What is your comfort zone?

[Mikey P]

What demographic do you do your best at, in other words, whom do you feel most comfortable upselling to and explaining why the Foo Foo stain is permanent?

 

[vincent]

I don't upsell, just do what the customer asks. I did turn down a SG request on berber the other day though.

I'm selling snow removal now.

 

[Mikey P]

That wasn't the question ya goof ball.

 

[Ernie G]

Mike, my ideal client makes a bit more than me, live in 4000sq.ft. house and are working professionals, or if the wife stays home with kids the husband works at microsoft and makes alot more than me.

 

[Able 1]

I personally don't like to deal with ritch snoby basterds! There houses might be big but when they look at me like a piece of dookie I personally don't want to be there.

I had one that dictated my cleaning around her kid sleeping (this wasn't a 15 month old) he was 16 and it was 9:00am!

Have some very good ritch custy's and I enjoy to work for them but I like upper middle class myself.

Keith

 

[RC Eden Carpet Cleaning]

I agree upper middle class. Usually the easiest clients to work for, and they aren't them stuck up rich folk that we have so many of here in Seattle.

Commercial is by far the easiest as far as client relations go, well there is no client present so as long as I keep the carpets looking good they'll keep sending me checks no questions asked.

 

[vincent]

That wasn't the question ya goof ball.

As long as they pay, I will do them all. Have no preference.

On average though, most is considered middle class.

 

[Mikey P]

I personally don't like to deal with ritch snoby basterds! There houses might be big but when they look at me like a piece of dookie I personally don't want to be there.

I had one that dictated my cleaning around her kid sleeping (this wasn't a 15 month old) he was 16 and it was 9:00am!

Have some very good ritch custy's and I enjoy to work for them but I like upper middle class myself.

Keith

If you can't spell ritch, I'd recommend not working for them.

 

[DannyD]

I've found that wealthy people are usually pretty nice. At least they are if they're the ones who made the $$$ & it wasn't handed down. Their kids can sometimes be phuckwads, but the ones who actually make the $$$ themselves are often pretty nice.

 

[Guest]

To answer your question Mike, I feel that the upper middle class (if there is such a thing anymore) care about protecting their investments. They spend good money on their carpets and furnishings and want to enjoy them. Knowing this, I feel much more comfortable educating them than I do the people who want 'a quick once over' and roll their eyes at you when you try to get them to understand the importance of CLEAN carpets, fiber protector, and the high quality of work you offer for the price that you charge.

 

[Dolly Llama]

there's no choice selection of "most all of the above"

having said that, the majority of our res custys are middle/upper middle class.
But we have custys in million dollar homes (10 million+ out there in vEgunville) and little Old Ladies on fixed income in trailer parks too.

What I'm "most comfortable" with has nothing to do with income levels.
It's the size of the shack.
I find that the most expensive/largest homes can be the biggest PITA to clean in.

example; We have a long time repeat custy on the schedule for Friday.
She lives in an 8000sf home.
Problem is, only a few rooms get used regularly, so we're stretching a mile of hoses over Mahogany floors and stair cases (which we cover) to get to the master bd rm, then a mile the other direction to clean the family rm, then a half mile to get to a small office/den.
On the other hand, her folks (also big bukz) live in a 2200sf "normal" size and config home.
We clean appx the same sf of carpet in both homes, but it takes us considerably less time because of lay out


..L.T.A.

 

[Art Kelley]

[quote="Able 1":13jr7eih]I personally don't like to deal with ritch snoby basterds! There houses might be big but when they look at me like a piece of dookie I personally don't want to be there.

I had one that dictated my cleaning around her kid sleeping (this wasn't a 15 month old) he was 16 and it was 9:00am!

Have some very good ritch custy's and I enjoy to work for them but I like upper middle class myself.

Keith

If you can't spell ritch, I'd recommend not working for them.[/quote:13jr7eih]

I like the juxtaposition of rich bitch. Behold, a new word has been created.

 

[XTREME1]

Most of my customers are alot richer than I am. They live in about $800,000 to $1,000,000+. Half who call are the man of the house and half of those work from home.

 

[The Great Oz]

Lots more and CEO of housekeeping. There are nice people and jerks at every level, but those with lots of money are more interested in whether they can trust you than what the final amount of the invoice might be. At the house manager level cleaning is just like commercial, but with far better margins, faster pay and you don't have to play "cheat to beat" the janitorial firm's price.

I wouldn't like a customer base that thought of spray foam and a sponge as competition.

 

[Jim Nazarian]

I like them rich, very rich!!!

 

[Jay D]

I have some homes like larry, one room here, there, here, there. I can't get in a good cleaning rythm to clean those type so it takes longer to move hoses, watch out for pocessions, etc. I prefer large expanses of carpet and middle to upper middle cuz thats who I am. But I have upper middle on up so i do whatever it takes.

 

[floorguy]

Commercial

SOOOO


KMA

 

[Brian R]

So that would be "lots more" then right?

 

[Farenheit251]

To me it doesn't matter it is coming out of the security deposit so they can afford it. The recession hasn't effected the landlords willingness to spend the tenants deposit. Actually they seem to want more done.

 

[The Preacher]

i have several millionare customers, alot of customers who own or are part of family owned businesses that are doing well, and a majority of middle class people who i never try to over sell to.

i say upsales are part of what keeps this biz akin to used car salesmen! the cost to include protector/deod etc to a job is so slight that we should do it as part of the price, my reason is, if it needs protector and they don't want it at an inflated price, us not applying it when needed would be like not getting a red spot or other removable spot out when we know we should. a gallon of protector will run you $40 and you can do two homes traffic areas (living spaces, not BR's unless they get used for eating TV watching etc).

 

[Rex Tyus]

I really don't know how to answer. My comfort zone is not determined by the income level. More by their personality. I am more comfortable in a Doctors house that is reasonable than a trailor park with an idiot.