Surviving the slow times.

[Mikey P]

Upsell.

If you've always been a humble "anything you say Mrs Piftleton cause you're the boss" type I hope you like to eat Craft Blue Box this winter.
As a broke dick owner op let me give you this advice.

Dont be shy. Look for dirty stuff. Its there. Luckily for me I was a coupon hack then a coit hack so I learned how to upsell from day one.

My job average goes way up in the winter because I'm not rushing to get to the next one
Counter tops, rugs, sofas, chairs, extra rooms. shower stalls-tile-grout and recaulking, windows, dirty silk plants, drapes, valances and cornice boards, cars-inside and out, wood floors,stone or brick walk ways hell even the damn family dog could probably use a both.

You have the tools to do all this stuff so once you're in the home find ways to stay there longer.Don't be so consumed with getting through and on to the next one. The is almost ALWAYS something else that you could be doing there. You just need to look for it.

Keep some silicone caulk on the truck. Lot of razor blade a few colors of sanded and nonsanded grout. An acrylic additive, lots of scrubbing tools, a dental tool, Magic Al's non acid soap scum remover (this stuff rocks!)

Lots of women and less than handy men out there need real basic stuff done and dontt know who to ask.

Buy a screwdriver and be their man.

Had a call from a land lord who wanted her tile shower spiffed up for the new renter I agreed to go out and take a peak. Next thing you know I have the glass doors off and soaking in Al's, I'm polishing the aluminum trim regrouting the edges, scrubbing the walls and removing the fixtures for replacement.
An hour later I got them to let me clean the kitchen counters and floor and come back later to regrout the area around the sink.
She called me out thinking she was gonna spend $225 (our minimum for hard surface and I walked away with $1300.

And they are thrilled.




Open your eyes guys!






This moment has been brought to you by the Kindlier and Gentler Mikey P Foundation.

 

[vincent]

Mam, would you like your drive plowed when it snows, or maybe your sidewake and patio cleaned too.

What about the church you go, don't want anyone slipping on the ice.

 

[renegade_cowboy]

You can eat Top Ramen too, when times are tough.

 

[Dolly Llama]

I'm selling apples on the corner now




..L.T.A.

 

[okccarpetman]

man that sux!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!THATS WHEN I HIT THE PHONES,calling everyone back with huge discounts, and hitting all the big buildings around for any work.





james
_____________________________________________
abc carpet care llc
AMERICA'S BEST CLEAN EVERYTIME!!!!!!!!!

" I'D ALSO TRY TO SELL REPAIRS THEY PAY GOOD TOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
if you know how 2 of course

here's another thing i do, i post up signs all over town with affordable rates it works very well

 

[sdaws4]

Before you know it you’ll be pulling toilets.

 

[Mikey P]

is that suppose to be beneath me as a carpet cleaner?

 

[sdaws4]

No, that’s what another local cleaner always tells me when I add services, when times are tough we have to adapt to the situation. Theirs nothing wrong with pulling toilets if your a plumber now carpet cleaner that's a stretch and strange.

 

[Mikey P]

strange times call for strange measures.

 

[hogjowl]

Pulling toilets is how I found "The Reverend's Turd."

Great post Mikey. I need to remember to order some of that soap scum remover.

 

[Mikey P]

Really good stuff. http://groundfloor.org/product/prod...id=33&osCsid=04f52ab9ef5f57e7b2f980579f0caead

Especially on marble showers that the home owner has no way of doing it her self.

Try it on those yellowy brown lines that show up on white tile around sinks.

Let it sit for a few then doodle bug /razor it off.






Have you got any idea how many razors I got through in a week?

Soapy scum/hard water deposits on stone showers and granite counters? POW!

The next time your chatting with Mrs Pift in her kitchen take a look around her spickets.
9 times out of ten she'll have a mineral build up she just can't get off.


Razor off the bulk the take some stone polish or http://groundfloor.org/product/product_info.php?products_id=32 and a doodle bug and shine it to perfection for free.


Then sell her on cleaning sealing the whole counter top

 

[Larry B]

I know some of you say you will never work for free but those that can or will may want to try this.

For the last 3 days we have been doing small (2500 sqft or less) restaurants nonstop. We are cleaning their carpets for FREE in exchange they are passing-out discount cards, small post cards or business cards for us. If we get at least 10 calls from the cards left at the business we are going to clean them again FREE.

We have targeted small buildings in a 30 mile radius of us. In 4 days now we have booked 26 jobs from the advertisements that are getting passed out. 14 are from cards we left @ 1 restaurant. I'm sure a couple of the places will not follow through with their end but you dont know till you try.


22 carpet jobs

1 VCT job

3 Misc jobs.

 

[Mikey P]

all from one free job?


Can you post the card here?

 

[Mikey P]

sorry, 22 jobs form how many freebies?


I'll assume you're cleaning the busier places in town


I have my most regular restaurant to do tomorrow.


I think I'll give it a shot with my $20 off cards.

 

[Larry B]

Mike

I dont know how busy most of them are as my brother is just driving around and finding them at random. He works out the deal with the owners and we take care of it.

The $20.00 cards are 1 of the things we are leaving with them. The others are just business cards and postcards we mail out.


