Clean It Up

UK Floor Cleaning Forum => Carpet Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Bill Robinson on December 11, 2007, 01:16:53 pm

Title: carpet cleaners northumberland area
Post by: Bill Robinson on December 11, 2007, 01:16:53 pm
I was thinking about supplying carpet cleaning materials in the Northumberland area delivered to your door is there a small need would it be useful for your business

bill
Title: Re: carpet cleaners northumberland area
Post by: stevegunn on December 11, 2007, 04:25:36 pm
Plenty of suppliers able to deliver up in Northumberland.

No dis-respect but how are you going to offer advice on the best products for a certain job with your limited experience in carpet cleaning.
Title: Re: carpet cleaners northumberland area
Post by: Ian Rochester on December 11, 2007, 04:52:24 pm
Bill,

I can get next day delivery from any amount of suppliers with a simple phone call, postage is often free. 

With the same phone call they can advise me on differing products to treat specific problem areas or materials.

The world is a small place nowadays, the days of the corner shop and door to door delivery boys is long gone.  Just about everywhere has a "virtual shop" on the internet now.

I ordered a parcel from America last Thursday on the internet, it's arrived today, postage cost $18.95 (£9.50)!!

In order to get any reasonable discounts from suppliers you will need to be placing orders of several hundreds of pounds, that's if they allow you to be a distributor!
Title: Re: carpet cleaners northumberland area
Post by: Bill Robinson on December 11, 2007, 05:23:24 pm
Plenty of suppliers able to deliver up in Northumberland.

No dis-respect but how are you going to offer advice on the best products for a certain job with your limited experience in carpet cleaning.
ask you lol ..no i was looking to do a different type of suply including delivering to customers who run out on the job

bill
Title: Re: carpet cleaners northumberland area
Post by: Bill Robinson on December 11, 2007, 05:33:00 pm
Bill,

I can get next day delivery from any amount of suppliers with a simple phone call, postage is often free. 

With the same phone call they can advise me on differing products to treat specific problem areas or materials.

The world is a small place nowadays, the days of the corner shop and door to door delivery boys is long gone.  Just about everywhere has a "virtual shop" on the internet now.

I ordered a parcel from America last Thursday on the internet, it's arrived today, postage cost $18.95 (£9.50)!!

In order to get any reasonable discounts from suppliers you will need to be placing orders of several hundreds of pounds, that's if they allow you to be a distributor!
so do you ever use top grade products do you have them all delivered to your door or the house or job your working on how much do you get thru per month... im just looking into it ive got a spare 10k i want to spend this year on an experiment investment has your machine ever broken down on a job and would like to rent another to get the job done i dont mind traveling as long as its not to far
Title: Re: carpet cleaners northumberland area
Post by: stevegunn on December 11, 2007, 05:40:07 pm
Bill

Don't think there is a big enough market for the kind of service you are after offering,but best of luck with whatever you decide to do
Title: Re: carpet cleaners northumberland area
Post by: Bill Robinson on December 11, 2007, 05:52:42 pm
well im just wondering .wife likes the idea of a cafe ,i was hoping on expanding the cleaning side of things. im not out to make a lot of cash. i recon theres about 20 carpet cleaners in northumberland, i get fed up of going to get my powder i thought others might do to.
Title: Re: carpet cleaners northumberland area
Post by: stevegunn on December 11, 2007, 05:57:11 pm
well im just wondering .wife likes the idea of a cafe ,i was hoping on expanding the cleaning side of things. im not out to make a lot of cash. i recon theres about 20 carpet cleaners in northumberland, i get fed up of going to get my powder i thought others might do to.

Internet cafe Bill, was in Holyhead a few weeks back internet cafe was busiest place in the town
Title: Re: carpet cleaners northumberland area
Post by: Bill Robinson on December 11, 2007, 06:04:33 pm
well im just wondering .wife likes the idea of a cafe ,i was hoping on expanding the cleaning side of things. im not out to make a lot of cash. i recon theres about 20 carpet cleaners in northumberland, i get fed up of going to get my powder i thought others might do to.

