raising my prices

Hey guys I am making some big changes in my business raising my prices almost double

I am tired of the low end of the market

how do I implement such a raise in rates

I am going to take a page out of Davie crackets book and only do in house bids I feel I am leaving too much money on the table doing only phone bids.

So I need a good script when I enter the homes.

I spent a little time cleaning with Terry the last week, made me sick how much money he makes with his high end business. Twice what I make and his customers pamper him . Changes need to be made. Help Cleaners lounge your my only hope.

Well around here the high end customer is on average a snob. I'd rather work for the middle income group. With that said if you have searched out your customer in your area and know they will pay the rates you're looking to charge then here is how you do it... Information Based Marketing.

It sounds too good to be true but target your upper income clients with advertisements that lean towards what you bring to the table the average jo does not. What your systems provide i.e. no residues, protect their warranty etc. Make them want to buy from you based on what you do differently and not on price.

To get in front of them to tell them all that stuff just hit the high points and tell them this is all best explained in person and then ask when is a good time to come by and do that. In other words sell them on the walk through appointment not the cleaning appointment. To do that you need to get them to call you but you didn't ask about that so I will leave that for another time/thread.

Around here, you do it in this fashion.

1. Make sure you are working in the right neighborhoods. If not, extend out to those areas immediately. If you are fishing for tuna, you can't drop your hook in the catfish pond.

2. People don't pay you for your time or effort, they pay you for your value. That means setting yourself apart from the norm in that area. Offer better service, greater menu of services, options with cleaning process and chemicals, and anything else that they would value.

3. Keep the van and all equipment really clean and organized.

4. Dress the part...do the walk-though in business casual attire. No need for name tags on a polo shirt here.

5. Never sell yourself short...rich tend to feel cheated if you don't charge enough. Seriously, that is why the Lincoln Navigator sells to this crowd more than the identical Mercury Mountainer...they expect the more expensive to be the better product. Be that more expensive product and be confident about it.

6. Make certain you have a good website....they will study it. Ideally, set up a different website for each specialty service. When the wealthy need upholstery cleaned, they google upholstery cleaning and not the all-in-one carpet cleaner. They don't need to know that they are all the same business...a specialist is worth a higher rate, so list yourself as the specialist for things like tile, stone, upholstery, floods, mold, etc.

I used the above tips to great success when I lived on the coast. My present market can't support this approach as it is mainly farming towns. Not that farmers are poor, most of them around here are quite wealthy, but when you work with dirt all day, you aren't going to concern yourself with some dirt in the carpets.

Will your market bear double the price? Have you polled other cleaners to see what their rates are?
No one wants to be on the low end of the market. No One.
You have to be ready to lose existing customers if you raise your rates. Are you ready to do that?
Doing in house bids is great to gain report and explain why you are the expert and why the customer needs you to solve their problems. It's all about being able to sell yourself at this point.

I raised my rates 30% last year. I'm a new cleaner where I am so I didn't have objections over that, but I also raised my minimum and lost a few.

The ability to show your customers that you have something unique to offer or can explain something better is a real help. We all kind of do the same thing, but the person that explains it the best and gains the trust of the person their talking to usually gets the higher end customer. Referrals help here tremendously. Sometimes you get the job just because someone recommended you and price isn't even discussed. Price shoppers only listen to the price and not the benefits of using you. I just lost a job because my price was triple what someone else would do it for. That is a customer you don't anyway. You know what it takes to get the job done and how much profit you need to make.

I bought a Seal-A-Door to keep the cold out in the winter and the heat and bugs out in the summer. So far it has been a huge success and my customers feel like I care about them more than the next guy." Nobody ever did that before or cared about my utility bill and say Thank You."
I can't tell you how to implement such a rate in your area, but I think I have given you some food for thought. Everyone can be an expert at your expense and tell you what to do. It worked for them and you should do it too. Ask yourself some hard questions, do some research, and find out what is best for you. You are the one that has to survive.

