What % of should you lose because you are too expensive?

[Mike Draper]

There are allot of broke dick “high dollar” guys out there.

Prolly just as many or more Broke dick lowest price's around cleaners out there.

 

[ACE]

Some "lowest dollar" guys gross a Mill keep $250K /Yr and don’t touch a wand. That’s hard to make by yourself even if you get $.50 a square average and are booked solid. You take the high road I’ll take the middle road and see where it goes.

 

[Mike Draper]

Some "lowest dollar" guys gross a Mill keep $250K /Yr and don’t touch a wand.

Some, as in.........1 out of 1000 maybe.

 

[Ron Werner]

this gets back to Steve's thread about how much it really costs us per hour, or how much we really need to make an hour.

I was told that if you aren't having at least some people telling you your price is too high, its not high enough.
I've been told that people say I'm a really good cleaner, but I'm expensive. I'm not concerned if someone chooses another cleaner because of price, hec, I'll refer them to a good budget cleaner, but if I lose a job because they don't think I can clean it right, then I'm concerned.

I was told if you raise your price 10% you can afford to lose 30% of your clients, and still make the same profit.
I would say I lose about 5% because of price, but then I get a lot of calls for moveouts, and they are after "best price" and I tell them right out, I'm not it.

 

[renegade_cowboy]

Some "lowest dollar" guys gross a Mill keep $250K /Yr and don’t touch a wand. That’s hard to make by yourself even if you get $.50 a square average and are booked solid. You take the high road I’ll take the middle road and see where it goes.

I agree with that statement. The lower or average prices guys have the luxury of a wider customer base and will appeal to more people. If your a good business man and want to be a multi truck operation, anything is possible. The high end guys fill a small niche, lucky to get over 2-3 trucks and usually always a O/O. It all depends what you want out of your business.

 

[Mike Draper]

Everything is relative, we could argue it both ways, as i'm sure it works both ways. However, I do know for fact that the lower dollar guys have to work more hours and more jobs to make the same money as a guy 2x their price does.

lucky to get over 2-3 trucks

If each truck nets over $200,000.....how many trucks do you really need? What if my 1 truck nets 300k at the end of the year and the other guy in town who has 3 trucks nets the same? Who has worked harder and not smarter? Like i said, everything is relative.

 

[renegade_cowboy]

Everything is relative, we could argue it both ways, as i'm sure it works both ways. However, I do know for fact that the lower dollar guys have to work more hours and more jobs to make the same money as a guy 2x their price does.

lucky to get over 2-3 trucks

If each truck nets over $200,000.....how many trucks do you really need? What if my 1 truck nets 300k at the end of the year and the other guy in town who has 3 trucks nets the same? Who has worked harder and not smarter? Like i said, everything is relative.

It all depends what you want out of life and your business. Each model you showed has advantages and disadvantages. Each model can be applied to be successful and profitable.

That guy with 3 trucks may only do $100,000 a truck, but what is he profiting? He is still making a good living even though he may not even be cleaning the any carpet. Could just hang out with his family, go on vacations, enjoy life. So he may not even be working hard. Sure his vans and TM may not be brand new, but as long as they delivers quality and ethical business practices.

What about the one truck doing $300,000 a year. what is he profiting? Is he able to spend time with his family? What happens if he breaks his leg or gets sick? Does he even go on vacation? How long will it take before burnout sets in? This guy is working hard. But he may like it that way.

The high end guy may still have to do the cleaning. What is he profiting? He is the one that image plays a big part in what he does, so having state of the art equipment is vital. He fills a smaller niche, may have to work harder to fill that niche with customers. Probably spends more time with his family vs the one truck operation and has more freedom.

Each model is not for everyone and they do what they do because that is what they want out of their business and life. Not all people are the same.

There are O/O out there that are working harder and not smarter. They either learn or go out of business.

 

[Mike Draper]

What about the one truck doing $300,000 a year. what is he profiting? Is he able to spend time with his family? What happens if he breaks his leg or gets sick? Does he even go on vacation? How long will it take before burnout sets in? This guy is working hard. But he may like it that way.

ASSuming the guy with 1 truck was working on the truck i see where you are coming from. But why did you assume that they guy with one truck was doing the cleaning and the guy with 3 trucks wasn't? Still looks like the guy with one truck has less to worry about.

 

[renegade_cowboy]

What about the one truck doing $300,000 a year. what is he profiting? Is he able to spend time with his family? What happens if he breaks his leg or gets sick? Does he even go on vacation? How long will it take before burnout sets in? This guy is working hard. But he may like it that way.

ASSuming the guy with 1 truck was working on the truck i see where you are coming from. But why did you assume that they guy with one truck was doing the cleaning and the guy with 3 trucks wasn't? Still looks like the guy with one truck has less to worry about.

You ASSumed that the 3 truck guy was working hard not smart. I was pointing out that maybe he is not. Maybe he is working smart not hard. Does it matter if he is cleaning. He has the luxury of taking more time off because he has a crew to do the work.

Usually the 1 TM operations is a O/O. Meaning the owner does all the work or maybe has a helper. Tana?

If 1 truck is doing $300,000 and not doing the cleaning then kudos to him. Maybe he could expand and have 2-3 trucks and have more availability. But lets be honest that is a unlikely scenario. Are you making this about you?

You assume that just because someone is cheap, they cant do a quality cleaning. This is carpet cleaning, its not that hard to do a good job. I know a local cleaner that is cheap. He makes his own TM and his own chemicals. He has 4 trucks and keeps them busy. He works smart, keeps his overhead very low and gives quality cleaning, very big into referrals and repeats. He hasnt cleaned carpets in years. Maybe he is the 1 of 1000 with your made up statistics. I actually know alot of local cleaners that are "cheap" and do quality work. Maybe we just have higher standards up here vs uTaH.

Bait and switch is another category. Not "cheap".

What do you consider cheap?

Cheap for me is a company that is below the areas average prices.

 

[ACE]

I feel fortunate to be in an industry where more than one business model can be very successful. I stared out in the janitorial business. There where high and low bid janitorial companies. Now with the economy being down there are basically low bid janitorial companies and lower bid janitorial companies around here.

 

[Chris A]

Hey peaches, what part of washington you from?

Bellingham, DUH...