Clean It Up
UK Floor Cleaning Forum => Carpet Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: robert meldrum on August 01, 2011, 06:59:15 pm
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One of the most productive and profitable ways of building a business is to BUILD A LIST ................and work the list forever after.
Using something like Groupon could certainly build a list very quickly and save a lot of time and expense on other marketing methods.
If someone who can cover the high volume of work because they are in a position to do so with enough vehicles / workers / know how, they could race ahead and be in a very strong position in months rather than years.
I've read MANY reports on the use of Groupon and if handled properly the work CAN lead to additional work at the same time as carrying out the Groupon supplied work..................but only if you have the MANPOWER and the equipment available.
Some will look back after a few years and think......................IF ONLY I'D HAD THE COURAGE.
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the thing with groupon is you can set the rules 1, limit the sales 2,if you do a second /third run stipulate previous need not apply (dont forget you know the addresses) 3, do one room only so there is an easy up sell I did lounge for 15 quid most who brought had lounge hall and stairs done 25% had whole house done and I also have had 15 spin off jobs from friends and family of voucher buyers
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Good post Robert.
New clients are expensive to come by, so they should be actively marketed to.
You can't keep relying on new business year in, year out.
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Mark,
So who sets the deal? How do you limit the deals done?
I like your website. What percentage of people book straight from having used your online quote, if you don't mind me asking?
Simon
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well I did, so you would just stipulate what you want commission, amount, ground rules they need new ventures as there are so many of the same the listen.
thanks on the website
not as many as I would like really but a few probably 2 a week just book then about 5 or 6 more ring to confirm a day they really need is available
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Marks,
Thanks for that. I'm just interest if you think having an online price calculator generates more sales than if the customers had to ring you for a price?
Simon
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Hi Mark
Thoughts are as Simons but with one question about your suite price. Is that £60 across the board for a 3-1-1. Do you consider physical size, condition, type of fabric etc?
thanks
Mark Roberts
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major: i don't think so. it's impersonal and customers need the personal touch imo. price generator comes across as some random generic company and you are one of their random customers. that's how i feel after having one on our site.
edit after seeing the one we're talking about perhaps it's ok. we have a full booking system and although it's great to have all the info done you miss information by talking to customers, and as we're one of few to have this, what the customer will do is get price on ours, then ring competition and form a relationship with them and be able to negotiate on the phone
afaik groupon doesn't cost anything, so it's not about courage. at the end of it if it doesn't wok and you find after 10 customers it's rubbish what then? it's still your business you are still in control, (except with how much groupon take the greedy buggers!) so i can't see how it's about courage but instead about whether you're busy enough to worry about it.
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the on line price calculator cuts out the price shoppers and time wasters IMO I have customers just book and when I meet them they are very nice just busy and cant be doing with the sales stuff lol
yes thats for a 3 piece suite but I hate doing them so only ever do them if Im doing the whole house
groupon are greedy but its your business so dont give it away just keep saying no they will say yes in the end lol it took me 4 weeks to get what i wanted but got it in the end they need us CCers
as for the customers I told them when I could do them I allocated a couple of days a week for them that only wanted a lounge doing or fitted them around bigger jobs or regular work
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Kermit, the courage comes into it, by taking the risk that you will be working flat out for £11.00 a job, and for weeks and weeks with no extra return.
Think about it, £50 a day for 3 months if the deal sells well, not many business' can afford that even if it is for a data base, so the courage is in not knowing if you will be able to sell add ons etc.
Quite a risk really.
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then dont do it think you have said the same thing loads of times negative why keep going on
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but as mentioned hector it's still your business, you wont be working flat out all day every day for £11 per job, you make up the rules surely as you run your business? are you legally required to do only groupon work until all sales are completed? what if you can't fit in some and they have to wait? what i'm saying is if you have free time and aren't earning much etc it's not courage to then let groupon get you loads of work, it's not courage working for nothing in the hope the customer who looks for cheap deals will want to pay top dollar next time round when the cheap guy worked. courage is using yell; groupon is guaranteed work that they'll bring right to you. my cleaners earn less then £50 a day, ok they don't have running costs but someone starting up wouldn't how many either, and it only takes one of the customers to also want a lounge done for £40 extra then you're on ~£100 a day. i don't see the courage here that is required. are you all scared of groupon? standing up to someone takes courage, being walked over takes something else can't think of the word...
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then dont do it think you have said the same thing loads of times negative why keep going on
Actually I agreed with Jason when he first mentioned it, and never been negative about it
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have you said anything positive about it :)
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the discussion keeps coming up mark. you can't only hear positive stuff when people keep brining it up. this is a public board the point is to give different views. the negative may stay the same and you may have heard it enough but you aren't the only viewer.
