Clean It Up
UK Floor Cleaning Forum => Carpet Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Simon Gerrard on June 22, 2008, 01:47:46 pm
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We all have them, price shoppers; the person who is just looking for the lowest possible price, believing that regardless of how much they pay the quality of the end product will be the same. It’s almost like they are buying a packet of Corn Flakes from Asda or the corner shop, whatever price they pay they still get the same quality product.
How do you deal with these people?
How do you construct the conversation?
Do you give them the price first or give them the Truck Mount quality spiel first and the price second?
I’m looking in particular for workable strategies to deal with these people and if possible convert them into customers.
Simon
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Hi I'm no expert, but we need to build some rapport, show interest in them, how old is carpet, what colour, problem stains etc explain difference in methods,and can only give accurate price on inspection at no obligation.
We want to do the best job possible for them and are not tied to a time limit. Fully Insured, trained etc. recomended by local retailers etc.
Show pics before and after. I explain they will always get a cheaper price, but if they had a nice BMW car for instance, would they get it serviced at a qualified dealer or a fly by night under the arches repairers.
Hope this helps
Paul
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Hi Guys
My approach is to quickly acertain if they are likely to listen and if not then say bye.
If they show an inkling to reasonable persuasion then one can discuss the merits of technical knowledge, experience etc but not much point if they want a through lounge cleaned for 30 Pounds.
My website approach is very much geared to high quality, problem solving , speciality (green,Dry etc) so that most enquiries are looking for one of these things rather than how many pennies.
How and where you advertise has a lot to do with the number of price shoppers.
That is one reason I do not like YP/Thompsons as to the customer we are all the same, some even have the same adverts ;)
At least with leaflets/websites you get a chance to sell your qualities.
Cheers
Doug
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lots of good tips there.
build rapport, qualif,y build value, give price , check close, close, rebut objection if need be and reclose.
yesterday got a 250 job. another local guy quoted 100. They wanted me out the door. I walked them through how on earth any person in any business could do all the work to even a reasonable standard for 100. They agreed and I booked the job.
Of course it doesn't always go like that. Sometimes you best move on to the next one, but quite often it's worth a good go.
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Yes I can relate to all those approaches and results obtained.
I suppose my twist on it is to concentrate on selling myself as an individual first. Then when they are happy talking to me as an individual they are more likely to then listen to me and what I have to say as I go into "selling spiel".
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So what is a good 'searching out question' to use right at the beginning of the call.
For instance, 'What is it you are looking for, the highest possible quality, or the cheap price?'
Sometimes asking such a direct question makes them think about what they do want. My experience is that people think they are getting the same product from a range of companies offering very similar services and that all that divides them is the price they charge.
Simon
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Simon,
Suprised you have to ask, surely what you do seems to be working and suites your market.
One thing I would say is your logo looks nothing like you. ;D
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Mike,
That was me in a previous life! ;D
I asked the question in the hope that someone would have a really good one liner you can use to test the prospective customers intentions.
No one's come up with one yet!!! :'(
Simon
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To be confident to say no to customers you have to have a steady stream of calls coming in IMO
Shaun
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well i'm a big fan of qualifying people as it has so many benefits. Mainly finding out whether you are flogging a dead horse.
You know what to ask to get a profile of a caller and you can just tell can't you.
beyond that.
if you want to get clever find out why they want it doing NOW, then take the answer (if they don't say they ain't fussed whether now or next year) and say what's important to you about ......... when you do this you are starting to get their values in the context of CC which when you close you talk about the solution in terms of their values.
I use stuff like this everyday not just in carpet cleaning so don't tell me it doesn't work.
ps I'm getting ahead of myself as this is for qualified prospects
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I can relate to a lot of advice given, but it doesn't matter what you say / promise / beef up / web sites etc when someone is looking for the cheapest they are looking for the cheapest.
Last week I even went out to site visit in the evening. All the yap about getting out all the draft marks, each room had them, drink spills, drying times, techniques, insurance, quality guarentees etc etc (that was 30 minutes of my life I won't get back) and she was happy with £120.
