Clean It Up
UK Floor Cleaning Forum => Carpet Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Mike Halliday on November 04, 2011, 09:23:59 pm
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ignore grammar and spelling mistakes, its still to be checked
should i keep this page on my site & will the prices stop people calling?
http://www.henryhalliday.co.uk/Beverley-Hull-Carpet-Cleaners/price-guide.html
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No no no!
You'll get considerably less calls okay what does come through will be pre qualified but the funnel will be a drip feed, how many times have you talked a customer round to quality over price? The days when you put lower to medium prices on your leaflets are now gone unless you are regularly getting 20-30 calls per day which could go down to 2 or 3 and then when customers start adding say 4 or 5 rooms and a suite that could really put them off.
Shaun
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I tried it once having a Prices page. It was very popular according to the stats provided by the hosting company, infact it was the most popular page of the eight.
At the same time the number of enquiries went down.
And with that I rest my case.
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I want to stop the idiots ringing me up,
I just hate talking to them, they have strong, common accents and are as thick as pigsh*t..... all they ask is...... How much?
I'm going to add a £20 discount voucher for anyone having 2 room or more cleaned to appeal to the bargain hunters :)
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Mike,
We tried this on one our sites and it resulted in a lot less calls and lower sales becaue it makes the price the deciding factor so encourages people to shop around. Probably worth tolerating the idiots to keep sales up.
Simon
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Or get someone else to answer the phone?
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In these times of "austerity" would you call someone without knowing a possible figure you would be paying for a service?
If i wanted an electrician to come and do some work for me it would be a given that i expected him to complete the work to the required standard and that i was happy, that would be before i called him. I would then firstly call one that had a price guide advertised on his site so i have an idea of the cost beforehand, if i couldnt find one with a price guide my first question would be "how much"? "well sir i am a top pro, i have 10 certificates and 100 years experience!", yes but how much is the question i asked, the expectation is that YOU will do the job properly, YOU dont have to sell me that bit, its expected already.
I advertise a price guide because thats what i would look for and i dont like wasting time having to justify my service, either your happy to pay the price or not. It also means that you can get most of the jobs that present themselves to you without having to justify yourself, the phone may ring less but your success rate will increase.
Thats just my opinion but it works for me.
Tony
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If you're swamped with enquiries and need to cull those you can't be bothered to do battle with then stick a price list up.
If you still have scope for the work then you need to bring in as many phonecalls as possible, even those looking for cheap can be talked around to quality and higher price.
As regards the electrician example how can he publish prices? Every job is different for many reasons. This is the same type of example I use with some customers who just ask for a price on a 'standard 3 bedroom house.' What is standard? A 1930's three bed house is far bigger than a 2010 model. Which leads me to say to them try asking a builder for a price over the phone or on his website for putting an extension on the house. How can he?
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I get the 'attention span deficit' callers who just want a price unfortunately as Ester Ransom used to say "that's life" yes they take up time and resources having to switch the machine on and off, today I got a call from a woman who stated that Morrisons rug dr was broken and she needed a 'few' stairs cleaning as she had an accident with some coffee, god knows what she expected to pay but you have to put up with some shockers it's a bit like going fishing.
Shaun
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It is by definition a price guide.
Surely, and only because i have used it as an example,an electrician should know how much to say rewire a 3 bed semi giving the prospect a ball park figure as a guide. What happens after that is up to you.
If someone calls me and already knows the minimum they can expect to pay for their lounge carpet is say £50.00, I ask then where they live, they tell me the posh end of town, i know and they know that their lounge is bigger than the poor end of town so they already (in most instances) expect to pay more than the £50.00, not only because their lounge is bigger but because they live in the POSH END of town and want to pay more (again i am generalising but you get where i am coming from). I am sure there is a name for this method but i dont know it.
Tony
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Are you serious? In my experience people in the richer parts are tighter than the rest
As an example I find I get more tips off working class customers than premiership footballers!
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Not darn sarrfff where the money is
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Oh, that's why you charge £75 a 3 Piece suite ;)
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Hmm, didn't realise you wanted to make it personal, but it appears you are from the Liverpool area and so already have a cross to bare and I have no wish to add to that burden!
