Not getting calls
- Thread starter Ken692
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TomKing
Supportive Member
Then let's quit now while I am ahead. Thanks my friend.
jake.hdm
Member
- Joined
- Sep 7, 2014
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- 21
- Name
- Jake ness
We were very slow last week. Sent out an email to customers for rain gutter cleaning got 10 jobs off that email. All I needed for equipment is a shop vac and extensions with a goose neck. Made $150-300 a job. Nice when carpet cleaning is slow. Also knocking on doors in new housing developments has always been reliable for us in slow times!
Happens every year.. We have been good so far Monday 2 jobs,today we had 5, tomorrow 5, Thursday 4, Friday 4.. Next week looks slow though.
I used to do thousands of flyers in the winter only to get a job or two, now I just accept it. Free ads or posts on facebook is all I'm willing to do in winter..
I used to do thousands of flyers in the winter only to get a job or two, now I just accept it. Free ads or posts on facebook is all I'm willing to do in winter..
Spurlington
Member
De-icing might be a good business
Zee
Supportive Member
Man, I despise when people are knocking on our door and try to sell me roof replacement, new windows painting of the house or whatever it is they will find a reason to knock on the door. I simply hate it when they come pushing their services. Most of the times I am not there and my wife has a hard time dealing with these pushy sales persons.
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Mikey P
Administrator
saw that a lot in SCruz actually.
hogjowl
Idiot™
I did the equivalent of knocking on doors ... telemarketing ... when I first started out. I can tell you now that I will never knock on doors.
But, I'm not starving.
It's easy to be picky when you're not starving.
But, I'm not starving.
It's easy to be picky when you're not starving.
I need to reach the people that need the service, I'm sure not everyone that wants the carpet or area rug cleaned up nice. We keep a good report with the cleaner and try to give the best service. I just hit s real dead spot. Was hoping to do more research on the best places to post ad's (without kicking on doors) but the legal spots. High traffic places that will get my service in front of the right people.
Kellie Hiler
Member
Are you guys doing carpet repairs? That is a really good way to fill in the winters and you don't need to have your machine out on the icy roads and freezing cold.
Kellie Hiler
Member
Sewing machine?! 
Patches are extremely easy to learn and do, especially if you have a Kool Glide, it's the best seaming tool on the market.
If someone has a stain that just will not come out you can patch it as well. If they have no extra carpet you take a piece out of a closet and put the stained piece in the closet where no one sees it or cares. If someone gets new flooring and needs the transition taken care of, that is another good add on or winter call.
Stretching is easy to learn and once you get the logistics down can be a great money maker, especially when you get a whole house stretch, which actually happens a lot.
Commercial glue down repairs....easy peasy, its worth looking into.
Patches are extremely easy to learn and do, especially if you have a Kool Glide, it's the best seaming tool on the market.
If someone has a stain that just will not come out you can patch it as well. If they have no extra carpet you take a piece out of a closet and put the stained piece in the closet where no one sees it or cares. If someone gets new flooring and needs the transition taken care of, that is another good add on or winter call.
Stretching is easy to learn and once you get the logistics down can be a great money maker, especially when you get a whole house stretch, which actually happens a lot.
Commercial glue down repairs....easy peasy, its worth looking into.
smastio
Member
Kellie - I see a lot of CC's starting to get into it. Here is a client of ours that offers it online. Use 60174 zip code to get in... https://phoenixcarpetrepairandcleaning.fittlebug.com .
Josh at Prestige West Texas
Member
What is the best advertising method? Word of mouth has worked good, door hangers and a little direct mailer did alright. I believe there's go to be better way though???
Goomer
Member
Lot's of good advice here, but to be brutally honest with you, in your situation, the best thing you can do for yourself right now, is to find a normal job for the next 3-4 months, preferably during the evenings, before you get into too deep of a hole.
Nothing is going to pop up here in the NE until the weather breaks in the spring, regardless of what you do, and we have not even seen the real cold stuff and snow yet.
