Clean It Up
UK Floor Cleaning Forum => Carpet Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: thepez17 on August 27, 2008, 05:24:40 pm
-
Dear Members,
Over the years ive seen some pretty crazy carpet cleaning leaflets, but one that seems to pop up every 3-6 months is the classic leaflet with a price list on it. its in two collumns, the first their normal charge and the second their special price. this particular company was prepared to clean one room for £12.00 normal price £24.
this cannot be possible because they were based 30 miles away from where i live, so it would cost them this in diesal (assuming they would clean one room) i get alot of enquiries asking for the lounge and hallway. not often to i get a full house unless its a end of tenancy clean via my contracts.
my minimum for one carpet is £55.00 any room after that is reasonably priced at £10 - £15. equalling out at around £30.00 per room.
is this a scam?
ok ok ok... been thinking about this... so im modifying/adding to my original post from here...
1 lounge
1 hallway
3 bedrooms
1 landing
1 stairs
according to this leaflet £12.00 each...
would anyone do this for £84.00 quid all in?
Id be f***ed into a cocked hat before i would.
-
Lots of people get wrapped up in what the "others" are doing as regards price etc. You must have sat down at some stage and calculated costs of fuel, chemicals,trade memberships, insurance, equipment servicing etc and allowed profit margin into the cost. At this stage it gives you an "idea" of what it would cost before leaving the house.
Lots of these leaflet guys will go to the wall, when you think they have similar costs, diesel etc and if they sat down and calculated these, they'd realise they are running at a loss. That is why the good old decent priced, honest working, professional cleaner will be around for a long time.
Build a stable business, do a good job, have your name referrred on and forget what slap happy joe is up to!
Regards
Gary
-
good advice mate, try and tell myself that every day. just bloody annoying when your trying your hardest to price reasonably a job so you dont miss out. then some fly by night joey comes along. and i hate it when the leaflet says "we are only in your area for 1 week" C**TS!
mind you saying that, i dont think its ever really affected my business because most people know they probably wont do a very good job.
-
Apparently there are a fair number throughout the country and indeed across the pond who do charge such prices................
Some may be scam merchants, but others will be just as astute, or more so, than many posters on forums, as they will have a high volume of work, they will get suites and referrals and will be running a business with the bulk of the work being done by others, probably self employed and creaming off the better jobs for themselves.
In spite of the perception, such operators do get repeat business and recommendations !
It's the nature of the service industry
robert m
Read Gary's post
many such businesses have been operating for twenty or more years
-
why do so many people on here worry about cheap prices, think of it like this, do rolls royce say to each other, "them skoda's are cheap should we drop our prices"
if someone cleans carpets for £10 quid then there a completely different business to me, they won't do as good a job, they'll be there for 30 mins and the water they leave behind will be there for a lot longer. when i do my surveys i point this out to them, i even say "you can get your carpets cleaned for a lot less if you shop around but tthey'll be dirty again in 2 months and you'll need to wear wellies for a few days. so its up to you" i see my company as an affordable rolls royce. and cheap prices don't bother me at all, yes they'll get jobs just as skoda sell cars but so do rolls royce. my prices are reasonably cheap but i'm not going to bust my balls and do a second rate job just to be the cheapest. each customer is different, if your cheap you wont get the top notch clients and visa versa. choose where you want to be and market yourself accordingly, there room for all of us.
derek
-
We get them every few months or so here as gary said in his post do a good job and build a buisness.
I have been going 19 years and still get referals and if i had been doind cheap prices i wouldnt be in buisness now.
Maybe they use a little numatic wet and dry :) funny i have never seen one of these guys working as they prob work from the back of cars lol...
-
In twenty five years Clinton I've only come accross on T/M operator actually working and he was valeting a car for a mate!!
Derek is partly correct
But T/M operators have been known to leave soggy carpets and it's never good to criticise your opposition, might come back and bite you.
