Clean It Up
UK Floor Cleaning Forum => Carpet Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Russ Chadd on January 26, 2012, 11:10:06 am
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I followed up a telephone enquiry with a home visit to give a customer an accurate price on a job, he mentioned that he had already received several phone prices and my price was £40 over the cheapest.
I explained exactly what the job would involve and then he decided to book me (this was 6.00 last night) as my price reflected the time it would take to clean the carpets to an acceptable level.
So why is it that some people will book you and THEN continue to shop around to see if your price can be beaten?
He cancelled this morning...
What i should of done is taken a deposit when making the booking!! :'(
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He would still have the right to Cancel
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He would still have the right to Cancel
That is true Ian, however if i had charged £10 or £15 as a deposit would he of still cancelled? probably not seeing as he would of lost his deposit... if someone re schedules then that's slightly different.
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Hi
Sign of the times, people want it cleaned and many as cheap as possible.
We are all fighting the £20 per room brigade.
Just found out there are even down here in Brighton
Martin 8)
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Whats wrong with £20 a room if you have a minimum of say £40? ::)
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2 carpet cleaners each clean a carpet for different people of the same size and soiling level. Carpet cleaner 1 charges £25 and carpet cleaner 2 charges £50. Which one will make more money that year?
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Russ there was nothing you could have done mate..
You will always get poeple like that..Everyone wants to save money so they will shop around thinking they have got a better deal.
Clients like that arnt worth having i m o.
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Don't let it bother you, Russ. I gave an estimate for an EOT job of £140 the other day and she said "Oh, we've had a quote of £75 and we've booked him in...!" ???
I still explained that we were fully insured yadda yadda powerful van mounted system yadda. Not once did I slate the other guy either, there's no reason why he won't do a better job than me... I said that should she change her mind for whatever reason, I'll be happy to carry the work out for her.
You win some you lose some some... :)
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Its happened to me 4 times this month,jobs booked in only get get the call a day before doing the job to cancel.
Hospital appointments seem to be the excuse these days.
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2 carpet cleaners each clean a carpet for different people of the same size and soiling level. Carpet cleaner 1 charges £25 and carpet cleaner 2 charges £50. Which one will make more money that year?
Me, I'd charge £75 ;D
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Russ, you just learn to sniff out the price shoppers after a while... avoid the quote visit, give them your price on the phone and wait for the immortal words "I'll get back to you" :D
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how do you know he kept shopping around? he could have just changed his mind
when i sold double glazing we used to see a lot of what we called 'buyers blues' its when a buyer commits to buy something then spend the evening worried that he might have not made the right decision so cancels the next morning.
it usually happened when we cut corners in the sales pitch and didn't address the real reason for the buying decision, in your case you could have left him with a lingering doubt in his mind than boiled to the surface when you left
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2 carpet cleaners each clean a carpet for different people of the same size and soiling level. Carpet cleaner 1 charges £25 and carpet cleaner 2 charges £50. Which one will make more money that year?
Assuming both do the same number of jobs that year it could be the same as a larger company will have greater overhead than an owner operator working from home.
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2 carpet cleaners each clean a carpet for different people of the same size and soiling level. Carpet cleaner 1 charges £25 and carpet cleaner 2 charges £50. Which one will make more money that year?
Lets say the £25 Is not a nice person there's just that something you don't like about him, but the £50 one gives off friendly, trustworthy, competent all round nice man.
Then I'd go for the £50
Don't leave personality out of the equation
Don't forget your dealing with people. Plus I would not let £25 pocket change stop me using the prefered man.
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Next week Russ, you may get someone saying "Is that all?" to your price.
You win some, you lose some.
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Next week Russ, you may get someone saying "Is that all?" to your price.
You win some, you lose some.
now that is worse
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Haha thanks guys! its really encouraging to hear that im not the only one here!, i guess if someone commits to a price then they shouldn't batter an eye lid to stump up a small deposit and to be fair its my fault as i should of asked for one.
