Price question ... non-specific

[danpauselius]

Let me start by saying that I don't care what you charge and that it has nothing to do with the question I'm about to ask.

Do you think that your customers judge your prices by what other cleaners are charging?

OR

Do you think they judge your prices by their own set of values, i.e. they just dropped $100K on a boat so what's $700 to get the carpets cleaned?

If you think it's split, what percentages would you say?

 

[Jim Williams]

My customers can't believe that I charge more per hour than thier Gynecologist. :shock:

 

[Jim Martin]

lol

 

[Guest]

Dan,

I can tell you the majority of my customers do compare my prices to the competition before they use me the first time. I know this because they bring it up.

After the first cleaning the majority then doesn't care what the competition charges. I know this because they tell me also.

If you charge much higher than the average company charges in your area, you will need to know what makes you worth the added expense and figure out how to get the message to your prospective customer.

There must be value in your charges.

Dave

 

[danpauselius]

Dave, I would agree. I'm just trying to get some of the guys to talk "about" price instead of just talking price. I personally believe that there are ways a carpet cleaner could charge $1.00 a foot everyday if the service were marketed as something more than "carpet cleaning".

Imagine if all the allergy specialists in your area referred you as an anti-allergen specialist. Surely, the title alone would allow you to charge a premium. (Just an example)

 

[Guest]

Dan,

You don't have to call yourself anything but a carpet cleaner. It's not what you call yourself but the quality you deliver.

I charge .50/sf wall to wall but only do open areas for that. I probably average $1.00/sf for what I am cleaning.

When you make people happy they will refer you and if you deliver what you promise most will come back.

I proudly tell people I am a carpet cleaner and don't need a special name to get what I am worth.

Dave

 

[Ron Werner]

Customers call "respectable professionals" thinking that they are going to get a good cleaning. The low ballers obviously disappoint them. There are also some of the franchise companies that come in at a high rate but even then they don't provide the service, ie cleaning to the customers expectations.

If they trust you enough for that first cleaning, obviously you or someone has sold enough to try you. Its a test. If you do what you say you're going to do and you surpass their expectations, you could be the highest price in town and they'll have you back and refer you.

Provide a service that once they see it they are telling you to charge more!

 

[Scott]

I agree with Dave Rampage.

I'm sure Mikey's on-board too, as well as many others here. (and ICS)

Having said that, I'm fortunate to live in an area (still) that can support higher prices and where quality/trust is still more important than dollars spent.

Scott

 

[BRSUMMERVILLE]

I believed that customers judges prices by other cleaners. It seems that cleaners in my area are trying to under bid each other.Asking these customers about the other cleaning companies steps in cleaning. I've been told they don't vacuum, pre-spray, groomed, or use air blowers.

The consumer don't understand that some cleaners will cut corners (steps), in order to have a low price.

Bob Rock

 

[Mikey P]

Who cares if you charge $1.00 a foot if it takes you all day to do two jobs.


I find a number that earns me 300 plus an hour while my V is on and buzzing.


The customer forgets how long it takes but will remember a great job and a personable pro.

 

[XTREME1]

Just starting full-time in January and with the way I am booked out on pace for $106,000(about half of that in August, sept and oct). My pricing is very low right now but my reputation is growing as an excellent cleaner. My price point will creep up next year. I think I am providing the quality of cleaning(sans experience) of others for an affordable price.
I think that branding and earning a tag line like Affordable Quality Carpet Cleaning will stick with you even when your price goes up because at that point you customers and reputation shows what your value is and even if your higher than the other guys because of your quality you are affordable. If you have impressed everytime they are not going to flinch at the higher price.

You could also start out branding yourself as the best carpet cleaner out there and charge the higher price immediately but sit around more or really target your marketing while cleaning less. Unfortunately cash flow is king with me so I am taking the approach of work and move the price up after capturing some market place.

 

[Jim Martin]

When it come down to the bottom line .Time is where you make your money......

The cleaning is easy.we all know how to clean..(well most of us)
it is the prep work and the set up that takes time...

Half the things that a few say they do .your at one house so long you might as well make them dinner and tuck them in for the night.......


When you do the smoke and mirror blow job thinking your impressing a client....and you are there all damn day...your really not making as much as you brag about......

Keeping the truck moving.........and not allowing quality to suffer........
and try to remember your clients time is just a valuable as yours......

Never ever once have I been judged on my price........but I do at least
3 to 4 new clients a week based on trying to give a client the best cleaning I can.....

 

[Craig Lindquist]

I agree with Dave.

Before they use me, the ones that are not referrals question the price. After they use me, no big deal anymore.

 

[bob vawter]

" I'm fortunate to live in an area (still) that can support higher prices and where quality/trust is still more important than dollars spent."

When did you move Scott.....?

 

[Jimmy L]

You are ultimately all judged on pricing.

Get too expensive and Mrs. Rathead will ask her friends and neighbors who they use. And you really thought it was your award winning
personality?

 

[B&BGaryC]

I was talking to a contractor friend of mine. I used the analogy of building a fence, because a fence is simple. One company will use quality wood, and make a beautiful fence that really adds to the value of the house. The other company will put up chain link for half the price. It's still a fence. Most people don't understand carpet cleaning though. Just like with the fence, something gets taken away to lower the price. But if you keep taking things away, eventually it's not a fence. It's just a pile of rocks with some scrap wood leaned up against it.

At a certain point it's not a cleaning either, but because people don't know the difference, they just think we are rip-off artists. If they could see that the other company is selling a pile of rocks and scrap wood, they might ask us to make them a beautiful fence, or at least ask us how much it might be to just put up a chain link fence for them.