KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid)

[Royal Man]

I just start with the basic cleaning.

I then access the client's individual needs at their home and charge accordingly.

I CHARGE more for specialty spotting, scrubbing , deo etc and the client EXPECTS to pay more for these services as it address a need and solves a problem for the client.

It's like going to a restaurant. You get the hamburger. But, you have to pay more for the appetizer, drink and desert.

Your business and the restaurant should be expected to pay for it's extra time, and other expenses.



I do agree that very few (almost NO) clients clean for health.

Most clean for a child vomiting, dog pissed on carpet, relative is coming over, home for sale, between renters, house is looking like crap, having a event. Stuff like that.

It's just carpet. Not a hospital clean room.

 

[Dolly Llama]

For a gun shooting, fish hookin' ohio wanna be redneck

"wannabe rednEck"??

I'm a fo-reel rEdnEck....
I was wearing a mullet doo before mullets wuz cool..... 8)



:mrgreen: :mrgreen:


..L.T.A.

 

[Brian R]

Cleaning for health isn't so bad if you splain it correctly.


I too let them know their carpet is like a big airfilter.

I also let them know that hard surfaces hold onto nothing and just let the allergens into the air that they breath.

I let them know that the carpet is a good thing to keep their indoor air quality ...quality....But like anything....it needs to be cleaned.


Hard surfaces are a "sweep everyday" ...Or more.

Carpet is a "vacuum 3 times a week"...depending.


What is "health" to us is just "getting the gross out" to the home owner....But it all comes down to the heeby jeebies.

Carpet is comfort, warmth and homey.
Hard surface is durable, industrial and cold.

The look is one thing... the feel is another. Hell, hard surfaces almost always have area rugs down anyway.


So I mention the indoor air quality and how it's better with carpet (that's serviced) and really less maintenance than hard surfaces....AND Less expensive to buy and maintain.

It's all about how you relay things to people.

 

[Brian R]

Ron,
I can look down to the bottom of the carpe fiber after I'm done and it's clean.....It looks clean, it feels clean....it IS clean.


I really don't know what the hell you're talking about. I've only seen soil loads in CGD....Maybe.

MAYBE a 10 year old trashed out house...But even then I can clean it without getting all crazy about it.

 

[Royal Man]

'Spain all you want.

It will always be a very small factor in a client calling a carpet cleaner.

I say the same stuff too. I promote anti-allergen cleaning. Have videos on my site. Offer Master Blend products for anti-allergens and the whole 9 yards.........

It's just not that big a deal for most clients.

 

[Brian R]

Ok, let me get my splainage straight.


This is just something I speak with the customer (while in the home) about to get them on a regular schedule.


My advertising is emotional....and not in a bad way. It's happy stuff ....not doom and gloom.


Most people are event cleaning.....While in the home it's our job to inform them otherwise.


NO huge dust mite creatures on my website or anything.

 

[Ron Werner]

Larry, if I hadn't been seeing for the past 15yrs what has been coming out of carpet, even when it looks clean already, I'd agree with you. And I don't say much more than Brian does when I talk about hygiene. It just makes sense. They wash their kitchen floor once a week, well, clean your carpet once a year.

Our economy was fine till it got all FdUp from the south. Again, I don't try to do 5 jobs in a day. If I clean 350jobs a year, I've been busy. What I've been hearing more of now is that people are hiring the cheaper guys but they are getting that cheaper job where they are left wanting.

no, Ron.
It's dumb because it's choking the goose that lays the golden egg.
It has nothing to do with providing a quality job

It has everything to do with doing a quality job. HWE is the most unforgiving of all the methods, you screw up with a pad and you just leave soil on the carpet, well, more than they do !gotcha!
Too many cleaners will leave it over wet, and/or they haven't extracted squat because they are moving the wand too fast trying to clean 1000sf in an hour. There is no quality in that. Oh sure, they do follow phone calls, send out a newsletter and some reminder cards etc, but they're actually doing a mediocre job. Whats seems more important for most is these guys will run multi truck companies, makes tons of money because they are good businessmen/women and other cleaners look at the profit and want to emulate them. Being busy has nothing to do with doing a quality job, otherwise McD's would be empty.

 

[Ron Werner]

at least when people go to McD's they know they are buying cheap.

