Serious question although I know

[NobleCarpetCleaners]

it's going to sound like I'm full of shit. How do I hack my way through a job (carpet) by not vacuuming and make it look ok enough? Dead serious, like many carpet cleaners do. No vacuuming, little or no prespray or just in the traffic lanes? Do you use a wide unglided wand so the chunks of debris get sucked in? Do you dry stroke or not? How do you hack through stairs? Just crank the detergent at the truck mount like the rooms? Do you have a favorite detergent for your 5 gallon jug.

Believe me when I say I'm not going to be judgmental or critical in anyway. I'm simply trying to keep from going away empty handed on jobs that take me clear across town on good faith. I know there's a way to bust through the job and yet leave a visible impression it's been done good enough. Thanks.

 

[Lee Stockwell]

it's going to sound like I'm full of shit. How do I hack my way through a job (carpet) by not vacuuming and make it look ok enough? Dead serious, like many carpet cleaners do. No vacuuming, little or no prespray or just in the traffic lanes? Do you use a wide unglided wand so the chunks of debris get sucked in? Do you dry stroke or not? How do you hack through stairs? Just crank the detergent at the truck mount like the rooms? Do you have a favorite detergent for your 5 gallon jug.

Believe me when I say I'm not going to be judgmental or critical in anyway. I'm simply trying to keep from going away empty handed on jobs that take me clear across town on good faith. I know there's a way to bust through the job and yet leave a visible impression it's been done good enough. Thanks.

"There's no right way to do the wrong thing"

...don't ask me how I know

 

[Ken Snow]

Require your customer to vacuum beforehand. I'm not sure how many people actually have chunks of stuff on their carpet but it would surelybe much less if you made that a requirement and then adjust the price accordingly (with or without).

 

[Burtz]

hey no problem I vacuumed last week or a few days ago

 

[NobleCarpetCleaners]

Pre-spray? Dry strokes?

 

[Burtz]

16 inch castex wand is in order

 

[Mike Draper]

use a rv360i with no dry passes and be done with it.

 

[renegade_cowboy]

This job is 80% customer service and 20% actual cleaning....

 

[Mikey P]

Pre vac only the entries, the bottom step, in front of the TV sofa and where the dog sleeps.No matter how cheap they will still talk smack or call you back if it wicks.

But do ask the customer to prevac real slow if you think they want cheap.

Pre spray using Accelerated's restaurant powered prespray, let it dwell a bit, shoe in the nasty spots and then rinse with Ultra Pak or it's equivalent at half strength. Lots of dry strokes, a hybrid or slot glide will work fine.

 

[Brian R]

This job is 80% customer service and 20% actual cleaning....

Survey sez?!
Ding ding ding...


like it or not there are very few customers who care whether or not it's "really" clean....whether it's clean or not.

The cleanest carpet in the world is crap with horrible customer service.

Something some need to learn.

And the opposite is true.....
The best cleaning with crap service will kill a company...I've seen it.

The worst cleaning job with a nice smile and personality wins almost every time.
And yes I'm speaking from experience...I used to be a terrible cleaner. :mrgreen: :roll:

The "almost" part is when the customer had a crappy Tech last time and is on her toes and skeptical...did her homework and is on the warpath....

I've won over a few of those..

 

[Doug Cox]

I think a clean carpet is good customer service. I don't give a shit if you have a "Nice personality", if you do shit work, I ain't calling you the next time. I'm sorry Brian, you deserve some of the shit you get when you say everything that pops into your head.

 

[NobleCarpetCleaners]

Doug I'm not so sure that good customer service in this industry is what you and I think, a good cleaning. This thread was to seek some field advise on giving the customer what they want. Occasionlly I get a job that takes me a good distance and the client has bait and switched me, like a Real Estate "Professional" who all of a sudden wants a cheap price and just ok quality. I so wanted today to hack my way through and recovery my time. Shit if I cared about quality, he didn't. I've just never not vacuumed an empty and one stroked it with detergent.

