Facebook scammers are once again trying to take advantage of curious users who want to see a juicy video. This time it’s a woman who apparently did something unheard of on a beach. This is a scam. There is no video. Don’t click it, don’t Like it, and don’t Share it.

This particular scam says something along the lines of “[Video] – Look what this girl is wearing at the beach in front of thousands of people!” followed by a fraudulent link. It also has the following description: “During the summer holidays, this girl took the opportunity to do something unheard of! I bet no one can do the same.”

The link takes you to what appears to be a video embedded on what looks like a Facebook webpage. Both are fake. The scammers’ goal is to drive more traffic towards certain sites. This is how the scammer earns his or her money: a commission for every survey completed, every product purchased, and/or every account compromised. You’re also told to share the link with all of your Facebook friends, as well as add a comment. The next webpage urges you to sign up for a premium rate mobile phone service, complete an online survey, and/or buy some pills. Last but not least, they also use the scams to spread malware and obtain personal information.

As a general word of caution, don’t click on everything your Facebook friends share on the social network. If you see a scam like this one, report it. Then go check your Messages and Wall to make sure you’re not spreading the scam; the sooner you clean it up, Unlike all relevant Pages, and uninstall all relevant Apps, the better. You can also contact Facebook Security if you’d like to.

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Related posts:

1. OCIBR Video Contest
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Article source: http://ocibr.com/facebook-scam-video-look-what-this-girl-is-wearing-at-the-beach-in-front-of-thousands-of-people/341/

Posted on 15 May 2012. Tags: accountability, cleaning equipment, cleaning methods, customer eyeglasses, first impression, marketing to women, motivating carpet cleaning technicians, personal grooming, shoes, uniforms, wardrobe

Most of us clean floors. (That’s where the dirt is- duh!) So when the client watches the work the technician’s shoes will be constantly in view.

Especially for women the type and condition of the shoes worn say a lot about an employee. So it is important to control and monitor tech’s shoes AND their condition.

Strike a deal with a local shoe store so your employees can select from a range of approved quality work shoes.

So who pays? Sorry to say it but very likely legally you are on the hook! The good news? If you buy the shoes THEN you can specify your employees must wear them.

NOTE: Your investment in professional shoes will be easily recouped by the negative Moments of Truth you avoid. How? By banning the typical dirty, worn out, flapping sole “technician tennis shoe”!

Once your employees are properly shod make sure their shoes are consistently clean and shining:

1.  Place a stand-up electric shoe buffer by the back door. (With a mirror placed at floor level behind it.)

2.  Make sure each truck has personal shoe shine pads (like the ones found in motels) on board.

3.  Add a shoe shine check to your “Employee Accountability” spot checks.

4.  Don’t forget to wear shoe covers and especially so on the newly cleaned carpets. Even better, give the homeowner a pair for every family member. But even with the covers your employee’s shoe condition counts.

NOTE:  My thanks to Ian Thomas of Jan-King, Bushey Herts, England for this great reminder.

If you are hosting videos of your carpet cleaning prowess on your website (and you really should be) then PLEASE make sure the tech running the cleaning wand has clean, shined shoes!

So my challenge to you:  Look (I mean really look!) at your employee’s shoes. My guess is it will be a scary experience! Now think about your customers enduring the same view…

So what in-home dress and grooming details do you focus on?

Steve Toburen

Every week we share a timely, practical tip like the above. So if you’re not already signed up for these FREE weekly QuickTIPS, do so now.

Also new this week:

• Introducing SFS QuickFIXs – Simple solutions that pay off BIG
• What kind of listener are you?
• Spring “Open House” marketing
• Can you give me a “Just Starting Out” checklist?
• “Batting lessons” for business owners- Part 2

Related posts:

1. “Carefully Clean” technicians create Cheerleaders!
2. Should I wear a bow tie when cleaning?
3. “Introduce” your carpet cleaning technicians to the home owner BEFORE they ring the door bell
4. Give away “booties” and make a Cheerleader!
5. 1 display of care plus 2 simple gifts equals guaranteed Cheerleaders

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SFSquicktips/~3/Brmlk997mS0/focus-on-your-technicians-shoes

 

I’m booked out solid for two weeks now with very little wiggle room. That for me is swamped because every day people call and want me there ASAP and when I book them way out there they want me to call if there is a cancellation. That’s just the way it goes. I’m glad that Ken operates such a bang up business that I can confidentially refer any custys who absolutely need work done tomorrow to Hagopian and know they will do a good professional job.-Art Kelly, Michigan

The latest style in jeans is to purchase them softened, worn, faded, and actually torn.   These “Vintage Destroyed Washed Jeans” are so popular that it can be difficult to find jeans that are not in such condition, especially in stores that cater to the youth market.

