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dai

  • Posts: 3503
I despair
« on: October 10, 2007, 07:24:22 pm »
There has been some very aggressive marketing going on lately near where I live.
Flyer's everywhere, through the door, on shop counters, and in shop windows.
This flyer in full colour was for a firm calling themselves 1st Choice Window Cleaning.
Sure to be near the top of the yellow pages list with that name.
I took my hat off to them, they are certainly making a good effort.
I have been thinking of passing on some local work and had been thinking of contacting them.
Well I met them today, two young guys with a well lettered car and I got talking to them. They were trad, not a scrim or micro between them, although to be fair the tea towels looked quite clean.
The elder of the two told me that they had already built up a customer base of 1300. Very impressive. They had come to my village to clean a couple of old council houses. I asked how much they were charging, they told me £4.50 a house. Now this work is my least lucrative, and due a good price rise. I charge £6.00 WFP, but this is made up for to some extent by being on my doorstep and very compact.
With a 1300 customer base, how the hell do you find time to travel 3 miles for £9.00?
I told them that their pricing needed urgent revision. They said that they couldn't charge more because a company called new pin cleaning was undercutting their prices.
I despair, I really do. 1300 under priced jobs is a hell of a big rod they have made for their own backs.
When are newby's going to learn, you don't build a successful cleaning business by undercutting everyone else.
They got the marketing right, and forgot to research the pricing of local jobs.
I tried to direct them onto this site, but only one had a PC, and that has no Internet access. Dai

Feen

  • Posts: 562
Re: I despair
« Reply #1 on: October 10, 2007, 07:57:48 pm »
Dai, I sympathise. If you start to lose customers to them, or anyone else, I suggest this. Tell the customers that you have been and will continue to be loyal to them (I assume you have ;)). You have cleaned them regularly and well. You expect that loyalty to be reciprocated and so if things don't work out for them with the new wonder boys, they musn't expect you to come back. This helps weed out the timewasters and also if they beg you to come back, you can...at a price. Good luck mate and try not to despair :)
Feen

Re: I despair
« Reply #2 on: October 10, 2007, 08:07:04 pm »
There is always someone that will undercut, dont worry about them there is more than enough houses for everyone, the thing that gets on my nearves is the cheap new start-up's they dump the customers either in the winter or when the penny drops that they are 2 low priced and can earn more. I would not even get out of my van for £4.50