Thanks. Yup, prices are cheap but I'm still making money. Mark was never cleaned for. He was upset because his wife did not answer the phone after I called them three times. She finally called me two hours after her appointment. I tell all of my customers that I will call them thirty minutes before I head towards them. He told me he'd give bad feedback and he did. Crap happens.
And yes, we do groom and it's no additional charge. As for trying to sell people additional products... I do charge like everyone else for Deodorizer... A cheap price too... only $15.00 for the whole house... $5.00 per room on carpet protector (lost leader item), $25.00 on a flight of stairs or $2.00 per stair. I'm very up front with all of my pricing. I give every customer a firm estimate before I start any work and I have them sign off on it. There are no high pressure sales. We do clean a huge volume of homes. I just prepped another 15k post cards to go to South Tulsa today.
Recently, another company was advertising $9.95 a room with 2 room minimum. They had lots of extra charges. Thats why I say buyer beware.
The picture on my website was taken from my home. I didn't groom it because I wanted it to have the appearance that it was cleaned.
I'm sure everyone has a customer out there who thinks your the scum of the earth. I can't please everyone and neither can you. I've learned to live with this.
Yes, my van is a 91 Ford Van... the one I primarily drive... has two gas tanks.... (cost me $700.00) My machine is a
Prochem 150. It has been totally rebuilt by Wayne at Hi Press. I only paid $2500.00 for it and I made it back the first week. After rebuilding it, I think I have maybe 6k in it with the new engine, new coil, new water pump etc. My machine doesn't look run down at all...just old. I also have a Hydra Master machine that Wayne is completely rebuilding for me. I'm probably going to break down and buy a new machine from him but man I'm going to miss the heat.
Before I started Carpet Cleaning, I was working at Direct Tv making $300.00 a week. Now I make that in four houses on a daily basis.
I learned that in this business you don't have to worry about what other companies are doing because then your doing something wrong. You need to worry about your business and let them worry about you. I've never called any competitor once to check prices. On a weekly basis, they call me asking how far out I'm booked etc...
I have another van that is really nice but I need to find someone to rebuild the transmission. I also have a very nice Cargo Trailer which can be seen on my website. I took my equipment out of it for the winter so I could drive a little bit better in the snow.
I do love the van because I can do apartments now. I've been looking at Natural Gas Vans and also sprinter vans. I like the idea of Diesel because of the weight I can haul.
Finally... I named the company after my cocker spaniel. He died in November at 14 years old. But I've learned to live with the name Bubba. After all it is Oklahoma.