Your safest play is to expect this to be the case for a few years to come as well because growing a business from zero as a one man show is a long process.
I've spent 2 years researching this business, a good year+ pretending I knew what I was doing, and almost another 4 years grinding it out, and I still spin pizzas on weekends during the winter months for a friend of mine to stay busy and get in a good workout, although every year the need gets less and less.
Find something menial to do like deliver pizza to cover your monthly nut and settle in for the winter and use your available time to research and plan for next year before you your financial situation gets gets too far out of hand.
Waiting for the phone to ring during the winter months almost put me out of business just as fast as I got into it.
Nothing is going to pop up here in the NE until the weather breaks in the spring, regardless of what you do, and we have not even seen the real cold stuff and snow yet.
Your safest play is to expect this to be the case for a few years to come as well because growing a business from zero as a one man show is a long process.
I've spent 2 years researching this business, a good year+ pretending I knew what I was doing, and almost another 4 years grinding it out, and I still spin pizzas on weekends during the winter months for a friend of mine to stay busy and get in a good workout, although every year the need gets less and less.
Find something menial to do like deliver pizza to cover your monthly nut and settle in for the winter and use your available time to research and plan for next year before you your financial situation gets gets too far out of hand.
Waiting for the phone to ring during the winter months almost put me out of business just as fast as I got into it.
Mikey P
Administrator
Great advice
Kellie Hiler
Member
Goomer said it best....
Yes I need time to make it happen
Zee
Supportive Member
Russ T.
Supportive Member
My only job scheduled for today called a couple times and left a message over the weekend. Then first thing this morning, to postpone their cleaning. It's okay I'm glad actually. Its friggin COLD out there and I've got some tax info to gather for my accountant.
It has taken me this long to be REALLY prepared. We seem to kill it, 4th quarter...then its dead for the first quarter. I resisted the urge to buy a lot of new equipment this year when the cash was flowing. I'm really glad I did. I hate sitting around, but even worse when you are broke!
Stick it out, like Ken said. There are some things that can be done to generate a little biz but I'm coming to grips with the fact that if we continue to shun restoration work, Winter will be SLOW.
Thats ok. Just remember the middle of January, when its the middle of July!
It has taken me this long to be REALLY prepared. We seem to kill it, 4th quarter...then its dead for the first quarter. I resisted the urge to buy a lot of new equipment this year when the cash was flowing. I'm really glad I did. I hate sitting around, but even worse when you are broke!
Stick it out, like Ken said. There are some things that can be done to generate a little biz but I'm coming to grips with the fact that if we continue to shun restoration work, Winter will be SLOW.
Thats ok. Just remember the middle of January, when its the middle of July!
At least you HAD an appointment/job!
Lol, today was super busy for me...! Gave a quote about ten minutes away.
Took the van to the car wash, blasted all the ice off(bad storms) so if the phone does ring I can get the van doors open!
I'm beat... Good thing I'm off for the next week. Well, assuming miracles don't happen and the phone starts ringing. Last night it was -2, it's 8 out right now.
Here's some advice from a struggling noob.
Keep on cold calling.
Door hangers have not got me a single job. I'm sure part of that is my website needing more work though because I do see FB and website hit uptics each time I put them out.
People like to crap all over apartments but i say go for it. One morning while driving in a zombie like state from a 2 day lack of sleep (stress is a killer) I realized I hadn't done squat to grow for a fews days so I pulled over to an apartment complex and walked in to make a pitch. I hardly remember it from sleep deprivation but I know I was way off my game and had no real pitch. The dude kinda pushed me off a with a thanks for the card and I said something assertive and then he hem hawed around a bit and mentioned the guy they were using for the last 25 years was retiring. So he told me to go to another office across town to talk to the big cheese the next day. I talked em into letting me try one unit at some point in the future. 2 months later they call back and tell me they got one for me. Clean it then shoot them a price and they say I'm the most expensive guy they've tried but did the best job and they thought the CRB was the bees knees. They own 13 freaking complexes. One complex is 200 townhomes. Land em all, prevac'd and empty when I show up at SS prices. You never know man.
