[Joe W Brown]

2 of my main adwords competitors are now offering '3 carpets for £49' or similar deal and leaving me drained of customers (since the said adverts appeared my conversion rate seems to have plummeted and click through rate also dropped considerably) so I am considering offering a 1 step clean package, alongside my premium clean, in order to compete with the offers.

Which detergent is best to use? Should i cut out pre-vac as well?


Thanks very much.

[wynne jones]

I'm not answering your question because I dont think thats the answer.

If you do a better job than them target your adwords to that type of customer.

I have 3 adwords above my No1 spot on google all pretty much saying 50% off or cheap menu prices, but my phone still rings and I dont care what they do.

[Joe W Brown]

Many thanks for your reply Wynne.

Ive been trying the tactic you mentioned. I wonder, though, if something might be said for diversifying to target both types of customers. It might also help to demonstrate that our 'premium' clean is far better quality than a cheaper clean and we are quite happy to offer them a cheap clean at competing rates if they would prefer.



You still think its a bad idea? If so why?

[wynne jones]

I can see your point.

Are you sure your results are because of these others?

My feeling, especially with adwords is to remember carpet cleaner <area> may well be the most searched but boy are you up against it competition wise, not just on cpc but also on the competitive pricing. You can create ad groups to your heart content for other search terms more cheaply and get better prices. Take them off to a dedicated page and it will be cheap and very targeted.

[Paul Evans]

Joe

straight answer,(Dont think its up to me to tell you how you should or should not run your business, Hence wynne refusing to advise!!!) Formula 90 powder fully dissolved think 60 degrees water, will see you right.
There are a lot of cleaners using this method, Rightly or wrongly. each to there own.

Paul

ps There are others ultimate master being one

[Simon Gerrard]

Joe,
With respect, you're making the basic mistake of thinking that the only way to compete with these people is on price and are prepared to forgo quality in order to do that. Do that and not only have you got, 'one shot' cleaning, you've also got 'one shot' customers, 'one shot' being that you only see them once.
The business objective is to build a loyal core of customers who consider you 'their' carpet cleaner and that only ever comes about, not through being the cheapest, but through the sheer quality of your work. If you make price the only issue upon which people can choose you then be prepared to do price battles with these people ad-infinitum and if you do that they and not you are running your business because they are in charge of your prices.

Simon

[AshWhite]

Yeah, Glynn, why don't you just advise?

Your name is mistaken more times than everyone else combined!

[Mike Halliday]

Chemspec F90 to directly answer your question.

if you want to compete on price then don't think the price you quote is written in stone, its a start price. if they will pay £49 then they will easily pay £59 if you give them enough reason to.

you could blatantly just tell them its dirtier than you expected..... so you'll need to charge an extra £10, once you are in the house they have vacuumed the carpets removed the small furniture they will not tell you to pee off because you want an extra £10.

£49 is to lure them in just like when a holiday company advertises flights for £49... how much does it cost once they add in all the extras?

offer 3 rooms for £49 if you want but give the option of every extra you can think of, they can only say No.

if you want to be really switched on send them a confirmation letter ( email) and include a menu of optional additional extras, which they can ask for on the day of the clean, this is the ultimate soft sell you don't even need to say anything they can ask for them.

[Simon Gerrard]

Chemspec F90 to directly answer your question.

if you want to compete on price then don't think the price you quote is written in stone, its a start price. if they will pay £49 then they will easily pay £59 if you give them enough reason to.

you could blatantly just tell them its dirtier than you expected..... so you'll need to charge an extra £10, once you are in the house they have vacuumed the carpets removed the small furniture they will not tell you to pee off because you want an extra £10.

£49 is to lure them in just like when a holiday company advertises flights for £49... how much does it cost once they add in all the extras?

offer 3 rooms for £49 if you want but give the option of every extra you can think of, they can only say No.

if you want to be really switched on send them a confirmation letter ( email) and include a menu of optional additional extras, which they can ask for on the day of the clean, this is the ultimate soft sell you don't even need to say anything they can ask for them.

So bait and switch is the key to success?

[Paul Evans]

Yeah, Glynn, why don't you just advise?

Your name is mistaken more times than everyone else combined!

  Sorry (Wynne)

[wynne jones]

Yeah, Glynn, why don't you just advise?

Your name is mistaken more times than everyone else combined!

Well at least its Welsh. 