-
carlton
there not my opposition,
i have no opposition,
theres loads of carpet cleaners round here but they dont do the same as me.
just like you, your an individual, you dont just sell carpet cleaning you sell yourself.
just like a car, it gets you from A to B so why such a choice. cos everybody is different. if you can grasp that concept and your confident in what you do then you dont need to worry about anyone. (and thats to the newbies like me out there not you vets who should know this all ready)
oh! and i use a dryer so no soggy carpets for me, all my carpets are touch dry before i leave, guaranteed.
derek
-
Derek - I agree with you completely.
I know who the other cleaning companies are in my area, but I don't waste a second of my life thinking about them.
If someone is cheap - good luck to them - I probably wouldn't have got or wanted that client anyway - and at their cheap rates they are certainly not going to get the clients that I clean for.
People buy people first and if I can get in the house to do a survey then I am confident in my ability, knowledge and personality to turn it into a sale.
Steve
-
Hi
I get these leaflets every few months from the same company.
I immediately file them under B I N without a second thought.
At least by recycling them they are being of some use I guess?
Regards
Martin 8)
-
i once remember mr.halliday saying something like " to have competitors you choose to compete"
stick to your prices and dont let anyone elses price bother you.
if you are happy with your earnings/profits........
yesterday my fone didnt stop ringing ;D............booked 7 jobs :o.....ok the are not all large jobs ....smallest job £70 (2 rooms)largest £220(communal staircase)
i get the cheap merchants leafleting but i also file them!!
-
Dear Members,
Over the years ive seen some pretty crazy carpet cleaning leaflets, but one that seems to pop up every 3-6 months is the classic leaflet with a price list on it. its in two collumns, the first their normal charge and the second their special price. this particular company was prepared to clean one room for £12.00 normal price £24.
this cannot be possible because they were based 30 miles away from where i live, so it would cost them this in diesal (assuming they would clean one room) i get alot of enquiries asking for the lounge and hallway. not often to i get a full house unless its a end of tenancy clean via my contracts.
my minimum for one carpet is £55.00 any room after that is reasonably priced at £10 - £15. equalling out at around £30.00 per room.
is this a scam?
ok ok ok... been thinking about this... so im modifying/adding to my original post from here...
1 lounge
1 hallway
3 bedrooms
1 landing
1 stairs
according to this leaflet £12.00 each...
would anyone do this for £84.00 quid all in?
Id be f***ed into a cocked hat before i would.
-
Dear Members,
Id be f***ed into a cocked hat before i would.
Ronin! am i right
-
I am not 100% certain of my facts on this but,,,,,
I am sure that I read about a company charging these prices that made the ( UK )owner a millionaire :o
Complete bait and switch operation.
Massive amount of leaflets.
Paying (untrained) operators a commission on each of the jobs
The commission being heavily in favour of the owner of the company.
The idea being to "up sell" on every job. No job ever worked out at the cheap rate.
Everything possible is an extra charge.
Someone will know the name of the millionaire ?
regards
Chris
-
I would never wory about these leaflets.... ::)
Among many stories I'v heard from custys, this stuck in my mind.
Was called to do 2 beds hsl from a reccomendation.
My price was around £100 if I remember. Custy said said they had it cleaned 6 months ago from a leaflet. I said did they charge you arond £30? Yes £35! ::) and she said it did'nt make any difference to how the carpets looked.
But I was very dissapointed she says...coffee stain in bedroom...the guy asked if she had any stain remover to deal with it!
When the guy was cleaning the stairs, she was watching and said...why arn't you cleaning the risers?
He says....well it's half price cleaning you know ;D
When I'd finished she was over the moon as most women are that I deal with ;D
-
Love your confidence Derek and if you follow through with high quality and productivety, you should do well !
