gregcole said:
Go into the middle of your living room and write "
SFS" in protectant in BIG letters. properly rake it in. Then wait 4-8 weeks- The letters
SFS will appear in the middle of your room if it is working.
I'm in favor of this, Greg!
Island Boy
http://www.StrategiesForSuccess.com
PS OK, Jim, be sure to include in your Testing Protocol the phrase that Greg specifies above.
Nice to see the more or less civil tone this discussion is engendering. Just because someone does/does not believe in the effectiveness of any given carpet protector is not cause to question their ancestry/ intelligence/ worth to the human race. Simply put, if you do not believe in something you should never sell it to your customers.
On the other hand, if you are a "true believer" the very best way to build credibility for your carpet protector application is to include (at no extra charge) a "12 Month Spot and Spill Warranty with every application. I believe it is called "putting your money where your mouth is".
Here is an excerpt from my "Up-selling on the Home Front" Report on how the "protector warranty" concept works:
"
Do NOT guarantee with your "12 Month Spot and Spill Warranty" that the customer will never have a permanent stain. (Even though if you have properly applied the carpet protector and use correct spotting techniques it will be highly unusual for a spot to not remove completely.) Instead, you are “guaranteeing” that if after the customer has tried (following your over-the-phone instructions if necessary) to remove the stain you will come to their home at no charge and use all professional methods possible to restore the carpet. Note: If you wish, as part of your warranty you can offer to refund the cost of the carpet protector application if the stain does not come out completely.
Include the “spot warranty” with all your protector applications. Why not offer two options with a higher, premium price for the protector with a warranty? Here is my admittedly opinionated reasoning on this point:
a) Customers are “warranty shy” nowadays. After all, how many times have you bought a $75.00 boom box from Best Buy and then they try to “up-sell” you on a $30.00 service warranty? It is a much more positive Moment of Truth to include the program as a FREE bonus. People love this idea and your protector sales will sky-rocket!
b) Your free spot and spill guarantee shows the customer that you have confidence in the product to protect their carpets. After all, if you believe in it so will they.
c) Don’t confuse the customer (and your technicians) with too many choices. If you make things too complicated for your employees they just won’t offer the product. I wanted to keep things as simple as possible with a simple “yes” or “no”. (With this concept most customers said “yes”!)
Include reasonable restrictions on covered spots. Since you are including this service as a free bonus in the carpet protector application your customer will have no problem with some reasonable restrictions. These can include tracked in soil in traffic lanes (this isn’t a spot, it means they need their carpets cleaned again!), pet urine and feces, petroleum products and extensive water or sewer damage. We lowered the expectations of our clients by explaining in writing that all carpet protectors are designed to protect against common food and drink spills and that is what we guarantee to remove. We also told them that complete carpet restoration depended on the volume of the spill. Six ounces of Coke? Very likely no problem. Two liters? Hmmmm … that may be another matter!
Put some responsibility on the homeowner. After all, it is THEIR home and at the end of the day, THEIR problem Plus remember, you are including this service as a free bonus. So the customer needs to step up to the plate and do their part:
a) The homeowner must contact you within 24 hours of the stain occurring. You don’t want to deal with stains that are months (or years!) old.
b) Before you make your free “on-site” visit the homeowner needs to make a reasonable effort to remove the spot on their own. When they call your first step will be to give them professional advice over the phone on how to remove the spot.
c) Use of improper chemicals will void this warranty. If the housewife has already dumped the bottle of Resolve on the spot following up with a healthy application of Tide you don’t need to make this your problem! The answer? Give each customer (whether they buy protector or not) a bottle of professional spotter with free lifetime refills provided by YOU! Talk about a customer for life!
The spot warranty should expire one year after application of the carpet protector. After all, how often do you want to clean your customer’s carpets? At least every year. Interestingly, we have found that customers have every intention of having their carpets cleaned yearly. However, the stress of daily life means the project often gets postponed indefinitely. But the customer’s spot warranty expiring in one year reinforces the need for you to return and adds a “time dated urgency” to your follow up mailings."
These are my thoughts on the "12 Month Spot and Spill Warranty" concept. Our members that have implemented it tell me people love it and yet less than 2% ever call for a free spotting visit. Now is this because the protector is doing its job? Or just that customers are lazy/forget? Maybe Jim P's testing will give us the answer!
To download the entire "Upselling on the Home Front" Report just go here:
http://www.strategiesforsuccess.com/sec ... al-reports
