[from edge2edge]

As well as carpet cleaning myself i hire out machines which brings in some cash flow and quite often leads to high paying jobs.This morning i dropped off a machine to a 2 bed ground floor flat which had carpets in 4 rooms(usual beige type).There were no obvious stains etc so i told the guy he should give it a really good hoover before starting and he could be done in 2 to 3 hours easily.He then asked me how much i would have charged him to do the job and i said about 100 at which he told me of the other quote he got which was £300 and the guy said that was with a £80 discount(for what i dont know).Now i am left wondering how someone can ask for that kind of money let alone get it.Your comments please Guys/Gals Regards Alan(swindon)

[from edge2edge]

Oh i forgot to add it had to be hoovered by the occupant as well

[richy27]

i know where your coming from i think its like any service you get sky high and rock bottom my idea is to position myself in the middle and then sell my self and the service i provide i would of charged around that for a ground floor flat i have a minimum charge and then price the job up by eye generally how much trouble and time consuming the job is. think if your too expensive its just as bad as being too cheap and we al know the best method of ad is word of mouth and it is the cheapest. bad news travels faster than good i always think

[neil 47]

Hi Richy


I found it hard to get a decent price unless i did a proper in house quote 

doing a fibre test checking carpets,   ,explaining process and pitfalls  of using unqualified cleaners .measuring carpets ,working out sq footage then discounting for large sq areas,showing them referrals ,showing them photos of jobs that I had done , and then leaving them a consumer report.. a long process but worth it I was achieving well over £100 a house.

the longer you take the more you make .



Neil

[Ken Wainwright]

It's all a case of confidence on your part to pitch yourself at the premium market, and offering selling to your prospect a service seen as being value for money.

Like Neil, if I visit to quote, strike rate is very high regardless of competition I am up against. I do have an advantage though in that I am usually referred or recommended by other customers and retailers etc.

With confidence in my own service, I will never use the fear of other companies bad experiences. I know this is a valid and successful technique, but i'm not comfortable using it, so I dont.

I go out of my way to tell a prospect not to make a decision on the spot, but to think about it without feeling pressured and in their own time, then ring me back if they decide to proceed with any or all of the items quoted for.  It's called a "soft sell".  I usually walk out of the door with the order

Having said all that, £380/£300 does seem quite high for 4 rooms in a 2 bed flat, even at my prices : That sort of money would be the best part of a days work for me, and 4 rooms in a typical flat wouldn't take that long.

Safe and happy selling
Ken

PS  I always vac my own carpets. Custy's just don't do them well enough for my liking

[daysdeepclean]

Being in Neils territory I know excatly where he's coming from. The other day I priced up a job at an elderly lady's and gave her the the quote. The conversation went like this, 

"That's expensive"

"It's the going price Mrs Patel", and I've knocked off the standard OAP discount"

"My last carpet cleaner was cheaper"

"Why don't you use him then?

"Well he went out of business after 6 months!"

I rest my case!!!

[clinton]

Colin

Had that conversation many times

[daysdeepclean]

Clinton,

I bet there isn't many of us who haven't... I must admit though, I equally hate it when I give a quote and they say "That's cheap!" Doesn't happen often though, thank god!

[clinton]

Colin 

Yes same here or sometimes when they give you another ten pound extra as they thought they owed you more

[Neil Williams]

I don't understand why people are surprised on here about prices like that quoted.
A famous name on here (who I think got kicked off for promting the carpet cleaners day out forum) was happy to take £300 for doing one hotel room that took about an hour.
After 8 years in the biz I'm now quite good at judging within 20 minutes how long any job will take. I therefore charge at anywhere between £40 and £70 per hour depending on different criteria. But I don't see how anyone can charge much more than that for what is in all reality a profession that needs no qualifications and is cleaning.