However, you can be certain that this style would not be considered to be attractive or desirable in furniture fabrics!

I recently had a discussion with a cleaner who was asked to clean denim furniture that had been exposed to sunlight, water, and mold damage.  While his primary concerns were how to clean the fabric in such a way as to remove the water stains and mold, I steered the conversation to the most important part of the issue:

For complete article, please visit…
http://www.ecleanadvisor.com/public/936.cfm

Article source: http://www.jimscleanchat.com/vintage-destroyed-washed-furniture/

Posted on 08 May 2012. Tags: business cards, carpet cleaning marketing, FREE Lifetime Spotter, guerilla marketing, marketing, new carpet cleaning customers, real estate agent, realtors

In today’s slower market real estate agents know that fresh, clean, sparkling carpets can make all the difference when they host an Open House.

And springtime is when people get the itch to buy a new home.  So market this special offer to your real estate agents:

Book a full house cleaning with us and we’ll include a FREE “touch up” carpet cleaning after your listings first “Open House”.

By getting the home owner your special offer “free bonus” touch-up carpet cleaning the real estate agent is now a hero. Plus the home will sell faster and for more money.

Remember, this touch up cleaning will take you very little time.  (Probably dry vacuuming in the traffic areas with a bit of extraction cleaning at the home’s entrance.)  Even better, with the lock box code you can do both cleanings on your schedule AND when you are in the area.  Everyone wins!

NOTE:  Ask the real estate agent if you can leave some business cards on the kitchen counter. Or even better a small sign that says:  ”Take a free Spotter for Life bottle with our compliments.” Now everyone that walks through the open house will take your custom labeled Spot Out bottle with your name, phone number and website!

This free touch up cleaning offer is a great way to grab real estate agent’s attention and break into a new market. So give it a try and report back here with your results.

Steve

Every week we share a timely, practical tip like the above. So if you’re not already signed up for these FREE weekly QuickTIPS, do so now.

Also new this week:

• Can you give me a “Just Starting Out” checklist?
• “Batting lessons” for business owners- Part 2
• Carry all your small items in a rectangular bucket
• Strategies for Success Seminar- April, 2012 (Jon-Don Dallas, TX)
• “Batting lessons” for business owners- Part 1

Related posts:

1. Spring really may be just around the corner …
2. Marketing with low AND high technology …
3. Throw in the towel and keep your phone ringing!
4. Tweaking a great carpet cleaning marketing tool: “The refrigerator magnet”-Part II
5. Brand Sense- marketing cleaning services through the five senses

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SFSquicktips/~3/RXuR-2DGjms/spring-open-house-marketing

Machine made wool carpet that is installed on the floor cannot be immersion cleaned and dried like an area rug, and it’s face yarns and backing yarns should never be cleaned like a synthetic fiber carpet that has synthetic fiber backing.

What technicians tend to overlook is that “Wool Safe” products are not necessarily “Jute/Cotton Safe”!  These two cellulose fibers may be present in the backing yarns of the carpet, and if exposed to even mild detergents and water for too long of a  period of time could brown out.

If this browning wicks into wool face yarns, it can be incredibly difficult to remove.

For complete article, please visit…
http://www.ecleanadvisor.com/public/934.cfm

Article source: http://www.jimscleanchat.com/wool-safe-is-not-operator-safe/

Posted on 01 May 2012. Tags: cleaning chemicals, cleaning equipment, cleaning methods, cleaning pricing profit, efficiency, On The Job, production, systems, time management

Better efficiency means you will “Make More Money”(MMM) on each job. (This MMM principle applies to restoration, residential and commercial cleaning along with Jon-Don’s new concrete prep division.)

One way to get more efficient? Just make fewer trips to the truck. Yet you still need all your small tools/chemicals with you. You’ll achieve both of these goals when you …

Load all your spray bottles, spotters, tamping brushes, groomers, towels and micro-fiber mops into a rectangular 6 gallon bucket. Now all your small items are carried in one trip and stay with you during the job.

