Clean It Up
UK Floor Cleaning Forum => Carpet Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Neil Williams on December 03, 2009, 07:34:36 pm
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Quote: Rubbish ! i made over £800 yesterday on two jobs with my crappy porty ! £300 today and a £40 tip
Ok I give up what's the secret because I can't remember the last time if ever in 8 years I have earn't this much in one day.
I've got the web sites. I've got the yell.com. I've done the thousands of leaflets. I've done the letters to previous satidfied customers etc etc etc
I'm going out now for a couple of hours stress relief so when I get back in I'm looking forward to replies that will open this goldern pathway to riches, because at the moment IT'S DEAD.
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Neil:
Whenever you find this secret could you let me know.
I have earned more than that in one day but only on commercial work and very seldom.
I agree atm it is quieter than last xmas. Well the phones still ringing with the same frequency but am not converting as much probably down to purse strings being tightened
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and what a coincidence that he was making a point about portables and yesterday he made £800 with one...... that was good timing ;)
and a £40 tip , in all my year I've never got a tip that big or done 2 jobs worth £800 on a single day perhaps I need to buy a knackered van ( with a dodgy gearbox) and a portable so I can reach these dizzy heights :D :D ( only joking Mark :-*)
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Yes so come on Mark, tell us how you do it, not because I automatically assume you are bullpoopting more I'd like to do the same, even with a TM.
I don't get tips anymore, I did when I started but hardly ever now. I must be doing a poope job or have very bad breath. ;D
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I have no reason to lie !
First job,American army,1670 sq ft not inc stairs,which i did for free.Should have been over £500 ! £467.,and he was happy.
Not saying it was easy,9 am start,here is one of the rooms
Other job from google,said i would match what her old bloke chaerged her £320.6 bedrooms,stairs, landing,diner,office,rug.was running late for her,called and said,she said don`t care if you work till midnight !!
Sorry it was £787 i made not £800.
:D
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If you can do that in a day then get yourself a new van you idiot ;) look at what you are missing out on.
Shaun
BTW I have my first £5k week on of the year this week, 7 days though :(
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mark can you resize the picture before you post them, it knacks up the layout
edit; sorry mark I tried to resize them for you but cocked it up
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Ok here you go
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v452/delk/DSC00151.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v452/delk/DSC00150.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v452/delk/DSC00152.jpg)
I get loads of work from the american army,all down to getting a stain out of a large lounge carpet,about 2 years ago,best advertising i have had,i know i get stick from a lot of you folks,but i f you do a decent job,and are polite,get a good rapport going ,then people really don`t care what your your van looks like !
The £40 tip was from a lady i quoted over the phone,stairs,about 8 ft of landing and a lounge,said £110 over phone,then knocked a tenner off,said i would do a rug for free,as she made me t,asked if i wanted a sarnie,have lost quite a lot of weight stressing about my van etc,must have taken pity on me ;D
So she said take £40,as i am so happy,you made them look like new again !
Makes so much difference having a machine that works .
P.s and i don`t want any stick for using a garden sprayer,best pressure sprayer i have had,and i have had £80 sprayers in the past,this one was £19 on offer,and has been in use for 4 months so far,and is great ;D
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Right then I'm back.
Mark the initial post wasn't having a go at you I'm just baffled as to why it is dead here whilst some are picking up jobs that are in dream land.
So again, what's the secret to getting your phone ringing?
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I'm really starting to get a full diary...... Bloody Oven Cleaning though >:(
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Ok ;D
I do have quiet weeks too,in fact i have had quiet months,but i allways find that just as i am getting to my o/d limit,i get a load of work in ?
Wish i knew the secret too as i would rather be steady than being quiet 1 week and flat out doing 12 hour days the next.
I have had quite a lot of calls,and basically needed to recouperate as much money as possible,to pay for fixing machine and van.
So i had work booked every day this week,2 more today and 2 tomorrow too.
Next week is also looking good.
Don`t get much work from either of my websites directly,have people who say they got me off google,so assume they see my site and call me,and not submit a request.changed [pics on one site last week,and had 4 calls from it that week,oh i saw your before and after pics,can you do that for me ?
