[The Carpet Cleaning Pro]

I also take it that you re location is a better place than your (ower) old one?

Shaun

Oh yes. All I seem to be in competition with is so called professional carpet cleaners who can not do a good job and the dreadid rug doctor. My service has completly taken this area (Somerset) including Bristol and Exeter by storm. Just expanding into Torquay and Plymouth as done some jobs around that area and the general consensis is the same.

[Simon Gerrard]

Oh dear, monty's lost the plot. He'll be going national next

[The Carpet Cleaning Pro]

European next for me lol 

[wynne jones]

Good to see someone with ambition, how many emplyees/vans you got so far Monty?

[The Carpet Cleaning Pro]

perhaps give you a hand on the liners as i sail over there simon  we could have a race with the RX 

[Doug Holloway]

Hi Guys

I believe all CC businesses , cheap or expensive need to advertise if they want to be working above 60% capacity.

The internet has allowed us to advertise much more cheaply but it does mean more travelling as you cannot dominate an area as you can with leaflets.

As for  what is the optimum price to retain a customer there is no complete answer as all are different but I believe I offer my customers the best value they can get.

It is important to leave customers with the impression that they just cannot buy better.

Cheers

Doug

[Warren Aldridge]

"That puts me £800 in front of you every month as I do not spand anything on advertising."

Monte, about 2 months back I was considering a move down to Taunton, of course I investigated the market in Exeter, Bristol etc etc. I found that you were running a Google Adwords campaign... so please tell me mate, how do you get for free?

[Doug Holloway]

Mike

Do you think you have created a different market in your area by saying on here over the years, how you target a small relatively affluent area on a continual basis?

Cheers

Doug

[The Carpet Cleaning Pro]

Quote "Google Adwords campaign... so please tell me mate, how do you get for free"

I had been given a load of vouchers to use by a friend of mine. Had to set up loads of adword accounts but worked a treat.

[Mike Halliday]

Doug I have created an unusual business model by only targeting a small area ( about 4 miles from my front door) which is still 95% of my business, but like i said this has been under attack by other companies that have realised this area is a honey pot of good customers, now i am doing 50% more leaflets than 5 yrs a go to get the same work.



 

[davep]

How's it a honey pot of good customers if repeat rate is so low?

[Mike Halliday]

Dave its full of people who will happily  pay £150 for suite cleaning and £70 for a lounge, they live in nice homes with lightly soiled carpets, its easy parking with nice drives they offer coffee and cake.

its a really nice area.

I think people get hung up on the £200 a week i will happily pay £200 a week for the rest of my life and i don't care much if no customers return. over the last 4 weeks and until Xmas it is working out at 10% of takings....... OK its not this good on average through the year ( maybe 15%) But I bet if I'd asked if people if they thought spending 10% on advertising was too much  i would have got different answers

[Simon Gerrard]

Mike,
But you shouldn't be spending anything on advertising, or next to nothing given your a second generation business and must have zillions of past customers. I don't understand why you're not extremely concerned about that. If this area of yours is such a honey pot, why are you spending £800 on it when it doesn't even yield repeat customers with a zero advertising cost attached to them?

Simon

[Steve Gunn]

I have customers who use someone else then return for various reasons more so for the job I've done for them,I did one on Saturday where it was 3 years ago since I last did it when I asked why she came back she said carpet never looked clean after she had it done by someone else. Booked her daughter in too while I was there.People will try and use other people who are cheaper its human nature to save money

I sometimes print £10 or £20 pound notes off with my logo on to use against their next clean which works quite well as long as you put an expiry date on with minimum spend too and leave plenty business cards

[Tony Stewart]

Hi MIke
At the risk of being shot down in flames I have been going for about 10 months, part time to wish to go full time. I try and advertise and leaflet drop and place ads in the local paper and even have hung a big sign outside my from door, all with poor or mixed response.
The customers I have got have never had their lounges done for 14 years, or 5 years etc etc. I have a mailing list which is manageable (because it's small) and I think that i stand less than 20% chance of making any referrals next year on the list.
Yes I can have the reply that I ned to spend more on adversisng and get off my butt and all of that but many of you guys are really well established businesses that have built up your business over years so have that mix of customers.
I go in in a uniform, am pleasant, do a first class job irrespective of time if I have to, and am a bit under your rates...........I discount 10% over 100 etc and do the entrance mats and landings if they ask for free.
It's just the customers I have picked up are not repeaters..........so like you Mike I have to find new ones.
Who knows next year may produce me a better mix of customers.

[Hilton]

The question is, Is loyalty affected by price and of course a certain percentage is always going to be, as it is for all of us we do the same. If you had a plumber who charged you £300.00 and needed the service again a year later but a different plumber is going to charge you £250.00 naturally you will choose the cheaper one.

As you cover such a small area and flood the area with marketing material it must be inevitable that previous customers of yours are receiving the mail outs, so in effect you are getting repeat business, if not then there is a problem with some aspect of your business either in presentation or service. But again as an established business in your area if your service was so poor then word of mouth would be a factor and you would in all probability not be operating now.

General rule of thumb for marketing spend is 5% of turnover which would put you at around £200k,  as your not VAT registered then clearly you are not doing anything close to this, so your marketing spend is high but so what,if its effective and sustainable then, (especially in these time and its only going to get harder) clearly in your area this is whats required to keep you running, so keep it up.

I am not sure how anyone arrives at a view that you do not have to advertise at all simply on the basis that the business is established, if that was the case Coca-Cola would cut its entire markeing budget and save a billion or two.

I

[peter maybury]

Mike
if you had done what I had done today at your prices then you would have charged £718.
What I did today I charged £328 + v.a.t.
That is a normal day on domestics if I charged what you charged I would not have had much work. Only one of the customers was a new customer. If I did not have the good wiil and loyalty of my existing customers then I do not think that I would be in business today. Things will be a lot tougher next year and as a result marketing stategies will be a lot less effective and therefore much dearer. The value of loyal customers cannot be taken for granted, goodwill is probably the most valuable asset any business has and makes other assets insignificant.
I would like to earn more but if I doubled my prices I would not expect to have customer loyalty because I work in a competitive industry where there are a lot of competitors that could supply a comparable service.
If I did not have customers coming back time and again and recommending me to their friends then I would after 25 years (my time in bussiness) be concerned.

Peter
www.carpetcleanercardiff.com

[Mike Halliday]

peter you say if you charged my prices you would have no work....... but i charge my prices and I'm fully booked,

 why?

I could charge more as I get no price objections, i tell them the price and they say....... when can you do it?

[Steve Gunn]

Looked at my diary for the last 2 weeks 90% are old customers the new tend to be recommendations,getting lots of price shoppers through the net

[Simon Gerrard]

peter you say if you charged my prices you would have no work....... but i charge my prices and I'm fully booked,

 why?

I could charge more as I get no price objections, i tell them the price and they say....... when can you do it?

Mike,
But you've got £200 per week coming out of your sales for advertising, so you might as well charge Peter's price and make money. I can't get my head around why you think it is a good idea to be spending £800 per month to get £5,800 per month in sales, that's 14% of sales, less your guy's wages, crikey, it's hardly worth it.

Simon