[Mike Halliday]

Chemspec F90 to directly answer your question.

if you want to compete on price then don't think the price you quote is written in stone, its a start price. if they will pay £49 then they will easily pay £59 if you give them enough reason to.

you could blatantly just tell them its dirtier than you expected..... so you'll need to charge an extra £10, once you are in the house they have vacuumed the carpets removed the small furniture they will not tell you to pee off because you want an extra £10.

£49 is to lure them in just like when a holiday company advertises flights for £49... how much does it cost once they add in all the extras?

offer 3 rooms for £49 if you want but give the option of every extra you can think of, they can only say No.

if you want to be really switched on send them a confirmation letter ( email) and include a menu of optional additional extras, which they can ask for on the day of the clean, this is the ultimate soft sell you don't even need to say anything they can ask for them.

So bait and switch is the key to success?

bait and switch is when you lure them in with a price that you have no intention of honouring, I'm suggesting giving them the option to spend more if they wish, ( although my first paragraph of just adding on a tenner could be construed as B&S) but if you are willing to clean at the start price then whats the problem

but every where you go they use the add on technique to get more money out of you, its a legitimate marketing technique

McDonald: "do you want fries with that?"
subway: " do you want to go footlong?"
Ryanair: " do you want to sit together?"
Quickfix: do you want them balancing?"
Alisan Indian: do you want poppadoms?"

everyones doing it

[Simon Gerrard]

Yes, and people hate it.
We deal with people on an almost personal basis, at least you do if you have regular customers, and a good part of that relationship is built on trust and not just squeezing every penny out of a them. Which do you think works better? 'Do you want to buy a bottle of spotter for £7.99?' or, 'Here's a free bottle of spotter worth £7.99 to thank you for your business.'

Simon

[Mike Halliday]

I agree if it was a perfect world we would be giving away spotters and not trying to sell optional extras.....but in the world Joe lives  it's not perfect, that's why he's  considering cleaning 3 rooms for £49.

Joes asking how to compete against £49/3roomers. we can tell him  to charge full wack, that customers will pay for quality, that customer will stay loyal and come back year after year paying premium prices..... which on the whole is true... but I don't think that answers Joes question.

Joes asked a question we can answer it or use his question to preach to him about what we think he should do

[Phil @ Extreme Clean]

Chemspec F90 to directly answer your question.

if you want to compete on price then don't think the price you quote is written in stone, its a start price. if they will pay £49 then they will easily pay £59 if you give them enough reason to.

you could blatantly just tell them its dirtier than you expected..... so you'll need to charge an extra £10, once you are in the house they have vacuumed the carpets removed the small furniture they will not tell you to pee off because you want an extra £10.

£49 is to lure them in just like when a holiday company advertises flights for £49... how much does it cost once they add in all the extras?

offer 3 rooms for £49 if you want but give the option of every extra you can think of, they can only say No.

if you want to be really switched on send them a confirmation letter ( email) and include a menu of optional additional extras, which they can ask for on the day of the clean, this is the ultimate soft sell you don't even need to say anything they can ask for them.

So bait and switch is the key to success?

bait and switch is when you lure them in with a price that you have no intention of honouring, I'm suggesting giving them the option to spend more if they wish, ( although my first paragraph of just adding on a tenner could be construed as B&S) but if you are willing to clean at the start price then whats the problem

but every where you go they use the add on technique to get more money out of you, its a legitimate marketing technique

McDonald: "do you want fries with that?"
subway: " do you want to go footlong?"
Ryanair: " do you want to sit together?"
Quickfix: do you want them balancing?"
Alisan Indian: do you want poppadoms?"

everyones doing it

Mcdonalds favorite is LARGE 

And as for not pre-vaccing it's only your machine so don't worry about it 

[wynne jones]

Bait and switch is not the same as upselling.

[Paul Evans]

Bait and switch is not the same as upselling.

Well said Glynn  

I mean Wynne

[AshWhite]

Bait and switch is not the same as upselling.

Well said Glynne 

I mean Wynne

Yeah, Nice one Wayne.

[james roffey]

Yes, and people hate it.
We deal with people on an almost personal basis, at least you do if you have regular customers, and a good part of that relationship is built on trust and not just squeezing every penny out of a them. Which do you think works better? 'Do you want to buy a bottle of spotter for £7.99?' or, 'Here's a free bottle of spotter worth £7.99 to thank you for your business.'

Simon

Absolutely

Customer phoned me yesterday to book a whole house, got my number off my FREE spotter bottle that she removed a red wine stain out of her carpet over Christmas, good gestures are worth there weight in gold.

[Joe W Brown]

Mind me asking who supplies your spotters?