Our prices are going up this spring!

Business has been almost non existent this winter. The Polar vortex and 9 snow storms in a row have left people with out much disposable income. It's costs a fortune just to keep your house warm. I will raising my prices or more importantly not cutting anyone a break come spring. My top reasons for this are:
1. Carpet are going to be in bad shape come spring- rock salt and cabin fever!
2. Going to need to sock away more extra cash in case we are visited by polar vortex 2015.
3. It always cost more to run your business than you think.
4. I would rather save the wear and tear on my body,equipment and soul than do it for less.
5. A lot of cleaners in my area are going out of business or just plain suck at what they do.
6. I am worth more than I think.
7. There will be a pent up demand because of every body waiting for spring (heard this a hundred times already)
8. I will need to maximize my expenses vs time vs profit.
9. I have to account for all the electricity i have used heating my van and truckmount!
10 Because I can

Hell ya Diablo those are all good reasons. I have only raised my prices once in the 6.5 years I have been in business and I think it's time

I tried last year and then the government stepped in and shut down along with sequestration. It stalled out my efforts. Maybe I'll try again this spring too.  

Reason

11.  I need more vacation money.
12.  I got screwed by the cat lady and need to recoup my loss.
13.  I have a teenage daughter.
14.  Could I get a raise?
15.  I'm learning how to VLM so our skill set has increased.

Pads on the way 

You got the payment right?

Yes sir. I even changed the running balance on our fund raiser. They should be there  early next week. I think I have a USPS tracking number somewhere.

Sorry I couldn't fit them in a usps box but those green strip pads are no joke, they are thick as heck probably hold a lot of soil

Great. Thx. The hijack is over. Lol

Reasons 6 and 10 are all that you need. You are worth more than you realize...we all are. How many cleaners out there are following this model? You darn right you are worth more.

Consider vodka, most would claim the grey goose is the best brand out there and yet it gets voted as one of the worst in taste tests in your local bar. People still believe that it is the best since it is more expensive. When people shop for services, there will be many who believe the same thing.

just have to remind customers how much they paid for the carpet install, was it 7/8 thousand? more maybe?

kinda puts it in perspective

I raise my prices just about yearly now, and have for the last 5 yrs or so, due to higher operating cost, and higher cost of living.

Charging by the SF makes it is easy actually, I just charge my regular customers a couple more cents a s.f. each time I come out. And new customers usually .36-44 s.f. I don't do cheap work, and my price isn't cheap so I don't get all the jobs but that's just fine with me........   

I thought hard about raising prices this year (which I have not done in the last seven years). I decided not too after reading my Mission Statement:

To provide the Highest Quality Service at the Lowest Possible Price so that Every family in the communities we serve – regardless of income level or status – can afford to maintain a clean, healthy and safe living environment in their home.

The economy has been and still is tough for a lot of people - self included. Rather than increase our prices this year, I am going to offer $$ incentives for my guys to do a better job suggesting other services while they are in the customers' home, and "value" incentives for my customers.

(No calls from the pricing police, please)

Example: Jeremy is doing our average five room job booked at $122. He suggests protectant - ticket goes to $172. He let the customer know that she can add the sofa cleaned and protected for $59 which will bring her ticket over $175 allowing her to receive an additional 10% off her entire bill. Now her total ticket after all discounts is $207.

It's a win - win - win for everyone. Customer is getting a great service at a great price (total value). Jeremy has earned an additional $21.25 (25% x $85 added to ticket). After the additional expenses (including pay taxes), an additional $31 goes to my bottom line.

Keep in mind that we did not "sell" - we offered. If the answer from the customer was no then we still do our great cleaning our our best price. We are not badgering her like I have heard some other companies do. Now think about it on a larger scale across the whole year. I plan to do about 3,800 jobs this year.

Because of human nature - studies and hands on experience - I know:
1. right off the bat 35% of the "additional offers" we make will receive a "no thanks".
2. right off the bat 20% will say "Thank you, that sounds great" . That is an additional $23,560 (3800 x 20% x $31) after additional expenses are deducted added to the bottom line and an additional $16,150 in pay for the technicians.
3. Then there is the other 45% of the customers in the middle that may or may not say yes. But, I guarantee you they will never say yes if they are not asked... The ones in this group who say yes are the icing on the cake.