ALL carpet cleaners sound the same. I've been reading a LOT of websites lately as I'm rebuilding mine. From the multitruck to the plain hacks, they use the same words, same copy, and the customer THINKS they are getting a great deal. Since one cleaner is the same as the other, why pay more? Only afterwards do they discover the difference. But then they're thinking ALL cleaners are like that, so out goes the carpet.

Its not the "health" marketing that has shot carpet in the foot, its cleaners themselves.

 

[Mike Draper]

at least when people go to McD's they know they are buying cheap.

ALL carpet cleaners sound the same. I've been reading a LOT of websites lately as I'm rebuilding mine. From the multitruck to the plain hacks, they use the same words, same copy, and the customer THINKS they are getting a great deal. Since one cleaner is the same as the other, why pay more? Only afterwards do they discover the difference. But then they're thinking ALL cleaners are like that, so out goes the carpet.

Its not the "health" marketing that has shot carpet in the foot, its cleaners themselves.

I agree 100%

 

[idreadnought]

I run one man trucks. I do a ten step cleaning process. At my rates $100 an hour is 350 feet of carpet. If you can't do that much carpet in an hour then you have to look at your process. We move furniniture, vacuum, crb scrub, extract, deodorize, groom and neautralize. Do advanced stain remvoval if needed and perform a pre-inspection.

If I was on the truck there are several steps I could skip and do a good job. For me though it is insurance that after all that is done the tech has done an amazing job.

Many of those steps I also do because it sets me apart from the competition. Everyone pre-sprays and sucks. If that is all you do then you have no advantage over them. Even if you don't do it all you need to find something that gives you a unique selling advantage over the average cleaner.

YOu need to look at your process and figure out why it is taking so long

My time for 350 feet

Preparing furniture to be moved (lift buddy+sliders) and vacuuming 10 minutes (I use sanitaire sc899 with a dirt cup kit added to it)

getting machine set up and pre-spraying 10 minutes

Scrubbing 5 minutes (I use whittaker lomac crb, they are fast)

Extracting 20 minutes

block and tab furniture and remove sliders 5 minutes (My sliders are in a caddy with the blocks tabs and Lift buddy) very efficient

deodorize, groom and neautralize 5 minutes.

Pack up machine 5 minutes

we do it everyday. The larger the job is the lower the times per sq foot. My guys hustle but they are paid by the job and they are hungry.

 

[Royal Man]

You divided the time for the job. But. you left out the most important use of your time.

(It not vacuuming time.) It's CLIENT TIME!!

That is the time that will make or break your business.(Sorry Ron)



I have found that it is far more productive and lucrative to have a 2 man crew.

During set up and tear down it leaves a lot more time to spend with the client.

The extra money made from the extra time with the client and extra time to complete more services will more than pay for the other guy man times over.

You may also found that you will have happier clients.

More money, happier client and less burn out with the duties now divide, its all good $$$$$$$$$$.

 

[Ron Werner]

at the times you listed Richard I take it your uniforms are red with a yellow flash of lightning

 

[Ron Werner]

When I cleaned that room in that first video I made, I could have cleaned it like EVERYONE else, charged about $130, vacuumed it with a commercial bag vacuum in 10-15min, presprayed and rinsed it and done 50 min later at most. Owner wouldn't have known any different, I wouldn't have known any different, carpet would have looked clean, I get paid, everyone is happy. Is that what you would do Larry?

the short answer is a resounding YES.
cause that's all MOST people want or need

Not what I observed at the home show, or maybe these people weren't "most" people. After talking with a lot of people today many had used the "other" cleaners and weren't happy. I wonder how many of the "most people" would want the quick cleaning if they understood there could be a lot of stuff left in the carpet?




[quote:259kru3n]its not about being some stupid name calling of OCCD

Ron, my OCCD comment wasn't intended to be stupid or derogatory, I promise.
I think it's valid cause it's out of the norm for even the better cleaners

there is quite a difference between crappy work, quality work and overkill.
If you're as busy as you want to be, i say more power to you!
I couldn't think of anyone else on this board I'd rather have clean Joni's carpets.
But the fact that you're even considering offering an "inferior" (to you) level of clean suggests your market niche may not be large enough to support your level of "clean"


nothing more, nothing le$$



..L.T.A.[/quote:259kru3n]


I still find it amusing that actually cleaning a carpet can be considered overkill :roll:

 

[Dolly Llama]

Not what I observed at the home show, or maybe these people weren't "most" people. After talking with a lot of people today many had used the "other" cleaners and weren't happy.

ummm, Ron, what part of this did you or I miss?

