Posting prices on your website...good or bad?

[Scott Hayward]

Ok, it is super slow for me now so I am starting to work on the wording for a website. I have noticed that some companies post their prices on their website and it actually looks pretty good. These companies are the "higher end" companies and they will have a price page with quotes of their prices.

They might quote residential prices at xx cents per square foot, commercial prices...by estimate, sofas at xx dollars per square foot, etc.

If a cleaning service requires a detailed estimate they say "by estimate".

If you have listed your prices on your website, has it helped or hurt your business? If you haven't done this, do you know someone who has and how did it work for them?

Thanks,

Scott

 

[Derek]

bad.


tx --- Derek.

 

[Bruce Humphrey]

Talk with Mark or Andrechelle Cermak http://www.andrechelle.com/

They have a "Request a price quote" page on their website. The customer can request what they want cleaned and it will be sent to your email , then you can reply or Call them with a quote. I know they can set you up with such a page.

 

[Jim Martin]

never........ never....... ever..........post your prices.......

I.M.O. ...very bad business...........

The key is to get the phone to ring so you can sell your self and or your company to get the job...........

If I already know that you are going to do it for "X" amount why bother calling...........

But............If I am not aware of your prices........and your add drew my attention.......your phone is going to ring and then it is up to you from that point to close the deal.............

 

[joey895]

I have my prices posted. I built my site myself, nothing fancy at all about it, and I book about 5-10 jobs a month from it depending on time of year. 9 times out of 10 when someone calls that found me from my website it is to go ahead and schedule the job.

Personally, I do not like dealing with any business that is not up front with their pricing so I afford my customers the same courtesy. I don't like feeling like a business is just making the price up as they go depending on how much they think they can get out of me.

 

[Jim Martin]

how are you not being up front with your pricing by not posting it..??

 

[steve r]

i tend to agree with joey. i put my prices in writing and i back them up. i think it helps legitimize your business. i always felt if i dont see a price then they must be charging too much.or im just a cheap bastard.

 

[DevilDog]

My site is being developed now. YOU will NEVER see my prices on my website.

God, I think that is horrible!!

I simply do not understand how someone can say that NOT posting prices is not being upfront. Don't get that at all.

Every job is different.

Your website should sell your service and get the phone to ring...I don't want anyone calling me because of the prices I have on my website. Once you start doing that you get tied down to prices...at least mostly you do.

DevilDog

 

[Jim Martin]

he is correct.every job is different so your prices should not be written in stone for everyone to see
you have to charge accordingly........

just because you don't advertise your prices does not by any standards mean you are cheating anyone........

The whole idea here is to sell your service.........and you can't do that if the phone don't ring..........

 

[DevilDog]

Well said Jim.

DevilDog

 

[joey895]

Accordingly based on the type of car in the driveway? Or how fancy the house is?

I'm sure that you fine fellows don't price that way but unfortunately there are a lot of people in this and other industries that do and I will not do business with those types of businesses.

I am just choosing to conduct business with my customers in the same way that I would like other companies to conduct business with me.

 

[Jim Martin]

if they are calling me how the hell do I know what is in there drive way or
what type of house they live in...........

Point being I still have my set price and just because I don't advertise it does not mean I am going to change it when someone calls me...........


But I am not going to set myself up to work for nothing at the same time

If you advertise 2 rooms for $85.00 and get there and end up doing 125 .00
worth the work.your going to be selling your equipment on ebay in about a year or less......

 

[DevilDog]

Joey, what the hell are you talking about.

Geez, you are one weird dude.

DevilDog

 

[joey895]

Don't take it so personally Jim. I said I'm sure you do not do that sort of thing. IMO internet shoppers would rather not make unnecessary phone calls. They would prefer to get all the info they need from the website and then just call to schedule the job. If they wanted to talk to and listen to a bunch of different cleaners spiel they would have just started calling. In fact half of the jobs I book from the site are done exclusively by email.

I believe if a person looks up carpet cleaning for their area and there are several listed with only one having prices posted, many internet shoppers will just schedule with the one that has pricing posted and not waste their time on the others. I know I would.

 

[DevilDog]

Holy cow!! Are you wrong. You must really think your prospective clients are stupid.

So basically what you are saying is that your prices are so low that a client just HAS to call you.

Well, if that is what you are after....go for it!!

A well put together website SELLS your services in such a manner you don't need to advertise price.

Look at MOST of the websites of cleaners...they do a horrible job of selling. They look cheap. You have pics of a guy and his kid. And crap like that.

