Dealing with Ignorant Carpet Owners

[Sonrise1]

How do you deal with ignorant carpet owners? I just went in to a local retail business on a sales call. They had had their carpet cleaned the day before, hot water extraction. 4400 square feet of carpet, the guy 'gave' them 5 hours of work since he only charged $550.00. I tested the carpet with a white towel. It was filthy! The owner saw the towel, but said he didn't care, because it was more dirty before the cleaning. How do I get through to this man that he just got taken. Yes, the cleaner may have removed some soil, but there was a lot more he didn't remove. I'm not naive enough to think I can get everything out, but come on. He just got a spray and wash job, and thinks his carpet is as clean as it should be.

I'm new to posting here, have been an occasional browser, so let it rip! I'm sure I'm missing something somewhere here.

 

[Lee Stockwell]

There's always something or someone you don't know. Probably intimidated the mgr with what you showed him.

 

[Royal Man]

Why go after carpet that was cleaned the day before?

Anyway you can always get more soil out of a carpet.

Parlor trick.

Likely much more to the story................

 

[Dolly Llama]

i suspect you're not a fan of scrub 'n run encRap sCampoo either??

How do you deal with ignorant carpet owners?

I'm not sure he's ignorant

They had had their carpet cleaned the day before, hot water extraction. 4400 square feet of carpet, the guy 'gave' them 5 hours of work since he only charged $550.00.

I like to make more, but i can turn a profit @ $105 pr hour .
If you can't, find ways to be more efficient or target a different niche prospect

I tested the carpet with a white towel. It was filthy! The owner saw the towel, but said he didn't care, because it was more dirty before the cleaning.

welcome to reality

How do I get through to this man that he just got taken.

why would you suggest he got "taken"??

I'm not naive enough to think I can get everything out.

egg-zaccally
depending on the soil condition and/or how well it is or isn't maintained, what would you think if i went in behind YOU with a white towel ...you do KNOW that anyone could make that white towel dirty with a little soap and water, right??
and then what?
Do I try to convince him he "got taken" by some "premium" cleaner that charged a "premium" price??

The "white towel" demo is little more than a parlor trick....cause we KNOW we'll get soil transfer ..ESPECIALLY in a com establishment.
Not unlike the vac salesman..They KNOW they'll pull more dirt after the prospect vacs with their own vac.
What most prospects DON'T know, is that they could pull still more dirt behind the Salesman's sOOper dOOper vac too...if they just had a cool paper filter demo cup like the vac salesman

and thinks his carpet is as clean as [HE THINKS] it should be.

there you have it.
"you" can't be the judge of what "he" wants or needs .

I'm sure I'm missing something somewhere here.

indeed you are.
cause it's not about being the "greatest carpet cleaner " that ever stroked a wand .
it's about making your custys happy and turning a profit

It sounds to me like you're bummed that one of your competitors was able to do that.
(I'm ASSuming he made a profit at $105 pr hour gross)...he damn sure should of anyway



..L.T.A.

 

[Royal Man]

Quite a while ago a company here guaranteed their carpets to be "white towel clean" after their services.

The USP of the white towel drew client to their biz. I had a lot of clients that wanted to try them because of their guarantee. THey flooded the radio and newspaper with it.

But, they ultimately went out of business here in about a year.

They picked a USP that was hard/ impossible to live up to.

It was some franchise. I guess the marketing guys they had didn't go out into the field.

 

[Lee Stockwell]

Quite a while ago a company here guaranteed their carpets to be "white towel clean" after their services.

The USP of the white towel drew client to their biz. I had a lot of clients that wanted to try them because of their guarantee. THey flooded the radio and newspaper with it.

But, they ultimately went out of business here in about a year.

They picked a USP that was hard/ impossible to live up to.

It was some franchise. I guess the marketing guys they had didn't go out into the field.

It was Stanley Steemer. They obviously didn't go out of business, they just moved on to a less troublesome USP.

The towel thing? You had to know the trick.

