[peter maybury]

Shaun
Stella is no 1 followed by carling and has been for some years now.
Phill
you do need to act on some of the good advice that is being given, if you do not change then neither will your situation.
In business you do need to be able to approach people or learn to it is one of the basic requiriements. If you are frightened of confronting customers you need to get a job where you do not need to.
You need to have a quality message accross the board.
My sites are in dire need of updating but they still get traffic and create work.
Peter

[Steve Gunn]

Phil

Nearly every carpet cleaner that has gone out of business, has, at one time or another, used the line "you can't get those prices around here".

Colin Bright is based in Blackpool and is one of the highest priced carpet cleaners I know.

Put your prices up, not down - your talking about packing it in anyway, so what have you got to lose ?

That's because he won't deal with peasants
I've just picked up 5 new window cleaning jobs in one street and I have charged 3 times more than the last W/c but they are willing to pay my price because he only turns up when he feels like it.Stick with it

[L.Doubtfire - The Blade Runner]

Phil I take all back what I wrote.Stick at it.Take up Simons offer.
Seasons soon here now in Blackpool.
Glad you’ve got  HWE.
Best of luck.


Lewis  Doubtfire

[david@zap-clean]

The Common Law of Business Balance

It's unwise to pay too much, but it's worse to pay too little.
When you pay too much you lose a little money - that is all.
When you pay too little you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the things it was bought to do.
The common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a lot, it can't be done.
If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well to add something for the risk you run, and if you do that you will have enough to pay for something better.

John Ruskin 1819-1900

[Kinver_Clean]

25 years ago when I started I was charging 'economical' rates and struggling.
I then put my prices up 50% and started to make some money as the jobs came in.
I then put them up again- I thought that I would kill it.
Result - 4 days working and even more money coming in.

I still have a problem with charging enough. I remember when £20-25 was really good money for a 3 piece.
I am trying to cut down and possibly finish altogether- ( It's my age, you know.) but the work still comes in. I have not advertised for 8 years apart from some leaflets in a very high end carpet shop.

[Dominic Carnell]

Your website copy reads like you're trying to sell the Dry Fusion system, as if you're selling the equipment, not the benefits a clean carpet can bring to the customer i.e. increased enjoyment of living in their home. You're not alone though, I've seen dozens of carpet cleaning websites that reiterate the incentives given by the companies selling the equipment - customers just aren't there for all that.

And P R I C E S... put yours up!

ATB

[garry22]

Your website copy reads like you're trying to sell the Dry Fusion system, as if you're selling the equipment, not the benefits a clean carpet can bring to the customer i.e. increased enjoyment of living in their home. You're not alone though, I've seen dozens of carpet cleaning websites that reiterate the incentives given by the companies selling the equipment - customers just aren't there for all that.

And P R I C E S... put yours up!

Brilliant

[garry22]

Garry I read an article about Richard Branson tasting the meals served on his planes, was that a waste of his time?  he could have been doing more profitable business elsewhere. food tasters can't be that expensive, so why did he do it personally?

Mike, I think we are at crossed purposes here.

In the Branson example above, I would agree with you. Tasting the food and making sure it is right is vital for the success of his business. Getting that right or wrong would have huge consequences for his airline.

You would not however see him spending a couple of hours every day peeling potatoes in the kitchen.

I'm talking about scalability.

Let us assume that leaflets are the way to go. If Phil has no work, then the best approach probably is deliver them himself. If work comes in, then Phil will be cleaning and the leaflet delivery suffers. At a certain point, he cannot do both.

If Phil (hopefully) gets stacked out with work, then delivering leaflets by hand is not the most efficient use of his time. It is also a job that can be outsourced easily by paying someone. It can then be upscaled by getting more people delivering them (let's assume they are reliable).

I'm coming to the end of a long layoff following an operation. I've realised that everything in the business, including the cleaning can be outsourced. The only thing that cannot is the overall marketing  - and this is the most profitable / vital function.

Does that make sense?

[Mike Halliday]

Garry we are at crossed purposes and using Richard Branson as an example just clouds the issue.

The way I see it your piont is........ if your are busy then you don't have time to leaflet, but what does 'busy' really mean?

 Some on here say they are busy but finish at 2pm every day.. Are they really busy?   and if they are can they still not fit in 90mins of leafleting and finish at 3.30pm.


I don't want to give exact numbers as it will sound like I'm talking BS  but we are what I call fully booked, earning  good money every day. But we still have time to put out leaflets .

Have you ever been too busy to put fuel in your van? This is an exstreme example of my piont. But as I book jobs into my diary I'm always thinking about where the job is if we have not leafleted that area for a few weeks I will book the job with an hour space so we can do some leaflets before we start the job. As it obviously shows  I'm a big believer in leaflets, they work for us because of our attitude of booking jobs around their delivery.