Dave is the best person to get info how to close a deal and such, you should definitely talk to him, and btw you spelled his name wrong

Come on guys what is the secret? I mean , Terry does half the work and makes twice the money!

He makes it look so easy. I don't get it. He charge ridicules rates , I mean crazy high. And these people just hand him all their money, then give him beer, then send a thank you card in the mail . WHat the heck?

He is Terry...that is about it maybe.

My brother and I used to go fishing as kids. We would use the exact same poles, hooks, bait, and sit by the creek within 6 feet of each other. We did nothing but lay the hooks and wait.

I would catch nothing and he would pull Northern Pike out of a flooded ditch that shouldn't even have fish.

Sometimes, it is just the way it goes.

Ahh I love it, a price thread where people are actually responding.  Something you don't normally see, I'm usually ignored or shunned (or get the misspelled name, lmao) when I talk about high end pricing.

Carry on, it's entertaining.

Andy Mc wrote:Come on guys what is the secret?  I mean ,   Terry does half the work and makes twice the money!    

He makes it look so easy.  I don't get it.  He  charge ridicules  rates ,  I mean crazy high.   And these people  just hand him all their money,   then give him beer,     then send a thank you card in the mail .     WHat the   heck?  

If that's the case, I wonder why he insulted and put me down so much when responding to anything I said about price......seems weird.

Secret?....I think it's been said here many times already?

Oh,,   ok  ,     never mind then. Shut the thread down.

Sounds like Terry is the man, too bad he got himself banned or maybe he could explain his secrets.

I'm glad to hear he is still kicking butt business-wise, the rest of it could have been better.

Nobody is perfect, let it end with that.

The man him self was over visiting last night, he picked up some equipment form me.

We shared a chicken dinner, and had no more then one beer.

He may have contributed to this thread, for giggles. then again maybe not.

cracket , let the grudge go , it's effecting your sense of humor.

You and Terry had chicken dinner and didn't invite me and Davey ?!?! That's it, we're through !! Ha..ha..ha...

I bet we would have a good time the 4 of us.

Or end up in a tag team cage match, best two out of three falls. You and craket 3 to 1 underdogs.

To get those willing to pay your price, mass market advertising won't do it. Find a way to connect on a more personnel way. EDDM, develope business relationships that will send referrals your way(hair salons!), develops a referral system, offer a unique guarantee or extra ordinary unimaginable service.
I had a friend that would send a few(50-100) postcards out each week to neighborhoods he wanted to work in. It would be something like this; ( just some of the hilights)
Am I the right carpet cleaner for you?
I charge more than the average carpet cleaner, because I do more.
Then he would list details (and it was long).
He would get over $50 per area. Hallway...$50.  Bedroom...$50. You get it? And those bedrooms we're mostly traffic area cleaning. This way 15 years ago.
Then when he was done he would say something like "I hope you like the way things turned out. Here are some referral cards you can pass along to your friends". Average 1 job referred per customer in next 6 months.
Then within a week he would send a thank you cards with a 90 days free spot cleaning! He said they LOVED that!
This guy could out clean anyone in my area!
Find and build relationships with their circle of friends/influence.
Stand out and deliver. Act the part and look the part. If you can't do it have someone that can.(repairs.....)

Andy, areas like queensgate and badger mountain are the kind of homes that have hard surfaces(wood or tile) in the entry and hallways. As well as other rooms. So the rooms of carpet are going to be less. Not one continuous and connected carpet. Plus they most likely will have nice area rugs. If you can take care of those areas for them... then You are ahead of the pack.
Go get 'em!

Ummmm, I agree with Matt except for that long list of extra work, I think Andy wanted easy customers like Terry's that doesn't require those extra works but willing to pay extra charges, my kind of customers

If you want top dollar, you provide high end service....including going out to quote job is person, selling your service, and knowledge by doing what others usually don't. People will fall in love with you a lot of times, and won't want to use anyone else. And then once you proved yourself by providing the superior service you usually have a customer for life.

