Message sent to CRI committee Monday morning...

[LisaWagnerCRS]

Hey all...

This message was sent successfully to all 40 of the CRI Cleaning & Maintenance IMT (Issues Management Team) committee members.

I think my family needs an Issues Management Team... oops, tangent there...

Let's see if they actually say something to us, or if we get to be ignored a bit longer. They meet this week on SOA.

If you have not had the chance to read Dr. Aziz's great article on the failings of SOA - I posted it on the blog.

Thanks for chiming in on the blog - you are absolutely helping with our rankings. And we've had 1,000 unique visitors in just about 5 days, which is great. I appreciate you helping out and not leaving me on my own to just talk and rant to myself over there.

http://www.realdirtoncri.wordpress.com

Lisa

===

Dear Cleaning & Maintenance IMT members,

Since your upcoming meeting this week on "issue management" regarding the SOA program does not appear to involve any active residential professional cleaners - at least not among the 40 names I researched - I thought you might perhaps be unaware of a list of unresolved and unaddressed questions/concerns that the men and women actually DELIVERING the cleaning services TODAY have with your program.

For you to ignore our input would be against the spirit of any ANSI-accreditation you are pursuing... so I just have to assume that you have all been made unaware of the strong concerns raised within the residential cleaning community.

If you would like specifics, you can find them at the blog set up to specifically address real cleaners concerns, since Werner Braun is failing to even acknowledge them, and persists in stating that it is only Racine Industries that has problems unresolved. 

That type of scapegoating is ridiculous - and as you will see with the comments on this blog, none are by HOST cleaners:

www.realdirtoncri.wordpress.com

I understand that CRI is a very large organization that does not need to pay any heed to independent cleaning companies. However, collectively we provide 90% of the professional residential cleaning services in the US, and at some point you will have to at least acknowledge that "we" exist, and that we actually are qualified to give opinions on this program because no one strives for the best cleaning in homes with carpets and rugs than we do. 

I appreciate any attention you can give to this matter.  We've been being ignored for so long by your leadership, we are starting to take it personally.

Thank you,
Lisa

 

[Jim Pemberton]

Well done Lisa.

All:

Post on her blog. The "powers that be" mistakenly write off any BB commentary as the ravings of lunatics (well, sometimes they are right), but in any event most DO take blog postings very seriously.

Go to Lisa's site and state how you feel about the matter. Do it yesterday, but today at the latest.

Thanks Lisa.

 

[XTREME1]

Has there been any thought to recruiting cleaners to run an ad in their local papers.
Local ads are very cheap and usually are once a week in locals but if you could write a few line complaint about CRI-SOA not listening to the little guy and trying to hurt him and sending it to everyone who would volunteer to pay for it in their local paper and run all the same week. I am sure that would get somebodies attention.
There is access to thousands of cleaners and I am sure a bunch may not be go getters in this sort of thing but if it were made easy I am sure they would pny up.
I will be the first to volunteer the 3 local papers in my area.
They could seal it with their logo and your independent carpet cleaner, so it would be advertising as well

 

[Ken Snow]

Not sure what that would do Greg- in my opinion the consumer won't take action on this, so what's the purpose? I would rather spend the same amount of money and hire a lawyer to start a class action suit, or to send letters for the group.

 

[XTREME1]

That to is a great idea. I wouldn't be looking for the public to do anything but if people took the time to do that and it ran in hundreds of papers at the same time you suddenly have a voice. If they completely ignore that voice that would really open the gates to class action and I am sure they have people that would tell them that. As of right now they can claim they are unaware

 

[Ken Snow]

where would that voice be seen and/or heard? most small town papers are not read and larger cities like mine would cost $1000 or more for a small ad and many times that for a half to full page.

 

[XTREME1]

It would be out there for public consumption, a certified letter to CRI_SOA saying this is what the indendents are doing to protest, a letter tp Fox business, wallstreet journal and Bloomberg. It would get noticed.
I am not married to the idea, I just keep hearing how people are being ignored. Print media is still more respectable than a blog to organizations

 

[dan mabes]

By definition, a “small business” is a business that has little impact on the industry. Whether we are a single truck or multiple truck operation we are all small businesses and as such a very fragmented industry, so why should the CRI listen?

Ken's comment on writing letters (emails) an excellent start and will allow us the opportunity to see if the CRI will listen.
Perhaps Lisa can post the email addresses of those committee members, and this "fragmented" group might get someone on the task force to listen.

Dan M

 

[LisaWagnerCRS]

Hey all - thanks for the suggestions and support.

