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I would like for you guys and girls to react to our new pricing schedule. Before we were 50 dollars for the first room and 35 for each additional. 15 for hallways and 5 dollars per step. Fabric protector was .14 cents a sq foot. Couches 70, love seats 60, recliners 50. Fab pro was 30, 25, 20 respectively. We were selling fab pro on about one half our slaes. We would like to include it on all sales. I know Brian Sutton would be proud.
New Prices
All rooms will be 50 dollars including fabric protector. Any room over 250 sq feet will be 35 cents a square foot.
Couches 95, love seats 80, recliners 55, all prices include fab pro.
If they do not want fab pro then it is 45 a room and upholstery is 5 dollars less.Are we pricing ourselves out of business or should we stand firm.
We are in a 4 county area with about 60,000 people in which there are 1 steam cleaner and a service master in each county. This is our 3rd year of business and we did about 40,000 dollars gross last year.
Thanks for the input,
Jamie[/u]
I thought my prices were high. Do you live in Malibu?
Prices don’t seem out of line to me – but I believe customers won’t care too much about price if they are happy with the service. In the fast food business we used to have these discussions about “leaving money on the table”i.e., if your customer loves your sandwiches, will they notice your drinks are $1.29? In our business a “minimum” charge for services should exist. In our market I believe even one room, minimum, should be $89.95. I explain to customers that once I get in the door it is much cheaper to do more work! My prices currently are $109.95 for three areas; each addit’l area $24.95; stain protector for $19.95 per area. Remember, it’s always about packaging – how do we package our deals. Sometimes, in fact usually, I am too nice to customers – ha! So, I’ll cut a little off the price for a small hallway, or offer to apply protector on all areas but give at least one area “free”. Customers love to feel like they are getting a “deal”!
Starting Feb 1 we will have a different approach now when asked what we charge. We will tell potential customers that we have to packages. The first is our Basic Package consisting of just carpet cleaning and our Premium Package prices include stain protector.
no
I am in Greenville, SC and those prices would be high for here so I am not sure how that would affect your area.
What type of feedback have you been receiving over the past year or two concerning prices?
Very few people turn us down because of the old prices. So far this week we are booking about the same number of people with the new prices. I am in a tourist area but the local people use us more than the tourists. Western North Carolina just nort of Asheville. This is a side job for me so I can afford to experiment because I do not have to have the money to eat.
JamieThat is the same for me – so I know it does affect how much I need to be paid to make it worth while! At the same time, I feel our service is very professional and high quality so I focus on the upper end of the market where price doesn’t matter much – service is key! With the little time I have, I don’t care to compete with a $49 special – ha! Our minimum is going to stay at $89.95 to get us in the door! I would rather be in the nicer homes & do fewer jobs with a higher ticket.
when you raise or lower prices you are playing with profit. Your costs are no different whether you charge $100 or $120, Really if you raise your price by 20%, you can loose 25% of your work and be financially ahead.
Discussion
The trick is to raise prices in small increments so that it really isn’t that noticeable. You are exactly right though about profit – that’s why we used to talk about “leaving money on the table” among Subway owners. Some owners would charge 20, 30, 40 cents more on menu items than others and never notice a decline in customer count; while others would sit back afraid to raise prices and “leave money on the table”! ha I believe you have to position yourself in your market where you want to be – you are in control! But even small increases can add thousands to your annual profit!!
MMMMMM
Profit……………………… 😀
I wish we could see a listing of pricing across the country by our operators. There is a different pricing method for each of us it seems. If we could view all of the methods,each of us might learn something about how to make more money by learning from each other.
Staying n the same old rut pricing wise will get us the same old income paraphrase of Steven Covey, I think.
I feel pricing should match the quality of your work as the price tag on a car relates to it’s value. Why would someone that wants and can afford a Lexus lower their standards and buy a KIA? If you price high, keep your quality high. If you want to hang w/ the low-ballers, work fast, grab the check and run like heck. I prefer to take my time, do a perfect job and charge 50 cents per sq. ft. By doing this, you will feel better about the job you did, the customer will be thrilled, you won’t have to bust your hump and you’ll make larger profits. Do you want to be the owner of a used car lot or the owner of a Lexus dealership?
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