Advice please about Ironing help

mummytwinton

Help please I have set up an ironing service & after posting 100 leaflets have one customer, I did my first basket last week which took 2.5 hours & only charged the £10 i have said I would charge for a basket but he has just dropped of his second basket & it's as big as last time, do you think I could ask for £15 please it's taken longer than I thought it would?

Why_oh_why

Probably not much help for the moment but would suggest you specify how much a basket consists of.

Think you would probably have to do the second basket at the previously stated rate but try and persuade him to recommend you to friends/family with the newly specified rate.

For the initial customers that you get at the 'per basket' rate, it might in the long run be worth it by asking them to spread the word.

Reebo

similar to what WoW said..... definitely specify what a 'basket' consists of, at the very least... Blimey, at a tenner a basket, would I get away with bringing round my laundry basket full of shirts and pleated skirts ??

You could try to specify a weight limit to baskets... but again shirts take up a lot of time if they are the only things in the basket and you just work with just a standard ironong board and iron.

About 10 years ago my parents had a launderette that I worked in, and our ironing service was strictly priced per item... I think shirts were 75p to press on top of the £3.50 washing and drying price - check out your local launderette and dry cleaners for price comparisons. This was extremely popular with businessmen.... hint hint lol

Work out the time you spend pressing the complicated items and base cost on that.

As to the current £10 or £15 situation, I'm not sure on the legalities... but would imagine the 'contract' has been agreed to do this basket at the price stated on your leaflets after the second basket was delivered to you, I would mention to the customer upon collection whether you wish to impose an item limit or price increase, and review your next leaflets pronto

bigheadxx

Definitely honour the £10 this time around and tell him a price for the future. You could tell him that you will give him a special discount if he gets a few more customers for you.

1% response for a leaflet is not bad so I would do some more with more specific pricing and maybe a discount off the first load.

elvch01

1% response is OK, but if I were yuou, I'd look around the local area for comparable services & see what theyt are charging. In my area, they all charge either per item or in bulk per Kilo

stebiz

mummytwinton wrote: »

Help please I have set up an ironing service & after posting 100 leaflets have one customer, I did my first basket last week which took 2.5 hours & only charged the £10 i have said I would charge for a basket but he has just dropped of his second basket & it's as big as last time, do you think I could ask for £15 please it's taken longer than I thought it would?

My brother used to do an ironing service, with his wife. and from time to time my wife would do some. At the time he priced per bin bag. Not happy with that customers went out and got even larger bin bags. My sister in law ended up on similar hourly rates as yourself. Very demoralising. She soon found something different to do.

I agree with others on here though. Do this lot and then tell him your new rates. Advertise the price on your leaflet. There is lots of this kind of work out there. Don't give a basket rate, unless you specify size of basket. I've seen some stack them up so high it is unbelievable.

Sometimes in business it is good to learn from your mistakes.

Good Luck
Stebiz

cazi

Hi

I run an ironing business and work strictly on a weight basis, I charge £1.50 per lb. This means that I dont have to count how many items I am collecting.

I would also suggest that you get your self a steam generator iron (the best you can afford!)when I bought mine it halved my ironing time!

As for leaflet distribution, you need to think about who (in general) your target market is and leaflet in the places that they hang out i.e. if you are looking for people that work long hours in the city, target the commuters at the suburban train stations! just generally dropping leaflets through letterboxes will get you a customer here or there, but targeted marketing is how you need to do it (google it, you can do it all yourself, dont pay anyone to set it up for you)

This is how I operate, and I earn on average £30 per hour!

Hope this helps!

shepster81

on your next leaflet drop state that bring this leaflet back for a deal of £10 for your basket then afterwards charge per item - yes people could get 10 leaflets but make a note of terms ie 1 per person only.

Like the TV advert says "give em the juicy worm rate first"

nomoneytoday

I pay 60p a shirt to a local proper launderette. I visit them once a fortnight and give them £6 for 2 weeks worth of shirts. As I have to wear a freshly ironed shirt daily and don't know (or care) how to iron it's ideal.

I would happily try someone else if they collected, delivered and ironed for a lower price, assuming they did as good a job as the professionals

cazi

nomoneytoday wrote: »

I pay 60p a shirt to a local proper launderette. I visit them once a fortnight and give them £6 for 2 weeks worth of shirts. As I have to wear a freshly ironed shirt daily and don't know (or care) how to iron it's ideal.

I would happily try someone else if they collected, delivered and ironed for a lower price, assuming they did as good a job as the professionals

excuse me mate! but we are professionals! lol

mummytwinton

well I've now had 1 repeat customer & 3 new ones this week, in 2 weeks I've made £85 so far not too bad as I do work part time on top of this. I'm hoping to make about £200 a month, happy to have a busy week & a quite week, luckly I already had a steam iron so it;s not cost me much to set up...