Group on and Living social

[Jimmy L]

Got a call for an estimate and it was by a referral. I take a shower, dress in some nice dockers and polo shirt.
I get there, introduce myself and we go thru her areas. Then we sit down at the kitchen table. She mentoned who referred me and and she asked about my last name and she knows some of my relatives in town.

I said to myself.............This is in the bag.

So I give her my honest price on my form.

She begins to hesitate.......I know it's the price.

SO I ask her if there is anything that is wrong and maybe we could discuss it.

She says that she is having somebody from group on/Living social come over too.

So I ask her what kind of deal are they going to give her.

The offer is too low ball to even mention as it is one of those 2 rooms and a hall type of deal.

She also had to "talk with her husband"

I won't tell you what I told her............but she called the next day to schedule with me.

So my question is if you were confronted with being compared to a living social/group on ad what would you say to sway them to you?


I must of said the right things because she did schedule but I want to be quicker on the draw next time.

 

[Out of Character - 0]

That if they think me pooping in their planter is bad just wait until they see what "those guys" will do

 

[cu]

You took a shower... Nice clean dockers....polo shirt....did you think you where in with a chance.
Unbelievable...

Anyhow. To answer your question. I would point out if a deal looks to good to be true it probably ain't gonna be a good deal
then point out the cost of living ,does she really think someone is going to do a good job for less then they would make standing on a street corner panhandling . Or my friends line is . If its a low budget cleaning your looking for ,let me recommend my budget guy. He,ll be in and out in no time it won't be the same quality of cleaning and service but he is cheap .

 

[Jimmy L]

It's obvious you have no idea what it is to go give a consultation and quotation in a home.
To go in and develop trust............... a relationship that will mean thousands of dollars over a period of time.

To sway their opinion from simply a LOW BALL price for a service to a more respectable person who cares about their home and will give a better service ............at a higher price. To show up in a clean uniform.............no tattoos.............so they can tell their friends how trust worthy you are.

I'm sure these other cleaner's business model is using ONE of their two truck operation to do nothing but service all of these group on/living social low ball clients.
In hopes of delveloping a fantasy long term relationship so they will remember them and call them back again and again. And those people will price shop them too and expect them to match other scum bag carpet cleaners or else...............they will jump ship.

But if I was a TOOTHLESS.......NON ENGLISH speaking apartment HACK like you it would surely be a step up to go the group on/ Living social route!


HEeEeee! HeeeeeeEEE!

 

[Mikey P]

Good topic.

So many ways to handle that issue. The tough part is not to insult them for being cheap or ignorant.

I find it can be real hard to deal with people who have ZERO business sense. Unless someone has owned a business they usually have no idea about the cost of doing so.

The few times that I took the time to explain economics and why an Owner Op has to charge more than a Stanely, their eyes glazed over and I never heard from them again.

 

[Zee]

Good topic.

So many ways to handle that issue. The tough part is not to insult them for being cheap or ignorant.

I find it can be real hard to deal with people who have ZERO business sense. Unless someone has owned a business they usually have no idea about the cost of doing so.

The few times that I took the time to explain economics and why an Owner Op has to charge more than a Stanely, their eyes glazed over and I never heard from them again.

I agree with Mikey...its not easy to make some people understand how business works in real life in less than two minutes.

I just had a referral...she is a property manager for a rather large prop management company. She only needed one room cleaned..for whatever reason. I asked the normal usual questions (is it accessible with hoses from our vehicle, first floor- second floor, when do you need it done by etc etc.) She kept not answering the questions. (we were texting) I ended up telling her 89bucks minimum charge.
She got back to me saying "oh I think I'll just rent one of those rug doctor things,for 20 and get it done. Thanks anyways I'll keep your name for future blah blah blah..."

So it was either a high quality providing, clean, well dressed (no jeans and tennis shoes wearing), no tattoos company- Or it was a rug doctor.

I mean- you have got to be kidding if you expect me to service you for 20bucks.

I didn't explain business to her...just said "we can't compete with a rug doctor"

 

[SMRBAP]

I get a TON of people asking me to adjust price to meet that of groupon and living social offers. Here is the sure fire way to bag a good customer every time:

- Explain how the offer works - that in itself shows them its a too good to be true deal.

