Where I started
I had eleven clients and I was tired all the time. I had set my prices when I started two years earlier, based on undercutting a company advertising locally, and I had never changed them.
I was also taking on anything. Ovens, carpets, a one off hoard clearance I still think about.
What I struggled with
Saying no, and saying a number out loud. I would talk myself down mid sentence. Someone would ask the price and I would say a figure then immediately add but I can do it for less if that helps.
The clients I attracted at those prices were the ones who haggled hardest and valued the work least.
What changed
The pricing and positioning modules made me work out my actual cost per visit including travel, products, insurance and the admin time I had never counted. My hourly return on some jobs was under minimum wage once I was honest about it.
I rebuilt every price around a fixed quote for a defined scope, then gave every existing client six weeks notice in writing.
What happened
Prices went up by around a third. Two clients left, both of them ones I had quietly dreaded. Nine stayed. Within two months I had replaced the two who left with clients who paid the new rate without discussion.
Same number of hours, roughly a third more income, and a much better Tuesday.
Where I am now
I have a defined service list now and I turn down work that is not on it. I have a proper quote template and I do not talk after I say the price.
The confidence did not come first and then the pricing. It was the other way round.
Megan Hollis's advice for other cleaning entrepreneurs
- Work out your true cost per visit before you decide anything is expensive.
- Give notice in writing, be polite, and do not negotiate with yourself.
- Say the price and stop talking.