Yes it is a sign of the times, and yes everyone wants a bargain or at least they want to feel like they received value for money.
I find my approach to actually visit the client and take the time to show them my portfolio works well and 9/10 times i can turn an enquiry into a job.
Only 25 minutes ago i was in the filthiest council flat scratching my head and looking at three of the dirtiest carpets i have seen in years... dirty clothes all over the place, empty beer cans and loads of clutter! looked more like a squat.
The guy had been quoted less than £90 inc VAT over the phone for the living room, double bedroom and landing, the sort of job you really don't want at all!
Good luck to the poor buggers who will honour that price on arrival!!! ;D ;D
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Don't think it is a sign of the times, its always been like this.
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one persons muck is another is anothers persons brass..and it's all about making brass
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Don't think it is a sign of the times, its always been like this.
Spot on.
Its how you sell yourself / your business that will make the big bucks ;)
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Russ
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We are all guilty of shopping around,
I reckon everyone on here will at some time searched the internet for a cheaper price, be it a service or repairs on van to the lowest credit card balance transfers we are all price shoppers at some point,
yes we can argue an item we buy will be the same item as apposed to a service that we provide.
Ive had a few price shoppers recently, just one of those things.
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Hi Guys
There will always be people who buy on price only and I don't even bother quoting them.
If I suspect someone is getting lots of quotes I ask them on what they are buying, price or quality , if they say price then I politely suggest there is no point in me quoting as I will not be the cheapest.
Cheers
Doug
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2 carpet cleaners each clean a carpet for different people of the same size and soiling level. Carpet cleaner 1 charges £25 and carpet cleaner 2 charges £50. Which one will make more money that year?
Lets say the £25 Is not a nice person there's just that something you don't like about him, but the £50 one gives off friendly, trustworthy, competent all round nice man.
Then I'd go for the £50
Don't leave personality out of the equation
Don't forget your dealing with people. Plus I would not let £25 pocket change stop me using the prefered man.
Lets say the £25 Is a nice person there's just that something you like about him, he gives off friendly, trustworthy, competent all round nice man. but the £50 is not.
Then I'd go for the £25.
I shop around all the time, especially when i go shopping, buying cheese, go for the 2 for 1, buy the 2kg sugar and save almost £2.00
Sometimes it doesn't matter how good or nice you are some will just see the price, I have got clients using MM to do EOT they are quoting £100.00 cheaper than me, they are basically paying the client to do work for them (by the time wages, fuel, parking, materials, tax and other overheads are taken out) I can't compete with that, a 6 hour EOT for £80.00 (and they got called back for an extra 2 hours)
Martin 8)
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The problem is that people use the same buying logic to book a service as they do to buy a product.
With a product you can find what you want then look at it, touch it feel it, test it out and then shop around for the same product to see if you can get it cheaper. With a little digging you find you can get the same product online for £25 less. Whichever price you pay you end up with the same thing and this is the mental process customers go through when booking a carpet cleaner. They think regardless of what they pay they are buying the same thing. The trouble is they haven’t bought anything, they’ve merely booked it – they’ve bought it when the job is done and the guy is holding his hand out asking for their money. If they’ve gone for the cheapest option thinking they are saving money but are now standing on a sodden carpet that looks no better than before, this is when they wish they’d chosen better. But you can’t tell’em this, they just have to learn it for themselves.
Simon
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My problem is not with the fact the guy was shopping around, its the fact that he booked me and then cancelled after he continued to shop about for a cheaper quote.
My professional approach is not at question here, i am always polite and well presented, i have good people skills and i pride my business on honesty and quality.
The top and bottom is this... some people could not give a monkey's how long you will spend doing the job, what chemicals you use, what methods you use, if you are insured, if you have had any professional training etc etc...
Its down to the price!
