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Hello All,
My area is near the Military Base in 29 Palms Ca.
When the Military families move, they must have their carpets professionally cleaned – Steam only per the contracts they sign.
I was able to clean for two families anyway. Before the second job, I stopped by the Base Housing Authority first to explain our method of cleaning then had one of the office personnel come and see before and after results. She was very happy and liked our method of cleaning.
My problem is that THE head person, who I was unfortunately not able to meet and explain our method of cleaning has decided to continue with the steam cleaning only.
I plan on mailing her some information on Heaven’s Best etc. to try and sway her.
I also offered to clean the carpets in her own home for free. She has declined.
A friend of mine who used to clean on the Military Base said that one big reason for steam cleaning was to disinfect the carpet. Of course we can do the same.
Anyone have any suggestions?
Thanks in advance!
Lew Miller
First off, there is no such thing as “steam” cleaning. It is called HWE, hot water extraction.
Second, the idea of disinfecting the carpet all the while leaving them wet for hours and hours and possibly days is a contradiction. Everyone knows bacteria likes to proliferate in warm moist environments.
Thirdly, how does the HWE get all the dirt out but not all the water? It makes sense that if there is water being left behind there has to be dirt left behind as well.I think you are on the right track. Education, demonstration, re-evaluation. Cleaning the head persons house may be perceived as a conflict of interest.
Keep chipping away at them. Our system and products work better. Act professional, be consistent and stick with it.
Excellent points Mr. Bag.
She can’t have you clean her place for free. She would lose her job. The military would consider it a bribe. Just like DB said.
I’m an old salt from the N.A.V.Y. Never Again Volunteer Yourself. Make copies of your letters of recommendation, before and after pichures, copy of serveral evaluation cards. She more than likely has had no experience with low moisture cleaning and just needs to develope some confidence. Write up a letter explaining we are an international franchise and present it to her with the introduction brochure. It’s a good start.
Thanks for all the great comments dirtbag and Gordon.
Gordon, could you expand on the “never again volunteer yourself”?
I was able to clean the living room of a businessman who operates a Real Estate and Rental office for 600 rentals. I “volunteered” to do it for no charge so he could see how our system works. Now I’m their main carpet cleaner.
Lew
Sure,
While in the Navy, we came up with the meaning for the letters in the word NAVY.N ever
A gain
V olunteer
Y ourselfIf you went to boot camp, you would totally understand the meaning of the word “volunteer”.
Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed my stay in the military.
It’s was a time in our lives when we got creative.Artic Circle= A C greasy
A&W= air & water
Coast to coast= gross to gross
most I can’t rememberIt was a time to have a little fun while most all the other time had to be very serious.
Congratulations on nailing the 600 rentals!
You could always just extract them. Some people can’t be swayed. If it is a job you really want, just do what they want done and take the money. I had a client that had several rental properties and I was cleaning one for the renter after they moved out. The owner of the property saw that I was not doing extraction and said “all you are doing is grinding dirt into the carpet”. Well i did a little explaining but he did’nt want hear it he had someone come and extract it after…..I still got my money and was glad they don’t use us..
I am retired from the AF and can tell you that the military way of thinking can be classified as “different.” They have policies and procedures that have been in place for ever and they are very slow to change. However, follow the advice from the other posts here and you might eventually get somewhere. Continue to educate and be persistent.
If you don’t get the housing jobs, you may want to contact the base contracting office. You can get info on bidding for for general carpet cleaning jobs throughout the base. There is an operator in Columbia, SC that has been awarded contracts to clean for National Guard/Reserve buildings and gets paid pretty decent for it. His name is Charles Cipriano. You may want to contact him for more info on that…
Dan
I was just going to state what Dan said…Procurement or whatever they are called there control the final specs. The housing folks only implement and follow what they have as an SOP… The trick is to get the SOP changed. You might call Procurement and determine the best and easiest way, not to offend anyone, to get the SOP amended.
Like Dan says, the military is very SLOW to change anything, so be patient.
Hope you are persistent and share your findings. They may be following a directive from someplace else as well….the Procurement people should be able to shed light on the SOP and may even give you a copy of it as well.
Ask and they may give it willingly. It may be very enlightening as to who created it and the procedures for its amending.
