Mikey P
Administrator
The Strategies For Success program is a perfect example of how any business should be ran. Charming, personable well educated employees who go way out of their way to help its "customers" and to make cheerleaders out of each and every one of them.
The whole presentation was done with class, finesse and a caring professionalism that keeps you hanging on the teacher's every word. Chuck, Bill and Steve have their act down. While the time spent in the classroom seat can be long, the information shared along with their anecdotes keeps the full days moving right along.
Nick and his crew do a first class job at keeping the students happy and very well fed. Great food (even for a Vegetarian), a comfortable well stocked classroom, prizes, well paid presenters, two arm fulls of extremely valuable material to take home too boot. As well as a great group BBQ dinner at a nice riverside restaurant, daily shuttle service to and from the hotel and the Jon Don location and much more makes it very obvious that Jon Don does not only not make any money off these sessions but probably looses quite a bit. I can only assume that they make it back in scores by creating a dedicated cheerleader out of us students. I will certainly be ordering more from them more in the future.
Angela (Nicks daughter) Parthavie (sp?) and Glen Evans could not have done a better job at making sure the Big Show went as planned. I hope I can learn from them to make MikeFest run tighter next year.
I have never been to a facility of the size of this Jon Don before so I was amazed at its size and selection. As I walked the isles I couldn’t help but miss some of the items that a High Performance cleaner would want. Like 2.5 hoses, Parflex pressure hose, Gglides for all those wands they sell and upholstery tools, cotton pads and bonnets, a better selection of rotaries and a OP machine or two, the new Airpath and I hate to say it, real Cool Cuffs, those yellow knock offs are a insult to my intelligence. I could only imagine myself being an employee there and getting them up to date (Nick made me a job offer that was hard to refuse but I think it was the Chianti talking) I guess in time when the Pimp yo Truckmount thing gets more popular they will jump on board and stock these parts.
Day one with Chuck Violand was spent covering all sorts of ways to make your company financially more efficient. Topics like balance sheets, P & L’s, job costing, employee compensation, material cost analysis, hiring and firing and various other ways to crunch the numbers made me very glad I brought my wife (and office manager) along for the ride. My technically oriented mind would have had a real problem bringing home all this information and relaying it to her effectively. She kept great notes and is excited to get busy implementing much of what was taught ASAP. Could I have just handed her the manual and hoped that she figured it out?
Probably..
But learning this type of stuff (she is not a professional accountant by any means) in a class room setting really does help one get it ingrained in their minds.
Chuck had a CD full of spreadsheets and forms that he designed for us rug suckers for sale that we will be sure to order. His mentoring/coaching service was also mentioned.
Day two was spent with Big Bill Yeadon at the helm. Billy is a great entertainer and his dreams of one day hitting the stage as a back up singer for Ted Nugent really became apparent in his lively stage presence.
Topics covered were everything you need to know to design your own ad, whether it is a yellow page ad, Val Pak coupon, flyer or a direct mail piece. Website design, radio, TV and the back of a super market receipt is all discussed in detail. Bill is a life long student of advertising science. He recommended many books that should be read by any cleaner including Waldo and Ken Snow.
To be honest this day held my attention the least, as I currently do not need to market my company much. But I suspect that if I do just 20% of what Chuck and Steve taught, I’ll be back to review Bill’s lessons in detail. Many of Jon Don’s DVD and marketing pieces were offered for sale through out Bill’s presentation.
Days three, four and five had the king of all Seminar Presenters on stage. Steve Toburen is a master at relaying his message. His knowledge is amazing to say the least. I suggested that when he gets his Mikey Vac tattoo next week (my treat) that he gets the saying “Been there, done that” inked right below it.
Everyone I talked to or overheard said he was the best presenter they had ever experienced. Not to take anything away from Bill or Chuck but SFS IS Steve Toburen. I can’t imagine how they will continue the program with out him. I would highly, highly recommend you attend it before Steve moves on.
