Clean It Up
UK Floor Cleaning Forum => Carpet Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: md_cleaning on August 14, 2007, 03:48:33 pm
-
I asked this question a couple of years ago and got a mixed response, but most of those members have left now.
I keep getting told I should wear a shirt and tie, with trousers, does this not get to hot?
I do have polo shirts with my company name on and wear grey combat trousers with shoes, never trainers, but feel a shirt tie and trousers is taking it a bit far, or does this seperate you from the rest?
Dave
-
Shirt and tie? Why not complete the look with a cloth cap and a Victorian accent.
-
Dave
Every 3 months I go and buy Five pairs of Brown Chino's and Five Blacks Polo Shirts from Primark.
Looks smart and cost about £30 every 3 months.
I think this is enough, I do no some that wear shirts and ties but its a bit extreme considering it is manual work,
Cheers
Neil
-
Surely no sensible person would wear a shirt and tie ::)
Smart cargo trousers and a polo shirt with company logo is about right i think!
Do customers really want to see you trussed up in shirt and tie on a hot day, sweating etc, i not think so.
The clothing has to relate to the job, and we do a manual job, theres no two ways anout it.
If i go canvassing or doing quotes then often i will wear a shirt and tie, but the fact is, if you look smart and have id then that should be good enough.
If i had a builder or plumber turn up with shirt and tie on i would laugh my head off and assume they weren't going to get there hands dirty! ;D
regards
steve
-
I wear a blue short sleeve shirt and black tailored trousers,black shoes for work and quotes.I used to wear a tie for quoting but dont bother now days
-
Hi
i wear a short sleeved shirt when qouteing and polo shirt for doing the job all with company logo on
cheers nick
-
Dave, I wear a shirt & tie most of the time and I don't want to get into the pros & cons about it all.
All i will say is you never see me moaning about how quite it is an how I've only got 3 jobs this week and only did 4 jobs last week. I'm of the opinion now that I only take advice (or heed the word) of people who are more successful than me, so when someone ridicules wearing a shirt & tie ask yourself how successful are they, if they are always winging about how slow it is or how no one will pay high prices, do you really want to take their advice.
just to add most of my customers are retired, but every day they get up, wash, shave and put on a shirt & tie ( even if they are just sitting around the house) would they laugh at me when I walk into their home also wearing a shirt & tie.
but..... each to there own, just because I do this doesnt mean what other people do is wrong ;) ;)
Mike
-
Mike,
Are you saying wearing the shirt and tie brings in more business?
Are you getting more referrals because of you're clothing?
If so you may be on to something ::)
regards
steve
-
Steve, I think this subject is deeper than it first appears.
there is a line of thought that if you want to be successful then act & dress successful , go where successful people go, do what successful people do.
if you want to be a manual worker dress like one, but if you are aiming higher then dress like a successful businessman.
even if I'm wrong I bet dressing in a shirt & tie will do more good than harm,
Mike
-
Quoting and working are 2 different things, I wear Shirt and tie depending on where I am quoting but always work in smart polo and chino's.
Used to turn up for work in shirt and tie but a number of customers commented that it seemed strange to them. It got me thinking and I asked all my customers that I cleaned for in a month what they would expect me to turn up in for cleaning. I work mainly for high end people that wear suits for work so there input was invaluble in my mind.
Its each to their own though, whatever works best for you is whats right.
-
Polypropylene cat suits.........it's the future
-
Mike,
You're living in the dark ages ;)
I know plenty of successful people who have never owned a suit, 1 in particular wears shorts and a t shirt nearly all the time, and it has never affected his business!
Whats the point of actually being a manual worker and dressing like the bank manager?
Thats just self deception - if you're a carpet cleaner you ARE a manual worker, wearing a suit in my mind, is just pretending to be something different.
Just my humble opinion ;D
steve
-
I agree Steve. But I always shave and always wear a collar of some sort. Other than that Jeans and Gazelles (don't pick up so much soil).
-
Steve
I used to wear chinos/combat trousers and a polo shirt. I was cheap in those days in terms of price.
I changed my dress after getting a load of fast track stuff and advice from a couple of fast trackers.
