[jimmyjock]

Have cleaned carpets on and off since approx. 1998. I have an extracta excel, big scrubba and all the gear. The only course I have done is the Extracta 1 day course. My biggest problem I have found in Northumberland is that same old problem pricing. I have cleaned 3 piece suites for £80, £50 and £40. Whilst my competition all around me have been charging as low as £20. That is the reason why I say I have cleaned carpets on and off. I have always been unable to make a living out of it. I consider myself as quite a good sales person and have always been told by friends and family that I clearly understand what I am doing. I have even had customers ring up to say how pleased they are with the work I have done. I often wonder where I am going wrong. What is the problem here? I can afford big fancy vans, I can afford to buy the best machines, I can afford to do training courses, what I cannot succeed to do in my area is charge a reasonable price to make a living! I have phoned up my competition (6 of them to be exact) that are advertised in my local paper and can have my livingroom and dining room which measures 24ft x 12ft cleaned cheapest price £20, dearest price £35 and £25 for my 3 piece suite. On monitoring these other cleaners they have been in business for years. Incidently today I have received a leaflet that arrives the same time every year, same layout etc. This has came to my house for the past 10 years that I have lived in the house, stating lounge and dining room £20, 3 piece suite £25 and lounge, dining room, hall, stairs and landing £25. My hall stairs and landing are huge. The question I want to ask is this. This particular carpet cleaner has nice big van, nice big sign writing, brand new extracta excel, super dupa scrubba and all the gear. Have I then got it all wrong and should I be a busy fool? Anyway received my NCCA information pack today. I am going to look to do one of these courses that everyone else on here seems to have done. Have read the forum for many years. Had to change my user name. It used to be J-Clean123. One of your members Mike Halliday was so kind once to send me some leaflet examples which helped me get a little bit more organised. This is my C.V. just to show I am not a time waster and am genuine. I would be interested in any help or comments that you can give me.

[from edge2edge]

Jimmy try looking for commercial work rather than go head to head with these very low prices or tap into the evergrowing green market and go for the dry cleaning option.Alan (swindon)

[Deep Clean Newcastle Gateshead]

What area of Northumberland are you in??

[Ken Wainwright]

Hi JimmyJock

As you have already discovered, if you compete on price, there will always be someone cheaper than you  Low prices will typically attract people who want cheap above all else.

Your proposal to attend the NCCA course is a very good place to start. Apart from the first class instruction, there is an equally valuable side to this. In a word, Networking. You will meet colleagues from all over the country. Some will be in a similar position as yourself. Some will be more experienced and some complete beginners. The time spent during the two days in Leicester will charge you with enthusiasm for the work, so going out and selling will be less daunting.

When you have an enquiry, do not price over the phone. Go out and quote. This will enable you to SELL your service at a FAIR price. Your expertise, training and standard of equipment dictates that you should walk away from a cheap ticket price. 1 job at £200 is much more profitable than 4 jobs at £50, so it's not essential to convert every lead.

The prospect, when he/she phones you ,will typically only know of 1 question to ask. How much? They don't know better. You can ask all the right questions and put the prospect in a position where they don't know the answers eg fibre, construction, dye type, backing material, soiling type and level etc. etc. Hence, to give an accurate price for the type of work that would be required to clean there valuable carpets SAFELY will require a no-obligation free inspection and quotation.

Go on the NCCA course (it's excellent) attend industry events such as Carpex and the NCCA Workshop next month in Telford, the more you learn the better you'll be.

Safe and happy cleaning
Ken

[Doctor Carpet (Ret'd)]

Hi Jimmy

Are you sure all your competitors are not simply "bait and switch" merchants whilst you remain a "man of your word"?

I'm sure your area cannot be unique with its client base simply driven by price? I know it's not easy but forcing people to consider other matters rather than price in choosing a cleaner must surely be the way forward. After all if price was always the only consideration then we would all drive around in identical cars - the cheapest one- as they all have 4 wheels and an engine!

Half the battle is of course getting your foot in the door, but I'm sure you've got the skills to progress matters once you are talking to them. Then you can build on it with repeat business and referrals.

I wish you well.

Roger

[lands]

Woulod agree with Ken re the NCCA course. Have some genuine credentials and use that to get your prices up (and more importantly your customers to see the value rather than the price). Don't agree re Carpex though. Not much to be learned there now with the internet and the forums.

Is the BS36 any good or the scorpion? Ask these types of questions on this forum and you will get 20 answers from people who are not trying to sell to you. Who needs carpex?

[jimmyjock]

Thank you very much lads for your input. It is much appreciated. Going to go to the NCCA training course. Probably good to meet others in the same industry.

P.S. Sorry do not know your name Mr Deep Clean but I am in the Cramlington area. Kind Regards James

[Simon Gerrard]

James,
You sound just like me thirty years ago.
Back then I too was seemingly surrounded by low price, low quality carpet cleaners.
So here is the first thing you need to understand... Competition is not about price...it is about quality! Anyone can compete with anyone else on price but few can compete purely on quality.
I decided that there had to be another way and there was. Upon doing some very basic research I found out that the cheap and cheerful brigade weren’t moving furniture, weren’t pre-vaccing or pre-spraying, weren’t pre- treat stains and weren’t brushing the pile straight afterwards. All of that leaves lots of scope to be competitive in ways that they cannot respond to, making you...(marketing word coming up) UNIQUE!
So, I took myself off to a 2 day Prochem training course in London and there I met my mentor and the man who is undoubtedly the father of modern carpet cleaning, Ron Tilley. Ron taught us the 12 step cleaning process that included pre-inspection, dye testing, shrinkage testing, pre-vaccing, pre-spraying etc etc. What did I come away as? Yes, a newly trained carpet cleaning professional, armed to the teeth with ways and means to take on my competitors in a way that they could not respond to. In other words, instead of me competing with them, they had to compete with me.

It is a common misconception that people buy carpet cleaning purely on price, when in fact they don’t. When they are on the phone to you for a quote they have in their minds eye a mental image of how their carpet will look like when it has been cleaned. The cheap guy’s rarely fulfil that expectation and so the customer is disappointed because their carpet was wet for days on end and when it finally dried it looked no better than before. Who will they be looking for next time around?
You!
Don’t price over the phone. Forget how little your competitors are charging because they aren’t your competitors any more. Do as many training course as you can afford and when you have done them all, do them all again. Why? Because you’re only as good as you know your basics.
Stop thinking like a loser!!!!
Simon

[Deep Clean Newcastle Gateshead]

Hi James if you are in the Cram area, look at http://www.restormate.co.uk he is just down the road from you.
there a good supplier and when I started they wear full of advice and helpfull hints as well as pricing stuff.
Aidan

[lands]

Good post for a newbie Simon. Knowledge really is power.

[*paul_moss]

Pete I will second that, a very nice posting Simon 

Jimmy what Simon says is spot on, it does take a little longer to build up your customer base,but pays much better dividends in the long run