enlighten me.....

[Jim Martin]

[quote="Doug Cox":12k2zlqf]The dudes making a thousand bucks in 4 hours are gonna be the ones sitting on their asses when I'm working a full day making more.

Exactly.......who said that a high end cleaner is one that only cleans big ticket homes...

I promise you that I am making more then the guy who is only doing 1 or 2 jobs...plus....I am getting more exposure...more referrals....a bigger client list...and in the end I think my company is going to be worth more...

A high end cleaner is a cleaner that works for a high quality person for a fair return on the work performed.
The persons financial status has nothing to do with it.[/quote:12k2zlqf]

Very true....but high quality people are not limited to big ticket jobs and...1 or 2 a day cleanings... you can do 4 mid range jobs...that are high quality people....make more money...and..be better financially set....

we talk about working smarter not harder....would you rather spend 6 hours at 1 job and make (lets say) a 1000 bucks....or would you rather do 4 jobs at $300 to $400 bucks...spend around 2 to 3 hours on each job...have breaks in between where you can get something to eat and drink go to the bathroom..and regain yourself before the next one...

 

[Mardie]

FOOD FOR THOUGHT...!

"There has NEVER been a high-end cleaner...that prices by the ROOM... KMA! "

Hello..."How much to clean my LDH...?"
Well Mrs.Smith..."That will be $350.00...!!!!" "CLICK"....

High end pricing MUST be done @ square footage pricing...! PERIOD

If you quote room pricing over the phone..."YOU ARE IN A BOX"
If the cleint does not want a FIRM estimate..."THEY ARE NOT A HIGH-END CLIENT"... :idea:
If you are too LAZY to do the estimate...? Continue being a JANITOR... -sniff

X2
I do in home quotes for every client and if they want the job done they have to call me at a later date to set up an appointment. I get 98-99% of every quote i give. I have never had a no show or cancellation. I never give any type of pricing over the phone. It is just simply is insane to do so.Do not want to deal with low end client's that want a price over the phone or a ballpark price which is even a bigger joke or want the job done on the spot. A high quality client appreciates this way of doing busness.
I see all you guy's that give prices over the phone as either bait and switcher's ,or just plain low end splash and dasher's.
Typical of this industry. Just because the majority of carpet cleaners operate this way dose not make it correct.
For all you monkey's that may try to jump all over this statement and defend your practices, GFYS you are what you are so suck it up.
No hard feeling's,after all I just love how appreciative your old client's are.

soooooooooooooo...you drive to each custys house.......TWICE?

Yup

 

[Ken Snow]

Mardie, why are so negatively judgmental? Different strokes for different folks man, it is all good.

 

[Mardie]

We handle our estimates a little different...!

We try to do same day estimates..while the are HOT...

We try to work the estimate in ASAP...between jobs or in the early morning
or late afternoon...!

We ALWAYS try to send the truck ...whenever possible.. :idea:
Our estimates are FREE...However...We ask the client ...prior to dispatching crew ?
"If the estimate is acceptable..?"
CAN YOU BE CLEANED AT THE SAME TIME... :idea:

We do almost all EST & DO's... hey now
We don't charge to move furniture...so we have NO problem prepping the job for them..!
If they agree...we CLOSE the job right then...!!!

We have the flexibility to re-route trucks if necessary..."Our travel times are minimal.."

The KEY to this system is...A good phone operator to guage the client's NEEDS... :idea:

That sounds good.
I am a 1 man show so it would not work for me.I do not have your flexibility

 

[Mikey P]

I know Jim does not like to talk on the phone when at a clients house and now I read he won't go to the potty as well?

Next he will be telling us he changes his polo 3 times per job, brings in corner guards for the opposing corners and has the bad habit of wrapping his Teflon tape in the wrong direction ..

 

[Jim Martin]

I know Jim does not like to talk on the phone when at a clients house and now I read he won't go to the potty as well?

Next he will be telling us he changes his polo 3 times per job, brings in corner guards for the opposing corners and has the bad habit of wrapping his Teflon tape in the wrong direction ..

you are almost correct....it is very rare that I will answer my phone when I am in a clients home...I never use there restroom.....I take care of that before I get there...( or hold it till my back teeth start floating )......but...I have the teflon tape direction down.....

 

[Mardie]

Mardie, why are so negatively judgmental? Different strokes for different folks man, it is all good.

Not trying to be cynical or judgmental.Just trying to be blunt and to the point in order to avoid having to explain myself over and over again.