I advertise prices because I think it's the right thing to do, honesty and integrity in business should be paramount and will I believe bring you success in the long run. Not bs and bravado over the phone, or in their home convincing a prospect to pay an over inflated price.
Tony
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Pricing is irrelavent.
If you sound like George Cloony over the phone to women custys, then the job is yours ;D
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No nothing personal, I don't know you. You said down south is where the money is so just curious why your £75 for a 3 piece ;)
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davep is correct about who the tightest customers are and I have a few footballers and one manager as regulars.
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Jason L was saying that most of his groupon customers were from big houses in posh areas, I find that most of my work is from more mid sized homes in nice areas but not the wealthiest.
Shaun
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I did say I was generalising, and Dave, the thread was about advertising prices on the web not how much your prices are. What's wrong with charging £75 for a 3 piece if k am happy to do it for that then that's my decision. Maybe those really rich clients of yours are already assuming that you are bending them over and thus have to act that way to protect their money, just a thought.
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Nothing like pricing to get the juices flowing ;D
It's nothing new to advertise with prices BUT all the marketing people will say and I agree.....If you want to maximise the response to your marketing it must include an OFFER.
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I want to stop the idiots ringing me up,
I just hate talking to them, they have strong, common accents and are as thick as pigsh*t..... all they ask is...... How much?
I'm going to add a £20 discount voucher for anyone having 2 room or more cleaned to appeal to the bargain hunters :)
The middle solution would be what I do when I'm getting to many price shoppers, just put your min order nothing else.
Like,
Please note we have a minimum fee of £75.
Put that on your home page should do the trick.
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PS you'll still get calls asking, how much? But at least then they know your not dirt cheap before hand. It filters out time wasters.
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But then you will lose the single lounges?
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i have same sort of worry have alot of people going to website and checking prices but not having any work from it but google analytics are showing all my local areas im having alot of people on my site and staying on it for a little bit but no work confuses me
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Most of my single lounges are £75+ ???
Shaun
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i have same sort of worry have alot of people going to website and checking prices but not having any work from it but google analytics are showing all my local areas im having alot of people on my site and staying on it for a little bit but no work confuses me
Start changing things and see what works better.
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I want to stop the idiots ringing me up,
I just hate talking to them, they have strong, common accents and are as thick as pigsh*t..... all they ask is...... How much?
I'm going to add a £20 discount voucher for anyone having 2 room or more cleaned to appeal to the bargain hunters :)
"I just hate talking to them, they have strong, common accents and are as thick as pigsh*t..... all they ask is...... How much?"
Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I find this comment arrogant, you're a carpet cleaner, not a Rolls Royce salesman.
When you start having this sort of attitude with potential clients, they can pick up on it and spread the word.
Yes, it is annoying that some prospects under-value what we do and are more bothered about price and not the methods we use. But their money is exactly the same as everyone else's, you just have to entice them into parting with it ;)
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I want to stop the idiots ringing me up,
I just hate talking to them, they have strong, common accents and are as thick as pigsh*t..... all they ask is...... How much?
I'm going to add a £20 discount voucher for anyone having 2 room or more cleaned to appeal to the bargain hunters :)
"I just hate talking to them, they have strong, common accents and are as thick as pigsh*t..... all they ask is...... How much?"
Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I find this comment arrogant, you're a carpet cleaner, not a Rolls Royce salesman.
When you start having this sort of attitude with potential clients, they can pick up on it and spread the word.
Yes, it is annoying that some prospects under-value what we do and are more bothered about price and not the methods we use. But their money is exactly the same as everyone else's, you just have to entice them into parting with it ;)
yes you are forgiven and yes you are wrong, its not arrogance its experience, I have spoken to so many idiots who when asked how large is the room answer..... livingroom size or when asked how dirty is it? answer..... not really dirty... there are lots of stains and the dog has messed everywhere but its not that dirty
and the difference between me and a Roll Royce salesman is i earn more and I'm the owner of a successful business, he's just an employee.... not really a good comparison
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You really proved me wrong there, didn't you ;D
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good strategy....when out of your depth attempt a witty comeback :D
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Well, your reply also sounded arrogant to be honest. I'm not out of my depth whatsoever. I'm on the outside looking in, from say, a customer's POV!