Make a website that SELLS...and don't do it by listing prices. Most people realize that one size does not fit all...they will allow you to talk to them on the phone and give on site quotes.

DevilDog

 

[joey895]

Joey, what the hell are you talking about.

Geez, you are one weird dude.

DevilDog

Coming from you, I'll take that as I must be pretty normal. :roll:

 

[joey895]

Holy cow!! Are you wrong. You must really think your prospective clients are stupid.

So basically what you are saying is that your prices are so low that a client just HAS to call you.

Well, if that is what you are after....go for it!!

A well put together website SELLS your services in such a manner you don't need to advertise price.

Look at MOST of the websites of cleaners...they do a horrible job of selling. They look cheap. You have pics of a guy and his kid. And crap like that.

Make a website that SELLS...and don't do it by listing prices. Most people realize that one size does not fit all...they will allow you to talk to them on the phone and give on site quotes.

DevilDog

Hey douchebag when you actually have a website then you can critique other cleaners websites.

 

[Jim Martin]

I don't take anything personal........more so on the Internet...........

just trying to give some helpfull advise on what has help me to get my phone to ring.......

Run your business how you see fit............

 

[joey895]

I don't take anything personal........more so on the Internet...........

just trying to give some helpfull advise on what has help me to get my phone to ring.......

Run your business how you see fit............

10-4. I can actually see both sides of this. Like I said on this issue I am doing what I would like other business to do for me and I think that internet shoppers are a different breed for the most part. I acknowledge doing things the way I would prefer may not always be the best as my customers are going to look at some issues from a much different perspective than myselft.

 

[Larry Cobb]

Scott;

I would spend the time to study the new IICRC study done by Harris Interactive.

It is a 60 page poll of over 1000 homeowners asking questions about what they want in carpet cleaning.

You'd Be Floored

It should give you some marketing ideas to work from.

Larry

 

[Wayne Miller]

Worried about what telling people what you charge? Check out this guy, scroll down to the bottom,

http://www.teritowel.com/cleaning_service.html

I've never felt the need to go that much into detail but, if you're gonna, this guy's got a neat idea to show his pricing,

http://www.buffnshine.net/packages.html

 

[Mikey P]

That website fascinates me.

 

[Jim Martin]

the square towel thing is California pricing......

It's not real pricing like the rest of America..........or Dave...

 

[Alex]

Debil, these guys don't get it either. http://www.dalworth.com/default.asp[/url]

 

[BarkleysCleaning]

I'm just getting started and my website and brochure aren't done yet, but we are putting our prices on the site, and using the phrases, "Upfront, Simple Pricing". "No Pressure." "Guaranteed Results."

I owned a house and put new carpet in before moving in. Eight years passed and we never hired a cleaner because we didn't know anyone, and we felt carpet cleaners would do what they needed to do to get in the door, then change their story. I don't know if that would have been true, but it caused us to never hire a cleaner.

We bought our last car at Carmax and sold our last car there, too. If you don't know what carmax is, they buy and sell cars with no-haggle pricing. You look at the window sticker, and that's what you pay. There's no pressure doing business with them compared to a typical dealer. It may seem you will pay a little more for their cars, but in the end we think it is better to know what you're getting right from the start rather than getting surprises when you get to the financing room.

So, we will be advertising our prices in our brochure and on our website.

 

[Rex Tyus]

There is no right or wrong answer. There are people that want to have a rough idea if they can afford something before they will even make the call and there are people that don't trust posted prices. People are all different. If it works do it if it dont change it.

I will say this, in a retail environment priced or signed items sell and unpriced or unsigned don't. Take that for what it is worth, and yes I KNOW the service industry is different than the retail industry.....somewhat.

 

[Bill Soukoreff]

At $180 per hour you would think those terri-guys could afford to not hire ex-cons.

That site gave me the creeps.

 

[Kevin. McCreary]

Re:

That website fascinates me.

If you are talking about the buff n shine website that guy is my

local competitor who only has like 4 jobs a month is website must not work too well.

 

[RandyHilburn]

What's the name of the machine those Teri-Towel guys are using and where could I get one?

 

[daniel@procarpet]

Putting prices on your website or any advertisement depends on your target market. If you are targeting budget shoppers then a website like the one below would be great. This website would be great for advertising on yahoo or google etc. and should get better results than a site without prices.

http://www.carpetcleaninghouston.com/

However, if you are targeting high end customers and your business is mostly referrals, then an educational based website that makes you look like the expert will be better without prices. Why? Becasue you take the time to do the job right and you are not like every other carpet cleaner.

It all depends on your target market.