[derek west]

  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

mike, weren't you pointing out them very ways in the beginning of this thread?, backing up why we should be aware of our opposition, you know, like you work in pairs or, moving furniture, etc....

[Paul Moss]

Also standing out from the crowd takes time and loads of word of mouth as these days everybody has got good web sites these days and talk the talk but customers know that most of them are pooe and will mainly go on reccomendation.

[Mike Halliday]

my post was slightly misleading yes there are many ways to make our selves different once we get in the house. i was more  referring to happy mondays point about low  prices on leaflets, how can a potential customer tell the difference between companies

 its how we get the customer that differentiating  becomes a problem, as Paul says everyone can have a brilliant website or impressive, sign-written van & talk the talk.

everyone looks professional, how does the customer know who to chose?

[Nigel_W]

Mike,

If the client is so attracted to the low price then maybe they are not the client you want. My travels around the UK would suggest that there are plenty of people for whom price is not the first concern, including me.  Personally I would not use any service from a leaflet through the door and I would not want the cheapest possible price. For any service I would want a proper job at a fair price. Would you choose a plumber from a leaflet through the door?

Leaflets are therefore not for me but if I did do them I would want mine to say "award winning" carpet cleaning service recommended by Which magazine  and endorsed by xxxxxx celebrity ( OR SOMETHING SIMILAR). That should differentiate from the others and not a mention of price. I would prefer to focus all my attention on recommendations from carpet suppliers, designers, existing clients etc. It takes a long time but Rome wasn't built in a day. It is worth it in the end because you end up with zero marketing costs and a diary full of appointments which you don't even have to quote for. That is how you make "super" profits

I disagree with you that all carpet cleaners look professional. Quite the opposite in many cases.

Years ago I wrote a post on one of these bulletin boards which listed the 49 ways in which I tried to differentiate my service. Can't find it but it would have fitted in quite nicely here.

Nigel

[JandS]

Wise words from Nigel as ever.
Will try find your post now.

John

[Paul Moss]

You will find it here 

http://www.space.com/18925-doomsday-2012-watch-online-live.html

[robert meldrum]

Fascinating posts about pricing.....................

I was looking through Gumtree and clicked on carpet cleaners.....what came up was a hell of a shock as there are loads of them and all offering to clean carpets at half the price we charged 25 years ago.

One was boasting about his highly professional service at low cost ( his machine was a Rug Doctor ) another was hiring out " Professional " carpet cleaning machines at £25 per day.............Bex Bissell / Vax Type machines.

Another used a truckmount and had had offers like..... 3 carpets cleaned for £45.




 

[dave newman]

Nigel
You, as you say work in London.  Sorry but this is a totally different world to what most people in this country work in.  I work in Teesside, North East England.  The world you inhabit is a fantasy world compared to me.  Prices per sq foot you can achieve, is probably, if I'm lucky, can achieve per sq yard.
London as as stated in today's Telegraph is in a 'bubble', the real economic world does not exist, in this bubble,  even allowing for 'all your competition'.  It is nothing and repeat nothing, when compared to people who are willing to to work a 10 hour day for £25.00.  If you have no access to benefits, this feeds your family, plus credits.  As I say another world. A world you seem oblivious to.

[wynne jones]

Nigel
You, as you say work in London.  Sorry but this is a totally different world to what most people in this country work in.  I work in Teesside, North East England.  The world you inhabit is a fantasy world compared to me.  Prices per sq foot you can achieve, is probably, if I'm lucky, can achieve per sq yard.
London as as stated in today's Telegraph is in a 'bubble', the real economic world does not exist, in this bubble,  even allowing for 'all your competition'.  It is nothing and repeat nothing, when compared to people who are willing to to work a 10 hour day for £25.00.  If you have no access to benefits, this feeds your family, plus credits.  As I say another world. A world you seem oblivious to.

I knew it was grim up north but £2.50 an hour?