 

[Magic One]

Something like the Kirby sales. My buddy had a Kirby demo. The salesman vacuums and said go get your sweeper now. So he goes and gets his old kirby and pulls out more dirt.

 

[sam miller]

[quote="Royal Man":q04v2goy]Quite a while ago a company here guaranteed their carpets to be "white towel clean" after their services.

The USP of the white towel drew client to their biz. I had a lot of clients that wanted to try them because of their guarantee. THey flooded the radio and newspaper with it.

But, they ultimately went out of business here in about a year.

They picked a USP that was hard/ impossible to live up to.

It was some franchise. I guess the marketing guys they had didn't go out into the field.

It was Stanley Steemer. They obviously didn't go out of business, they just moved on to a less troublesome USP.

The towel thing? You had to know the trick.[/quote:q04v2goy]

Scotchgaurded towels? dork!

 

[Sonrise1]

All the guy did was speed wand 4400 square feet in 5 hours, no vac, no pre-spray, etc. He did not encap. I understand the white towel trick. I've checked others, and they are mildly dirty, to which I tell the owner/manager that their company is doing a good job maintaining their carpet, (as long as the appearance is good, no obvious problems.) This towel came out filthy dark, all over the establishment, not just a little lite residual residue.

In addition, I didn't know they had had the carpet cleaned the day before, so I wasn't driving around looking for jobs cleaners were cleaning. My business partner took his son and my son there to play Friday evening, saw the carpet was dirty, and talked to the manager. Little did we know it was already scheduled to be cleaned Sunday, so no, I didn't target this guy.

You guys know the forumula, chem, heat, agitation, dwell time, along with pre-vac. One man only cleaned 4400 square feet in 5 hours. There's no way he did anything other than chem and heat. This place gets filthy, it needs more.

So how do I get ahold of the owners attention, to get him to realize, although he thinks the cleaner helped him, it could be a lot better. One of his employees told me he's getting ready to spend $20k to replace the carpet in the lobby. If he had me in there, he wouldn't have to do that.

 

[Ken Snow]

Offer to do a test area for free- otherwise suck it up and walk away. Everything you say can be interpretted as sour grapes even if it isn't. Also what you are claiming the guy did or didn't do may or may not be correct, unless you have absolute knowledge of it.

 

[Jimmy L]

5 hours....how long should it take you?

It isn't dirty like a chinease restuarant is it?

 

[Doug Cox]

Larry nailed it. It you think you are going to leave a commercial carpet "white towel" clean every time, you will be disappointed most times. I wouldn't say 4400 sf is not doable in 5 hours.

 

[Ken Snow]

I'd say someone is virtually unemployable that couldn't do it in that time. Even I could clean 4400 of most soiled conditioned commercial carpet in way less time than that and I don't clean for a living.

 

[KevinL]

I did 3750' today in 3 hours flat by myself. That included prespraying and spending 10 minutes hooking up water. It was a funeral home that wasn't dirty at all but it all got 2 strokes. I was hurtin' for the last 500'.

 

[Sonrise1]

I'm not sure how you clean effectively at rates over 1200ft per hour. Can you explain your process? I find there are a lot of carpet washers out there, but not too many who clean. I had a carpet washer who worked for me, who talked the talk, but when I started going behind his back to check his work, I found a lot of very unhappy customers. I fired him, then cleaned a bunch of carpet he speed stroked to get through as fast as he can to make as much money as he could. (pd a %)

Why is it that we as supposed professionals keep dropping our prices, putting us in a position to wash, not clean carpet? The reason we don't have as much residential carpet to clean today is because of carpet washers. I know commercial is more competitive, but come on. We have two local companies fighting over 5 cent a foot work. How stupid are we! We drop our prices, then kill ourselves to go faster, compromising our work and integrity. We do ourselves a disservice by trying to be the walmart of carpet cleaning, high volume, low prices, and our bodies show the toll.

As I said before, I KNOW no one will past the white towel test, but there is a different between light soiling on the white towel and heavy soil. It was heavily soiled. He delivered a compromised job because he was willing to compromise his price. His body then paid the price, since he had to speed through the job. When will we stand up as professionals and get paid to do a job well, without compromising our work and body?

