What was the turning point in your business?

Do you get new clients from flooring retailers?


  • Total voters
    1

Mikey P

Administrator
Joined
Oct 6, 2006
Messages
112,312
Location
The High Chapperal
At what point and time did you truly know that it was going to work?

I'm sure for the newer guys here that time is yet to come.

For me it was in my first year as a OO that my neighbor down the street (who just so happened to work for Leggett and Platt who makes carpet cushion) got a carpet retailer or two to let me in the door to talk to them. I could tell they were a bit hesitant about yet another rug sucker asking for work but my neighbor set me up good with an outstanding referral. It didn't take long for the jobs to come rolling in. After I proved myself in some touchy situations it became apparent that I would not need to waste big bucks on traditional advertising to get new clients.

Believe it or not but when I got my Vortex it got even better. Some of the salesmen in the shop could really see I was committed and they too started to refer more work to me instead of selling unneeded new carpet.

I can’t stress enough to other cleaners that their number one priority should be to get some retailers on their side.
Stop by often, buy some installation supplies, do the Howard Partridge and bring doughnuts or gifts, send clients their way, offer some free cleanings, show them how clean and tidy your truck is, offer to walk their dogs……Do some thing to get their interest because they clients smart enough to ask them for a referral are the types not to concerned about price but rather quality.

My best retailer recarpeted my box for free last week.

Got to love it.
 

Jimbo

Member
Joined
Oct 7, 2006
Messages
2,197
Hey Mike...I would have to agree on the huge value that a retailer can bring to our business. I have a couple...one in the
Truckee/Taho market...and one down here in the Reno market...they both give me a steady stream of referrals...and it has been great over the years. I do the donut thing every now and then, its part of my 'cheap date' marketing program. My reward to the owners of the carpet stores is they never pay for showroom carpet cleaning...or home carpet cleaning for their own home...that way they can say "This is the only company I will let clean my OWN carpets", which is a fairly strong reccomendation.

So this one time I go over and clean the owners home carpet...no one is there...I cleaned the whole houseful of carpet...and got out to the van and the 5 gal chemical rinse tank of BP Fiber Plus is EMPTY!...it should have lasted for four houses. So I mixed up a sprayer full of Fab Set to try to neutralize the excess of cleaning agents...and hoped for the best!

About three weeks later the carpet store owner calls and was wondering if I had put Teflon on. No, I did not have any on the truck that day. He said the carpet was getting dirty pretty fast...could I come back and touch it up a little and spray on a heavy coat of teflon? Yikes, the residue problem was obvious...so on the return trip I used an acidic rinse to clean the residue off the entire carpet...and loaded it up with Teflon.

I never mentioned the problem to the carpet store owner...but I did notice that all his referred clients always asked for Teflon after that incident...they would say "he told me to MAKE SURE to get the Teflon applied, it make a terrific difference in the carpet staying clean!"
 

Dolly Llama

Number 5
Joined
Oct 7, 2006
Messages
30,495
Location
North East Ohio
Name
Larry Capitoni
"At what point and time did you truly know that it was going to work?"

I knew it was going to work from the begining.
Worked part time with an Ole Buck, saw the income potential, left a gravy UAW car factory job with the knowlege I HAD to make it work.

If I knew how hard it was REALLY going to be, I might of stayed at the shop.
However, It's amazing how forclosure noticices on your home can motivate a body

Somewhere between my 3rd and 5th year I felt that I had "arrived" and made it over the hump


..L.T.A.
 

Scott

Member
Joined
Oct 7, 2006
Messages
1,720
"At what point and time did you truly know that it was going to work?"

When I got in I knew it would work. But we didn't grow or see any decent profit until I got off the truck and worked on the business rather than in it.

I have a class coming up at Pemberton's early next month. I've created an eye-opening task chart of a typical cleaning business. If you ask real nice I'll give you a sneak peak. It really is enlightening, seeing all of the tasks we have to do as business owners.