We have only been doing it for 4 days now but it looks like it will pay off in the end no matter what. Myself and family members are doing the cleaning so we have no labor cost involved in cleaning the businesses. At this time we have less than $500.00 wrapped up in gas and chemicals to service the buildings.

 

[Mikey P]

I wish you would have given me this idea instead of that pickle juice.

 

[Greenie]

Could be worse, you could buy a bucket of squeegees.

 

[Brian R]

Like that Idea Larry.

Mikey, you are dead on with the upsale during the winter.
Winter only brings less customers...not lower quality ones.

I think I will start pre inspecting more jobs to get the sale going before hand. This is easier with it being less busy.

Although, it is not that slow as of yet.

I am also going to do handyman service...I have a guy...and I already partner with a house cleaner and a landscaper.

It doesn't hurt to go on jobs with these people...if they don't mind...to try to upsale from their sale.

The customer doesn't know what company you are from until you tell them.

If you know someone doing any work in the home or commercial building...ask them to come along and you will give them 10% of whatever money you make. Getting in the door is more than half the battle. That company is already talking to the guy who makes the decisions.


you have to network with other companies...not just potential clients...although everyone is a potential client.

 

[floorguy]

One of the many reasons I chose to be diversified...

Whats funny is I hated(ok not quiet hated but close) carpets when i started, and tried to stay away as much as possible...but jobs kept popping up, it made for a nice tie-in with VCT on certain places...and now

shit seems as if I am doing more carpets then VCT...glad I got the TM now...

Also chose to add seat cleaning at the theater...let my chimp and one of his buddies and/or one of my part part part, gotta use him if i am in a pinch workers to do it...$2 a chair, they just knocked out $1800 in chairs the last 4 days...and we split it 3 ways after costs...Machine rental(use a heated porty screw burin up the TM), chems, and the cost of me goin to pick it up...

plus I have added a new theater i clean every quarter, now possbily a 3rd, and they gonna get new carpet in the summer....WOOOOO new carpet to keep clean...

plus when the VP was out he noticed how much nicer this theater looked, and could tell they changed....got me a name to drop now....


anyway mix it up and do mulitple things

 

[Dolly Llama]

I am also going to do handyman service...

I hate the term "handyman" LOL

for the dudes that have a few apt/prop mangr accounts, you know, painting and general cleaning ain't all that hard, and not expensive to get into as far as tools.

It can turn a $100 CCing job into 10 times that.
Double that if you can do repairs like hang doors, install floors, cabinets, plumbing and fix, replace/repair all the broken chit.
The last unit we turned this week was $1800 just for labor and I make a couple bucks off materials too

some "out of the box" for CC'r things I've bid on in the last year;

boarding up condemned buildings
Tree removal
Siding repair and whole siding jobs
gutter cleaning, gutter repair and new install
Roofing
decks and ramps.
just to name a few.

Most of the bids I won.
of those wining bids, some I subbed out, some we did

..L.T.A.

 

[hogjowl]

What started out as a wonderful thread about concentric diversification (diversification within the cleaning industry) has now, inevitably, strayed into territory completely non-cleaning related (conglomerate diversification) and, in my opinion, a completely illogical avenue to grow your cleaning business with. Not to mention the fact that it is quite hard to diversify that broadly and maintain an acceptable measure of quality service AND profitability.

I wasted 8 years straying into non-related areas of diversification and my advice is to be careful with what you upsell. You can quickly become a jackass of all trades.

 

[Mikey P]

Have you ever just walked over to the family room sofa and asked when it was cleaned last?


Try whacking the back/top with your hand real hard and watch the dust come flying up. If nothing else I bet a little old lady would pay you to "Power Vac" all of her upholstered pieces..

 

[Desk Jockey]

Look at the big brain on sMarty!

Thanks for defining those terms, shucks thought I was gonna have ta look'em up!

Try using simpler terms it hurts my brain when I read big words.

 

[Brian R]

Meat, what would you call it?

Marty, I didn't recognize you with the new avatar.
If diversifying, make sure you have qualified people to do the work...or make sure you are qualified.

I think custy's appreciate the extra service...especially if you have won their trust already.

 

[bob vawter]

Martys Avatar is funny!

 

[Dolly Llama]

Meat, what would you call it?

.

call "what"?
The "handyman" thingie?
anything but... :mrgreen:

we market these diversified services to PMs only for the most part.
I have a lot of good contacts in the trades.
Several good licensed general contractors, HVAC, plumbers, electricians etc

..L.T.A.

 

[Desk Jockey]

Household Repairs

Jack of all trades work

Larry of all trades :mrgreen:

 

[handdi]

great post mikey
we need more imput like this
our bus is 3 months old and the phone is not ringin
advertisin nothing
great idesa

 

[ACE]

I am a jack of all triads for sure. It is nice to turn very few jobs away. It definitely has a downside for a small operation, lots of inventory and I spend allot of time just loading up equipment. it sure don’t all fit in the TM anymore.

 

[Steve Toburen]

So Marty, does Mikey pay his moderators by the syllable?

Island Boy
www.StrategiesForSuccess.com

PS Good original post, Mike. (And here I thought you were one of these arrogant, "I won't blow my nose for less than .80 per foot" types.) Keep writing like this and I may be out of my columnist gig when Evan sees the hidden genius within you. (Or maybe he will have you and Martin share a byline.)