Consumer's Perspective of a Carpet Cleaning Job

[boazcan]

I also got some insight today from a client who we are going to clean and seal her pavers.

We took a walk around the house to look at tile and grout and then her carpet. She had one area that was resoiling very bad in a child's room. She had the carpets protected and said the prior company was going to call "someone" about the resoiling issue. I asked who he was going to call, she said he was going to call the manufacturer of the protector as it was causing the resoiling only in the area and not the other rooms. :roll:

She then proceeded to tell me about how he dragged the hoses around the freshly painted walls and baseboards after she specifically asked him to be careful since they just spent about 6 mths remodeling the house. He said that there was no way to prevent it and it would not cause that much damage. :shock:

The amazing thing is that she didn't seem effected enough not to call them back again. She did not know who they were but said they were a big company and not SS.

She called four companies about the pavers and only had one show up who never provided the quote to her. The other two did not show up.

All that, and still struggle to convince people over the phone that a little more money now is the difference between a good job or bad job.

Things that make you go hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm..........................

 

[R W]

I don't think it was me, Jim. My $300 job isn't until Friday....


I suspect you could be lurking around our area.....we're only 80 miles apart.....

 

[Mikey P]

Did Ron Beatty tell her that her nosy neighbors would be impressed with his Stainless Steel back up lights too?

 

[Greenie]

What were ya doin' in NY Jim? :wink:

 

[lance]

Ban the dufus....cha, cha, cha
ban the dufus....cha, cha, cha

Left foot forward, right foot back
right foot forward, left foot back

Ban the dufus....cha, cha, cha
ban the dufus....cha, cha, cha

We clean the carpets and restrooms too
keeping the boss man happy is what we do

Ban the dufus....cha, cha, cha
ban the dufus....cha, cha, cha

My employees are happy, and that's the fact
I just hope they don't stop, smoking the crack

Ban the dufus....cha, cha, cha
ban the dufus....cha, cha, cha


____________________________

The new and improved MikeyBoard springtime jingle....

 

[Jim Pemberton]

Waldo: The peroxide took the urine stain out easily, there wasn't any color loss. But you are right, even she admitted that she got what she paid for.

Mike: No, it wasn't Ron Beatty. That guy has incredible customer loyalty in his town. Since I do business with his competition, I can tell you that even most of those guys respect the heck out of him too. He's got a great story of leaving the family cleaning business and going off on his own that you ought to have him tell some time.

 

[Mikey P]

I've met Ron, I know it wasn't him.

 

[Jim Pemberton]

No more answers by exclusion guys.

At some point, someone might guess, then I'd have to lie. I'm not going to embarrass anyone here.

Some fo the points that I thought were most important were that some customers really will accept less service for less money, and that courtesy trumps technical skill, though both are better.

That said, I'm surely not recommending anyone cut back service and pricing. Someone who is a price shopper is rarely the customer anyone would prefer. But they do exist and we have to decide if their needs fit our service model.

I guess I shouldn't have burst her bubble about the cleaning results, but I couldn't resist trying.

I don't doubt that the crew are decent guys, but they have fallen into the habits many employees (including my own) do over the years:

1. If prespray doesn't take it out, its a permanent stain
2. I know more than my boss does
3. What my boss doesn't know won't hurt him
4. As long as I'm nice to the lady, she won't be very picky

I had no real agenda in posting the experience. It just contained so many points that could make all of us think a bit about what we or our people do.

Thanks for your feedback and thoughts.

 

[Joel D]

lol these guys cant stand it Jim theyre going to work it out of you

 

[Joel D]

ah ya beat me

 

[Mikey P]

I'm gonna call JB in my best Mrs Kravitz voice and listen to him ramble on about how great his Steamon Deamon is.


I'll ask him to count the patches on his sleeves as well.

 

[harryhides]

Thanks for the insight Jim.

Would be fun to start a fund here for a once per month mystery shopper to video some carpet cleaner in action.