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have you said anything positive about it :)
If you would care to read my posts YES
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That is a lot more encouraging knowing that you can design your own scheme and limit the numbers, makes it more manageable. It's not for me though, but still a very interesting business model. Hope the people that do it keep us posted.
Simon
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That is a lot more encouraging knowing that you can design your own scheme and limit the numbers, makes it more manageable. It's not for me though, but still a very interesting business model. Hope the people that do it keep us posted.
Simon
Clearly some people haven't thought it through and signed up on the spot to a great scheme, hence why we are being told about some CC's having 500 plus jobs to fit in.
Now on the other hand Jason and a few will 'probably' limit it to a lowish number, so that they get clients and can also do their own correctly priced jobs.
All the same after 12 years in this industry I have no intention of going back to working for peanuts on any particular job.
I sold my window cleaning business a couple of years back because I didn't want to do it anymore, but I still get enquiries and if people want to pay the price for getting me interested then I'll do it. Today I priced up an initial outer & inner clean on a cottage with conservatory. Just short of £200 will inspire me to do it, if they don't want to pay then that's fine. In days of old I would have been pleased to get £60 for that and if it took 3 or 4 hours then fine.
So, for a start up situation where the person has some brain cells groupon will probably help them, but they'll need to have financial back up (like redundancy money) to see them through whilst they work for very little.
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the on line price calculator cuts out the price shoppers and time wasters IMO I have customers just book and when I meet them they are very nice just busy and cant be doing with the sales stuff lol
I concur with Mark, I was sick of price hunters using & tying up my 0800 number not to get a sale. I use an Amazing Instant Online Quote Calculator & Booking System as an extension to my existing website, http://www.newcastlecarpetcleaningcompany.co.uk (http://www.newcastlecarpetcleaningcompany.co.uk) and guess what? I don't get any time wasters and my conversion rate is at 90% and it increased my sales upto 40%. I love this system as it's automated and I can respond to customers the second they make a booking and even when I'm on the road working.
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anthony where did u get the online price calculator and how much did it cost etc .. dan
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Just come back from new York and that place is 'up sell on heat' had a meal which came to $72 on the menu then there was 20% service charge (not mentioned) then tax on top then the staff wanted a bloody tip! So $72 came to $100 and the Americans don't mind it!
I'm not sure about London and its suburbs but up selling however ethical is a bit different/harder the further you go north (or is it a mind set thing?)
Btw 2 great price calculators, I like the more indepth one On Anthony browns site my mrs says its too tedious and likes Mark Joyce's as it's cleaner and clearer both calculate carpets at a simular rate.
Shaun
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Nice website Anthony.
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I like the idea for the online booking to get rid of price shoppers but what happens if you turn up and just can't do it for the price you said online?
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anthony where did u get the online price calculator and how much did it cost etc .. dan
http://www.yoo-quote.com (http://www.yoo-quote.com)
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I like the idea for the online booking to get rid of price shoppers but what happens if you turn up and just can't do it for the price you said online?
Hi Neil, The way I see it is, lots of work is better than none or very little, i get a steady stream of bookings to keep me busy all year round. Where I live most houses are what we call standard size approx 15ft x 13ft for a lounge so i base my prices on that.
The fact that Im using such a professional looking site the customer never questions my prices and if the house turns out to be a mansion then I say to the customer that the prices on the website are for a standard size room and I will have to price your house accordingly, and they never complain. You win a lot more than you loose.
Also bare in mind that you have turned up for the job and the customer has moved everything in the room and they have their mind set on having their carpets cleaned on that day, their not going to turn you away. I never get bogus bookings and rarely get cancellations using YOOquote.
Hope this helps.
P.S. One big attraction to the customer is the 50% discount and the fact they can see your top price and when they click the cart button the price reduces by half which is a massive WOW factor to the custy. We all know we're really not giving them 50% off, but merley inflating the price like we sometimes have in the past. People are suckers for bargains.
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Btw 2 great price calculators, I like the more indepth one On Anthony browns site my mrs says its too tedious and likes Mark Joyce's as it's cleaner and clearer both calculate carpets at a simular rate.
Hi Shaun,
Thanks for your comments on my price calculator its appreciated.
Up here in the North it works with exceptional results, but you have to look at the bigger picture, because it's not just a price calculator, it actually runs 75% of my business through automation and does a whole lot more in the back office, and the fact that its iphone, android, ipad, and tablet compatible i get quite a few bookings from customers with mobile phones which we all know is going to be the new way to connect to the internet and do business. RIP yellow pages. :'(
I know http://yoo-quote.com (http://yoo-quote.com) is not going to be for all carpet cleaners, but the way people are doing business more and more on the internet and for those customers that don't have time to pick up the phone or wait in for you to give them a quote this is where YOOquote performs at its finest.
