[tim handley]

one for the marketing experts... simple question, do you think  displaying prices on your
web page is a good thing?    or  do you think it can put folks off???
cant make my mind up...........

[davep]

You have prices on yours, next guy doesn't. Who's going to get a phone call?

[Stoots]

enlighten us?

[wayne zabel]

I have guideline prices which doesn't mean its cast in stone.

I get lots of enquiries even though I have the guide lines.

Who knows? If they see my price at say £50 and then they call another Cc who quotes £100 who will they book?

You cant judge what the public think IMO

[Carpet Dawg]

Depends how its sold to the customer Wayne. If the customer phones the £100 guy and says "i'm needing my carpet cleaned" and the £100 guy says "that'll be £100". Then she might as well go with the £50 guy. Plus, a low price puts some people off.

Going back to the original question. If you are in the middle to higher price then its best not to mention prices as you want people to call so that you can sell to them. If you are happy at cleaning for £20 a room, £50 a suite etc then plaster it everywhere! Its your only selling point.

[wayne zabel]

Again we go back to the higher price is the better job.

Ive had a glut of carpets recently which to be honest have been relatively clean.I did one for a friend last week for whom I did a thorough job yet the carpet looked no different after cleaning.

A  £20 a room man could have cleaned it and it wouldn't have looked any diffrerent.

This is an area of CC that I find confusing.We hear that we should target high end and charge top rates for quality work.All the high end clients I have.have clean carpets and to be honest a basic porty could do the same as a TM.

Does anyone really have high end clients with minging carpets that really show up that you are better than lower priced CCers

[sean oregan]

One or two but not frequent.
It's all about perception imo, and the high end tend to be more loyal where as the low end seem to be price oriantated I.e you do a good job for a low price then next year they look for the same job but a lower fee so ring round.
I had someone ring me asking me to quote a suite clean over the phone a 3 + 2 I said I need to visit to give accurate price to determine fabric, staining etc. They wanted a guide so I said £100-150 there reply was someone quoted £80 can you do it for that? so I said use them because I know they will be ringing around again when they need something cleaning. If it's all about price I don't want them as a customer.
Don't shot me just my thoughts.

[Mike Halliday]

A couple of years a go I put a price page  for carpet cleaning on my website killed my calls dead,  for upholstery cleaning I said there was so Much variation in fabrics, styles & size then I needed to be do in-home quote

I was putting a list of high prices almost double what some other local cleaners were charging, I put a lot of text that really sold why my service was better but still it cut the calls.

If you charge prices that are compatible with you local  competition  then you could put prices on your website you could even have slightly higher prices if you sell yourself well, but a high price company needs to talk to the potential customer to explain the difference

[JandS]

Explain what difference Mike.

As Wayne has said.....I too have done carpets and upholstery that were so clean a RD could have done the job.
Have done some suites that just did not need doing and barely looked any different.....could have skipped the vac, pre spray and agitation and just gone straight in and extracted probably saving a good hour on the job.

[Steve Chapman]

The thing that normally clinches the deal for me is that I let them know if there are any problems, stains coming back etc I will be straight round to sort it ( I add this doesnt happen often ! )   .  its a bit of reasurance to them that you wont take the money and run and starts a good customer relationship.

They also like the honesty that sometimes there are problems but we're able to sort them out......

If you charge £20 a room you are not inclined to go back and rectify problems or there perceived problems, if you charge more like £80 then its no bother.......... you are happy to do so as they are a good paying customer.

Its not all about the clean but the extra mile you might go for them....

[Mike Halliday]

To give a difference that is specific to me.

On the first page of Google for my area is a company that charges  less than half my price, I know them well and often have a chat in our local Costa over a Latte, to compare them to me is like comparing Liverpool FC  to a Sunday league team..... the skill level between us is that much.

 this company uses a single vac machine, they use powerburst on everything even using it to bonnet clean carpets. I mentioned using blowers to dry suites and they did'nt know what a blower was.

They will just say "a suite cost £55" to any call they get for suite cleaning, they don't ask how big, how dirty, any stains? Nothing it's just........ "suite cleaning £55"

I quote £180 for suite cleaning unless I can explain the difference between us I would never get any suites to clean and even then if I quote £180 over the phone even after explaining the difference I would not get many. I need to get in the house to give them a quote.

I do lots of suite that look no difference when I've finished but the end result is not just what the customers get for their money, they get a full service....cleaned, usually dry, zero chemicals left on the fabric, advice on how to care for it, how to deal with any stains that might happen.

Not all carpet cleaners are equal and clean the same, but the customer doesn't know that unless we explain

[Ian Gourlay]

You say they so is there more than one

I have quit the business due to ill health but I was half thinking of staging yet another Comeback  as I still get calls , looked in my local paper Suites £40 first Carpet £25  One of my rivals appears to be cleaning everything including Grave Stones ,

With High End Market you need high end vaN AND HIGH END NEW equipment as people are buying the status

Do I need the hazzle No

[Darran Pryce]

We had prices on our website and had very, very little calls.   Prices stayed on for around 5 months. Took them off,  got loads of calls.  Our website is very highly ranked for many key words in Leeds, so get a lot of calls, and work.  Get lots of referrals too from existing customers...

My personal opinion,  keep prices off, get the calls and sell yourself!

[jasonl]

I have prices on

www.dry-fresh.co.uk    I get loads of calls, they are staying on , I am mid priced though. 

For me it is about low hanging fruit , £300 a day home by 3 kind of work.

[Shaun_Ashmore]

As said the higher your price compared to others in your area the more you have to sell your services on 'not price alone'  Some cleaners sell by price which means they have a booking telephone line where usually no sales lingo is needed.

[Shaun_Ashmore]

£300 a day you'll never get it 

[Simon Gerrard]

Personally I would never publish prices on a website.
Why?
Well it removes the need for the customer to ring you for a price because you've already told them it and thereby denies you the opportunity to sell both you and your services.
It encourages price shoppers (don't forget they think we are all the same and regardless of how much, or little they pay, they think they are getting the same thing)

That said, there is nothing wrong in stating, prices from £xxx, which has the effect of putting the price shoppers off. Depending on what end of the market you are aiming for, the people looking for a proper professional job will expect to pay a reasonable sum to get that.

Simon

[ShaunL]

I used to get the dregs when I had prices on my site. Although I have found the response rate to be pretty much the same now as it was before.  However, I now enjoy going round to quote, I'm not into pressure sales but I enjoy the hunt and like to push myself to see how much I can earn.  So now, I get better quality customers and earn better money.

[John Higgins]

A couple of years a go I put a price page  for carpet cleaning on my website killed my calls dead,  for upholstery cleaning I said there was so Much variation in fabrics, styles & size then I needed to be do in-home quote

I was putting a list of high prices almost double what some other local cleaners were charging, I put a lot of text that really sold why my service was better but still it cut the calls.

If you charge prices that are compatible with you local  competition  then you could put prices on your website you could even have slightly higher prices if you sell yourself well, but a high price company needs to talk to the potential customer to explain the difference

Expensive to you may not be expensive to your clients you say £180 is expensive but if you customer owns a successfully business and earns 3 to 4 thousand a week he will loose sight of the value of money and if is suite cost a few thousand pounds he wouldn't want a cowboy to clean it for £50.00.

High end customers are willing to pay more for quality

[Mike Halliday]

But you have to cater for your average client not the ones who earn £200k a year, which for  most of us will be in the very minority.