[wayne zabel]

Do any of you guys/girls offer and advertise your services as HALF PRICE CARPET CLEANING.

Some who advertise in the same places as me always use this gimmick.

To me its very misleading - You call and they quote say £45 for a lounge,now when was that same lounge £90.Its a misleading gimmick to me,but how do the public perceive it?

Do you think this kind of advertising works.I personally have never wanted to go down this route and would rather operate and advertise myself as a quality but value for money CC'er,but if this sort of advertising brings in more leads is it worth a go?

Any views of this?

[Mike Halliday]

I think it grabs peoples attention, so it does it job.

what i don't like it the ads that offer half price cleaning then in small print say something like ' second room cleaned is half price' so people have to pay the full price for 1st room which is usually the biggest and most expensive

[wynne jones]

So wayne what your saying is if it worked you would do it but at half your actual prices (which means you make naff all) even when you get a job. Or would you do what they are doing and say it's a lot more?

 

[wayne zabel]

You would have to do what the others are doing and charge a proper rate and just use the HALF PRICE CARPET CLEANING as a banner to grab the attention of those looking at the adverts.

As I said its their gimmick,they are no cheaper than me when you get a price but I just wonder if the public would be more likely to call these first.

I have never wanted to go down this avenue and just wonder what you more experienced cleaners think of this marketing tack

[derek west]

i really don't get these offers for carpet cleaning, yes, i have offers on my website but i don't get asked about them. you all keep banging on about offers but it don't make sense. imagine a leaflet from a plumber, "this weeks special offers, half price leaky tap fixing"
you've either got a leaky tap or you aint, you either need your carpets cleaning or you don't. and if your leaflet (with no offers on it) happens to land on that particular customers mat when they need there carpets cleaning, then you'll get a call, or if your add is in the paper (with no offers on it) when they start looking for a carpet cleaner, you'll get a call.
i had £10 off on a load of leaflets, got a call today for living room to be cleaned, they were recomended by a neighbour, told them £80, and they said we have a leaflet, will we get a tenner off that price, yes i said. ive just cost my self a tenner cos i'd of still got the job without the leaflet.

offers are bo11oxs.
no one has there carpets cleaned because of an offer, they have em cleaned cos there dirty.

[Mike Halliday]

I need 2 new tyres on my jeep,  still have haven't  got  round to getting them : : Why? I need them.....  it won't pass its MOT without them..... but I still haven't got them

same idea with carpet cleaning and offers. peoples carpet are dirty but it doesn't mean they will call us, they will procrastinate.

 but an offer will give them the push they need

[Colin Day]

Don't you have to sell at the "Normal" price for a period of time before you can legally state that the service/item is half price?

[derek west]

I need 2 new tyres on my jeep,  still have haven't  got  round to getting them : : Why? I need them.....  it won't pass its MOT without them..... but I still haven't got them

same idea with carpet cleaning and offers. peoples carpet are dirty but it doesn't mean they will call us, they will procrastinate.

 but an offer will give them the push they need

so they need there carpet cleaning but are procrastinating, a leaflet drops on the mat with no offer on it, hmmmm "no offer says the consumer with the dirty carpets, i'll wait till one drops on the mat with an offer"

a leaflet on the doormat with no offer will encourage them  exactly the same in my opinion.

ps... thats 6 points on ya liscence mike. and its been years since i had a leaflet with half price jeep tyres on it.

[clinton]

Wayne i know your a newbie and you as i did when i first started thought these guys were getting more work than me..I was wrong and all they got was in most cases the really dirty rubbish jobs.

It takes time and just have to keep in there.

Derek is a great example and he started  3 years ago?He just does the job at the right price and gets recomondations and when you do a great job in most cases they will coem back to you..

[wynne jones]

You are right Colin but it's the same old story. If the Watchdog guys are still doing the same thing after all that publicity and nothings been done they ain't going to chase you to see previous full price cleans.

Personally I think it smacks desperation anyway and all you will get are those pooe jobs you are trying to get away from and doing them at half price.

[Doctor Carpet (Ret'd)]

i really don't get these offers for carpet cleaning, yes, i have offers on my website but i don't get asked about them. you all keep banging on about offers but it don't make sense. imagine a leaflet from a plumber, "this weeks special offers, half price leaky tap fixing"
you've either got a leaky tap or you aint, you either need your carpets cleaning or you don't. and if your leaflet (with no offers on it) happens to land on that particular customers mat when they need there carpets cleaning, then you'll get a call, or if your add is in the paper (with no offers on it) when they start looking for a carpet cleaner, you'll get a call.
i had £10 off on a load of leaflets, got a call today for living room to be cleaned, they were recomended by a neighbour, told them £80, and they said we have a leaflet, will we get a tenner off that price, yes i said. ive just cost my self a tenner cos i'd of still got the job without the leaflet.

offers are bo11oxs.
no one has there carpets cleaned because of an offer, they have em cleaned cos there dirty.

Couldn't agree more with you d.

I've never understood why cc's give discounts/special offers to existing clients (or do I mean customers?) (Maybe that's the differnce; I think of them as clients-others think of them as customers.) Anyway, back to the point. If clients have dirty carpets and you've done a good job previously, odds-on they'll come back to you rather than find somebody else. (Better the devil they know! ) So why give them a discount if they've already made up their mind to have their carpets cleaned.

