I got a call this week and went out to the
customers home and did my estimate for this
Gentlemen.. and you guessed it he looked at my
price and said Wow thats a lot more than I paid
my last guy. I expalined to him that I am not one
of these carpet cleaners that work on volume. I work
slower and do a much better job for the customers. I
stand behind my work 100 percent if you are ever unhappy I
will be back to redo at no cost. He took all my information
and of course said I'll have to speak with my wife about
this. I have not heard from him since. It still amazes me
that alot of people want something for nothing. I am not a
high price cleaner. I charge 25 cents a square ft. This guy
wanted his whole house cleaned plus a sofa and loveseat. After all this I said to him if you were happy with your
last cleaner maybe you should stick with him. I was recommeded to him by two of his friends. (referral) obviously
he spoke to his wife. No call back. I am glad that I can weed out these people without feeling guilty. I am in this
to make a profit. GEEEEZZ!

Ralph

Yep i heard that plenty before too.

But i did get one Wednesday mostly traffic areas thru dining an living room, my price was 135.00 was 550 sq ft it was a berber light color i explained what i would do and what olefin was like and so on.
Well she called back and said i had the job others were cheaper but in there presentation she could tell that she was getting a cheaper job.





Ades

Thats what I go through on a daily basis....The residential market here in my area is disgusting. I have seen guys literally driving around advertising 2 rooms and a hall 24.95, then noticed the rug doctor in the back of the pick-up. I recieve calls from people stating that they are gonna call around, and that if I am the cheapest, they'll call me back. At that point, I tell em that I'm not the cheapest and explain that they really need to be careful when picking another cleaner in this area. I hate it, but I have to make a living, so I have had to change from per sq/ft to per room. As well as break the rule of not lowering prices. This is the reason I have put my focus onto commercial work and am having great results with it. Have picked up 17 accounts within the last 2-3 months. That number is getting ready to increase by 14 when I finally get through all of the final details on a current negotiation i'm working now.

It's really hard to explain this place. Over 20 cleaners, around 150K population, and false advertisement and B & S everywhere. Most of the reason for the pricing here is that its an enormous rental market and the tenants only need a receipt showing proof they had the carpets cleaned.....of course by the lowest bidder. When that happens, quality is out the window.

Our philosophy is this:

Our prices get us in the door, where we prove to the customer that we are indeed BETTER, MORE RELIABLE, MORE PROFESSIONAL, and just provide a more pleasant experience. After building our clientel and getting our name out there as the only company that really cares, we will begin to raise our prices. So, I guess that the easiest way to look at it is that we are doing ALOT of demos at around 15 cents per square foot. We can survive through this due to haveing numerous rental properties ourselves, have nothing financed (every piece of equipment is paid for in cash/credit card then paid off), and that we have re-arranged our advertisement budget, with the most focus oon direct mailing, and free advertising at other business establishment...intially, we dumped almost everything into the YP. (2 BOOKS) That move cost us over 9,000 for the year...Not smart. All-in-all, we are growing at an alarming rate now, with approximately 50-55% of our income coming from the commercial work that we are performing....Sorry so long


88Forgot to mention that i do not believe in ANY pressure upselling, I simply ask if there is anything that they may like to add since I am there.

Also, I draw my GI bill, and VA disability (thanks IRAQ) which carries me through for the time being.
Have I considered giving up numerous times? You bet...but its the competition that keeps me going. I have worked for one of the local companies, and refuse to let those scumbags win this market!

I dont need to do this...the above mentioned source of income is more than enough for me to survive. I do it to provide a top notch service and treat people much better than they are used to.

Off to clean another hotel in 48 minutes!






Aaron

I agree guys. It's a tuff market but in two years I
have successfully gotten over 200 residential customers
and half of them have called me after there cleaning job to
thank me. I no longer advertise in the Yellow book or any directory assistant books. All that comes from these is
price shoppers who by the way have the dirtiest carpets
I have ever seen. I advertise in a local town paper and
get almost all of my jobs through referrals.

I am like you Aaron working on my commercial accounts
I have two accounts that could bring me in a lot of coin.I
should hear from them this week. Commercial seems to be the
way to go. You go to work after every body leaves. You set up a maintenance program and you know where your next job is going to be. The price is less for commercial but your
cleaning more sq ft and it's so much easier than lugging
around those hoses. It's good to see that it's not just me
dealing with these people who want something for nothing.


Ralph

carpet cleaning is a tough business with high overhead.(startup return) prices are low, but just takes time to build a client base. I clean cheap when I have too to make money and keep my good customers coming back.

When I get a customer that has nice carpet but it just needs a good cleaning,(people that are the low price cleaning type only) and I want to keep them in my base, I tell them I'm going to give them a discount just to show them I am the cleaner they will always want to use. I give them my price then the discount price. I let them know that this is just to show them how I am better than anyone they would ever concider.
It works everytime,(yea right). It lets them know I'm in control and they won't get that kind of deal again. Even if I cleaned at their price the first time they'd still shop around the next time. But if I sell them on a better cleaning and me, I at least have a small chance of keeping them.
referrals is the way to go. that's where you want to build your business.

Greg Loe
Chico,Ca
www.gregs-ucs.com