I would have thought a man of your calibre could handle the difficult enquiries, with a blinking of the eye!
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Colin
Why did you think he would have a different attitude anywhere else?
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Colin, check the for sale section - someone looking for an oven cleaning setup.
As you were :)
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Colin, check the for sale section - someone looking for an oven cleaning setup.
As you were :)
Thanks mate... :)
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Colin to be honest I I can handle these calls but its just pees me off when I get stuck into cleaning a room and the phone rings so i have to stop turn off the machine and deal with it... the it turns out to be someone who has no intention of paying my prices.
and on Mondays its not an exaggeration for it to happen 4-5 times an hour.... its not arrogant to be able to recognise the bottom end of society and not want to deal with them
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Sounds like you need someone to take your calls for you while you crack on with the real work. I wish I was getting as many enquiries. It is early days for me, I suppose.
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Mike
perhaps its time to target all your marketing at the top end including your leaflets
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No no no!
You'll get considerably less calls okay what does come through will be pre qualified but the funnel will be a drip feed, how many times have you talked a customer round to quality over price? The days when you put lower to medium prices on your leaflets are now gone unless you are regularly getting 20-30 calls per day which could go down to 2 or 3 and then when customers start adding say 4 or 5 rooms and a suite that could really put them off.
Shaun
Shaun
I do not understand The days when you put lower to medium prices on your leaflets are gone unless you are regularly getting 20 to 30 calls a day
I wish I was getting that many calls .
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Ian its mainly the web & Yp that brings in the wrong type of enquiries, in essence I'm doing them a favour by telling them exactly what they want to know how much it will be..... so it saves them time and lets me get on with my work.
i often just let it go to the answerphone, the price shoppers tend not to leave a message
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Ian that's how the half price cleaners work, but I was plucking figures from the air. I do believe that you need to have lots more enquiries than you can handle much more than you may think before you can afford to lose may be 90% calls to enquiries to jobs.
Shaun
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Mike just one question why so Cheap ::)
Tony
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What about offering packages so customers can see why prices are different it'll make them think about what they are asking for I always found that I could command a bit more respect and train their brain (even if it was a bit vacant) to thinking that there's more to it than meets the eye
Shaun
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A variation on what was posted the other week , this is how I have filtered out most idiots
http://www.dry-fresh.co.uk/Contact-Us.php
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Mike
If I rang a carpet cleaner for a price and he
asked me how dirty they were I would be
struggling how to answer.
"Not too bad" "A bit dirty where we walk regularly"
They're not sure how to answer because
a bit dirty to one is pristine to another and
filthy to another. They only want a price.
We're all price shoppers, yourself included
at a guess.
John
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I agree with you John another way around it would be asking them if they want a deep clean or a surface clean or a wet clean or dry clean, dry clean would be a premium charge.
Shaun
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I thought the whole point of advertising was to get people to call you for more information. Prices on web sites IMO removes the need for people to call you. Ok, some are price shoppers but we convert a very high percentage of those people (well, my wife does ;D) Every phone call is a sales opportunity and those opportunities could be lost by publishing your prices, which is the primary reason people call you.
Simon
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you're right! that's a mistake the dining room should be less than the livingroom but like i said in my first post this is not finalised the living room will actually be £65 and the minimum charge £65
Simon marketing is not about getting people to call for information, its about getting the right people to call for information.
have you ever seen a advert for Mercedes Benz or BMW in the Sun or Mirror... no because they target their advertising to the people who can afford their cars. They don't get Sun reader to call and then try and convert them.
I'm just using the prices to target higher end clients.
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Mike,
Fine, market the higher end people, but by publishing your prices you remove the need for them to call you because you've already told them what they want to know. We deal with a lot of high end customers and they are just as price sensitive, if not more so than the lower end, so if they think your prices are high they will look elsewhere and because you answered the price question on your website, you lost the opportunity to to explain what they get for their money.
