Carpet and Floor Cleaning Industry Chat Forum : Upselling or Bait and switch?

Upselling or Bait and switch? : See they can try to copy a mom...

Wed, 22 Sep 2004 19:48:56 +0000

Author: MR. STEAMER
Subject: 589
Posted: 22/September/2004 at 7:48pm

See they can try to copy a mom and pop... but there is one problem they have to hire... and employees don't care

mom and pop will always have better service

Upselling or Bait and switch? : You got your point across. Now...

Wed, 22 Sep 2004 16:00:50 +0000

Author: surroundings
Subject: 589
Posted: 22/September/2004 at 4:00pm

You got your point across. Now that I know where you're coming from, I can't disagree.

On the point of the bigger places trying to offer better quality:

Mrs. Surround Sound just made mention that over here, McDonalds hasjust started converting many of their stores to McCafe, which servesbetter coffee, high quality pastries, fresh blended juice, andhealthier fresh sandwiches.

Just like some of the Mom & Pop cafes.

Is that so in Canada as well?

-Allen

Upselling or Bait and switch? : boutique ...I like it.... kinda...

Wed, 22 Sep 2004 06:45:23 +0000

Author: MR. STEAMER
Subject: 589
Posted: 22/September/2004 at 6:45am

boutique ...I like it.... kinda feminine though...lol I would rather Haberdashery...no offense with the mom & pop thing I was just trying to get my point accross

Upselling or Bait and switch? : I'm still not attracted to...

Wed, 22 Sep 2004 02:47:42 +0000

Author: surroundings
Subject: 589
Posted: 22/September/2004 at 2:47am

I'm still not attracted to an advertised cost that is rarely (if ever)adhered to. Yes, the customer should read the fine print.
Buyer Beware.
If it sounds too good to be true, it probabally is.
There's one born every minute.

I'm not comfortable with that for our little 'Mom & Pop' PtyLtd. I'm too stinkin' proud I suppose. Pride makes me wantto hold my head up high and meet last month's customer's eye atthe grocery store. Pride makes me wanna be known as'expensive.... but worth it' Sure, pride is one of the sevendeadly sins, but if I'm gonna go to hell 'cause I take pride in what Ido, then so be it.

I think that customers are better educated now then ever before. It may only be a matter of time before the 'cheap & nasty'operators start a 'VIP' or 'Executive' level of carpet cleaning.

Until then, I'm IT (around these parts anyway).

Cheers!

-Allen

ps: we PREFER 'boutique' over 'mom and pop'

Upselling or Bait and switch? : surroundings wrote:Mr. Steamer,...

Wed, 22 Sep 2004 00:42:28 +0000

Author: MR. STEAMER
Subject: 589
Posted: 22/September/2004 at 12:42am

surroundings wrote:

Mr. Steamer,

You're right. I don't think. But why would I put that fine print in bold on my ad? My cost includes moving furniture. It includes GST (Goods and Services Tax ... 10% here in Australia). I do NOT have a minimum # of rooms, I quote by the square metre of the area I clean, I expect that I will have a heavily soiled creme wool carpet. (It does not take THAT much longer to clean! Really!) Very few stains require an oxidisation treatment, or a heat transfer... and those that may, I point out during my quote. If the stain does not come out during regular cleaning, I'll hit it with a NVDS or a neutral spotter... whatever it takes...let it sit for a while, then extract again.

I'm silly enough to quote on a job well done, and include the service of moving funiture, the service of pre-vac, the service of extracting heavily soiled carpets. Now that's SERVICE SERVICE SERVICE, ain't it?

The above ad basically reads as a set price for traffic areas only on a not-too-dirty dark carpet. Gimmie a break here...

-Allen

Well said Allen thats just my point.... you are dealing with small volume running a mom and pops carpet cleaning out fit... do a lot of in home est. You may get 5 or maybe even 10 calls a day.... The real big guy doesn't have time to do what you do.... he gets maybe 300 calls a day...

As a big outfit you have to put everything on the ad or its called a bait and switch.... EVERYTHING

The time it takes to do a in-home you could have cleaned that customer and been on the way to the next...oh I forgot you only do 1 or so a day so take your time...

