[Tom.m]

I'm getting fed up with these large companies undercutting us little guys with promises of cleaning 5 rooms at £69 or at £15 a room. 

When does it go from up selling to 'bait and switch '?

Thinking of joining them and going for a massive push on advertising showing low prices then up sell on a 'deep clean' ... quantity not quality I guess?

[Darran Pryce]

Always room for good carpet cleaners. I would never ever charge those types of prices.  Don't put prices on your website, and when someone rings sell to them Once you're established and built a rep, it all goes in your favor. Repeat custom, plus referrals.   

 Honest Google reviews works a treat, and brings in a lot of work.

[Ian Harper]

Tom

with respect

you make a classic mistake thinking that another competitors provide the same service as you.  or they have the same overheads as you. you are seeing this like a commodity. if it was so we would all be selling at the same price as the product or service is the same.

you sell you service on whats unique about your carpet cleaning and tell prospects why your different than everyone else. this is your unique selling proposition (USP)

once you understand this you will not even look at other marketing. BTW its never good to do this in your own field but look outside and see what works and bring it into your field.

you also need to understand the difference between selling and marketing. and match your message to each group as what you say will be different to each group. having one message to everyone is a big mistake. Just take a look at why each of your customers is having their carpets cleaned and you will start to see groups  and then you can write your message to market match for each group. 

A mum with a new born might have the same reason as a pet owner but the message would be different. Hygiene in both but different words.

someone looking for a cheap clean will have the same reason as tenants but again different message.

selling by packages gets over the "but all carpet cleans are the same" issue in prospects eyes. if we dont educate prospects then all they know is to judge by price. By having three prices you let them choose between you, you, and you. not you and two other cleaners.

One last thing take a look at any website that sells to us and all the products that they sell to us, each solves a different prospects problem. each product is a sales message to our prospects just change the words used to sell that product to us into words that sell the product as service to our prospects and you will never run out of services to sell.

prospect has dog urine on carpet you know the right product to deal with it. but do you sell this service aside from just carpet cleaning. what if that prospect is looking around and just thinks I need my carpet cleaned. and they come across your service that talks about this problem and this great product you use. are they going to go with you or the guy thats just selling carpet cleaning services?

not to mention the SEO evolved in this type of search. some prospects might just type in carpet cleaning but some will type in the dog urine on carpet search. you will get hits from outside your local area but that will help your websites ranking overall. these types of things can be worth thousands to you! dominating these searches worldwide has massive value to you. and there are loads. most people go for whats called the low hanging fruit but everyone does so it harder to rank. but get just one of the whats called longtail search terms and it worth as much as any hit term. sorry bit of topic but its worth mentioning.

Hope this helps you,

Respects

[simonmnickson]

I  was with you all the way Ian -  more or less,  but then clicked the link to your site
to be met by ''any two carpets cleaned for £49-50''

 

[derek west]

I  was with you all the way Ian -  more or less,  but then clicked the link to your site
to be met by ''any two carpets cleaned for £49-50''

 

 

[Carpet Dawg]

I  was with you all the way Ian -  more or less,  but then clicked the link to your site
to be met by ''any two carpets cleaned for £49-50''

 

Classic lol

[dan paton]

If it's the same company I'm thinking of " 5 rooms for £69" then it is bait and switch. I spoke to one of their employees who is thinking of quitting and he told me it was.  If I remember right he said they get 40% of all sales

[Tom.m]

If it's the same company I'm thinking of " 5 rooms for £69" then it is bait and switch. I spoke to one of their employees who is thinking of quitting and he told me it was.  If I remember right he said they get 40% of all sales

Spot On!

I rang them the other day to inquire what they offer, very pushy for fumigation because I said I had a pet.

[Ian Harper]

No one has talked about "Free Room"

http://bendoregoncarpetcleaning.com/one-room-for-free/

you are all looking at the face value of another business without considering the fact that there might be more to what you are seeing. The free room works on a sales strat of "reciposity" this is really about selling maintenance plans

So when you look and see something being sold for a price that does not always mean thats the price that you are going to pay. take a look at the phone industry. how many iphone users would buy the phone if it was not bundled with the contract? isthat phone really free?

How many time have you just enquired about something and got no end of mail. what about all those adds about that product you looked at now appearing everywhere you click? lifetime value of a customer is worth far more than one sale, and lead generation should not be mistaken.

My point is dont take everything at face value.

PS this does not take into account that a business with lower turn over can be more profitable than one with a much higher turnover. this can be a massive market advantage

[Mike Halliday]

I had prices on my website for about 4 months.... it killed it dead.

Prices only work if you are going to try and upsell the price or you are cheap, if you put high prices then no one will call.

If you are in the '£25 a room'  price range then put your prices on your site it is quite easy to get an extra £10 out of the customer when you arrive with legitimate up selling,  just look at the fast food outlets that always ask 'do you want to go large with that' or 'do you want the large fries for for an extra 90p?'

If someone has committed in thier mind to spend £25 then you are only trying to sell the idea of spending £10  not the full £35 so all you need to offer is something that has (to them) a value of £10

[Ian Harper]

Mike what about selling maintenance plans? they could spend the same money but get more value like that six monthly highlight clean (another chance to sell). and spread the cost. or you can make more by spreading the payments out value works both way breaking down lets call it a expensive price in monthly makes it looks cheap but its not just like that iphone

people will spend much more money if you show them value in using you (like you point out). so from a free room the getting a high price can be one sales process. it takes more effort and you will lose some of the free room presentations but overall you can make more.

and please no but people will take advantage, sure if you offer it to the wrong group. that free room is giving you the chance to get money payed into your account every month and an relationship that you can give your more opportunities to sell more services. this is real selling and you have to be the right type of person to pull it off.

amway, kirby, avon, apple, google (adwords) the one that I think would do well for free room is part plan, it gives a reason for the free room and the mates are there even harder not to show interest. how many times have you had a friend walk of the client walk in and say i want my carpets cleaned? with party plan you can SIGN them up on the spot and the others mates will ask how did your carpet clean go so it would be hard for them to back out.  are all business models built around a sales process. where would apple be if it was not for the air time companies bundling their expensive trendy phone? then apple has you in their walled garden where you spend more, just like maintenance plans

Opps sorry forgot the say, that when selling maintenance plans the cleaner is called about say a lounge but will not do the presentation for that one area but the whole house. a much bigger deal, its this leap that really makes this a great proposition to us. needless to say you measure all rooms and give a computer based presentation. think FT did a computer program that did a great job for you

[Jonathan Evans]

Ian party plan for carpet cleaning? Have thought about this before but not sure how it would work.

[G Rhodes]

ive always given guide pricing on the site and always go and quote the job personally

If you explain why it costs more most customers get it

Sometimes i even reduce the price

Honesty works in the long run