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I need to start selling fabric protectant. I am embarrassed to say that this is my biggest failure. I have just never been big on up selling. I am making fabric protectant my new years resolution and I am going to start NOW. Last week I met with the head of ICS magazine. He has moved his way to the top over the last 20 years. We were in a deep conversation about an article that was going to be in next years magazine. It was on not leaving money behind. He was the one that hit me over my head with what felt like a 2×4. I have always prided myself in knowing how to due just about anything from pet damage, dye, repairs, cleaning, and floods. What I never thought about was the most basic of them all the protectant. He told me that one of the most successful guys in the business has 8 vans. Each van does $300,000 a year. The owner does not consider himself a carpet cleaner, he just cleans the carpet so that they can do there real job. (Fabric Protectant administrator). This was my wake up moment. I want any and everything you have on fabric protectant to make me the $300,000 a year per van protectant administrator company.
All info welcome.
Greg,
I feel my approach is by far the easiest and the most effective. When giving a quote, include protector in your price. When you get the oil changed in your van, do they ask “Would you like a new oil filter too?”. When you get new tires on your van, do you get an option of having them balanced? These are examples of services and products that are necessities of the operation. I realize that protector is not a necessity but if you don’t give your customer a chance to think about it, they won’t realize they have a choice. Myself, as a consumer, tend to go for a lesser price if I have an option. If I didn’t see or hear the lesser price, I have nothing to compare the larger price to. Once upon a time, I had a price chart used for quoting my upholstery charges. In one column, the price represented the charge for cleaning and the other for protectant. I now only have one column to look at. I believe there are many Heaven’s Best operators out there that are leaving thousands of easy dollars behind. It’s easy, step up to the plate and increase your sales by 30%.Amen to what Brian said. I also include protector in all my prices. Only one person has refused this year. Best move I have made. I am not smart enough to think of these things on my own so I just steal good ideas from other smart people like Brian.
JamieBrian I think that these are great suggestions. I charge by room. Our prices are 120 for three rooms and 35 for each additional. I have employees and this makes it the easiest way to give quotes, and saves time on the job. We are raising our prices to 40 per room in January. I have always charged half for protectant. This will bring us up to 60 per room. Do you think this is to much shell shock for a customer or should we go to the value meal way of offering packages.
I have called a few guys and it turns out there are way to many of us that just don’t know about FP. What is your cost vs. return on a gallon. How much are you putting down. What is your method. What is your warranty. For those who have employees what or do you give a commission on above sales for FP. How is it working for you and the employee.OK Now I am starting to answer some of my own questions. I have seen the list of reasons for protectant before. I am pretty sure it came from Howard Partridge. If you don’t know who he is he is just a $2million a year carpet cleaner who now sells marketing in his spare time. Any way I found a website that uses his approach http://www.thesteamteam.com/austin-carpet-cleaning/carpet-protector.shtml I am going to be putting something that sounds a lot like this on my website soon. Great Information
great stuff. and great ideas
Greg,
My goal, which I have nearly met, is to sell protector on every job I do. I don’t try to maximize my profit from a few customers but to sell quantity ( the same way Wal-mart does ). By the end of this year, I will have applied 150 gallons of protectant with a net profit of $62 per quart. We strive to keep the rate of application around 600 sq ft/ quart. I don’t volunteer a warranty but I do make sure all my customers have a free bottle of spotter. I do need to find a more effecient way to apply.
With your pricing structure, charging half for protector may be a bit strong. Try 1/3 and apply at a lessor rate where it is least needed, keeping your cost down. You will need to try to determine the average cost of product per room. As for add-ons for my employee, protector is already sold before hand. If I were you, I would quote like this: Our rate is $54(or whatever) per room to clean & stain protect. If the customer wants to know the price w/out protector, tell them it is only $9 less per room or $45. Always make the protector sound cheap. If I quote a price of $220 to clean and protect and they ask how much to clean only, I’ll pull a number from my hat like $195. Just bring the numbers as close together as you are comfortable with. They don’t need to know the actual break-down. I just quoted an empty house to clean. I included protector in my price but didn’t tell the customer that. I told them I would throw the protector in for free. It was’nt actually free but they think they got a good deal and they also think I’m a great guy. I don’t know, maybe I should have started a car dealership?
