Latest / Cleaning Business Life / CBL EP 154 Why Waiting to Raise Prices Is Slowly Killing Your Profit (and What to Do Instead)

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CBL EP 154 Why Waiting to Raise Prices Is Slowly Killing Your Profit (and What to Do Instead) · Cleaning Business Life

• 0:58
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome back to Cleaning Business Life.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_01: It's Jenny from Clean Freight University.com and today I'm joined by Miss Jamie Runko to talk about one of the most uncomfortable money conversations in the cleaning industry.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_01: Price increases.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_01: If you've been hesitating because of the economy, afraid clients will push back, or you're tempted to raise everyone all at once, don't.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_01: We're breaking down the safest way to increase rates, why December is actually the best time to do it, and how to build a pricing plan that keeps you profitable without losing your whole schedule.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_01: Let's get to it.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome back, Miss Jamie Longtime No C.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: It's been, you know, a long time.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_01: It has been a long, long time.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_01: Such a long time.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_01: It's like super long.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_01: Well, we're in the month of December.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_01: We're heading towards the end of the year.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_01: And you're probably starting to think, like, when should I do a price increase?
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_01: There's been a lot of stipulation over this in the last six months because of the way the economy is.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_01: So we're going to tell you two different ways of doing this, maybe three.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_01: And it should be something that happens at least annually.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_01: And if it's you can't do it because you just don't feel comfortable, at least every 18 months.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_01: And remember that you don't want to do, unless your clients are conditioned to this, you don't want to do price increases all at once.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_01: Don't call me or message me because you gave a price increase to every single one of your clients.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_01: You've never done one before, and now you have no clients.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_01: I can't save you.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm not going to be happy trying to get you to float the boat, so to speak, to make it so that you have income coming in.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_01: I don't want, I don't want that for anyone.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: You only do it a little bit at a time.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: Three, four clients at a time, depending on how many clients you have.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you may only do one or two.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: You know, until you get to that point of having 50, 127 clients.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_01: 275 or 620.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: And that happens.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: You start getting up there and getting those clients and holding out.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: And if you followed us, you will know that this is not a uh a race, it's a marathon.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: And price increases are a hard topic.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: I see a lot of times in the groups, everybody's saying I would wait until after a lot of people are spent out for Christmas.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: Then, you know, they're trying to recoup.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I always wait until tax time.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: Shannon, you're gonna tell yeah, exactly.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: What we're doing is we're we're I'm shaking my head no for those of you who were listening.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, for those that you can't see.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: December is honestly the best time that you can do your price increases.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: And Shannon's gonna tell us why.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_01: People are naturally inclined to be generous during the holiday.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_01: There's a lot of guilt, right?
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, and how many retailers do you go to donate here, donate here, donate here?
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_01: They like, or the whole penny thing has been the related donation.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_01: Well, we don't have any pennies.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_01: Would you like to donate to that to our non-for-profit?
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_01: Blah, blah, blah.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_01: It it's you're already got you're already part way there.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_01: So when you wait until December, it makes it easier because everyone's already spending.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_01: The the caveat is if you you have to be considerate of what is going on, you have to pay attention.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_01: So there is an actual little mini course.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's called the pricing, not the yeah, the price increased boot camp.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_01: I believe it's like seven or nine bucks.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_01: I don't remember.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, let me remove this.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_01: Stop the cloud recording and cancel.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_01: I just want to remove, I don't want to.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_01: Here comes the official one of these days.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_01: Well, we're gonna be on a different platform next year, so it doesn't matter.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_01: Here we go.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_01: We'll get this one too, right?
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_01: And remove.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_01: So part of the process is you should at least be giving a price increase at least annually or every 18 months, and it should be seven to eight percent increase automatically.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_01: And that keeps you, and this explains it all in the course.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_01: This is just rehashing what's inside there.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_01: It keeps you afloat.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_01: You don't want to diminish what profit margin you have, and there's a lot riding on that profit margin, right?
