[boshravie]

so any thoughts guy?

[Ken Wainwright]

Hi Bosh

Just like ourselves, no two businesses are alike. By this I mean that, from the outside, one 200 bed 3* star hotel may look just the same as the next. Same sort of turnover, same sort of trading profitability. But one may have bigger loans to repay than the other so have less cash left in the pot.  So their business philosophy may well be price led. That will run right through the chain of command from top to bottom.

As businessmen, we have a duty to ourselves to be profitable too, taking in all the variables from above. If our charges are fair and reasonable (albeit with a little flexibility) we need to put our businessman hat on and go out there and SELL the advantages of our service. If the prospect is not prepared to consider your advice and your offer(possibly amended) then you must walk on to the next job.

If you become embroiled in a purely price competing exercise, you will rarely win as there will always be someone cheaper. Sell a good service at a fair price.

An approach I learnt on one of these forums a few years ago has stuck in my mind.

CC: That will cost £200 Sir.
Custard:  No thanks, Joe Bloggs will do it for £150, but if you'd like to match that price.....
CC: If I did match that price, who would you choose?
Custard: Why you of course!
CC: Why's that Sir?
Custard: Because you'd do a better job!
CC: I rest my case

Safe and happy cleaning
Ken

[boshravie]

Hi Ken

Yes You are sooooooooooo right about this and you know I have done some of the jobs for them very cheap, for past two months we have done some rooms and a large hall way, and they have seen how excellent our job was, in fact they were so surprise how we could bring their carpet up so clean.
But up to now I have been more than fair to them and if I have to keep doing it for cheep price, there would not be any profit for us.
Therefore I have to kiss good bye to this one.
Any way thanks so much for your advice, its always good to hear other advice.


Regards

Bosh

[gwrightson]

A similar situation Ken, only 2 weeks ago.

I gave a local restaraunt a price of £350 to clean their carpets, incidently after I had just after I had been out with a few friends for a meal there.

His reply was thats alittle expensive I can get it done for £150  

My reply was," Your steaks cost around £12.00 a go  , I can go down the road and get a steak for around a fiver"  He smiled and said " Yes but mine our far better quality and better service etc."

Exactly,   I said . He didnt know what to say

Havnt heard wether I got the job yet though

Geoff.

[boshravie]

Exactly, I don’t understand these people mentality, even though I give them a broacher about my company and how we do things and explaining all the details of how I clean a carpet, they still don’t understand .

Basically I blame all the cheep carpet cleaners who have made general public to believe that carpet cleaning is just pure the water in the tank of a machine and go over the carpet or go  down nearest D.I.Y shop and hire it and go over the carpet like a vacuum cleaner.
I think we all have a duty to educate the public about carpet cleaning. and I hope forum like these will educate some of those cheep and cheerful carpet cleaners to price properly and educate their customers.

Bosh

[The Great One]

HI

Guys, i think this is the issue, they see us as cleaners and that is just a carpet.

Most of them don't care about the training, products, time, effort, service etc. Thye just want the cheapest price they can.

They see themselves in a different light, they are a restrauntuer, highly esteemed etc.

Their thoughts are just that they wanted in cleaned, not what goes into it.

We obviously like to give the best service and are proud of our finished product, they don't give a monkeys.

Regards

Martin

[carpet guy]

Martin is correct and it's been stated many times, by many people. When someone / anyone want's a service carried out, they almost always ask the same question.

Can you give me a quotation for the following work...........................?

If you start to muddy the waters, you are petting barriers in your way, rather than giving your business an edge.

If the price is right, you will be offered the job.

In 90% of domestic work, the same rules apply.

As in every walk of life, if you want to be busy, you must be competetive otherwise you have presented a barrier between you and your prospect.

Does'nt mean you have to be cheap, but somewhere in the middle is the best place to be, if you want to be busy !

[Ken Wainwright]

Martin

I agree 100% with your view. Or not

So who's going to change their blinkered view?

Unless we do it ourselves, nobody will. We all run our own business', take pride in our abilities, standards, ethics etc. etc. and we put this to good use in our business'.

If non of us did anything to improve standards, we'd all be working down to a price and not up to a standard.

Double glazing is double glazing is double glazing. Until you ask for a quote when someone will tell you about their high security locks. Another will tell you about their special Solar Glass, another about a bigger air gap and some will offer it all.  They employ professional salesmen to inform, educate and SELL their premium products. Just the same as us carpet cleaners :

As I said, nobody else will improve our standards for us. Or our profitability.

I like to think that I've done a pretty good job of educating my commercial and residential customers alike over the years. They will buy my value added service for the same reason they will buy a  Dyson rather than a Goblin, or a BMW rather than a Lada.  They are all designed for the same purpose, but some have value added features and perform a fair bit better than others.

Safe and happy cleaning
Ken

[The Great One]

Hi

I hear what you are saying, and I do agree.

but, the customer only regards us as cleaners, and that's a carpet. For most customers, that's as far as it goes.

How many price shoppers do we all get ady in & day out?

The BMW anology is not suitable in this case, if people are in the market for one (they can afford it) they will buy it, if not a lada is all it may have to be.

You have been doing this many years and have built up trust and reliability, but these days, it comes down to availability and price. Same for window cleaners, domestic, commercial, pubs, resturants, the lot.

Although I feel I give a great product, service, and good value, if they don't agree, i lose it to someone else. It's happened to us all.

I am guessing we all strive to improve our standards, but most people don't care, they just want it done ASAP and for the right price.

Regards

Martin