Clean It Up
UK Floor Cleaning Forum => Carpet Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: stains-away on June 23, 2006, 09:59:36 am
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I posted this on another thread, just thought I'd bring it out on its own to see what if any reaction it gets with there being a lot of mentions on the forum on how hard things are at the moment,
I think that a lot of the British public have been living in financial fairy land for the last few years, they borrowed up to the hilt and then just remortgaged to pay for it, the property market in my area is slowing down and has been for several months, many people are just starting to wake up from their financial fairy tail dreams and are seeing a grim reality, they cant dump much if any more on their mortgage, the credit cards are maxxed and the loans need paying, when it gets to this stage people have a choice, either tighten their belts or disappear into an ever expanding cloud of debt, given the options most will start sorting the essentials from the luxuries.
Burst pipe?
They need a plumber,fact.
Carpets dirty?
Well, it needs doing so I'll call someone when I get paid, payday comes and so do the bills, maybe next month then.
Talking to several trades that I know and having a lot of retailers in my family all I hear is how tight things are, as a relative newcomer I'm at a disadvantage to cc's that have been established for years,or am I?
They've got a customer base to work on (if they can be bothered to stay in touch, some dont), but the chances are many of them have bigger overheads than me, some may have brought equipment on lease when the going was easier, they may have commited to big annual advertising costs or have wages to find for employee's, some may have got complacent about their position in the marketplace and could get their rs bitten, so swings and roundabouts it is, may the best man win! , Andy
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Hi there folks.Have been registered with this site for some months,but this is my first reply.Yes i do think people have borrowed to much,and mortgaged on vastly over inflated house prices.I found talking to people around my town,that nobody is doing well at the moment,so its not just cc's.People have been lead into a false sense of security,over borrowing and debt,and now its payback time.
Would also like to thank everyone for the info and advice given on this site.
Its been very usefull,thanks
.
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In times of financial hardship & restraint carpet cleaning is not a priority for most households, it is one of things that can wait. Many wives usually attempt a temporary visual clean up with a bucket, soapy water & cloth to make do.
Someones gonna say diversify then, but again if you stay within the cleaning industry its the same situation, things can wait (Im talking about your average domestic market here).
If I was struggling I would offer discount vouchers, monthly specials, or clean 3 for price of 2, or have your suite cleaned and we'll 'protect' it free, or have your carpets cleaned introduce a friend & receive 25% off your next clean, or have your carpets cleaned and receive free stain/spot kit.
Save in the good times ready for the bad!
Regards, Andy
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Having previously been part of a Franchise, I have always tried to maintain my prices since becoming independent. I am finding that I have to be a lot more flexible and more prepared to negotiate on price and am ending up doing a lot of work for people I would not have bothered with before ( i.e. they couldn't afford my prices). I am also offering a lot of specials like the ones mentioned by Andy in the previous post.
It seems to me that the mid to higher end of the market has contracted but there is still plenty of work if you are prepared to price with the times.
The bonus with the slightly cheaper end of the market is that you often get paid in cash, all declared of course! ;)
Paul
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The trouble is Paul, by offering specials or reducing your prices you are obviously effecting your gross turn over and your net profit.
I dont condone the 'splash & dash' brigade as its known, but I would rather not do a job if they were ummming and rrrrrring about the cost. We have set our carpet cleaning price per sq mtr and I will not reduce that figure under any circumstances for domestic clients. People can pay or use someone else, but I do tell them the usual, we have good machinery, training, chemicals etc etc and that all costs money to buy and maintain. However I have an extra sales pitch that I normally put in to secure the deal, I tell them that we are fitters too and we will have a general tidy up/ re stretch where required if ness. before we commence free of charge. That normally works, I think they feel abit more safer knowing that we do the whole package should anything (hopefully not) go wrong.
Also with commercial work, Im not just sending out sales letters to them offering one off cleans, Im putting together a cleaning/maintenace package for them over a period of time that will allow them to have their carpets maintained on a regular basis, which again includes fitting, restetching, tidy ups, re seaming if ness & the important cleaning. If they go for the package they will receive a substantial discount overall.
In 2 weeks Ive written to 28 companies (various) and sold 6 packages.
You gotta keep thinking of new ways to attract business specific to your area.
Regards, Andy
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Re-reading my post, I realise it was not quite what I meant. When I say cheaper end of the market I mean that I used to do a lot of jobs that were multiples, i.e. 3 piece suite, curtains and carpets that would be a half day or full day job. Now I find that I am doing more lounge carpet only type jobs which is often what the lower end of the market is.