I wore tailored trousers ( nice but cheap ones £10-£15 ones and a blue short sleeved shirt with my company logos on, and on a quote I would slip on a clip on black tie.
I aslo changed my whole presentation style ( as Mike says its not just one thing).
I was able to get 3 times job tickets because of this but the biggest thing I noticed was the customers and particulary the high end ones listened to what I had to say much more than they did before.
-
I wear navy working trousers, clean and ironed. 'T' shirt with company and personal name on the front and Logo on the back. I have four pair of trousers and twenty 'T' shirts and four Sweatshirts similarly printed. I change my 'T' shirt at least every day sometimes twice a day in the summer. I quote wearing the same clothing as I have discovered over the years that most people prefer to see an owner/operator looking like they are busy and industrial rather than a saleman which can give them negatives feeling straight away. After all they dont want to be SOLD anything, they just want to know you are able to carry out the job properly at a suitable rate.
Dave.
-
Sorry to dissapoint you guys but if its hot I'm in ( smart ) shorts!
Cheers
Justin
-
Shirt and tie? Why not complete the look with a cloth cap and a Victorian accent.
Hee hee.Gawd blimet guv,nor!I agree that a collar and tie is a bit daft.I wear the Company Polo shirt,always shaved and with smart Trousers,shorts.Im not moaning about lack of work either :)
-
No tie but I do wear, a tailored shirt with logo button down collar from M&S, grey farrah trousers and a blue v-neck jumper also with logo and shoes, I am also always busy.
1 customer said I look like her bank manager!
Shaun
-
quote "I quote wearing the same clothing as I have discovered over the years that most people prefer to see an owner/operator looking like they are busy and industrial rather than a saleman which can give them negatives feeling straight away. After all they dont want to be SOLD anything, they just want to know you are able to carry out the job properly at a suitable rate"
YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES!
So its not just me who likes the man doing to quote to look like the man who's doing the work? This time last year i had about 8 different double glazing companies round so that i could compare quotes of 3 doors and 2 windows...and quiet frankly i was not interested in the companies who sent me a salesman.
I didnt need to be sold the idea of replacement doors and windows - the fact that the old doors were falling off was all the persuasion i needed. However, i did expect the reps to sell THEMSELVES and i am always drawn to the guy who 'calls round after work' and looks like he's as much a part of the 'dirty work' as anyone.
But like i say, i thought i was alone it that opinion.
Stephen
-
8 different quotes!
nothing like looking for the cheapest!
Shaun
-
Thanks for those answers, lots of mixed views, but everyone who is smart does seem to be doing well so maybey that is the way to go.
Dave
-
I think customers are far more intelligent than we give them credit for !
Would you pay high price for something just because the guy had a shirt & Tie, I sure wouldn't!
It's what comes out of the mouth that counts, thats what sells, if you're smart and sound like you know what your talking about, then people will be more convinced.
I cant remember what any of the tradesmen wore when they came round to my house, but i do remember the ones that talked sense.
;D
regards
steve
-
Shaun
I wasnt after the cheapest. I started out getting 2 quotes and there was almost £800 difference between the two. So i sought further quotes and in all -between the cheapest of all and the dearest of all- there was just under £1100 differerence, which when you consider i paid £1650 in the event is a HUGE amount of money. And i didnt have the cheapest compnay to do the work either.
I also had a one man who was a complete ass-hole and one who tried to talk me out of having UPVC (he suggested wooden doors, i already had wooden doors...). Talk about confusing me...
Stephen
-
Stephen I was just pulling your leg, no offence intended, not really.
But look at the scenario, you get quotes from a guy smartly dressed with a clip board writes everything down gives you a quote say £200, then you get a guy who turns up in his smart jeans and trainers measures up and tells you the quote £75 cheaper.
Now to put into the fray, you have a lounge carpet is badly stained, it cost you alot of money you want it to look like new again but you can't be there when the cleaning has to be done and you have a teenage daughter who will let the cleaner in.
Both cleaners for this interest say the same things and offer simular work BUT which one is the average customer going to go for?
