[woodman]

I am sorry if I am a bit thick,

But Liahona, you did not clarify anything only confused me further :

YOU mentioned that YOU charged 50p a sq ft in your first post on the subject  is this not the case then?

£1500 a day as you stated was the around the sort of money you earned would most certainly put you as an individual in the top earning money bracket in the country.

RS doesn't take all the money his company earns for himself as an individual he would not be earning what you quote for yourself.

I have no doubt that you are an exceptional earner in the CC field and my offer to attend a seminar on how you do it still stands.

In fact better still; a carpet cleaners meeting is coming up soon where around 20-30 carpet cleaners will attend perhaps I could persuade you to come along as guest speaker and give us all one or two pointers, if is only a boot up the 'arris.

[cleaning co]

LOL dave u must be doing it wrong mate  carpet cleaning is so easy its funny lol  ive had jobs before i started cleaning that were 10 times as hard !!!!!  what was your last job ? sticking stamps on letters  !!! lol
regards gary

[John Kelly]

Just to clarify what Dave has said. The job he mentioned was a commercial job in Mayfair in London. It was actually subbed out to a colleague down there as I couldn't be bothered to travel down. Took him an hour and 20 minutes and £11.50 an hour to park his van. 

[Mike Halliday]

Dave twice you have used the comparison of the tool cost between yourself and various tradesmen (plumbers, Bricklayers etc) obviously you think this is a clever way to justify your earnings :

Lets look at the tradesmen comparison a different way.

I spent 4yrs surviving an apprenticeship in Bricklaying incl 2 nights a week nightclass so over that time to learn my trade took 160 weeks and a 160 night classes, for this I would get paid..... ( the figure you say is £1000 a week) I aso have an internationally recognised qualification which would allow me to immigrate to most countries

how much internationally recognised training have you done in carpet cleaning?  and if you used the formula that you used with the tool cost comparison how much wou you be charging?

does it add up?

Mike


PS:telling carpet cleaners how to make more money is like telling fat people how to lose wieght...............piontless : :

tell a fat person to stop eating creamcakes and go to the gym and he'll tell you every reason he can't

tell a carpet cleaner to put up his prices and sell more protector and he'll tell you every reason he can't :.

[Liahona]

Woodman, sorry about the confusion mate. I just re-read what I had written and it isnt very clear. I

I said we as a whole not with me included so to speak. I charge upwards of a pound a foot and

wrongly thought that most people knew that..... Mike, sorry about the comparison about the tools twice

 but I do get carried away sometimes. I am not sure how to answer what it is I think you were asking.

If it means that we should get less money than brickies or any trade for that matter then that is fine,

however I still want more money than they do. As far as I know the only qualifications I have that is international at least to do with

 the cleaning business as I have others would be the I.I.C.R.C. ...... With regards your P.S. I couldnt

agree with you more. However if only one person per talk did something to better his or her cleaning

 business then it would be worth it. In fact your P.S. says it all and supports most of what I have to say.

We are our own worse enemy and find every excuse to not do as we know we should. Most people

and I am sure on here to, will never put there prices up because of the reasons you have said. .........

Gary, not sure what you mean. My point is or was that cleaning isnt hard to do. Physically maybe but

not to much else. Anyway to much more important things, hows the getting ready for the move going.

Arent you off soon........... Woodman, I have no problems with meeting up with anyone, anywhere. Just

 let me know where and when. We can all learn from each other I am sure as we all have our own

ways to do things. As we all think our ways are better it can always make for good conversation as

none of us are the same. Especially me as I am certainly not the norm. Mr Saunders hates the way I am

and often voices his opinion to other cleaners that I am not the way to be. As Ian Gourlay will vouch, I

 dont give a monkeys what other people think. I am good at what I do as hopefully we all are. I just

charge a little bit more than most people do. At the end of the day its if the customer likes me or not,

not anyone else, on here or otherwise. Hope I have answered all, best, Dave.

[david holland]

i did this course for 3 years - bloody excellent !!!!!

Robert Saunders is a top guy- and you know what - i dont use his truckmounts or his machines and only one or two of his chemicals -

Fasttrack will enable you to retire as a more wealthier businessman and not a knackered c/c - only if you use the ADVICE that is presented to you on the courses -  but not everyone will use as much of the info given as the next person - me included

This is not a course for everyone (imo) but it will enlighten you to look at yourself and become more profitable in any business.  Also, if it is £4000 (unsure now) and you are giving the taxman say £5000 a year - offset some tax against this and you will earn more to give back to the taxman the following year - unless you are not earning enough to pay tax - then you maybe go to the local goverment and get a grant to pay for it .

Either way - only a few people on this forum have been on both sides of the fence - these are the people who can give a true view on this  subject.


