Would some please just put me out of my misery?

[Mikey P]

s]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYHdqYgbcY0s]


She use to use us regularly. My wife use to baby sit her kids and we still say hi at local events but she wont pay more than .30 for her carpet cleaning needs.


Some I dont mind losing but this one pisses me off.


Heaven's fooken Best!


Lordy.


Like new my ass.

 

[SRI Cleaning]

I guess she knew someone. OR! Money talks!

 

[hogjowl]

Happens to all of us, at least once. I was at a family reunion a few years back and overheard an aunt commenting on having Stanley Steemer out to clean her carpets. He daughter, my cousin, said ... why didn't you call Marty? She said I CAN'T AFFORD MARTY!

I kinda took it as a compliment and found it funny.

 

[MicahR]

Yup, I see your problem Mikey.

They have a 200% money back guarantee.

That beats out a crappy ol 100% money back G. That is if you even have one.
Now all you need to do is offer a 300% guarantee and you'll be swimming in all those customers you've lost!

Oh, and they have the whole "The most thorough cleaning or it's free." blurb going for them.

Is it just me or do I smell a bird?

She obviously went for the company with the stronger marketing scheme.

 

[hogjowl]

Don't underestimate the positive reaction they got from having technicians that don't look like Lurch.

 

[Mikey P]

at least Lurch has a full head of hair

 

[hogjowl]

Everywhere ... but you can save the showing of your butt hair.

 

[Mikey P]

go to bed, you're losing it.

 

[Jeremy]

I doubt that he ever had it...

 

[Walt]

Many of my "friends" can't afford or don't understand the service that I offer. I'm always happy when they don't call. Nothing is worse then giving them the bill (secretly discounted) and seeing the look of shock on their face. That's why my good friends get it for free or in trade for their services.

If she is a casual friend she might also be a little jealous of your success. Sometimes people can't get over the, "he's just a carpet cleaner and he lives in a nicer home than we do!"

 

[Guest]

They can get fast because they dont have any work booked!

 

[Brian L]

The Heaven's Best in my area is VLM. Is it the same in Santa Cruz?

 

[Fon Johnson]

No offense, Mikey, but it just is one of many cases to prove you don't have to have a Vortex dog and pony show to make people happy. I know the vortex is a great tool for you, but I'm quite sure you could take my machine and make your customers just as happy. There are a lot of companies that don't charge a premium price, yet they still have lots of excited cheerleaders. Once they see VALUE (read as equal results and possibly the same charming personality) they are hooked. I don't mean it in a negative way, but if Mrs. Jones can't tell a difference in the finished product, the tech is polite, professional and friendly, and the price is considerably less, then it is the better value to go with the lesser of the two. I know it gets under your skin, but it happens.

 

[renegade_cowboy]

No offense, Mikey, but it just is one of many cases to prove you don't have to have a Vortex dog and pony show to make people happy. I know the vortex is a great tool for you, but I'm quite sure you could take my machine and make your customers just as happy. There are a lot of companies that don't charge a premium price, yet they still have lots of excited cheerleaders. Once they see VALUE (read as equal results and possibly the same charming personality) they are hooked. I don't mean it in a negative way, but if Mrs. Jones can't tell a difference in the finished product, the tech is polite, professional and friendly, and the price is considerably less, then it is the better value to go with the lesser of the two. I know it gets under your skin, but it happens.

That is true. I believe this job is 80% customer service and 20 % cleaning. I have done over 10,000 cleanings and its more about the tech than the equipment. I like the vortex but it doesnt fit my business model. Obviously if you have more overhead than you have to charge more and I believe high end cleaning makes up a small % of this industry compared to average price companies and of course you will always have the bottomfeeders. I guess its all how you want to structure your business.
The model I am going for is offer average pricing so it appeals to more people and then build off that, making a business a multi-truck operation quickier and easier. The product you get to more people the more money you make and the bigger you can make your business. I really don't want to clean carpets anymore, but I do want to be a business owner that owns a carpet cleaning business and hire loyal employees to do the work. Until then I am cleaning carpets. :shock:

:mrgreen:

 

[Bob Foster]

Walt said it best about family and friends.

This is one reason why it is either best to not write a bill and risk them not realizing what your services are worth and hope for a good swap

or

write a bill at full price and show the discount.

Mike, I think something happened that she doesn't want to talk about. Instead she just went somewhere else. The haunting part is when you don't know what you did that caused her to go somewhere else or that you and Paula overestimated their friendship. Maybe it was because you weren't giving her a deal or the deal you gave here did not look like a deal compared to someone else.

When working for friends a person runs the risk of looking a little full of themselves by explaining why they are more expensive than the Stanley Sprinters. On the other hand, if you show the full value of the work and a big discount you run the risk of them feeling bad because you gave away too much of your profit.

 

[Brian R]

Walt wrote

If she is a casual friend she might also be a little jealous of your success. Sometimes people can't get over the, "he's just a carpet cleaner and he lives in a nicer home than we do!"

I love it when this happens. A lady told me, "my husband was upset because you make way more per hour than he does and he still has student loans." Made my day.

Isn't heavens best Just bonnet cleaning?
I see one van with a buffer that has the heavens best logo on it.

 

[Fon Johnson]

Walt wrote

If she is a casual friend she might also be a little jealous of your success. Sometimes people can't get over the, "he's just a carpet cleaner and he lives in a nicer home than we do!"

I love it when this happens. A lady told me, "my husband was upset because you make way more per hour than he does and he still has student loans." Made my day.