Call her the next day as arranged to confirm date because they were moving in when they could get furniture out of storage, only to find hubby had arranged with another cc-er because he was cheaper. >:(
Sometimes you just can't tell
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Neil
I'm with you on that. So first you need to make sure you are talking to the key decision maker (which you probably were) but you have to also set things up so she won't change her mind.
If you get a whiff of this the easiest is to take a deposit. Or you could do whats called innoculation you set it up so you cue her to think a certain way when he says HOW MUCH, we'ere not spending that. Like what expensive things does he do, surely you allowed your own little comforts, after all it's your home (you need to soften this or it may backfire).
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Come on guy's, surely one of you has a good, well thought out line.
The phone rings, you answer and the caller says, 'Can you give me a price to clean xxx' and you say, 'have we worked for you before?' The caller says, No! So you say ' ??????? '(because you want to know whether this caller is a price shopper or not)
Surely one of you geniuses has a good line?
Simon
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Mike has the idea, pulling info out of them to find out hat they want first and price second, if they are just ringing for quotes you need to push the TM or experience and put the positves and negatives in their head, most cheap carpet cleaners just give a price so they don't sell the service but YOU can. Change the words to adapt to your customer.
ie "is the carpet very dirty?well I use a state of the art TM that specialises in cleaning very soiled items to like new"
Shaun
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Hi Simon
Once I have price shopper alarm bells I just ask politely 'are you interested in the quality or do you just want the cheapest quote'.
If they just say cheapest then I say it's highly unlikely with my quality cleaning that we will be the cheapest but I'm sure you will find someone who is.
This will sometimes shock into 'oh there is a quality issue here' and if not, I have not even quoted, have been polite so have lost nothing.
Obviously if they say quality is important then one can go from there.
As Shaun says it depends on how many calls are coming in, if lots I can't really be bothered but if quiet then I will make more of an effort.
Cheers
Doug
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Not sure where this fits into the conversation but a useful question to always ask when dealing with a price shopper is...
"Did you have a figure in mind?"
But there again sometimes it turns out that a price shopper isn't really a price shopper.
Yes they are interested in price but the real deciding factor is can you do the cleaning in the time-scale that they want. if so then providing your price fits into their perceived acceptable figure, you'll get the job.
Does this help drive the discussion forward?
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Good topic!
Bit of a tricky one, because there's nothing so diverse as human personalities so I don't think there is any "one size fits all" approach.
As said above, the majority of price shoppers come from either paper or online directories. I think your advert has to be the first "filter". It needs to convey the quality and professionalism of your company. Don't mention money at all EVER in an advert!!
The "filter" I use on the phone is to tell the customer that I don't give prices over the phone.
Q: "Can you give me a price for .........."
A: "I don't give pricing over the phone. The sort of work we do needs to be assessed on-site. This means I can give you an accurate price rather than an estimate, and also means that you can check ME out too. Can we arrange an appointment for a quote?"
Q: "Other firms have given me a price on the phone"
A: "Have they given you a 'quote' or an 'estimate'? It's impossible to price exactly until the work has been inspected - it's a bit like going for a dental check-up via email [hopefully injects a bit of humour into the conversation and breaks down barriers a bit].
A: "You may find that someone's estimate will be artificially low, to get their foot in the door. If they do end up working for cheap prices they'll be doing a rubbish job, which may actually COST you money to either have the job done again properly, or they'll hike the price up once in your house"
I warn about bait & switch and splash & dash at this point.
If this doesn't persuade them I politely advise them that they'd be better off ignoring the professional looking ads and phoning the ones full of spelling mistakes and grammatical errors, as their attention to detail in their advertising probably reflects quite well their attention to detail in the work they do for customers.
Sometimes the calls don't get further than this, and that's fine with me.
I find that this tactic leaves me with prospects that have the price shoppers mostly filtered out. I'll convert about 80% of home visits into work. I know some people might go into shock at the idea of going out to quote every job, but I find it not only works better than quoting on the phone but actually saves me time and energy. The less time you spend on the phone the quicker you get your job finished that you're working on. Most calls are received whilst cleaning, in day hours, aren't they?! I can schedule most quotes into my working day, or I allocate one or two evenings (normally Mon & Tues) where I'll go out and make a round trip doing a few.
