[cleanability]

Had one of the flyers through my door we all know. The one from, Alltec/Fastrack etc. With honest pricing, most thorough clean ever, 10 reasons why you must choose them, etc. I dare say many of you on here do it. But what a load of complete bull. And by chance I did a job yesterday who had the afore mentioned cleaner round to give him a quote. For a through lounge about 23 x 10 which took me an hour and a quarter to clean and which I charged £50 but this clown came round with his measuring wheel, turned on his lap top and came up with a price of £200 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yeah yeah i know there'll be some clowns on here who will agree with this price. But come on, £200 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ?? You could almost buy a new carpet  at that price. He said he would do it for £100 if he would sign up for £16 a month direct debit maintenance programme.
I called this carpet cleaner and asked him about Belgium Wiltons. He said he cleans them no problem. He didnt mention they could shrink. His website shows a video with a truckmount but his equipment description says they use Alltec twin vacs and carpets dry in 2hrs. I know, I should just let it go lol But it just winds me up.

Chris

[Shaun_Ashmore]

Best joke I've seen is that you charged £50! if he charges £200 and gets half his jobs then he will do well at £50 you need to get 4 to his one.

It's called business and you should get over it, and I would charge £96.00 belgium wiltons on not I get them cleaned and dry before I leave.

[Andrew Briscoe]

Time spent thinking about your opposition is a waste of thinking time.
Much better to spend this time thinking about your own business.

Andrew

[Mike Halliday]

Chris, you read his leaflet with the eyes of a carpet cleaner, you can see the BS but a customer with no knowledge of carpet cleaning can't. that's the problem with most marketing either shown or talked about on these forums we don't have an objective view.

he didn't get this job but there will be lots that he does get.

[Colin Day]

If I were you, I'd take some tips from this leaflet and whole experience and maybe charge £75 or so next time. Use leaflets, customer feedback and everything else available to you to make "Your" business the best option.

[Mark Lawrence]

This old chestnut again :

Like has already been said - get over it, sounds like your a bit jelous? Why cant he charge what he does? Good luck to him and if it works in his business then thats all that counts.

You might get mad with his pricing, but he may equally get mad with your 'cheap' pricing. So what, let it go and stop worrying about it.

The trouble with some people is that they consider themselves as just a 'cleaner' and that they have a 'job'. This is the biggest mistake ever. They should be thinking of themselves as 'businessmen' running a 'business', because thats what it is, and then working out how to earn the most amount possible in an ethical business way.

And who's to say charging a good rate isnt ethical? Not me thats for sure, as you are worth what you offer.

Mark

[Paul M]

For a through lounge about 23 x 10 which took me an hour and a quarter to clean and which I charged £50 but this clown came round with his measuring wheel, turned on his lap top and came up with a price of £200 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yeah yeah i know there'll be some clowns on here who will agree with this price.

Chris

I am curious as to why you would insult members here because of some
company charging more than you. So if anyone on here charges more
than you, they are clowns?

You need to understand how business is run and how market share works.

You are not competing with this company in the marketplace. People who will
pay 200 are not the people to pay 50. It's like getting ped off at
Mercedes.

Sales happen first in the prospects mind. When they see an offer that seems
too cheap, they pass. They want the best and the best usuallycomes at
a premium.

I guess I don't see where the anger for the guy charging more is coming from
or the hostility to those not involved.  

Worry about ways to make more instead of fighting to make less....

[MAX Carpets]

£50?? I would have charged £89.99 + VAT and been done in less than an hour. If you keep charging those rates you will soon have plenty of time on your hands to read his leaflet!

[Doug Holloway]

Hi guys

The whole point of Fastrack is to charge much more money than you would otherwise consider.

Shaun makes the point of you having to do 4 jobs to his one but in reality assumimg £5 diesel/petrol and £5 marketing cost (not allowing for any wear and tear), you make £40 and he makes £190, so you have to do almost 5 jobs to his one, worth thinking about!

Cheers

Doug

[Neil Williams]

I know, I should just let it go lol But it just winds me up.

I'm with you Chris perhaps it's the Welshness
We have someone based in Reading who keeps leafletting areas 15 miles away and there's a few on here who know who I mean.
I probably get frustrated that people fall for the double sided 40 minutes of reading scaremainering stories, of how we will all die a slow death if we don't have carpets cleaned every 6 months.

