[markpowell]

We are currently putting leaflets out offering 3 for 2 on carpet cleaning, had a woman ring today saying she only had 2 carpets that she wanted cleaning, and could i do her mothers lounge free. When i said no she said "Why not she only lives 20 mins away"
I have been running this offer from time to time over the years and this is the first time that this has ever happened.
From now on i will be putting " Offer must be used on 1 booking at 1 addresss"
Has anyone else ever had similar problems with promotions, people trying to take the P*SS
Mark

[Andrew Briscoe]

Mark,
good point 1 booking to 1 address.
I would have offered her or her mother 1 of the carpets at half price if not too far away.
Better to have the 2 customers than no sale.
regards

Andrew

[from edge2edge]

Mark ask her mother to bring the carpet to her house and you will do it there.Dont suppose she will go for that though.Regards Alan(swindon)

[clinton]

Mark

How much roughly do you charge for two rooms and the one free

[robert meldrum]

Same as three rooms 

[Joe H]

Excellent answer 

[clinton]

Joe,robert

People are wanting a deal and maybe know we are not giving anythin away

Doing 3 jobs today and two are getting there hall s and landing at a cheaper price

[robert meldrum]

In retail, the discount is split between the wholesaler and retailer, so it's less of a giveaway than it might appear.

Also in retail. When you see a " half price " sale, the products have often been offered for sale for 28 days previously at an inflated price and it's half of the "higher " price you are being offered.

Playing with words

[robert meldrum]

Clinton

Was just joking, sort of..........................To generate business, it's always good to offer an incentive to win over the prospect.

Some criticise discounting, or making offers, but the vast majority of businesses are open to discounting or deals, don't see why carpet cleaning should be any different.

Noticing virtually every Pub has offers outside those days, garages are offering combined service / MOT at good prices, etc.

If you want the business, you might have to " bite the bullet " and make your offer more attractive than Tom, Dick, or Harrietts.

I'm stupid, I alway's go the extra mile, or square metre, but the " bright young things" wouldn't dirty their hands / get out of bed for less than £100 an hour  ( or so they say )

[Graeme@Access]

Hi,

British people are poor at negotiating. I read a book once called Everything is Negotiable and it made me realise that a prospect will feel better about the deal if they negotiate (or are allowed to). Most people will not bother to ask for something extra or money off, but on those that do they are very easy to convert.

Just don't give anything away, always ask for something back. (its called goodwill conceding and weakens your position)

Eg, in Marks problem and if he thought the extra client was worth a 20 min drive he could have tried:

I will offer daughter a discount for referring me to mother (charge mother full price)
I will offer mother half price second carpet (instead of 3rd half price)
I will only clean the traffic lanes in your mums house and i only have 1 appointment to spare (immediately after)

There must be a thousand things you could come up with, but instead two clients were lost. By simply saying no, you close the doors on the negotiation.

Just a thought

Graeme
Access Cleaning Solutions

[markpowell]

Mark

How much roughly do you charge for two rooms and the one free

Hi Clinton,
About £90.00, in and out in 2 hours ish, if i can get 2 aday then im happy with that mate, start at 10 ish home for 4.
Mark

[clinton]

Mark

Well thats a good days taking and sounds like a deal then

90 pound for 3 rooms

I have done two jobs this morn and got another one in a bit and that was with some add ons for extra work and will get  another 80 pound from  the jobs

[derek west]

ive had my 3 for 2 offer on for ages and no one uses it, maybe i should start charging for 2 and cleaning 3 like you guys.
derek

[Mike Halliday]

people just don't understand how the 3 for 2 offers works because they see it by it self, but it is part of a 2 step formula to over come price objections.

to use it properly you need to also offer free stainguard.

but if you are a £20 a room carpet cleaner you can't do this, you need to offer a premium service at a premium price.

this is how it works, Imagine you are in front of a potential customer........

 "Mrs Smith to clean your Livingroom, diningroom and hall stair landing will be £130, this will include our free stain-guard offer".

if she can afford £130 great!  but if it's more than they budgetted then you need a way to  reduce the price, without them having to admit the cannot afford it  because no one will say "I can't afford it", they'll make another excuse. So you need to give them a way to ask for it cheaper.

So if they are hesitant you give them an escape route, ......the 3 for 2!!


Mrs smith if you feel you don't need the stainguard them it would be better to use our 3 for 2 offer. which mean the smaller of the 3 rooms is free, saving you £32 which would make the £98 shall i put you down for that?

now do you see the opportunity that you've created?  she is not saying that she can't afford £130 but that she doesn't feel she needs the staingaurd.

this is how the 3 for 2 works best

[clinton]

Derek

Am sure people arnt that taken in by the offer and dont want three rooms done

Am doing a deal for h s landing at the mo and its doing ok rather than three rooms

[JandS]

Think people this day and age know that you've inflated the price to cover the offer.

John

[markpowell]

Seems to work for the likes of Asda and Tesco, so why not for us carpet cleaners?
I have always done well with the 3 for 2
Mark