[Mike Halliday]

ignore grammar and spelling mistakes, its still to be checked

should i keep this page on my site & will the prices stop people calling?

http://www.henryhalliday.co.uk/Beverley-Hull-Carpet-Cleaners/price-guide.html

[Shaun_Ashmore]

No no no!

You'll get considerably less calls okay what does come through will be pre qualified but the funnel will be a drip feed, how many times have you talked a customer round to quality over price? The days when you put lower to medium prices on your leaflets are now gone unless you are regularly getting 20-30 calls per day which could go down to 2 or 3 and then when customers start adding say 4 or 5 rooms and a suite that could really put them off.

Shaun

[Neil Williams]

I tried it once having a Prices page. It was very popular according to the stats provided by the hosting company, infact it was the most popular page of the eight.
At the same time the number of enquiries went down.
And with that I rest my case.

[Mike Halliday]

I want to stop the idiots ringing me up,

 I just hate talking to them, they have strong, common accents and are as thick as pigsh*t..... all they ask is...... How much?

I'm going to add a  £20 discount voucher for anyone having 2 room or more cleaned to appeal to the bargain hunters

[Simon Gerrard]

Mike,
We tried this on one our sites and it resulted in a lot less calls and lower sales becaue it makes the price the deciding factor so encourages people to shop around. Probably worth tolerating the idiots to keep sales up.

Simon

[davep]

Or get someone else to answer the phone?

[Tony Rowley]

In these times of "austerity" would you call someone without knowing a possible figure you would be paying for a service?

If i wanted an electrician to come and do some work for me it would be a given that i expected him to complete the work to the required standard and that i was happy, that would be before i called him. I would then firstly call one that had a price guide advertised on his site so i have an idea of the cost beforehand, if i couldnt find one with a price guide my first question would be "how much"? "well sir i am a top pro, i have 10 certificates and 100 years experience!", yes but how much is the question i asked, the expectation is that YOU will do the job properly, YOU dont have to sell me that bit, its expected already.

I advertise a price guide because thats what i would look for and i dont like wasting time having to justify my service, either your happy to pay the price or not. It also means that you can get most of the jobs that present themselves to you without having to justify yourself, the phone may ring less but your success rate will increase.

Thats just my opinion but it works for me.

Tony

[Neil Williams]

If you're swamped with enquiries and need to cull those you can't be bothered to do battle with then stick a price list up.
If you still have scope for the work then you need to bring in as many phonecalls as possible, even those looking for cheap can be talked around to quality and higher price.

As regards the electrician example how can he publish prices? Every job is different for many reasons. This is the same type of example I use with some customers who just ask for a price on a 'standard 3 bedroom house.' What is standard? A 1930's three bed house is far bigger than a 2010 model. Which leads me to say to them try asking a builder for a price over the phone or on his website for putting an extension on the house. How can he?

[Shaun_Ashmore]

I get the 'attention span deficit' callers who just want a price unfortunately as Ester Ransom used to say "that's life" yes they take up time and resources having to switch the machine on and off, today I got a call from a woman who stated that Morrisons rug dr was broken and she needed a 'few' stairs cleaning as she had an accident with some coffee, god knows what she expected to pay but you have to put up with some shockers it's a bit like going fishing.

Shaun

[Tony Rowley]

It is by definition a price guide.

Surely, and only because i have used it as an example,an electrician should know how much to say rewire a 3 bed semi giving the prospect a ball park figure as a guide. What happens after that is up to you.

If someone calls me and already knows the minimum they can expect to pay for their lounge carpet is say £50.00, I ask then where they live, they tell me the posh end of town, i know and they know that their lounge is bigger than the poor end of town so they already (in most instances) expect to pay more than the £50.00, not only because their lounge is bigger but because they live in the POSH END of town and want to pay more (again i am generalising but you get where i am coming from). I am sure there is a name for this method but i dont know it.

Tony

[davep]

Are you serious?  In my experience people in the richer parts are tighter than the rest

As an example I find I get more tips off working class customers than premiership footballers!

[Tony Rowley]

Not darn sarrfff where the money is

[davep]

Oh, that's why you charge £75 a 3 Piece suite 

[Tony Rowley]

Hmm, didn't realise you wanted to make it personal, but it appears you are from the Liverpool area and so already have a cross to bare and I have no wish to add to that burden!

I advertise prices because I think it's the right thing to do, honesty and integrity in business should be paramount and will I believe bring you success in the long run. Not bs and bravado over the phone, or in their home convincing a prospect to pay an over inflated price.

Tony

[John Milnes]

Pricing is irrelavent.

If you sound like George Cloony over the phone to women custys, then the job is yours

[davep]

No nothing personal, I don't know you.  You said down south is where the money is so just curious why your £75 for a 3 piece  

[robert meldrum]

davep is correct about who the tightest customers are and I have a few footballers and one manager as regulars.

[Shaun_Ashmore]

Jason L was saying that most of his groupon customers were from big houses in posh areas, I find that most of my work is from more mid sized homes in nice areas but not the wealthiest.

Shaun

[Tony Rowley]

I did say I was generalising, and Dave, the thread was about advertising prices on the web not how much your prices are. What's wrong with charging £75 for a 3 piece if k am happy to do it for that then that's my decision. Maybe those really rich clients of yours are already assuming that you are bending them over and thus have to act that way to protect their money, just a thought.

[robert meldrum]

Nothing like pricing to get the juices flowing   

It's nothing new to advertise with prices BUT all the marketing people will say and I agree.....If you want to maximise the response to your marketing it must include an OFFER.