I would have steered away from these in the past because you have to do several a day to make up the money, but as long as that is all I can get from some of the more well heeled clients at the moment I may as well fill the day up with slightly lower paying jobs in areas I would not normally work.
I am fortunate to pick up most of my work within 5 miles of my house and having a good knowledge of the area allows me to decide whether to qoute on the phone or in person so I can sometimes ofset a reduced price against a reduced cost through not visiting twice.
Incidently, although I know you did not mean me when you referred to splash and dash, I always carry out the same level of service regardless of the price. Whatever I charge is my decision and not the customers and I would not penalise them if I was prepared to do it for less than normal rather than walk away.
My prices are still not cheap as I have reduced them compared to the Franchise price which was over £70 for a modest lounge carpet and £140 plus for a three piece suite (clean only)
You are quite right about gross turnover and net profit but frankly at the moment I take the view that each enquiry I get is worth trying for as it costs a lot of time and effort to get.
As always it is a compromise between obtaining a good price for your work and obtaining enough work. At the moment I am having to adjust that balance. I think that if you are really busy you can afford to stick to your guns on price, if you are not you may well need to assess the individual job on each occasion.
paul :D
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Paul
As a matter of interest, why did you give up the franchise business and decide to go it alone?
Regards Andy
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*****As always it is a compromise between obtaining a good price for your work and obtaining enough work. At the moment I am having to adjust that balance. I think that if you are really busy you can afford to stick to your guns on price, if you are not you may well need to assess the individual job on each occasion.*****
i think you got that spot on Paul, its very irritating when customers want to haggle you down £10, when your busy walk away, but when its slow somtimes its better to take the work than have none.
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Paul
Please let me have your e mail address, I need to ask you something (not for forum!).
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I was with a certain Franchise that promised what it could not deliver. I joined after having been made redundant and decided to try a business myself. I was taken in by all their hype and was seduced by all the "facts and figures" regarding the earnings and success of people in the network.
It turned out to be very very very very inaccurate. At first i thought it was me. It was only after I went to the annual meeting and they called out the names of the Franchisees that had joined that year that I realised all was not as it seemed. When they had got to about the 30 mark I realised that out of a network of 120 or so, 30 plus new starters in a year meant that a massive expansion was underway due to unprecedented success, .......... or they were replacing 30 or so failed businesses.
Guess which it was? ???
Paul
paul@pcbcleaning.co.uk
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Hi Guys,
Just had a quick check and found my figures are about 10% up on this time last year, when there was no world cup.
It does feel quieter but its not , probably because I've put my prices up and commercial is busy.
I think less established cc's just have to work harder on sales and marketing .
CC is a tough business because anyone can start with a relatively small amount of money.
The hard bit is getting regular work but there is no short cut, you just have to hang in there and it will get easier.
Cheers
Doug
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Paul
Bet you lost a few quid.
Ive been hounded by Rainbow & Chem dry after I made an initial enquiry. Both sent all the sales books down, took one look and threw them in the bin. For weeks and weeks I was phoned, sent letters until finanlly they got the message (I hope)
One of them expected you to start with a full time telephonist/receptionist which would have killed any new business off straight away.
Those blokes are slogging their guts off for the franchiser. No thank you.
Regards, Andy
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although i am stoping cleaning in couple weeks ;D i would like to say this has been my slowest 6 months ever in carpet cleaning i had more work when i first started over 10 years ago :o how are u all managing i dont no !!
gary
(ps unless u are all lucky like me an u missus has a very good job)
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Gary
Whatever your doing in the future good luck to you.
As a matter of interest, if it weren't for the fact that I already have an existing carpet business and have simply 'added on' carpet cleaning I would not have embarked on a business purely doing carpet cleaning. I can see now that margins are tight and its very competitive and initial start up costs are high.
Regards Andy.
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Both Rainbow and Chem Dry are the main players in the flood and fire restoration market. It is this work which provides the franchisees the bulk of their turnover. However this is a volatile market and things can change.
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Well were not all slow iv just finished my busiest day ever, and this has been my busiest week ever
and this month will be my best ever for turnover, ammount of jobs done, and profit made.
And i have more jobs booked in than ever before 18 all booked up ready to go.
Im thinking of upgrading equipment to fit more in, and even considering taking on a extra pair of hands to help out.
