Clean It Up
UK Floor Cleaning Forum => Carpet Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: eco freindly. peoples champion ron .sherlock on June 07, 2005, 07:05:53 pm
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9 out of ten of my customers pick me becuase of price. have asked to hundred customers on the p hone . was it the gaurentee. was it theprice. was it that you were dealing with an independant family firm,was it recoomendations. and so on 9 out of ten bought me because of the price. now i know were some of you get one customer of mine in 10
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From my surveys the customers who choose me did so because they werent interested in price :o. They wanted quality.
Quoted a small job today. Lounge and a hall. I got the job even though I was £15 more expensive than the next guy. This was a low income area but even this customer could see the benefit of quality and even commented she didnt trust the cheaper quote.
Frankly sherlock your starting to bore me. Who cares that your cheap and a bait and switch cleaner its nothing to be proud of nor is charging more for that matter
You can be proud when youve met and succeeded your life goals. But then I still dont care :P
Mark
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I think you're being a bit hard on Ron, he's a right he is taking 9 out of 10 customers away from the rest of us.
but I'm happy with that because I'm having to work 6 days a week to deal with other 10%, and unlike the 90% these customers are paying top prices.
he's doing us a favour by taking the crap and leaving the cream :) :)
Mike
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I think Ron is clued up on his marketing and what his customers are looking for even if you agree with his ideas or not, how many look at where they are standing in the market place.
Do you track your response ie why they bought your service was it on price, good telephone skills, recommend, certain age group, quality (which all customers want irrelivant of price), locality, like what they read in adverts?
If you know where work is coming from you can target the people in that niche and saw yourself time and money.
Shaun
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I wish I got 10 jobs out of 1000 flyers!
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Sorry Ron if you think some of the answers are nasty, could you please clarify why you have started this topic? and the point your are making.
all your posts seem to have a subliminal message that you are cheap and that is the reason for your success. You don't have to keep telling us you sell yourself on low prices, we already know.
Mike
Ps If I really wanted to be nasty i would have said the 89 in your name is your IQ ;) ;)
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BEEN WATCHING RON OR SHERLOCK OR WHAT EVER HE CALLS HIM SELF FROM THE SIDE LINES FOR A WHILE NOW.
Think I know who you are.
And I also think the guy,s are very bored with you now.
So GO AWAY.
Paul
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Ron, Surely the wise man is the one who earns the same amount of money but does a fraction of the work :o
I know 2 CCs near me who do 6+ jobs a day, i do 1 or 2.
We have the same standard of living etc but i am home by lunchtime most days ::)
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this is put on only for onr reason that price is of paramount importance as well as quality of work. its nice that others do get paid more and yes working less for more money is great , but some of us work on a different basis, in other words we look for quantity which is more ready available , i only put this on so as to say dont be despondent if no work is coming in. if you want it it is out there at a lower price im noy being rude or patronising to those that get more im trying to say to those that dont, dont give up there is enough for all. it is harder but at least you get work
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Hi Guys,
Another way of looking at this , is the type of advertising you do.
If you advertise leaflets with prices 9 out of 10 people ringing are ringing to book, afterall they know the price.
Old customers and recommendations are probably 19 out of 20.
Yellow pages,thompsons etc are closer to 1 in 5 because many are price shoppers looking for cheapest irrespective of price.
Cheers,
Doug
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Ron,
I believe you have raised your prices once. Have you considered another 10% increase.
And then see if you are still able to attract the quantity of work you require.
Could you get £90 for a suite? In your Market place.
Although you have told me a little about your leaflet unlike others I have not seen it,
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probably ian but i am happy at this price if you dont need to rock the boat dont,i could change the pattern im happy
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Ok Ron youve made your point, your cheap but busy. good for you
Can you let it drop now and post something worth while ;)
NIck
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Ron,
What would you say your hourly rate works out at? On a few jobs I only make £30 per hour which I know is poor, I aim to make £40 - £50. I agree that price is the main concern for a large percentage of customers, I always sell the advantages of my methods which convinces them cheapest isnt always best!! If your making enough doiong what your doing and providing a good honest service then good on ya.
Paul
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paul 40- 50 an hour is great, but if acustard think ita 4 hour job in myarea itwould scare them most jobe i earn that money but i do mor rooms
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i have to say in all honesty i normally bank on a 1% success rate with flyers and for 1000 flyers that is 10 jobs.If your success rates are lower perhaps you should take a good look at your flyers. :P
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you are the cleverest man on here bar me. all you old crustys start thinking its 2005.adrian your wisdom is beyond your years
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thankyou ron.i an flattered and feel truely honered with your kind words.many regards mate...Adrian
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apart rom you they have the greennn sad eye
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Price is immaterial
You can buy a car for as little as £200-500 but if you go outside and count the cars on the road those that cost 20 times the amount will out number the cheap ones
WHY............................QUALITY COSTS MONEY.