PS. Topics covered included Value Added Service (going a step or ten further then your competition), Creating cheerleaders out of your customers, building a infrastructure (systems) for your business and again, his stuff works for a OO like Waldo or a mega multi like Ken Snow.
The Service Circle concept is discussed over his 3 days in full detail. Making sure that from the moment your customer or client calls to when they get the thank you card in the mail the next week, all is handled with a precision that lets you control and direct her buying experience. Steve goes into great detail on how to assembly line of sorts to deal with the “hand off” between those steps so you don’t stumble and create a “Negative Moment of Truth”.
Dealing with employees gets a lot of time. Everything form hiring, firing and keeping them fat and content is dealt with great detail.
Upselling, particularly with fabric protectors is also given plenty of plenty of time. I have no problem with selling the stuff and even I learned some good stuff.
A “Stay Beautiful” or Forever Clean program was discussed in great detail. It’s hard to argue with the math when Steve lays it out.
Commercial contracts are also gone over with loads of detail as are Fire, Water and Smoke work. Nothing was really missed and if you had further questions Steve was and is available to talk about any individual concerns. Like any other class of this nature there were a few guys in class who had a anecdote or question far too often. Chuck, Bill and Steve dealt with them very well. Actually it hurt my feelings when Island Boy would roll his eyes when my arm went up every third time. Steve really didn’t have anything for sale other then some old CDs he made way before SFS came to be. One lucky guy won them for a good idea he had that will be included into future SFS workbooks.
Is SFS for everyone?
For the most part, yes it is. If you own a Carpet Cleaning biz and you want to do better, whether that be just more profit from your one truck show. Or you need to get your 6 or 26 truck show more on track and want ways to save on advertising by creating cheerleaders out of your customers then by all means sign up today.
If you’re the type of guy who already knows it all, is content with owning your job and couldn’t be happier with the results that your Val Pak or YP ad already does then by all means don’t waste your time.
I for one couldn’t be happier with what I got out of the class. Like I told Lisa when we talked today. Even if I came home empty handed I would be satisfied. All the extra stuff is just a real thick icing on a very sweet cake.
The whole presentation was done with class, finesse and a caring professionalism that keeps you hanging on the teacher's every word. Chuck, Bill and Steve have their act down. While the time spent in the classroom seat can be long, the information shared along with their anecdotes keeps the full days moving right along.
Nick and his crew do a first class job at keeping the students happy and very well fed. Great food (even for a Vegetarian), a comfortable well stocked classroom, prizes, well paid presenters, two arm fulls of extremely valuable material to take home too boot. As well as a great group BBQ dinner at a nice riverside restaurant, daily shuttle service to and from the hotel and the Jon Don location and much more makes it very obvious that Jon Don does not only not make any money off these sessions but probably looses quite a bit. I can only assume that they make it back in scores by creating a dedicated cheerleader out of us students. I will certainly be ordering more from them more in the future.
Angela (Nicks daughter) Parthavie (sp?) and Glen Evans could not have done a better job at making sure the Big Show went as planned. I hope I can learn from them to make MikeFest run tighter next year.
I have never been to a facility of the size of this Jon Don before so I was amazed at its size and selection. As I walked the isles I couldn’t help but miss some of the items that a High Performance cleaner would want. Like 2.5 hoses, Parflex pressure hose, Gglides for all those wands they sell and upholstery tools, cotton pads and bonnets, a better selection of rotaries and a OP machine or two, the new Airpath and I hate to say it, real Cool Cuffs, those yellow knock offs are a insult to my intelligence. I could only imagine myself being an employee there and getting them up to date (Nick made me a job offer that was hard to refuse but I think it was the Chianti talking) I guess in time when the Pimp yo Truckmount thing gets more popular they will jump on board and stock these parts.
Day one with Chuck Violand was spent covering all sorts of ways to make your company financially more efficient. Topics like balance sheets, P & L’s, job costing, employee compensation, material cost analysis, hiring and firing and various other ways to crunch the numbers made me very glad I brought my wife (and office manager) along for the ride. My technically oriented mind would have had a real problem bringing home all this information and relaying it to her effectively. She kept great notes and is excited to get busy implementing much of what was taught ASAP. Could I have just handed her the manual and hoped that she figured it out?
