Do You Really Need to Worry About the Half-Price Carpet Cleaners?

I recently needed a new tyre for my car. As it was only the spare, I decided to save some money and buy a part-worn tyre. After all, I may never use it. I wanted a Michelin preferably as they last longer. They cost around £90 but only £21 for part-worn which would do the job.

Here’s my phone conversation with the local part-worn tyre dealer:

Me: “Have you got a part worn 205/55/16?”

Him: “Oh yeah, loads of them”

Me; “Have you got something decent, like a Michelin?”

Him: “Dunno mate. Can’t really look” (sounding disinterested)

Me: “OK. So is it best that I come up?”

Him: “Yeah” (sounding like he’s busy with something else)

I decide to go to the dealer immediately. I enter the workshop. Plenty of staff ignore me. Finally a man approaches and asks “Are you being seen to?” He tells someone to see to me.

A man approaches with his mobile phone in hand and walks past me. I ask him if it was him he was talking to? Apparently it was.

I ask him if he has a part worn tyre preferably a good make like a Michelin. He asks the boss who says while walking away “Dunno mate… we’ve got loads up there but haven’t had a chance to sort them yet? You need to come back later”

I ask him what he’s got that’s decent? He replies “I think there’s a couple of Goodyears up there.” We walk to the back of the workshop. “There’s one here and here. But these haven’t been tested yet so you can’t have one”

I ask him what he has actually got. He walks through a mound of dirty tyres to find THREE tyres my size. I ask him what they’re like. “Well, you’d be better coming back later” he replies.

With that I walk out.

I return two days later as I was in the area. I walk into the workshop to find the staff all seemingly busy. The same man comes out towards me and…walks right past without even a look. Doesn’t even say “I’ll be with you in a minute.” I decide that I’ve had enough and leave.

Now why can they get away with an attitude and service like this?

Because of the business they are in… the CHEAPEST PRICE COMMODITY business! After all, a Michelin is a Michelin is a Michelin! And they are the cheapest, because they are selling part-worn tyres. If I want one at this price, there’s nowhere else to go. I have to stand in line and accept it.

Now… do you imagine that in our industry customers are treated any differently? There are people who have to tolerate the same kind of service because all they want to spend is £20 cleaning their front room carpet. And have you heard of the ‘half-price’ cleaners actually NOT turning up at all! Usually giving the customer an excuse that their van has broken down, when really they couldn’t get enough jobs in the area to make it viable. That’s what people have to put up with when they want the cheapest price.

But there are plenty of people who will not accept this and will gladly pay for a higher standard of service.

That’s why you don’t want to be in the price business or the commodity business. As it happens, I was not a prospect for new tyres in this category. I only wanted a part worn tyre for around £20 as a spare. If I wanted the ‘cheapest price commodity’ I had to put up with poor service. But if I wanted the ‘quality and service’ of a new Michelin tyre, I wouldn’t have stood for all of this. And I’m pretty sure that the company would be out of business very quickly.

The lesson for us: The worst thing you could do is to try to compete on price with a business like this. You simply don’t have to. It’s sometimes very difficult for carpet cleaners to realise that there are customers you don’t want.

There are different markets in our industry. Just like Kia, Ford and Mercedes buyers. They have different values, wants and priorities. There are people who want to pay £20 for a room and are prepared to put up with service like the above because they only want to pay £20. But there are also many people who want high quality and are prepared to pay for it. And would not tolerate bad service, no matter how cheap it is.

Target these and you don’t need to worry about half price carpet cleaners.