FL18

Mr. Hofman,

Just view the post above the post you just made to me. This has the instructions for finding the packet. Thanks for your interest. Any trouble finding; just let me know.

God Bless,

Mike Nowlin

So were looking at recycled rubber here. Is this similar to what you find on boats? No sure abou that one. Regardless, sometimes you can only do so much. Don’t over do it, might make it worse or have some residue left over from all the cleaners your using. By what you have said, it is clean. Some carpets, not sure about recycled tires, just can’t get back to new. The customer is usually happy if you just try. At least you did your best. I have to walk away sometimes and it is hard. Educate the customer on the possibilities or bring them down to reality a bit. They expect perfection, as well as you but it will not always be the case. I have customers I clean for and I will them, very disgraced, that their carpets are in bad shape even after I did my all. Most of them still say, WOW and are happy anyway. You did your best. Feel good about that. You cleaned to the best of your abilities. Feel good about that as well. My wife has to stop me sometimes before I end up making a mess. Maybe another veteran operator out there can shed some light on this type of “carpet”.

Mike Nowlin

We use yp.com or http://www.yellowpages.com
Go in to yp.com and type in carpet and rug cleaners under find. Then type in the zip code 78572 under location and you will see us. We are about 7 cleaners down. We are paying $79 a month. This was part of the deal with our 1/4 page yellow page ad. Total cost of around $370 a month. We got the semi good deal on the yp 1/4 page ad because at the top of our ad it says “serving the upper valley” , area specific, which is our area. We actually serve the entire Rio Grande Valley. Most of business currently is in the upper valley anyway. If we had put on the ad “Serving the Rio Grande Valley” then the 1/4 page ad with internet would have been around $800 a month. Hope this helps. $2500 is steep Don. The yp.com ad has paid for itself for the year though. It landed us IHOP. Overall it’s slow going on the yp.com ad but atleast we’re there getting exspoure. So far this year, the yp.com ad has gotten us 9 calls and 5 jobs booked since January 2008. The 1/4 page yp phone book ad has gotten us 11 jobs out of a possible 34. So, both are slow going. 34 calls is better than it has been in the past. We educate them one customer at a time. The yp ad in phone book came out in March. It is paying for itself and a little bit more. Summer is slow consistently for us though. June and July are ususally really slow. Picks back up in August. Anyway, hope this helps. We were doing a one liner the last 2 years with a crappy response, of course. In our 2nd year, we did a small box about 2 inches by 1 inch and at least paid of itself. God Bless

Mike Nowlin

I just looked at those. They look great. Thanks for sharing. It’s greatly appreciated.

Mike

If you look at my packet on http://www.heavensbestads.com. There are a couple of letters that may help. One from a hotel owner with the following hotels listed:
Executive Inn–4 of them, one of them recently changed to a Super 8 ( I need to update that), Best Western, Hampton Inn and Suites

Other letters: Reddy Ice, Ramada Limited, Las Misiones Apts (not a chain but may help)

Other clients I am working on getting letters from that we currently clean:

Halliburton
Days Inn
Holiday Inn
IHOP
Electronics Boutique
Motel 6
Naturalizer
Keller Williams Realty
Office Depot
Pump 24 Hr Gym
Shoe Carnival
Man’s Shop
University of Texas Pan American
Verizon
Hearthstone Inn and Suites
Wingate Inn

I have request in from all of these places. Getting them can be tough sometimes because they drag their feet. I understand they are busy though. I patiently wait and ask when we clean. Some of these people, believe it or not, don’t know how to write a letter of recommendation. I always give them a sample of the ones I have already. I simply tell they can E-mail it or I sometimes will E-mail them a copy. Stay on them. As they come in, I will E-mail or post a link to them. I think it’s a great idea. Take some of mine from packets when doing your commercial PR. I know it has our names on them. But they can simply call and ask how the system works or how it worked for them. Hope this helps. God Bless.

Mike Nowlin

Thanks Mike and James,

I’m glad you are using them. You are going to get told no, or get no response. It is part of the biz. But, know they know who you are, what you do, how you do it and you may have a potential customer down the line. We get referrals from people we speak with on the phone or give packets to and we haven’t even done anything for them. Then they call the people or business we were trying to land, and they end up using us anyway. Being the “backup” is better than not doing anything for them. It cost you some ink, but hey, if they are working then that’s great. 😀 I had one operator mention to add fabric protector to the packet. Duh on my part. I also didn’t put much in there about tile and grout but that is the beuaty of the packets. They are totally editable. You can change it, flip it, whatever. Happy to hear it. I like Matt’s idea as well.

Matt,
Those folders are nice. I thought about gettin some and tossing the packets in there. That way I can cut back on some ink and have the folder as my cover. Violet Aden in Corpous Christi uses only the pages of the packet with who we are and what we do. Don’t know how they are working for her. Should call her. Anyway, I love the vision and mission statement idea. Do you have your own or use corporates?

Doing anything at all to get our name out there is better than sitting there waiting for the phone to ring. I’m glad to have some feedback on the packet. Let me know if any of you have recommendations for additions to it or if it needs cutting back. I am in the middle of a revision and Matt gave me some good ideas.

Side Note: I wear my Heaven’s Best Hat everywhere I go. It’s black with the logo on front. These are found in the on-line store with the shirts.

Hope all is well and keep selling,

Mike Nowlin

Welcome Mark,

Glad to see a new owner/operator on here. You made the best choice.

Mike

I carry post cards with me and will put them around the peoples house we cleaned for. It will have, on the back, “just cleaned for your neighbor at”. We have gotten a semi good response from this. It’s called 5 around. Some times I will sit down on internet and use google maps. I type in addresses around these peoples neighborhoods and if it doesn’t exist, then I will move and if it exists, then I send a card. Way to go. You have a great idea and hope it works well for you. Cost you some ink and paper and 5 minutes to place. The van in front of the house works well also.

😉

Mike