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I have not seen the new issue yet. I hope that they were able to do a lot with photo shop. I asked them to take off twenty pounds. This was a fantastic opportunity for us. Ics is the #1 trade magazine. Almost everyone who is in the carpet cleaning industry either receives the magazine or has access to it at their local distribuor. I suggest going online and ordering a subscription (free). Next time one of your competitors says that HB is a small time out fit ask them how many times their company has been in the mag.
I was asked if I would do the layout late last year. They contacted me because of our reputation. I also was able to provide the house for the pictures. Myself and a few of my local cleaners took about 1200 pictures. These will be used in all of the issues for covers and articles for at least the next year. I tried my best to have our logo showing in as many pictures as possible. I cant say that you will be able to see me or the van/logo in every issue, but you can always say I recognize those shoes anywhere.
Can’t wait to see what the final pictures look like, but I was told that there will be some cover pictures in the future.Gary I hope things pick up for you this week. Some one turned on the faucet and we are getting slammed now. I like what I have heard “think out side the box”. I have said it before the best form of advertising is a new pair of shoes. Just so happened I bought new shoes before the CA meeting two weeks ago. Have faith and it will happen.
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
Try out mine and tell me what you think http://www.heavensbestaz.com this is a site for the state of Arizona but you can get the idea. I talked with my web guy and he said that he could do a similar site that is customized for $250 and a $20 a month hosting fee.
Grant do you have a web site. If so what is the site. I am putting mine together right now. I would love to see as many HB sites as possible. The one that I am going to use is going to look alot like the one in Arizona but with just my info, and a few changes.wwwh.heavensbestaz.com
I think that I am going to hammer them down to $100 limit and only pay per click. That is still 270 hits. if I don’t get a job off of that then I can’t see 1100 hits as being effective either.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.
City search has just contacted me last week. I have been looking into the idea very seriously. I told them that I would try them out. I wanted to set a small limit of $80 a month. This is when they told me that the min was $350 . I told them that there was no way I was going to authorize them that much at first and sorry for wasting each others time. He quickly called me back and said that his supervisor said they they could do a flat $100 a month for us. Now for that I might just try them out.
I find it interesting that this topic has come up. I am in the middle of a huge fight with SM. We just signed up a month ago. I was told that we could specify which type of cleaning method. I told them that I did not want leads that wanted steam cleaning. I was assured that this was fine. They even ask when filling out a job request what type of method do you perfer. Two weeks later I had a lead that insisted on steam cleaning. We did not get the job. SM now has no idea why any one would tell us that this would ever have been seperated. On top of that they raised our leads from $12 to $13 a lead all in the first month. I also just found out that they get most of the leads through city search.
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
Brian 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.I have been seeing a lot more guarantees lately. The one that has caught my attention is that for thirty days after cleaning if any spot on the carpet comes back or a new spot occurs the company will come back for free to clean it up.
Dave how are the repairs going since the training. I hope all is well and if you ever have any questions don’t hesitate to ask.
Greg Miller
I just saw the post myself and have already replied before making it all the way down to the SO section. Good education is going to be key in keeping people on track. More than just profits to us this is a very bad and uneducated way of cleaning carpets. They can realy damage a carpet by doing this.
Brian I agree. The FAE is a great product to be used in conjunction with our normal cleaning process. The FAE has a pH of 13. This is the highest ph we have in our product line. This is one of the reasons that it works so well on those nasty dirty greasy carpets. If used to clean as a sole cleaner the pH is going to be way to high. When cleaning with 101 after you might want to add some orange deodorizer to the mix it has a pH of 5. This is referred to as an acid rinse to the steam cleaners. It will neutralize the carpet and keep it cleaner longer. This is the same reason that the home owner using a rug doctor can leave the carpet worse than before they started. If they don’t follow the directions to the exact amounts the ph gets to far out and the carpet gets really dirty and then they call us. Always follow the Manual when mixing chemicals.
Laura that sounds like a great relationship. Dave I have seen and been to classes that teach repairs and stretching. It was at a local carpet supply company that offered IICRC classes. I will worn you that you have to have some thick skin during the classes. Most of the instructors and guys are not to keen to our method of cleaning. I think that it has something to do with us not always spending a ton of money on repairs on our equipment. Anyway the classes are a very in depth hands on class that covers all types of repairs. I looked up the next class in PA and it is on 8/9/07 at Pemberton’s #1800-342-2297 .
