Clean It Up
UK Floor Cleaning Forum => Carpet Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Shaun_Ashmore on June 04, 2005, 10:48:51 pm
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what are your favourite sentences when you come across price conscious customers?
Shaun
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It may be cheaper but will you be happy with the end result.
On one occasion I asked the customer why she was driving a Mercedes and not a Lada considering the price difference.
Her answer," Much better quality"
My sale was £250 after that although not all prospects have a Mercedes it seemed fitting for that situation.
Usually I inform them of the benefits of my techniques.
All prospects that I have been in contact with have heard the nightmare stories.
One in particular showed me her sofa, 6 days to dry out Furniture destroyed and I informed her that the piece was actually not Wet cleanable. The 6 days included a dehumidifier on the 5th day
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Mr Neil, you do get these wet and run guys occassionally but ususally it's poor cleaning ie streakiness on corners left uncleaned on no difference at all, there the norms.
What about when the suite is worth £2-300 and you say do you really want someone cheap coming in to ruin it?
Shaun
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trust me no oe wou;ld pay that price as ive already said on previos posts on suites today they are cheap and throwaway, start flinging quotes of 200 youve no chance be under tht 90 ish pound mark you have every chance of getting them regulaly
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Ron email sent
Shaun
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Ron, you really are "bottom end" aren't you. I am cleaning a suite on Thursday for £170.00 and the customer said those immortal words that we all hate to hear "Oh is that all, when can you do it?"
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Ron, you really are "bottom end" aren't you
. Ableclean you snob.
There is a huge market out there for £80ish sofa's. 2 hours work, £40.00 an hour ain't bad is it!!
A lot of customers just CANNOT afford £200 for a sofa clean, don't forget that. I know a few c/cers making over £1000 per 5 day week on this work. You can't knock that, can you?
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Totally agree Gary
and £70 IS NOWHERE near bottom end you will find adverts all over the country offering suite cleaning for as little as £25
or suite plus one carpet £30
r m
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Hi Guys
You would like me to compromise my price?, how much would you like me to compromise my service?, at the price I have given you I can guarantee my service, if I reduce the price I cannot offer the same guarantee.
Best regards Nick
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Where's a Fastracker like Martin when you need them.
Shaun
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Which part of my service do you not want
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Come on guys its been stated in front of your eyes.
What is better the mercedes or the lada? given a choice what do you what?
Answer. what can I afford.
If you buy cheap suites, you WILL have it cleaned at a cheap price. No one buys a £300 suite and has it cleaned for £170.
But if you buy a £3k suite would you pay £80.00 for a clean or £170.00. No one buys a £3k suite and pays £80 for a clean.
High charger clean expensive suites, low charger clean low price suites.
So stop argueing about it there is a market out there for all of us.
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thats senible karl and right on the nail, i am cheap give value for money, and respect customers, i take pride in what i do and rather enjoy the work.i dont however spend longer than i need to justify a price. i dont offer pointless information to the customer to take there time up, i dont drink coffee and eat bikis,i dont spend 30 mins packing up. and im lucky that my jobs with good booking techniques means im usually less than 20 mins to the next clean. no im not a cowboy. and no im not into ripping people off either. and no i dont lose customers. and no i dont use bait , i do use add onns if i can which will benefit both of us. and yes my advertising is cheap. tacky. and my prices are lowish. and yes im more than happy at what i do. and no i am not a stirrer. and yes i am proactive and speak what i think, which may not be always right. opinions are just that .a doctor gives an opinion. you know why. cause they are often wrong and peope go for other oppinions that is there right,
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i did mean to add to the previous that i dont go out and quote. i do everything over the phone, cuts costs dramatically and get confirmed appointment there and then. customer would rarely cancel as they have booked with minimum fuss. and had a more than happy chat to a happy chap.
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This, I believe, is a very honest posting fom an honest man, who is probably making more money than many of you, with high ideals, who want to be seen to be ' doing the right thing ' no matter the result.
Yes, some of you will be successfull in the 10% higher end of the market and good luck to you, also I realise most of you are not being sarcastic or condemnatory of the guys like Ron who serve the greater masses, or the 90% and really mean to attack the untrained / inexperienced bottom end people.