If I am charging £75 more for the same job I have to look better than the opposition, sometimes it can be more than £75 but because I look the part when I say that I have done all I can to get a certain stain out of a carpet they do tend to believe me - I look the part.
Shaun
PS did you know that woman can make up their minds if they like a person or not in the first 6 seconds!
-
Dont wear your wives undies on jobs.
Because when you bend over they can se your thong... Very unprofessional.
-
I'll remember that.
Shaun
-
shaun
No i knew you wern't being offensive.
But i must admit i wouldn't pay more to a company where the rep wore the suite UNLESS i was getting more 'product' for the money. Maybe its just me. I have a partial fear of men in shirts and ties ;D i always feel i'm about to be sold something ;D ;D ;D
Stephen
-
Dress up in confidence and you can not go far wrong ;D
Conrad
-
I'd rather pay a tradesman decent money for turning up after work in dirty workwear than a spiff in shirt and tie any day!
My customers appreciate I've done a decent days work when I turn up and quote at the end of the day. If you've just got out of the shower you havent been working!
Embroidered polo shirt, smart trousers, clean shoes... job done!
Jason.
-
Perhaps going home and getting a shower shows the customer a clean and healthy respect for them and the job you may be about to do.
If you turn up semi smart but with BO from a hot day then how is that going to look?
Shaun
-
...who mentioned BO?
Stephen
-
all my staff wear shirt and ties when at work, i have sacked to cleaners on the spot for takeing there tie off at work , were there to clean not look like bin men , image is every thing and it starts from the very frist time very open the door to you
eddie stobart made his name buy three things looking smart , wagons alway clean, offering the best serivice at very good rates ,
-
Dress up in confidence and you can not go far wrong ;D
Conrad
And we have a winner!!!!!!!
Anyone ever met the owner of the Weatherspoons pub chain? Take Richard Branson. Bill Gates. The entire board of Google. To name jus a few.
Conrad has hit the nail on the head. Custys buy confidence above everything else. If what you say makes sense and you are confident you are home and dry. If you wear a suit to exude this confidence then so be it but the names mentioned above rarely wear suits and.............well need I say more.
-
Hi
Are there not three ways to make a first impression.
1 How you answer the phone.
2 Your apperance the first time they see you.
3 What you say during that first meeting.
Get them all right & you will be succesfull.
Dave
PS I they want to pay £60 for a £100 job none of the above applies.
-
Pete,
Would you like me to post an entity of names of succesful people who DO wear a shirt ant tie,
what a stupid assuption!! because a few dont does not mean to say that they all dont.
and many a worker wears a shirt an tie for exactly the reasons already mentioned, to name just a few, delivery drivers, bus drivers, lorry drivers........ yes lorry drivers look at any major supermarket chain,or large organisation and the majority of its workers wear a shirt and tie. Why because its smart, it gives the right image instead of that cant be bothered , I sling any thing on attitude attitude.
in other words old fashioned principles and standards are still what the custy likes to see. dress accordingly, you want higher prices, show them your standards, you want price seekers, go dressed in jeans and a t shirt.
If you get my drift :)
Geoff
-
Geoff
I understand your point and shabby dressing is not what I mean. The point I am trying to make is that if you are confident in your abilities and a reasonable communicator you will exude confidence and this will override any initial impression you give by the way you look. Someone said earlier that most people are not stupid (even if we do think most of our customers are sometimes) and I agree.
To be a little more specific, a carpenter is a highly skilled job (much more so than ours probably) but it is also a labour intensive job (as is ours).
I think you wear what feels right to you and this is why we do it because it feels right to us and this then leads us to feeling comfortable about ourselves and again this lends itself to our confidence.
And Geoff it's just an opinion and I was using examples to illustrate it not to prove it beyond all reasonable doubt.
Pete
-
I wear whatever the customer wants me to wear! ;D
-
I think a lot off you are missing Mike's Point, when calling at someone’s house to quote for a service, the customer will make his/her mind up within 30seconds whether they like you and what you represent. My marketing and appearance is crucial to my pricing strategy, its like a jig saw, each piece plays a part, that first contact via phone, what you have to say, the van, and most important your appearance. you might have the best cleaning machine in the world but if you don’t look the part it means nothing to someone who has to make there mind up to book you or not.
