Coit 40% Off Sale

Louis

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Dec 11, 2006
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Modesto, CA
Name
Louis
Got the paper this morning and Coit Has a front page color post it on the paper with 40% off sale for the week. The sticker costs over $3000 a day to do. Anyone ever see a sale with this much off? This is a first here.
 

Louis

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Dec 11, 2006
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Modesto, CA
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Louis
Our Coit sends a estimator out first and schedules an appointment to every job.
 

Fred Homan

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Oct 7, 2006
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Their trick is that they over charge you.....60 per sq ft or higher...Give you 40% off. People THINK they are getting a good deal....NOT! And a little bait and switch to go with it....They are not going to lose any money....Shysters! Along with a few other choice words.....
 

Ken Snow

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Oct 7, 2006
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Bingham Farms MI
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Ken Snow
That $3000 is probably full run, they may be doing it by zip. The price in our market is $65 per 1000 and is sold by zip (minimum 1 zip).

Ken
 

Bob Foster

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Up here Coitus is always having a sale and advertise heavily on radio and in the newspaper.
 

Fred Homan

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Oct 7, 2006
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HOW CAN ANYONE LET JUST ANYONE COME INTO THEIR HOME/CASTLE....."Coit/Stanley Steamer???? There is nothing better than "word of mouth" But then some people just think they have no choice. They are sooo bombarded with advertising. People need to ask around before letting just ANYONE come into their home!!!! Get it?
 
R

R W

Guest
SS will start up the sale prices soon......and even insist that their "technitions" are drug free!! Why would you even have to advertise that all employees are drug tested. That would be my first turn-off.
 
G

Guest

Guest
Fred, Don't everyone charge .60 asft? what makes them different from everyone else? we all charge .60 asft
 
Joined
Jan 17, 2007
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49
40% off

Hey - In our little town, the closest Coit is one hour away and they are Desperate>>>>>

They did a FULL PAGE ad offering 40% off because it's their:

"SLOWEST WEEK OF THE YEAR SALE"

they put a full color insert into our paper several times a week..but the funny thing is I don't see their vans in our town...

Guess the customer only wants the best.....me (oops, did I say that out loud?)
 

Becker

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Oct 8, 2006
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Snohomish, WA
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Becker
They run 40% off pretty much every other week around here.

Last week only! Does not happen every day!


They have more weeks they don't run the sale than do.
 

Louis

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Dec 11, 2006
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Location
Modesto, CA
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Louis
MtnMan, your coit is my coit. They run 20 and 30% off all the time but never the 40%. I surprised they went for the full page up there. This guy must have money to burn.
 

Kelly

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Nov 26, 2007
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respond to the ad and have someone come over and bid the job at your house...... I personally like to keep track of what the competition is doing. Just make sure you ask all the right questions....to get all the right answers, make sure you act really really stupid and dont have your carpet cleaning truck parked in the driveway that definitely lets em know what you are up to lol
 

Kelly

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Nov 26, 2007
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you got friends and relatives right? and you do want to know about the competition and how they work...right? ive never skinned a cat....but i hear theres more than one way to skin em
 

Scott Hayward

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Dec 31, 2006
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Louis,

I used to work for Coit for several months in WA State. The entire time I worked for them they always had a sale. No bull! This week in the Seattle-Tacoma area they are advertising on the radio (Komo 1000 AM) a 50% off deal until the end of the week. Prior to Christmas it was 40% off.

Usually they advertised 30 or 35% off. We charged per room or area and if my memory serves me correctly it was around $60.00 per area so even at 50% off they still made some money. The customer got no pre vac, sometimes no pre-spray, and depending on the tech or sales person, a hard upsale on area rugs, guard, drapes, etc, etc, etc. High pH was used on every type of carpet and fabric!

I bought my own HydraForce (spelling???) and dual jet wand to do a better job. I didn't know the importance of pre vacuuming, pre agitation, or post grooming until I put myself through an IICRC class and started networking with other professional cleaners. Working for them, you didn't have time to give first class service. If the wand couldn't get a spot up, it was permanent. Things may have changed but that was the way it was when I was there. Of course, as an employee trained by them you didn't know any better unless you sought out further training.

They (the Seattle area) spend thousands of dollars on advertising to get in the door but they also do a lot of other work to make up for it. Drapes, blinds, rugs, furniture, guard, stone, tile, flood, smoke, fire, mold, etc.
Sorry to rant and rave...but it is good to be done and on my own! My body took a beating, I about starved, and I even had one paycheck bounce with them. They can advertise all they want. The rest of us still pick up an occasional Coit customer. I already have.

Scott
 

The Great Oz

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Nov 25, 2006
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seattle
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bryan
We get customers asking if we'll match the current COIT discount. I tell them to get a price in writing, then let our guys give them a proposal. Their discounted price is often only a few percentage points less than our regular price, and at that time the customer can decide which way to go.