Since using YOOquote i have not been to a custys house since to give them a quote, so this also cuts out the price shoppers, time wasters and has increased my sales by 40%.
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Sounds like it's working well for you.
I have noticed quite few doing the 50% off, it's making a come back. It used to be done a lot on leaflets in the 80s and 90s by carpet cleaners. I did it when I started.
It's not for me anymore I like pricing by the square foot.
What's your average job ticket with those prices?
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Anthony with not wanting to sound rude but your online booking works not because you give 50% off or you have a great website but because your prices are very competitive,
competitive prices sell themselves just like on any other marketing medium, try doubling your prices and see how many online bookings you get.
you are not cutting out the price-shoppers when your price is what they want to pay...... 'price-shoppers' are the callers who won't pay your prices.... when your prices are low then 'price-shopper' miraculously becomes 'customers'
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Sounds like it's working well for you.
I have noticed quite few doing the 50% off, it's making a come back. It used to be done a lot on leaflets in the 80s and 90s by carpet cleaners. I did it when I started.
It's not for me anymore I like pricing by the square foot.
What's your average job ticket with those prices?
Hi Craig,
My average job ticket from the quote calculator varies from week to week but to give you an example, back in June I had 32 bookings in 28 days using the calculator and that's 32 bookings I would never had have if I didn't use YOOquote. So IMO it has paid for itself hundreds of times over. I'm still currently getting an average of 1 confirmed booking a day including Saturdays and Sundays when we don't answer the phone.
YOOquote also gives you the ability to quote by the sq ft or quote by room or both its up to you. If you wish to use straight forward pricing you can also, I get much more business offering discounts.
We all have our own business models some work better than others.
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Anthony with not wanting to sound rude but your online booking works not because you give 50% off or you have a great website but because your prices are very competitive,
competitive prices sell themselves just like on any other marketing medium, try doubling your prices and see how many online bookings you get.
you are not cutting out the price-shoppers when your price is what they want to pay...... 'price-shoppers' are the callers who won't pay your prices.... when your prices are low then 'price-shopper' miraculously becomes 'customers'
Hi Mike, thanks for the comments, they did not sound rude, just your opinion which is valid. However I have not gone into this lightly, and what you may not be aware of. I have completed a study over a 12 month period, with the same prices and the same offers, which are right for the market in my area. And what I have found is my business has increased by 40% since introducing the calculator. Even with competitors going on to Groupon and offering silly prices. For the 6 months when I was not using the calculator, I was still getting phone calls from customers who were haggling over the price, then going elsewhere when I would not drop the price for them. With the calculator I am finding that customers are booking online, and I can honestly say that not one has haggled over the price. Doubling my price would be commercial suicide as I would completely price myself out of the market, what I offer is competitive and the going rate. Customers love it because they get what they want, which shows that my business model is not only right for me, but it's right for my customers.
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The only problem is you have to be low priced for this to work, and then make up by doing a high volume of jobs per day.
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if its working for you then great, but i always think if some one will pay £55 on your online booking then if you had the opportunity to talk to them you could get them to spend an extra £10 on the price. with online booking you never get that opportunity.
but i do like the idea of coming home on an evening to a list of booked in jobs with no effort from me. have i read it right that the software allows the customers to book an appointment space?
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The only problem is you have to be low priced for this to work, and then make up by doing a high volume of jobs per day.
Their is no exact science to this, and their is a bit of trial and error involved, as with life, but before you doubt anything you should try it, and its FREE for 14 days, What more can I say. ???
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The only problem is you have to be low priced for this to work, and then make up by doing a high volume of jobs per day.
Their is no exact science to this, and their is a bit of trial and error involved, as with life, but before you doubt anything you should try it, and its FREE for 14 days, What more can I say. ???
Do you have Any affiliation to the said quotation software?
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You could sell carpet cleaning to anyone at those prices, putting it less politely than Mike did :)
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That's if he's selling carpet cleaning at all. Smells like he's marketing YOOquote
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They are a genuine company. Not one of my customers though. Probably Extracta guys.
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the YOOquote link was only put up by anthony because i asked him where he got it from after looking at his website . i got accused of this as well a while back about a company in cornwall ,when all i did was ask if anyone had a problem using their website ???
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Yes but....
