Clean as a Whistle and my new customer

daniel@procarpet · Oct 27, 2009

A lady just called me and said she went to oprah.com and learned about clean as a whistle. She was excited about their service because they won carpet cleaner of the year award etc. and asked what method they reccommended. Basically she was learning about the industry and how a legitimate company should charge. They referred her to a compnay in Nashville, but she is in Memphis. She got my number from a friend at her work when they started talking about carpet cleaning. She asked if I did a 12 step program, used truck mounted equipment, and charged enough to do a good job. I was ecstatic talking with her because I finally had someone on the phone who would appreciate my knowledge and good work. She booked an appointment with me after calling several other well known companies in the area including SS and CD. I am going to have her whole law firm using me before the hollidays guaranteed.

By the way I read in a thread earlier someone grossed 1 million dollars but only kept around 200k. That is good and sad at the same time. A well structured business should be able to gross 350-400k and net the owner well over 200k. This can be done with one full time truck and a second part time truck. Everytime I think about restructuring my business the phone starts ringing with referrals. I am just going to stay the course and advertise a little more to my target audience. That is the fastest way to put 200k in my bank account.

Cameron1 · Oct 27, 2009

I would like to buy your business plan. Your knowledge of #'s is exactly what I have been seeking for 31 years. Please send your paypal account info.
Thanks

Chris A · Oct 28, 2009

steve said:
I would like to buy your business plan. Your knowledge of #'s is exactly what I have been seeking for 31 years. Please send your paypal account info.
Thanks

LOL Steve!

-JB- · Oct 28, 2009

Ed · Oct 28, 2009

Daniel, do you do those #'s and keep that percentage as compensation? If so, I'm with Steve. We do more than your target gross and I don't keep anywhere near $200,000.

Charlie Lyman · Oct 28, 2009

I'm glad we are able to take this time to pause and appreciate Oprah for all she has done for America.

Cameron1 · Oct 28, 2009

Charles Lyman said:
I'm glad we are able to take this time to pause and appreciate Oprah for all she has done for America.

ROFLMAO

Brian R · Oct 28, 2009

Charles Lyman said:
I'm glad we are able to take this time to pause and appreciate Oprah for all she has done for America.

You mean TO America, Right?

Brian R · Oct 28, 2009

Isn't Clean as a Whistle owned by that guy who is in prison now...or just got out...for fraud and all that?

Didn't we have a vid posted about him on here somewhere?

ACE · Oct 28, 2009

Brian Robison said:
Isn't Clean as a Whistle owned by that guy who is in prison now...or just got out...for fraud and all that?

Didn't we have a vid posted about him on here somewhere?

First I’ve heard of it but if that’s true please post a link.

Brian R · Oct 28, 2009

Never mind....it was ZZZZbest Carpet Cleaning

l]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6GAZN0f20Ml]

Chris A · Oct 28, 2009

Clean as a Whistle is Howard Partridges' company.

Brian R · Oct 28, 2009

Yea that's right...oops.

Cerebral Flatulence

daniel@procarpet · Oct 28, 2009

Ed said:
Daniel, do you do those #'s and keep that percentage as compensation? If so, I'm with Steve. We do more than your target gross and I don't keep anywhere near $200,000.

Ed I am nowhere near anything close to those numbers, but what makes me different is I do the work or atleast the majority of the work and I know if I work smart I can gross over 250k a year and keep more than a company with a lot of employees or subs doing double the gross. I am smart enough to know that. When you stop doing the work you have to add a lot more revenue to make up the added expense of having employees etc. I don't want to get into a debate on this subject, but trust me I will make 200k profit in the near future and do that with a lot less gross. I can see how a compnay with a lot of employees, lots of advertsing, insurance, and taxes could burn away all their profit. Who cares what you gross. It's all about what you can put in your bank account and keep it there.

I am open to opinions as I am still learning all I can though.

The point of this thread was to point out that some people may hate HP but the man has an incredible business and gets higher prices on average than any of us will ever dream of getting. I mean if he has Oprah promoting his business he must know what he is doing. I heard all Oprah has to do is fart on a book and it will sell a million copies. :lol:

My new customer was better educated and wants a great cleaning thanks to Oprah and Clean as a Whistle. She knows she could call Stanly, but she want to go with King D**k or atleast the best in this hood.

Greg Cole · Oct 28, 2009

danielc said:
By the way I read in a thread earlier someone grossed 1 million dollars but only kept around 200k. That is good and sad at the same time. A well structured business should be able to gross 350-400k and net the owner well over 200k. This can be done with one full time truck and a second part time truck. Everytime I think about restructuring my business the phone starts ringing with referrals. I am just going to stay the course and advertise a little more to my target audience. That is the fastest way to put 200k in my bank account.

