[dan paton]

the jist of the whole thing is someone else put leaflets out in the area you work in(and their cheaper) and your peeved. that's fair enough but you sound like your preaching . we all have to compete at times with other people's  leaflets . if carpets are only an add on for you then why are you so concerned . your on a soap box about something that every carpet cleaner in the country has to deal with at times. im not the cheapest in my area but i'm also not the dearest . concentrate your energy into your own business

[Paul Moss]

What a n.o.b who the hell is he

     
happy monday's get off your high horse and chill out it's none of your business what other people charge

Paul that answers some questions 

It is my business when they leaflet my patch with silly prices and it is my business when retired painters and decoraters such as Antony call me horrible names 

[Shaun_Ashmore]

Gentleman (well I hope you all are???) let's just step back a little it's starting to get personal please debate but no name calling etc

Shaun

[happy mondays]

Gentleman (well I hope you all are???) let's just step back a little it's starting to get personal please debate but no name calling etc

Shaun

Yes Shaun, well said. Lets debate... and not call names. Mr Moss whats the  all about? questions answered  wtf

Dan the get off my patch thing was a joke, and so was the reply to the #OAP carpet cleaner, some of you want to lighten up a bit and get a sense of humour.

         

[Tony Gill Carpet Smart]

Gentlemen come on Shaun you have met me on more than one occassion you know the answer  

[Shaun_Ashmore]

Tony you are a gentleman you and your good lady made me feel very welcome when I met you last specially as I was taking money from you and left with my life intact.

Shaun

[dan paton]

didn't come across like that happy mondays given your previous posts in this whole thread.. im off for a smoke and a movie .. to quote the great donald sutherland in kelly's heroes ... too many negative vibes man  

[happy mondays]

Gentlemen come on Shaun you have met me on more than one occassion you know the answer  

Dont take this the wrong way Tony, and bearing in mind you did call me a n. o. b. dont worry too much because I have thought about it and have decided to forgive you, I can confirm that no further action will take place at this time.  Without the shades you look like that guy off 15 stone babies on C4 the other night - hows the new business going then? is it a better earner than painting and carpet cleaning  

[happy mondays]

didn't come across like that happy mondays given your previous posts in this whole thread.. im off for a smoke and a movie .. to quote the great donald sutherland in kelly's heroes ... too many negative vibes man  

Lol... you wanna watch what your smoking man 

[Paul Moss]

Ha just pulling your chain you donut

[Chris Straker]

I have plenty within a 10 mile radius but it makes no difference to what I do on a daily basis !!

If I was scratching for work, I might check out the prices charged locally but my work is not all local anyway so that would not matter.

Steve Barnett is 10 minutes up the road but we rarely pass each other by ...... I am sure there are jobs where he is dearer than me and days when my price would be higher than his ......... luckily, the other half a dozen or so, CC's near me ..... i regard as colleagues and we are near enough to offer assistance when required 

[Susan Dean (1stclean)]

Gentleman (well I hope you all are???) let's just step back a little it's starting to get personal please debate but no name calling etc

Shaun

Yes Shaun, well said. Lets debate... and not call names. Mr Moss whats the  all about? questions answered  wtf

Dan the get off my patch thing was a joke, and so was the reply to the #OAP carpet cleaner, some of you want to lighten up a bit and get a sense of humour.

         

errrrrhhhhhhhammmmm

look i just want a post code to this patch please and ill dig some of my old leaftes out that have we will beat any quote right down both sides  and ill send the big man over there right away northing like getting in the middle of a good old price war

[Adrian Marsh]

Gentleman (well I hope you all are???) let's just step back a little it's starting to get personal please debate but no name calling etc

Shaun

Yes Shaun, well said. Lets debate... and not call names. Mr Moss whats the  all about? questions answered  wtf

Dan the get off my patch thing was a joke, and so was the reply to the #OAP carpet cleaner, some of you want to lighten up a bit and get a sense of humour.

         

errrrrhhhhhhhammmmm

look i just want a post code to this patch please and ill dig some of my old leaftes out that have we will beat any quote right down both sides  and ill send the big man over there right away northing like getting in the middle of a good old price war

Used to be a guy locally to me who advertised "never beaten on price". Traded himself into the ground. Just how low do some want to go? If another company offer to undertake the work for £10 are you going to do it for £5?

Piling high and selling cheap may work in a Poundland situation, but selling a "service" or "trade" cheaply will only ever have one result, and it won't be a good one.

Price war? Not interested, quality will always sell. If you want to view yourself as "only a cleaner" carry on charging like an un-professional business and your clients will only ever see you as such.