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_01: Especially if you have cleaning texts in the field, it takes five to seven cleanings before they actually feel comfortable enough to refer you.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um, they can jump off the schedule at any point.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_01: We've seen, we've all seen that this year, where they say, Hey, if you give me a discount on this top to bottom deluxe cleaning, I'm gonna give you all the service.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_01: And then they go, I found this hair in the corner behind the couch over in the den that nobody uses, and I'm going to cancel you.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_01: And then you're like, Well, I wouldn't have given you a discount had you been up front with me, right?
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_01: You just want to say liar, liar, pants on fire.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_01: You can't, obviously, as tempting as that is, but you do need everything has gone up in price.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_01: It's normal, it's okay, it's acceptable for you to give a price increase.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_01: And and sometimes hand holding is necessary, sometimes not.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_01: So there's the caveat of doing that.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_01: So seven to eight percent is pretty normal.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_01: If they're legacy clients, if you jump someone up 25% in one jump, they're probably gonna be like, Oh my god, unless you want that to happen, unless you want that to happen to make room for those that will pay those price increased, and and those legacy clients and what a legacy client is, what's a legacy client, Jamie?
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: Somebody that's been with you forever since the beginning.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: I I I'm gonna be very transparent here.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: There is one person that I've had on the schedule for almost almost four years.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: It's crazy to me.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, and I went in, uh it was my first oh well.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: I guess I have it was the very first year.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: I only charged her 190.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: Now we're up to 235, and I since then have not done a price increase on them.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_01: It happened, one slides underneath the door, and you're like, oh my god, I haven't given you a price increase in like four years, and they have a fit.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_01: You're gonna raise my rates, right?
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: But then you also feel like, oh, you should be lucky that I'm still with you after all this year, you know, I I allow you to do training in my house and da-da-da-da-da-da.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: You know, but and this is annually, seven to eight percent annually.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: So if you do two price increases, you know, maybe in June, July, somewhere is around in there, or and then December is the best time, like you said, the psychology, and I'm using my finger to go around on my head, the psychology to people is they are they're so giving during that time, this time of the year.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: They're they're their hearts are a little more open, and they're they're more opt opting into, you know, this really is a a service that I absolutely need.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: And absolutely, you guys just well, and and you also gotta factor in.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: If you're having cleaning tax, you have to factor in that this is they're they get raises.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_00: My insurance has gone up.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_01: Workmen's comp is crazy right now.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_01: I've heard it from everybody.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_00: It is crazy.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_00: I'm almost to the point to where you know it's it will pay as you go so that I don't have these huge work comp audits once a year, which happens every year.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: It's happens every year, but that's not what we're talking about.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: But it kind of goes hand in hand because honestly, the psychology, even in my head, is you know what, this is whenever my cleaning techs they've been doing such a great job, and I'm looking at and evaluating what they have done for for my my company, and this is whenever I'm opted to give pay raises.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_01: So pay raises equals a price increase to to the the client because you wanna you want top-tier palent, you want top tier talent, so you have to offer top-tier pay.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_01: That's just the way it works.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_01: If you want to keep your cleaning techs, I mean you can stand at the grocery store and earn 22 bucks an hour bagging groceries right now.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_01: So you want to make sure that your cleaning techs, who are your golden unicorns, are rewarded accordingly.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_01: And there is a stipulation in the industry, and we heard someone, I heard this, someone mention this, that you shouldn't do it annually anymore, that you should probably do it every 18 months.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_01: That's fine too, but it should not be seven to eight percent.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_01: It should be a 10 to 15% increase because it's been a longer period of time, which is a bigger pill to swallow.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_01: And there is a caveat with that, and this is not mentioned in the boot camp.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just thinking of this in my head as I'm talking, is if you, and I would only do this with established clients that you like, you could actually sell them a whole year of house cleaning.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_01: This is explained in detail in the Black Friday Bonyanza if you have not purchased that course.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_01: You could pre-sell them a whole year of house cleaning and give them the 10 to 15% discount that you're going to increase them if they pay you all at once in cash or a check.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_01: That covers it for the next year.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_01: And then you can revisit that either in the next 12 to 18 months.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_01: And then that way they at least are forced to take a baby step.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_01: And then when if it comes down a second time, now they're down like you know, a lot because they haven't had, you know, if you wait 18 months, then it's it's like three years, right?