Would it not be more financially viable to work elsewhere in the country? I know guys who travel to more affluent areas doing all manor of things for good money. I even saw something tonight about santas getting £500 a gig!

[Andrew Briscoe]

Teeside obviously has its problems with unemployment and a lot living in poverty,
travel west to where I am from and it also has one of the lowest average wage for the country @ £14.5K , however, there are still customers out there who will always pay more.
I recently started an adwords campaign in a city 20 miles away, the wife rang round for average prices and for example a 3pc suite was £65, I charge £95+ vat (£114) and I have cleaned 4 in that city for my price, which I think is a low price nationally and got all we quoted for. The campaign so far has cost us £5-6 per £100 taken

It is down to who you market to, go cheap and that is what you get. Market to a more affluent area and you will get quality work at a better price.

I would think if you travel 10-15 miles out into the more affluent villages around Teeside, you would command a better price.

Andrew

[Paul Moss]

Again guys all you are doing with these posts is giving the part timers and the lurkers good marketing info.

Your all Mad 

[Darren O]

Paul thanks for the DVD

[Susan Dean (1stclean)]

Nigel
You, as you say work in London.  Sorry but this is a totally different world to what most people in this country work in.  I work in Teesside, North East England.  The world you inhabit is a fantasy world compared to me.  Prices per sq foot you can achieve, is probably, if I'm lucky, can achieve per sq yard.
London as as stated in today's Telegraph is in a 'bubble', the real economic world does not exist, in this bubble,  even allowing for 'all your competition'.  It is nothing and repeat nothing, when compared to people who are willing to to work a 10 hour day for £25.00.  If you have no access to benefits, this feeds your family, plus credits.  As I say another world. A world you seem oblivious to.

tell me about teeside its been my area for years mine still made a few quid out of it , but not anylonger thats why ive send two of my t.m down south mine asnt been easy and theres been alittle violance involded  but northing the big man cant sort 

[Paul Moss]

Paul thanks for the DVD

No probs, the guy that makes the machines is a bit mad, butif you watch it right through there are loads of good tips. Ignore the bypass stuff as that was for the first truckmount they built (my first one ) but the other info s good 

[John Kelly]

Dave this is the problem with a lot of cleaners in the North East. Its a mindset. The North East has some of the wealthiest people in the country.
Teeside itself may be depressed although there is a healthy number who earn really good money in the petro chemical industry. However you only have to travel a few miles to places like Yarm, Winyard and all the North York Moors towns and villages and you are into a totally different realm of customer.
I have customers up here in Newcastle who have a minimum charge in excess of 80 quid, and they are constantly busy. The vast majority however are busy competing with each other at the lower end of the market a market where customer loyalty is very rare. There are too many carpet cleaners earning a wage rather than running a business and reaping the rewards that the brave decision and hard work to start it should be providing.

[Chris Straker]

Totally agree ....... always said that I would prefer one £300 job, than three £100 ones 

[*Hector*]

Totally agree ....... always said that I would prefer one £300 job, than three £100 ones 

Why??

3 £100 jobs means 3 more clients who are happy...... 3 more clients to give you more work.... 3 more clients to give you referalls....

so all in all you get much more business from 3 happy customers even if the job ticket is lower than 1 big job....

 

[Chris Straker]

Three journeys, 3 lots of trying to find parking, 3 times to set up and break down porty, 3 times to unload & reload van ......... what's not to like 

I manage to fill the hours/days I want and earn what I need ......... one satisfied client per day is all I need, passing on my details ......... one of the reasons I stopped running adverts six years ago 

[Warren Aldridge]

Chris you are one of the biggest Internet marketing fundi's out there. Whatchtalkingbout man  :

Tweeting, facebooking, websites, graphics promotion

What you call that?   a hobby?

[Chris Straker]

Electronic gossip is better than paid advertising ........ it is aimed at my clients via FB & Twitter, as a reminder of what I do & where I do it ........ has picked me up a few new customers along the way though  :

I am always worried that advertising might cause issues ....... like working afternoons