 

[Brian R]

Some of the points that I thought were most important were that some customers really will accept less service for less money, and that courtesy trumps technical skill, though both are better.

Every customer has their way of doing things and wanting things done. We have to cater to them because they are paying us...This is what owning a business or being a sales person is about sometimes.

If someone doesn't "Need" all the discolorations removed and only wants a "Clean" then so be it.
I had a job yesterday that the stain removal would have moved a $250.00 job to a $700.00 job. The customer was moving out and wouldn't pay that so they got the $250.00 deal full knowing that the stains were not coming out for that price.

Now if you are telling them you are doing something and then you are not doing it (Vacuuming)...that is a different story all together.

 

[BradFenstermaker]

Thanks for sharing Jim.

You never what to expect and they watch you more than you think.

 

[Mr Carpet]

I wonder if the spots were from wicking and re-appeared as the carpet dried.

Wicked spots usually are very easy to remove (with even plain water) since they are often only on the tips of the fibers.

Wicking could of been an unforeseen problem that could easily off been resolved with a callback.

I personaaly wouldn't of blamed it on the cleaner myself.

 

[Jim Pemberton]

Good points Dave.

The spots on the area rugs were sticky, and went to the base. They appeared to not have wicked. They also required lubrication and suspension before blotting.

The urine stain on the nylon carpet could have wicked, but I doubt it.

Either way, the owner may also have had a rule that wool area rugs were not to receive special spotting. Cleaning such rugs on location has its risks and limitations, and that could have been his rule as well.

I really hadn't intended to pick on the crew with this message. They did after all handle all of the courtesies well. Not conforming to the bosses promise to vacuum is an issue, though. Not to enter the "vac vs no vac debate", but instead the issue of delivering what was promised.

 

[Bill Soukoreff]

I think the real lesson here is that if Jim had said to use the guy who was $100 more because he is the best, she would have AND have been even happier. That's why good referral sources are so valuable.

 

[Chris A]

not necessarily, she didn't express a major concern over the quality, it sounds like she really didn't carre about the vacuuming.

 

[tim]

The most interesting thing to me is the remark about the cleaner that tried to describe his equipment and cleaning methods. I think there is a fine line between trying to differentiate your services and quality to justify the price difference and boring the customer. Most people want to know price because they dont know what else to ask. I need to write a good phone script that does a good job informing the customer of our quality without becoming bragging and boring to the customer. In-home estimates are good way around that but can sure slow down productivity when you live in a wide-spread population. Always interesting to get an unbiased opinion from a customer. Good post!

 

[Brian R]

The most interesting thing to me is the remark about the cleaner that tried to describe his equipment and cleaning methods. I think there is a fine line between trying to differentiate your services and quality to justify the price difference and boring the customer. Most people want to know price because they dont know what else to ask. I need to write a good phone script that does a good job informing the customer of our quality without becoming bragging and boring to the customer. In-home estimates are good way around that but can sure slow down productivity when you live in a wide-spread population. Always interesting to get an unbiased opinion from a customer. Good post!

Email Steve T.

 

[Lora Olson]

I spent a few days with Barry Costa last week in the RRT class. He gave us a suggestion to ask customers "what is your biggest concern about your carpet?".

You Never know what kind of things a customer might say and what kind of opportunities you might have.

 

[Guest]

"what is your biggest concern about your carpet?".

I like it!

 

[tim]

thanks brian, I am an SFS Grad, but the in home estimate is one thing I dont do on a regular basis. OKC is one of the largest cities in area with a relatively small population comparatively (under 1 million). I also get alot of people that want to know a ballpark before I get there. I guess I'm sounding like the guys that say "they wont pay that here"! My business has been extremely good since I attended SFS in Jan 08, March was up 70 percent and was the 2nd best month in the last 4 years so I am too busy to drive all over town (can take over an hour to get from 1 end to the other), besides the cost of gas when it was at the $4 mark. Steve gave some good phone scripts, I just need to get them back out and work on mine. I would like to go to SFS again next year, you can learn as much from the others in the class as you do from the triplets at Jon Don, great brainstorming.

