I'd love to raise my average..need some ideas..

[hogjowl]

Since Mellon Hed thanked me for not offering any advice, I am now forced to suggest that you have only one option, and it comes in two steps.

Buy another van and crew it.

Get an in house CSR.

I really don't have to explain this, do I?

PS. I hope Sapphire doesn't fall for the promotion/ discount deal that Aerotec fell for. I don't think I can stand another "watch my rig being built" 6 page thread.

 

[Barry-QDCC]

Mike - and others,

Everyone is at different stages of their personal and business lives. Different goals. Those goals can and will change as things happen, such as getting older. Mike, your average of $359 is really good. You do know that, don't you?

This is just a general question to all and just to get people thinking. Certainly not directed at you Mike as the OP or anyone else. But is there some point where you do say to yourself, "I'm happy where I'm at. If I don't get any busier I'm good."?

I only ask this as I consider your original post about raising your job average. I'm to the point now as a one man band that I can see the ceiling I am going to hit. (I've done the multi-van, multi employee thing and not interested in doing that again.) There is a limit to the number of jobs I can do. I can see my job average probably can not be raise a significant amount higher. BUT I am actually pretty happy with what I am doing, what my potential is and how my life is. I'm happy, relatively stress free and enjoying life. Got a great wife, beautiful house, all my kids are grown and out of the house, healthy grandkids and a motorcycle. LOL. What else is there?

Any one else happy with where they are at? Do you need to worry about getting busier, adding trucks and employees. I know my answer would have been different 10 years ago.

 

[Art Kelley]

I can't see this working. When I pre-vacuum I move smaller furniture forward to vac then clean behind it. Would you leave these items pulled out for the hours that it will pass before the cleaning crew comes to clean? Seems like a very big inconvenience for the customer.

Hey, we're just throwing out ideas here Barry. It might be just as effective for Mike to pay the customer to prevacuum. A flat fee though, not hourly, or she might pull a Warner and exceed the job cost and he would end up owing her more than he makes on the job.

 

[Barry-QDCC]

Hey, we're just throwing out ideas here Barry. It might be just as effective for Mike to pay the customer to prevacuum. A flat fee though, not hourly, or she might pull a Warner and exceed the job cost and he would end up owing her more than he makes on the job.

I understand ideas are being thrown out Art. I'm just throwing out my opinion.

 

[greg_cole]

Raising your job average is simple. Raise your base price per sf. You stated that you are turning away customers due to availability. Obviously you are at the corrsroads as to whether you want to add another truck. Until you are ready, raise your base. You might lose a % of customers but you claim you already have more than you handle. Your average will go up and you shouldn't feel it in the # of jobs performed.

 

[Mikey P]

Greg to be clear, we airwayadded the other truck now the trick is to keep it busy all year long

 

[ruff]

That's a great post Barry and most definitely worthy of its own thread.

I struggle with it and my answer changes occasionally.

Parts of it have to do with how happy one is where they're at, which we all know has nothing to do with carpet cleaning. Part of it may have to do with where one's at financially and what income one will need in the future. Though from my experience, it is not easy to keep a business on an even keel. It usually either increases or if one tries to keep it even it decreases.

A very good subject for everyone to ponder.

 

[Shane Deubell]

With another truck to fill i would focus more on adding # of jobs. Your average is already super high.

In house csr sounds like a good idea to me also, when its slow you can have them complete other marketing related tasks.

 

[Steve Toburen]

With another truck to fill i would focus more on adding # of jobs. Your average is already super high.

In house csr sounds like a good idea to me also, when its slow you can have them complete other marketing related tasks.

Yep, Mikey, despite your best efforts to the contrary you are getting sucked into the "big business vortex"!

Next thing you know you'll be wearing a tie and blazer to work and be playing golf with the bigwigs at the country club while your 100's of chimps are out there slaving away for you!

Steve

PS We've got three levels on the SFS website. 1) "I think I wanna start a business." 2) "Should I add employees?" and could it be that pigs are flying in Alabama today and you are edging toward the third level? "I wanna build a Critical Mass business and achieve Personal Freedom"

 

[Shane Deubell]

What about selling scotchgard just for family rooms?
Or high use rooms in general.

That seems like an easy one.

 

[hogjowl]

Oh ... I thought you already had the second truck on the road and crewed, and were still having problems making it to all your customers.

So, you already have the second truck, but just need to add a second guy to help you work it?

And that's a problem?

 

[GCCLee]

Oh ... I thought you already had the second truck on the road and crewed, and were still having problems making it to all your customers.

So, you already have the second truck, but just need to add a second guy to help you work it?

And that's a problem?

