[Simon Gerrard]

Mike,
Good point.

Simon

[Simon Gerrard]

Phillip,
Why only £22?

Simon

[clinton]

Phill mikes post is spot on mate..

[Phil @ Extreme Clean]

Phillip,
Why only £22?

Simon

Because most rooms are only small and i'm only there 20-30mins.

[Phil @ Extreme Clean]

the easiest way to increase your price without fear of  losing the job is to give them the option to pay more if they want

if you are using D/F then it protects as well as cleans so you can honestly say.....

"we can clean, deodorise & protect your carpet for £37 or we can do a basic good quality clean for £22.... which would you prefer?"

I guarantee you will not lose any job saying this as an alternative to just giving your normal £22 price and i bet at least 25% will go for the higher price.

you have absolutely nothing to lose by saying this and it is totally risk free !!!!!

That is a good approach iv'e been thinking this for a while so just sell 2 packages one better than the other but still use the same gear

[jasonl]

I find most customers realise that £40-50 is reasonable for anybody to call out and carry out any service around the home as a minimum charge.

[Neil Williams]

Just to correct this;

 10x12 @ £1/ft is £120 you actually charge 10p/ft.
 

So are you are telling us you regularily charge £9/sq yard.
I can assure you even in this so called rich south you won't get £9/sq yd (or £1 sq ft)

Granted the 10p/ft or 90p/sq yard seems cheap but Phillip seems to be in the situation of gaining experience at present and better he gains jobs/experience at that rate before he starts trying to sell at a much higher rate. Confidence and experience is readable by potential customers and if he goes in trying his luck at a price he's not confident at these customers will notice and not use his services.

[Robert Watson]

Good post Neil.
Phillip. You are one lucky guy, people are taking the time to give you some great advice. I wish I had got this advice 20 years ago when I first got into it.
Good Luck
Rab.

[Simon Gerrard]

Neil,
Not sure I agree with that. Agreed he obviously needs to gain some experience, but at those prices he could well put himself out of business. The DF system is pretty straight forward and provided he's had the training and adheres to it I don't see why he shouldn't be charging full prices.
Simon

[james roffey]

Philip said that NOW his customers have come to expect these prices, when i first came onto this forum it had acres of stuff about pricing and one of the things i remember reading many times was if you start with low prices its difficult to then raise them with your established customers, this made very good sense. i did start charging 0.35 pence per ft from the outset i do offer discounts for multiple room and vacant properties but manage a good hourly rate. i knew it would be a slow start and it was but also knew that my customers would be expecting to pay a good rate and i would eventually build a good client base which i am on my way to doing.
My point is that the forums offer a wealth of information some of it very useful and for people to say that we should not be telling you how to run your business is is quite frankly ridiculous, we all have ideas and we are sharing our experiences with you that's the point of a" forum" i am not saying i am right i could have gone out of business very quickly it was a gamble but i decided that it was a long term decision to build a quality client base rather than lot of customers who want the cheapest job.
I think John Kelly made the best point that some are happy to plod along making a living using older equipment, charging less, other may want to build a carpet cleaning empire.
I am happy doing one to two jobs a day and earn what i consider to be a good wage meeting nice people willing to pay me well.

[wynne jones]

I'm sure I read earlier Phil was very happy with £50 an hour. I think that's a good price, it's geting 4-5 hours in that's the problem. Most people don't lose work because of price, they don't get work because they are not marketing to enough people consistently enough.

[Len Gribble]

Phil

I’m up against the cream of the crop carpet cleaners down here DF/porty and the mean machine TM, dose it worry me NO what dose is the cost of fuel only get 28 to the gal there and back could cost me £12quid out of my min price

Len

[james roffey]

Neil,
Not sure I agree with that. Agreed he obviously needs to gain some experience, but at those prices he could well put himself out of business. The DF system is pretty straight forward and provided he's had the training and adheres to it I don't see why he shouldn't be charging full prices.
Simon

Your completely wrong Simon the DF system is the only carpet cleaning system that cleans deodourises and protects all in one process. it produces amazing results and will leave your carpets cleaner fresher and drier than other methods of cleaning carpets, no more soaking wet carpets it dries in less than 30 minutes. well thats what i will tell my customers if and when i invest in DF give you carpets the DF treatment prices from ?

OH and my porty is much better than that ruddy great truckmount you got to, surely we all have to convince the customers we are the best, dont we ?

[Neil Williams]

reading many times was if you start with low prices its difficult to then raise them with your established customers,

Window cleaners have established regular customers, we don't really have established customers. If we do, we only see them once a year if that for the same job as previously so there's nothing to say you have had to put your prices up for x,y,z reasons.
I started off at a pricing level that (a) bought a customer (b) kept me in work (c) gained me confidence. If I'd started at some of the levels 'some' on here claim to achieve then I'd have been cacking myself at quote stage of having to achieve that level of perfection required for that price.
Because I'm now confident in all aspects I can sell a quality service knowing they will be satisfied. Today I did a leather clean 3-2-1 for £144, I sold the confidence, I sold the quality, I sold the experience, you can't do that when you are new to the industry. (well you can but you'd better live up to the hype).

Simon. I agree the prices are low compared to the rest of us, but if at this stage he can keep his head above water whilst gaining experience of products/machinery and gaining experience of speaking to customers the rest will follow over the years.

[Simon Gerrard]

James,
Sorry, I don't get your point. If DF is so good and so desirable from a customer perspective why sell it on the cheap?

Simon

[Phil @ Extreme Clean]

Neil,
Not sure I agree with that. Agreed he obviously needs to gain some experience, but at those prices he could well put himself out of business. The DF system is pretty straight forward and provided he's had the training and adheres to it I don't see why he shouldn't be charging full prices.
Simon

I done 3 jobs monday and earnt £100 i used a litre and half of chemical it costs £30 for 5 ltrs so i don't think i'l put myself out of business and as for training i went on the day course got my certificate and my df licence and iv'e got over 2yrs experience using df.

[james roffey]

James,
Sorry, I don't get your point. If DF is so good and so desirable from a customer perspective why sell it on the cheap?

Simon

I was jesting Simon :  and making the point that if i were selling DF it would be the bees knees or that is what i would be trying to convince my customers. if you go on the
DF website it contains the "speal" to sell this as a premium service and charge considerably more, i agree with your comments

[james roffey]

Neil,
Not sure I agree with that. Agreed he obviously needs to gain some experience, but at those prices he could well put himself out of business. The DF system is pretty straight forward and provided he's had the training and adheres to it I don't see why he shouldn't be charging full prices.
Simon

I done 3 jobs monday and earnt £100 i used a litre and half of chemical it costs £30 for 5 ltrs so i don't think i'l put myself out of business and as for training i went on the day course got my certificate and my df licence and iv'e got over 2yrs experience using df.

Philip having read that you sound like you have the "speal"  to me so how much will this amazing DF cost me it must be expensive ?

[wynne jones]

The thing is if I was Phil I'd feel really badgered right now. There are some real nuggets for him to digest here but it ain't going to change him over night. The main thing is he's got a good attitude, he will come round in the end. 

[Phil @ Extreme Clean]

i get what your saying James and Wynne i will succeed from new year things are gonna change i'm gna still have a cheap option or the premium option WHICH OPTION YOU DECIDE (in a big brother voice lol) cheers for all the advice i will take it all on board and learn and get better in my field and not worry about saying if you want cheap and cheerful then dont phone me haha.