Clean It Up
UK Floor Cleaning Forum => Carpet Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Mike Halliday on September 28, 2011, 10:37:29 pm
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is there anyone here who is quoting suites @ £140+ over the phone?
what sort of response are you getting?
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New customers approx 33-50% book obviously recommends and old customers are different I try and position myself for carpet cleaning and can allow not to have a high take up on upholstery.
Shaun
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I try to get in-home quotes for suites as they are much harder to sell over the phone than carpets, in my experience. Quite often end up adding on protector that way too, as well as carpet cleaning into the bargain with a volume discount on the total price - been trying to push that sort of thing a bit more lately.
Conversion rate not good when forced to price over the phone, maybe 1 in 4 at best, but they are normally the casual price-shopping enquiries anyway. I don't lose many suite enquiries that I actually want to do, put it that way.
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We quote over the phone all of the time, but most of the time we are dealing with previous customers. I'd far rather clean carpet than clean suites as there's more money per hour in it so as long as our conversion rate is high for carpet cleaning whether or not we get every suite we quote for is not something that concerns me.
Simon
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im with you on that one simon
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Hi Guys
I too am fairly relaxed about this.
Had three suite enquiries today, got two at the higher end.
Another time I will get none, c'est la vie!
Cheers
Doug
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I wish I was getting £140+ over the phone put it that way.
Problem with suites is not the price we charge to do a great job its that many cleaners only charge £60-£80 so the customer who even though is quality concoius sees the gap in price as too high.
Also some customers cant even see the dirt on their suite until its pointed out to them.
Mark
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Quoted and booked £120 for a 3 piece suite and footstool over the phone this morning.. not too shabby. :)
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I've a suite to clean every morning for the next 2 weeks all at around £140-£150 its only because of what Simon said that I've gone to that price, I'm so busy on the carpet side it was losing me money to clean suites.
at £140ish it is still slightly less than carpets but it still worth doing them.
but their is no chance i would get the job if i gave the price over the phone.
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is there anyone here who is quoting suites @ £140+ over the phone?
what sort of response are you getting?
If I did quote £140 ish over the phone,I would hardly get any jobs.Most Sofas I quote over the phone are between £80 and £100.I reckon I get 9 out 10 of them.My opinion is, might as well do 9 out of 10 sofas and coin in £800,rather than high price and maybe do 2 or three and rake in £400.Works for me anyway,but good on yer Mike if you can get the higher price of £140ish.
Chris
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Bit like yourself Chris I'm quoting £75 - £85 but
that's over the phone, reckon to get 7 or 8 out
of 10.
Think a lot of pricing comes down to geography
regarding suites.
People in more rural areas are prepared for the
higher prices due to distance to travel etc.
On an average 3 job day I will probably travel
no more than 15 miles in a round trip so fuel
are low.
John
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we are more than 140 and over the phone, same as simon mostly regulars. 1 day over five days would mean you'll have turned over £700-750 to start with next week before lunch?, none to shabby is it!
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If I'm not fully booked I will go round, if I'm chocker I will quote over the phone and I'm not fussed either way. What I don't want is to end up cleaning a minger for not much money on a day where I could have booked up with carpet.
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I hate doing suites, yet there are some i like,
i charge £114 for 5 seat units.
I might start charging £140 as most suites i clean are in high end properties.
It can be back breaking work doing some of them, and i can earn more cleaning carpets in the same time schedule
Andrew
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i hated doing upholstery! but then i bought the drimaster 2, quite enjoy doing them now!
i must admit though i was charging £90 to £110 + Vat, but after doing this minger today i've decided to start at £140+vat,because like others have said the time it takes to do, i could earn so much more doing carpets!!!!
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The flipping obvious observation that seems to have been missed so far is that there are different levels of "coldness" to an enquiry that comes in over the phone.
The enquiry could be somebody making multiple enquiries following a Google Search or going through all the CCs advertising in YP
It could be a repeat client from some years ago checking to see what the price has gone up to
It could be a referral from a neighbour of a client of yours who has recently had their suite cleaned and has shared the price
It could be a recommendation from an "introducer" eg a carpet shop, a property maintenance company or other such introducer
Each of those will have different issues to address and your ability to tailor your replies to their enquiry will have much more influence on whether they book in or simply buy on price.
As has been stated on the forum so many other times, your ability to sell with confidence at a higher price than you are used to selling at will make all the difference.
Sure I'm only selling at £110-£120 but with VAT still means that the client has to shell out between £132 and £144 but I won't be sharing with you how I do that. But as Doug has already said, if you're busy and confident you go with the flow of some you book in, some you won't and you'll possibly only find out once you've done the job that you were pushing against an open door when you were "selling" your pricing, or instead if it was your natural, amazing, ability to convert a truly "cold" call into a booking.
Rog
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i hated doing upholstery! but then i bought the drimaster 2, quite enjoy doing them now!
i must admit though i was charging £90 to £110 + Vat, but after doing this minger today i've decided to start at £140+vat,because like others have said the time it takes to do, i could earn so much more doing carpets!!!!
Glad your getting on with it Billy, i prefer my new Sapphire and my trusted cfr 8)
Andrew
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£100 over the phone for 5 seats, takes about an hour for 2 of us.