This is not me getting on my high horse, but just saying it the way it is 

regards

David

[gwrightson]

only last week i had a customer, who said she had rand a local c/c got bored of the message and put the phone down,
me thinks how many more do?

 just a thought.
 Geoff

[NigelD]

Hello,

My comments of 2 days ago seem to have generated some comments. My point was

I had no idea how best to market my business, I had been cleaning for 2 years, had come from a corporate background where you are very much a small wheel in the big cog. I didn't want to get involved with a franchise and in comparison Fastrack seemed relatively cheap - not cheap but relatively so, against a franchise.

I would agree that some things are too American in their tone - Yes it is and I now know that much of what they say is marketing common practice, but I didn't know that then!
FastTrack is also about a lot more than pink flyers and Yellow pages - People tend to focus on this, but it gives you a lot more, how to prepare for meetings, the pyschology of the meeting (sales), how to close and when you come to do the job how to act profssionally.
Liahona (Dave) has made a big point that we under sell (under price) oursleves, I think we can all agree that happens. Getting the balance right is the hardest part, Dave clearly goes for a niche market, but if we could could better understand the person sat in front of us, could we not improve! How many of us have priced a job never to hear anothet thing, but how about "Is that all, I thought it would be much more"?
As for the success of some of the people using this, I have met them and have no reason to believe they are lying - Of course you have to factor in the cost of getting the work, but I would give these guys the benefit of the doubt.
Did I continue. No - and the reason was that in my circumstances I wouldn't justify the ongoing expense. I have learnt many things, many of which I need to put into practice and I felt my spare! money would be better spent on marketing directly.
Finally, I have no idea how long people who post on this site have been in business or how successful they have been. Many are keen to dismiss or rubbish Fastrack but offer no alternative to someone starting off in their new business venture. Which I know is exciting and frightening in equal measure.
If you have the money then Fastrack can help, it's not for everyone, but you can take a look, and it's risk free
 Nigel

[NigelD]

While I was penning my little piece Geoff wrote that a customer hung up.

Of course they do, that's not the point.

Those that listen and like call you. From this point it's a warm contact. I wouldn't say everyone who has listened and called has booked but i really struggle to think the last time it didn't turn into a job.

We all know that not everything works, but the point is to try little by little to increase our opportunities.

If we listened to everyone who said that something doesn't work we would give up. AND FAIL

[Martin_Riley]

Wow. I didn't realise this was still a hot subject. Dave (LIONOHA) I would like to speak to you as I am always interested in improving myself and my business. Perhaps we can talk at the carpet cleaners get together if Woodman lets me come . In a nutshell Fastrack isn't a fancy Pink flyer or yellow pages sect that some people think. It is a complete business coaching course developed to help you set goals and improve your business with some marketing advice thrown in based loosely now it has to be said on the Pirhana Marketing principles of Joe Polish.
Yes some people haven't made it work so well, this is because they are in their comfort zone. This is ok as long as they are ok with it. There are also some fastrackers who are totally committed to doing the best they possibly can do and they succeed very nicely. This is life, It's what happens when people are involved with anything.
I remember the post about marketing spend and turnover and profit and that person is quite correct. It doesn't matter how much you turnover, it's how much you keep that matters.
Needless to say I am doing very nicely because I am not lazy. I could have probably done it without Fastrack but who knows? And how many very costly mistakes would I have made? It is without the slightest doubt the best decision I ever made, Bar none. Would I do it again knowing what I now Know?-Yes without a shadow of a doubt. I am still a Fastracker and will help anyone any way I can. By the way Robert doesn't pay me for this, I still pay him and good value he gives too.
I can help some of you guys on here with some advice about business. Take advice from the successful business people on here. Don't fall for the negative talk and advice from some who without realising it are sabotaging their own future by telling everyone what you can't do.
When I started I couldn't believe that you could charge 51p a foot to clean but I quickly learned that the price is mainly in your head not your client's. They just want to know that you can do wahat you say you are going to do.

[Ian Gourlay]

Did you know Dave turns up to a job in shorts.

 

[Liahona]

Ahhh Ian, I was saving that to when I met up with everyone. As it is out now I will continue. Not only


do I turn up in shorts I wear cut off t-shirts as well. It is how and or what I am. Why would I change

that. There are a few other things as well(not clothes) that makes me a little different but those I will

save if there is going to be a meeting of some sort. Oh and yes I turn up in shorts and t-shirts to meet

designers and architects etcetera for the first time. If I wore trousers and shirts I wouldnt be

comfortable and that would show to the them. If I cant be comfy with them they would certainly not put

me into their clients homes. Each to their own but it works fine for me to be myself, I refuse to conform

to how people think I should be........Re fast track. I have never rubbished as far as I know the system.

The ideas behind them are very good IF put into practice. My biggest concern was as previously

mentioned, that it is basically Joe Polish that is $600 instead of the £4500 or so that is being charged.

