[mark_roberts]

You cant compare Tesco to a cleaning service. 

Mark

[Mike Halliday]

to make £1500 when offering a genuine 50% off then you will need to do the work that would normally make £3000, I don't know how much you charge but for me to make 3 grand a week I'd be working 7 days a week/12hrs a days.

plus nobody likes  '%' offers, offer a £50 discount  on 2 rooms or more. people recognize what £50 means and on 2 rooms or more it's  less than if you give them a 50% discount.

just make the £50 discount nice and big to grab their attention, then underneath put *on 2 rooms or more

I'd use a A5 leaflet and have half the leaflet as a £50 voucher made to look like a £50 note.

mike

[Mike Osbourne]

What does a £50 note look like?

Nice idea Mike, all makes sense.

[Ian Gourlay]

How much do you charge for a 12 X12 £50 discouint on two rooms is bit generous for me .

I can see the idea but not the execution

[maxcarpets]

If you put special offer prices plus the % discount on your offer they can see for themselves.

[psg]

Neil I think everyone is missing the point yeah discount for marketing fine 50%. So you reckon you will do 1500 a week is that based on the 25% discount or the 50% discount. A point to always rember when you take the big disc action its always easy to come down in price not so easy to come back up later.  I still think you are better off with a better customer base and I dont give a monkeys who you are you start doing large volumes the quality suffers big time due to cutting corners. I have been involved in the restoration industry for about 21 years  ( 14 independen t, and 7 with 2 leading franchises.) I have seen guys go the " were cheaper than anyone else" they aint in the game any longer but then we aim for quality i supose myne is a different market. If you looked at the yellow say 10 years ago my area had 12 pages thats now down to 4 pages but the population hasen't went down therfore in theory their is a better opertunity. Saunders no time for them guys they talk a good story.

jim


jim

[Neil Grainger]

Mike

I know what you mean about this, but Jan and Feb are normally poor months for me and this is something new for me to try. I have done the discount leaflets with different offers and it does not do a lot for me in this area so I am going to try soemthing totally different.

Normally in Jan I spend 10 days not working, maybe aiming for £1500 a week is a bit crazy knowing the amount of work that needs to come in but I want the phone to ring and any amount is better than none at all.

Just trying to do something a bit different. With Baby number 2 on the way anything is going to be better than nothing as long as the phone rings, The other 10 months look after themselves but I need the work for Jan and Feb and I dont mind working 12 hour days if I need to.

[Mike Halliday]

Ian you're right, on a 12x12 it might not be viable but how many 12x12 rooms do we clean? and if we charge £50 for a 12x12 and they have 2 - 12x12s then they will get a true 50% discount.

but how many homes have 2 -  12x12s? if they get a small diningroom done they must get something bigger as well so you get a higher price.

Mike

re; posted before last 2 answers

[Neil Grainger]

PSG

I live in an area that is the richest part of the UK. Big money and yes I have big money clients but I also work for clients that are not rich and cant spend a lot of money. In my mind every customer counts. Justin(Max) is close to me and has done something like this previously and it has worked really well for him so I am trying something similar.

For me its all about being able to sell and I can do that. I am just doing something to get the phone to ring. People will knock me for trying this but i am only offering it in the local paper that has a circulation of 180,000 once a week. I am not doing it for all my marketing and will still pick up normal client aswell from the other marketing that I do.

[psg]

Neil,

I am not knocking the discount system but I think 50% is OTT . In order to turn over your normal wekly rate you have to do twice as much in half the time leaving poor quality standards no matter how much you disagree. Standards will drop & how many of them customers will be on your mailing lists next year.

We also own a dry cleaning shop and used the discount system to kick start it, pensioner rates have stayed as their referrals to family and friends are 2 fold.

I have been involved in the Fire & flood retoration Industry for 21 years and had 2 brief encounters in that period of time with leading franchise companies I got out of that because the quality was allowed to slide. I probably have one of the more successful independent restoration businesses in N Ireland.

I have often used an example from a guy who used to be a bread server  for some 15 years but is now a carpet cleaner.  He left the bread industry as people lost faith in the product he sold complaining that it was not as fresh as other brands even though they were more expensive.

[Ian Gourlay]

Mr PSG

We all understand where you are coming from.

But a lot of Carpet Cleaners need Cash in January Feb

Some would be happy with £2000 a month during this period.

So what suggestion have you got to increase the volume of leads.

If it can be done by working less great but the volume of leads needs to be turned up.

Its then up to the individual which pricing statergy they use,

[Neil Grainger]

PSG

The point I am trying to make is that normal standard rate for Jan and Feb is half what I would do in any of the other months, it will also grow the database and you never no what other work will come out of it throughout the year. They can only say no if they dont like my spring and summer prices but it wont matter because I am busy then with my regulars and commercial work.

