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Has anyone raised there prices due to the incline of our gas prices? even though its january and slower,i am doing so. its also cold and snowing alot for the next few months.that slows down the business somewhat, i still have to raise prices.
Hey there TIm:
Yes I have raised my prices. I raised them last November and will do so again February 1.
I’ve budgeted my fuel expense to increase each month throughout this year with it peaking at $5.00 a gallon. We are in trouble if oil is priced in other currency then the dollar!! I strongly believe the the governments debt and monetary policy is detrimental to the stability of the dollar and our economy. Infaltion has begun to rear its ugly head. Sadly, it will be here for a while. I began raising my price on stairs in the 4th quarter of last year with no push back. This month I have taken an across the board increase anywhere from 5% to 15% depending on the service.
So what is a basic price of 3 rooms now? I have so many competitors that I have had to keep prices down but with gas prices I need to increase but don’t want to scare customers.
We price by the sq/ footage, but typically in Iowa a living room, and 2 bedrooms would be somewhere between 400-450 sq.ft. We would get $99 for the first 375′ and .35/sq. ft on anything after that. We increase prices every year by at least a penny, but this year we went with an increase of 2 cents per sq. ft. When we feel the need, we alter the sq. footage of the $99 special as well. Our increases have kept us out of a lot of that business that we hate to do anyway.
We have learned through our years with the volatile gas prices that (1) we must have a minimum (ours is $99) (2) consolidate our trips as much as possible (3) Try to maximize our trips out and increase our prices at least annually. All markets are different, but we and no one else in the business world can eat these gas increases or we’ll be looking for a job! Good Luck.
Violet:
Bryan is right on with what he writes. I have increased my prices also. Twice this year alone, and will do so again to maintain the percentage of profit margin that I want. I haven’t had a single complaint from those who have booked their cleanings with me, and to those who did not were only price shopping anyways. Having a great results is of the upmost importance to me, for some individuals this priority is not even on the list. Bryan is correct…. you don’t want to clean for them. By all means… raise your price.
We raised ours and are now at $.35/sq ft. My feeling is I would rather discount for a clean customer, than have to add on extra for a dirty, so if I do get someone that complains about the price, if their carpet isn’t that dirty (especially a regular) it gives us more wiggle room to work with them if we want to. Overall, we haven’t had many complaints outside of price shoppers, and they can complain all they want!
you guys lucky. We have the highest gas price in US. 87oct. $4.30/gallon in suburb 😡
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