[suffolkclean]

Thanks for all your help on this - the phones have been exceptionally quiet this week. We have an advert comming out in local magazines with special offers on so hopefully things will pick up for us.

[Griffus]

hi there

are they looking to save money, or are they looking for a better service ?

BOTH!!!!

[martin19842]

hi there

extremely difficult to achieve both a price reduction and better service.

this is where your client relationship is so important.

lets compare this to baked beans.
heinz beans, perceived to be the best but cost say 50p  a can
supermarket premier brand not quite as good say 40p can
supermarket brand 30p per can
value brand 11p a can

its irrelevant of the product or service, but inevitably you get what you pay for.

rest assured the beans seller wont sell heinz for 11p a can ,

so why should you !!!

you need to be very careful with your pricing/service balance.

regards

martin

[Griffus]

hi there

extremely difficult to achieve both a price reduction and better service - True, but this doesn't stop your Client wanting / expecting. Cost reductions are the order of the day currently with larger companies and whilst good relationships are essential between any such parties these relationships mean nothing when directives come dowm from Boardroom level.

this is where your client relationship is so important. - See above

lets compare this to baked beans.
heinz beans, perceived to be the best but cost say 50p  a can
supermarket premier brand not quite as good say 40p can
supermarket brand 30p per can
value brand 11p a can

its irrelevant of the product or service, but inevitably you get what you pay for.  ? What has cleaning got to do with the price of beans? :

rest assured the beans seller wont sell heinz for 11p a can , - This is brand loyalty between the public and a food stuff and and has no bearing.

Know your costs, understand your required margins and take things from there.

so why should you !!!

you need to be very careful with your pricing/service balance. - Unfortunately we are in unusual times. Large companies are only interested in cost. If we can't carry out the work at a certain rate then someone else will happily snap it up. As we are unable to lower standards then we are ultimately forced to choose whether to continue working to existing standards for the less cost (and keep the revenue coming in) or whether to refuse to lower rates and lose work and thus run the risk of major cashflow problems.

Don't get me wrong, what you say is theoretically true but in the current climate a little misguided.



One final point; not all Clients / Customers are the same and I am sure that there are many that will remain loyal. I am merely passing on our recent experiences.

regards

martin

[Pristine Clean]

hi there

extremely difficult to achieve both a price reduction and better service - True, but this doesn't stop your Client wanting / expecting. Cost reductions are the order of the day currently with larger companies and whilst good relationships are essential between any such parties these relationships mean nothing when directives come dowm from Boardroom level.

this is where your client relationship is so important. - See above

lets compare this to baked beans.
heinz beans, perceived to be the best but cost say 50p  a can
supermarket premier brand not quite as good say 40p can
supermarket brand 30p per can
value brand 11p a can

its irrelevant of the product or service, but inevitably you get what you pay for.  ? What has cleaning got to do with the price of beans? :

rest assured the beans seller wont sell heinz for 11p a can , - This is brand loyalty between the public and a food stuff and and has no bearing.

Know your costs, understand your required margins and take things from there.

so why should you !!!

you need to be very careful with your pricing/service balance. - Unfortunately we are in unusual times. Large companies are only interested in cost. If we can't carry out the work at a certain rate then someone else will happily snap it up. As we are unable to lower standards then we are ultimately forced to choose whether to continue working to existing standards for the less cost (and keep the revenue coming in) or whether to refuse to lower rates and lose work and thus run the risk of major cashflow problems.

Don't get me wrong, what you say is theoretically true but in the current climate a little misguided.



One final point; not all Clients / Customers are the same and I am sure that there are many that will remain loyal. I am merely passing on our recent experiences.

regards

martin

Hi Ian,

I have to disagree with the relationship part with your clients. I think it is extremely important that you have a good relationship with your clients.

As for board room level decisions I think the relatonship plays an extremely upmost important part. If they like you, and the company then they are favoured towards you already and are less likely to look else where.

Yes they may need you to lower the price for economic reasons. And to keep in with them you may have to indeed lower prices. There are companies that are indeed suffering and cannot afford what they originally were paying.

As for the Baked beans its scenario to show an example and I am sure some if not most will agree with it as I have seen many posts here just like it and people have agreed in previous posts.

After all he is actually right! Heinz baked beans are better. You do pay for what you get. Its simple.

Would you buy a skoda or would you buy a Jaguar 4.2 supercharged v12. I doubt most would purchase a skoda if they could easily afford the Jaguar if they are honest! As its clearly a better vehicle and the standard of engineering is far more elegant as well as the interior.

As for large companies just intersted in cost, I am not sure on that one. We work for many corporate blue chip companies, forget the top 100 these are in the top 10. And they have not once asked us to drop prices.