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It is partially down to the price, but a lot of it is thinking if they book X at £50 and overlook the guy at £75, they'll have saved £25, simply because they believe that all carpet cleaners are the same, just as an Indesit XYZ fridge freezer is the same regardless of the price they pay. In the case of the fridge they are right because regardless of much they pay they are getting the same thing. Not true in carpet cleaning, not because it's carpet cleaning but because it is an intangible, you can't see what you're getting until you've bought it.
Simon
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Hi
Simon I don't it would matter even then, as if they choose the cheaper option they won't know or see the difference if there is one at all.
Martin 8)
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Hi Martin,
True, but a lot of people do and learn their lesson by it. I've lost count of the number of people who tell us, 'last time I had my carpet cleaned it was wet for days....' When you ask they how much they paid, it is usually peanuts, so they got what they paid for, but in future they tend to be a lot more fussy about quality and prepared to pay more to make sure they get it.
Simon
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I get a lot of these people who now no longer want gallons and gallons of water pumped into their lovely (dirty) carpet. :o :o
Being an LM cleaner does have its advantages sometimes...
;D ;D ;D ;D
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The problem is that people use the same buying logic to book a service as they do to buy a product.
With a product you can find what you want then look at it, touch it feel it, test it out and then shop around for the same product to see if you can get it cheaper. With a little digging you find you can get the same product online for £25 less. Whichever price you pay you end up with the same thing and this is the mental process customers go through when booking a carpet cleaner. They think regardless of what they pay they are buying the same thing. The trouble is they haven’t bought anything, they’ve merely booked it – they’ve bought it when the job is done and the guy is holding his hand out asking for their money. If they’ve gone for the cheapest option thinking they are saving money but are now standing on a sodden carpet that looks no better than before, this is when they wish they’d chosen better. But you can’t tell’em this, they just have to learn it for themselves.
Simon
Good post Simon
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Unless of course they do get it done cheaper but
to the same standard.
John
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Guys
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Hi Guys
I don't think we give our customers enough credit.
I would say I pick up at least 75% of the jobs I want, that is well priced, decent size, who want a top job and are prepared to pay a decent price for it.
Of the others I can usually tell within 10 seconds that I doo not really want this job, too small, too far for the size, price shopping, difficult access etc.
When I buy a service, I am never looking for the cheapest as I want good quality and know the cheapest is very uinlikely to give me this.
Cheers
Doug
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Ian, I know you are a great student of Marketing and I have followed and watched you over the years.
You are also an Engima to me, as on some of your Web Sites you are cleaning Carpets at very low prices , when everything about you tells me you should be one of the best and top dollar Carpet Cleaners in Essex and surrounding areas .
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Ian H. have you tried the free room?
I knew a c/cer who did and he said it just never worked because most people will just take the free room :o
Also that not many people want to take you up on the offer :o
It's not not for me anyway.
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Probably depends on how you present the "free room" to the customer Craig. If you just do it and make nothing of it, maybe it will just be taken as a favour? However if you make a bit more of a song and dance about the free room it starts the customer thinking, maybe will have a different outcome?
Ian, I know you are a great student of Marketing and I have followed and watched you over the years.
You are also an Engima to me, as on some of your Web Sites you are cleaning Carpets at very low prices , when everything about you tells me you should be one of the best and top dollar Carpet Cleaners in Essex and surrounding areas .
It's easy to get on the mailing list of the so-called "marketing gurus" who send out frequent emails with "free titbits" etc etc, and then copy/paste that stuff into a forum post :)
However, implementing it successfully into your own business and becoming a millionaire is a completely different thing ;)
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aint read ALL the post but i see it as: people buy from people not just offers or the best equipment and if they give a ( gentlemans agreemant ) then go else where, then they felt more at ease with the person they eventually commited to ( IMO )
but what do i know ???
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It was done much like this.
http://www.dustbusterscarpetcleaning.com/Free-Room-of-Cleaning-Carpet-Audit.html
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respects