Hi there everyone, I'm a total newby when it comes to carpet cleaning. I am going to begin my own carpet cleaning business in the the next 12 months and I'm in the process of researching the best way to get my business started and to make it profitable.
I live in the Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; I'm going to be starting with a Ninja 200psi with heat and will have a Dodge minivan to use for my business. Now, I have a couple of questions:
1) To get my business off the ground I would market heavily to apartment owners/managers. I would offer them a free demo of my skills and equipment capability; I will also use kijiji and Craiglist exentsively to get customers. My goal here is to work my past clients very intensively and seek referrals from all of my customers; I want a business that is built upon past clients and referrals. I don't like the idea of spending money on advertising and fliers and that sort of thing. Besides your equipment, I just don't believe that you can 'buy' your way into success in this business. Does this particular marketing plan appear to be a practical method of gaining a repeatable and sustainable business?
2) I really don't know how to price my carpet cleaning services. I have read on this forum different people saying that they charge anywhere from .10/sq. ft to .50/sq. ft. . What are you Technicians charging in the Vancouver, British Columbia area? I don't like the idea of servicing your clients customers for next to nothing just to get the job, but I also don't want to price myself out of the business by charging too high. I do believe that people will would rather pay a good price for a good quality job, rather than paying a low baller to do a lousy job. I would like to eliminate the low quality customers who only care about saving a penny. I want only those customers who are willing to pay for a consciensous, talented, and knowledgeable carpet cleaning technician. So what kind of pricing would accomplish this objective?
Again, I'm still in the planning stages.
Thanks everyone
Formula
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