[Doctor Carpet (Ret'd)]

Just for fun I reproduce a series of email correspondence I had  with a prospective client. it illustrates some of the points in the thread that Joe started a week or so ago.

Original enquiry:-

Hi
Could you possibly give me a quote on cleaning 2 fabric sofas - red.
 
Thanks
Vxxxxxxxxxxx

My reply:

Hi V
 
In a word "no"!
 
There is simply not enough information in your enquiry to make a proper judgment and anybody who says they can could likely end up not doing it at a profit (which I am sure wouldn't bother you) but more importantly could end up not doing it properly and so damage your sofas or not do a good job and so end up costing you money to have it done properly.
 
May i suggest therefore that you give me a ring (I would ring you but you haven't provided a number). There are a few simple but obvious questions I need answers to. With these I can give you a pretty accurate figure for cleaning. At that point you can then decide whether you would like to use my services. There is no pressure and you remain in control of the situation at all times.
 
Please ring me sometime during Tuesday on 07979 911 321. Our conversation should only take a couple of minutes at the most.
 
Kind regards.
 
Roger
Doctor Carpet.
07979 911 321

Amazingly I got a response-just not quite what I expected.......








Dear Roger,
 
By the tone of your email you obviously dont need my business.
 
So in response to your request to ring you...In a word "no!"
 
Regards,
V



I did think of replying that she was correct but in the end couldn't be bothered.

[Paul Redden Countryfresh]

Sorry I take the custys side  :

[JandS]

Yes I think I could have worded it a bit better.

"Hi V thanks for your enquiry, could you give us a ring as there are a couple of things
I would really like to ask you about the job.
A rough guide price would be £xx but just to clarify could you give us a ring"

Your reply sounds like your belittling them.

Just my personal thoughts.

John

[Shaun_Ashmore]

I can see both sides here I tend to look from both sides in a discussion but I have yet to find a suitable email reply to get people to call all of the time many just want a price whether they be a price shopper or not but they don't clean carpets (or sofas) it's the old adage of 'I want a hole digging' how big? how deep? where? etc etc

I have tried a softer reply but that gets no reply, can't win really. Doug may be a good source here!

Shaun

[Simon@arenaclean]

I would probably have replied with this, Whether I wanted the work or not it's important every customer has a good experience. They might have friends who could be customers of mine already and may have recommended me, you never know.


Hi V.

Thanks for your enquiry and for contacting Arena.

I would be delighted to quote for your sofa's but really need some for more information with regards to fabric type and construction, fillings, manufacturer, age and condition.

Would you be kind enough to email your phone number and a time which will be convenient to you and I would be happy to call you back to discuss your sofa's further or call me on the number below.

I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Regards
Simon

If I get the job great, if not at least she has a good taste in her mouth.

[derek west]

roger

you lost her at hello

simon

cut, pasted and personalised, hope you don't mind

[Simon@arenaclean]

Your welcome Derek, likewise anyone else..

[Neil Williams]

The trouble with e-mail is that you may have written it to be read in a light hearted manner, but you actually have no control over how they actually read it at their end. Afterall it happens on this forum day in day out wouldn't you agree. (A) makes a joke but (b) takes it as an insult and the mud slinging begins

I agree I wouldn't provide a quote based on a one liner e-mail, infact when it comes to upholstery 99% of the time I insist on seeing the job, and on that I would have gone with Simon's reply.

[clinton]

A good reply that

Must say i do get e mails asking for quotes and when i do reply i never really hear back from them unless they pick up the phone and make the call :

Maybe it was roger getting fed up with the price shoppers

[Simon@arenaclean]

Clinton that's why I ask questions they will have no idea what the answer is, they may know the manufacturer but will have no idea what it's stuffed with or the fabric construction, same with carpets, does not mean they will call, but they might. I also agree with Neil I like to see what I'm cleaning so it's important for me to get in their house to evaluate, that's my goal for carpets too.

Simon

[jasonl]

Hi Mrs V..ery  ignorant,

Thank you for your enquiry , I would be pleased to carry out the work ,, I carry out a full inspection prior to cleaning to decise the best method to use because as you can appreciate there are many different types of upholstery fabrics ,designs and styles.

I can come and do this next tues/thus /fri , if assuming everything is ok , I can clean it there and then for you .  I use high powered drying fans once I have cleaned upholstery , so your furnitre will be ready to use very quickly, not everybody cares enough to do this.

My price to clean upholstery is £25/seating position which would mean £100 for your particular settees.

for an extra £50 I could apply protector after cleaning.

To book please call me on 11234567890

Jason

[Shaun_Ashmore]

Tried that number and all I get is "hello sexy do you want me to talk dirty to you"

Shaun

[Steve Chapman]

Must admit roger the whole thing sounded condescending to me. Since it was by email it's just as easy to ask a few more qestions and wait for the reply.
Just because a customer doesn't know right qustions to ask doesn't mean they are not a good customer.
Regards
steve

[Paul Redden Countryfresh]

Tried that number and all I get is "hello sexy do you want me to talk dirty to you"

Shaun

 

[robert meldrum]

Reminds me of the kind of  " speak " you might get from a bank manager !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[JandS]

Don't forget we're all price shoppers.

John

[Doctor Carpet (Ret'd)]

Hi Guys

Many thanks for your comments. As I said right at the very beginning it was only for fun.

I think Neil was on the button about oral humour not translating very well into the written word.

You can't get afford to get paranoid about every enquiry and not being able to convert it and I wasn't really inspired by what would seem on the face of it to be an email to multiple CC's. After all to my warped sense of humour I did think about replying that red sofas cost £x, whilst blue sofas would be charged at £y

What really interested me though was that as I'm sure my off-hand (humerous?) reply turned her against me she still bothered to reply. As such I can read her reply as either humerous or as a put-down; and i know which one you lot are going to say it was.

As some of you have pointed out you never know where an enquiry might lead in terms of future business so perhaps I'll just return to my normal professional style of response and await developments.

You can't please all of the people all of the time.

Cheers.

Roger

[peter maybury]

Talking personally I always prefer to do business over the phone or face to face, but the way people buy is definately changing many people are now putting prices on their websites so you can understand a customer asking how much for x y z. I think that most people are much the same as me, in as much as you know pretty much what you are going to be quoting before asking a lot of questions.
Yes it is nice to deal with people face to face but a lot of the e mail enquiries we get,  once we ask further questions we do not hear from them again, may be they just go to the people that are advertising a price on their site.
I have taken the prices off my website for a period to try to decide whether they did increase the business but the problem is that seasonal trends make it difficult to monitor this accurately. 
What I do not like is to see email enquiries coming in that we are unable to convert to business, if it is only a few per week it could amount to a lot of lost revenue. When I did have prices on the site people were phoning to book the job and not to make further enquiries.
Things are not quite as simple as they were a few years ago and I feel I need to adapt my approach in some way.

Peter
www.carpetcleanercardiff.com

[clinton]

Peter it would be good to know if the putting prices on your sites gave you more business

The one good thing is when you had prices on your sites it stopped the price shopper and they just booked the job

[Shaun_Ashmore]

I was talking to another carpet cleaner I know in Sheffield and he charges £55 per suite, £49 for 2 carpets and £99 for a full house, he has these prices on his leaflets as you can see he doesn't charge loads and his leaflet look very nice but he wasn't getting many calls from them.

IMO I think you need to get them to call unless you get leaflets out regularly to the same areas as Mark Powell does and I think it multiplies up based on recognising the same leaflet.

Shaun