I rarely get that comment of "That's expensive" because like Ken if I go out to quote a job then I intend to get it by selling myself/techniques etc. With phone quotes hearing the words "I'll get back to you" always means 'You won't hear from me again' 

[mark_roberts]

Maybe hes booked up and didnt want it so quoted high.  Im sure we all sometimes do that maybe on rental or trashed low end stuff.  Usually I dont get it.

Mark

[Neil Grainger]

Neil

Thats so wrong, the cleaning is a only a small part of this, You work in marketing, accounts, sales, purchasing, employee management.

It makes me so angry when people describe us as only cleaners, we are business owners. If you are good at what you do and people will pay you for it you get what you can.

No 2 jobs are the same iand no 2 people are the same, pricing should be adaptable but you really should be aiming for top dollar otherwise you might as well work in tesco's because at £40 an hour once you have put in all your expenses running your business you'll only be earning £10 an hour.

[clinton]

Must say if its in a bad condition or dont really fancy the job for many reasons i would say a high price :

[carlton care]

Neil

All small business owners multitask and virtually all work work long hours for considerably less than some of the carpet cleaners who imagine the're business men, when in reality, they are playing at it, working part time which they fund by overcharging.

Most of these people are in it for short time gain and will be off in a few years, while the genuine businessman who offers real value for money, builds a customer base and works a full week.

The second of these is not a "busy fool " as some suggest, they are the backbone of any service, the ones who always turn up on time, go the extra mile and gain credibility through their honest endeavours.

I'm not suggesting " selling cheap "probably somewhere in the £40 - £90 per working hour, depending on experience and ability.

Don't list your costs, all businesses have costs, most have far higher overheads than carpet cleaners !

robert m

[Doug Holloway]

Hi Guys

It is vert important to take into consideration all business costs, to ingnore them is foolish.

Neil makes a good point and undercharging is one of the main reasons many CC's fail.

Cheers

Doug

[JandS]

Quality leaflet just dropped through the door this morning while I was out.

Gleamclean - Specialists in high quality carpet and upholstery cleaning

All carpets in your home + 3piece suite from only £80
Stainguard protection from £10

01132 723009 if anybody wants to try them!!!!!!!!!!!!

Magic word here is from

John

[Dave_Lee]

I run a Blueline Thermal Wave Vortec 69HP Truck Mount in a fully kitted out Citroen Relay LWB. I quoted a job yesterday, after the owner had a problem with the  cleaner she had booked with, and she asked them to leave after having done the bedroom carpet. I warned her to expect my quote to be significantly higher than someone going round with Henry type hwe unit. I was gobsmacked when she told me that they had quoted higher. If they are getting jobs regularly at those prices, using such a low overhead system, their profit margine must be very high, and would probably only need 4 or 5 similar jobs a week to clear the same as what I do, doing twice the number.
Dave.

[Mike Osbourne]

Dave

I know what your saying, but in reality these companies and their approach has an expensive overhead- they have to find a new customer every time.

If you work out your (cost you nothing to get) repeats and referrals to new clients who in turn refer their friends to you, you will find you are far better off and with your head held high.

[Neil Grainger]

Robert

I run a business and cleaning is what gets the money in, do i charge a high price for what I do, yes and probably more than a lot around me. Most Builders Plummers and Sparkies dont offer service, they do just as they want because work has always been easy for them to get. I offer service and will go out of my way to give my customers what they want and need to because work does not fall in my lap.

I now target high end people that dont mind paying alot of money for what I do, am i the best at what I do , absolutley not but I can sell and offer service with every job I do.

After speaking with Dave Liahona I totaly changed they way i worked, I now target Interior designers and alike that can open some big doors for you.

In this industry the harder you work on marketing the more work will come in.

You may think you are a cleaner but we are so much more than that. I have added the 3 Rooms for £99 to my website for work in January and it is really grabing peoples atention, I got that off Mike Halliday on here and have got most of my marketing from here.

[clinton]

Dave

So they were doing the carpet with a henry type wet and dry

Mike

Good point there as most of my work is referals and repeats