So there is people out there with money to spend its just a case of finding them
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blind me paul, you pick up most of your work 5 miles from your house!!! that's a dream of mine, i often travel miles between jobs,
colin
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It has been quiet but picking up now fully booked up next week.Having to go upto Morpeth next week Northumberland ::)
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Hi Daniel
im glad to see your busy, we started the same time and seem to be progressing in a simalar curve, ive just had my busiest week and also booked up next week im realy starting to enjoy myself, but maybee as newbe's our slow but steady success is due to the pressure we keep on, i slacked for a week and didnt i notice the difference and took me a while to recover, how you guys take holidays is beyond me
James
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Perhaps I am not busy enough because of mostly working within 5 miles!
It is a long term strategy based on advertising consistently in a small area and capitalising on the "local" aspect. It is starting to pay off but maybe I will need to review it and cast my net wider for the time being.
Paul
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remember that when you are busy to keep on advertising then you will always remain busy lots of us get marketing lazy !
Like Doug I thought I was down on sales on the year but when my wife did the books I'm actually up by £3,211 on last year (oh she does like her book keeping).
Having the confidence to put your prices up only comes with experience and how you monitor previous years patterns of spending.
I have this same arguement well discussion with Ken Wainright about when someone cancels their appointment on the day that you should take time out and enjoy life, well new starters can't as it was hard finding that job in the first place and you needed it to pay the phone bill.
If you are patient and keep advertising in 1 shape or another you will fast track yourself to an easier life.
Shaun
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try and work this one out then i had a guy working for me who i paid £120 a day cash in hand and he walked out on me this morning as he says i am too busy!!!!
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It's funny I herd of a lad yesterday that was put on fire watch at falmouth docks, all he had to do was sit in a cabin of a rfa ship under the deck of where a guy was welding, just in case a spark came through, six hours a day £50, he was alowed a flask of tea and a book but he walked as he was bored, so offered him a job working 8 hours a day for £75 to clean the engine room, just to follow the dockies around and wipe of hand prints but that was to hard, there aint no pleasing some people
James
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Can any of you guys tell me why an industry needs to franchise out?
I know the answer but wanted to pose the question to see if others know why.
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cant be sure i know which answer your refering to, but the obvious is secure insurance work (having a national network) that and cream dosh off your hard working franchisee's through many avenues,
am i right sir? ;D
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I've always been wary of franchises,
i feel that if a business is that good
then you employ someone and open another branch.
If its a big risk then get some other sucker to put up the
money!
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we have done cc for some many years but we thought we would make it the main line,instead of wc, I do promotion work shows TV adds etc,we have spent money on adds and the results have come from local paper!
haveing said that we have noticed the work has fallen off since November
we get some calls a week,nothing other its far from consisitant,
if some things pan out for me which I have to wait at the moment I will be able to give up wc and cc to move into what I have always wanted to do work in TV,the waiting is the hard part,but it is dead out there at the moment ???
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Ok, now weve got that off of our chests, ;D what about the small business verses the big business when things get really tight, does Goliath win with brand image or does David kick him in the spuds with lower overheads and some stealthy tactics, opinions please. ;D
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in most businesses when times are tough who goes down the most but the small concern. the big guns on the whole manage to dodge most of the bullets and pull through, with the odd exception. The small concern hasn't the money to sustain a slack period . but as we all know when a big business does go down its with a bang as the debts are huge .
On the other hand i hear rumours that even some suppliers are feeling the pinch in this game at the moment but cant confirm it. I forecast though certain suppliers will go under though i cant name the particular one i have in mind at the moment because its just a strong rumour. for the more astute i dare say you could figure it out as i did.
carpetmate you are talking sense as i too have another business and my initial outlay in this game has been quite high , though i am confident the investment will pay off as jobs i do pay well and i always get referals but i have no intentions of letting my other business go at this stage
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I think it takes time to build up a small cc business im now coming into my fith year of trading and i am up on last year, as most people have said advertising is key dont rely on refferals or reccomendations as they dont allways provide you with work, when sending out invoices add a self addressed envelope with referel slips in it and offer gift vouchers on return for them, this works a treat im my expierence its YP thompsons big websites etc dont pull in a huge amount of work ( in my area anyway) small church parish mags local association guides postcode booklets work far better even my local paper outstrips yp yell and probably Thompsons if i was in it. The best way is to look after the clients you have and work on them to help get you new ones at a smaller cost than massive advertising, it may take a while but if your patitent it will pay off in the end. 8)
Nick