[rich hand]

The area I am on about has flats typically ranging from 250k to 400k and detached houses 400k to 1.5M. This doesnt include the extremes, just the 95% range. There are about 10-15k houses in total.

[Nigel_W]

I only work for affluent people so I have some experience here.

In London, really affluent people generally do not organise their own carpet cleaning. Price seems to be low down the list of reasons to choose a carpet cleaner. The proof of this is that I rarely quote - just invoice. Far more important to the people who organise the work is that there are no problems that will reflect badly on them. Being on time, diplomactic, trustworthy, not damaging things etc are all more important than price.

Mildly affluent people may organise there own carpet cleaning but they are very careful to choose a safe and appropriate carpet cleaning company. How they do this is by word of mouth.  If it is ok for the other members of the clique then it is ok for us. Reassuringly expensive is desirable for some people but they still don't want to be ripped off.

In my view special offer leaflets create the wrong impression and I doubt they would be read by my particular brand of London based affluent people. If I were ever short of work sending out special offer leaflets would be at the bottom of my to do list.

Just my views and I stress my experience is very London based. What happens in the rest of the country is a mystery to me.

Nigel

[colin thomas]

whilst i can see where mike is coming from i can never see why we as an industry always seems to want to do 'offers', i think it cheapens us, i don't think i have ever seen an advert of a plumber or electician or even a painter and decorator offering something for nothing to get work. it's different if you offer 'free' protector but you are really building it into the price but to offer 3 rooms cleaned for the price of 2 and even then at a silly price, it just brings the industry down. it's no wonder we have price shoppers, with all the adverts that offer silly prices.
personally i work at my prices or i don't work, i'm nearly always busy.

colin

[elliott cleaning]

Of all the posts on this thread, I think that Nigel W has summed it up most accurately.  Agreed. affluence is a movable yardstick but if we are talking present day affluence then price really does not come into it. Those people want it done and they want it done well. If you can provide that, then you should have no problem, in charging a sensible price.  We do not advertise & all our work comes in through recommendation. Admitted, we operate in London & Surrey but affluence exists throughout the country.

If you produce first class work, are reliable, can string a coherent sentence together and appear at your clients looking presentable, it is completely unnecessary to have to start offering these customers "special offers".  Am sure that if on top of that you start offering them all kinds of discounts, they will happily take them on top, but that part will not be what decides whether you get the job or not

[Straker Cleaning]

If you produce first class work, are reliable, can string a coherent sentence together and appear at your clients looking presentable, it is completely unnecessary to have to start offering these customers "special offers". 

I manage in SW London & Surrey 

[Straker Cleaning]

I would not regard a household as affluent if it was smaller than my 4 bed detached  :

[elliott cleaning]

Chris
We trail the same area.  You regard a 4 bed in this neck of the woods as affluent.  Have seen 4 bed terraced around here and that is not the affluence I assumed this thread was about

[Shaun_Ashmore]

The more affluent homes don't go for leaflets in general they go by recommendation, that's wht Dave L goes to see the person who is already in the home ie interior decorator or carpet manufacturer etc etc

Getting in through a leaflet for the real des res is hard work unless they are cheapo's but we are talking £1 million + hmes where money is no object and trust is the key word.

£500k houses are 10 a penny now a days and the humble tradesman can have them where ever they live.

Shaun

[Straker Cleaning]

Has to be bigger than my 4 bed detached  .......... anyone with more money than me, a better car than me or a bigger bank balance than me IS AFFLUENT  :

[Straker Cleaning]

elliott cleaning .......... what area are you based and what is your name 

[mark_roberts]

Lets forget the price question for a minute and ask the question

How do YOU provide added value over the next company so that you can get the work without discounting your price?

Sometimes people like Nigel and Dave seem to be like the cream of the cake.  Very highend cleaners but we all have access to the same training, marketing and products as them.  So what is it.  It just cant be their wonderful personalities.

Mark

[Simon Gerrard]

Mark,
Some people are exceptionally good at marketing / selling their services.

Simon

[liahona]

Mark, get in touch with Nigel as I am the worlds worse at marketing.  So much so that I dont and never have.

Nor am I any good at selling.

All I do is just go out and get what I want but I suppose that is a kind of skill in itself.

Personality has a lot if not everything to do with it.  How else would I would be able to do anything that I do.  You have seen what a mess I look like.

I am everything wrong about how one should present themselves to anyone for the first time.  But then I dont care,   I have only lost one job in almost 3 and a half years so it works for me.

Best, Dave.

[Straker Cleaning]

Plus it is Dave's knees in those wellies 

[Shaun_Ashmore]

Chris do you hold them down and pepper them with your paint gun?

Shaun 

[Straker Cleaning]

Two shots maximum ...........1 for distance and 1 to eliminate player .......... too tight for this 'spray & pray' approach 

[Doctor Carpet (Ret'd)]

Nigel W's reply would be the one nearest to that which I would give.

My patch is South Manchester (which has some of the top 20 postcodes for wealth).

Like Dave liahona my attire could at best be described as eccentric! Oh and the van is usually dirty and got quite a few rust spots but it still seems to do the trick for me.

Of course if I was to change my attire and have a new clean van you could always argue that even more work would come my way.

But in the end it usually comes down to doing the little things right which people notice and then use as a yardstick for recommending you on.

I suppose I've never done any special offers (certainly not admitting to the client as such) although I may shade my pricing structure if I think it would make the difference to get the job.