Where would most of you be, if you were unable to find an NHS dentist or had no Supermarket, etc, etc
We, individually, provide a service, to different market sectors and prosper, or otherwise according to our marketing / presentation / quality of the product, or service, we supply
I tend to slot into the middle, or thereabouts and guaratee to do as good, or better a job, than anyone. That's part of my pitch
be nice, takes no more effort
robert m
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very well put, its nice to be nice. :)
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Hi Guys,
I was always taught not to knock the opposition , so I would say something along the lines of , 'I can't speak for the oppo but I can say that with over 20 years experience I can gurantee you a top job.'
If however the customer wants a cheap job then let them have it.
Cheers,
Doug
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Tell them what their getting for the money, guarantees, insured, trained, 5 step cleaning process etc.
Shaun, with £25k worth of gear in their drive i would of thought thats one of your biggest selling points.
Having said that I arrived at a job on friday which I estimated at around £80 for a lounge. Turns out he just wanted the traffic lanes cleaned and a mat but it needed vacuuming. So we agreed on £65 and I setup while he vacuumed.
Mark
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just because some people have less money and a cheaper suite it doesn`t mean they don`t want it looking its best and well looked after.less well off doesn`t mean dirtier.You can tell straight away how much customer can afford and should take this into account when pricing ie,not offering extras they really don`t need.Of course if custy has plenty of money offer them every service possible.there are ways of cutting charges and making the service available to everyone.One day i can be cleaning a suite for 180quid and the next job could be a suite for 50 quid,this doesn`t mean my service is better or worse than anyone elses.All it means is i value every job i get,and treat my customers fairly.
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thats right adrian. cheap does not need to be called .how many of you out there go to aldi.lidl.kwik save. etc they sell cheap does that mean they are cowboys and are not good at what they do. WELL DOES IT :-[
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Shaun
Madam if price is your main consideration,
then may I suggest that you have called the wrong carpet cleaner ,as I supply a quality service .
Martin Riley 2003 roughly as I remember
Neil
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Adrian, I understand where you are coming from but I have just thought of a possible problem with that scenario; What if the customer that pays £180.00 is a friend or relly of the customer that pays £50.00 (maybe a reccomendation). The first customer will be a bit p***ed off when they find out!!!!
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unfortunately with snobery the way it is the person who paid 180 would probally live in a completely differant area and want nothing to do with the sort of person that can only afford to pay 50 quid to have their suite cleaned.it`s a shame but it`s a fact.lucky i don`t have the same attitude or the poor among us would never benifit from a 180 quid clean for 50 quid.
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Pay cheap, you get cheap.
Dave.
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Adrian, are you sure you're giving the customer a £180 for £50 or are you giving a rich person a £50 clean but charging £180 :o :o :o
Mike
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i can assure you that the person paying 50 will be just as happy as the person paying 180,because i put as much care and attention into all my work. ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
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mike if that is the way you think,it is quite probally the way you work. :o :o :o
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if you leave the customer happy.pleased with the work you have carried out , you wont get complaints if you charge her freind more or less.its the way you treat a customer that matters. mike obviously must leave them loved up. he cant bear the thought we are cheap but good, and at the right time expensive and good. they call that selling.they call it opportunity.they call it understanding the market.
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:) :)
there's room in this world for all of us no matter what we charge, but I think its wrong to determine how much a person can afford by just looking at them.
Adrian, you'll be kicking yourself if next week one of your 'poor' customers who you charged £50 dies and leaves £20million to the local cats home ;) ;)
only the customer know how much they can afford, not us
Mike
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I`m fairly keen on cats so i wouldn`t begrudge them .
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i always do an audit on every job. sometimes people want upholstery cleaned so they can sell it.
my advise would sometimes be NOT to have it cleaned because you probably wont recoup the cost back but after doing a quality job that they may well wish to keep the suite thus saving them a couple of grand bying a new one, also on the point of dropping prices, i agree with some of the other posts, just because some people live in poorer parts of town, that does not mean that they are dictated cby a low price,
i find that most people want a quality cleaning service and are willing to pay for that, i always say to people who do ask about lower prices to check that the other firms are fully quallified and insured, because maybe the real cost will come to them if something does go wrong!!!