Scott
 

Blue Monarch

Supportive Member
Joined
Oct 7, 2006
Messages
2,935
Location
Lincoln, NE
Name
Dirk Wingrove
The turning point in my business needs to happen in the next couple of months. If it doesn't, I'm up shit creek.

Hopefully all goes well and as planned.
 
G

Guest

Guest
mikey p said:
Believe it or not but when I got my Vortex it got even better.


I heard one vortex owner is really hurting...can't even pay a few hundred bucks to repair a van they hit. I also know another that is slow...and he has been in biz for a while and just got a vortex...

The custys didn't come running at them with open wallets....

SAY IT AIN'T SO!!!!
 
G

Guest

Guest
I"m not sure, I think it was the build up from last year to this time this year
Our first year with a portable we did 39 jobs, and so far this year(got a boxxer) we are a little over 100 so I know things are going well..

Don
:lol:
 

alazo1

Member
Joined
Oct 8, 2006
Messages
2,567
Location
San Jose, Ca.
Name
Albert Lazo
Sorry, I'm getting an error when I post but I guess it post's after all.

Here is the error:
Ran into problems sending Mail. Response: 504 Invalid Username or Password

DEBUG MODE

Line : 132
File : smtp.php

As far as retailers it will take alot of convincing to get them to agree that CD is now hwe. I guess I'll have to wait for the day I get out...LOL.

Nice board. I really like the fact that new posts go to the top regardless of when they were started. Creates for some interesting long posts.

Albert
 

Royal Man

Member
Joined
Oct 8, 2006
Messages
4,989
Location
Lincoln NE
Name
Dave Yoakum
I'm developing a way to market without direct mail, yellow pages, coupons ,flyers or money.

It should be for sale in a couple of months.

Been teasing it for a while.

I ran a draft copy of it past a industry guru last week to see if he thought it had any merit. He said that it was an interesting concept and that no one else is doing anything like this as far as he knew.

So far it brings in around $1000.00 in new work every week. With a little more time for the seeds to grow it should bring in quite a bit more.
 

vincent

Member
Joined
Oct 6, 2006
Messages
1,899
Location
O'Fallon, MO
Name
Vincent Sapp
When I found certain people on the bbs.

They help with equipment pimping and helped me implement better ways of cleaning carpet

The new ways yielded cleaner carpet and higher prices for me.

:evil:
 

danpauselius

Member
Joined
Oct 8, 2006
Messages
1,325
Taking a sub-contractor position with a national restoration franchise put an easy $100K in my pocket in less than a year.

p.s. Thought I'd resurrect the oldest post I could find ... Muhaaaaahaaaahaaa!
 

Derek

Supportive Member
Joined
Oct 7, 2006
Messages
2,165
Location
NY
Name
Derek
wow old thread :shock:

Mikey P said:
At what point and time did you truly know that it was going to work?

a few weeks after i bought my Cimex and got into Encapsulation. my cleaning with a portable left a lot to be desired and left me with zero confidence.

so glad i developed tedonitis and had to find alternatives.

still not making 6 figures, but don't need to ta live comfortable in this place
homesweethome1gz7.jpg


thanx --- Derek.

(yes...hwe is a great tool like 'em all...hope to have a Steamin Demon this year for occasional use).
 

floorguy

Supportive Member
Joined
Nov 7, 2006
Messages
6,948
Location
Utah
Name
Doug
i had it when i was rolling a few yrs ago....

now with the loss of alot of commercial clients..to fuggin franchises and nation wide contracts... I have to almost reinvent myself... :cry:

At least i have a bunch of equipment, so i dont have to cross that hurdle
 

A. wilson

Member
Joined
Oct 7, 2006
Messages
309
"At what point and time did you truly know that it was going to work?"

For me it was after I survived the attempt to run me in the ground by my ex employer filing a lawsuit against me.

I figured if I could survive that and not go completely broke, the rest should be a cakewalk.
 

GRHeacock

Member
Joined
Nov 23, 2006
Messages
1,406
My first couple of years were tough, like most folks.

By the 3rd year, I was doing enough for my wife to quit her job at a bank and do my office stuff.

That worked very well, and got better every year.

Gary
 

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