[andy east sussex]

hello guys been a while year ago dad passed away hasn't been same since quality been high still and same volume of advertising yet still getting out priced by internet  ah herm Face***** how can I compete with quote like £30 for lounge hall stairs landing I cant even get close with domestic any more im struggling 1 week to the next more going out than coming in im only being honest and hold my hands up do I call it a day or do I just match them others and buy a henry wet& dry leave carpets soaked etc.

no one likes to admit their being beaten but who has anyone been through my situation how did you pick it up again im out of ideas

[Carpet Dawg]

do you have any affluent areas near you? Do a Mike Haliday, and leaflet them to death on a weekly. Its pro active. Or how about going after more commercial work?

Your right about facebook, nothing but cheap skates on there. I tried posting to groups for a few months to see if it produced anything as its free but they are all poor.

[Susan Dean (1stclean)]

 

its dog eat dog the  cleaning world and as been for over 100 years some will make good money some wont . you need a bit of luck doesn't matter how hard you work or how good you are it works for some and not for others,

ive known big companies go under and people from here have gone under  , porty users , truck mounters  most will tell you there earning massive money yet you pass there house and there vans are never off the drive lol  

I took the the advise of people on here and upped my prices I went from 6 vans out everyday to 1 truckmount in less then a year worked died that quick , lucky for me I sold 10 houses at the high of the market to pay my other ten off so I now don't work apart form getting on under the hammer three times lol

if its not working then get out now and save what you have left ,

or  maybe get a job delivering fast food on a night this way freeing up day time for your cleaning keep doing this until you pick up ?? you will meet customers and have a wage to keep going while you get sorted

[Susan Dean (1stclean)]

do you have any affluent areas near you? Do a Mike Haliday, and leaflet them to death on at weekly. Its pro active. Or how about going after more commercial work?

Your right about facebook, nothing but cheap skates on there. I tried posting to groups for a few months to see if it produced anything as its free but they are all poor.

wheres the money comeing from to do this ? if you don't get a quick influx of work form them that's even more money down the pan short term

[Carpet Dawg]

do you have any affluent areas near you? Do a Mike Haliday, and leaflet them to death on at weekly. Its pro active. Or how about going after more commercial work?

Your right about facebook, nothing but cheap skates on there. I tried posting to groups for a few months to see if it produced anything as its free but they are all poor.

wheres the money comeing from to do this ? if you don't get a quick influx of work form them that's even more money down the pan short term

The money to put out leaflets? If the Andy is sitting at home waiting for the phone to ring is it not worth his while to go knocking/dropping leaflets? you can get 10,000 leaflets printed for £53 at printed.com, wont break the bank (he'll have too put them out his self). As for commercial, phone up, door knocking etc wont cost much.

He can also try Adwords, that's a quick way o get calls. Weather he can convert them at good prices is another thing.

[andy east sussex]

im getting calls go and quote and basically majority say " ah ive had a quote from internet at 1/2 that price how ever much I try and sell my self I cant compete with prices Eastbourne where I am are over run with new start ups soon as 1 disappears another pops up never ending circle this is the worst couple of years out of 10 ive found I think the bottom has fallen out of carpet cleaning with machine hire prices and real low price cleaners

[Susan Dean (1stclean)]

do you have any affluent areas near you? Do a Mike Haliday, and leaflet them to death on at weekly. Its pro active. Or how about going after more commercial work?

Your right about facebook, nothing but cheap skates on there. I tried posting to groups for a few months to see if it produced anything as its free but they are all poor.

wheres the money comeing from to do this ? if you don't get a quick influx of work form them that's even more money down the pan short term

The money to put out leaflets? If the Andy is sitting at home waiting for the phone to ring is it not worth his while to go knocking/dropping leaflets? you can get 10,000 leaflets printed for £53 at printed.com, wont break the bank (he'll have too put them out his self). As for commercial, phone up, door knocking etc wont cost much.

He can also try Adwords, that's a quick way o get calls. Weather he can convert them at good prices is another thing.

oh sorry mr mortgage man I missed you this month because I spent money of leaflets and add words but someone on a fourm said it wouldn't cost much !!!

if you have the balls to come on a fourm and tell help your in trouble then your in the poop !!!!  

ill go one better I will put my money where my mouth is ill pay for his leaftes for free no catch at all to help him out ive been where he is and I didn't like it one bit

[Brendan (chem2clean)]

Hey Andy,mate i feel for yeah.Sounds like you have had a rough time lately,you are still mourning your dad.Could this be effecting your drive.Maybe try and take a marketing course,something to give the eye of the tiger back.Adwords ,would be a quick start.Most of us have struggled from time to time.There will always be low cost cleaners,but if you do a good job you wil get repeat customers and referrals.September can be a quiet month anyhow.

[andy east sussex]

think what hit home is just had another 20,000 leaflets delivered to me and its just the thought of me and mrs doing the same areas again with little hits when they use to work well as a rough guess only I think its like 45,000 in Eastbourne when first started out wasn't so many people doing it recession hit and I guess some maybe thought it was good money which it was then more and more doing it and keep lowering prices to beat the next man I guess now I think its just over run and because everyone is on facebook you always see a offer pop up which makes eyes light up 

[Simon Gerrard]

Andy,
I feel for you.
The truth is your area is just like every other area. There are people who will go with the cheapest, because they believe that all Capet cleaners are the same and regardless how much or little you pay in end with the same thing, a clean carpet. And then there are people who've used the cheapest before and know through bitter experience that the above is not true. It is these people and the zillions of people who already appreciate that you only ever get what you are prepared to pay for - this should be your target market. Forget the cheapskates, set yourself up as a specialist carpet cleaner and in due course you will come to realise the problem you were facing was because you made the mistake of thinking that carpet cleaning was about price, when in fact it is and always has been about quality.