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im in shock . were are these people who keep paying two grand for a suite, they dont live round here.an audit what do you do . go round the home and do what. then to give advice using the word not.is about the biggest no no in your vocabulary. the word should be eliminated from a salesmans repetoire. and i daresay most of us are insured if not they are mad.
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so true Ron i couldn`t find a 2 grand suite round here for love nor money.but thanks to my prices being so reasonable most of them are sparkling,and i park my arse on a 2grand suite.Has to be some sense in that somewhere. ;D
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can`t imagine myself advising customer NOT to have suite cleaned.Something sounds very wrong there.Do you get much work ?or is it mainly quotes you deal in? ???
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Suspect you are about to hear some praise of mr bright, as he appears to one of the few who have taken on board the advice given by littlle joe and co and is actually running a very successfull operation.
r m
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Adrian
Do you know the difference between been Broke and been Poor??
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ive read that again, and uderstand the point mr bright is making, i think my reply was to hasty and perhaps a little harsh.it sort of makes me edgy when we talk about quality and price, you dont have to be dear to be a quality cleaner or give good service, having said that mr bright has said wordsof merit keep going how you see it.
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john looking at your picture with no clothes on makes me think you have been both broke and poor at the same time :P
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Eating away at the profits ;D
Shaun
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wots tha on abaht ??? ??? ???
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Sherlock, you charge £80.00 for a three piece suite and you say that it takes an hour and a half (£53.00 per hour) I take five hours for a ten cushion reversible for £150.00 (£30.00 per hour) so I think that you are overcharging!!!
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i think ive read this before somewhere. but to answer you you are right i can do a great job and be well paid for it at the same time. i reckon im worth £40-50 per hour and more ARE YOU WELL THEN WHAT ARE YOU MOANING ABOUT
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advising some people NOT to have things cleaned, always reeps fantastic benifits for me, people want to know they can trust any workman they invite into their homes and want good, honest advice, if a carpet is well past its best then the results of cleaning it will not benifit the client very much, and most will be dissappointed in the results. it's better to be open an honest about said results at the start. i have gained numerous recommendation by being fair with my potential clients.
remember we are not in this business just to earn a quick buck but to grow a lasting, honest, reliable and YES a very Profitable business.
anyone who knows me , knows how hard it has been to not drop prices and do jobs just for the sake of a few quid, especially at the start when money was really tight, but by sticking to my gunns and delivering a first class service,
well now i can pick and choose the jobs i want to do and not chase, and try to match every c/c prices in the area ( it seems every spring these guys come out of the woodwork for a couple of months, then disappear untill xmas, funny that)
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oh and P.S most of the client i work for do have 2,3,4 & even 5 grand suites and are more than willing to pay a couple of hundred quid to restore it to near new standard, pehaps you guys are marketing to the wrong people
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Honesty is only 1 part of the carpet cleaners make up, spoke to AJW on Thursday and he's charging £325 clean and protect for a 3pc but he is cleaning in the higher end of homes.
If you are patient and selective you will find the right clientelle to market to, and provided you know how to talk thier talk as in tell them the facts and a bit of what they want to hear then you are in.
He may only do 1 job a day but for that money he may be there for 4,5 or 6 hours not that he is doing a better job (respectfully) but he is taking his time and LOOKING more thorough not a spot missed or a cushion unturned, it's a bit like when Don Atkinson says in his special days, think before you answer and then talk slowly, your response sound more thoughtful.
When I spoke to Colin the other night his voice had changed so much that I thought it was the speaking clock, very thoughtful, very measured, very sure.
As for Dave Lee he doesn't clean into the corners ;D
Shaun
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well then you are entitled to protect your view as to how its done. i am pleased to see a man that has worked himselh into a high value situation , you should post more not telling us your secrets but let the people who are not doing so well see that it can be done. im happy with my work and you with your mazeltov ron
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I think Colins right. Marketing to the right client is essential, most of the fastrack guys are operating in 4-5-6 bedroom a-class homes, and most of these homes have generally clean carpets and suites. You cant get a better client than one whos got fairly clean furnishings, most of the hardwork is taken away.
Nick
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Colin, I agree with you, I advise customers that it would be wrong of me to charge for cleaning a furry foam-backed bedroom carpet that was ten years old and looks like a road-killed cat and would cost about £60.00 to replace. The customers look on this as a breath of fresh air in this rip-off world and I get brownie points and usually steer them towards having another carpet cleaned instead.