Net to owner: $200K on $350k - Doable but NOT sustainable. What happens when you are sick? Want a vacation? Injured? Truck breaks down? I know very few O&O's that pull those numbers and net that much. You are working your butt off to do that and I seriously don't know how you'd afford a part-time truck and maintain that profit margin. Actually is impossible if you factor in the true cost of the additional truck, wear & tear, etc.

$200k on a 1 mill business (owner can be removed and it still fucntions) isn't terrible. Should be closer to $250k(25%). Once he gets it over 1.5 mill he'll see it jump to 30-33% max.

Cameron1 · Oct 29, 2009

Having been there ....done that.............. I can say this with first hand knowledge with no if's, and's, or but's.

I keep more money with 7 employees than I ever did with 0ne,two,three, four or five. It is also possible to net more than the Violand's Industry standard examples.

Ed · Oct 29, 2009

Greg pretty much nailed it, said what I was going to say. You may hit those #'s, but sustainability is highly doubtful due to the resons Greg listed and burn out. Daniel, I've been in this business for 25 years. I've been an owner operator, an independent and a multi-truck franchise. I'm certainly not the poster child nor benchmark for how anyone's business should be run, but I do think that I'm a fairly grounded, honest person. I've bought most of the marketing packages out there, including Howard's. Howard is a nice guy I'm sure. I've spoken to him once on the phone. It cost me $300 to speak with him, of which the 1st 30 minutes consisted of me listening to him drive his Lexus through traffic and complain about it and apologize that he wasn't in his office, sitting behind his desk, ready and willing to give me his undivided attention. As he should have as this was 9 years ago when I was not in any financial shape to be spending $300 on a phone call. But most of my experience has been purchased, one way or another. I never recieved a dime of my $300 back, and quite frankly don't want it. It was a $300 lesson on marketing gurus. I'm sure Howard is a nice guy. I'm sure he runs an awesome business, but the fact is, his business model is NOT sustainable in the majority of markets. The high end carpet cleaning market is a very small slice of the pie (contrary to what many industry experts would lead you to believe). You have to be in a very large metropolitan area to have enough of a customer base to pull from so that you can find those few who are willing to pay such a high price for cleaning. Most of Howards "strategies" (and all other marketing gurus for that matter) are not history changing revelations. They are business 101.

Now, I'm not trying to discourage you from your goal or your dreams. In fact I hope you prove me wrong. But the reality of it is, there are VERY FEW wealthy carpet cleaners! There are very few that make what most folks would term "good money". These boards are full of Bill Gates and Warren Buffets cleaning carpets. You CAN make a very good living and save for your retirement if you are a motivated, diciplined individual. There are many pitfalls alond the way as Greg pointed out, but it can be done. It takes more commitment and sleepless nights to go the multi-truck/employee route, but it's safer in the long run and as Steve said, I definitely make more money as a business person with employees than I did as an owner/operator and I hope I never have to go back to being an owner/operator. Presently I have employees that make more than me. I chose this becuase I take as much as I need to pay my personal needs, the rest has been re-invested in my company to get it to the debt free state it is in now, and to continue to strengthen it, so that in the next 5 years I'll be joining Greg for beers whereever he invites me.

Good luck.

P.S. I KNOW Marty didn't read this post.

Greg Cole · Oct 29, 2009

Ed,
Well spoken! You summed it up perfectly! AND we don't have to wait 5 years - I look forward to meeting you are the next trade show,'

'-Greg

Chris A · Oct 30, 2009

steve said:
Having been there ....done that.............. I can say this with first hand knowledge with no if's, and's, or but's.

I keep more money with 7 employees than I ever did with 0ne,two,three, four or five. It is also possible to net more than the Violand's Industry standard examples.

What was the breakdown Steve? As in, when did you keep the second most money, third, etc...? Were there points where you thought, Jeez I should have stayed an O/O?

Ed · Oct 30, 2009

I look forward to it Greg.

Chris A · Oct 31, 2009

Ed said:
Greg pretty much nailed it, said what I was going to say. You may hit those #'s, but sustainability is highly doubtful due to the resons Greg listed and burn out. Daniel, I've been in this business for 25 years. I've been an owner operator, an independent and a multi-truck franchise. I'm certainly not the poster child nor benchmark for how anyone's business should be run, but I do think that I'm a fairly grounded, honest person. I've bought most of the marketing packages out there, including Howard's. Howard is a nice guy I'm sure. I've spoken to him once on the phone. It cost me $300 to speak with him, of which the 1st 30 minutes consisted of me listening to him drive his Lexus through traffic and complain about it and apologize that he wasn't in his office, sitting behind his desk, ready and willing to give me his undivided attention. As he should have as this was 9 years ago when I was not in any financial shape to be spending $300 on a phone call. But most of my experience has been purchased, one way or another. I never recieved a dime of my $300 back, and quite frankly don't want it. It was a $300 lesson on marketing gurus. I'm sure Howard is a nice guy. I'm sure he runs an awesome business, but the fact is, his business model is NOT sustainable in the majority of markets. The high end carpet cleaning market is a very small slice of the pie (contrary to what many industry experts would lead you to believe). You have to be in a very large metropolitan area to have enough of a customer base to pull from so that you can find those few who are willing to pay such a high price for cleaning. Most of Howards "strategies" (and all other marketing gurus for that matter) are not history changing revelations. They are business 101.

