[Tony Rowley]

The issue with publishing prices is that, yes, you can avoid the price shoppers and just get the people willing to pay your price, but you lose the opportunity to convert those that think it is all about price and all carpet cleaners are the same, except the price charged. A phone call is an opportunity to convert / educate these people and is lost by answering the price question without ever speaking to them, which is utter folly, in my view.

Simon,

I'm not having a dig here.

Do you get many people go away after you have spoken to them for say, ten minutes or do most book?
Posted by: Carpet2Clean

You have to love the do show/dont show prices debate, we all get very passionate about our personal view and stance!!!!!

Tony

[Len Gribble]

Got a few of sites local to me   http://www.diamondfloorcare.co.uk/ http://www.fabricandfibre.co.uk/services.php http://www.carpetcleanerinsidcup.co.uk/ http://www.servicemasterclean.co.uk/find-your-local/home/franchise/10752/dulwich/


Which one’s is better in you opinion remember you’re the wife
 

[Simon Gerrard]

Hi Simon   Yes prices on or off websites is a nightmare i left it off my old site and all the people said "how much is a lounge" we said we will do a house visit to price up,they say why its a carpet..We then tell them we need to see what type of carpet you have etc..Then they say "i call someone else". You just can`t  win ever way.

Richard,
That's a fair comment. So don't offer to do a home visit (because they think a high pressure salesman is going to call) but you can still quote over the phone and during the conversation make them aware of how good you are, any special offers you have etc etc, all of which is lost by telling them what they want to know on your website. If you do that you only have one chance at getting them to book you - purely on price.
The idea of a website is to get them interested enough in your service to call you for a quote.
My wife works in the office and takes all of the calls and she converts a very high percentage of price shoppers ( thenone's that say, oh!' when you tell them the price) because she makes them aware that not all carpet cleaners are the same. The common mistake cc'ers make is in believing that what people want is a low price, they don't - first and foremost they want a quality job done at a reasonable price, offer them that and they will say, 'yes!' but you don't have any opportunity of doing that if you publish your prices.

Simon

[JandS]

I pay, off the top of my head, just checked £16.52 per month.
That's for the top package including multiple pages, 3 e mail
accounts, submission to Google and a few other search engines,
site activity page telling you how many visitors, views, which
search engine for each view, which area the website views
where from etc all in graph or pie style charts.
The best thing about it for me is that you do it all yourself
text, pictures, videos the lot so you control the quality, grammar
etc and it's p*ss easy, it must be I did it.
They offer a free 1 month trial of their basic package so you can't
lose, and they submit it to Google.

John

[JandS]

Len

Fabric and fibre by a mile

[elliott cleaning]

Agreed - yes- yes - agreed.  Never thought I'd have to see eye to eye with Mr Gerrard on four points

... but!!   all of us are good at some things and possibly less adept at others.
Would I ever publicise my prices - no.  Maybe Mrs Gerrard and my strengths lie in being able to talk people into going along with us. We're possibly lousy at cleaning carpets

Richard's strength may lie in producing the top class finished product but provisionally lacking in confidence during the telephone pitch.

If this is the case, which way should he & Tara go -'Publish (or not) and be damned' - as the quotation goes.

[Tony Rowley]

Simon

Sorry to disagree but "talk is cheap" and the most important thing is delivery of the service being offered, we should all be offering the same thing, a clean carpet, the customer is very rarely concerned how we get there just that we do!

Tony

[Carpet2Clean]

Hi Len hope all is will.


Simon  Yes fair point will go with prices off.Thanks for your advise.

John (JandS)  I still do my old website its a Mr Site (the beginners one) Yes the Visaprint looks a good way to go to control it yourself like the Mr Site ones.Cheers John.

Elliott    Tara mainly takes the calls its tough in our area at the moment.Shes working the new way tomorrow. Thanks Elliott.

[Simon Gerrard]

Simon

Sorry to disagree but "talk is cheap" and the most important thing is delivery of the service being offered, we should all be offering the same thing, a clean carpet, the customer is very rarely concerned how we get there just that we do!

Tony

Tony,
Can't agree with you on that.
The issue is converting people to saying 'Yes' to you, which has got nothing to do with the quality of the job, which is yet to be done. If price is the only decision making tool you give them then that is what they will make their decision on. Following that logic they may well search around your competitors sites to see if they can get it cheaper. The point of having people call you is to give you more opportunities of converting people who are in the first instance 'price shoppers,' the only reason they are price shoppers is because that is how published prices website present the service, so it is one dimensional, whereas if they have to call you they have the opportunity of getting to know you and gives you the opportunity to sell yourself and your service. We convert an awful lot of them and if they don't book there and then they call back later and book, not because of the price but in the majority of cases because they liked what they heard on the phone. All that is lost with just a bland price.

Simon

[Tony Rowley]

Simon

Or alternatively the opposite is true, the fact that you offer no price in the begining leads to price shoppers calling you to find out your price, which you may or may not be able to convince them is the price they should be paying.

The disagreement here, to make myself clear is not the end price that the customer pays but the way in which we secure that price.

Tony

[Simon Gerrard]

Simon

Or alternatively the opposite is true, the fact that you offer no price in the begining leads to price shoppers calling you to find out your price, which you may or may not be able to convince them is the price they should be paying.

The disagreement here, to make myself clear is not the end price that the customer pays but the way in which we secure that price.

Tony

Tony,
We get an awful lot of people who have been on our website and have already chosen us and very rarely quibble at the price. Hence our difference of opinion and the reason I wouldn't dream of publishing our prices, but totally respect your opinion.

Simon