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Brett it is good to hear that it is working so well for you.
My 2 cents for what it is worth is that what works well for one operater might be different for others. I have been in this for 7 years now and was pretty set in my ways for a long time. What I have realized over the last few months was that I was doing somethings wrong. I have opened up to new ideas on marketing and pricing. I am trying out products like FAE that I never tried before. I hated the new shirts and voiced it loudly all the way up to when I walked in to the thunder from down under room and saw what a statement the new look made. I felt so out of place wearing jeans and new shirt just out of the box that day I went out and bought new pants (tan wrinkle free) and dress shoes as soon as I got home. I have not worn jeans to work since and bought all my employees the same. My point is that if it works for you great, but what harm is there in trying out another approach just to see the other side.
Gary can you list all the cities that you are working in. I will try to find some info on the rental market for you. Appartments are very easy to pick up, but you have to have the right approach. The first thing I always suggest is look your best all the time. I always go in with a hb folder with all of my info included. Cover letter, price sheet, insurance, w9, I research the management company so I can talk on there terms. Ask how to be put on the venders list. Tell them that if they like the carpet cleaner that they are using you would like the opportunity to be a back up. I leave a large spotter bottle at every office so that they can try it out(always have your sticker with your phone number on all spotters). I explain that the spotter is the same cleaner that I use to clean their carpets. I know that as soon as they go home they are going to try it out. I follow up a few days later and if need be I then offer to do a test job. Kill them with customer service.
I started giving out spotters to everyone. I use it like a buisness card. I never leave any job without giving them a free spotter. If the job is less than $130 small more large. It is the cheapest form of advertising out there. I have cleaned four famous foot wear and each one has our spotter bottles in the back room now.
Go find a local installer and pay to have it fixed. Tell them the situation. While they are there watch and learn. Ask questions and create a relationship. I have done repairs for the last seven years and I still turn some over to the pros. This is how I learned how to do most of the repairs I know. Sometimes we have to pay for the training in the field.
This last week I started pushing the lease renwal program hard. I joined the CAA which is the California Apartment Association. I was able to get a list of all of the local management companies in my area. This was very important to me. When I go out to market appartments I start at the top. I leave all of the info with the person in charge of the properties, either a VP or regional manager. I then send a follow up letter within two days and ask for an appointment.
On Friday I picked up two great accounts. The first one has two appartments (248 total), and a lot of commercial buildings. The second has over two thousand appartments in my area. The name of the company is BRE properties. They are a very large company with properties throught the west. Denver, Seattle, Phoenix, California.
I was told to go to the individual properties for a follow up They can make there own choices in house. I am trying to get a meeting with there top executive next week. An endorcment from them goes a long way. If you goto there website http://www.breproperies.com and look to see if you have any of there properties it might be a foot in the door.I am now leaving a price list along with my packet at the offices along with a small spotter and a large one so they are encouraged to try it out. My cost is around six dollars for every account. When you look at advertising $6 to pick up a large account is the cheapest way of advertising I have found yet.
I hate to say it but I never used FAE in the last 7 years. Today was the first time it was used on a job by one of my techs. The exact phone call I got after the third job went like this. “Greg we have a problem. I was not lookiing forward to finding out what it was but I asked any way. He said that I did not order enough FAE and that I should see if Cody could sell it in 55 gal drums.” He was so excited with the results. I guess it made some very questionable carpets look new again. I only wish I paid more attention during training 7 years ago.
Thank you to all of you who left such great feedback on FAE. With out you we would not have tried it. It is like finding a new abest friend.
Greg Miller
Today we are getting ready for a Realator trade show. This came from the Leases renewal program that I set up. I was asked to participate in a realator trade show. My cost is only $150. I get two hours with 150 realators from Keller Williams and lunch. I decided to do the same thing for the realators as far as spotter bottles and thank you cards. I have done a lot of changes as far as my approch to Heavens Best since Las Vegas. We now never ever leave a job with out leaving a spotter bottle. If the job is under $120 we leave a small spotter. If over we are leaving a large spotter. Word is traveling fast and we are becoming the premier carpet cleaners in a very large market.
As far as the Apartments I have a list of every management company in the area. We are making appointments with each one to introduce the Program. With any luck I will be in over a 100 appartments by July if not more. I have faith in our process And our compay.
Gre Miller
Today I talked with two management companys. One had two complexes, and one has eight. The first one with two had never heard of Heavens Best before. I pitched them the lease renewal program and they were very impressed. They have never offered lease renewals to there residents before, but after explaining the benifits of retaining the residents, and extending the life of the carpets they were sold. They want us to start cleaning all of the apartments vacant and lease renewals from now on starting next week. The second company we have been working for for the last five years. They never before thought of offering lease renewals to there residents. After spending five minutes talking with the reginal manager they asked how do we sign up.
