How much do you charge for a lounge and three bedrooms?

by Graham

I provide a specialised carpet cleaning process. I was speaking to a Real Estate Agent about what I do, and how it may benefit her clients when presenting their homes for sale.

She asked "how much do you charge to clean a lounge and three bedrooms?"

Now at this point she knows nothing about the process I use, it would also be her clients who would be paying for the service, and without knowing what her client's needs, wants and desires are, I was reluctant to just pluck any figure out of the sky.

I am well aware that I need to go through 'The Sales Process' first. Accordingly I informed her that when we meet, I could discuss it with her then.

In this scenario, what is the best way to handle the 'price' question?



Comment from Stephen Craine:

Graham, that's a really good question and one that highlights a decision that many people with their own business have to make.

One the one hand, to promote your service and be able to advertise or give a quick response in conversation, it is very usefull to have a packaged product with a price.

This gives the prospect an idea of the cost, and this package attracts customers. So for example a marketing campaign to the real estate sector mught give a set price for a typical lounge and 3 bedrooms.

This technique will get you in front of prospects.



On the other hand, in a perfect situation it is much better if you can meet with a prospect before discussing price.

Then as you say in your question,you can establish the clients needs, wants, and desires.

The problem with trying to do this is that many potential customers will not contact you, or take the next step, without some idea of price.

I have come across this scenario in many diferent markets, especially direct sales to the public. People want an idea of price so they can compare you to other providers of a similar service, and as a rough guide to what they might be spending.



The answer is to do both

The answer is to market your business using both sales techniques.

Have some typical packages, such as 3 bedrooms and a lounge, all priced up and ready to present to potential clients. These can be used for answering incoming enquiries, calling real estate businesses, and for your advertising and marketing.

These are not necessarily the services you will sell. They are to get you in front of potential customers.

Think of this as your sales introduction. This is the attention grabber that gets you in front of the prospect. Then you can use the sales process that my teams use and question the prospect's real needs before presenting the best solution to them.

Make sure that on any marketing information or your website, you have your terms and conditions, eg size of rooms that this offer applies to.

You might also want to consider getting the real estate agents to sell for you. Give then a percentage of any sales you make to a lead they have given you.

Get some marketing information printed and motivate them to use it with a commission payment. You will be surprised at how well this works and the business it can bring in.



Look for some examples

If you take a look at the advertising in your local newspapers you will see many pre-priced offers and examples for all sorts of products and services.

These are all attention grabbers. Many are aimed specifically at getting the customer to contact or visit the seller and then the real sales process starts.



So your actions should be:

Look at the market you want to attack.
eg Real Estate

Get some typical examples of the different sizes of houses and their rooms.

Put together an attractive pre-priced example package for three different size examples.
Make sure these are profitable to you, they could become big sellers.

Use the packages to grab the attention of your prospects in all your contact and marketing.

Put together an affuliate program with a commission payment for all leads that convert.

And let us all know how you get on, what works, what other ideas you have come up with.



Best wishes for your success

Stephen Craine



If you are putting togther a telephone sales script for inbound or outbound calls, to make sales appointments with your prospects, use the pre-priced offers early in your call.

You can see the training I give to my sales teams on appointment setting at making Sales Appointments by telephone...