If the TM business model works then why do TM Owners have to add other services?
I certainly don't consider anything I do to be "added" because it is an inclusive part of the range of services I provide to keep my customers' floors & soft furnishings in good condition.
The smart businessman recognises that his customers have more than just carpets & upholstery to clean and make money out of.
Some of us ENJOY doing things other than carpets & upholstery all day long. There's a lot more skill and knowledge involved in taking your service portfolio up to higher levels.
Imagine leaving the house at 9am to do a carpet clean for £90, then another one for £120, then one more for £70, then home for 2pm with £280 racked up for the day.
Now imagine if you cleaned some leather, rugs, tile & grout or curtains at the same time for a couple of those customers. Home a couple of hours later but without ANY additional travel expenses and probably with 50% or even 100% more money in the bank. No brainer really.
your prices are high and are keeping the market small.
Bullsh*t. Firstly, and I probably speak for the majority of TM owners here, my prices aren't any higher with a TM than with a portable. Secondly, the "market" is not being kept small by anyone's high prices, just as much as it won't be expanded (usefully) by anyone's low prices. This is the sort of industry where we CREATE our market by provoking interest and using our skills to sell the services at the prices we feel comfortable working at, whichever end of the scale that might be. Which ties in with the next point...
I agree that prospects like the idea of TM cleans but most put cost first.
I don't even sell the TM when quoting, barely even mention it except for access reasons. Most customers don't put cost first, they put themselves first, more specifically what they WANT which is a good job doing. If they're reassured they're getting a great job they pay the price. All down to sales skill.
If any carpet thinks that adding a TM will give them more work they are wrong. Just look at TM owners and how many other services they provide and you have the proof that it will not. if they where busy just cleaning carpets thay would not have the time to provide these services or would have other staff, which most don't.
Firstly I think the majority of TM owners DO mainly concentrate on carpet & upholstery. But more to the point, I don't think anyone has speculated on buying a TM because they are stupid enough to believe it will somehow create more work.
People buy a TM for one of 3 reasons in my opinion:
1) Their workload has got so high with a porty they can not cope, and do not want to employ anyone
2) They wish to reduce their working hours on carpet & upholstery to either improve their lifestyle or allow more time in their day for OTHER INCOME STREAMS
3) They just have to have "big boys toys" and don't really need a TM but just WANT one (in which case more fool them, but these type are in the minority)
I think you'll find more TM owners employ people than you think. In fact I can think of 10 or so off the top of my head just from recent posts on the TM forums
if you want a bigger market in the UK them cheap TM cleans are the way this will happen
Again, complete bullsh*t. Cheap groupon (or similar) cleans are the only real possibility of dragging any noticeable volume of new customers into the carpet cleaning market, who wouldn't otherwise use carpet cleaning services...... but do we really want this type of customer? They wouldn't be a normal customer in a normal market anyway so send them back to B&Q for another hire of a rug doctor. Real businessmen aren't interested in them
Cheap TM cleans are the same as cheap porty cleans so why bother? You're still flogging your ar*e off for slave wages.
Surely you're smart enough to figure out that you make much more profit by spending more time in fewer customers' houses, doing bigger jobs per visit.... which means...... a wider range of services!!!!!
The big issue is that most Tm owners feel that its all a dig at them its not.
I don't feel you're having a dig at TM owners. I feel sorry for you because you're misguided and foolish. I've never read one word of sense in anything you've ever posted on any forums.
Aside from making up lies to pass off as marketing, all you do is concentrate on price price price as if you think that's what customers only ever think about
If you aimed yourself in the right direction, at the right customers, you might see the light. If you want to scrabble around with the cheapo monkeys competing at cut throat prices for the worst customers in your locality that's up to you, in fact carry on that way because it leaves a little more room for someone with their head screwed on to make a living in your area