Also booked forbidden planet again for this years clean,full day moinday,then start that at 6 pm so won`t be home much before 9 monday.
Finding a lot of people are passing on my number,to friends and family etc.
I can usually suss people out quite quickly,so get them chatting about stuff that they are interested in ,just check out how their house is furnished,what ssort of books they have on their bookshelves etc etc.
Had never been a people person until i started doing this,i had allways been pretty shy and found it hard to talk to people when i first started out.Not any more though,i would rather take an extra half hour chatting to people find out what makes them tick !
I have to remain positive too,was getting pretty close last week to losing it !
But managed to pull myself up and try and remain positive,the van could have locked up any time and sent me in whatever the direction the wheels were pointing,so i see myself as quite lucky,that i got away with it ;D
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The secret is a book by Rhonda Byrnne, invest in it , and you will reap 100x the cost within a few weeks.
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Hi
There is no secret.
Sometimes you get jobs worth £40-60, sometimes you get £500. I've had jobs at £190 p/h.
It just happens depends on what the job is and who wants it doing.
That's it
Regards
Martin 8)
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Shaun_Ashmore
Can I ask do you work on your own or do you have staff?
Cheers
John
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Ok ;D
I do have quiet weeks too,in fact i have had quiet months,but i allways find that just as i am getting to my o/d limit,i get a load of work in ?
Wish i knew the secret too as i would rather be steady than being quiet 1 week and flat out doing 12 hour days the next.
I have had quite a lot of calls,and basically needed to recouperate as much money as possible,to pay for fixing machine and van.
So i had work booked every day this week,2 more today and 2 tomorrow too.
Next week is also looking good.
Don`t get much work from either of my websites directly,have people who say they got me off google,so assume they see my site and call me,and not submit a request.changed [pics on one site last week,and had 4 calls from it that week,oh i saw your before and after pics,can you do that for me ?
Also booked forbidden planet again for this years clean,full day moinday,then start that at 6 pm so won`t be home much before 9 monday.
Finding a lot of people are passing on my number,to friends and family etc.
I can usually suss people out quite quickly,so get them chatting about stuff that they are interested in ,just check out how their house is furnished,what ssort of books they have on their bookshelves etc etc.
Had never been a people person until i started doing this,i had allways been pretty shy and found it hard to talk to people when i first started out.Not any more though,i would rather take an extra half hour chatting to people find out what makes them tick !
I have to remain positive too,was getting pretty close last week to losing it !
But managed to pull myself up and try and remain positive,the van could have locked up any time and sent me in whatever the direction the wheels were pointing,so i see myself as quite lucky,that i got away with it ;D
I'm not surprised that you are getting good return from google. your site is well indexed and comes up first one for most of the relevant searches. so well done. did you do SEO yourself or had someone do it for you?
dash t
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Hi Dash,all my own work,thanks !!! I bought the domain name carpet cleaners cambridgeshire,as i tought that most people looking for a carpet cleaner around here would search for that ! Seems to be paying off.
I do laugh when i get seo companies calling me telling me they will get me first page google results,just tell them to search that,and Oh there you go !! Look there i am all over page 1 !! ;D
The more professional looking site is due for a revamp,been up there 5 years,the cambridge one with pics on first page is down to me,my first attempt.
It`s paid for itself over and over,prob costs me £25 a year so peanuts really.
It is listed with all the engines though,when i get the odd free day i spend it getting listed on every site i can find,then the spiders pick it up better,also having a load of info on there has helped i think..
Will look into tagging carpet cleaners huntingdon onto my next free days work ;D
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Good on yer mark with your sites.
I have seen some that have been done by professionals and yours is as good as mate..
I seem to be geting more work from my sites as even though i have got years of clients a business always still needs new ones :)
Seem to be getting around at least 6 or 7 new jobs a week from mine at the mo..
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Cheers Clinton ;D
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Morning Guys (well morning over here!)
I'm no expert or anything about marketing, but here are few things I have learned to keep my business income consistant. I'm not sure if all will apply in the UK......just a little food for thought.
1.) Make sure your marketing is crafted to get the customer you really want......so much advertising is too broad. In my business Im looking for upscale customers, that are concerned with environment (green movement) I have given the impression my services are not inexpensive (gets rid of the cheepos) but fair and I'm knowledgeable and green compliant.