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_01: Oh 18, 18, 30, it's 36 months.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_01: So over three years without a price increase, you have to give them a baby price increase.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_01: And then again, I would work another deal with them where they prepaid.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_01: It gives you money to put it in an escrow account to buy extra supplies, make sure you manage that.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_01: There's a whole philosophy behind doing that.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_01: And I only would do it with a contract, and I would only do it with someone that I like.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_01: There's nothing worse than having a contract with someone you hate, who is a nightmare to you, who does nothing but ride you and make you have nightmares in the middle of the night.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_01: So that's something to consider as well.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_01: But raising your rates is normal, it's okay, it's acceptable, and it's desired.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_01: If everybody else is raising the rates, the house cleaning industry shouldn't have to suck it up because we're not worthy.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: Right, right.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_00: And how how do people how do you uh I've you've always taught me to do, and this is how I've always done it, is to do it a little bit at a time.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_00: Right, sprinkle.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_00: And that's why that's how I've done it because I've seen people go, oh man, I got you so there are people that will push back sometimes, not often.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_00: I've also heard people like they they did a quarter of them and and like only two may have dropped off, or you can adjust how often you come, you know, just because you give the price increase, and if it's a weekly or bi-weekly client, say would you be okay with going to every four weeks?
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_00: Right, something like that.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_01: And make sure that you are still giving them an increase because there's a longer period of time between cleaning, so for us more accumulation, more stuff, right?
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_01: Monthly cleanings are going up to 240 bucks, that's the base price.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_01: And the reason why that is because I'm trying to cram a certain type of customer in that spot to make the most amount of money because keeping a monthly client on my schedule is expensive.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_01: I could easily fill it up with a bi-weekly and earn twice that, right?
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_01: So I need to make a certain amount of money.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_00: Right, right.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_01: I hope that makes sense.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_01: That's that's yeah, wait, and then pricing also affects your professionalism.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_01: It's a perception thing.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_01: So if you're not giving price increases and you're lower price, then you're not again, we're not worth I'm not worthy.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not worthy.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_01: So make sure that you are staying with the current prices right now.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_01: And I see this going up higher at the beginning of the year, we're about the 68.25 per hour per person.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_01: That's a bit at a flat rate.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um, unless, of course, you're on the coast.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_01: Jamie has a really high operating cost.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_01: Her bullible per hour is a lot.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_01: I'm in, I consider Arizona a part of Middle America, so I would love to be able to get away with that pricing.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_01: I don't.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_01: I know.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_00: And if we were to ever move, I think it would be a very big, huge shock to me.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_00: Financial, like just that would be a shock.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_00: So I, you know, just remember that I am in California, and it would be just as much of a shock to me as it would be to you guys.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_01: And then having scripts for every situation, so pre-plan out what you're gonna say.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_01: If you're not good at saying no, I always and I laugh when I say this.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_01: I've laughed at myself.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_01: Go in front of the mirror while you're brushing your teeth and say no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_01: Or how how do you respond instead of saying no?
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_01: Can I say this?
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_01: Or can I instead of saying no to this, can I say no to that?
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_01: And and try to be polite about it, giving people an opportunity to say face.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_00: You use, I'm telling you guys, you have chat GPT.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_00: Right, run it through, bounce it back and forth until you feel comfortable.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_00: Like if they say that, if I if I say this and they say this, if I what if they say this?
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: You know, act like the client, put yourself in the client's shoes, put yourself in your own shoes, and bounce it back.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_00: If you don't have anybody that that you can bounce it ideals like this off of, chat it that is such a great tool for this industry right now, and just about any industry, but for us, it's a great tool to bounce ideas off of it and say, Hey, you I am the clean, you are the owner of a clean my cleaning business.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_00: How would I structure a professional conversation about a price increase to the client?
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_00: Or you are the client of your business owner of the business, you are a client.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_00: What would you respond?
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_00: And how would I respond back?
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_00: You know, run those, run it over and over with the best tool out there.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, it's it's a great and once you learn how to use it, it's like it's the whole world of for Shane.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, Oh my god, I just learned, remember?