"Owner wouldn't have known any different, I wouldn't have known any different, carpet would have looked clean,
I get paid, >>>>>>>everyone<<<<< is happy."

Obviously the peeps you talked to weren't happy.
That has nothing to with what "I" said

Unless I misunderstood, you asked if I operated under the guidelines of making me and the custy...ie "everyone" happy

that's a resounding YES

"Overkill"

If we define "clean" as the absence of foreign substance, "overkill" would be defined as doing more than needed to achieve "clean"

One example of "overkill" wold be running your sebo CRB over carpets that don't need it.
I could be wrong, but I'd venture a guess that you run your sebo CRB on all or nearly all res carpets regardless of soil conditions .

That may be "needed" to add value/justification to your price (which I see nothing wrong with for the steps you do)
But it's overkill on most res jobs ...........unless you're cleaning for Bob V's old cRustys

50 minutes in one room vaccing the deteriorated backing glue out of a 20 year old carpet could be considered "overkill" to me too

but hey, Dude, it's all good .
It's your space ship, fly it any way you want

..l.T.A.

 

[Brian R]

I think we've given Ron too much credit...I think we think he overkills all his jobs and creeps out his customers.

He's just a board personality like anyone else we take the wrong way.....Or a bit "overkill" !gotcha!


I think just Ron does what's needed and we're all arguing semantics. Although his argument is to go overboard.


I will say that you can only get a carpet so clean....and that is clean. Whatever you do to get it to that point should be the minimal amount.

Because this is a money making business and any way you can cut your cost and STILL provide an end product of clean....You should do it (within the law etc).

I would never prevac to death, scrub, rx20, wand, post pad, post vac, groom......a 1 month old carpet that was hardly used.....and I would hope nobody else would either.

Just an exaggerated example....But I think you get the point.

 

[Ron Werner]

a lot of people I talked to weren't really happy with the work they got, just lacking.
"It makes sense" is still the 3 words they use when I describe how I clean.
And like Brian says, as I've been saying, I don't werner every carpet. That's the benefit of a clear canister, work on the ones that need it and keep moving on the ones that don't, but the clear canister takes away the guess work.

This thread came up at an opportune time as it allowed me to refine how I explain it to potential clients, I had a great turnout at my booth.

Oh, like every show there are always a few people that walk by and say "We have no carpets any more." So I was asking them why.
One couple was simply replacing old worn out 30 yr old carpet and laminate was in style, its the "fashion".
Some people had solid oak floors underneath. They were going for a "new" look.
Some people were dealing with allergies and/or had pets and were tired of the maintenance of carpets. They hated to vacuum but don't mind sweeping every day. They prefer to see it clean themselves each time they clean. It was the ease of cleaning.

Just in writing this I can see an underlying hint of distrust of the cleanliness of carpet. In part it would be from incomplete marketing of the health issue. The other part of that lack of trust would come from a dissatisfaction with previous carpet cleaning.
If they trust the cleaner, they can trust the cleaning.

 

[Desk Jockey]

Some people were dealing with allergies and/or had pets and were tired of the maintenance of carpets. They hated to vacuum but don't mind sweeping every day. They prefer to see it clean themselves each time they clean. It was the ease of cleaning.

Carpet at least traps dust, with hard surface floors the dust is kicked around in the air and breathed.

Not only are hard surfaces more maintenance but because they are not trapping the dust they can't be as healthy an environment to live in.

 

[floorguy]

Some people were dealing with allergies and/or had pets and were tired of the maintenance of carpets. They hated to vacuum but don't mind sweeping every day. They prefer to see it clean themselves each time they clean. It was the ease of cleaning.

Carpet at least traps dust, with hard surface floors the dust is kicked around in the air and breathed.

Not only are hard surfaces more maintenance but because they are not trapping the dust they can't be as healthy an environment to live in.

yup.....to both...depends on the person...

i like all that shit stuck in my carpet :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock:

 

[Desk Jockey]

LOL

Doug you doofus you're suppose to vacuum regularly with HEPA filtration.

Gezzz you floor guys are just trouble!

 

[Chris A]

at the times you listed Richard I take it your uniforms are red with a yellow flash of lightning

Maybe there's just a difference between being efficient and being slower than holy hell

 

[Royal Man]

Just depends of you want to spend an hour vacuuming or a hour cleaning. Cleaning pays around $200 an hour. Guess, it depends on how much you want to make vacuuming.