Get nearlly everyone as i advertise my prices on all ads
Mark
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Could also be an economic factor in all of this.Its quite interesting that the 3 people on this thread who quoted the three cheapest prices are Me(Leeds),J&S(Batley) and Mark Powell(Halifax).All West Yorkshire.Not saying that all CC's in West Yorks offer cheaper prices,or that the stereotype of Yorkies are a bit tight fisted,just fact.I would LOVE to charge £140 and above for a sofa clean,but im sure J&S and Mark would probably back me up and say this is not achievable on a regular basis.And as Mark says,he gets nearly all jobs when he quotes £100,which is similar to me.
Chris
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A lot of the time if you have the objections in your head you will have trouble selling the deal. Yes a lot of people do expect upholstery to cost less than carpet cleaning. You need to price condition them before you give them a price. It takes on average 25- 30 sq mtrs of fabric to cover a suite this is the area of a lot of lounge diners. You are using a tool that is only a few inches wide to cover the same area as using a 12" or so wide tool on a carpet. It takes a lot longer to do! , engage people in conversation and explain why before you give them a price and I am sure you will find things a lot easier. I have no problem selling upholstery cleaning mainly because I do not see it as so expensive a service myself.
In another breath I am not charging £140 to clean a suite but price myself at about £95. But we are the real paupers in S. Wales.
Peter
www.carpetcleanercardiff.com (http://www.carpetcleanercardiff.com)
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Does anyone have a sensible theory about why suite cleaning is generally less well paid than carpet cleaning?
Most people agree it is hard work and it is technically more challenging. It also carries a greater risk of damage. Surely the price should be higher ??? Or should carpet cleaning be cheaper :o
Nigel
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Hi Nigel
The public perceive CC to be more difficult but we know the opposite is true.
Also it's physically smaller.
Cheers
doug
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A suite may be 30sq m of fabric but I bet a good
third of it is the back and sides which get a quick
once over with the Drymaster.
John
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My theory is that most people will get a suite cleaned once in its life span, which is around 10years. When they get it cleaned at around 5 years they know its worth nothing so are surprised and reluctant to pay the money for what we know is a time consuming and fiddly clean. They know nothing of tool size, time taken to clean etc and why would they.
With carpets they tend to get them cleaned maybe a few times within its life started around 2 years so I think they still see the carpet as having value and the dirt is more visable on a carpet.
Nigel, what do you charge for a 3-1-1 in the world of the rich and famous.
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I don't enjoy upholstery cleaning. Once I got my drimaster tool it was less hassle - now I've invested in a CFR and I enjoy it slighty more as there's not as much filling and emptying.
However, my hourly rate goes down on upholstery work, even at £ 30 per seat area.
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I have never seen the need to clean sides and back of a suite. If required, a vac,then a run over with dry foam would be ample. If I cleaned all of the suite, then I would have to charge more, a price myself out the job.
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You obviously don't do the type of clients I do ::) ::) I know its leather but
(http://www.leathercleaningnewcastle.co.uk/images/upholstery%20003.jpg)
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Steve best way to sort that pull the cat's claws out ;D :o :o
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They not cat claw marks but bogeys :o :o
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NO NOT AVIN IT :o :o :o :o
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Was in a house that a doctor was renting he said it didnt need cleaning but landlord insisted??? ???
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I never quote for suites over the phone, unless they push push push and at that point I try and price myself out of it, because they're clearly price shoppers and there's no point in wasting anymore time/fuel than neccessary.
I want to know what I am walking into and I've yet to come across a single customer who's description over the phone was anywhere near accurate. Suites are a loss maker compared to carpets in £/hr so I'll only do those that aren't going to cause potential problems and where the results are noticable....how can you do all that over the phone?
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"Ok, I'll just talk it over with my husband and get back to you"
"Ok, thanks, bye!"
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Perfect example yesterday was a cust who really wanted phone guide price and never mind how carefully you cross-examine them you have to err on the side of caution and expect the worst - opportunity cost of not doing carpets to consider - in the end quoting a very reasonable (actually bloody cheap) I thought 175 for 3 + 2 +1 +1 and they thought that was expensive! when I know thats three hours min plus with chat, tea etc - my attitude is if Im going to do it I want to earn, then I can take a bit more time if it proves difficult in places - also it is much easier to qualify carpet jobs with cust before you start. Also toll on backbone to consider...
Also I find suite cleans are more often sought when cust has identified a distinct problem - head grease, spill prob, arms worn etc (as if we solve that) - whereas carpets tend to be more how shall I put it MANAGEABLE - i.e. just plain grubby
Case in point today I did a Natuzzi microfibre suite and all fine apart from very soiled piping all rounf plus one recliner on a 3 seat couch which was so heavily soiled it was almost past point of no return - headgrease, seat and arm needed much more work than phone price quoted... sensible cust but I couldnt help thinking thats it, Ive been here for three hours I need to be gone by now...
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Steve I'll give you a pound for every one of those bogeys you take off and eat :D
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Would that be constituted as an All you can eat pouffe?
Shaun
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Thanks you lot, I feel sick now! ;D