You are a shifty character Dan ;D ;D ;D ;D
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i learned it all from u hector ;D
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;D
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Anthony Brown is yoo-quote
as shown here in the whois lookup http://whois.domaintools.com/yoo-quote.com
Secondly Anthony Brown is using somebody else's hard work and passing it off as his and CHARGING for it! This is a free download to anyone with a Joomla website as iprice calc which can be seen and downloaded here http://ipricecalc.lot-studio.ru/en/ipricecalc
ABSOLUTE RIP OFF! Anthony you are a chancer!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Yes but....
You are a shifty character Dan ;D ;D ;D ;D
You have been out dodgied Dan :o :o
;D ;D ;D
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Anthony Brown is yoo-quote
as shown here in the whois lookup http://whois.domaintools.com/yoo-quote.com
Secondly Anthony Brown is using somebody else's hard work and passing it off as his and CHARGING for it! This is a free download to anyone with a Joomla website as iprice calc which can be seen and downloaded here http://ipricecalc.lot-studio.ru/en/ipricecalc
ABSOLUTE RIP OFF! Anthony you are a chancer!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sweet mate, thanks for that, he almost fooled me, i had a nice email from him explaining all the work this has generated him. He needs flogged.
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fair play sherlock (nick) .. well done . although i did ask him where i could get it . anthony your a big sweaty bawbag . >:(
hector lmao ;D
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So you've bought a second hand whirly thing off ebay and some encap, you've got all day now since the factory laid you off in your £60 a day J.O.B.
I think Groupon looks very attractive even at what we reckon are 'silly' prices.
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Anthony Brown is yoo-quote
as shown here in the whois lookup http://whois.domaintools.com/yoo-quote.com
Secondly Anthony Brown is using somebody else's hard work and passing it off as his and CHARGING for it! This is a free download to anyone with a Joomla website as iprice calc which can be seen and downloaded here http://ipricecalc.lot-studio.ru/en/ipricecalc
ABSOLUTE RIP OFF! Anthony you are a chancer!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hahaha, caught red handed, nice work Nick ;D
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Tony (Anthony) Brown
Please contact me with a matter of urgency - I cannot find any e mail address to be associated with you either from Karens Cleaning or The Newcastle Cleaning Company, hence asking on here.
admin@cleanersmate.co.uk
Thank you
Kevin Loomes
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I didn't think Anthony did claim is as his own? In fact, he said its available FOC on trial for 14 days from some website - or am I mistaken??
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the on line price calculator cuts out the price shoppers and time wasters IMO I have customers just book and when I meet them they are very nice just busy and cant be doing with the sales stuff lol
I concur with Mark, I was sick of price hunters using & tying up my 0800 number not to get a sale. I use an Amazing Instant Online Quote Calculator & Booking System as an extension to my existing website,
http://www.newcastlecarpetcleaningcompany.co.uk (http://www.newcastlecarpetcleaningcompany.co.uk) and guess what? I don't get any time wasters and my conversion rate is at 90% and it increased my sales upto 40%. I love this system as
it's automated and I can respond to customers the second they make a booking and even when I'm on the road working.
He bought up this year old topic with this.
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Kevin you've noticed it says " the carpet cleaners mate" in his website title bar?
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I have Craig, hence the request for contact.
Thanks
Kev
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I didn't think Anthony did claim is as his own? In fact, he said its available FOC on trial for 14 days from some website - or am I mistaken??
This is the whole point I'm making Ash! It is a completely free component for Joomla he has directed you to a free 14 day trial on his own website that he is trying to charge you for somebody else's work even though he has not admitted it, it is in fact his website.
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Oops he seems to have gone a bit quiet!
RRRRRUMBLED!!!
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Very as he was last on here at 1802 today. ???
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NO guys im still very much here.
Isn't it amazing how much mud slinging and false accusations can be bandied around a forum by individuals who can't see past their nose ends, and I speak about the minority not the majority of the carpet cleaners on here.
We are a genuine company, http://newcastlecarpetcleaningcompany.co.uk (http://newcastlecarpetcleaningcompany.co.uk)and not extracta guys, who agreed with Mark Joyce on his comments and gave him an example. Then Dan Paton asked for the link to YOOquote and I gave it to him, now this is where the vultures and mud slingers came into play.
Then I get accused of trying to market YOOquote, remember I was asked, so I reciprocated.
I never denied nor laid claim to YOOquote as I was not actively marketing YOOquote on this forum, and Nick Attwood AKA (Sherlock), anyone with a little knowledge can trace a domain name back to its owner, NO brilliance there then. If I wanted to hide who I was do you really think I would use my real name and address as registered with the domain registrar to trick people. As far as iprice is concerned (Sherlock) you really should have done all your homework first. Yes iprice calculator is free under GNU but it is the basic version, I actually purchased a license to use minimart which is the advanced version, only to find out at a later date that it is a free to download piece of open source software called opencart, with a bit of salt added by iprice.