You probably don't need the turbo's
robert m
-
robert,
man mades are touch dry in 5 mins but i need them for the wool carpets, customers love it when i tell them to feel the carpets and there dry, the water softener helps too, makes them softer.
all part of the master plan robert. fingers crossed.
derek
-
We live in a country where we can choose what we charge and who we work for, if you choose top notch service and pricing then why worry about those who go in dirt cheap because the target market is totally different.
Occasionally I quote and they pull out a leaflet with silly prices, lots of times I bring them round but if they choose cheap that's fine cos I don't want them, I want people I go back to and charge them the same or more and without any quibbling.
-
Firstly, I'm obviously an innocent abroad.
"Half price because I don't clean the riser on stairs" :o :o :o
Well, at least I now have another tack for over coming price objections. :)
Isn't it ironic...
I often charge existing customers more for repeat business :)
I explain to customers who I have had to work to overcome price objections (ie those who know that some leaflets are effectively "bait and switch") that I recognise their worries about throwing good money at possibly a bad job but having sampled the quality the next time I work for them the price will go UP!
I have only had to perceive that I am giving them a discount but future work will be charged at normal rates.
I find this strategy can work really well although i acknowledge it does depend upon a number of factors coming together.
Hope these observations can help somebody else.
-
You get those customers who just want cheap, they aren't good customers because they'll use you and then the next cheap cleaner.
I look for customers that like a good job doing, with a good honest, presentable and knowledgeable good looking guy ;D I am definately not cheap but I get loads of work.
DON'T GET BOGGED DOWN ON PRICE, just prepare your answers, don't look for the price question to appear and don't search for it, just tell the customer what you are going to do to make their carpet shine because that's what the right sort of customer wants to hear.
Shaun
-
Dear Members,
Over the years ive seen some pretty crazy carpet cleaning leaflets, but one that seems to pop up every 3-6 months is the classic leaflet with a price list on it. its in two collumns, the first their normal charge and the second their special price. this particular company was prepared to clean one room for £12.00 normal price £24.
this cannot be possible because they were based 30 miles away from where i live, so it would cost them this in diesal (assuming they would clean one room) i get alot of enquiries asking for the lounge and hallway. not often to i get a full house unless its a end of tenancy clean via my contracts.
my minimum for one carpet is £55.00 any room after that is reasonably priced at £10 - £15. equalling out at around £30.00 per room.
is this a scam?
ok ok ok... been thinking about this... so im modifying/adding to my original post from here...
1 lounge
1 hallway
3 bedrooms
1 landing
1 stairs
according to this leaflet £12.00 each...
would anyone do this for £84.00 quid all in?
Id be f***ed into a cocked hat before i would.
Sounds like they are trying to clean a Rolls Royce for a Mini price, we get them round here, £9.00 for a lounge. They got to be dreaming - min charge for me £55.00. 3 bed house £265.00
-
I think for somebody like you Shaun it's a virtuous circle, the busier you are the easier it is to ask for more and say it with conviction because there's only so many hours in a week and you would rather fill them with high paying low hassle customers.
If new CCs could go into every quote with that mindset they'd be laughing but because they Neeed the work it won't happen.
-
Trouble is when you start you find yourself taking everything and anything to survivve, as you have no customer base.
As you spend more time in the business, you understand how to target your markets, look after and keep your clients etc and the luxury of not going after some jobs. Like Mike said if only you could pass on that mindset.
Regards
Gary
-
Derek West and Paul at Kider clean seem to have hit the floor running, they've not gone cheap so they must have done their homework, the key is to keep a steady flow of enquiries coming in and that breeds confidence after so long you say to yourself "I'm not working for that!" and you have raised the bar.
Shaun
-
I think buying a TM straight off certainly concentrates the mind.
Like the FT programme if you shell out your more inclined to put your balls to the wall.
-
I agree with Shaun, don't even think about competing with them on price, I know they can't compete with me on quality.
I don't want someone calling me that is interested in 1/2 price offers. ::)
S
-
I put a sea shell to my ear and it all came back to me.