[Tony Rowley]

To be honest I am, just some people and their opinions really p**s me off, I am passionate about what I do and the business I run and the service I provide, albeit a below par simple service for the unemployed council house customer!!!!

Thats mostly rubbish, i avoid council estates as much as I can but being in central London sometimes its unavoidable. And my service is THE BEST in the area.

Tony

[Paul H]

I started this subject to see what replies would come forward and overall I got what I expected from most people. I can honestly say that the only persons views or opinion that made sense was Steve Barnnets, without being predudice or vindictive or belittling others made his point honestly.

The thread was not about what was right or wrong regarding pricing but was just to raise discussion.

Snide remarks and  vindictiveness is what I and many others get from the "BIGGER BOYS" suggesting that I/we dont know  to run a business etc etc etc.

I have been around a bit, for 20 odd years I have been managing people and customers and I can honestly say that in any business I have been involved in I have valued my honesty and integrity above anything else. When in business ( unless you are a politician or a banker) they are the key fundamental values to success (sounds old fashioned  I know).

In my last job I walked after 10 years from £40k, company car etc because i did not believe in the direction the company was going in and the MD was a complete idiot, I valued my honesty and integrity more than my job.

Do I regret my decision? never, only wished I had left earlier and started working for myself many years ago.

Some of the BIGGER BOYS on here need to get a grip, I think its a fear of old age but I could be wrong but reading your replies honesty or integrity are probably words your not familiar with, robbery and.............., sorry sounds like sour grapes.....

So I and many others will continue to run our businesses run on basic, honest values and you BIGGER BOYS will continue with yours.

Discussion is a wonderful thing.

This is clearly all assumption as I have never met you and you have never met me!

Tony

[Paul H]

Tony... i left a 42k a year job mate... i earn less at the minute but i know now and in time i made the right decision.. i wont get into the whys and what for ..

cant believe the negativity and stereo typing towards council estates...  i was dragged up on one so was my wife.. we have done ok.. parents still live on such estates... together with many other decent down to earth people... these poeple are polite friendly ... they will pay without quibble (i aint bothered where are how they get their money) so long as they pay....some are probably as well off as those on private estates but choose to remain in that community as its all they have known....

cant believe the ignorance of people on here towards them.... sound like too many up their own a£ses and have been brought up with a silver spoon in their mouths... get with it!.. in the current climate its about retain and improve what you have as its cheaper than replacing..... so council estates may just prove a lucrative market for those leaflets!!!

to finish i have seen a chem dry operator working on such estates... food for thought

[Paul H]

happy mondays

sounds like you need a better accountant... or you have one and should be really payong 60K tax

[Tony Rowley]

I won't mention any names but there is 2 real big gobs here always putting people down, 1. Put out thousands of leaflets a month, if you put out that amount of leaflets you could not fail to gain business, but surely if you have been in business that long you would have a decent customer base and wouldnt need to do that every month! Also said person does not send out reminders because the leaflets remind them to call him, where is the premium personal service in that? Just does nit make sense to me! The other has a franchise so obviously feels superior to the rest of us but has the comfort zone of knowing its nit in someone else's interest for them to fail! Bur has such an ego he probably couldn't get his head into wembley stadium.

These kind of attitudes really get to me.

[Shaun_Ashmore]

Jim and Mike are 2 of the best contributors on here they have added loads to the forum nearly as much as me!

Shaun

 PS Come on Tony you've only been here 2 mins I'm afraid you'll have to stand in line before you get first shot at these 2

[Mike Halliday]

 Tony

i would take your post to heart if it wasn't for the fact I've looked at your prices on your website......... and now i just smile to my self

 we are different cleaners obviously in different leagues

[Tony Rowley]

Mike

Yes, you don't advertise your prices but charge by deception where as I am honest and charge with honesty and integrity, oh yes and I am younger and you!

[Tony Rowley]

Shaun

You have been here a long time, does that make you opinion more valuable than mine?

[Tony Rowley]

Mike

Doing the same thing every month does not make you a good businessman however much you charge

Tony

[wynne jones]

Tony

If you are doing well and your customers are happy why even start this thread, forget other peoples pricing policy.

This Dick Turpin idea of yours doesn't wash. Do these guys who charge BIG MONEY in your eyes have satisfied customers who have them come back year after year? Er I think they do. So who are you to say these customers are being robbed?

You seem to be pointing the finger at those  who charge low prices and people who charge high prices. Are you feeling squeezed out or something?

[Mike Halliday]

quote;
Mike

Doing the same thing every month does not make you a good businessman however much you charge

Tony

errrrr.....  yes it does,  finding a winning formula and repeating it is what a successful business does to stay successful

quote:
Mike

Yes, you don't advertise your prices but charge by deception where as I am honest and charge with honesty and integrity, oh yes and I am younger and you!