2.) I constantly keep in contact with past customers using post cards and newsletters, so when they need my services again (maybe 2 years later) they call me not Joe down the street. (by the way that Joe on this board looks like he would be a tough competiter....glad he is in the UK!!) This way not only do I have a steady stream of new customers, I'm also getting customers from the past back.....and that makes a huge different in your daily totals!
3.) Im always selling my business, with everyone.......I go through more business cards in a year! Anyone Im doing business with.......buy a meal, buying petro, cashiers: everyone has carpet or know someone who does.
4.) Everyday my goal is to upsell one item, protector, cleaning a sofa, rug, just one extra item could cover all of your over head on that one job.
Just some rambling thoughts......
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I live in a quite wealthy area,have a look at Hemingford abbots on google maps,sat version,some huge great big places there !
And lot`s of students ,letting agy keep me ticking over normally,but they are a bit quiet at the mo,have 3 jobs monday,then one on every day of the week so far,booked a £300 pound job on dec 30th,so that should do me for nye ;D
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Thats a good little tip jonny with the extra sell every day.
I try to get something in the same lines as that and as you say it could cover expences..
Joe is a tough cookie ;)
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I follow Johnny's plan I go through approx 3-4 thousand cards a year.
Work on my own 99% of the time (who would want to work with me?)
Shaun
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Shaun,
I embarrass my girl friend all the time with this technique. I'm just proud of my business and know it is a numbers game, the more I can get infront of someone to sell my business the better my numbers are. I love these business networking groups here in the US like BNI.........you sell your business to the group and they inturn sell you, while you tell other people about their business!
My carpet cleaning website is very bold on the card and the business card doubles as a coupon, on the back I offer 15% off their first invoice (New Customers Only) I also use the tent style card , so in the inside I can tell my story and list all my services.
I market my two business very seperately, and have 2 completely different websites. This helps with search engine marketing, as I would hate to loose a carpet cleaning customer, because they think my business is more about leather repair. It is very easy to confuse people so I keep them seperate and have links back and forth.
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Wow Mr Ashmore thats amazing! If I was earning FIVE THOUSAND POUNDS a week theres no way Id be cleaning carpets...Id be giving someone 3 or 4 hundred a week and keeping the rest for doing some nice relaxing administritive work.
Anyway Im off to watch Return of the Jedi...I love fantasy movies!
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I only get one or so a year, alot of hard work over the years in getting customers to pay my fee and also following on from each other also 7 days must admit though I couldn't handle that every week and I'm still old school and like the Xmas rush and will work early and late hours to make the figures, I hate turning work down also protector is my best friend this week.
Shaun
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Hi Dash,all my own work,thanks !!! I bought the domain name carpet cleaners cambridgeshire,as i tought that most people looking for a carpet cleaner around here would search for that ! Seems to be paying off.
I do laugh when i get seo companies calling me telling me they will get me first page google results,just tell them to search that,and Oh there you go !! Look there i am all over page 1 !! ;D
The more professional looking site is due for a revamp,been up there 5 years,the cambridge one with pics on first page is down to me,my first attempt.
It`s paid for itself over and over,prob costs me £25 a year so peanuts really.
It is listed with all the engines though,when i get the odd free day i spend it getting listed on every site i can find,then the spiders pick it up better,also having a load of info on there has helped i think..
Will look into tagging carpet cleaners huntingdon onto my next free days work ;D
yeah i just bought a new domain name for carpet cleaning, and been doing the site for last 3 days, however google maps is playing up at the moment with my listing dont know why, changed my number to a free one and since then it took my listing off, so really annoyed with that. but hopefully it will get sorted out soon, as website has been our main bread earner for a while, so without good listing on google maps we will strugle, but other than that we come up on first page too for most of the searches that i need. did it take you long time to appear on first page on google maps? and other question do you use same google account for both sites to list it on google maps? because it has been said that if 2 websites are registered to same address or account can both get flagged by google. so i'm really worried about putting them both on from same account as i already have enough problems with bl***y google maps.