Other than that if it kicks you up the bum to do things then it is very good. I know of Martin and David

who do very well with the system and look forward to meeting both. Just be ware that as Joe's system

and Roberts, most of the stuff ends up on the shelf and not used. Those are the ones who usualyy say
 
it doesnt work...... I met up with Mr "Fluffy" walker and he and I spoke about many things. Firstly and

 mostly was that he and I were similar in that we charged what we felt "we" were worth, maybe not so

 much what the cleaning would be worth. As a side note, I decided to charge what I do because of

 Fluffy. He was charging a little under a pound a foot so I wanted to charge just that little bit more.

 When I first met Robert Saunders over the phone when I was in Los Angeles He was on about how

 the fast track people were getting their 50p's a square foot. At that point I said when I set up in

 England I would be the most expensive out there on basic cleaning. I have enough front to want to be

 the best and to charge the most. I am not the best by any stretch of the imagination but I think I

 charge close to the most. When I find the cleaner who is charging more than I do then I will pick his or

 her brains to find out what it is they are doing different than I am. If it is the same then I will just put
 
up my prices accordingly. We are scared of our prices not the customer. Lets not be scared. To the
 
newbies starting you have the best chance of charging higher prices, because you havent charged

 anything yet you would have nothing to be scared of. To the oldies, like me, we are usually stuck in our

 ways of doing things and so think that we cant charge 75p instead of 50p cos our brain cant cope.

 Well believe me it can. I sold so to speak for a few mates of mine back in the states. They were

 charging 25cents a foot which although seems low is about the average for normal cleaning. I would

 always mouth off that they should charge twice that. Same answer as here, I cant because

 of............... So I would go out with them and charge 50cents. We never lost any of the jobs we went

 after. New customers and or old. In fact on a few occasions the existing customers questioned why he

 was only charging 25cents in the first place. Again, if you dont ask, you wont get. For those who think

I write cobblers on here thats fine. However, go out to your next job and charge and extra 5p a square

 foot. You will get it and also, guess what, your chemical costs for the year will be paid for in the end,

 After all it doesnt cost 5p a foot to clean now does it. All that hard earned money that you give Alltec or

 who ever you use to purchase chemicals from will now be paid for with surplus money. Dont you think

 it is a good idea that your customers pay for your chemicals instead of you. Anyway, best, Dave.

[Martin S]

Woodman,

When and where is the next CC get together?

[Neil Grainger]

My thoughts exactly, Somewhere that has a golf course.

[COLIN BRIGHT]

nice to hear from you Martin

i did fasttrack and found it fantastic

booked up for two weeks and reeping the benifits of getting my pricing right

never been as busy, mostly  from repeat and recommends

[Liahona]

Woodman, I spoke at length to Martin (sorry mate) and he and I are both keen to attend a carpet cleaners get together. Just keep us all informed as to when and where. The more the merrier so to speak. If you like I can even set some home work sort of thing that could help me in what I have to say. Sounds silly maybe but it actually can help. I wanted to e-mail you this but yours is private so that is why this is on here. Anyway, again keep us all posted as to when and where. Best, Dave.

[capital-services]

I think basicly saying, if you go to pricecutters for a toaster you would expect to pay pennys, yet if you go to harrods you want customer service (ie laptops showing you product) then you would pay pounds!!!!

Does this not explain why you can charge more for carpet cleaning?

I'm not sure myself, I'm more interested in repeat business, I dont think after using the toaster for 6 months (from Harrods) that you would think it was good value for money and proberly use dixons instead.

[Liahona]

Capitol -services. I understand your point to the enth, however if you go to Harrods you will find that

they are always packed with customers. Also the customer who paid the "pounds" for the toaster probably paid

pounds for their carpets too. Oh and I am sure will go back to Harrods to purchase whatever it is they may need. In a

lot of cases these people wouldnt consider going to Dixons and accordingly wouldnt go to the carpet cleaner offering

their whatever discounts or free room with purchase of two. Each to their own but I want the customer who spends

their money at Harrods not at Dixons....... Not only any of the above but.......have you ever thought that the Harrods

customer just doesnt want a product or service from Dixons. I think that they think that way so is why I want them as

my customers. I will get in trouble for saying this but I am going to anyway. On the whole most cleaners both here

and in the states are Dixon cleaners. Therfore it suits me fine that I am not and as Dixon cleaners you will be cleaning

for many years and always be moaning that you arent getting enough work or enough money and always knocking

others on here or wherever they may be that they are, or that you just dont believe that maybe just maybe someone

 is actually doing ok in this business. Best, Dave. P.S. where has Woodman gone? Are we going to have a get

together?......

[capital-services]

Liahona,
Just to clarify my point, the customers perseption whould be greater if the service charge was higher (they want more for there money)

[Liahona]

Thats my point I do charge very high and I am trying to get other people to do the same. But I also give

 them more for their money. Best, Dave.