Whererabouts are you from Chris? I see you have Newport in your profile but refer to the valleys. Being from Blackwood myself I can assure others on here that you not get the prices there compared to those who work the Home Counties.

[md_cleaning]

Am not a fan of Fastrack, but it's worked for lots of people, some of the things it teaches are good, the pink flyer does work I should know I use them, don't knock stuff til you've tried it, while the prices are high, Fastrack teaches you to target high end clients, the ones who compete with the people next door to who can pay the most for a job and as has been said it may be expensive but they earn lots more for less work
Dave

[james roffey]

I dont do exactly the same as the Alltec stuff which i think is a waste of money when most of it you can find elswhere if you make the effort and read a book, but you are getting wound up by this, but some of of get wound up by being undercut :

I would have charged £96 to clean a room that size, and i still think i give very good value.
i think i am worth that., i offer to not charge if not completely satisfied so whats wrong with doing a thorough job and charging accordingly

This is the first time i have ever heard of someone getting upset by some other carpet cleaner charging more, if his customers were not happy he would soon go out of business, sorry to be blunt but i would look at why you think you should charge half of what i do and a quarter of that guy.

I know what i do i go that extra mile to get to know the customer the family i give out spotter to them i have even helped them replace all the furniture that they moved out the rooms one elderly lady i made tea for recently, its a service.

I dont want to be rushing around like a lunatic from job to job because i charge so little i have to do four jobs a day, i i get just as frustrated as you when i get a leaflet saying £20 a room or 4 room for the price of three etc etc.

[MAX Carpets]

Neil

I know who you mean, he seemsa to have moved on to your way now. I have had 5 years of his leaflets, about once a month, ne bothered me though.

Justin

[Mike Halliday]

this idea that if he charges £200 he only has to do a quarter of the jobs as chris to make the same money is not a true picture, firstly he has to find a customer willing to pay £200.

 £50 customers are everywhere and easy ( and cheap to find) but the fasttracker will need to spend a lot more money to find anyone to pay his premium price. So he will find a big chunk of his £200 being spent on marketing.

Chris will have to do more jobs to earn the same but the upside of this is more jobs equals more customers to use him again and recommend him to family & friends.

the problem with charging high prices is your customers are always open to being poached by cheaper companies who also do a good job. They might pay £200 this year but what happens when their neighbours mentions they had there carpet cleaned and it only cost £120 but the result was still excellent, they have now lost that customer even though they did a good job,

 high prices are not the good idea every one thinks just like lower prices are not the bad idea

[Carpet Dawg]

was just going to say what Mike said, well said Mike!

High prices are all fine and dandy but lets be honest £200 for a room that size is a joke and a rip of really!
A couple of guys have said 96 and 90 etc etc even that is no where near £200! I'd of charged 75 - 90 depending of level of soilage, stains etc and done a cracking job and the custy would use me again and tell all thier friends about me etc...

How many friends and family would that £200 customer tell do you think?? (none if they didnt want to be laughed at) only the ones that could aford such a large bill which will be few and far between.

And who says that fastracker is doing good anyways?? maybe he is struggling to break even or find any "CEO's or captains of industry" to afford his "premium" service.... Just maaaaybe Joe the carpet cleaner is making bank with his 4 jobs a day while Richy Rich is wearing out shoe leather, pounding the pavments delevering flyers!

My 2 cents..

Tony

[trevor perry]

i agree with chris there are too many of these rip off merchants in every trade who just buls---t there way to get work but as already said i bet they dont get much repeat business with their tactics, as for £50 for that room then i think that is about right and round here there are a lot who would do it even cheaper.

[Steve Chapman]

Chris,

The good news is you now know what he is charging, you can double your charge to £100 and still be half what he is charging,

The customer still thinks they are getting a bargain, you get more money, everybody's happy 

Thats what i'd do anyhow!

Regards
Steve

[cleanability]

Well after all that maybe I'll up my prices a bit 

Thanks for the replies chaps

Chris

[cleanability]

By the way. How long would you take from knocking on door and waving good bye for a 22ft through lounge very lightly soiled? I'm asking the guys who would charge £80-£100 for this.

Chris

[Mike Halliday]

less than 40mins from arriving to driving away, but I would be in the region of £70