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No only listed on google maps for my first site mgd carpeet cleaners .co.uk,i have a load of listings with my old add still,so it has me twice.I did the submit your site to google thing,took a while but it`s worked.
Have been on cleanerslocal,and city visitor,and only pay them £100 a year as told them it does not work ;D.
Listed on all sorts of free submission sites.
Did have 4 reviews on touch local,but they seem to have dissapeard ?
Added pics to my yell.com listing,just try and keep up with the net,it`s allways evolving,and they constantly change what the search engines pick up on,,,
Sorry if i am a bit incoherent,too many tequilas,and cava`s
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Wow Mr Ashmore thats amazing! If I was earning FIVE THOUSAND POUNDS a week theres no way Id be cleaning carpets...Id be giving someone 3 or 4 hundred a week and keeping the rest for doing some nice relaxing administritive work.
Anyway Im off to watch Return of the Jedi...I love fantasy movies!
The thing is people want Shaun to do the work, thats why he can earn such money because he has earned respect of many people and quality of his work worth every penny. If he now will set people on to do his work , many people will probably not want to pay that sort of money and use his service as is not him thats doing it. There are many C'C but only one Shaun and his build good customer base, thats why people are prepared to pay as they know exactly what to expect everytime he does the job, otherwise they could just book any other CC. I quess it takes time to be able to earn that sort of money and only very few ever will :)
dash t
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Thats me told!
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The trick is telling them they need their carpets cleaning!! also that I am the only person that they should use but it does take years to build up a strong relationship.
Shaun
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No only listed on google maps for my first site mgd carpeet cleaners .co.uk,i have a load of listings with my old add still,so it has me twice.I did the submit your site to google thing,took a while but it`s worked.
Have been on cleanerslocal,and city visitor,and only pay them £100 a year as told them it does not work ;D.
Listed on all sorts of free submission sites.
Did have 4 reviews on touch local,but they seem to have dissapeard ?
Added pics to my yell.com listing,just try and keep up with the net,it`s allways evolving,and they constantly change what the search engines pick up on,,,
Sorry if i am a bit incoherent,too many tequilas,and cava`s
i found that gum tree works very well with google at they always crawling that site, and soon as it picks up your site link you guaranteed to be listed with google. Lucky you, i guess thats what pretty much everyone does, enjoy them selves on saturday nite, but i cant seem to have a break. I have so much work to do and with this new website design it's nightmare. And i must admit since i registered on this site, i cant seem to get as much done, which is not helping at all ::)
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No it isn't !!!!! I would rather you ask and I will tell you what I know, I am willing to help anyone on here, even if they have long curly hair or no hair ;D
Shaun
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Thats me told!
sorry, i wasn't telling you off and i didnt mean it in a nasty way or anything ;D
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I did Gum Tree and tried going on quite a few in the area then they hit me right where it hurts so don't go multi national ;)
Shaun
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Dash,
I would not duplicate content, I would assume your forwarding one domain to another domain.... this can be done but sometimes it will take for ever to get listed and your control panel at google will give you error 404, internal server issue........basically it is googles "bot" thinking its looking at duplicate content.
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No it isn't !!!!! I would rather you ask and I will tell you what I know, I am willing to help anyone on here, even if they have long curly hair or no hair ;D
Shaun
i think he meant that about my post :-X it may have come accross abit agressive, but it wasnt meant to be.
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Dash,
I would not duplicate content, I would assume your forwarding one domain to another domain.... this can be done but sometimes it will take for ever to get listed and your control panel at google will give you error 404, internal server issue........basically it is googles "bot" thinking its looking at duplicate content.
no i'm creating completelly new website with new domain name, but google maps sont like when you register 2 domains under same address(in terms of premises or home address) they can sometimes even merge them into one listing, and i dont want that to happen as our sitea are completelly different one for carpet cleaning other for cleaning and maintenance.
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Oh I'm sorry I misunderstood, ;D If you figure that out let me know, as I have that problem all the time. I have 2 seperate websites as I brand my leather repair and carpet cleaning seperatly......google keeps doing what your saying, if you find a solution let me know.