[Nigel_W]

Differentiation is the key By that I mean - you have to make yourself different in some meaningful way from every other cleaner. If you don't then you will end up competing on price which means you either lose out or make smaller/no profits. Once your clients have a reason to use you - and only you - then you have the makings of a successful business.

I work in London which is full of low priced cleaners. Do a google search for carpet cleaning London and you will get through hundreds of pages of listings before you find my site. The competition for work is very high. My view was that to get the high price work in my area I have to be different than all those other people, otherwise I am just one of many. I have done that and for this year so far I am working on  95% repeat clients and 5% recommendations. So what happens on the other hundreds of pages of internet listings is irrelevant.

So my comment to Mr Happy Monday is that you are looking at this the wrong way round. You are asking Derek to be the same as you. You want him to charge the same price for the same service to make the playing field level. What he has done is differentiated himself by offering "affordable" cleaning. i.e., a good job at a low price. You need to think more about what differentiates you from all the other cleaners in the area. When you have successfully done that you will never need to bother about anyone else's marketing again.

Nigel

[Billy Russell]

Differentiation is the key By that I mean - you have to make yourself different in some meaningful way from every other cleaner. If you don't then you will end up competing on price which means you either lose out or make smaller/no profits. Once your clients have a reason to use you - only only you - then you have the makings of a successful business.

I work in London which is full of low priced cleaners. Do a google search for carpet cleaning London and you will get through hundreds of pages of listings before you find my site. The competition for work is very high. My view was that to get the high price work in my area I have to be different than all those other people, otherwise I am just one of many. I have done that and for this year so far I am working on  95% repeat clients and 5% recommendations. So what happens on the other hundreds of pages of internet listings is irrelevant.

So my comment to Mr Happy Monday is that you are looking at this the wrong way round. You are asking Derek to be the same as you. You want him to charge the same price for the same service to make the playing field level. What he has done is differentiated himself by offering "affordable" cleaning. i.e., a good job at a low price. You need to think more about what differentiates you from all the other cleaners in the area. When you have successfully done that you will never need to bother about anyone else's marketing again.

Nigel

I wish there was a like button on here! Good point of view Nigel!

[*Hector*]

Differentiation is the key By that I mean - you have to make yourself different in some meaningful way from every other cleaner. If you don't then you will end up competing on price which means you either lose out or make smaller/no profits. Once your clients have a reason to use you - only only you - then you have the makings of a successful business.

I work in London which is full of low priced cleaners. Do a google search for carpet cleaning London and you will get through hundreds of pages of listings before you find my site. The competition for work is very high. My view was that to get the high price work in my area I have to be different than all those other people, otherwise I am just one of many. I have done that and for this year so far I am working on  95% repeat clients and 5% recommendations. So what happens on the other hundreds of pages of internet listings is irrelevant.

So my comment to Mr Happy Monday is that you are looking at this the wrong way round. You are asking Derek to be the same as you. You want him to charge the same price for the same service to make the playing field level. What he has done is differentiated himself by offering "affordable" cleaning. i.e., a good job at a low price. You need to think more about what differentiates you from all the other cleaners in the area. When you have successfully done that you will never need to bother about anyone else's marketing again.

Nigel

Good post Nigel...



still not getting a Christmas card though 

 

[Craigp]

Great post Nigel.

I might print that off and stick it on my office wall.

[clinton]

Same here a great post Nigel

[Mike Halliday]

  What he has done is differentiated himself by offering "affordable" cleaning. i.e., a good job at a low price. You need to think more about what differentiates you from all the other cleaners in the area. When you have successfully done that you will never need to bother about anyone else's marketing again.

Nigel

this sounds good in theory but its a bit harder to achieve, there are not many ways to differentiate ourselves from other companies, ask 100 cleaner what makes them different from everyone else and half will say they offer 'a great job at an affordable price'

in the end most of us offer exactly the same...... clean carpets at what we believe is an affordable price.

 we can try and make ourselves look different by mentioning 'eco friendly' or '24hr emergency service ' or 'police checked' but in the end we clean carpets

[Steve Barnett (Carpet Care Plus)]

There are many ways to differentiate yourself from others but I'm not about to post them here.

I think more emphasis should be given to learning about running a business, particularly as we are often told on here that carpet cleaning isn't rocket science.

There are basic fundamentals that apply to running any business, irrespective of what product you sell or what service you provide, cash flow is one of the most important quickly followed by making a profit.

I've lost count of the number of people across the various forums who have argued the toss about charging cheap prices, only to be out of business 6 months later.