 

[Brian R]

I think a clean carpet is good customer service. I don't give a shit if you have a "Nice personality", if you do shit work, I ain't calling you the next time. I'm sorry Brian, you deserve some of the shit you get when you say everything that pops into your head.

That's why you're not my customer.

A clean carpet IS important...but it isn't good customer service and it's NOT why they call you back.

You know it, I know it and the American people know it.

You just think that's why they call you back when it's really your award winning personality. :roll:

 

[Goomer]

like it or not there are very few customers who care whether or not it's "really" clean....whether it's clean or not.

Are you kidding?

You think they would not care, if they ACTUALLY KNEW that they were not "really" clean. Most are ignorant. They trust the fact that they just had their carpets "proffessionally" cleaned. Its the cleaner that has to sleep at night knowing their ignorant customers "think" that their carpets are "really" clean.

Shame Shame.................

 

[lance]

A quick "once over" is just that.....a quick cleaning. You could vacuum fast and hit the traffic lanes an extra time. Then you could use Redline or Soapfree as a prespray. Spray everything down good and wet and then let dwell while you get the TM going. Rinse with really hot water and do a quick dry stroke on the traffic lanes and bad areas.

If you use a Greenhorn 14 with a glide and 2.5 inch hose you will do a much better job than most of the other spray and suck cleaners, but you will be able to move just as fast as them. If you wanted to take another 10 min.... use a host machine on the TL's.

 

[mirf]

Many folks believe that the "steam vac" they bought at some big box does a great job. Service and Education are key to maintenting clients and increasing the frequency that they maintain thier investment.

 

[Brian R]

like it or not there are very few customers who care whether or not it's "really" clean....whether it's clean or not.

Are you kidding?

You think they would not care, if they ACTUALLY KNEW that they were not "really" clean. Most are ignorant. They trust the fact that they just had their carpets "proffessionally" cleaned. Its the cleaner that has to sleep at night knowing their ignorant customers "think" that their carpets are "really" clean.

Shame Shame.................

I think you're missing the point. "if they actually knew" I think is the key phrase.
I'm not saying to do a bad job....just the opposite.
But don't kid yourself if you think the clean carpet is what keeps them coming back or raving about you.
Carpets can look very clean and not be.
I would say that's about 100% of the carpet cleaners out there. :mrgreen:

But some get closer to "clean" than others. lol

 

[Jimmy L]

:shock:

 

[renegade_cowboy]

I think a clean carpet is good customer service. I don't give a shit if you have a "Nice personality", if you do shit work, I ain't calling you the next time. I'm sorry Brian, you deserve some of the shit you get when you say everything that pops into your head.

Getting the carpet clean for customers is a given and expected everytime. You mention you dont give a shit about if soeone has a nice personality...well put yourself in the shoes of a women, that is left alone sometimes with a stranger in their house. The customer judges you as a person and a cleaner within the first few minutes of meeting you...and this is where that nice personality comes into play. The hand shake, handing the business card, giving them space when they open the door and always direct eye contact.

 

[Doug Cox]

You're reading what you want to read, Brent. Try reading it a bit slower and you might get it.

 

[Curtis Pennington]

Require your customer to vacuum beforehand. I'm not sure how many people actually have chunks of stuff on their carpet but it would surelybe much less if you made that a requirement and then adjust the price accordingly (with or without).

This...

 

[Ron Werner]

Many cleaners make it "look" clean, thats all they care about and they mislead the homeowner/tenant in telling them its clean. I'm honest with them and say, here's my basic method, and if price is an issue I can start dropping steps.

the few jobs I've had where it had to be "a quick cheap clean" it wasn't trashed to begin with.
If its trashed, you need at least minimum of prespray, scrub and rinse, to get it even better, prevac to remove that crap that is in the carpet.
That said, prespray and rinse with a greenhorn with hybrid glide does a satisfactory job. Just need the right chemistry and dwell time.
If you can agitate it some how, that helps.