Davey Cracker wrote:If you want top dollar, you provide high end service....including going out to quote job is person, selling your service, and knowledge by doing what others usually don't.  People will fall in love with you a lot of times, and won't want to use anyone else.  And then once you proved yourself by providing the superior service you usually have a customer for life.

That is certainly the common approach to getting into that market....just look at a Mercedes dealership's waiting area with the leather furniture, coffee, food, etc. They do pamper their customers while the mechanic is working on their car. Funny part is that their mechanics are no different than the other certified guys out there....my uncle is one of them.

In fact, many of the "high-end" auto makers pay their mechanics on commission, so they have a vested interest in finding added problems that need fixing. Just be warned.

I said earlier that it was the "common approach", because there are those guys that get all those customers on charm alone. Van is cluttered, they wear shorts and flip-flops, but for some reason, they have the charm to make it all work with those people in his area.

I could market my butt off in New Orleans, but I would never fully win over the customer base being raised in the Midwest. Same would probably go for areas like Hawaii and the Deep South. Some people just fit their market perfectly and enjoy the benefits without really trying.

Terry might be one of those guys Andy and will always be successful in his particular pond. IF he moved to Denver and started over, he might suffer and go under despite the same approach.

I would try all the advice given about marketing to the "high-end" crowd with the realization that it still might not work. I found that my niche is with commercial jobs, I seem to really click with facilities managers and end up being seen as a key member of their company instead of a guy providing a service. I couldn't tell you why or how to duplicate it, it is just a good match working for me.

It is kind of like seeing those guys courting a women that is "out of their league" try so hard, but just end up finding her dating the unemployed drummer with the nose rings. Try all you want, but if you are not a good match, it will not work.

This industry can be like that as well. I don't do well with the wealthy around here. They tend to ignore service workers or talk down to them.....neither sits well with me. I work the middle-class homes and large commercials....to chase other markets would end in disaster for me.

dp1 wrote:Ummmm, I agree with Matt except for that long list of extra work, I think Andy wanted easy customers like Terry's that doesn't require those extra works but willing to pay extra charges, my kind of customers

I'd like those kind too!

"Finding your notch". That's a good way of putting it.
Doesn't always have to be those big homes that pay top dollar. There are those in middle class that are willing to pay a higher price IF you can meet their needs.

I have moved heavy into rentals, but still have a few residential customers. Some I have been cleaning for close to 20 years. And to use me because " they like Me"; that's quoting them.

you need  

- Clean everything..  van,  tech,  documents,  equipment (most important)  no rusty wands with other peoples dog hair etc

- Super easy no hassle scheduling,   no phone tag,  no reschedule cause you were too busy or equipment failure (this is why they pay more for big companies)    

- More time spent on the job,   cover the wood floors with moving blankets,  corner guards everywhere,   spend time on edges,   seal a door,   cover anything that might get hit with over spray,   move lots and lots of furniture.. like everything lol,   air movers on everything.  


Basically you kind of need to treat the job more like hardwood refinishing,   lots of prep work..  and separate yourself from the in and out steam and go mentality...    2 jobs a day max with most all being a minimum of 500-600$++   can get up in the thousands easily for the really high end.    


This isnt just for high end but also just to be able to charge .50c / sqft or more

I prefer to be somewhere in between,    not everything written above but also far far away from the $150 guys.     This way you get lots of volume and still charge a lot,   maybe some mansions wont call but oh well...  they are in fact only the top 1%,   what about the other 99%

if your a 100-150 guy, your sucking piss, poo, bed bugs, haggling cheap asses, cleaning in unsafe neighborhoods, bounced checks, dealing with renters ugghhh no thanks!!

oh and I think this whole thread was just a joke,  or Terry wanting to pour some gas in the fire lol

weve all seen this thread a thousand times

^^^^I think so too, Terrys not here to do it, but he's got help.

it was just a joke all in good fun... raising prices is a good thread because low prices are the killer of our industry