Just a note Greg, the consumers are NEVER going to hear about this program. Go to the CRI website (www.carpet-rug.org) and you can get a very clear sense of how fluffed up they are with their marketing expertise. Navigating that site is painful.

Also, they spent MILLIONS trying to get more people to buy carpet (Carpet - It Just Feels Good...) and failed.

They have no sway over consumers. Maybe a tiny bit more with the internet - but that is easily countered by a strong negative comment campaign on-line, which we've started. Five days in, and as we get more activity and posting of REAL cleaners sharing why this is BAD for consumers - that is all good fodder.

The point of this campaign, and the time I'm giving it, is to right a wrong... and perhaps as Dan mentions here, get our own organizations like IICRC to frickin' ramp it up and start creating real value for the industry (and then to the consumer).

If CRI was giving any semblance of seriously trying to provide real quality cleaning to consumers, I for one would have another tone. This is a formalized way of extorting money from manufacturers in order to generate new revenue, and ALL of those costs come back on us, even if the SOA fee is small for the cleaners.

We are getting screwed.

This argument doesn't need to get to the consumers unless the visibility of the SOA program somehow gets higher. And if that happens, I already have plans to kill that effect... one of the good things about being a great marketer. If I can teach cleaners how to sell carpet cleaning services successfully (a service consumers don't really enjoy buying).... then I can sell on why anything SOA is suspect and needs to be avoided.

Go to the CRI site, look at that LONG list of approved products they have - as if a consumer is really going to go through and read that? No, that's for us cleaners to see what to buy. Or for me, what NOT to buy.

This program should have remained at the commercial cleaning level to help improve that sectors problems with janitorial inconsistencies, but also very limiting cleaning situations - tough to open up all the windows and get optimum drying environments for HWE sometimes...

Their problem is they have a big friend - Rug Doctor - that is in homes, and wanted to last minute include a way to help them, but unfortunately that involves the sector we all work in.

We will see what happens here... and what happens with the IICRC, the next letter to come later today (I gotta do some real pay-my-bills-work now). :mrgreen:

Lisa

 

[Mikey P]

You GO Girl!


Takes big balls to take on this band of corrupt slime.

The Admins here @ MB have decided to all chip in and buy you a little gift for your efforts..


watch for it in your male box....

 

[XTREME1]

hmmm. I wonder why she avoids posting here :roll:

For the record Lisa what supposed Chef "Peter S" doesn't know Bucca Dipeppo is italian. Never get that guy close to a hot air balloon or you may never get down

 

[Jim Pemberton]

What constitutes as a compliment from Mikey sometimes takes a bit of getting used to.

 

[KevinL]

Why don't we start boycotting the IICRC too. Let's recommend to new cleaners to not bother getting certified. The classes I've been to lately, I would say 85% are taking the tests to become certified. And we all know what a joke these tests are.

 

[randy]

What constitutes as a compliment from Mikey sometimes takes a bit of getting used to.

He is just trying to re-gift Paula's valentine's day present.

 

[randy]

Why don't we start boycotting the IICRC too. Let's recommend to new cleaners to not bother getting certified. The classes I've been to lately, I would say 85% are taking the tests to become certified. And we all know what a joke these tests are.

I couldn't agree more.

 

[LisaWagnerCRS]

Why is it when guys want to compliment a gal they tell her she really has a set of balls...

I'm going to start telling you Mikey you sure really got a set of tits.... then maybe the guys will like you here a little more...

I guess I'm supposed to say thanks....

You know it makes it really friggin' hard to talk about how I'm representing the real caring conscientious cleaners in this industry when you're not giving me much material to work with here.

Harper - any help on this one? You are always the voice of real professionalism and reason.

Lisa

P.S. Very funny by the way....

 

[Jim Pemberton]

The best thing you all can do for our industry right now is make a comment on Lisa's blog.

Blogs get read more widely than bulletin board posts, and fairly or not, are given more credence by the type of people you want to "hear" (so to speak) what you have to say.

And "they" are reading her blog as you read this. That's not a friendly endorsement on my part for Lisa's work.

Its the truth. Those of you that know me know that I would know.

Let me repeat something I've been beating to death on this and other boards:

Just because this might not affect you does not mean you should not speak out about it. The best leaders in our history have been men and women who stuck their necks out for others when they themselves were little hurt by the injustices that they fought.

This is the best form of industry citizenship that you can render right now. And now, as in TODAY, is a critical time for you to take that stand.

 

[Mikey P]

Harper - any help on this one? You are always the voice of real professionalism and reason.

Better have some 18 year old tits around if you want him to play in this thread.