You should so go to MF seriously , watching Mikey wrastle a Pig would be Epic : )

 

[Royal Man]

If you have guys that can't sell even a deaf mute could sell with this:

 

[hogjowl]

You should so go to MF seriously , watching Mikey wrastle a Pig would be Epic : )

All he had to do was pay my airfare and hotel expenses.

 

[Chris A]

All he had to do was pay my airfare and hotel expenses.

dont forget meals and entertainment!

 

[-JB-]

Comparison is the thief of joy.

That is all.

 

[ruff]

If you have guys that can't sell even a deaf mute could sell with this:

Yea, Dave, but they'd still have to be able to read.

 

[Shane Deubell]

If you have guys that can't sell even a deaf mute could sell with this:

Might want to take some notes on this one dave....
Take another look at his job averages and volume.

A flyer filled with "Platitudes" and no USP will not get you there.

Not too sure what mike does but i definitely want to know more.
Yokum not soo much...

 

[Barry-QDCC]

If you have guys that can't sell even a deaf mute could sell with this:

I hate to sound like an English teacher, because I hated English as a subject, but I glanced at your sales card for like 10 seconds and found 2 errors. You might want to proof read that thing.

 

[Mikey P]

Not too sure what mike does but i definitely want to know more.

hop on the bus Gus..

 

[Desk Jockey]

If it's true your clients are maxed out, which I doubt with your clients.

Then maybe you should hit the commercial market harder. I know it's going to be tough to get over the price difference from residential sq/ft rates compared to commercial rates but you need to look more at how much the truck produces hourly. Why try to get more residential work when you have the perfect setup for commercial work.

You own (2) units that are capable of running dual wands or going extended lengths. I know you've mentioned before that there isn't that much commercial work in your area. Then maybe you should consider extending your coverage area for the commercial work only.

Your per job average will sky rocket as your units are setup for productivity. Have Erick send you a couple of Zippers and Zip your way into some serious profits.

It makes more sense for those trucks to be running dual commercial work all day than from hopping from mansion to mansion.

Can I visit Ellie Mae and the cement pond when I'm out there?

 

[Steve Toburen]

There were two phrases that stood out for me in the original post. You lost more jobs due to availability than to price and your .50/sq ft price is about all they can afford to pay. If that second statement is true (and you know better than anyone if it is) then you will have a hard road to upselling if the money isn't really there. Pitching higher prices to new clients would be my solution, there are several people that already mentioned this but I had to stress the "new clients" part because if you are starting to hit that "there are only so many hours in a day" ceiling then you have to decide if you really want to run yourself ragged going the quantity route. Identifying another potential client base with bigger pockets and learning to sell to them makes you more money for less work. Do you want to be the big company or the elite company? Do you want to be Walmart or Tiffanys?

Uhhh, Dolly, this is an unusually well-reasoned first post. Be warned that this rough-and-tumble group doesn't suffer intelligent females gladly.

Steve

PS Seriously though, a very insightful analysis, Dolly. And Mikey, if you won't listen to me (you seldom do) then maybe you will focus on what Dolly said about your "highest and best purpose" here:

Maybe your highest purpose is to be the salesman for your company and not so often in the trenches, you have a big personality, are you a good salesman? If you as their leader could spend your time finding higher priced jobs for your crews then that's a win across the board. Are those clients out there? Of course they are, they just need you to explain why you are the best man for the job. Just my humble two cents, you sound like you are doing pretty damn awesome from here.

 

[Mikey P]

Dolly and Steve..I am headed in that direction..
Answering phones and estimating are whati should be doing asking with the occasional guest appearance at high dollar/maintenance cluenrs.


Shane, This is a small town with very little worthy commercial to go after

 

[Shane Deubell]

Dolly and Steve..I am headed in that direction..
Answering phones and estimating are whati should be doing asking with the occasional guest appearance at high dollar/maintenance cluenrs.


Shane, This is a small town with very little worthy commercial to go after

I was thinking more like adding 100 commercial jobs a year or even 50. Very doable and would look nice on the bottom line.

But, not every service is for everyone. Just throwing it out there...

 

[Joe Appleby]

Add an $8.00 environmental fee to each ticket for fuel and water disposal.

 

[Rob Anspach]

First and foremost...raise your price.

If you price by the room, raise the price $5
If you price by the square foot raise the price by 10% or more

Next...presell on the upsell.
Send each scheduled client an email or letter (or both) telling customers what they expect from you or your crew, how to best prepare for the cleaning experience and what other products or services you offer. Then include a coupon for (a percentage off or dollar off) for said extra services but only applies on their scheduled cleaning.

By raising your prices and learning how to presell the upsell you could up your average easily by $100 or so.