PS: If I didn’t sell as much protector as I do, I would be out of business!Great suggestions Bryan. I like the way you call it stain protectant also. I want to pay my guys a comision. They work hard for me and I am maxed out on giving raises. I feel that protectant and spotters are a great way to motivate them to make more money for them self and for us. My formula that I want to work with is product + commision = 50% if a room cost $5 in product and we charge $20 they make $5 in commision. Who else out there is selling FP and how.
I charge 55 dollars a room for all rooms under 180 square feet. If over 180 I charge .35 cents per square foot. If there is no furniture I take 15% off that price. If we do not move the furniture I take 20% off the original $55.
I pay my operators using Barry and Jim’s system, from Washingotn DC. My operator makes a flat rate of 6 dollars per hour. then they are paid according to the amout they earn. 35 dollars per hour with 100% satisfaction earns 12% of the amount they bring in. If they make 50$ per hour they will make 17 percent of the gross.
Here is a for instance.
40 hours of work at 6 dollars is 240 dollars.
If they earned 1400 dollars that week that is 35 dollars per hour. Which translates to 12%. 12% of 1400 is 168 plus 240 = 408. This is 10.20 per hour.
If they same guy earned 50 dollars per hour which is 2000 dollars her can earn more. 17% of 2000 is 340 plus 240 = 580 which is 14.50 per hour. In other words the more the company earns the more the employee earns.
I can send you a copy of the pay schedule if you like.
Jamie
Hey james can you please send or email me a copy.
Thanks.
Brett Halley
802 Tanis Pl
Nipomo CA 93444Greg, In answer to your question, I charged .09 cents a sq for a church ($400 for 8-15min of work!). 12 cents for a special and .14 a sq regular price. My employee received an additional 25% for protector, rakes, and spotters. Smiles no extra charge!
If you start out with a smaller amount you can always go up, but it is very hard to go down on commissions. The most important equation is the education of the right amount to apply. (Use the guide lines in the proceedures manual- section 3 “Product & chemicals, product #126 fabric protector)Gordan thank you for the input. I did not think of the bigger jobs like churches and commercial work. I might have to have two systems for charging(sq ft vs. room). What we are doing as our special is that we will protect 1 room free with every job as long as they protect all rooms that are being cleaned at regular price. Also we have cupons for $15 per room protectant on line and in the yellow pages. I never give discounts or cupons so this is a first for me. As for the manual here it is. What I am looking for is more meaty. The what, when, how, and why.
PRODUCT NAME: HEAVEN’S BEST FABRIC PROTECTOR (#126)
Product Description:
Color: Clear Liquid
Odor: Solvent Smell
Packaging: 1 Gallon White Container
Uses:
Main use: Used as an after spray to protect fabrics.
Other uses: As a barrier to stop spots from wicking.
Mixing ratio: This product should be used straight without diluting. Each gallon will
treat 2000-3000 square feet of carpeting.
Shelf Life: Indefinite.
Inventory suggestions: 4 to 8 gallons on hand at all times.THanks to all thoes that give suggestions
Sutton hit it on the head. We don’t offer protectant in our prices but offer seperately. Brian has inspired to add it in. We include everthing else in our prices but not protectant. We charge $129 for three rooms and tell them what all they get, which is everything but protectant. I like the oil filter comment. My price is with no size limit. Somtimes bites us in the a**, but usually works to our advantage. We charge $10 a room usually but am considering increase as most of u have inspired me to do. 3 years ago, we charged $65 for 3 rooms, 😆 Now we charge that much for one.
Mike
@bsutton wrote:
Greg,
I feel my approach is by far the easiest and the most effective. When giving a quote, include protector in your price. When you get the oil changed in your van, do they ask “Would you like a new oil filter too?”. When you get new tires on your van, do you get an option of having them balanced?Lovin it
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