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but then dont we all market to the right client, we decide the direction and operate our work basis based on that theory. i chose cheap so i get cheap work but a previous post says im not cheap. it would be good to know what categorie price wise im in. and i presented with the same carpet would of done it straight away.
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yes Ron but LESS IS MORE would you not like to get paid MORE money for LESS work?
I myself fell a little uncomfatable in high class homes but i seem to be getting more and more, the jobs are eaiser as the carpets are cleaner and of a higher quility, and FINALLY i am becoming more relaxed in their company.
These people dont mess about they want a good job done for a good price and thats why they are succsessfull in life with this attitude
Nick
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from the sounds of im not cheap and i finish a job well don fast so maybe i an not going to wrong as by looking at im doing less work
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I think im going to give up posting on here ::)
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is that to partake more in darts and improve your no 2 seeding
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I know how you feel Nick, I think I will join you.
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all the more reason to stay boys . winning is paramounrt. and just because you are not happy with the way things are going , dont give in go forward. leard to be openminded learn not to be dissalusioned by people like me. you have a right to say what you want otjers have aright to disagree. dont run stand and be counted so what if you dont like the answers, change i of importance to all of us
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We live in quite a well off area in the suburbs of Leeds, and having cleaned carpets for 15 years, encountered many differant people. The one thing we have noticed is often the well to do always quible over the price, if its £100.00 they want it done for £80.00 etc. How have they made there money, not by giving it away!
The little old lady in her council flat very rarely argues the price.
Make the customer feel confident with service you are providing at a reasonable cost and you will turn a good percentage off enquiries into sales.
We recently cleaned a small local restaurant and charged £100.00 for 2 hours work, the owner had previosly paid £300.00 and was reluctant to have it done again by this company. We charged him £100 and now do it 3 times a year!
If you rip people off they eventually realise.
John.
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well said couldn`t agree more.charge a fair price,do a good job and you will be asked to return.
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Yeah, John, he's a cheeky sod, show him what you were like BEFORE the diet. ;D
Dave.
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Ron,
£2,000, £3000 plus suites are everywhere. They are no longer the possesions of the well off alone, DFS, Sofa Company etc. etc. have made it so easy for anyone to purchase these items. I live in a Northern market town and these priced suites are the ones I get asked to clean all the time. I know Colin Bright, I taught half of what he know's ;) he could now teach ME, the other half. His overheads are really low, his prices high. He doesnt only make a good living, he makes a good profit too. A good profit CAN be made working on low price, if you rush around doing the many jobs required, to make it possible, but people like Colin DO NOT rush around, in fact work at a liesurely pace, making a liesurely lot of money. People will make their own minds up, who has got it right and who has got it wrong. However I firmly believe that CCs, working the high prices are criticised or disbelieved mostly, purely because those doing the criticising lack the knowledge and ability and the mind set, to get the same price.
Dave.
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well said Dave
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Ayeup Dave a c iant put apic oisen on boord !!
Does the think i wants is face sittin on??
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It's a pity there isn't a statistic of the national average spend on a new 3 pc suite. or the same for carpets per sq metre.
Shaun
Ps a cleaner I used to know near Wales used to say to potential customers that a suite done properly could take around 4 hours to do, will the other cleaner do that?
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Spot on Dave!! I will never drop my prices for anyone.
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got me wondering now ??? ??? ???, dint realise dfs and the likes where selling
top quality suites now, and please tell me are these the ones that are always at half price? with nothing to pay!!! for a year .Or have they really got some good suites in stock ?
wish i had known this a cuople of years ago could have saved a fortune ;D ;D
geoff
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i agree, i prefer to work smart, not work hard
Dave
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Geof,
I never said DFS and the like were selling top quality suites. I did say they were selling suites for £2,000 and £3000 and they have been for years. These type of companies are of course now pushing leather, and the ones they mainly deal with dont seem to be that expensive, but then theres cheap leather isnt there.
Dave.
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i think working hard and smart , will bring alot more cash. those being combined means you are wise. and good please continue with these pre conditioned guidelines you have set yourselves. it simply leaves the cheap workers as you call them loads more money. shame on you