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_01: I was just a couple of months ago, you guys.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_01: And then you want to you want to prepare for 2027 goal goals.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_01: So if you if you did 625, a normal increase, and we and but we won't use Jamie because she's had a couple of 100% increase years that which is not normal.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_01: So if you did 625,000, you should anticipate at least a 15 growth spurt, depending on your market.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_01: So that's another 93,750.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_01: So that would put you at the you know, 93, 93,750.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_00: Sorry, calculators are it's okay.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_00: No, I'm curious to know what that would end up bringing to your guys' bottom line.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_01: So that would bring it would put you at like 725-ish, 750 for the year, and that's a normal growth for with Jamie.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_01: Jamie's Jamie's had 50, 70, 100.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_01: So it just it really does depend on what market you are capturing and what you're working in.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm so don't beat yourself up with well, the reason why is because I hired a a coach, right?
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_00: And that's I'm telling you, the only there's no difference between me and you guys.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_00: I just wanted to get there faster, so I hired a coach.
• 18:08
  unknown: Right.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_01: And we're notorious for DIYing everything.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_01: The cleaning industry is not spent hours researching.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_00: No, I want it now.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_01: And I I agree that's the fastest path.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_01: So make sure that you're preparing for your 2027 growth.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe you want to hit a million dollars, maybe you want 500 five-star reviews, maybe you want a thousand five-star reviews, maybe you want a crew of 75.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_01: I've seen some exponential growth in some of the larger markets, and I'm like, this is crazy, but it's happening.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_01: All you have to do is pay attention to what's going on.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I'm I'm curious to know if that would be the same with commercial, too.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not sure.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_01: I dabble my toe in there, and occasionally I get someone to give me a combo about, you know, hey, this is what's going on.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes I get sometimes I get juicy bits, and then other times no.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_00: Uh we'll we'll to be continued on the commercial side of that because again, that's a totally different business structure.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_00: But how do we go about doing the whole sprinkle them out of the little a little bit out of time?
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_00: Is do you feel like it's a face-to-face?
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_01: That's a good question.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_01: If you're small and you're able to do it face to face, and this is mentioned in the boot camp.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_01: People don't like to say no to your face.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_01: So you have more of a probability of them saying yes.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_01: Or we've all heard it.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I've heard it.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, I need to discuss this with my husband.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_01: I understand completely that the household this comes out of the household budget.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_01: At least let me know.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_01: I'll circle back around in seven days.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_01: How's that sound?
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_01: And if they say no, don't circle back, then you already have your answer.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_01: If they say, okay, circle back, and they still give you the I don't know.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_01: I would like mark, I would take my schedule and I would whiteline it in your digital calendar system or whatever.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_01: It says check back here, last chance, and then just pull them off the schedule for the following year if they don't want to commit.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_01: And it's it's okay.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_01: Just let people know it's okay.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe we can revisit this in six months.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe you try someone who's more budget friendly, but you have operating costs, and the only way for you to operate and not bankrupt yourself is to keep increasing those prices.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_01: Because I guarantee the big boys, the ones that are doing$10 million a year,$7 million a year,$8 million a year, those guys aren't sweating it because it's just an automatic thing.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_01: And those guys are giving increases across the board all at once because they have groomed their clientele to accept the price increase.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_01: I've also heard people talk about anniversary dates.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_01: If you want, if you're freaking out about times and dates, when you put them in there on your job or whatever, you could put it under as a task and it says Mrs.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_01: Smith's starting date, and that, and then at one year you can say, Hey, happy anniversary.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_01: I'm giving you a price increase.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_01: And here is a coupon for an oven cleaning.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_00: Sandwich, good, bad, good, right?
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I want to, yeah, yeah.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_00: Kind of that's kind of like the sandwich method.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_00: It is the sandwich method.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, it is.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_00: What I'm talking about, you guys.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_00: I learned that from my coach, uh, which is the sandwich method.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_00: Something good, happy anniversary.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_00: Something bad, price increase.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_00: And it's not bad.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_00: It's not bad because look, my insurance just went up.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_00: Uh uh across about my general liability and my work comp.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_00: I'm I still have to give pay raises because I got some superstar cleaning technicians out there, and uh, don't forget that I live in California.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_00: Minimum wage here starts.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_00: This is minimum wage, and it goes up January 1st.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_00: It goes up to$18.50 an hour.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_00: $18.50.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so uh I you can't pay them minimum wage, you know.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_01: I think flag staff is going up to$21 this year up in Flag.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um it's mostly college based.