Phil can't really do the same as me as he would need a big attitude adjustment

[garry22]

Yes I think I can see where you are coming from now Mike.

[Phil @ Extreme Clean]

I take on board what you are all saying but my prices are fair if I did 2 rooms for £60 and was and hour n half that's ok not every job is gonna be 1 room £35, maybe a full 3 bed house at £160 I could be 2-3 hours that's good money to me i'd be happy with £200 a day and eventually when I have regular customers then up my prices gradually also I have put Dry Fusion as a separate page and will charge a premium if they want only DRY Fusion. Also Simon thanks for your offer and I will come out with you one day i'l let you know when, I am helping a friend next week fit a bathroom so will be busy while my mrs mans the phone lol also regarding my website I don't know why I changed it's cause someone said it was too busy lol grrrr websites aren't my cup of tea lol.

[Steve Barnett (Carpet Care Plus)]

Phil
You've got to remember that whatever you charge for a job, it's not your money (well, not all of it)
It has to go towards all the other costs associated with running your business and covering your household expenses.

Therefore the prices you charge must be based on some sort of calculation.

Have you worked out your business and household expenses based on last years trading ?
If so, you can forecast this years turnover based on the same figures - this will give you a breakeven figure.
You can then adjust your prices to allow for an operating profit.

Remember Phil, there are thousands of successful carpet cleaners operating in all parts of the country, just as there are thousands of carpet cleaners earning a living operating in all parts of the country.

Where you area based has nothing to do with running a successful business.

If thousands of people are doing it and doing it well, then the problem must be YOU !!

So, what can YOU do better, what can YOU change ?

Look at your figures over the weekend and take heed of the advise regarding your website - and definitely take Simon up on his offer.

Hope this helps, keep your chin up (and put your prices up  )

[Phil @ Extreme Clean]

Thanks all, I have adjusted my site to look and read better I have put photos on separate page and I have upped my prices and added them on website I know a lot of you disagree with having a price page but the phone ain't ringing anyway and if price shoppers are the ones I don't want then the ones I do will ring.

[Steve Barnett (Carpet Care Plus)]

Phil

You've recently done some hard floor cleaning haven't you ?
What about adding a seperate page for that service ?
Also a seperate page for upholstery cleaning

[Phil @ Extreme Clean]

I just removed the hard floor and gutter care and tile and grout sealing as it looks to much lol

[Neil Jones]

I'm with Mike, I hear so many people on hear say they are so busy and earing £xxxxx. Then on other threads state they finished at 2.00pm or started at 11.00am on Friday. That isn't busy. Ok, so they maybe happy with what they are earning, fair enough, but putting your own leaflets out is part of business.
That said, i've had 20,000 flyers sat in a box in my hall for three week and bar doing them at 6.00pm or on my only day off on a Sunday i've had to put an advert for a delivery guy in the local rag!

[John Kelly]

The trouble with advertising prices is that you lose the chance to convert a lot of callers. People will always ring and ask how much is it to clean a lounge carpet. They aren't price shopping. That is probably the only thing they could think to ask. They're hardly likely to ring and ask do you use 2nd generation microsplitters etc etc. I see so many people respond to this question with a price. You have now answered their question and a lot ofthem are now stumped and don't know what to say next so they say ok and hang up.
This is where you need to have a script to get the prospective customer into a conversation. You can then drop the price in during thr conversation. This is basic stuff but I see people all the time not doing it.

[stuart_clark]

John
I dont think Mr Dyson will be carling you an arsole now mate! Role reversal! well almost ! Lol

[Phil @ Extreme Clean]

I understand what your Saying John but the phone isn't ringing without the prices anyway at the end of the day my website is just a free one that I do myself as I don't have the money for a professional site i am helping a friend fit a bathroom next week and he gonna pay me for some adds i going to put in a magazine around the more upmarket areas. I did a job for a friend yesterday the worst i have ever done (pics on other channel) if customers could see them my phone wouldn't stop ringing lol.

[Simon Gerrard]

Phil,
You already have a site that ranks on page one which should be generating lots of calls.Thinking you have to scrap it and get a new one is silly, all you need to do is write it so that it appeals to prospective customers and has enough USP's in it to get people interested enough to give you a call. You need a page for every service you do, carpet cleaning, upholstery, end of tenancy etc. Your prices have gone from super low to the high side and you should be pitching in the middle. It was only a few days ago you were saying that people in Fleetwood won't pay x price, but then you tripled you prices. Prices on websites are not a good idea because it should be the one thing your site doesn't tell them, for that they have to ring you, you're already telling them, hence, no phone calls.
If I were you I wouldn't spend another penny on new advertising and concentrate instead on getting what you already have working better for you. If you've got a website and other forms of advertising out there and the phone isn't ringing, there is something wrong with what your adverts say. You've got to think about advertising from the customers perspective, what do they want to be told rather than what you want to tell them?

Simon