Internet cafe Bill, was in Holyhead a few weeks back internet cafe was busiest place in the town

wow really .i thought they would be dieing out, now with mobile broadband .
Title: Re: carpet cleaners northumberland area
Post by: Bill Robinson on December 11, 2007, 06:08:24 pm
just thought i recon morpeth might be a good place for that kind of business even if i just had wireless and peops could use there own lap top and have a few comps for holiday makers.. youve set me off now i wonder if they would be intrested in any formulay 90 aswell..

bill
Title: Re: carpet cleaners northumberland area
Post by: stevegunn on December 11, 2007, 06:12:07 pm
Just drop the cheque in the post ;)
Title: Re: carpet cleaners northumberland area
Post by: Mike Halliday on December 11, 2007, 07:09:12 pm
you need to sell something people will buy, if you want to offer  something to carpet cleaners use £2000 of 10k on a holiday to the USA then do some research on what is new over there then bring it over here, or become the UK distributor for a range of  carpet cleaning chemicals.

or use your money on a trip to china, take long a couple of wands & handtools and find a manufacturer who will make them for pennies.
Title: Re: carpet cleaners northumberland area
Post by: Bill Robinson on December 11, 2007, 08:27:08 pm
you need to sell something people will buy, if you want to offer  something to carpet cleaners use £2000 of 10k on a holiday to the USA then do some research on what is new over there then bring it over here, or become the UK distributor for a range of  carpet cleaning chemicals.

or use your money on a trip to china, take long a couple of wands & handtools and find a manufacturer who will make them for pennies.
i think you just like holidays
Title: Re: carpet cleaners northumberland area
Post by: PaulKing on December 11, 2007, 08:28:49 pm
you need to sell something people will buy, if you want to offer  something to carpet cleaners use £2000 of 10k on a holiday to the USA then do some research on what is new over there then bring it over here, or become the UK distributor for a range of  carpet cleaning chemicals.

or use your money on a trip to china, take long a couple of wands & handtools and find a manufacturer who will make them for pennies.

he's got a point there.

Title: Re: carpet cleaners northumberland area
Post by: Bill Robinson on December 12, 2007, 09:00:19 am
looking at delivery charges im sure most of you pick up your own chemicals when you can. if someone was offering you the chemicals at the same price but delivered to your door would that not be a better benifit or do you rather like to talk to someone who has good experience who can offer some advice on what you need.also how often do you put an order in .
bill
Title: Re: carpet cleaners northumberland area
Post by: PaulKing on December 12, 2007, 06:20:26 pm
there someone already serving northumberlad and a bit further afield and rather have them have a central location to collect from.

Nice idea but can't see it working, "so for that reason I'm out!"

There probably someone in Northumberland that buys more than me but I have'nt met them yet.



Title: Re: carpet cleaners northumberland area
Post by: Ian Rochester on December 12, 2007, 08:27:01 pm
Half the reason for going to a "shop" to buy stuff is because we are fed up with working and are looking for a good excuse for a couple of hours break, a cup of coffee and a biscuit, preferably chocolate digestive or bourbon (hint for John/Lynn ;D)

If I was looking at setting up this service I would choose a far less rural area than Northumberland, beautiful as it is and much as I love it, the travelling costs for delivering to single customers would be far too prohibitive.

I've done 104 miles of travelling today alone on 3 jobs.

Title: Re: carpet cleaners northumberland area
Post by: carpet guy on December 12, 2007, 09:06:43 pm
Bill
If you have £10k to spare, the best person to speak to on here, is Susan of 1st Clean, as she is doing exactly what any good cash flow business ought to be doing.
Title: Re: carpet cleaners northumberland area
Post by: Bill Robinson on December 12, 2007, 10:56:24 pm
so its a non starter then stick with the internet cafe
Title: Re: carpet cleaners northumberland area
Post by: carpet guy on December 12, 2007, 11:11:58 pm
Before considering any form of retail enterprise, consider what volume of " unit " sales you would need to make a profit...................at £1 an hour, you will need an awful lot of computers and an awful lot of punters.

If you want to stay in this industy, take Mike Halliday's advice, but carry out an extensive search before doing so. It's something I've considered , but don't have spare cash lying around at the moment.
Title: Re: carpet cleaners northumberland area
Post by: John Kelly on December 13, 2007, 07:50:52 am
Bill, I don't know what market you work in but I can assure you there are many carpet cleaners in our area who are making a very good living. Most of these are charging realistic prices such as at least £100 for a suite.
If you are finding your customers are reluctant to pay then you are chasing the wrong market.
Title: Re: carpet cleaners northumberland area
Post by: carpet guy on December 13, 2007, 04:36:11 pm
A bit difficult trying to figure out what you actually do and what you would like to do !  People are much the same anywhere you look in the UK,  in terms of marketing mix, but  targeting the wrong sector in Inverness, will get the same result as targeting the wrong sector in Somerset.

Rather than keep trying something different, focussing your energies on something that works and gives a return, will, if marketed aggressively, be successful.

To be successful in this business, in the supply side , would swallow £10k in no time at all.