[John Gregory]

This mite seem a silly post to you more experienced carpet cleaners . but to me it is a milestone, done 4 quotes today got 1 job out it , appartley I.m too expencive, anyway after 6 months trading going back to one of me first customers   

Happy Days

Thanks John

[Tony Gill Carpet Smart]

Nice ONE m8 good feeling EH! you must be doing something wright.

CHEERS TONY

[murky]

John,

Pardon me for asking, but how much are you charging and for what?

Regards

Murky

[John Gregory]

Murky

At the moment I aim at about 30p per square foot, The quotes I did yesterday where for a throu lounge  £65  , the custy told me he had been quoted £30 so I walked , then £80 for a buffolo suede 2 seater + chair custy looked at me as if I had messed with one of his kiddies, then £50 HSL. I also quoted a women on the phone she told me someone last year cleaned her 3 piece + throu lounge HSL for £70 . The quote I got is for a complete semi £200

[melanie rowe]

nothing wrong with your pricing John, if i were you i would put them up....and quite a bit too!

[murky]

John,
 I am going to open the usual can of worms but there is allways some one cheaper than you. And of course it depends where you live.

I think you are too cheap generally apart from the £200, thats a good price.

Get yourself on a course or 2, get some diplomas etc, it allways helps, and if you are near enough, go and quote. I nearly allways do, and have found that if they like you, you will usually get the job, you can allways drop a bit if you know the other guys price but don't get into a price war, that way you will lose.

Tell them your not VAT registered and not a franchise, if they want a real scare get them to ring SMaster or Chemdry.


Regards

Murky

[John Gregory]

Done all the courses Murky. NCCA Registerd etc  Run a truckmount I,ve spent silly money trying to do the best job poss . Its the marketing Im struggling with Finding customers you want a good job doing but dont mind paying for it.I seem to spend all day answering the phone to people asking how much

[Doug Holloway]

John

Where are you advertising ?

Should you be looking for a more unique market ?

Cheers

Doug

[John Gregory]

 Doug,,   The only advertising Im doing at the moment is yell, and leaflets I get a bit of work from the ncca website, someone is building me a website as we speak   I know Im doing somthing right because of the referals I get

[AquaMagic]

Well done John, im going to get slated for this but here;s something to try.  Price testing, everyone on this board has a different market that they sell too, i know 30p a sq foot around here is top end (would you agree Mr Ashmore?)when i reaslied this instead of testing a price increase i tested a price decrease (not a lot) and now im finding that im spending more time cleaning carpets than marketting and this suits me fine, some people will prefer to spend more time marketting for the top end customer and only have to do half as many jobs this is also fine, in my opinion its about finding the balance and the price that will get you a good level of jobs without doing you out of money.  Take Susan from 1st clean as an example she put her prices up and didnt loose any work so she is getting extra money for no extra effort but she had a good foundation of regulars which means she didnt have to market as much (correct me if im wrong Susan).  In my position (only been going 18 month or so) i need to build up that foundation of customers at which point ill probably sneak my prices up gradually.

My two penneth.

Dene

[John Gregory]

Top post Dene,  someone who lives in the real world. You are not going to get £200 for a suite , off a lorry driver who earns 500 quid a week. The famous Dave Ingram once said to me , when you go to the newsagent in the morning for your fAgs and paper does the shop keeper run out to see what car you are driving then decide what he is going to charge?

So Dene what is a fair price for a good job, is 30per foot to dear?

[Shaun_Ashmore]

Only trouble with that is Dene they expect it cheaper next year, I've been there £15 for a room and £23 thru room and £35-40 for a 3pc.

All you get is poo to clean there is no customer retension they will always go for the cheapest or if they can't get you when they want they won't wait.

IMO you will hurt your business in the long run, you try eeking your prices up when customers only have their carpets cleaned 1 a year they remember the prices.

Shaun

PS most Chemdry's charge 35p per sq ft and £125 a suite

[AquaMagic]

Dont worry shuan i wasnt talking about going that low

Im a yorkshireman dont forget!!!

Dene

[AquaMagic]

John, it all depends where you are, you are in  manchester i believe, why not try lowering your prices by 2 or 3p per square foot and see what happens if it doesnt work stick it back up or try a price increase, dont be scared to try something different to evryone else it may be the making of you.

Another thing you could do is give special offers, i have a 3 for 2 offer that is particularly popular or even free hallway with every lounge clean, makes the customer think they are getting something special.

Deen

[Shaun_Ashmore]

I'd have thought in Manchester was a good place to sell carpet cleaning, I know 1 cleaner sells upholstery cleaning over the phome for £135-145 a 3pc and another who charges even more. Which ever way you do it marketing is the key and also going out to quote and your quoting manor.

Shaun

[Shaun_Ashmore]

If you want my opinion I would up the 1st carpet price to give the 3rd carpet away, it is sometimes easier to sell a cheaper clean but is that what the customer wants? also 1 good job is better than 3-4 cheap ones there's no fool like a buy fool look at the depreciation on your van and tools.

Remember I've been there so don't take this offensively.

Shaun

[AquaMagic]

Here here, i agree with Shaun there, im currently tinkering with having a second company identity aimed more at the budget customers, i will of course have to bring down the timescale and therefore cannot offer as good a quality of clean but ill be getting the customer to prevac, may not prespray (use solution tank chem) and may not move furniture, ive got to think it through but this way i can get the low end as well as thoose willing to pay for quality.

Dene

[AquaMagic]

Oops you posted, i meant that i agree with the Marketting and and the Surveying.  I agree with the statement about "no fool like a busy fool" but i also think that if youve no work booked in and you arent getting anything from the jobs you survey then sometimes a £100 job done for £80 will pay the bills etc.
If however you do have work booked in and you are upto your eyeballs then this is a definate sign that you need to raise your prices.

Dene

[Doug Holloway]

Hi Guys

Cash flow is important but so is obtaining a good price so how do you strike the balance.

I would suggest by having a set price structure but discounting against this if you require the work .

I  always ran offers when I relied on leaflets, it's the physcology of getting a deal, then if a customer came back in a couple of years and you quoted significantly higher and she complained of the increase , you could say I was doing a special offer at the time and as your an old customer I'll do you another.

This allows you to come down in price without losing face .

The reason I asked John his source was that some mediums such as Yell in particluar, do not allow you to stand out from the crowd so custy is always buying on price.

Cheers

Doug

[John Gregory]

Thanks ,Dene , shaun for the imput , Im based in south Manchester like any area its quite diverse , council estates on one side of the road then £3 million houses on the other. I dont judge people buy there postcode sureley its a minefied when you start charging different customers different prices . I allways go too survey or explain on the phone that different customers have different needs and expectations then price