I think you can agree with me that over the phone quotes lends it's self quite nicely to the bait and switch operator's. We all loose out to these petty con's.
If i gave my prices over the phone i would not get any work at all.
Even a legit operator will have to change the price that was given over the phone once they show up in many cases. I know client's do not like this and it will leave a sour taste in their mouth. I avoid this the way i do it and my client's know what they can expect and know the exact cost,and are not left with a sour taste in their mouth.

And i agree with you that different strokes for different folks.

 

[ruff]

Mardie, why are so negatively judgmental? Different strokes for different folks man, it is all good.

Not trying to be cynical or judgmental.Just trying to be blunt

Mission accomplished! eat yor heart out Werner

 

[Ken Snow]

No I don't agree with you at all. It is no problem for us to give a price over the phone at all and it is an accurate estimate based on what the caller tells us only subject to change if the situation is different.

Prior to 1983 we had 2 full time and 1 part time in home estimators but eliminated them, became more productive at a reduced cost and passed on some of that savings to our clients. Somewhere/somehow the cost to do estimates is being paid for by the clients or the clients are also contributing to the cost of the ones that do not book.

Ken
Ps We do have 2 full time Commercial Cleaning Account Execs (salespeople)
Pps You seem to have a big chip on your shoulder Mardie~ perhaps because of the way some have responded to previous posts of yours or something else. If you lighten up a little and don't speak in absolutes, or shaming messages you'll find less crap directed at you (except of course by a very few idiots who give everyone crap that disagrees with them).

 

[joe harper]

No I don't agree with you at all. It is no problem for us to give a price over the phone at all and it is an accurate estimate based on what the caller tells us only subject to change if the situation is different.

Prior to 1983 we had 2 full time and 1 part time in home estimators but eliminated them, became more productive at a reduced cost and passed on some of that savings to our clients. Somewhere/somehow the cost to do estimates is being paid for by the clients or the clients are also contributing to the cost of the ones that do not book.

Ken
Ps We do have 2 full time Commercial Cleaning Account Execs (salespeople)
Pps You seem to have a big chip on your shoulder Mardie~ perhaps because of the way some have responded to previous posts of yours or something else. If you lighten up a little and don't speak in absolutes, or shaming messages you'll find less crap directed at you (except of course by a very few idiots who give everyone crap that disagrees with them).

Good morning Kenneth..(KOJ)

If you were a O/O...with a new Butler payment...
Would you be a per room pricer...or...a sq. ft. estimater...?

How many $99.00 whole house specials...would you need to do per day..?
To NET a 30k salary for yourself...?

Since most O/O's here would be happy to have 700 to 750 jobs a year.. :idea:

 

[Mikey P]

Good morning Kenneth..(KOJ)

If you were a O/O...with a new Butler payment...and a set of leather welding gloves to protect your delicate skin and cuticles so factor in you will be working at 92.60002% of ultimate cleaning capacity..
Would you be a per room pricer...or...a sq. ft. estimater...?

How many $99.00 whole house specials...would you need to do per day..?
To NET a 30k salary for yourself...?

Since most O/O's here would be happy to have 700 to 750 jobs a year..

fixed LIKE!

 

[joe harper]

thanks......LMAO... eat shit!

 

[Ken Snow]

Good afternoon Joe- as others have said good to see you back on line,

1. I would never be one, I am getting too old to do this stuff all day, especially starting from scratch. But to humor you and assume I could/would~ I would be a residential room price~ commercial by estimate for sure with max sq ft like now.

2. Never had a whole house offer for $99 and never would. Obviously it would take some time to build a clientele up but if I could get the work I could easily take home a 100k for myself before taxes.

3. I would expect to do 12-1500 jobs a year after build up. Most of my crews do a lot more than that. What others do is always interesting to hear but may not be applicable to me/us.

Here is an example of our pricing to help anyone who is delusional like Joe about it. My condo is about 2000 sq ft in total on the upper 2 floors. The bathrooms, large kitchen & foyer/hall being wood. The cost to clean the remaining carpet would be $246.49 and if Scotchgard is applied which I do when I clean it, the total would be $369.35. I live about 13 minutes from the office and my portal to portal time was about 2 hours and 5 minutes so call it an hour and 40ish from time I pulled into my driveway till the time I pulled out. This was without an assistant and my first cleaning of any carpet in a number of months so I am not in cleaning shape. When I had one of my crews do it they were done in just barely over an hour. Looked great, great production.

 

[Ken Snow]

Sadly I would also have to increase my manicure frequency to 2 times a week.

 

[Mikey P]

1200 to 1500 per year?


Ive never broken the 1000 mark even with Coit. I've seen Jimmy naked I've seen Jimmy naked


how many square feet are those brick shit houses?

