A penny saved....

isn't always necessarily the best policy.  Now don't get me wrong, we are all about being frugal in this family.  My wife takes great pride in finding creative new ways to save money.  She recently posted about a dollar store solution for a household project she was working on, and I'm sure it won't be the last time she posts about her adventures in frugality.  But sometimes the old adage "you get what you pay for" really holds true.

If your family is anything like ours, you find yourself saving money by buying store-brand products, looking for deals on ksl.com or craigslist, and scanning the weekly ads to find the best sales.  But for certain things, you just feel that you must spend the extra money to get the quality you need in a product or service.

I am always keeping a close eye on the prices and services of others in the carpet cleaning industry.  Many are comparable with my own.  There are also those who are priced much higher than myself, and then those who are priced lower than me.  A few who are significantly lower.

Now the higher priced companies I know offer good, high-end service.  To high-end customers.  Meaning they price their services at top-dollar, and only market to wealthy people who are willing to pay top dollar.  And we all know someone who actually takes pride in the fact that they pay excessive amounts of money for the things they purchase.

On the other end of the spectrum, when I would see flyers for companies with extremely low prices, I just couldn't understand how they were making a living with those prices.  I felt that I had evaluated my service, and the cost of running my business, and priced my services accordingly.  I didn't want to rip people off, and I certainly didn't want only the rich people to be able to afford my services, but I needed to cover the expense of running my business, plus be able to make a profit, and support my family.

As I became more familiar with my industry, with different companies, with my customers, and asked questions of people who I consider "experts" in my field, - people who have been doing this much, much longer than my 11 years - I learned a few things.

I too could cut my prices and still make a living.  The way I could accomplish this would be to sacrifice the quality of the service I provide.  I could lower MY expenses by lowering my quality, and the savings could be reflected in my prices.

When Xazmin and I first decided to "hang out our shingle" so to speak, we talked about what it was we wanted to be known for.  Would it be our rock-bottom prices?  Would it be being available 24 hours a day?  Would it be quality?  We knew we couldn't be all things to all people.  And we both, without hesitation, knew we wanted to be known for our excellent quality.  It's how we were raised ("If you can't do something right, don't do it at all!").  That is what we keep in mind with every business decision we make.

When we made our most significant purchase, our truck-mounted hot water extraction machine, I spent countless hours researching and demo-ing different machines.  We chose to pay more money for a machine with the latest technology, highest temperatures, and strongest suction, because we knew that it would offer the highest quality cleaning to our customers.  We chose to invest more, so that we would be able to offer more.

The same goes for the cleaning solutions we use.  There are many, many various options available.  I have learned what products work best for different types of floor coverings, as well as different types of soiling and staining.  I don't have a one-size fits all method.  I invest in a variety of products, so I am able to select and use the best product for any situation.  Higher quality products cost me more to keep in stock.

Last, I am continually educating myself on the always-evolving carpet cleaning industry.  And I don't mean that I subscribe to cleaning industry magazines and read them cover to cover each time they arrive in my mailbox (although I DO).  I mean that I pay money for continual training.  I enroll in the Institute of Inspection Cleaning and Restoration Certification (the highest standard in our industry) course every 2-3 years.  It is never exactly the same.  Yes they cover much that I have already learned, but there is always something new I am able to take away and implement in my service in order to improve.  I also take smaller, specialized classes in between.  I want to be the most knowledgeable, and most skilled that I can be in my profession.

Investing in high-end cleaning equipment and tools, quality cleaning agents, and continually educating myself on the latest advancements in the industry are expenses that I feel are worth it in order to make sure I provide the highest quality service available.  I can't imagine cutting any of these expenses in order to lower my prices.

So yes, there is a corner of the market that I will always lose to my lower-priced competitors.  Those who are looking to pay bottom dollar for everything.  But the truth is, I actually win over some of those customers when they realize that there is a price to pay for bottom dollar service as well.  Several times I have been called in to "fix" the carpet cleaning service provided by another company that has left the customer unhappy.  Inevitably they tell their friend or their family member about their bad experience, and our name is given to them (fun fact: so far our business has been 100% referral-based, by happy customers), and we come in and take care of it.  A few times they have told me the name of a particular company they were unhappy with, which happens to be one of those "bottom-priced" services that I see advertised frequently.  It gives me great satisfaction to know that although I may not always offer the lowest price out there, I definitely offer the highest quality service and the greatest value.

My customers "get what they pay for", and that is what I want to be known for.