 

[Steve Toburen]

Add an $8.00 environmental fee to each ticket for fuel and water disposal.

We used to do this. With the wisdom of hindsight I believe customers don't like being "nickel and dimed" to death.

My two cents,
Steve

PS Mikey, as Rob says the key is to "pre-sell the up-sell" and quit leaving it for the day of the job. Now just go "git 'er done".

 

[Mark Saiger]

We used to do this. With the wisdom of hindsight I believe customers don't like being "nickel and dimed" to death.

My two cents,
Steve

PS Mikey, as Rob says the key is to "pre-sell the up-sell" and quit leaving it for the day of the job. Now just go "git 'er done".

We have not added on extra fees such as this and discussing with other businesses in our area, they also found more rejection to them and the clients didn't mind if the fees were just "Buried" in other pricing structures.

For, me to get out on jobsite to pre-inspect all is not possible, and I find I am spending more money running around to do so....just the way our structure currently is. The upsell part is becoming easier with 3 of us and 2 vans on site, but the economy is some of the driving factor as to why people are not receptive to upsells. 5 years ago, I had more people that would purchase protector. I am currently finding through casual conversation with clients on site, and as we clean , we have had better success of the upsell as they see how clean the carpet can turn out (such as protector sales).

Another situation for us is more of our clients just leave the house open (or give us access) and tell us to take care of it, leave an invoice (or they leave a check or credit card info for us) and it becomes more difficult again to upsell to our clients who are very busy. We have found they just love calling us and know it will all be taken care of when they get home. I do ask for a phone number to call or text before proceeding with the price the project will be. This is very well received for most of our clients. Of course repeat clients, it is pretty easy to give them a close price for the same work.

I am currently thinking of ways that we can successfully up our ticket (do some upselling) and make our clients happy with the pricing (as we currently are the highest per sq foot company). We are successful on having people go with us over other companies just by our phone script and how we tell them there will be no surprises or extra add on fees (unless some sub surface urine removal). This has worked for us, and of course making sure our cleaning is quality over others.

Mark Saiger

 

[Shane Deubell]

IMO mike is already good at pre-selling, upselling, cross-selling, selling selling. His prices/tickets are already in the top 1/10th of 1% and think it is going to become harder and harder to move that needle.

To transition into a full time general manager role $500k in annual sales should be a good goal. To me its just easier to double the client base then double the ticket but yes we should be focused on both.

 

[Mikey P]

Dear [FIRST_NAME] [LAST_NAME],​

​

We look forward to your upcoming appointment. We’ll need your assistance to make the areas you want cleaned as accessible as possible.
1. Please arrange for a parking spot as close to your front door or cleaning project as possible

2. Remove all breakable items from the cleaning area and store in a safe area (lamps, collectibles, etc.)

3. Other than large furniture, please remove all items from the floor
(waste baskets, potted plants, brief cases, toys, etc.). If you are physically unable to move things yourself and cannot arrange for help, we will be more than happy to assist. Please pin up or tuck in bed spreads and dust ruffles. Drapes can either be hung up on the end of the rod, gently draped over each other or the ends placed in a plastic garbage bag. Extremely large or heavy items will remain in place (i.e. entertainment units, china cabinets, pianos). We will clean up to the outside edges. Medium-sized furniture (i.e. tables, coffee tables, end tables, wing chairs, recliners, sofas) can be moved, the area cleaned, and returned to their location. We will place protective padding under furnishings with wood or metal feet to protect the carpet and the furniture. Some furniture is best left off the carpet until completely dried. We will discuss options during your appointment

4. Have a safe place for your pets to stay,
Your front door or other access point will need to be left open during the cleaning process and we would hate it if Skippy or Shadow escaped.
5. Tell us your every concern.
Point out spots and spills and tell us what they are.
6.We will pre vacuum your carpet prior to cleaning but if you would like to knock dust and cob webs off base boards, ceiling fans and from the back of furniture we recommend doing so prior to our arrival.

7. If we are cleaning your upholstered furniture:
Please have the pieces easily accessible from all sides and away from any breakable objects or delicate floorings. We can clean your sofas or chairs over the carpet/rugs being cleaned that day or if possible we can clean them outside or in your garage. The pieces set can be on tarps as a last resort. Loose cushions will be "A" framed on provided plastic sheeting, preferably outside for quick drying. In most cases furniture should not be reassembled the same day, rather when completely dry the following day.

and finally;

#8. If we will be applying Teflon Protector to your carpet or furniture (recommended!) please plan on treading as lightly as possible for the next 12 hours as the sealant needs time to cure.

Thank you for choosing Connoisseur!
If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to call me direct @ 831 588 9063
Mike Pailliotet
www.santacruzclean.com


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