All of the samples of the program will be available soon online. I hope by early next week. I will try to get some actual photos of the packet to show how I put them together also online.
Today we sent out more packets. If any one has a RK property in your area they are interested in our services. http://www.rkprop.com/apartments/ This is the web site that shows locations of all there locations. Use my name from Sacramento and it should get you in the door. Lucele is the VP for the company. As I talk to other management companies I will post on the web. Las Vegas is looking for a full time cleaner Today.
I just cleaned the first of three stores today. The job went great. We had some special request to clean the tile foloor and lino in the back. I would suggest that if any of you get asked to do extra look at the job first. They paid an extra $295 for the work so it was worth it. I did a pre inspoection and had them raise the prise from an extra $125. I used the white pad that comes with the wood floor kit and some tile cleaner from Home depot. It sounds as if they would perfer us to mop the tile on all jobs. No big deal. I bought a mop and bucket for $40 and the Manager gave us great feedback.”Great Job, Great people”.
The marketing or getting your foot in the door I am finding very easy. As long as you come prepared. The packets that I put together are in the HB folders that I bought from corperate. It looks very impressive with everything put together. I always wear a HB long sleave white shirt, tan slacks, and black shoes. Dressing the part is very important. I explain that this has nothing to do with there relationship they have with there carpet cleaner. I admire the loyalty. What I am offering is that any time they need to have a direct contact between the carpet guy and the tenant I can offer more.
–We are one of the only companys that deodorize everytime.
–We Groom the carpet
–We can have the carpet dry in 1 hour
–Less chance for re soiling or woodstainc/rust
–Bonded
–certified
–uniformed (dress the part)
–Customer service orieted
–No Subcontractors
–National company ranked #40 overall by Entrepreneur magazine
—Free Spotter Bottle ProvidedThese are some of the things that seperate us from the rest. I wont try to pick up the account in the beggining, but when they start getting all the feedback(comment cards) I am sure they will be asking .
When it goes to picking up new construction stop at the Job sites and talk to the gm or whoever is dressed the nicest. Introduce yourself and leave a large spotter as a free demo. All Spotters should have your company sticker on them. It took me 7 years to have the stickers made and I am sick when I think of all the money that was lost.
I have always charged by the room. For me it just made it easier to work with easy numbers. Every city has different methods and what works for me might not next door.
I charge $50 for the first room and $30 everything after. I do this because that first room is going to be larger than the bedrooms. If it gets to big I might charge a half room or for two rooms. Just because there is not a door in between the dinning room and the family room it still counts as two. We don’t charge for reg. size hallways, but if it gets to big we have the option. I don’t have a max size, but I dont have a min for a room either. If it is to big tell them that these are for normal size rooms and they are lucky enough to have over sized rooms. I have cleaned many bedrooms that were just around the bed for $30( 50sq. ft). It seems to all work out to charge by thr sq. ft. My first job that I measured was a nightmare. By the time I figured out sq. ft. Took off for furniture. And had to check my math I think I made $78.46.
Since las Vegas we are changing are prices to include Fab. Protector. $50 per room and $3 per stair. Every one gets a spotter bottle for free. Under $130 is the small over is the large. I have all the labels on the bottles ready to go. Our cost for the bottle is a lot cheaper than most forms of advertisinglike franchise express/phone book.
Mike it was the corperate web designer that I talked with. He was a big help in giving me stats and ideas. The HB city web that he does is very similar to corperate. That is why the price for set up is low. They use propritary software that only can be used through their hosting. This is the reason that the hosting is much more than you can find elsewhere at $35 per month $420 per year. My question is… is it worth it. They do not do very many city web pages, most of their clients are larger. They offer it all the same. What he said to me that stuck was you are better to have a nice one page add/web and pay for placement than to spend thousands on a web site and have no one find you.
I have been pulling up as many web pages for cities as I could find. I have seen some good, bad, and amazing. So far the DC boys have my vote at http://www.heavensbest.biz. I woulld like feed back as to what the return is on a web page.
Mike I realy wish you were in Vegas, it is a lot easier to show you in person. If you wait just a little while corperate is coming out with the right tools. This will be a big help. After that I will be glad to walk you through some small repairs like the patch in the closet. It will be easy money.
Ron if you are that booked it sounds like you are almost ready a helper or the second van. Other wise it is all about pre planning. Speak, vacuum, Spray then unload your van and set up the rest of the equipment. By this time you are ready to rock and roll. You will find that as you grow you will have to stream line the process. When I go out on a job with a helper I spend a lot of time with the customer while he rakes and finishes up. For you it is a good problem to have.