Probably..
But learning this type of stuff (she is not a professional accountant by any means) in a class room setting really does help one get it ingrained in their minds.
Chuck had a CD full of spreadsheets and forms that he designed for us rug suckers for sale that we will be sure to order. His mentoring/coaching service was also mentioned.
Day two was spent with Big Bill Yeadon at the helm. Billy is a great entertainer and his dreams of one day hitting the stage as a back up singer for Ted Nugent really became apparent in his lively stage presence.
Topics covered were everything you need to know to design your own ad, whether it is a yellow page ad, Val Pak coupon, flyer or a direct mail piece. Website design, radio, TV and the back of a super market receipt is all discussed in detail. Bill is a life long student of advertising science. He recommended many books that should be read by any cleaner including Waldo and Ken Snow.
To be honest this day held my attention the least, as I currently do not need to market my company much. But I suspect that if I do just 20% of what Chuck and Steve taught, I’ll be back to review Bill’s lessons in detail. Many of Jon Don’s DVD and marketing pieces were offered for sale through out Bill’s presentation.
Days three, four and five had the king of all Seminar Presenters on stage. Steve Toburen is a master at relaying his message. His knowledge is amazing to say the least. I suggested that when he gets his Mikey Vac tattoo next week (my treat) that he gets the saying “Been there, done that” inked right below it.
Everyone I talked to or overheard said he was the best presenter they had ever experienced. Not to take anything away from Bill or Chuck but SFS IS Steve Toburen. I can’t imagine how they will continue the program with out him. I would highly, highly recommend you attend it before Steve moves on.
PS. Topics covered included Value Added Service (going a step or ten further then your competition), Creating cheerleaders out of your customers, building a infrastructure (systems) for your business and again, his stuff works for a OO like Waldo or a mega multi like Ken Snow.
The Service Circle concept is discussed over his 3 days in full detail. Making sure that from the moment your customer or client calls to when they get the thank you card in the mail the next week, all is handled with a precision that lets you control and direct her buying experience. Steve goes into great detail on how to assembly line of sorts to deal with the “hand off” between those steps so you don’t stumble and create a “Negative Moment of Truth”.
Dealing with employees gets a lot of time. Everything form hiring, firing and keeping them fat and content is dealt with great detail.
Upselling, particularly with fabric protectors is also given plenty of plenty of time. I have no problem with selling the stuff and even I learned some good stuff.
A “Stay Beautiful” or Forever Clean program was discussed in great detail. It’s hard to argue with the math when Steve lays it out.
Commercial contracts are also gone over with loads of detail as are Fire, Water and Smoke work. Nothing was really missed and if you had further questions Steve was and is available to talk about any individual concerns. Like any other class of this nature there were a few guys in class who had a anecdote or question far too often. Chuck, Bill and Steve dealt with them very well. Actually it hurt my feelings when Island Boy would roll his eyes when my arm went up every third time. Steve really didn’t have anything for sale other then some old CDs he made way before SFS came to be. One lucky guy won them for a good idea he had that will be included into future SFS workbooks.
Is SFS for everyone?
For the most part, yes it is. If you own a Carpet Cleaning biz and you want to do better, whether that be just more profit from your one truck show. Or you need to get your 6 or 26 truck show more on track and want ways to save on advertising by creating cheerleaders out of your customers then by all means sign up today.
If you’re the type of guy who already knows it all, is content with owning your job and couldn’t be happier with the results that your Val Pak or YP ad already does then by all means don’t waste your time.
I for one couldn’t be happier with what I got out of the class. Like I told Lisa when we talked today. Even if I came home empty handed I would be satisfied. All the extra stuff is just a real thick icing on a very sweet cake.
(I am like a mother bear defending her cubs when it comes to my 