PS: I'd rather hear the baloney COIT discount ads than the baloney Zerorez magic juice ads.
 

Scott Hayward

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Dec 31, 2006
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Bryan,

I think I spoke to you on the phone when I was trying to decide which company to apply with. If only I had known! I agree with you on the ZeroRez. I heard them advertising on AM 1000 as well.

Keep doing what you guys are doing. I have never gotten a DABurns customer. Several months ago I spent a lot of money at a bicycle store. I gave the owner my business card and told her to call if I she needed any of my cleaning services. She said, "Oh, I use DABurns." I told her I heard they were a good company and walked out with my tail between my legs!

Scott
 

Jay D

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Oct 9, 2006
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DFW, Texas
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Jay D
Coit in Modesto is Always offering a % discount, surprise! :shock: The owner (Mr. Baker I believe) keeps them busy and employed with such discounts during a normally slow week. He has a very profitable franchise. I read an article about his biz, in the Modesto Bee about 5 yrs ago and at that time he said his restoration business did 20 million that year and his carpet biz I believe was 2 million. They run this for a week and upsell to make a profit. Just part of THEIR game. They have a good biz in that city and area. Its just to keep his people working and part of the yearly biz plan.
 
Joined
Oct 2, 2007
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Location
Rochester NY
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R.J. Povio
In Rochester New York Coit went bankrupt about 2 yrs ago...they went away for a while they came back....i think now they commute from buffalo to rochester which is about an hour trip each way.

Coit owed carpet supply stores in the area money for training and supplies, owed money for shop rent, and advertising. This i have heard from customers from ours. Coit was always in the houses in the rich areas, they would make a killing. 30-40 cents/sqft 10-15 yrs ago when they first came to the area and probably around 50-60 cents/sqft on their way out. Those prices were just for cleaning no guard. They have advertised numerous times 30,40 percent off and have heard a few times 50% off. If customers ask about matching Coits prices we always told them 30-50% off of what????? you never knew the price!!!....Like people are saying in above comments they are marketing geniuses...for a little while anyway....until the majority catches on and hires the owner operator guys like you and I. We would be almost 50% of the price Coit quoted sometimes. We charged 20-22 cents. I know lots of people on this board charge 40-60 cents a sq but here in roch ny 18-25cents i would say is the mean. Some customers appreciated the fact that i wasnt pushy like the Coit and Stanley guys. Some have told me that they were so persistant that they bought the stuff cuz they wanted them to shut up...One lady told to Coit guy she was moving out of her apartment from a apt complex and they required her to have the carpets professionally cleaned upon her leaving, so he insisted that her carpeted had/needed to be guarded/protected. She fortunatley refused. I would never attempt to sell a customer guard on an apt she was leaving. But these Coit and Stanely guys work on about 22% commission if working alone and split it when doubled up....so that is their movtive
 

Greg Loe

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Oct 7, 2006
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I used to work for Coit. Every person is responsible for his own actions. I wasn't trained to rip people off. If we had a 50% off sale, it was 50%. As techs, we hated it, but when we talked about it, it was better to have some jobs than none. Yes we offered other services, but as techs, we had to get to the next job. We only had 1 salesman, the owner.
 

DRScrivner

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Apr 20, 2007
Messages
385
Yeah COIT has an ad in the paper here every single day. I have never seen less then 30% off and have seen as high as 40% for a few week spurts and can recall a couple of 50% times (not many though).

And there is a great point 30% off of what? They never give you the price without the 30% off. So in reality they could set any price and then take the 30% off of that.

The MOST I ever, ever give is 10%- REPEAT CLIENTS ONLY (OK, 15% if you are family). Most of my "Coupons" are 5% off cleaning or 7.5% the total bill with protector purchase too.

At times I have had to "Combat" the: "Can you match COIT?" deal.

I simply educate my potential client, give them a written estimate and carpet audit info and tell them to call COIT, S/S- whoever and get their written estimate.

Then call me back when they realize that I will do much better work. Over 90%+ call me back and most become repeat clients- and provide referrals.
 

Greg Loe

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Oct 7, 2006
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You've got to keep in mind that Coit is a large franchise and make money on volume. They can even lose money on carpet cleaning if their getting the drapery cleaning job too.
 

duckster

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Oct 22, 2007
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223
Fred Homan said:
Their trick is that they over charge you.....60 per sq ft or higher...Give you 40% off. People THINK they are getting a good deal....NOT! And a little bait and switch to go with it....They are not going to lose any money....Shysters! Along with a few other choice words.....

The big grocery chains are pulling that game now. The old price is now the sale price but when the sale is over you get to pay the new outrageous price.
 

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