Isn't heavens best Just bonnet cleaning?
I see one van with a buffer that has the heavens best logo on it.

This is when I quickly explain how business works. They have to understand that if we get $100 per hour, that does not mean we make $100 per hour. Sometimes I'll even just tell people what the break even point is. Then they go: "Oh, I guess you must have overhead huh?" Well duh.. No, Mr Jones, that $75,000 cleaning outfit just fell out of the sky and my employees work for fun, and of course we don't have insurance, phones, office, or have to buy supplies. Tell them how much it costs to run a business and they will even be in a tipping mood.

 

[tim]

Everyone is not our type of customer. Some have no appreciation for quality or put little value in it. Some (alot) people want "good enough" and "cheap". If a customer does not value experienced and educated techs that vacuum thoroughly, apply a quality, properly diluted prespray, use a gls to pile lift and work the soil loose, thorough rinsing with high heat and flow with an rinse formulated to remove residue and help neutralize the ph, grooming, post spotting with professional products specific to the soil type, grooming and speed drying to leave carpets dry to the touch when they leave, all the while showing care and concern with the use of floor mats, corner guards, wet mopping hard surfaces that may have gotten wet or soiled in the cleaning surface and left with shoe covers, a free professional strength spotter that has endless refills, a letter explaing all these steps and why they are important and a guarantee of a full refund if not completely satisfied...then go somewhere else with my blessing! Not everyone will. BUT...I always take these times to re-evalutate my service and ask myself what else could be done to show my customer an exceptional level of quality and service. Updated uniforms? Additional leave-behinds? Clean an entry rug or car floormats? Last connections had a keynote speaker that said "you can charge any price IF your service exceeds their expectations". High-end restaurants are booked well in advance while the cheap ones are often sparsely filled. I like to say if a one of our customers can use another service and be completely satisfied, we havent done our job. This isnt always the case but always good to always evalutate our service and see where we could improve and put more distance between our service and others. But other times you just have to let it go and understand they are not your client.

 

[Desk Jockey]

I hate when that happens! :x

I once hired a receptionist that used a competitor for all her cleaning (she told us after the hire). After quizzing as to why, it came down to he would send her three crisp $5.00 bills for every referral she gave.

She was a $15.00 dollar referral machine, she told everyone she knew, so she could get her $15.00. It wasn't about how clean, it was about the money!

 

[hogjowl]

$15 will buy a lot of beer and tacos.

 

[Desk Jockey]

I think that was her thought! :x

 

[Jim Pemberton]

Starring in that film might have bought some free cleanings for her and her friends/relatives.

 

[Mike Draper]

I know the vortex is a great tool for you, but I'm quite sure you could take my machine and make your customers just as happy

That being said, just look at Chem Dry, they probably get 1 or 2 happy customers a month with their shitty equipment. Any carpet cleaner can get lucky.

 

[Scott S.]

mikey,

i dont know if u noticed or not but she didnt say that it was the best she ever had, she just said that they look new again

think about it this way. you can fix a car that had been a junker. but unless you do it right it will still be a junker.

just because she tried somone else doesnt mean she doesnt know the value of your service, you need to offer her a deal. clean her carpets at the same price heavens best did and have her do a vid like heavens best, and post it on your site if you have one. and hire a hacker to post it on "heavens best" site

Scott

 

[Greenie]

If she has 1500 square of fuzzy stuff, it's likely the $450 was digging too deep in her pocketbook, she NEVER was Mikey's customer from day one....just a friend.

NONE of my friends and family could afford .30 a foot, they were just all blue collar hold on to your wallet types, or retired on fixed income, I either cleaned for them for free cause I wanted to, or didn't.


and...just for the record Heaven's Best guys have portable extractors, and can have a TM, whether they use it or not is up to them, they do seem to favor spinning a rag, probably cost and speed.

 

[rhino1]

The HB here has a rusty old minivan and a buffer, I LMAO everytime I see them go by.

 

[hogjowl]

I met the HB dude here and he's a really nice guy. Retired military; probably in his 50's. He's a rag spinner. I referred a customer of mine to him a year, or so, ago because I just couldn't get to her in time. She called me back to clean a few weeks back. I never mentioned the HB guy, but she told me he didn't do as good a job as I do. Heck ... spinning a rag is a tough method to use.

 

[Bruce Humphrey]

1. I'm sure Capitola Soquel Chamber staff do not make the kinda money to pay for the service that Mikey offers.

2. Heavens Best is a Capitola Soquel Chamber member.

3. I didn't see Connoisseur Carpet and Upholstery Cleaning on the Chamber members list.


Could be a reason she is using Heavens Best.

http://www.capitolachamber.com

 

[Mikey P]

Fun facts.

She used us 7 times.
Her bill average was $296.
Her carpet was builder's grade Berber pile.
A few set stains and lots of wear.
Her hubby is/was a landscape designer.
She has 3 cute teenage daughters that probably noticed my old helper checking out their boobs so hence the no call backs..

 

[ron markam]

If they are spinning rags she will probably be back.Eventually it will no longer work.Think about it if she has had mucho flushing and vacs regularly it will hold her only so long.I used to rag spin exclusively and found out it will not work in every situation.Just extracted a commercial we had spun for a while water came out black as tar.Seeing is believing (at leat for me).So I have to believe residential is the same way.Attack me if you wish but I know what I am saying is true as we also do janitorial and I am able to monitor alot of accounts pretty closely.