As an owner operator it should be easy to make friends with people chatting a little on the job and get people to leave a good review. I know reviews are the only reason I get calls from online because my SEO is crap. Ask for referrals. I've only done 2 jobs so far that didn't refer me someone else and I don't even have a referral program.
If you do get a part time job (I have one too for now) get one that you can find a way to plug carpet cleaning as often as possible. Although it is very hard for people to take you seriously when they see you have 2 jobs...
And on a serious note no one ever talks about. Are you depressed/ADD (yeah I'm projecting here)? For me that was a the biggest thing that kept me from growing last year but it took me a whole year to realize it. Working out on the reg or an adderall can go a long way lol. Biz seems waaay more easy to get now for some reason.
Keep on cold calling.
Door hangers have not got me a single job. I'm sure part of that is my website needing more work though because I do see FB and website hit uptics each time I put them out.
People like to crap all over apartments but i say go for it. One morning while driving in a zombie like state from a 2 day lack of sleep (stress is a killer) I realized I hadn't done squat to grow for a fews days so I pulled over to an apartment complex and walked in to make a pitch. I hardly remember it from sleep deprivation but I know I was way off my game and had no real pitch. The dude kinda pushed me off a with a thanks for the card and I said something assertive and then he hem hawed around a bit and mentioned the guy they were using for the last 25 years was retiring. So he told me to go to another office across town to talk to the big cheese the next day. I talked em into letting me try one unit at some point in the future. 2 months later they call back and tell me they got one for me. Clean it then shoot them a price and they say I'm the most expensive guy they've tried but did the best job and they thought the CRB was the bees knees. They own 13 freaking complexes. One complex is 200 townhomes. Land em all, prevac'd and empty when I show up at SS prices. You never know man.
As an owner operator it should be easy to make friends with people chatting a little on the job and get people to leave a good review. I know reviews are the only reason I get calls from online because my SEO is crap. Ask for referrals. I've only done 2 jobs so far that didn't refer me someone else and I don't even have a referral program.
If you do get a part time job (I have one too for now) get one that you can find a way to plug carpet cleaning as often as possible. Although it is very hard for people to take you seriously when they see you have 2 jobs...
And on a serious note no one ever talks about. Are you depressed/ADD (yeah I'm projecting here)? For me that was a the biggest thing that kept me from growing last year but it took me a whole year to realize it. Working out on the reg or an adderall can go a long way lol. Biz seems waaay more easy to get now for some reason.
TomKing
Supportive Member
Hey get your butt up here so we can start working on your spring plan and keep you out of the apartment business. Good job though. How's married life treating you?
I am going to have several new referral contacts for you by the end of February.
Apartments arn't bad if they value your service and you charge for it.. Actually they're great, and one of the best ways to build your business! At this time of the year they alone still pay my mortgage..
Other than gaining 10lbs from her kitchen wizardry it's been cloud 9!
I'm trying to get a few things like having my finances totally figured out and such but I'll be calling you soon! My dayjob has been shaky lately (Construction winters...) so I'm selling some stuff and making sure I have as few bills as possible. My working capital is low...
Larry Henson
Member
So what you are saying is that the other cleaners are hungrier than you? I look at it the same way and don't need anymore practice and RTR Marty.
Cleanworks
Moderator
People still move in the winter and need the empty places cleaned. We charge 120-150 for 1-2 bedroom apts. The managers vacuum before we come. Takes about 45 min. To 1 and 1/2 to clean. Not great money but in spring and summer, we are cleaning all the hallways and stairs. We have quite a few bldg's like this and keeps us busy in the winter when nothing else is happening. Th other thing we do is salt neutralizing. People are tracking salt and deicers into bldg lobbies. We neutralize with an acidic encap using a brush pro type machine. Saves their carpets from salt degradation.
