OP Beats Steam Cleaning...again

This is a reprint, with permission, from Mark Dullea.
It is a quote from his Challenger Forum found at
www.carpet-cleaning-business.com and I
thought you would find it worth reading.

Customers who stray
Having just returned from 2 weeks away, I had a slew of e-mails and phone calls to return. Prior to leaving, I made sure that the key person at my answering service knew that I would be away, and for how long, and asked that that info be given to all who answer phones and take messages for her. That way, people calling me would be told what day I would be back, and that I would call them right away after coming back. I also set up an "out-of-office" message on my e-mail system giving out the same information.

I have one customer, a nice older lady who has been a customer for the better part of ten years. She runs a doggie day care service out of her home. Unfortunately for her, her house has all white carpeting, and for whatever reason, the dogs in her care seem to manage to roam freely throughout the house, with the expected results. She calls for service about 4 times per year, and every job involves A LOT of pet stain scrubbing and overall deodorizing. She had called me the day before I left on my trip, hoping I could come right over. When I told her that I would be away until June 16, she said I should call her ASAP upon returning, which I just did.

She then very apologetically told me that, due to the odor, her daughter - who had come to visit one day - urged her strongly to call someone else, immediately.
Which she did. She got the number of a Stanley Steemer franchise out of the phone book about a week ago, and had them come over. She said at the time they finished and left the house that she thought they had done a good job. They told her that everything would be fully dry in just a few hours.
She told me that it stayed wet or at least damp to the touch for at least two full days, and that the stains began to re-appear on about the 3rd day. Most of the stains have returned, she told me.

I explained to her about wicking - that even when a carpet's fibers FEEL dry to the touch, there can still be a lot of moisture down in the base of the carpet. As it gradually evaporates, it "wicks" or pulls some of the deep-down soil up the recently cleaned fibers, resoiling them. She is very upset. I told her that she should call the company, tell them of the results and of her dissatisfaction, and try to get her money back. But she is the kind of person who I think would be made very uncomfortable doing this, even though she's in the right. She apologised to me again. I told her it was unnecessary. And she has made an appointment for me to come again in a few weeks.

Just another example of how OP cleaning beats the pants off of "steam" cleaning.
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Thanks for reading with me,
Chris

Square foot vs. Room pricing

Dear Readers,
I wanted to share with you a chat I found on Cleanfax Insider.
I thought the topic would be of great interest to my readers
here. With the permission of Jeff Cross, I am reprinting a portion
of that blog. If you wish to read the entire discussion thread,
you can find it on the Cleanfax website (www.cleanfaxonline.com)
I hope you find it useful:

Subject: Square foot vs. room pricing

Posted By Jeff Cross on 7/23/2008 at 6:56:43 AM

At a recent seminar I attended, a debate on square foot vs. room pricing proved to be interesting. This has been a topic of discussion for many of you, but this time, let’s discuss how the two methods of pricing affect your productivity. For square foot pricing, do you find you get higher prices that help cover the extra time involved in estimates? For room pricing, do you save enough by not having to do in-home estimates to warrant perhaps losing some revenue on larger rooms?

Responses:

RE: Square foot vs. room pricing: Steve Marsh: 7/23/2008 3:32:03 PM

As in so many issues in our industry there is no one correct answer that applies to all businesses. I would like to suggest that we change the question to which companies benefit from offering room pricing and which companies benefit from square foot pricing. Both approaches are legitimate strategies.

I found that per room pricing is beneficial to companies that charge a competitively low price and depend on advertising to provide a majority of the jobs performed. This approach eliminates a massive amount of time on the phone and in person to establish the cleaning price. Per room pricing allows consumers to calculate their own cost to have their carpets cleaned. For the many consumers where price is one of their primary deciding factors in choosing a cleaner, this approach is great.

For companies that charge above budget prices and get most of their jobs from repeat and referrals I find square foot pricing advantageous. The customers of these companies typically are less concerned with the lowest price and more concerned about quality and service. These customers are likely to repeat and are worth investing the time to measure their rooms once (keep the information so you never have to do it again). This is a more fair and accurate pricing system and is easier to raise prices to higher levels with this approach.

RE: Square foot vs. room pricing: Dan Mabesoone: 7/23/2008 8:00:48 PM

I agree with Steve, but i prefer pricing by the square foot. To me, there are several advantages.

I believe we are MORE productive, not less. I pre-inspect 95% of the carpets we clean. During the pre-inspection, I qualify both the expectations of our services and I prequalify the client! There is no "quibbling" over price. It's all established before the technician even arrives. If the customer decides not to have us do the work, there is no lost production time because my techs are cleaning the carpets that were previously inspected and priced by me.

I also believe we are more productive because i make notes on the estimate form that help the technicians, such as: driveway hard to find; step driveway so back in; red house with green shutters; advised customer traffic areas will still look worn even after cleaning; customer concerned about drying times; customer had problems with previous cleaner, etc.

Also, for a variety of reasons, not everyone is a customer that I want to do work for. I get to determine that before we do any work, and avoid problems by eliminating someone we shouldn't be working for and again eliminate any lost production time.

I also get a higher ticket price. I offer protector on every job, and about 50% of my customers take it. and if they decide against it, they have several days to think about it before we do the work, and many times they change their mind and decide to take the protector.

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Thanks for reading with me,

Chris

Carpet stain removal

Dear Friends,
Good Morning! I hope you had a wonderful holiday weekend.
I had an inquiry this morning from the British Virgin Islands where
a restoration service wanted to know if the Challenger Pad System
would help in their business. They are having a problem with recurring
stains on commercial tiles. They are using a foam cleaning system at this
time. This is the truth I shared with them:

"I can start your week off right with some very good news for your
restoration service: Yes! The Challenger Pad System will clean
your commercial carpet tiles and remove the stains so they do
not come back. I heard from another customer just this morning who
said his ad copy reads: when (his service) removes a stain it stays gone,
or he will come back and do the whole job again for free! He said he has
never gotten a call back to rework a stain since he began using
the Challenger System. " (I got the call from that "other customer"
this morning because he wanted to order his second machine and expand
his business to keep up with the demand for his services.)

I hope this causes Barry, in the British Virgin Islands, to thoroughly
checkout the Challenger Pad System. I know it will meet his needs and
improve his bottom line.
Thanks for reading with me,
Chris