 

[Ken Snow]

Based on what u said u did at coit you had to have been well over 2000 a year based on 50 weeks x 6 days times 8 jobs a day. Which is it mike, were you embellishing then or lowballing now?

Most of our guys work 6 days, including 1-4 night jobs a week and some average closer to 6.5 days a week or higher. In 2011 we had 2 crews work over 340 days.

 

[joe harper]

Ken...

Your #'s are skEwEd...

O?O's .. "single truck operators" do not have you MONSTER marketing budjet
to land 1200 jobs a year..!

Even If they did..? It is almost impossible to complete that volume with a single truck...
"YeY..YeY...yey" Your trucks do it every year... KMA!

Your current ad reads:4 rooms $99.00: up to 250 sq. ft.... :?:
"Is that per room or total cleaned..?"

SOOoooo..!

Does that mean your are per room "QUOTER"......booking the job... :?:
And mAgicAllY become a square foot "CLEANER".....once you are in the HOME... eat shit!

 

[Mikey P]

I made 72k the last year I was at coit.


I worked 6 days a week usually and worked all day



the commission scale was all over the place b ut I recall making 43% if they asked for me personally.


you tell me how many I did Ken, most likely you're right and I did 1200 or so

 

[Ken Snow]

I thought I recalled you bragging about doing 8 jobs 6 days a week back in the old ics days. 48x50 weeks is about 2400 a year. Just going by memory so I may he off a bit.

Harpman I have no idea what to make of ur ramblings. I thought I answered ur questions already but you seem to be trying to twist them.

 

[The Great Oz]

The question has nothing to do with high end cleaning, just the size of the job. Being high-end and being slow are not the same thing. Most of our high-end clients (whether we're cleaning the whole place or just their walk-in closet) want us to be friendly and not seem rushed, but be efficient and get out of their house.

Two $500 jobs or five $200 jobs? If finished at the same time you could argue that the extra cost of driving makes the two job day better. Engaging five customers might provide considerably more opportunity to schedule additional work and give the opportunity to create a larger customer base for future work though, and that could convert the additional driving costs into extremely low cost marketing.

 

[Jim Martin]

so you guys that are high end cleaners like Billy says he is....when you get a call and you know that you can make money if you just dropped you price a bit...do you take it or hold your ground.......??????

 

[Ken Snow]

Oh I did see a question in their Joe- it is a per room maximum, though most rooms are 90-180 sq ft. in normal peoples homes. The max allows us to charge as 2nd room o by sq ft for overage. Good to go?

Why you would say it is not possible is beyond me~ even Mike is doing that now I believe though he takes so much time off the total number of jobs is not as high as if he worked 50 weeks a year. If some are all bs and bluster here that is cool too, I just don't have the energy or inclination for that. Like someone else here said earlier today or yesterday, what anyone believes, says or does here has little to no impact on me unless I can learn or help from it.

 

[Jim Martin]

No I don't agree with you at all. It is no problem for us to give a price over the phone at all and it is an accurate estimate based on what the caller tells us only subject to change if the situation is different.

Prior to 1983 we had 2 full time and 1 part time in home estimators but eliminated them, became more productive at a reduced cost and passed on some of that savings to our clients. Somewhere/somehow the cost to do estimates is being paid for by the clients or the clients are also contributing to the cost of the ones that do not book.

Ken
Ps We do have 2 full time Commercial Cleaning Account Execs (salespeople)
Pps You seem to have a big chip on your shoulder Mardie~ perhaps because of the way some have responded to previous posts of yours or something else. If you lighten up a little and don't speak in absolutes, or shaming messages you'll find less crap directed at you (except of course by a very few idiots who give everyone crap that disagrees with them).

Good morning Kenneth..(KOJ)

If you were a O/O...with a new Butler payment...
Would you be a per room pricer...or...a sq. ft. estimater...?

How many $99.00 whole house specials...would you need to do per day..?
To NET a 30k salary for yourself...?

Since most O/O's here would be happy to have 700 to 750 jobs a year.. :idea:

I am an O/O and when I started out I had a Van and a CDS payment....sold it and bought the Vortex....still had a payment..(and it was bigger)..sold it..and got the unit I have now and payed it all off in about a year and a half....so yes...it can be done...you can make a good living pricing over the phone...you can still be a " high end cleaner " and make the money you need.....the key is...don't limit yourself.......

 

[K P]

I made 72k the last year I was at coit.


