another minimum charge discussion

[Brian H]

Brian with a $150 average and ten of your fleet doing over and we'll over 300k a year there must be an incredible amount of $50 jobs completed to offset the big jobs.


That or those ten trucks are doing 10 jobs a day all year long.

Mike, we do a fair amount of $50 jobs to go along with the larger jobs. That's why we don't want to increase the minimum. We want to get into homes, because the job often gets much bigger.

A few years ago we experimented with a JP style marketing tactic. We sent letters to our customers in a few near by zip codes. The letter basically said since it was January and slow we would clean one room of carpet for free, no minimum, no strings attached. Even with cleaning one room free and as well as doing some jobs where we only cleaned the one room, our average job was over $125. The key was once we were there people wanted more cleaned.

 

[bob vawter]

Thanks Steve,
This is the year! Accountant has already called screaming at me so as usual I am in the dog house

Chris..if you are paying taxes this early in yor career....YOU
need a new accountant ......figure out what yor taxes would be...THEN go out and spend enough to outweigh that amount.....
the days of writing off a new raceboat are over......but there are OTHER things a company could
"buy" to offset taxes....

not that i would know about any such things.......

 

[Newman]

My residential minimum charge is $95.00. Sometimes I win, sometimes I loose. I charge the same to customers new and old. I try my best to keep it around 40 minutes on site. At the end of the day, I own a customer service business and we provide what is needed.

My state has not yet noticed that they forgot to tax service.

 

[GCCLee]

Chris..if you are paying taxes this early in yor career....YOU
need a new accountant ......figure out what yor taxes would be...THEN go out and spend enough to outweigh that amount.....
the days of writing off a new raceboat are over......but there are OTHER things a company could
"buy" to offset taxes....

not that i would know about any such things.......

Hoping I made the right decisions : ) and it will be da savin grace fur us.

 

[steve_64]

My state has not yet noticed that they forgot to tax service.

they know it here, the service industry keeps fighting the tax man off. enough businesses have left this state already.

besides, most of us cant figure the tax out, even with a calculator!

 

[Spurlington]

Yea, all that just made me freakin CRY!




Thanks, I already feared this year as I did not pay quarterly. Couldn't afford to. Gotta top the hump soon or else...........

If your state requires tax collection, keep it separate from the quote .. $80 plus tax sounds better than $85.60 .. then all tax collected should go straight to a separate account .. never spend that

As for quarterlys, you should always predetermine your payment and transfer that into a separate account so when it's due - you pay it .. look at it as money you don't have .. if you needed the extra money, there's nothing wrong with picking up a part time job

We're required to collect for tile cleaning .. there was a period we didn't do tile cleaning so there was no money to send in, we were fined $50 for not sending in the report stating no taxes were collected

 

[GCCLee]

If your state requires tax collection, keep it separate from the quote .. $80 plus tax sounds better than $85.60 .. then all tax collected should go straight to a separate account .. never spend that

As for quarterlys, you should always predetermine your payment and transfer that into a separate account so when it's due - you pay it .. look at it as money you don't have .. if you needed the extra money, there's nothing wrong with picking up a part time job
d

No one has ever said that to me, at least like that.




Can we hold hands : )

 

[renegade_cowboy]

looking over Ben Surdi's website I noticed this..




I would think for a company as eager to grow as Ben's he is doing more harm than good with that number.

Unless he has a return client special for one roomers.

We get burned plenty with our local $150 minimum, far too often spending two hours there on difficult set ups but I can't imagine how many we would lose if we stuck to that number for regulars looking for just a touch up or one room...Too many good enough cleaners in town who will come out for $80 or so..

You have to understand that this area has a TON of money running through it.. with companies like Boeing, Microsoft, Starbucks and so on.. so our economy is doing really good up here and can inflate prices. I have a $147 minimum(3 areas), but will go out for good customers with a $99 2 room minimum charge. I consider myself average price.

I think there is a point when you want to start filtering out smaller jobs that aren't as profitable and having a higher minimum charge will help you do that. Come spring time I am doing a 4 room minimum charge around $200 and the schedule will still fill up.. most jobs that book anyways are 5 areas and up 70% of the time.

So for this area a $199 minimum charge won't deter many people if they feel they are getting the value for the price and ben knows that.

 

[Spurlington]

I think there is a point when you want to start filtering out smaller jobs that aren't as profitable and having a higher minimum charge will help you do that.

I sat down one day and mapquested each zip code from our warehouse to determine an average cost of gas and time spent on driving .. once I figured out what it cost me to get there and back with one and with 2 men, based on an average, it didn't make sense to clean for less than $150 min

I know for some it's easier to think its only costing us the time, gas and detergents used while on the job .. we don't want to see what it really costs us doing that job .. if we realize it before we get there, we may not even go ..

 

[ruff]

I sat down one day and mapquested each zip code from our warehouse to determine an average cost of gas and time spent on driving .. once I figured out what it cost me to get there and back with one and with 2 men, based on an average, it didn't make sense to clean for less than $150 min

I know for some it's easier to think its only costing us the time, gas and detergents used while on the job .. we don't want to see what it really costs us doing that job .. if we realize it before we get there, we may not even go ..

You got it Paul.
Many don't realize their cost of doing business. And by the time they do, some are practically out of business.

I once got a call from a cleaner that was trying to sell his business. I asked him more about it and also found out that at the time his minimum was $75.00 I told him that I was not interested. He politely asked: Why?
I told him that his minimum (and the fact that his clients were used to it) was a money loss.
He thought about it and said: "You know what? You're right. I guess that's why I can't make a profit."

- This ain't my hobby. If I ain't making a decent profit, I ain't doing it.

 

[renegade_cowboy]

I sat down one day and mapquested each zip code from our warehouse to determine an average cost of gas and time spent on driving .. once I figured out what it cost me to get there and back with one and with 2 men, based on an average, it didn't make sense to clean for less than $150 min

I know for some it's easier to think its only costing us the time, gas and detergents used while on the job .. we don't want to see what it really costs us doing that job .. if we realize it before we get there, we may not even go ..

For sure, once you really get a good understanding of your costs it makes things easier for what needs to be done.