Our biggest PITA lowball competitor on groupon offers 5 rooms at $79. We use that as an example.

Ma'am/Sir
You buy at $79, groupon keeps half, pays the cleaning company $39. That means your price is $7.90 per room.
Ask yourself if you can believe they can REALLY offer you any service, even a horrible service, at that price.
The answer is almost certainly no, and they will upsell and use undesireable tactics to raise the price, somehow, someway.

An example of this is right in the ad. They limit rooms to 150 sq ft....... so your living room and dining room count as 5 rooms. Your basement will count as 10 rooms, your master bedroom as 3, each of the other three bedrooms as 2 per, then the loft will likely be 2 as well.

Where are we now...... 26 rooms by their tally? That's 5.2 groupon deals..... or $410 - and won't even include cleaning solution - that's the next thing you will be sold. Feedback we have received when customers have called us to clean after them, indicates it's not included - but you are free to buy that deal and verify that for yourself.

At this point if the customer isn't responding - and is further debating, I don't want them on the schedule, they get thanked for the call and we let them know if they change their mind about our costs, we'll be here to book.

 

[Jimmy L]

Excellent points.

I had a newby who moved here from up north and he started his group on ad.
Just to build up some cliental. Didn't work................he sold his van and equipment and got a job.
But I did go on one of his jobs and it was on an exclusive lake community.
So even RICH people are calling those ads.

I tried to tell him they won't be loyal long term custies and he just gave me a blank stare.

 

[Chris A]

Excellent points.

I had a newby who moved here from up north and he started his group on ad.
Just to build up some cliental. Didn't work................he sold his van and equipment and got a job.
But I did go on one of his jobs and it was on an exclusive lake community.
So even RICH people are calling those ads.

I tried to tell him they won't be loyal long term custies and he just gave me a blank stare.

Weve been getting a call or so a week from the groupon ad we ran two years ago, and almost all have booked at full price. It CAN work, but many O/Os are too stubborn or short sighted to make it work.

 

[jcooper]

So my question is if you were confronted with being compared to a living social/group on ad what would you say to sway them to you?

I tell them I'm the owner.

 

[Shane Deubell]

A certain % of buyers just flat out do not have the money but are never going to say that. Others don't care about our service really, its just another bill to pay.

Overall i try to avoid comparing our company to others or any mention of competitors. Ask questions related to the job and listen to the answers looking for an opportunity to stand out and explain further. I think listening skills are very important when selling, usually people will tell you what is important to them.

 

[Jimmy L]

Shane that is a cop out when you are confronted in a very nice home with a sudden appearance of a groupon/living social ad.

YOU must respond in this situation as the customer in front of you wants to be sold on your services.

Pointing out to them , " I wouldn't have those sort of people in my house" as I did will SEAL the deal!

 

[Shane Deubell]

Honestly i would probably say that in this industry cleaners come and go all the time and i can't pay attention to every start up out there. Not sure if the wording would be exact but that would definitely be the message.

 

[SMRBAP]

Shane, one thing I can tell you, at least in my market, is our services are seen as a commodity en masse. No different than a widget sold at Sears for $10 and the same widget at Walmart for $8. In majority - our service here is seen as an identical product on two different shelves - why pay more at one place vs. the other.

Educating our customers otherwise has been the best and most effective way for us to break away from the pack. Calling out the dirt professionally has played part in this.

Taking the approach we do, we educate and bring those things to light - we then have a customer that is willing to spend for a better service - or a customer we don't want anyway.

And like Jimmy said, they called us - and are seeking to be sold - otherwise they'd have pulled the trigger and bought the groupon.

 

[Shane Deubell]

See it slightly different, their is a lot of turnover in the cleaning business and most are small independents that don't advertise consistently. Regardless of how good your "marketing" is most consumers just do not see the company name repetitively enough for most independents to stand out.

So if you are buying a service and not familiar with any of the businesses and maybe even know what is "normal" service. What else do you ask? whats the price, whats included....

End of the day this is not a major purchase like a new furnace, furniture, remodeling project etc so people make pretty quick decisions.