I worked 6 days a week usually and worked all day



the commission scale was all over the place b ut I recall making 43% if they asked for me personally.


you tell me how many I did Ken, most likely you're right and I did 1200 or so

So let me get this straight,the average smo working at Coit gets 18% and 22% for upsales but you get 43%?Come on man!


Hey Ken,are you the owner of Hagopian?

 

[Billy]

so you guys that are high end cleaners like Billy says he is....when you get a call and you know that you can make money if you just dropped you price a bit...do you take it or hold your ground.......??????

Jim since you are determined to get me in this, We always stand our ground on a phone call especially. We also stand our ground when we are there in person or we move on to next client.

We did two jobs today & the first one we almost walked away from but it worked out in the end because we stood our ground.

Now off to the marina for a night ride & dinner.

Have a good night everyone time to relax it was a long day for us.

 

[Jim Martin]

first time I say your name and that makes me determined..???... KMA!

so even though you can still make money you turn it away...but yet..anyone who don't try to up sell protector is leaving money on the table....??????????

 

[joe harper]

Jim..

I hope my initial post on this thread did not offend you.
I haven't posted here for quite sometime. I think you operated
a 1st. class operation..!

When you started this thread...I felt you were seeking some ideas
or information to tweak your operation. Considering your neck situation:
I felt your were considering a possible change to your companies
current pricing...hopefully to extend your longevity in the biz.

As I have stated...the change is inevitable. I just wanted to share some
policy changes that worked for my company. If for no other reason..sq. ft.
pricing will allow you to BUDJET for your biz.

At some point...you will have to hire employees to operate the "physical"
side of the business. Having a FIRM pricing structure in place...allows you
to have better control over your company future.

It is perfectly fine for YOU to "eyeball" jobs at this point. However..you do NOT
want an employee to have that freedom. Here are a few reasons for the pricing structure.

1. You get paid for exactly what you clean.
2. Clients will lie to Tech's...saying "Jim cleaned the extra br. last time for free."
3. You will have consistant pricing of repeat visits to clients. They clean more/so goes the $
4. Easier to track employee pay...If they are on commission.
5. If one client is charged more than the neighbor "they reffered"..Simple answer: more sq. ft.
6. It is the FAIREST way to price every job.."The client pays for AMOUNT of cleaning required."
7. ECT...Ect...ect... Since your job will be to control the #'s. You will need a TOOL to do so.!

 

[Billy]

first time I say your name and that makes me determined..???... KMA!

so even though you can still make money you turn it away...but yet..anyone who don't try to up sell protector is leaving money on the table....??????????

Selling protector & sticking to your prices is two different things. IMO It isn't fair to the clients that pay the regular price.



---
I am here: http://tapatalk.com/map.php?kscebp
Sent from my iPhone

 

[Jim Martin]

Jim..

I hope my initial post on this thread did not offend you.
I haven't posted here for quite sometime. I think you operated
a 1st. class operation..!

When you started this thread...I felt you were seeking some ideas
or information to tweak your operation. Considering your neck situation:
I felt your were considering a possible change to your companies
current pricing...hopefully to extend your longevity in the biz.

As I have stated...the change is inevitable. I just wanted to share some
policy changes that worked for my company. If for no other reason..sq. ft.
pricing will allow you to BUDJET for your biz.

At some point...you will have to hire employees to operate the "physical"
side of the business. Having a FIRM pricing structure in place...allows you
to have better control over your company future.

It is perfectly fine for YOU to "eyeball" jobs at this point. However..you do NOT
want an employee to have that freedom. Here are a few reasons for the pricing structure.

1. You get paid for exactly what you clean.
2. Clients will lie to Tech's...saying "Jim cleaned the extra br. last time for free."
3. You will have consistant pricing of repeat visits to clients. They clean more/so goes the $
4. Easier to track employee pay...If they are on commission.
5. If one client is charged more than the neighbor "they reffered"..Simple answer: more sq. ft.
6. It is the FAIREST way to price every job.."The client pays for AMOUNT of cleaning required."
7. ECT...Ect...ect... Since your job will be to control the #'s. You will need a TOOL to do so.!

No worries....I did not ask this question because of myself or anyone else...it was just brought up in another thread and I was dwelling on it for a few days and thought I would ask....

 

[joe harper]

Our prices for cleaning is right on the INVOICE...!

This allows the client to KNOW that the Tech is not pulling a # out of the air.

Currently we are @ .40 for standard cleaning. "more for pet situations & berber"

The Techs are authorized to drop to .35 for larger jobs..BUT THAT IS IT...YES we will walk.!

Our best DISCOUNT...in these situations...Is we offer a 10% discount...for CASH.. LIKE!