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Are you sure that you actually need a credit card account?
We have been in business 3 years now and have accepted a sum total of…drum roll….5-6 credit cards! Period. All of these went through the home office at a significant mark-up, however, we have found that most folks here pay with either cash or check.
We advertise that we accept all majors, but when asked, I always say we prefer cash or check..adding, ” as long as they don’t bounce” with a little laughter…only three have and they made them good within days with no cops or Bubba.
I know and realize that this may be odd to most of the operators, but that’s the way it is in Lancaster County, PA.
No business has ever been lost for not taking a cc. I always say that we will, but prefer checks.
Cody,
During the meeting in NJ, John made mention that he was looking into individual memberships in the LMCCA for around $50-$60. Since I see that you have that listed, LMCCA, what is that status of that initiative. If I remember corretly, it was to be approved around this time.
Thanks,
DaveWe do mainly what Laura does, except that we wear them all the time on the job. The pvc is almost inert and not much sticks to it, not like shoes anyay.
Also, they are not slippery like rubber soled shoes or sneakers are when wet with residual HB cleaner. Seemed dumb to me to clean a carpet and then go back onto the carpet with dirty shoes (dirty from the areas walked on and not cleaned) for grooming or post-vacuuming.
We give them out to customers, realtors and anyone who may be walking on the carpet while lightly damp…makes a heck of a good impression, or so I have been told.
Dave
No apology necessary at all. I just brought it to your attention that is all. I was stunned that they could not brig the reservation up though, without a reservation code. Seems odd to me.
Thanks for straightening it out.
DaveRon, I made a mistake in posting here…I posted in MISC, and I called Excalibur to get reservations for January 30-Feb 1, 07 and they had another group then, but not Heavens Best. Sorry for the confusion.
If I remember correctly, this topic dealt with the heating of the van at night, or when not in use. Almost all of the chemicals must be kept above freezing to prevent their damage as well as the container from bursting if frozen.
Another real problem is the equipment…when it gets cold, the wires become really hard and difficult to deal with.
It is a pain to have to unload al of the equipment into the house each evening, and almost impossible for many to get the van into a heated environment..so we try to heat the vans with heaters…not that easy to accomplish.
But when wer are dealing with a foot or more of snow, ise and or freezing rain it is a pain to empty the van sometimes. On occasions, I have had the bonnetts freeze like totally solid just with their latent humidity. Kind of nasty to deal with and have had no great guidance on this topic as you can read.
Glad someone is reading this though..maybe you could give some ideas we could try.
Dave
Our phone number on the van paid for the vinyl many times over. I have had no less than a dozen calls off the number and almost all of them while I was in the van and they were close…made joke of it, since we forward the bus number to my cell.
Have had the same exact experience with neighbors that Patrick has had as well on several occasions.
My personal preference is no 800, due to the non-local nature of it. Cody should probably understand this and make an allowance. Cutting off your nose to spite your face makes no sense at all…and just having one 800 number makes you look like ServiceMaster, SS, ChemDry, etc, and that is not necessarily a good thing for us. (Just my opinion)
dsmall is exactly on the money in my opinion. My sentiments exactly. Many of you are, I assume, who have been in the business 10+ years, I suppose grossing in the order of $200-$800k/ year and at that level, kicking a number of $$$ in TV commercials makes some sense. maybe.
Our thought from day one was to grow slowly and steadily building a solid base of repeat and referral customers. Not to grow fast.
We are right now going to go after the commercial customer to flesh out the early evening work in order to capitalize on our one USP.
I had my van at the Ford dealer to clear a service engine light and noticed a Windstar with vinyl letters on the body and glass with the dealer’s name. I asked how wel the lettering has held up and the guy told me that the van had 200k on the odometer and is a courtesy van and have had the letters on for years.
They looked all but new to me. The van was kept in great shape and used a lot, obviously, so I think I will opt for the over the window installation and pray. If it ever needs touching up, I will touch it up.
I bought the van with the side windows for safety as well. It is very difficult, if you are not used to it, to drive and back up in congestion without a side window…something that is lacking in Rexburg…congestion, that is.
This will force me to definitely keep the van for some years to come, but that may be a good thing in the long run.
I realize how well we have had it Gordon…and appreciate it very, very much. And Ron, the advertising fees were taken out of the overall percentage paid, I believe. I worked for Service Master and it was a terrible mess inside the office. They lost their franchise about a year after I left.
And each and every one of those franchises is paying a rather hefty percentage of their monthly gross to pay for that advertising and exposure.
I know for a certainty that it is in the 8-11% per month of the gross being paid. That was one of the major factors why we purchased a HB franchise, no percentage payout, or other hefty monthly fees. Check it out for yourself.
I remember from our class Cody saying that there are jobs for Bubba…now I know what he meant. SS will now be my Bubba. I had another restaurant that I cleaned for as well and am now calling to cancel them as well…just too much effort for what they pay. Been doing for over a year, and it just isn’t worth it anymore.
Thanks Brian.
Some of the other small problems have been worked out…this is one that I thought had been overlooked…I will shut up now. Dave