Now, I'm not trying to discourage you from your goal or your dreams. In fact I hope you prove me wrong. But the reality of it is, there are VERY FEW wealthy carpet cleaners! There are very few that make what most folks would term "good money". These boards are full of Bill Gates and Warren Buffets cleaning carpets. You CAN make a very good living and save for your retirement if you are a motivated, diciplined individual. There are many pitfalls alond the way as Greg pointed out, but it can be done. It takes more commitment and sleepless nights to go the multi-truck/employee route, but it's safer in the long run and as Steve said, I definitely make more money as a business person with employees than I did as an owner/operator and I hope I never have to go back to being an owner/operator. Presently I have employees that make more than me. I chose this becuase I take as much as I need to pay my personal needs, the rest has been re-invested in my company to get it to the debt free state it is in now, and to continue to strengthen it, so that in the next 5 years I'll be joining Greg for beers whereever he invites me.

Good luck.

P.S. I KNOW Marty didn't read this post.

Ed I was with you up until the part where you said you have employees making more than you... oh I see, re-investing, never mind...

-JB- · Oct 31, 2009

You CAN make a very good living and save for your retirement if you are a motivated, disciplined individual.

That is one of the best pieces of advice I've ever seen offered on here, and the most difficult for most to accomplish.

daniel@procarpet · Oct 31, 2009

I did an estimate/clean for this lady today. After inspecting the carpet I told her the total would be 289. She looked at me kinda strange and said "are you sure about that price? The last company (Chem Hack) charged me 700 dollars and I was not pleased with the job they did. SS left my carpet wet for three days. How can you clean my carpet and do a good job for that price?" In disbelief I replied "well mam that price doesn't include protector and if you want I can clean some upholstery for you and we will be close to the 700 dollar mark. By the way my overhead is a lot lower than the larger companies so I can take my time and do a better job for the same price or less" So 3.5 hours later I collected my 700 dollar check and left plenty of cards for her big party next week. Sometimes just running a vacuum around and not leaving the carpet soaking wet is all it takes to make a customer think you are the greatest cleaner in the world. I guess I need to raise my prices slightly because I have been getting the "thats all it is" quite a bit. On the other hand I am making money and my customers are happy.

Greg and Ed. You guys are both right. I am also right as well. I can easily gross close to 4 grand a week with the right or should I say just average customers with a decent part time helper working 5 days a week and keep a lot more money. This is only possible with a referral based company. Sure I could spend several thousand dollars a month targeting one time clean customers and make good money. Eventually I will restructure my business, but for now I am going to stay on the truck, keep my overhead as low as possible, and focus on referrals. I wouldn't mind having an army of porty hacks to supplement my income as well targeting areas I don't want to work in anyways. Maybe in the future.

Ed · Oct 31, 2009

Daniel, sounds like you have a plan my man and that's more than the vast majority. I hope you exceed all of your goals. I don't think anyone PLANS on spending lots of money for 1 time customers. It happens to all of us. None of us keep all the customers we clean for. And some customers will continue to use a company even if they aren't thrilled with the price, value or service. There's more than 1 way to succeed in this business and there are even more ways to fail. If you are a planner and a follower of plans and stay disciplined, you can make very good money and not kill yourself as an owner operator, or a multi-truck employee business. Personally, I do things the old fashioned way...the hard way. I've bought a lot of experience in my time and still do on occassion, but I seem to learn best when the lesson hurts.

Good luck.

Cameron1 · Nov 1, 2009

Chris Adkins said:
steve said:

Having been there ....done that.............. I can say this with first hand knowledge with no if's, and's, or but's.

I keep more money with 7 employees than I ever did with 0ne,two,three, four or five. It is also possible to net more than the Violand's Industry standard examples.

Click to expand...

What was the breakdown Steve? As in, when did you keep the second most money, third, etc...?
2nd. most was with me on the truck with a full time helper and a lead tech with helper running 2nd. truck.
3rd. most was lead tech with helper and me on 2nd. truck with no helper.

Were there points where you thought, Jeez I should have stayed an O/O?

You bet there were and still are. Some times I relish the thought of no employees.

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