Upselling or Bait and switch? : You guys take a hosing on everything...

Tue, 21 Sep 2004 22:42:31 +0000

Author: Superglide Ken
Subject: 589
Posted: 21/September/2004 at 10:42pm

You guys take a hosing on everything but the Chemry guy. They charge more over here.

Upselling or Bait and switch? : Just to make the dollar conversion...

Tue, 21 Sep 2004 21:23:48 +0000

Author: surroundings
Subject: 589
Posted: 21/September/2004 at 9:23pm

Just to make the dollar conversion easier:

1.00 CANADIAN DOLLAR (CAD) = 1.1042 AUSTRALIAN DOLLAR (AUD)

That is according to the Bloomberg Currency Calculator

Let's put that into perspective, shall we? In Australia today,

2 litres of Coke is avaliable on special for $1.65
A three year fixed home loan rate is 6.5 % per annum.
A Quarter Pounder Value Meal is $5.25
Diesel fuel is $1.13 per litre (that's $4.28 per gallon)
and a brand new Hyundai 7L V6 Tiburon is $31,990
ChemDry charge $25 per room with a 3 room minimum and other fine print.
Surroundings charge $4.50 per square metre for carpet cleaning.... with no fne print.

How does that stack up with you guys?

-Allen

Edited by surroundings

Upselling or Bait and switch? : doug wrote:Clean 3 rooms...

Tue, 21 Sep 2004 20:35:40 +0000

Author: surroundings
Subject: 589
Posted: 21/September/2004 at 8:35pm

doug wrote:

Clean 3 rooms and a hall for just under a dollar

Three rooms and a hall? Did one like this yesterday. Ladyresponded to my 'Fourth Room Free' ad: dining room- 11.9 sq m. livingroom- 22.44 sq. m. master b/room 19.76 sq. m.( traffic lanes only...BIG master b/room!) hall- 7.72 sq m.

The hall was free. Normal cost would have been $278.23... withthe 'special' the cost was $243.95. That's $4.50 per sq. metre forthose of you not into the 'math' of it.

Make-Up in the master, dog hair everywhere, red wine spill in thedining. The only thing that took extra time was themake-up. Used a citrus solvent on the little spots. Halland living were a dark green, master and dining were a peach colour.Also did 2 entry mats at no cost.

Total time of 3 hours, inluding set-up... moving AND replacingfurniture, pre-vac... post rake. They didn't go with the carpetprotection. The Mrs. made me a coffee, and the Mr. gave me abottle of homebrew beer when he found out I dabbled in this fieldmyself.

I love my job,

Allen

Upselling or Bait and switch? : Mr. Steamer, You're right....

Tue, 21 Sep 2004 20:15:45 +0000

Author: surroundings
Subject: 589
Posted: 21/September/2004 at 8:15pm

Mr. Steamer,

You're right. I don't think. But why would I put that fineprint in bold on my ad? My cost includes moving furniture. It includes GST (Goods and Services Tax ... 10% here inAustralia). I do NOT have a minimum # of rooms, I quote by thesquare metre of the area I clean, I expect that I will have a heavilysoiled creme wool carpet. (It does not take THAT much longer toclean! Really!) Very few stains require an oxidisation treatment,or a heat transfer... and those that may, I point out during myquote. If the stain does not come out during regular cleaning,I'll hit it with a NVDS or a neutral spotter... whatever it takes...letit sit for a while, then extract again.

I'm silly enough to quote on a job well done, and include the serviceof moving funiture, the service of pre-vac, the service ofextracting heavily soiled carpets. Now that's SERVICE SERVICESERVICE, ain't it?

The above ad basically reads as a set price for traffic areas only on a not-too-dirty dark carpet. Gimmie a break here...

-Allen

Upselling or Bait and switch? : Allen's been cleaning all...

Tue, 21 Sep 2004 18:14:41 +0000

Author: doug
Subject: 589
Posted: 21/September/2004 at 6:14pm

Allen's been cleaning all summer just trien to raise a dollar

Sometimes I wonder just how their goen to do it

Clean 3 rooms and a hall for just under a dollar

Sometimes I wonder just what I am going to do because there ain't no cure for the bait and switch blues