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Nice post Jim.
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Jim
Excellent post.
Doug,
You too. Just what I was looking for.
Simon
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Simon,
There's no magic line you need quite a few.
Try this, I think this is what I do but don't think about it much.
How much for......
My reply is Yes of course, (agreement) where are you based?, oh right, I was doing a job there yesterday, do you know Mrs Smith?/do you know the house..., so why are you looking to have it cleaned now? That makes a lot of sense and what's important to you about....
Don't forget questions tell them about you and the questions you ask in response to their answer subtle sells them.
After a couple of minutes I say well I really need to see it because.....only fair on you.... you don't want someone charging more when they finally turn up.
Still don't know Simon why you are even bothering asking, just tell them you have the biggest t/m in the world and you have to pay for it. ;D
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How about " What's more important to you....a cheap price or value for money? ;)
Jim love the dentist line...will def use that.
Got time to mail this due to my 'no phone call, no show customer >:(
Cheers Paul
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Jim's approach is same as the one i have adopted (will be adding dental analogy now though ;D) ............ i have told people that my customers are not price driven but quality driven ............... they come back to me as a result of my results ;)
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Simon
Are you friendly to your customers as occasionally you have been known to be grumpy
So First a Friendly voice
Do you try and and see carpet
Do you explain why you need to go and see
So you get there
Hopefully you will not then be in Price shopping mood
Because they wll see the quality of your Machine
you can impress with the years you have had in trade
You have had articles published in Trade mags which you take with ou.
You show pictures of the ships you have cleaned
But you need to demonstrate that cleaning houses is just if not more important
To be honest I thought you only cleaned ships and big commercial places
You must e a good salesman because if not how did you get the contracts in the first place
If after all that they say no they are price shoppers
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Sometimes in desperation I have said I will come and do the job at the end of it you will be able to judge the quality of my work and then you pay me what you think the job is worth ;D ;D ;D
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Ian
and the end result is.......
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a pocket full of loose change ;D ;D ;D
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Sometimes I let myself down.
Today I was busy, a bit stressed and not had my 7 hours.
After the second How much? I got another one and she just said how much to clean a lounge carpet? So I said like a shot £65! She then went a bit quiet and said oh, er can I get back to you? I then said of course you can, in fact there's a guy in the admag who for another £4 can clean your whole house why don't you give him a ring. Oh, well thanks click.
Who knows could have been a goldmine, but I'll never know. Attitude is just as important as knowing what to say.
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Ian
and the end result is.......
They are usually dumstruck
I then work towards getting an appointment to view
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I do find that there a sixth sense with price shoppers.
But by far and away the best thing you can have is a nice lady answering the calls, calmly at a desk not a sweaty carpet cleaner full of technical knowledge in someone's house.
On average I hear twice a day " the girl on the phone was really nice when i booked"
Haven't got the heart to tell them she's a granny! or my wife. but they both book 9 out of ten, so as for me I'm changing nothing, we are just going to keep being nice. And the days I'm doing the phones I just try and keep up.
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How do I deal with price shoppers? The same as all my other enquiries. I quote the same price per square metre to everyone. If they dont like it then thats fine because they probably aren't the type of customer I want. We are in this to make a living and hopefully a good living so it's no good rushing round doing 6 or 7 jobs for peanuts every day - I prefer 2-3 jobs with nicer customers who appreciate that the cheapest price does not always give the best result.
In my part of England the average income is much lower than many other parts of the country and I'm up against a few switch and bait cleaners quoting £15 per room etc but I feel that they have a different market place to me so I dont try to compete.
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Hi Guys
It's a good point Steve makes, someone wanting a cheap clean is not and never will be a potential customer for me, so I have lost nothing by them saying , 'must speak to my husband"
Cheers
Doug
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Why do "we" make such a big deal of price shoppers for carpet cleaning service? A pain I know but....
We all do it - dont we?
When I am looking for a new TV (for example) I will walk round the shops looking at models and prices - salesman asks "can I help" - I reply "just looking" - I am sure he gets fed up.
