[Clintess Carpet]

I have read the topic about the cleaning firm that appeared on Watchdog (whatever they call themselves) about bait & switch £8.99 & upsell, and yes they are def. not doing us any favours BUT I have looked through alot of carpet cleaning firms (companies & individuals) operating in London area and can't believe how low their carpet cleaning price are

Question is are these companies doing more damage to our industry in terms of pricing & quality of workmanship than the Watchdog guys?

How can we charge £60 or £70 to clean a lounge when we're competing with £15 or £20???
Rant over....


 

[Adam P]

the same way web designers charge £100 per hour when India charges 10p per hour. customers will appreciate a good worker and will happily pay that price, others wont. when doing a quote you have to do everything you can think of to show how much better you are then the cheap guys. if you don't then you've either failed, or the customer was never going to be your customer any way so move on to the next one.

[Paolo]

It comes down to selling yourself on the survey.

Try not to quote over the phone.

[Matt Seymour]

Prices seem to be coming down everywhere at the moment.

With these being pretty tough economic times and a lot of people starting up as carpet cleaners it's only going to get worse if you ask me. There is a lot of competition out there.

Trouble is a lot of these very cheap cleaning companies do a pretty good job for the low prices as well, so it's not even a case of those guys offering a sub-standard service for the money.

I know that I was always chosen by customers purely because I beat the competition's quotes, but I was competing against people who were trying to charge £100 for one living room and a hallway on many occasions. No one seemed to give a monkeys whether I used "green" cleaning solutions or stuck a vacuum around the place first, all they cared about was the price.

[Joe H]

There will always be those who want to pay a low price irrespective who does it or how its done.

Likewise there will always be those who want to pay more on the assumption they will get a good job.

If "you" go for the latter clients, you just need to make sure you can deliver the goodies.

[Matt Seymour]

Thing is your average Joe thinks carpet cleaning is a piece of cake that requires no skill at all, so a low price won't make them question the quality of the workmanship. The fact that so many people fall for the Enterprise £8.99 for two rooms scam is evidence of that.

In many cases all they have to compare it to is the price of renting a Rug Doctor.

[Adam P]

remember enterprise doesn't charge £8.99, they still charge £150+ per clean so the customers are used to paying this money, you just need to make sure you come across as a better alternative.

[ianharper]

Nick

If that price level is not for you then you have to find where your type of customer hang out and advertise there. its as simple as that.

Respect

Ian Harper

[wynne jones]

I was watching a programme the other day and they came out with a statistic that 75% of all the UKs electric gates are sold in Hertfordshire! Got me thinking about relocation.

[Dave_Lee]

How can we charge £60 or £70 to clean a lounge when we're competing with £15 or £20???
Rant over....

You dont COMPETE with them, you compete with those offering a similar service, not those far removed.
A top professional Upholsterer does not compete with DFC etc, because he produces a far superior product, it is the same with everything.
You are looking at the cheap operator as the same as you, when he isn't.
That's why you have to present your business as being different and that's not only in the quality of the job but how your business appears to the potential customer.
If your looks the same as theirs, everyone will think it is, and will only see a difference in prices you both charge, in which case they will probably win.
Dave.

[Matt Seymour]

Why do people automatically assume that those offering cheaper prices provide a poor or lower quality service?

There are many cleaners in my area who will do a whole house for under £100 and they are NCCA members who have been going for years and years.

Low price doesn't necessarily mean a bad service.

[Doctor Carpet (Ret'd)]

Dave

So so true.

Your post has got to be the most succinct reply on this perenial topic in a long time.

Rog

[Doug Holloway]

Hi Guys

One of the truer sayings is that you get what you pay for and CC is no different.

Cheers

Doug

[Carpet Dawg]

a cheap carpet cleaner that does a good job (and they do exist unfortunalty) will be your worse enemy compition. fact

[wynne jones]

The truth is, there will always be guys who do a great job and charge very low prices. The problem is the next year it will be somebody else doing it cos the other guy has gone out of business.

You can start off low priced as a strategy, but it is unsustainable UNLESS you are very clever in what you do with your customers. Even then why be low priced when you COULD charge more? The reason is because you don't feel you deserve more or you are poo scared you will lose a rare commodity or you feel you are conning people.

In my view one of the biggest let downs is having to tell a customer you can't clean her carpet this year because ____________ insert your reason here, when in fact all that happened was you ran out of money and she would have gladly given you more.  

The answer to most ills in business is MARKETING AND SALES. If you can't add up you can hire a book keeper if you can't build a website you can hire a web developer, if your machine breaks down you get someone to fix it or just buy a new one. You can throw money at most problems but when you are scratching around for every little pooty job at any price you are just prolonging a slow death.