So why not use the old reliable- a five gallon bucket? Because a rectangle is much more efficient volume-wise than a round bucket. A six gallon rectangular bucket will carry more, stow better in your truck, not tip over and be easier to lug around!

Now a question for you … how do you get more efficient on the job? Please share your tips with your buddies “down in the trenches”. As I always say, “We’re all in this together!”

Steve Toburen

Every week we share a timely, practical tip like the above. So if you’re not already signed up for these FREE weekly QuickTIPS, do so now.

Also new this week:

• Strategies for Success Seminar- April, 2012 (Jon-Don Dallas, TX)
• “Batting lessons” for business owners- Part 1
• Avoiding the “Mirror Test” in hiring employees
• Do you PLAN your marketing?
• Become a “partner” with your adjuster

Related posts:

1. TOP TEN List Idea #8: Get more efficient on the job.
2. Is your cleaning business a “leaky bucket”?
3. Swap out gallon jugs instead of refilling them
4. TOP TEN List Idea #9- Travel smarter.
5. Avoiding the “broken machine with the client watching” nightmare!

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SFSquicktips/~3/17VbvlVAF9I/carry-all-your-small-items-in-a-rectangular-bucket

Once testing, inspection, and qualification have told you “What It Is”, “How it is Made”, “What Happened To It”, and “Why Does Your Customer Want it Cleaned”, now you need to determine the products you will need to use.

The wide variety of products available and/or casually labeled for upholstery cleaning can create confusion that not only makes your cleaning product choice difficult, but could also result in bad decisions that may result in poor results at best, or cause damage claims as a worst case scenario!

For complete article, please visit…
http://www.ecleanadvisor.com/public/932.cfm

Article source: http://www.jimscleanchat.com/simplify-your-upholstery-cleaning-system-ii/

Posted on 24 April 2012. Tags: business questions, carpet cleaning technician, customer concerns, customer eyeglasses, employees, family safety, hiring, lawsuit, security, two technicians on truck

Too often we use the famous Mirror Test that Chuck Violand warns about in his hiring section in SFS:  ”If the applicant’s breath can fog a mirror then they are hired!” Just hiring “warm bodies” is wrong on so many levels.  Avoid “desperation hiring” by following Big Billy Yeadon’s tip:

Ask yourself:  “Would I have this person over for dinner?” If you don’t feel comfortable socially with an individual WHY would you send them into your client’s homes?

Even more importantly, analyze all of your current (and future) employees with Steve’s Deep-Down-In-Your-Gut-question:  “How would I feel about this technician working alone in MY home with MY wife?” And once again, if you don’t feel good about someone being alone with your wife then WHY would you inflict them on your trusting customers?

NOTE:  I realize this stuff is not the happiest subject.  But some (many?) of us are in denial on a few of our employees.  For an example of the very real moral, ethical and financial penalties of sending marginal service technicians into your client’s homes just CLICK HERE.

So what hiring tips can you share in the Comments Section below?

Steve Toburen

Every week we share a timely, practical tip like the above. So if you’re not already signed up for these FREE weekly QuickTIPS, do so now.

Also new this week:

• Do you PLAN your marketing?
• Become a “partner” with your adjuster
• How can I get the BIG property management accounts?
• Hey Business Owner: “Who’s your boss?”

Related posts:

1. Hiring the “right” carpet cleaning technician
2. Hiring outside your “Comfort Zone”- Part 1
3. Hiring outside your “Comfort Zone”- Part 2
4. Employees blossom in a family oriented environment
5. How can you motivate your carpet cleaning or restoration employees?

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SFSquicktips/~3/zqmCeZqIO3c/avoiding-the-mirror-test-in-hiring-employees

One of the primary reasons carpet cleaners shy away from upholstery cleaning (despite the fact that they usually call themselves “__________ Carpet and Upholstery Cleaners” is that upholstery cleaning has many more variables than carpet cleaning, and therefore making it a bit more difficult to create a simple, easy to follow cleaning system for  upholstery than it is for cleaning carpet.

And, while that is true, there are some things you can do…

For complete article, please visit…
http://www.ecleanadvisor.com/public/930.cfm

Article source: http://www.jimscleanchat.com/simplify-your-upholstery-cleaning-system-part-1/