Then I trawl the internet sites for models/prices.
but "we" dont normally advertise our prices so how is anyone to know what we charge without asking?
they dont know the difference between this machine or that machine - so we have an opportunity to sell our quality service.
Having done that - I am not suprised (but always disappointed) they say "just going to ring a few more".
Its a pain but I have to accept their decision - I cant be rude to them but I can inform them "yes, you may well get a lower price but I offer a top quality service" (or such words to overcome their conversation stopper "just going to ring a few more") and keep talking.
Got one yesterday, conversation went more or less as above... and away he went. It was stairs and landing (no hall - laminate), min price job of £45....... and he went away to shop around. Not come back to me so presume hes got a lower price OR someone else has quoted similar or maybe bit more and hes thought "this is the going price, may as well take it".
Maybe next time.
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Was at one on Tuesday in Gosforth who had rang myself,deep clean,revita and safeclean.Price was not an issue as she had paid £600 to safeclean down in London 3 years ago,asked how she decided who she booked her reply "your websites were better".
The best thing was she had rang the most expensive cleaners as opposed to the £20 a carpet merchants so she had a good idea it was not cheap.
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did you go out to quote the job steve ?
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I thought it would be blatantly obvious who the undesirable enquires are from. I can paint an almost exact picture and lifestyle of someone in my head just from their opening sentence. Not wishing to offended, but many carpet cleaners are low earners (not all but many) living an almost mirror image to the people you don’t want as customers. Therefore the ability to pick up on the undesirables customers for these people is impaired slightly. Not wishing to offend.
Watch out for males, young ones especially who use the word 'Mate' far too often. We politely retract and end call ASAP.
Gruff sounding women (Smokers) who are very abrupt in phone mannerisms and untactful in there approach. Again end call ASAP
Young females age 20+ who have a nervous phone mannerism and make lots of price related enquires.
All in all you can use your own judgement to decipher who you have on the other end off the line and make a calculated decision as to whether you pursue these people or not.
Remember to listen carefully making calculated decisions in your mind, ask lifestyle related questions related to work that also helps you build a personal picture of the person you have. Then quickly come to the decision to accept or decline.
Matt
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Why do "we" make such a big deal of price shoppers for carpet cleaning service? A pain I know but....
We all do it - dont we?
When I am looking for a new TV (for example) I will walk round the shops looking at models and prices - salesman asks "can I help" - I reply "just looking" - I am sure he gets fed up.
Then I trawl the internet sites for models/prices.
but "we" dont normally advertise our prices so how is anyone to know what we charge without asking?
they dont know the difference between this machine or that machine - so we have an opportunity to sell our quality service.
Having done that - I am not suprised (but always disappointed) they say "just going to ring a few more".
Its a pain but I have to accept their decision - I cant be rude to them but I can inform them "yes, you may well get a lower price but I offer a top quality service" (or such words to overcome their conversation stopper "just going to ring a few more") and keep talking.
Got one yesterday, conversation went more or less as above... and away he went. It was stairs and landing (no hall - laminate), min price job of £45....... and he went away to shop around. Not come back to me so presume hes got a lower price OR someone else has quoted similar or maybe bit more and hes thought "this is the going price, may as well take it".
Maybe next time.
Good post Joe :)
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did you go out to quote the job steve ?
No just priced over phone.
That's the beauty of being up against like minded professionals ;D
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Clinton,
That guy who called him self Prodry (I think from Harlow) used to put his prices on and was allways busy, he was doing £300 a day sometimes he said.
Hes not been on for a while, he said he was going to take his prices off as he was running round like a headless chicken.
Probably knackered now and given up.
Murky
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I've held off from answering this question because to be truthful I have a very blarsay attitude towards priceshopper and that is blow them out as quick as possible. I use a similer approch as Matt, I make a judgment call based on verbal information
the title of this topic is DEALING with price shoppers not CONVERTING price shoppers the best way to deal with price shopper is to add 30% onto your price and tell them that!! at least the next carpet cleaner they call will have a better chance of getting the job at a sensible price:D :D