I'm guessing you have been drinking, this topic was started because you saw my post about my prices on my website, then took the hump  because I made a suggestion that low priced cleaners like you should do a bit of self evaluations.

Its so  nice  having someone with your honesty & integrity here..... it balances out all the crooks who charge with deception

[Steve_Knight]

I've had many a barter with people in the biggest homes, as one of my other customers once said to me "big house, big car, nowt int fridge", Jason L said that alot of his Groupon buyers were from the poshest homes and I'd agree.

I'm a BMW owner (well my gaffer is) and we don't go their for tyres I can tell you!

Shaun

Tell me about it Shaun
£5-600 per boot!!

[Steve Rothwell]

that is all that I pay for a CAR never mind a wheel.................

 

[Nigel_W]

Tony

If you charge too high a price for the service you are providing then you will go out of business within a short space of time. Alot of the people on this board who charge higher prices have been around a long time and have clearly found a successfull formula for finding and retaining clients at better prices. If they were highway robbers they simply wouldnt last long because to survive in this business you need repeat clients.

Whether people tell the truth about pricing and how busy they are is a different matter. I guess some do and some don't. Those of us who have been around these boards a long time get to know who is consistent in their messages and whose information can be relied upon.


Nigel



 

[Simon Gerrard]

Nigel is quite right in what he says. I tend not to quote figures and  take little notice of those that do, simply because there can be an element of bravado involved in it. Pricing is a very local thing, I believe. Some people in affluent areas can get higher prices than those in less affluent areas, but the trick is to work out what price you want, given your costs etc and how much the local market will bear so that you end up getting more people that say yes, than say no. I certainly wouldn't base my prices on anything I'd read on a forum and that is why it is pointless asking the question because often the answers, even if they were true, would not apply to your area.
Simon

[fitz2kleen]

( coffs )
Hi there

Dont post much these days as im out and about doing the blood sweat and tears thing ,

while i have no intention of putting anyone down in all of these comments there is one thing that stands out 'salesmanship'

Yes there are C/C's out there who have the gift of the gab and could sell there granny, I for one dont fall into that catergry, but I can talk the hind legs off a donkey and interact with a customer which at the end of the day makes that person want to use ME.
A C/C is what a C/C does if you are robotic and offer a C/C service yes you will get bookings but you wont get the return bookings.
I used to survey every job enquirey but like we all know that is an expense we can all not afford unless our conversion rates are 100% but I will still survey a quote if the customer is unsure or unclear of what they want and my conversion rate there is 75%-80%.
There are a lot of C/C's out there that think this buisness is an easy way to earn a living how wrong they are, just cleaning carpets/upholstery every other day moght be fine today but tomorrow there are overheads to pay, We never intended to be just C/C's as we have other strings to our bows that are comming into there own now.
I know people in the C/C trade that sell themselves on the fact they have a truckmount and because of this they believe they are the bee's knees of C/C think again.
Where you live and the area's you service has a paramount effect on the price you charge, knowing you customer is important and more so how you treat that person.
how do you talk to a person on millionaires row?
I talk to the council estate potential customer as though they live on millionaires row but I cut my pricing cloth accordingly,
Yes I have a minimum charge otherwise id be doing granny crabapples carpets for nowt but she will be more likley to book me because by the time she has put the phone down she will feel that I will be looking after her house/flate/bedsit as though it were on millionaires row.
lets not forget a man/womans home IS THERE CASTLE.

Rant over i have a booking
be well all
REGARDS MARK

[jasonl]

If you take Sheffield , where Shaun and I operate as a typical city , albeit one where tens of thousands of jobs have been lost from the steel and coal industries.

The city is still very prosperous , and still very poor at the same time , Shaun will agree that you can drive a few hundred metres from millionaires mansions , to some of the worst deprivation in europe .

Pricing is more about value than the exact £ amount .   When Shaun first came to my house 10 years ago it was a detached house with 3 garages  on a golf course, I now live in a 3 bed end of terrace house worth a fifth of that house half a mile away , my spending habits are still the same , I am the same person , I look for value , not price .

This is what Groupon , or any other customer wants , above all else , it does not matter where they live at all or what the social status.

[Craigp]

To quote Martin Riley ( I bet a lot of people on here don't know who he is, there's so many new names every time I come back on here) who quoted Winston Churchill..



"Income should be increased to meet expenses, not expenses lowered to meet income"

[Steve Rothwell]

I do believe that there had just been a war, there was almost full employment and the British public at large were starting to enjoy spending money...........

Whereas we are IN THE MIDDLE OF RECESSION


slight difference then eh??