-Jonny
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It gets worse. There will soon be only a max of 5 entries on Google maps visible and it will take up more space on the page so organic entries will be pushed onto page two in some cases. :(
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Oh I'm sorry I misunderstood, ;D If you figgure that out let me know, as I have that problem all the time. I have 2 seperate websites so I an brand my leather repair and carpet cleaning seperatly......google keeps doing what your saying, if you find a solution let me know.
-Jonny
i have wrote to google asking them for advise on this matter as it would drive me mad if they merged my listings into one. they already done enough damage to my business, ;D but i'm hoping for the best. i will let you know what they say soon as they will get back to me
dash t
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It gets worse. There will soon be only a max of 5 entries on Google maps visible and it will take up more space on the page so organic entries will be pushed onto page two in some cases. :(
seriously? well i guess 5 is not too bad, i have noticed that pay per click results are becoming more and more popular compared to organic ones.
dash t
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More ruined now !!
Greek maphrodaphne 14 %
Loads of sites pop up each month,cleaner databases etc,just keep submiting to them and it will pick you up.
I keep forgeting to ask really happy customers to leave me reviews on touch local,i got the tip the other day as she said i got them like new again,didnt have the heart to tell her what she thought was 2 grands worth of pure wool carpet was actually cheap polly :(.
Seeing a lot of this,people being sold one thing,then something else fitted !!! Wrong !
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Dash I don't take comments on here as being aggressive unless they are obviously aggressive, I'd rather you say what you feel and then we can iron out the niceties later.
Was cleaning a nursing home very early this morning and my kind wife has just made me dinner but my appetite just isn't there, think I'll skip dinner and go straight back out again.
Shaun
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If you can do that in a day then get yourself a new van you idiot ;) look at what you are missing out on.
Shaun
BTW I have my first £5k week on of the year this week, 7 days though :(
Thats around 4 jobs a day with a min price per job at £200.
You even use turbos to dry the carpets for your customers :D.
Shaun you must be knackered after working a week of 15 hour days :)
Shaun are you taking into acount your dry cleaning business in that weeks total?
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I think I have found the secret! Quick. I must order one today.
Copied from here:
http://www.worldofclean.co.uk/index.php?productID=444
Solution Glides:
are an engineering breakthrough in improving both wand function and Glide design, because they are the first and only glides that have been demonstrated to reduce the effort of pushing a wand on the carpet by up to 80% or more, depending on carpet type and equipment being used.
This means that it can take up to 5 times the energy to move a wand that does not have a Solution glide on it, than one that does. This is especially true when using TMs that have large, high lift blowers in them like the Vortex units.
The Solution glides are constructed of a special Teflon material that has greater abrasion resistance to it, than virgin Teflon, but shares its extreme low friction co-efficient, so that the glides will glide over the carpet as easily as a hot knife through butter.
They will allow you to do a full days work without feeling tired any more. It means that you can improve your productivity and get 20 to 30% more done every day while feeling less tired. Here is what that can mean to you:
Most cleaners average about 1000 sq ft of carpet a day and work about 250 days per year. That is about 250,000 sq ft per year. If you average .36/sq ft for it, you would make £90,000 per year in gross earnings. But if you could do an extra 20% more per year because of improving your productivity, you would average 2400 sq ft per day and make an extra £18,000 per year!
But that is not all.
Because this glide does not lock down on the carpet like regular wands without glides do, it moves up to double the air in cfms at the carpet.
In some climates, this might cut your drying times way down as well. Many cleaners have commented the carpets they clean are dry in as little as 1 hour now. Now this is under good drying conditions, and not all users will see this, but it shows the potential to impact your business in a very positive way.
The glide itself attaches to your wand in seconds, and requires no tools to put it on or remove it. Don’t be the last to get one!
Dave
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Has Shaun ever said he was the first in the country to use a glide. :D
and he has just had his first week this year at £5000 turnover.
Obviously still using his glide.
Got mine from Solutions, but it is a Greenie glide - and there is another thread running at what problems grennie has at the moment so dont know if these are in stock or running short of stock.
Certainly make life an awful lot easier - which is good cause what it cant do is give you back the years :(
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Most days were 6 jobs I did only 1 suite all week and there was alot of protector, Kev sells loads of the stuff so I'm trying to keep up with him, my wife's business figures are totally different to mine and are not added.
Shaun