At the end of the day no one pays more for the services they receive. My technicians get a raise. And I get a raise.   

PS. I know this can work. When I was riding out my non-compete agreement working as a technician in Delaware, I was earning $60k year by following basically this same thought process and plan. Now that people are starting to spend a little more again when they see value, I can't see any reason why this won't work...

every market is a little different,    cost of living in Seattle is very high compared to the mid west    so its tough to do anything under 150.00

a 1bd apt or studio can easily be 1000/month, where in rural NW areas it can be 400

you wouldnt believe what D A Burns,  a local monster company around here charges!!!  

one arm and one leg for a carpet cleaning   but they get it,   I dont know how


they used to clean my employees moms house,   300 for just the upstairs

Hey carpet daddy, I like your mission statement and how that played into evaluating your pricing. You have let potential customer know exactly where your coming from and how you want to take care of them. For some, that MS wouldn't work, but you are specific in the details and it's working for you. Good job. Others can learn from that in doing their own MS and being detail/specific.

ACpower1 wrote:

you wouldnt believe what D A Burns,  a local monster company around here charges!!!  

one arm and one leg for a carpet cleaning   but they get it,   I dont know how

So what does "one arm and one leg" translate into American Seattle $$ Dollars!?!   

Probably the most important part of the post for me was " not cutting anyone a break". How often do we lower our prices t o get the job, or throw something in for free that really shouldn't. Sure cleaning the front door mats for no charge is a good strategy, but we should not get carried away- time = money. Our customers are just that, customers. Not friends and family, When was the last time Mrs. Smith asked you over for brunch? I am guilty of this and will run a tighter ship this year. My costs are not going down. Instead I will try and up my service through efficiency, results and customer satisfaction, by giving the customer a better experience I will justify my price increase and create a self fulfilling prophesy of success. We should all strive to do this this year. The first step is actively contributing and learning at the Cleaners Lounge.

eldiabloz wrote:Probably the most important part  of the post for me was " not cutting anyone a break". How often do we lower our prices t o get the job, or throw something in for free that really shouldn't. Sure cleaning the front door mats for no charge is a good strategy, but we should not get carried away- time = money. Our customers are just that, customers. Not friends and family, When was the last time Mrs. Smith asked you over for brunch? I am guilty of this and will run a tighter ship this year. My costs are not going down. Instead I will try and up my service through efficiency, results and customer satisfaction, by giving the customer a better experience I will justify my price increase and create a self fulfilling prophesy of success. We should all strive to do this this year. The first step is actively contributing and learning at the Cleaners Lounge.

I couldn't agree more, as for me if it costs me less 5 minutes of cleaning or less, I would throw it in for free however once in a great while there's always that one customer that pull 4 - 5 door mats after I did one for them, and what's funny is they gave me funny looks as if I'm the one being cheap a$$ for declining to do them, but if the job is big enough, I would do 4 - 5 door mats no charge, and also depends on the customer's attitude, I've got some that after I said no, they were cool about it and said just do what you can for free ( the door mats ), I ended up cleaning them all for them, as long as it doesn't cost me much longer than 5 minutes.

Yes, yes then you discover every family members car mats laid out in in the driveway as well as a 10ft runner, grease spots,gum, 10 years of filth. Another 30 minutes of cleaning expected for free. This is were you have to be tough. If you give away to much you have just devalued you service to the customer. If you're willing to that much for free how much could it be worth? Not to mention backing up your scheduled appointments. It's a lose lose scenario. Here is how it will be handled: Sure Mrs. Smith we can clean those for you. We include 2 free mats with every cleaning, additional mats are $5.00 each, runners are $.__ per s.f., do you have any others you would like cleaned?

cant be afraid to say no in this business, a lot of them are just seeing if you will say "no" or "ya but it will cost this much"

if you say no or give them an additional price they arent going to be offended, they were just testing the limit