Fun price discussion with old customer getting estimates

[Ken Snow]

Thanks Guys!

I too buy my coffee from a place right next to a starbucks. Tastes much better to me and costs $1.25 for 24 oz vs $2 something for 16 oz at starbucks. Plus I don't have to lose my appetite seeing the multi pierced, pimply, tatoo'd faces they have behind the counter at Stabucks.

 

[Jimmy L]

Ken I found you on youtube

www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHmvkRoEowc

 

[Desk Jockey]

LOL

That gurl is InSaNe! :shock:

 

[Jimmy L]

That "Gurl" is known to conversate with all you SkypeFAGS here.

 

[Desk Jockey]

Hell give her my number!


















:roll:

 

[Ken Snow]

That was a girl?

 

[Desk Jockey]

wita mustache better than mine! :x

 

[Ken Snow]

That was some nasty stuff there- no wonder everyone has a low opinion of carpet cleaners~ look at their taste.

 

[Desk Jockey]

You're right.......... I wouldn't have gone with her more than once or twice. :shock:



:mrgreen:

 

[Loren Egland]

the point of this whole thread is you bragging about not bending an inch to this customer

your ego as a high end cleaner

big fooking deal

Ouch! thathurts Take it easy on me Odin. Just sharing an interesting situation that happened to me.

Actually I used to "not bend an inch" as you say, but in this economy I find myself occassionally giving a little break, as I did this lady. I have even started to do a yearly mailing to my customers.

Are you upset that I only gave her a little discount instead of the big one she wanted?

Did I annoy you because I didn't let someone off the street tell me how to run my business and what I should charge?

It is because I am the boss and can make my own decisions? Isn't that part of the lure of being in business for yourself?

I'm confused.

BTW, I doubt I make as much money per job/hour as many of the cheaper cleaners.


You know what. I just thought of another potential customer I had a similar experience with a short time ago.

There is another company who named his business Delta Carpet Cleaning (not Delta Steam Way). We get his calls because he doesn't have a listed phone number. He did cheap cleaning, when he would show up. Always advertised price. I think he is now out of business.

We get a call for an area about one half hour away. My wife said we are not who she was looking for, and not the same kind of cleaner, and that we charge more, etc. Somehow, even though my wife told her we have a $150 minimum for that area, and our rate is .45 psf. She said ok and books.

I get there and the husband is home. I give the price before I start at $225 for 500 sq. ft. He did not like that. I was ready at that point to deal a little, so I said what did you have in mind. He said Delta charged $50, and he wanted me to work hard on the melted butter/oil from his big popcorn machine.

Long story short, he was willing to pay me double ($100) but no more. I walked. Some people don't deserve my service. Some don't want to pay for it. But they all seem to want it if they can get it for someone elses price.

Now I wonder, what would Odin do?

 

[Ron Werner]

I don't know if we are or frankly really care- I just don't care for suppositions or opinions shrouded in "fact". No one knows what others do or how they do it except by heresay or lumping together. To judge is human to state an opinion as fact seems arrogant & closed minded. We can all learn lots from eachother if we are open minded.

You are very right Ken, we can learn from each other. And My opinion is based on my observations and experience. I try to be openminded but I can't operate the way the majority of cleaners do, or rather I choose not to. I looked at how others clean by their vids, evaluate whether I could do what I do any faster or do it any cheaper or even doing what Big Mike does. There are a lot of cleaners out there that I DON'T want to learn a thing from. I'm not sure I want to know how someone can get through 8rooms in an hour or so.

As I said, your busn model works for you and services a certain portion of the population. If I lived in the same area, I'd be referring jobs to you from those that think my price is too high because I would know you would give them a good job for the money spent. You wouldn't rip them off like others out there. 2 different busns serving 2 different types of people.

I've demo'd to some clients the difference between moving a wand fast and moving it slow. We both see there is a difference when I move it fast, ie it is "cleaning" the carpet, however, when I give a slower pull with the wand we both can see a difference again. They appreciate the slower cleaning because they know its doing a better job. The restaurant I cleaned today took me just over an hour for 400sf, moving tables and chairs. There's only so fast that wand can be moved efficiently. Residential requires more work so if someone is blasting through 400sf in less than an hour, well, lets just say they aren't doing the "same" job. And thats a fact Jack.

When one hears one story about a company, that's heresay. When one hears the same story over and over, that's reputation. And we all "judge" based on what we hear.

McDonald's Mocha Frappe is just as good as Starbucks, and a bit less expensive.

How do they do it? I don't care, I just buy them because I can.

You don't want to know


And I know I'm not the best Richard, and I know I can be replaced as fast as water fills in the hole left by your finger. There's nothing special I'm doing, I just choose to put in a little more time to get a little better result and from my experience I see that what I do produces good results. If it didn't, I wouldn't.

 

[Loren Egland]

[ You know what. I just thought of another potential customer I had a similar experience with a short time ago.

There is another company who named his business Delta Carpet Cleaning (not Delta Steam Way). We get his calls because he doesn't have a listed phone number. He did cheap cleaning, when he would show up. Always advertised price. I think he is now out of business.

We get a call for an area about one half hour away. My wife said we are not who she was looking for, and not the same kind of cleaner, and that we charge more, etc. Somehow, even though my wife told her we have a $150 minimum for that area, and our rate is .45 psf. She said ok and books.

I get there and the husband is home. I give the price before I start at $225 for 500 sq. ft. He did not like that. I was ready at that point to deal a little, so I said what did you have in mind. He said Delta charged $50, and he wanted me to work hard on the melted butter/oil from his big popcorn machine.

Long story short, he was willing to pay me double ($100) but no more. I walked. Some people don't deserve my service. Some don't want to pay for it. But they all seem to want it if they can get it for someone elses price.

Now I wonder, what would Odin do?

[/quote]
I forgot one thing. The homeowner told me that the other guy cleaned the carpet in 15 to 20 minutes. I had just came from a job not much bigger that took me almost 3 hours to do because it was so bad. I relayed that to the guy as a comparison.

 

[daniel@procarpet]

Loren I think some people here misunderstood me. I will give a discount if I think the job is worth discounting or because I want to. If I quote a price and a customer asks can I do it for less, I will stand my ground every time and walk with no problems. So I think you did the right thing. You already discounted the invoice for her and she wanted more.

If I were you, I would send her a letter once a year. She will problably come back at your price or she could be very happy with the other cleaner.

 

[Brian R]

I skimmed over the thread but this stuck out.

Ken wrote

I don't know if we are or frankly really care- I just don't care for suppositions or opinions shrouded in "fact". No one knows what others do or how they do it except by heresay or lumping together. To judge is human to state an opinion as fact seems arrogant & closed minded. We can all learn lots from eachother if we are open minded.

Well said...even if it WAS a little pouty. :mrgreen:

 

[Ken Snow]

Almost fell off my high horse cause he was standing on a soapbox with me.

 

[Brian R]

 

[Ron Werner]

I just stand beside the soap box. I like to keep my feet on the ground, except when flying