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_00: That's the workforce up there, but yeah, I think it's you just feel like, oh my gosh, I can't pay you can't pay them minimum wage, or even a dollar over minimum wage.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm not saying uh that you start them off at$25 an hour.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's almost the norm, unless you're in the middle of the what is it, middle of the states.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_00: What is that area called?
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_00: Like Kansas and all that.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_00: That's middle America.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_00: Seven, seven, they're what seven federal is seven dollars an hour.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_00: So I I can see them, you know, whenever they hear twenty-five dollars an hour.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_00: What uh you know, it's a skill trade, yeah, and they're paying their their employees like$13,$14,$15 an hour, you know, which is fine, but just remember that we still have to give price increases because of all of our price increases, everything in our business increases supplies, supplies have gone up, and December is telling you get it before so that they can wrap their heads around it before Christmas hits, whenever the wallets are.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_00: Opened everything's peachy and and dandy.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_00: They've now budgeted in.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_00: They know that you're getting ready to do your price increase, your your yearly price increase in December before everything hits.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_00: Do not wait until after, because that's whenever they second guess themselves, like, well, we're just gonna we need to just cut this, you know.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's that's the the rough that's the rough shot of how to actually do a price increase.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_01: It's highly recommended.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_01: You don't have to, but don't come to me later going, I'm not making any money.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, did you do it?
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_01: When was the last time you did a price increase?
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_01: The very first two first questions I ask you is, what did you gross last year?
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_01: I ask every single person.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_01: Someone's like, I'm not telling you.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, okay, don't tell me, I don't care.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_01: And when was the last time you gave a price increase?
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_00: Well no, whenever you hire a coach, that's the first thing all of them are gonna ask you, you guys.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_00: What's your numbers?
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_00: And if you don't know what's your acquisition, what's your you you you you gotta learn this stuff?
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_00: And that's what's great about hiring a coach is you will learn, and whenever you get the homework to oh, what are my numbers?
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_00: What are my percentages?
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_00: What it what's my what is my net income?
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_00: What's my gross income?
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_00: How much how much percentage of uh of am I paying towards employment, employing people?
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_00: It starts breaking, you start breaking it down, and then you realize, well, we're not making any money.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_00: I'm on I'm in the red every month, so or you're not paying yourself a paycheck.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_01: That sucks too.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_01: That that does suck, and I'm working all these crazy hours out in the field with them, and you're still not making money.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_00: The yes, well, and the very first thing that you need to learn to do before you even is learn to pay yourself from the get-go.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_00: Learn how to pay yourself because let me tell you, I didn't.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_00: I thought that I had no idea.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_00: It was the first couple of months before I even had a coach, I was all over the place.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't know what I was doing, and it it intertwines.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're making out of your business account or it's all in one account, if you're making your car payments, rent, your phone, you are technically paying yourself.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_01: You just don't just an owner's draw.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you just don't feel like it, but you are technically paying yourself.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_01: Anyway, that's a little off topic.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_00: We can talk about that one day, and yeah, no, and it's but this is why we need to consider doing price increases in December.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_00: Like Shannon said, it's such a psychological thing.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_00: People's hearts are super warm and fuzzy, and they want to help, and they want they they want the help, they don't want to lose the help.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_00: So they're definitely opened, very opened to a price increase in December.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_00: Believe it or not.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_01: Obviously, any questions, reach out.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_01: Our doors are always open.
• 26:42
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• 26:43
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• 26:52
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• 26:55
  SPEAKER_01: Again, we love, love, love you guys, and we hope that you guys have a great holiday season.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_01: Woo-hoo.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_01: Bye.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_01: If this episode helped you rethink how to handle price increases, do us a favor.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_01: Leave us a five-star review.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_01: Those reviews tell the podcast platforms that cleaning business life is worth sharing with other cleaning business owners just like you.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_01: And if you're ready to stop guessing and start pricing with confidence, head on over to Clean Freaks University.com.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_01: That's where we break down this step by step with scripts, systems, and real world strategies that actually work.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_01: We appreciate you.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_01: We're rooting for you, and we'll see you in the next episode.