New website look

Today the newly remodeled Challengerop.com website was launched. I can see that there
is a lot of cleanup and tweaking needed on the site still. Some of the links are missing and more editing is needed but the site has a fresh new look. I am hoping that customers will find it user friendly and appreciate the opportunity both to call-in orders and order online. I, personally, like to order online much of the time but I also appreciate the opportunity to speak to a live English-speaking person when I have a question which is not covered on the website. We offer both services. I have not linked up the credit card capability yet, but that is coming very shortly. Right now I am just pleased to get the new site up and hope for constructive comments from onlookers. It may take me months to get everything exactly right on 23 pages, but any input you care to add will be greatly appreciated!
Thanks for reading with me,
Chris

Rug Restore Works!

Joe, from Chicago, adds his words to the chorus of high praise for our Rug Restore:

Dear Chris, Thanks again, I've used this product (Rug Restore) (for) a customer, and you wouldn't believe! I had a customer call to clean 330 chairs, hence the order. I am sold (on Rug Restore), and I believe we'll be doing business for some time to come.... (We) may be needing several more Challenger Machines in the very near future. MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Thank you, Joe, we look forward to serving you and spreading the word about how effective our plant based, environmentally friendly products clean for professionals on the job.
Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Joyous Kwanza, and all-in-all Happy Family Time!

Thanks for reading with me,
Chris

New Turbo Pads

This is our thick new Turbo Pad for the Challenger Machine
and the commercial grade Max.

More on this in the next post...

Thanks for reading with me,
Chris

This review is reprinted with Grant's (from WA) permission and his words first appeared on Mark Dullea's "Challenger Forum" on October 22, 2008:

New Turbo Pads
I just wanted to share. I believe Challenger now has a new type of OP pad called a Turbo Pad. These are 21" pads that are fairly thick. They hold a TON of soil and are much much gentler on carpets than any cotton pad, yet clean IMO just as well.

I had the benefit of getting one of these pads 4 or 5 months ago and have put about 100 uses or so on mine. It is starting to develop a hole in it so I may not get too much more use out of that one. If these pads don't get holes I would expect them to last 200-300 uses. These pads are well worth the extra $ over cottons, and they also run on the Challenger Max.

I certainly recommend to all you Challenger users to get one or two and try. If you like them as much as I do you may well find yourselves switching over to them.

Thanks for reading with me,

Chris

Hard Surface Floor Cleaning

This picture shows bad stains and dirt on a linoleum floor of a rent house we cleaned up
in Oklahoma this month. The floor has been down for fifteen years, but do you see the
shine on the right, versus the stains on the left? It shows you what the Challenger will do when
you pad clean the hard surface floor with Orbit Glow and then give it a final buff with a clean pad. What a magical result, with very little time, or effort. Try it and see the magic for yourself!

Thanks for reading with me,
Chris

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