Hope this is helpful.
Dave
Hello All,
An update. I mailed a letter, our brochures, my current flyer and a couple of business cards to the lady who is in charge of deciding who cleans and who doesn’t. Mailed it Priority. The letter read as follows:
Hello Ms. Vargas,
My name is Lew Miller with Heaven’s Best Carpet & Upholstery Cleaning. I would like the opportunity to clean carpets on the Base for Military families.
Heaven’s Best offers two different cleaning methods for carpet cleaning. Our low-moisture method and our hot water extraction method.
As I demonstrated to Tonya on January 8, 2008, I used Heaven’s Best low-moisture cleaning method that cleans, disinfects and deodorizes. Carpets will be dry in about 1 hour.
We can also use our Hot Water Extraction method that cleans, disinfects and deodorizes if that is your preference. The carpets will take a while longer to dry.
Using either method, the carpets will look great.
Heaven’s Best uses only environmentally friendly, water based cleaning solutions using either method. We have cleaning solutions for pet stains, red dye, ink, markers, paint, coffee, rust, blood, grease and just about anything else.
Heaven’s Best has over 24 years of experience and has been ranked #1 by the Franchise 50 for 2006 & 2007. (http://www.FranchiseBusinessReview.com)
I’m willing to do whatever it takes to win the Military families as customers and offer 10% off to ALL military families whether they are on Base or not. I also Guarantee my work 100%! If the spot comes back, so do I.
I have been called by Joseph & Kim Fulghum who would like me to clean the carpets of the home they are moving out of on the base. I was hoping that I could demonstrate Heaven’s Best carpet cleaning capabilities to you using their apartment as an example so that you could see for yourself how clean the carpets are after I complete the job.
Cordially,
Lew Miller
I spoke to Ms. Vargas today (Friday) I asked her what her thoughts were regarding the information I sent her. Surprisingly, she said that one of her employee’s would be contacting me to set up a demonstration to clean her carpets. Didn’t think to ask which method. HWE or our low moisture method. I’ll just be ready for both. I asked if she would be around this time to see the before and after and she said she would.
Also received a phone call from Daniel (can’t remember his last name). He saw my 3 x 8 Van sign on the Highway. He used to be a HB operator in Kentucky. He wanted to buy the area that includes the Marine Base but wasn’t able to convince the Housing Authority of not using HWE. He ended up buying a truck mount and does a lot of work on the Base.
I’ll update later once I clean her home/apartment.
Lew
It is outstanding when people roll up their sleeves, get proactive and make things happen. If you continue doing these types of things at every hotel, golf resort, funeral home etc etc etc, you will soon have so much business you won’t know what to do!
It is inspiring to hear! Keep it up.
how do you do your hwe stystem?
heavensbestlv,
I have never used the HWE method before. I will before my “demonstration” though if need be. My State owner Dan Child said to use my upholstery mate with the stand up wand (item #4300 C) and Portable Extract, product #129. I didn’t see Portable Extract listed in the procedures on-line manual but is listed in my “paper” procedures manual. It says it’s “main use as a cleaning solution is to break down heavy soil through an extraction machine.”
I will probably see how it works on a commercial job I have coming up this next week or so.
Thanks for the encouragement dirtbag.
Lew
Our Upholstery Mate does not have a heater….our Ninja does have a heater.
We totally agree with your plan to get some hands on experience first.
Our suggestion would be to make sure you have the project all worked out before doing the job. How are you going to get the H in HWE for example?
Do some of your carpeting at home maybe…the very worst thing any of us can do with a customer is to not know what we are doing.
The first time I have done any of our jobs, I made sure there was NO AUDIENCE.
Just a thought for your job to go as good and smooth as possible.
We never, ever get a second chance to make a good first impression.
Wish you well.
I have used Portable Extract on a few small isolated spots such as a motor oil spill, gravy and a very soiled entrance area just inside the door of a greasy garage. It works very well but it needs to be thoroughly rinsed afterward. I think you need to calculate the cost of using Portable Extract on a per Sq.Ft. basis. I believe you will find your profit margin very narrow. I personally feel you would have your hands full trying to tackle a large area using this method with the equipment you have. I would not recommend HWE but rather do your best to sell Heaven’s Best.
Just my opinion!
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