I didn't say they were dear, most customers are prepared to pay for the best job, to charge a fair price and deliver a good job, will always pay in the long run, its easy to be a busy FOOL
Best regards Nick
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Adrian, I've looked at my leaflet and can't see anything wrong with it, as you get a 1% return on your leafet could you post it on here so we can all learn from it.
or perhaps you could send me one,
if you get such a good return you must only put out 1500 to keep busy all week.
Mike
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Adrian,
You say you bank on a 1% return on your leaflets :o
Recently sent out 12 leaflets for ' an un-named allergy product' and have 6 jobs.................................50% I BELIEVE ;D
KEEP UP THE HARD WORK
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Ron,
I was under the impression that you did your jobs in the morning.
Regards
Ian
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to be honest i put out very few flyers,as i receive most of my work from letters sent out,people asking me back,and recommendations,but the times i have used them 1% is my realistic aim.barring a few,and they know who i mean,the sarcastic i`m better than you attitude seems to be the rule of thum.thought this was a site for us to exchange ideas and storys.When i say 1% return on flyers i mean 1% return on flyers.i don`t exagerate,and quite frankly i don`t care if you all earn 3 times more than me.I am a happy contented man,lovely wife,lovely kids,lovely family,and that is something no ammount of money can buy.
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to be honest I haven't done leaflets for years! about 6 years I think?but I do seem to have a surge in work when other cleaners leaflets are doing the rounds,it seems to remind my customers about having the carpets cleaned...so they ring me! ;D out of interest I just checked last weeks jobs and found out that 70% were previous customers 20% were recommendations from customers and 10% were new customers!so I would presume my customers are happy with my service even when they know they could get it cheaper elswhere,most people are not stupid and realise that they get what they are paying for!!!
John
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spot on mate,that is what i`m trying to say.there seems to a fascination with flyers.If we are all as good as we say we are flyers should pay a very small part.BUT I AM STILL INSISTING THAT 1% IS WHAT I EXPECT FROM A FLYER DROP. :'( :( ::) :) ;) :D ;D
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allthough my knowledge of carpet cleaning is limited, which is why i read these posts day in and day out, i see £40 an hour as a crazy amount of money to earn.
i would be happy and comfortable on half that unless i only worked 2 days a week.
slateing cheaper operatives of any industry implying all people who work for less will not do as good a job, is also incredibaly unfair, as we all have diferent motivations in life not just how much money we can ease out of somebody, perhaps thats just me?
;) paul
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That's not what you would earn!you have your overheads too! e.g. £35000 for truckmounted carpet cleaning machine van and equipment,£5000 for a reasonable yellow pages ad, fuel for van,fuel for truckmount,insurance, cleaning materials,telephones, wages,repairs,ongoing training,the list could go on and on.If we all worked out how much it cost an hour just to run the business properly before we started making any money!! most would decide to put prices up much more!!
john :o
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sorry based on a 40 hour average englishmans week i still can't see it!
ps what van and truckmount did you spend £35,000 on.
paul ;)
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I bought 2 transit lwb with a dual operator steamway 7200lx with rotovac and RX20 and a chemspec high heat in a lwb vwlt35 with a rotovac and rx20 plus 4 turbo dryers, 2 foggers, 2 prochem 4 jet wands, 2 prochem upholstery tools, 2 hydramaster drimaster upholstery tools, 2 stair tools 2 freshwater tanks, 2 hosereels,600 foot vac hose,600 foot of solution hose, 2 freshwater feed pumps, 2 sebo duo's 1 sebo dart,1 sebo bs36,and probably a lot more I can't remember off the top of my head,
john
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Hi Guys,
1 % response to leaflets just does not happen once you go beyond , say 20,000.
I have probably been responsible for 4 million leaflets over the last 20 years, do you think i would have done this many at 1%.
Thats 40,000 jobs
Dream on
Cheers,
Doug
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Simbo
You will not clean carpet for 40 hours a week every week. What about travel time, on the phone etc. As John says we all have overheads no matter what size of business you have. I think you need to do your sums again.
Mark
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i think you will find 30-40 quid an hour is about average for one of us,it does sound a lot but as has allready been said take away overheads and becomes much less. ;D
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The amount of money earned per hour is dictacted by what macinery you have, I have a Prochem Powermax - a Ashbys Steammate v2 Heat Exhanger - a Victor Sprite 400 - and 50' of hoses, I earn £50per hour and do not consider my prices are to high it just the speed that I can do a competant job, and which the customers are happy with.( I have a high return of customers).
I am looking to upgrade soon I will probable be buying an "Ecilpse", and although my customer prices won't change I will expect to clean more sq yardage of carpet per hour so my income will increase.
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£40 -£50 per hour is onsite cleaning time,3 jobs in one day,poss an 8 hour day,maybe only 5 hours cleaning = £200 to £250.
if you're doing heavy leaflet drops after 5 years in business then your repeat business and referral's need some tlc ! much cheaper and easier to get work that way.
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In my experience (and this is not a knock at Ron) people who buy on price do so because they do not percieve any other benefit on offer from the service provider.
You have to admire Ron's courage in coming on here and putting the reason that 9 out of 10 of his customers choose him in the public domain.
If this was the reason for my customers choosing me I would be too embarrassed to state it on here.