Jerry,
I enter commercial pricing at .10 per sq ft and go up or down from there depending on the difficulty of cleaning, frequency of service, and number of locations.
Let's face it, price talks. Isn't that one of the key things we all look for when we get our car fixed or our house painted? And although good prices are important, there's more to the picture than price alone.
Someone called my wife last week and asked her about getting our house painting. Well the timing was right, I had just mentioned to my wife that we'll be needing to do some exterior painting soon. I wasn't looking forward to doing it myself since we have a two story home. Long story short, a salesman came to our house on Tuesday (to give us an estimate). Price was my main interest, you could say I was a price shopper. I was set to bargain for a low price on a decent paint job - so I listened to what the guy had to say. I figured I'd have to pay around $2,000 for the job.
Well this salesman was good! He showed us demonstrations in front of our very eyes to show us how their two part coating was unique. He showed us how we would never need to to paint again because of this coatings special properties. He told me about commercial buildings and bridges in my area with this stuff on it. And he told me that I could have this coating with a lifetime warranty for $6700. Well that was a little too rich for my blood, so after doing some bargaining I got the same coating but with only a 10 year guaranty for $3500. I signed the contract. They started with a good sized crew on Wednesday morning and finished up early this afternoon. And my house looks great.
Moral of this story. As a customer I was really only determined to get a low price. But in the process I was educated. I was shown that the coating I was receiving was unique and worth far more than ordinary paint. In the end I spent more than I was expecting. And I still feel that I got a good deal. The same holds true with our business as carpet cleaners. EDUCATE the prospect. Help them see how you're going to fix their problems and remove their pain. My pain was not wanting to have to paint my house again in a few years. They sold a more expensive job than the cheap paint job as I was attempting to purchase - they sold me a more highly valued service.
As far as maintenance plans go, in a similar manner I'd suggest educating the client. Explain that you regularly charge .25+ per sq ft for residential work. Tell them that you will often go below .20 per sq ft for commercial work. Then tell them that you're able to provide them with a new cleaning system that will fix their problems - removing the recurring spills and their uglied out carpet. Their carpets will stay bright looking. And you can offer his service at just .11 per sq ft. And if you can do all of their locations you can do it for .09 per sq ft. Offer to do a full clean 4 times per year and a spot cleaning on a monthly basis - in this way they'll get to extend their cleaning dollar even further. Show them how they'll be getting far more service and a consistently great looking carpet, all for a reasonable price. Now it's true that over the course of a year they'll be paying more than if they got their carpets cleaned just once a year --- but sell them on value of all that they'll be getting. That is how I sell maintenance contracts
Just like my paint job. A commercial maintenace plan sells to our client a more highly valued service?
Rick Gelinas