 

[floorguy]

LOL

Doug you doofus you're suppose to vacuum regularly with HEPA filtration.

Gezzz you floor guys are just trouble!

HEPA.....WTF do i need any workers filtering my shit???

 

[Ron Werner]

[quote="Ron Werner":hkre348t]at the times you listed Richard I take it your uniforms are red with a yellow flash of lightning

Maybe there's just a difference between being efficient and being slower than holy hell[/quote:hkre348t]
Theres a difference between being actually doing something and being speedy.
Takes me longer than 10 min talking to the client to learn what they want done
Takes me longer than 10 to tab and place sliders under furniture, depending on how much I'm moving.
I could vacuum 350 min in 10 min but why bother. All I'd be picking up at most is the stuff on the surface. May as well skip the vacuuming and use a slotted or hybrid glide.

 

[Chris A]

[quote="Chris Adkins":2wy197r7][quote="Ron Werner":2wy197r7]at the times you listed Richard I take it your uniforms are red with a yellow flash of lightning

Maybe there's just a difference between being efficient and being slower than holy hell[/quote:2wy197r7]
Theres a difference between being actually doing something and being speedy.
Takes me longer than 10 min talking to the client to learn what they want done
Takes me longer than 10 to tab and place sliders under furniture, depending on how much I'm moving.
I could vacuum 350 min in 10 min but why bother. All I'd be picking up at most is the stuff on the surface. May as well skip the vacuuming and use a slotted or hybrid glide.[/quote:2wy197r7]

Really, it takes more than 10 minutes to tab furniture in one room? 10 minutes to get info from the client to start is plenty for you (and more than enough for them I'm sure). The vaccing I'm not gonna argue with you about but Jesus Christ, the other stuff can get done a lot quicker (and you can't argue that it wouldn't be done right cuz if shits tabbed, its tabbed.) Also do you put sliders on everything? If so why? Pre-sprayed carpet makes most things slide like buttah.

 

[Brian R]

Time is still money

Get it done right as quick and efficient with the lowest overhead possible.

That's just good business.


People don't want their entire day taken from them and they don't want to be held captive in their own home.


Just sayin.

 

[idreadnought]

My role in the company is to explain the process to people in their homes everyday. Because of our process I close 95% of in home estimates I do. People want high quality service and just saying I am better is not convincing. Giving them a cleaning process that shows them why I am better does.

As I said, many of the things I do in my cleaning process are to give the customers comfort that the carpets were cleaned well. It also seperates me from the other cleaners when the time comes to clean again. If they appreciate the process and you are the only one that does it that way then your service is no longer a commodity. I believe it helps me get higher prices and retain customers longer.

 

[Ron Werner]

I've heard that said a LOT on here Brian, that customers don't want the cleaner in their house for hours. I mentioned that to several people at the home show, and many others as well. Their response was that what they didn't want was a rushed job and they would gladly have someone in their home that they knew was doing excellent work.
Speed isn't everything. I know many guys make millions from speedy work, but I would consider them more the Walmart of cleaners. You can only move a wand so fast. You can only move a vacuum so fast. Any fast and what's the point?! It becomes more proof of my point, it'll look clean but could be a LOT cleaner, and if our goal is to clean, ie remove foreign contaminants, then as professionals we better know what our limits are. Wanding a 1000sf/hr is ok for esthetics and "production" rates, but its crap for "cleaning".

I've got sticky tabs and the dang things just don't stick on everything.
and some of the smaller furniture I prefer sliding rather than lifting, the sliders keep the tabs on till I'm doing the final placement.

 

[Royal Man]

For such a client pleasing and thorough cleaner. You would think that you would have more that just one positive client review?

They should be lining up to rave about your company.

 

[Ron Werner]

I do a good job cleaning, the marketing side is severely lacking
I've been distracted with other things. They can't leave a review if I don't ask or refer them to it.
Its also having a good place for them to go to give a review, google sucks. I still can't even change my address on there, its geared for you gents below the 49th.

 

[Royal Man]

Unfortuanately Google is about the only game in town for reviews. Since, the goverment was on their ass and the other review companies wanted to get into Google's wallet.

So, Google had the last word and dropped posting other review snippets.

Get 20 or more reviews and see how it will boost your ranking and fatten your wallet.

Then get a helper to make your life easier and more productive.