[Mike Halliday]

What would your response be to a customer who says to you"......

" that seams an awful lot of money for 2hrs work"

I've had something similar twice over the last 3 weeks and it's hard to justify the price in a way that makes the customer change their mind, they paid me but I could see they were not convinced.

The problem is if they think they have been overcharged ( ripped off) then no matter how great a job you did they will no use you again or recommend you.

[Shaun_Ashmore]

Although I wasn't in your position as every conversation is different but you could build cost into the equation ie the best chemicals, expensive to run machine, also you could say that it would take longer if you brought your smaller machine but that would leave it wet through which actually means you are offer quality and not the poor inferior wet clean.

Shaun

[adrian marsh]

Or the old, "You're not paying for what I do, you're paying for what I know". i.e. experience.

[garry22]

If you wanted a huge trench dug in your garden, would you want someone to use a spade or a JCB?

[JandS]

Your not digging a huge trench though your probably cleaning a bog standard lounge/diner.
Most customers don't care about your overheads...they don't care that you have to charge for the days when you have only one small job on....after all why should they pay for the times when your sat on your ar*e.
Just as low prices bring poor workmanship (usually) which puts people off having it done again as they think it's the norm......so too does too higher prices, they get a £50 per hour type quote and think "is that how much it costs, sod it I won't bother" and don't bother as they think that is the norm.
This is purely in the domestic sector, commercial is a whole new ball game.

[Mike Halliday]

When I was in sales we were taught that 80% of what we say to a customer is not believed,

if we show them something visually (eg: a graph showing heat loss through a single glazed window) then 30% still will not believe it.

The only way for a customer to believe something is if.......they say it.

So from this I I've stopped trying to explain it I just accept they probably won't call me again or recommend me.

[Kev Loomes]

When we try to explain it, we say that "because we dont bring in a small machine that needs constantly filling and emptying, and because there are 2 of us - we are much more efficient than someone on their own - so we should be done by approx 1pm as opposed to 3pm. That way you can also get on and do other things in the afternoon".

It is hard though when sometimes they say "oh, you've finished already?" Do we lose any clients because of this misconception of 'I paid ££ and they were done by so and so time, so was I ripped off'? Who knows, but I suspect maybe one or 2 definitely. But then I hope they use someone else and then they say to themselves: "I preferred the other company because they did a better job - and they were quicker, I'll call them again next time" I think we actually had one of our clients do exactly this a while back.

It's a numbers game and you just have to try and do your best.

[simonmnickson]

I say it would have taken an ordinary man much longer

[feldon]

Last year i was asked to go and give my opinion after another carpet had cleaned it (a truck mount incidentally and one of the larger franchises). As it was quite local to where i live i said i would go and take a look.  The lady explained that she had her whole house done, 3 beds and it took 2 of them less than an hour to do and she was not very happy as it had cost around £200 and she was not very happy with results.  I went round around 3 or 4 hours after they had left and carpets were still damp and to be fair the carpets had seen better days. I explained what i would have done, how long it would have taken me (around 3 1/2 hours for high powered portable and one man) but i did say considering the age and condition of the carpets i doubt i would have got them any cleaner.  However she did say that next time she would book me as she thought that although i would have been a little bit cheaper she perceived i would do a better job as i would take longer to do it.

[Simon Gerrard]

How much are we talking?

Simon

[Mike Halliday]

The one last week was £220 for just short of 2 hrs, this is for 2 of us. It was a good rate but the job went perfect with no problems .....and it was worked out on the size .

he got a lot of cleaning for his money and he was happy with the work, he just was really sarcastic about buying some kit himself and "making a fortune"

[Doug Holloway]

Hi Guys

I have had a few recently where I have thought that was quite a lot of money per hour but in each case the customer has been really pleased and the expected 'wow that was quick' has not come up.

If it does I just say something like, it's going to be a bit more expensive with a TM because of the cost of buying/running but you have got a much better job, usually does the trick but most customers will not come back for a whole host of reasons, so it's not worth worrying about providing you are happy you cleaned it to the highest standard.

Cheers

Doug

[wynne jones]

Think you're focussing on the wrong thing. If you only get 3 people say that in a blue moon you don't need to be bothered with these people. In fact I bet much cheaper people than you are getting it said to them all the time.

You are only a cleaner though at the end of the day so you can understand why they think that. It's not like you have a trade or anything.

[Dennis]

It's when they say "Is that all?", I get upset!  

[Paul Moss]

I don't understand, I have never had that conversation !! Why would it even take place.

You go to quote and qualify results.
job is £x amount.
You do the job and get paid.

So where does this conversation come into it?

[Deep Cleaning Solutions]

This has been mentioned to me a few times this year.

I just tell them that before we even start on a job that each job costs me £10 in advertising per job and not every job is of high value.
If their is 2 of us I just explain that we use 2 machines as well and 1 operator would normally take more than twice the time.

If they are still on about it I will them that we travel about 25mins to and form each job so you can add an hour on to the working time and then their is the cost of vehicle fuel/tax/mot/insurance/business use insurance/tool insurance/vehicle maintenance then their is tax/national insurance/bank charges/insurance/chems/uniforms/stationary/machine parts,labour/mobile/phone direction/travel and training costs and on and on and on.  

[Deep Cleaning Solutions]

Paul .... but do you work on your own or with another operator. This has only happened to me when we have 2 on a job with 2 machines.

[Shaun_Ashmore]

From time to time it happens the answer has to be fulfilling and probably a bit smart, like 'well you've left me to it so I've got on with it' or 'these machines are very expensive but they do clean well' the idea is to move the conversation in a different path or to give an acceptable answer some people have to have the last word or say something just to say something like Kev says it is a bit of a numbers game.

Didn't you use to give approx timings of jobs? Perhaps you could say ' it could take between 2 and 3 hours on my own or if my son/helper comes the half that time' then you have pre warned them at quote stage.

Shaun

[Buckland]

I don't understand, I have never had that conversation !! Why would it even take place.

You go to quote and qualify results.
job is £x amount.
You do the job and get paid.

So where does this conversation come into it?

my thoughts exactly - never do a job without either the customer having had a price beforehand or trusting us to do a good job for a fair price - if people ask for a cheaper price I say very sincerely and politely "which part of MY service do you want me to leave out?"

[Mike Halliday]

Paul & Buck'.   You are not understanding the situation.

the customer knows the price before hand what they are questioning is the amount of time it took, not the quoted price or the quality of workmanship.

They are not even asking for a reduction in the price.


 hence my first  sentence  and title ....'an awful lot of money for 2 hrs'

In essence the only thing I could have done wrong is not tell the customer exactly how long the job would take, but unless someone ask I don't discuss the time scale of the job