This software is freely available to develop as you see fit if you know how, "I know how, so I developed it". Just like wordpress and joomla which are also free and opensource, which most of you probably use for your own websites, and your webmasters actually sell to you. YOOquote is offered in exactly the same way under GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE Version 3, 29 June 2007 by offering a free trial.
My intensions are not to deceive nor to sell YOOquote to you, you are all grown ups on here that make your own decisions based on what you see and not what is said by others. Some of you really should get a load of this: http://www.marcandangel.com/2012/08/15/12-choices-your-future-self-will-thank-you-for/#more-495 (http://www.marcandangel.com/2012/08/15/12-choices-your-future-self-will-thank-you-for/#more-495)
A note for the guys who posted the false accusations, like I said at the beginning of this email, we are a genuine company and not con men. Initially YOOquote was developed to help our company increase sales, as it did beyond our wildest dreams, so we decided to make it freely available under GNU to the carpet cleaning industry.
We have developed YOOquote to help carpet cleaners not rip them off. We are prepared to forget about the previous false accusations and not seek to consult our solicitors at this time for liable. But if the accusations still persist we will take this further, and under the British Telecommunications Act, the owners of Cleanitup will have no choice but to comply with the law and release the neccassary information pertaining to those individuals to prosecute.
And anyone else found abusing our YOOquote servers like some of you already have, mentioning no names, will also have action taken against them.
I won't be taking part in this post any longer
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so just to be clear you are giving away your version of the software to any one that wants it? not selling it
hopefully you'll answer this before deciding to not participate any longer
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Anthony
I suggest you read carefully http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html
Also none of your sites are using opencart! They all call for the iprice calc component!
Open Cart & iprice calc are completley different, the point I was making is that all my fellow cleaners on here can have this with out paying a penny! Subsequently not lining your pocket. There is nothing added to iprice calc on your site from the original.
As we can all see in the code below, copied from your sites you are in fact using iprice calc and nothing else!!
"<img name="myloadImg" id="myloadImg" style=" border:1px solid #666666; position:fixed; display:none; left:0; top:100; " src="http://demo-platinum-uk.yoo-quote.com/administrator/components/com_ipricecalc/assets/images/ajax-loader.gif">"
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As a courtesy to Kev Loomes, perhaps it may be worth removing the phrase "cleaners' mate" from descriptions such as this...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzMuCa03bWw ?
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I'm lost, "accusations" ? What of? owning YOOquote? But you do, don't you?
Why not just say in the first place.
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dont see how u can sue me for calling u a sweaty bawbag but as craig p said . why didn't u come on and say that in the first place . as u say you developed it so tell us all the benefits of yours rather than the free version cause to be honest i was rather liking it and if its the business your in as well as carpet cleaning then why did u miss the golden opportunity to promote it on here as a business advertiser . yes i did ask u for the link but u could have been totally honest and said you owned it . ps can u e mail me figures showing me your business went up by 40%
dan
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Marketing spiel is always the same. Same words, same sentence construction. This guy's posts were just loaded with it from the word go.
Having said that the product is still pretty cool. It's just a shopping cart though, you could modify any of them.
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I don't see what the problem is,
the guys got a fantastic site that drives business his way and as far I can see was quite willing to share his success with others, so what if a small charge is involved, if had not told you about you would not any wiser, I have no doubt many on here will be looking to put something similar in place now that you have the information.
If there is a small charge involved seems cheap considering your more clued up now that you were previously.
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websites been attacked by the looks of things.
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ps can u e mail me figures showing me your business went up by 40%
dan
Dan,
It would not surprise me if Tony's sales have gone up. I remember him taking part in a discussion about SEO on another forum last year (maybe?).
At the time his Newcastle site was just about on the first page. It's now quite high. It also has a really eye catching title "wow... etc", which ought to get a good click through rate.
An online calculator will probably increase the time that visitors stay on the site and could maybe, reduce bounce rate. Both of these are now ranking factors.
The 40% increase is quite plausible.
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"An online calculator will probably increase the time that visitors stay on the site"
Their online quote is on another domain.
If you don't have a Joomla site, there's nothing stopping you building this cart on and linking through.
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Yeah but no one knew this (or most anyway) until it was brought up on this topic....
I think the reaction was way over the top....just comes across as sour grapes to some extent..
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"An online calculator will probably increase the time that visitors stay on the site"
Their online quote is on another domain.
Sorry Warren, I was talking generally. In this instance, I see what you mean; it does redirect to another domain.