I don't get cheap pricing at all. I've been in the window cleaning business 20 years, and there are people still charging the same standard $3 a window that they charged 20 years ago. I've only been cleaning carpet for three, but sometimes it is frustrating what people are willing to work for.

I probably just set off a storm here, sorry.

 

[chrisbaily]

It is a very tough ask to clean a carpet..especially a large carpet..it takes rigourous cleaning as well as it is a lot of time consuming...

 

[caleb211]

I think this is probably and underrated post, good info. Thanks!

 

[GeneMiller]

we never take the time to werner commercial carpets. we always pre-spray with plenty of juice and flush the hell out of it but the towel will never be clean , i wish it was but you just can't get an air flow through glued down carpet. once were are running we will usually scrub the path in front of the wand which helps some.
we flow tons a water but it wouldn't take us 5hrs.
gene

 

[randy]

Dayton Ohio has one of the worst economies in the nation and massive unemployment numbers. The entire state basicly committed economic suicide when they allowed organized labor to chase away virtually all major employers. The closed factories in OHIO are monuments to liberalism gone wild. Tons of cleaners in Dayton willing to work for $12-$15 an hour. I know a guy there that is happy when he has a $500 week !

Personally I would have Cimexed the 4400 square feet in a little over two hours for anywhere from .20-.38 a square depending on the plan they decided on. Trying to make a buck with hot water extraction in the commercial market can be more difficult. Call Joe Bristor @ wanders and BUY a CIMEX.

 

[Bob Savage]

Gosh, Jerry, it could have been the owner's brother-in-law that did the cleaning, or a good friend, or a good customer.

I'd suggest you drop it.

How long have you been cleaning carpet?

Don't let this get to you. Move on.

 

[Lee Stockwell]

It is a very tough ask to clean a carpet..especially a large carpet..it takes rigourous cleaning as well as it is a lot of time consuming...

Clean many carpets in Mumbai India?

 

[caleb211]

With patience. Ignorance is our job security.

 

[idreadnought]

so let me get this straight. Carpets were cleaned, customer is happy, cleaning company is happy. The only one unhappy is you. Sounds like the crap I always hear about encaping carpet.

Not to be mean but who is the ignorant one? The customer that is happy or you calling him ignorant because he refuses to be unhappy?

 

[Ron Werner]

Gee, where have I heard comments like this before???
I know exactly where you're coming from Jerry.
As for the customer being happy, more likely he was happy but he wasn't HAPPY, will probably never hire that company again nor will he ever recommend that company, even if it is a relative, probably more so! Heard the story many times.

A wand isn't doing much at 1000+sf/hr. Its moving way faster than it was designed to work. May as well be bonnet cleaning for all you're achieving.

I've actually shown clients the difference. Pulled the wand back fast, could see a nice difference. Then did the next stroke at a effective speed, could see a nice difference again. And that was a prepped carpet. Now had I done the whole carpet with the fast stroke they would have been praising me for such a great job, it looks so much better. But it could have been that much better again. Doesn't take that much extra effort to do a better job.

WE are the professionals. The customer will agree with what we tell them if they trust us, and if we're in their house, that shows trust. There's a LOT of replaced carpet out there because of carpet washers, or rather wetters.

 

[juniorc82]

How do you deal with ignorant carpet owners? I just went in to a local retail business on a sales call. They had had their carpet cleaned the day before, hot water extraction. 4400 square feet of carpet, the guy 'gave' them 5 hours of work since he only charged $550.00. I tested the carpet with a white towel. It was filthy! The owner saw the towel, but said he didn't care, because it was more dirty before the cleaning. How do I get through to this man that he just got taken. Yes, the cleaner may have removed some soil, but there was a lot more he didn't remove. I'm not naive enough to think I can get everything out, but come on. He just got a spray and wash job, and thinks his carpet is as clean as it should be.

I'm new to posting here, have been an occasional browser, so let it rip! I'm sure I'm missing something somewhere here.

your too abitious, that will fade the longer you stay in this business.