 

[steve g]

very interesting story, I started out as a tech and worked for 2 different multi truck cleaning operations back in my younger days, I will tell you with absolute certainty that nearly every tech has their own way of doing things, and the first thing to be omitted is the prevac step, normally the guys are trained properly, however prevacing doesn't normally show its benefit to the naked eye, so it gets left out. most techs don't take the time to properly learn chemical chemistry, in fact of all the places I worked myself personally I would say I was the only guy who really tried to learn what are in the chemicals, what they do, and how can I use them better. this was a focus of mine as a tech, and it still is as an O/O to this day. lets face it a typical cleaning company has enough turnover that they are going to have to use inexperienced techs for the job. to me this company should get alot of credit, for the the guys calling twice before arrival, and apparently they must have been friendly as that was not a complaint, IMO they did 75% of the important things right.

when I was a tech I noticed keep in mind I am more focused naturally on equipment, chemicals and how good the job looks, as a result I rarely wanted to talk to the customer, I just would get the job done and get the heck out of there, I noticed I got the fewest calls for return services and surprisingly more complaints about how the job turned out, this was frustrating to me because the guys who typically I knew did the worst job, I had seen their work and in many cases trained them, they were the ones getting the most compliments the most calls for return service and fewest complaints about if a stain came out or whatever, without fail all of these type of guy had big personalities, they spent time with the customer just talking to them, they were good at BSing. it took me a while to figure out the customers perception of the job is 70% bullshitting ability on the part of the tech and 30% technical ability on the part of the tech. I am not naturally that great of people person, but when I started my business I tried to focus on it and force myself, it pays off in dividends big time, personal relationships with the customer are more important that how good of a job you did, if you have a vortex, or even if the spot came out. I think alot of guys miss out on this, just like when a person chooses a doctor, how do they make their choice??? how nice the guy is, funny thing is their choice was made without knowledge of how good they are at doing the job, I would also wager the better doctors just as in the better cleaners are not the best at customer relations, as for some reason people skills and technical ability are very very tuff to find in the same person.

 

[Chris A]

thanks brian, I am an SFS Grad, but the in home estimate is one thing I dont do on a regular basis. OKC is one of the largest cities in area with a relatively small population comparatively (under 1 million). I also get alot of people that want to know a ballpark before I get there. I guess I'm sounding like the guys that say "they wont pay that here"! My business has been extremely good since I attended SFS in Jan 08, March was up 70 percent and was the 2nd best month in the last 4 years so I am too busy to drive all over town (can take over an hour to get from 1 end to the other), besides the cost of gas when it was at the $4 mark. Steve gave some good phone scripts, I just need to get them back out and work on mine. I would like to go to SFS again next year, you can learn as much from the others in the class as you do from the triplets at Jon Don, great brainstorming.

Ah, only three more weeks and I too will be at SFS, Can't Wait!!!

 

[Willy P]

Very interesting post Jim. I've been surprised myself at some of the spots I thought were gone, only to find a few were just hiding out. I don't use customer response cards as I find most a bit too self serving and concentrate on a business strength, i.e.- Was the tech neatly dressed? etc. instead of areas that may actually create a better focus on improving customer service and creating "brand" loyalty.Our own perception of ourselves may not hold up to customer scrutiny as well as we would like to believe. On thing I always stress and stress vigorously as I leave is should for ANY reason whatsoever there's a concern with my workmanship or that you aren't 100% happy PLEASE call me and I will deal with it immediately. Customers qualify us, we need to do the same with them.

 

[ACE]

Great post! It’s easy to forget that doing the best job possible Includes being courteous and professional. I have met a lot of highly skilled cleaners that are condescending A-holes and there business suffers because of it.