To have a full diary I am trying this because I want to get the work in, Its better than not working in my mind, Still have the equipment & chems sitting in the Van, Marketing still costs the same, so rather than not work for half the month I would prefer to be busy, so am going to try something different.

I wont let quality go because I have a good referal system that works and was built on quality, My marketing will be obviously geared to these offers but also the time frames will be on their, Last week of special offers and such.

I do see what you are saying but say if my Sqft rate for a Full service clean is 45p and that gets halfed I can still make money my from 22.5p. Discount in any business is really an oppertunity to pull in clients. Shops dont really discount, what they do do is drop the price on one thing and raise it on another, Bread comes down butter goes up, simple but clever and it works. Why cant we do the same, I dont hide my pricing from anybody. What I am giving is a true discount and hopefully that will still pull in the clients.

I picked up a lot of business last year because I offered a free trial to see what I could do for people and it worked.

This is another play on marketing. The Lady that runs 1st clean used to work on volume and did very well out of it, Yes she was based up North so the client base maybe different but their is also oppertunity in the lower end of the market and I am using this time of year to try it. If it ends up not working I wont lose anything because I would be quiet anyway in Jan/Feb. Nothing ventured nothing gained.

[Ian Gourlay]

It would help us all if flyers went out Lounge Dinner £130  50%
OFF £65


Instead of Lounge Dinner £45  50% off  £22.50 as practiced by  cut price companies who now give a satisfaction money back guarantee

[carpet guy]

If you want to entice a prospect,you have to offer something they want, or need and you can maintain your price structure, by offering a FREE add on, eg, " all carpets  / upholstery cleaned Jan / Feb, will qualify for FREE stain guarding " or we will give you a " lifetime supply " of Spot an Stain remover!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Susan Dean (1stclean)]

PSG

I live in an area that is the richest part of the UK. Big money and yes I have big money clients but I also work for clients that are not rich and cant spend a lot of money. In my mind every customer counts. Justin(Max) is close to me and has done something like this previously and it has worked really well for him so I am trying something similar.

For me its all about being able to sell and I can do that. I am just doing something to get the phone to ring. People will knock me for trying this but i am only offering it in the local paper that has a circulation of 180,000 once a week. I am not doing it for all my marketing and will still pick up normal client aswell from the other marketing that I do.

well keep me in mind for when you need to sell your grer cheap ive always got a few quid for a deal !

you think im being a bit harsh " just wanting the phone to ring "  ive been saying that for over 15 years and makeing alot less then i should of its took me 9 months of pure hard work , upsetting my custy and realy getting myself down to up my prises buy 40% dont go to where ive just lefted its not worth it and to thjink you can say " its was just an offer price " and get away with it im sorry your in for a shocker , most custys will think if he can do it at the price in jan why not all year

i would rather have my vans stood then go out for what ive been chargeing over the last few years its took a helping hand to see this and im not going back there  ever

[myvanwi]

PSG

I live in an area that is the richest part of the UK. Big money and yes I have big money clients but I also work for clients that are not rich and cant spend a lot of money. In my mind every customer counts. Justin(Max) is close to me and has done something like this previously and it has worked really well for him so I am trying something similar.

For me its all about being able to sell and I can do that. I am just doing something to get the phone to ring. People will knock me for trying this but i am only offering it in the local paper that has a circulation of 180,000 once a week. I am not doing it for all my marketing and will still pick up normal client aswell from the other marketing that I do.

What are your charges now and how many staff and vans have you? Sounds like you have seen the light with regards to how you should run your businesses smartly. I would love to learn from you - any tips?

well keep me in mind for when you need to sell your grer cheap ive always got a few quid for a deal !

you think im being a bit harsh " just wanting the phone to ring "  ive been saying that for over 15 years and makeing alot less then i should of its took me 9 months of pure hard work , upsetting my custy and realy getting myself down to up my prises buy 40% dont go to where ive just lefted its not worth it and to thjink you can say " its was just an offer price " and get away with it im sorry your in for a shocker , most custys will think if he can do it at the price in jan why not all year

i would rather have my vans stood then go out for what ive been chargeing over the last few years its took a helping hand to see this and im not going back there  ever

[Neil Grainger]

Jan is looking great with the offer I put out with a 50% discount, going to be the best Jan ever by the way things are looking at the moment. Even taken bookings for Feb. I even had 6 calls on Sunday, that has never happened to me before.

I am alot busier than ever in Jan and the customers that are coming in really appreciate the service and the deals. I have picked more refferal work up this month than ever before so the name is also getting out their.

I'm not selling my equipment but looking at a Truckmount at the moment so something must be working.