If you want a chat, I'd be happy to help.



Simon

[brianbarber]

What simon says is quite on the money

I do a lot of window cleaning where I get jobs that I've priced sometimes double to other quotes. Why?
Sign written van, tell custy as many positives about me and why you should use me,t shirt with name on.

Carpet quotes over the phone I lose a lot more than when I visit to quote.
 Try selling your service, explain how you clean, pre vac if you don't, pre spray , agitation, extraction, air blowers etc, just to give your service extra added value, then they will pay the top dollar.
 As an example,mrs Jones , I've quoted £79 for the lounge,'oh joe blow has quoted me £39
Well Mrs Jones, I'm often beaten on price but not on quality or service.....
Then, she will either book then and there, or think about those seeds of doubt I've sown if she picks Mr Joe Blow

That's just my take on it.

Mr B

[Hilton]

Sounds to me that you are not in the right frame of mind to run  this business and this probably comes across in both your work and your communication with prospects.

You may we'll be better off taking a job if you can get one at least in the short term and keep your hand in doing the odd carpet job at the weekends for extra cash until such time you feel ready to take the plunge again.

This will relieve the pressure on you and no doubt your family as well....
Good luck

[Simon Gerrard]

Our target customer lives on nice estates, people that have pride in their homes and are intelligent enough to realise that quality comes at a price, a price they are more than willing to pay to get the job done properly. Will these people pay over the odds? Some will, but these people are savvy enough to know the difference between value for money and being ripped off.
You do have to point your business towards these people and this comes down to how you present yourself as a professional company. If you fall into the trap of thinking that competition and therefore being competitive is about price, then you have pointed your business down market to stand in a field with all the other sheep, all trying to stand out by being cheaper then the next guy and the worst part about that is your competitors and not you are in control of your prices and inevitably your profits.
Carpet cleaning is not about price, it is about quality. Business building is also about quality, a low price might get you through the door the first time around, but it is the quality of what you do while you're in there that dictates whether or not you will ever see that customer again, or indeed, get yourself recommended to your customers family and friends.
You really so have to think about which sectors of the market you want to serve and then target that market and seize control of your business.

Simon

[jim mca]

Find a part time job take some pressure off if you sound desperate you will struggle you cant compete with daft prices its pointless look at different business models Simon, Mike, Shaun, Jason L, Susan or any other then decide what suits you and what you want to achieve.

[gwrightson]

Posts: 3954



View Profile WWW   Re: struggling
« Reply #12 on: Yesterday at 10:56:14 pm » Reply with quote 

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quote from Simon "
"Our target customer lives on nice estates, people that have pride in their homes and are intelligent enough to realise that quality comes at a price, a price they are more than willing to pay for. Will these people pay over the odds?  "

Although I tend to agree to a point , I do find some times the opposite,
last week I quoted for a lounge, 4 bed house, very nice area quality furnishings etc. she wanted a" spruce up "
her words . I visited, tried to sell my self , but she thought far to expensive at £55 , she had already had quote for £25.00 over phone by somebody local.  The same day, I quoted for a retired couple living in a council flat ,small lounge and passage  £60  and sofa  plus 1 chair   £100, more than happy with quote and I cleaned yesterday.  along with been happy she got me 2 more quotes for her sister and a friend.

You can never tell !!!
Geoff

[Simon Gerrard]

Ok, it's about mindset then, not bricks and mortar but the same thing; 'people that have pride in their homes and are intelligent enough to realise that quality comes at a price, a price they are more than willing to pay to get the job done properly.'

Simon

[gwrightson]

Well put Simon,

the key word  " pride "   

I often find the so called lower end market are often the most helpful too, willing to move things, offering tea etc.
I remember only recently spending a full day on a job at a so called exclusive detached house, not a wiff of a cuppa been offered

Geoff

[Simon Gerrard]

The other thing is that these type of people expect to pay for a professional service and would not dream of paying £30 for a lounge hall, stairs and landing, because they know what you get if you pay ridiculously cheap. I'm not talking about charging super high prices, but prices based on at least  £40 -£50 per hour. But you and your service have to be worthy of those prices and that means having the proper training and equipment and one other thing that is often overlooked - you have to look the part!

Simon

[Mike Halliday]

I've never met Andy ( I don't think) and don't want this post to sound insulting, but there's a couple of pionts that are relevent.

most people have the business they deserve because it's thier own creation if you have a crap business it's because that's what you have created. Don't complain about Internet price shopper or Facebook if you have made your business dependant on them, it's been  explained  to death about marketing to people who are not price orientated.

Secondly I've met a lot of carpet cleaners and the difference you often see between the high priced and the ones struggling is intelligence, ( look on CIU you'll notice the successful guys tend to be the ones who give the best advice and show a degree of intelligence ) some people don't deserve or get higher prices because they are 'just thick cleaners' ( not my words but how I heard another carpet cleaner describe one of his local carpet cleaners)

If you cannot stand in front of a wealthy, intelligent potential customer and speak  articulately  then you will have a hard time building a higher priced business.

I believe I have a successful high priced business which I solely believe is the result of the fact that in a 1 to 1 situation with potential customers I can talk with authority and I'm very articulate. If you get through this predicament, I urge you to in the long term try and massively increase your technical knowledge and become an expert in our field

(Ps:  intelligence  is not about being able to spell, incase I have made any mistakes . )

[John Kelly]

Confidence is also a big factor. I started 20 years ago and most of the "pro" cleaners who were around then are still here.