Not your best idea IMO.
Simon
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Mike,
Fine, market the higher end people, but by publishing your prices you remove the need for them to call you because you've already told them what they want to know. We deal with a lot of high end customers and they are just as price sensitive, if not more so than the lower end, so if they think your prices are high they will look elsewhere and because you answered the price question on your website, you lost the opportunity to to explain what they get for their money.
Not your best idea IMO.
Simon
to be honest i agree with you its not my best idea and and if my website was a big provider of work i wouldn't risk it but this page is still a work in progress and I'm tinkering with the idea of having the prices hidden .
i was thinking of doing a prices video, where i talk about how we are different and what we do and then have the prices listed as credits at the end.
I would put in bold on the page our prices are listed on our short video please watch to view them
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I would put in bold on the page our prices are listed on our short video please watch to view them
You been on the wine ;D
Simon
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Mike,
If you're not happy with things as they stand, then you have to try an alternative approach. Its not set in stone, if it has a detrimental effect in 2 months, change it back (or something different again).
It doesn't sound like web eqnuiries are the lifeblood of your business so I suppose you don't have much to lose.
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Always advertised my prices and always will do, simply can not be bothered or have the time for time wasters.
We all buy on price to some extent with every purchase we make and carpet cleaning is no different, as long as you can justify the price you are charging with the quality of work undertaken then everyone is happy.
Mark
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My prices are on my site, and quite often its a case of "I'm wondering when you can book me in?" I give them a date, call over - job booked. The topic of price doesn't even come up as its all there - but that said I am far from the mot expensive (far from cheapest in the area either mind!)
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Simon marketing is not about getting people to call for information, its about getting the right people to call for information.
Spot on.
This is about filtering out the visitors. If people simply cannot afford a price, it does not make them bad people; just bad prospects for a high end business.
you lost the opportunity to to explain what they get for their money.
Your website will do whatever you want it to - automatically. If yours is not telling them why you are different and what they will get then improve your website.
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I had a coffee at Cafe Neros this morning sat down and gave the page a good looking over and I do think it needs some big changes,
It makes no allowances for people having multiple items cleaned. I think i need to say that these are the single room prices and covers the cost of travel and set up, once we are at their home and cleaned the first item we can offer reduced prices for all extra work carried out.
this will stop the priceshoppers but serious customers will still need to call to find out how much discount they will get for multiple rooms
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Mike
Youve been in business for years and must have a huge database of clients.
So you want higher end clients without the price shoppers ringing and dont we all. So why dont you take your focus of the web and focus more on direct database marketing and referrals to those type of clients. Sometimes its just easier to advertise, answer the phone and book them in but not always the best from a business point of view.
Mark
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hi tony just wondering how well your priced leaflets work say how many carpet cleaning calls per week do you get . it sounds like its working
shaun i think your right on customers i find i get not the really rich ones but the fairly well off with nice houses . ;)
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another idea......
what about a count down to the end of a specail offer and every 2nd room half price
http://www.henryhalliday.co.uk/Beverley-Hull-Carpet-Cleaners/price-guide.html
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I know it's early days but how are going on with your website price list, has anyone called and just booked with no quibbles?
Shaun
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Mike - just to clear smething on the offer up:
It says "Every 2nd item half price", which means No. 1 Full price, No. 2 Half Price, No. 3 Full Price, No. 4 Half price and so forth and so forth
But then you have:
e.g. We can clean your living room for £65, then all other rooms will be charged at HALF PRICE.
It should either say "All subsequent items half price" or lose the example underneath, depending on which is correct.
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ash you are right, again this has been put up live by the designer so I can see it,
I'm popping round to see him tomorrow so i can makes the changes your pointed out and also some other changes
shaun one person has booked who was a recommend, when I said i need to pop round and give her a quote she said she had seen the prices on the website and was happy to work around those prices
but i have had no other calls..... so it has stooped all the calls!!........ but this was before this change to the price structure