I think you are far more likely to attract those high paid jobs if you market yourself in a professional way.
Sure if you want to work for £100 a day then your appearance won't matter but in my opinion if you want go for £200 plus a day you need the right image. But this is only my opinion. Phil
-
It has been mentioned about having the confidence in whatever you wear. I am a very confident person and dont give a monkeys what people, clients or otherwise want or think I should be wearing.
A few people on here have met me and know that I wear cut off jeans and a tee shirt with the sleeves cut off. I am unshaven but hasten to add I am clean.
I deal with "suits" quite often in my dealings of aquiring clients and most mention they quite like that I dont present anything that I am not. This is not against how anyone else does what they do just a comment about myself.
The only suit I ever wear for work is a wetsuit. Be d**n cold otherwise in shorts and tee shirts.
I have never found what I wear to have had any bearing on what I do for a living as in a first impression.
It has been said that a first impression is made inside of a second. So which is more important, that first part of a second or what follows. I happen to think maybe contrary to most that what follows the initial contact is more important.
I have had people who are worth billions and or their pa's make a comment on what I wear sometimes when I have first met them. This becomes brilliant marketing as the conversation has turned into who or what I am as a person not anything to do with cleaning or whyever I am there. If the secondary conversation is about why I am there then, at least in the world I work in I know I already have aquired that particular client.
I get more clients because of who I am and how I do things than anything else I can think of. They already know I can clean. We all clean, thats why we are cleaners.
Each to their own as it should be. I wouldnt dream of suggesting to Mike or anyone else that the way to go is in shorts. But Mike wouldnt suggest to me either that I should be in a shirt, tie and trousers.
I work, teach, have meetings and just about anything to do with cleaning in shorts. Obviously a bit different when doing certain types of cleaning but for normal cleaning the preceding applies.
Best, Dave.
-
liahona
would love to do the same, but it's ruddy frezzing up here!
-
Interesting post Dave.
If like myself you run your business purely on a known customer base and recommendations from these, then yes, you can appear as eccentric as you choose. Your clients are solely buying your skills or recommended skills & will put up with what you appear as.
However, it would be unwise to advise forum members who rely on business coming from leaflets, yellow pages and other cold marketing to see this as a generally acceptable way to dress
-
Francis, I wouldnt and dont think have suggested to anyone how they should attire. Just made a comment on how I do things. Each to their own in how they want to do things. I think we all need to be different and wearing any sort of uniform is not being different. Of course this is just an opinion.
I wouldnt suggest for anyone to do as I do as there isnt too much I do that is similar to anyone else. Having said that I do manage to do quite well out of this cleaning lark so maybe I should suggest a few things, nah, no one would listen!!
I take your point and your comments but my client base is a not known base and indeed I go to find who I want to work for as opposed for them finding me. To these people, I turn up to how I have posted above before.
As a percentage I dont think I get 1% of client referals from the "user end"
Best, Dave.
-
Dave. What do you read into the fact that you get less than 1% of your business from your end users referrals
regards
-
Pretty much as it says. I get very few maybe one in a hundred end user clients who refer me to someone else.
What I mean by the end user is the person whos item I have cleaned.
I dont like using percentages as a comment as it would suggest that I have at least a hundred clients to refer too.
I hasten to add I dont have anywhere near 100 clients in two years let alone one year. I used the 1% more as an example as opposed to an actual fact.
Sorry if it was a bit misleading and hope this makes sense now.
I dont know a lot of my clients who I actually clean for and of course they dont know me from Adam either.
So my 1% comment is related to those who I meet face to face.
Best, Dave.
-
When I met Dave I was not supprised about his Manor of dress, and he actually looked like he was there to clean carpets, and was an international expert. Obviously his van and equipment helped, but it was also the unique personality an aura that is Dave.
For most of us the conventional route is the way.
I used the favor the shirt and tie and still do on occasions but most times when cleaning its the cotton trader sweat shirt black trousers and trainers for house use which I put on when I have unloaded.
I have found black shoes can leave marks when cleaning edges with hand tool