If you look at all the big national businesses-banks, telecom companys they all offer introductory offers to get you on board. Once you've signed up and completed your introductory time/offer the price goes up to the full rate. they don't say "oh, you've been with us for 6 months, we must give you a discount to keep you with us". (In general)

Rog

PS Mike I'm sure you will think of exceptions but I think you will agree with the general drift/tone of the comment.

[ianharper]

Guys

you can go round and round with this one but it all comes down to in the end in DEMAND.

if something is in demand and supply is low you will get high prices or the other way around. my experience at the moment is that demand is very low. hits are down by a massive percentage. response for what i call active marketing is at the lowest i have ever experienced it.

One example is in one area i work one guy has top natural listing and top google map listing but he still feels the need to pay for top ppc slot. why because the other two are not producing work. he not doing anything wrong its just demand.

my takings are in the bin at the moment. lucky the wife works -)

Hits on a website i think are a good indicators of where the market is. its a way that shows us that people are looking for our service.

did you know that 18% of people find it hard to pay their mortgage at the moment add to that things like worry about their jobs and I think this December will not be the best ever. I for one are not banking on it. i making moves  for a new position for next year.

half price carpet cleaning, i play as many different ideas as i could and find out what works.

Respect

Ian Harper

[wayne zabel]

What paper do you advertise in wayne ???Bury times etc?

Yes the Bury Times and the Prestwich Advertiser which is full of cheapo CC offering to clean 2 for £35 and beat any other quotes.I have started a new advert last week saying I might be beaten on price but not quality,yet to have any calls from that one

[robert meldrum]

We're operating in a PRICE DRIVEN society with our prospects bombarded from TV - NEWSPAPERS - SUPERMARKETS all claiming to offer HALF PRICE or THIS WEEK'S SPECIALS.

I could have typed that 25 years ago and it would be just as true then, as now.

You advertise to GRAB ATTENTION and your marketing should then kick in to give your prospect a reason or several reasons why they should use YOU.

Some businesses have always and will always use LOWEST PRICE as the ATTENTION GRABBER some use LOYALTY CARDS some offer EXCEPTIONAL SERVICE.

Biggest problem is finding enough of the like minded individuals you want to target.

Never assume the area or size of the house to be an accurate indicator nowadays or you'll be very disappointed on many occasions.

You have to find the market where your FACE FITS ( and your personality ) a poster on here targets bungalow type houses with mainly elderly clients, but his FACE and PERSONALITY fits and his success has as much to do with his MARKETING of himself rather than his SUPER DUPER machines or methods.

[Mike Halliday]

this topic is slightly drifting away fro Waynes original question, from half price offers to general offers.

I don't agree with using Half price offers but do agree with offers in general.

Derek just to use my jeep as an example again i drive past 3 or 4 tyre places every week but still cant be arsed to stop, but if I drive past one that had an offer saying £20 off jeeps tyres.... this week onlyI would get them done....... such as a leaflet often is not enough to over come peoples procrastination some  people need an extra push.

and we need to be clear an offer is is about encouraging the customer to spend money or even better spend more money not about giving away money.

we can get all snobby about it and say how we don't believe in offers but we all believe in making money and if an offer can be used to create more income then we should swallow our pride.

[derek west]

mike
not sure where you get snobbery and pride from but if i don't believe they work then i express this on a forum, thats what forums are for, different opinions, right or wrong. and i'm not saying i'm right, but from my experiences to date, they only cost me money rather than generate more money.

makes me laugh how a lot on here haven't got the time of day for price shoppers then deliberatly encourage them to ring with offers. don't make sense.

would you really fall for 20% off without checking to see if it was genuine or not by comparing other prices elsewhere?

anyway my point is we're in the service and maintenance trade which is completely different to retail. we all know carpet cleaning can't be compared in price like a samsung tv can be. so for me personally, the idea is to sell your USP rather than offer discounts on invisible prices.
i'm sure discounts work for some on here but wayne needs to hear both sides of the coin so to speak. just giving my side.

ps....we can get all snobby about it and say how we don't believe in offers but we all believe in making money and if an offer can'T be used to create more income then we should swallow our pride.
works both ways mike

[davep]

Wayne if you don't want compete with the cut price guys then advertise in different places, job done.

[ianharper]

guys

here is a way i seen others use. they don't pick up their calls wait till the next day then call prospect back. when prospect says they have someone they say i do it cheaper. this is cleaver as the customer does not have reason for not telling them the price as the job been booked, its then that they come in just under.

most cheap price cleaners do the guessing game on how much others are charging. this method takes the risk out and does not leave any money on the table as they say.

I seen a carpet cleaner do in right in front of me.

respect

Ian Harper

[Steve Barnett (Carpet Care Plus)]

Any service-related trade/industry that markets itself on being cheap, cheaper or cheapest is on a hiding to nothing !

Feel free to disagree with me but you will never change my opinion on this.

[Colin Day]

I agree with that Steve.... I think better words to use are affordable, value for money etc!

The word "Cheap" always has me running for the hills, I personally hate the word and all it stands for.... Much to the annoyance of her indoors