never been harder.

[Simon Gerrard]

Starting  a business today has never been easier and running a profitable business has never been harder.

Very true indeed.

Simon