We also get to see other quotations that other cleaning companies have sent in. Which is good to see how they lay it out, some go in as far as showing the margins. A complete analyst. Its required when you work for large companies. They want to see everything.
I can assure you we were not the cheapest by far! compared to the quotes we had seen.

I will also admit unless your turnover is adequate enough, most companies will not even let you in the door, and thats only the reception desk. So no husband and wife teams allowed.

So this is where I am comming from relationships are important and high prices do show quality  large companies do not want the cheap supermarket beans in Tescos, they want Heinz and nothing else will do. They know that we wont cut corners, they know we have the machines required with instant backup if there is a failure.

They also know if staff do not turn up we have cover on hand. Immediately.

Also have you seen Jaguar lowering there prices!

Dave

[martin19842]

hi there

that got a couple of responses didnt it.

in the end you make your own decisions, based on what you or your company requires, these are not difficult decisions, you know the costs therefore you make a commerical decision baed upon it.

unusual times, -- yes they are but, believe me there is  still al lot of business out there.

whilst cleaning is not recession proof, its pretty much bullet proof.

clients whether they are commericial or domestic, will always need cleaning, the only decision the client has to make is,

who will do the cleaning, a company, an employee, or themselves.

dont get sucked into the client argument about the unusual times argument, you have to stay positive to win new business.


i have just started as the new sales manager of a cleaning company, and the work is rolling in, long may it continue.

regards
martin

[Griffus]

Our opinions obviously vary.

Incidentally, aren't Jaguar on the brink? 

Best of luck to all of us! 

[Pristine Clean]

Yes, Jaguar are on the brink. But thats nothing to worry about. Most car firms are.. even the banks bank are on the brink.

There is too much history involved with Jaguar to let it fold away. Jaguar the name was first used in 1935. 

So many years to let it waste away.

Dave

[Griffus]

A bit like Rover then

[daysdeepclean]

History's got sod all to do with it.... Woolworths?

[Gilbert Sprous]

Woolworths brought it on themselves.  If Jaguar still put our the same cars that it put out in 1965 it would be looking at going under too.  Gotta change with the times

[Colin Stokes]

Although what we do is slightly different (communal residential cleaning in London for Managing Agents only - from 1 hour a week to 4 full time staff a day) we reviewed our prices in April as we do every year and although much smaller than usual there was an overall rise of about 1.5% in our prices.

So that was a range or rises from £3.25 to £115 per calendar month and not one client has come back and questioned it and all paid their April invoice.

Not sure what that says but thought I would add our experiences.

[martin19842]

hi craig,

got out of builders cleans at the right time, and got drawn into a lot of flood works.

business got dented by our  bankers, and big decisions had to be made and actin taken.

with regard to the company im with now, absolutely brilliant.

totally relaxed and chilled out, cruise control goes on 73mph down the M11, into london, if i get delayed then no problems.

bought one of thoise sat navs that tells you where the traffic is LIVE so that is great.

leave the office at 4.30 if in the office, if not then after last appt.

money is great, and will earn more in one year than two working for myself.


now i know that people will say that molney isnt everything, true i agree.
but
combined with the working environmnet its great.

i now enjoy my weekends again, and have money to spend, so long may it continue

regards
martin

[The Great One]

Hi

Martin, well done on the new job. I remember back when you were 'turning over' some major cash flow.

What is your new job, what are your duties there?

All the best regards

Martin
(The other one)

[martin19842]

hi martin (the other one)

yes im a sales manager for a cleaning company based in london, catchment area inside m25, a niche market, common parts cleaning and gardening services.

principally in charge of the sales for the company, and a controlled expansion of the sales operation, and the development of the company martketing plan, better online presecence, email mailing, corp sponsorship, and arranging and corp marketing events.

Good job, in a balance sheet sound company.

i remember back when we were turning over some good cashflow, in essence you have hit the nail on the head, turniing cashflow, this has always been my point of view om here, many people ask what they can make from the cleaning industry, and my answer is always, your salary is one cost and your profit is another figure.

whilst earning a salary working for myself was substaining, along with the benefits, of vehicles, fuel etc, and expenses, it wasnt in reality delivering the profit element that was wanted, and that is when you have to make some sensible commercial decisions.

i have no doubt that i have been lucky in securing the position i am now in , however the agency that worked hard for me, found that my cv was strong, 5 yeaars of commercial cleaning experience with a cleaing company, and then nearly 5 years of cleaning experience in my own environment.

biggest surprise of all though, is that the money that cleaning companies are paying at the moment as compared to 5 years ago, very very good.

have a great weekend.

regards

martin

[JandS]

When people ask for a price do what I now do, and I got this off the cc side which is my main thing.
Ask them what their budget is or ask them what price they had in mind and take it from there, you'll
usually find some common ground and now and again they'll name a price that's above what you were
thinking of.
Works well with older people.

John