What goes around

Recently the city of Indianapolis announced that fees for licensed businesses would be increased. For example a plumber will now pay $217.00 annually to stay in business instead of $35.00 for their license. Al Capone would be proud that the city is using the tactics of his old protection racket. Don't you wish you could arbitrarily raise your carpet cleaning prices by "only" 50%?

About thirty years ago a small group worked to gain control of the industry. One of their tactics was to interest government in licensing cleaners. Thanks to much hard work by many in the business they were defeated. Be thankful that those who tried to get California to license carpet cleaners have found other pursuits to pass their time. Or have they?

I don't think CRI was involved in the California licensing scam, but they seem to be on a similar quest for control of our business. It's interesting that some of the perpetrators of the licensing fiasco were involved in fighting against the original SOA program which was all about training. CRI's new SOA is all about controlling and profiting from cleaners and their suppliers while it should be about training and certification.

CRI should concentrate on the real causes of nearly all complaints related to carpet which are: installation, bad sales practices and bait and switch advertising. They should "86" the new SOA program. More bureaucracy is the last thing we need in the cleaning business in these trying economic times.

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Congratulations

Family Care Carpet Cleaning of Jonesville, North Carolina, has been voted the best carpet cleaning service in the Tribune Reader's Choice Awards for 2010. We're very proud to be affiliated with this fine family business that has achieved outstanding recognition.

The owners, Gwen and Jonathan Reavis, have attended and are certified by Bane-Clene Institute and are long standing members of the "Network of Excellence™" referral service. The entire staff at Bane-Clene thanks the Reavis family for their continuing hard work and wishes them the best and continued success in business.

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Time to put politics aside

I'm often accused of being anti IICRC. This is not true! They have some fine instructors, and since I founded one of the early training schools in the industry, it's evident that I believe in education. I just don't think IICRC should control the curriculum of parochial schools such as Bane-Clene Institute that teach the proper use of their proprietary products and methods.

We've offered IICRC courses for several years but there is little interest among our customers. For example, we advertised an IICRC course on the two months prior to classes in February. Only one student registered so it was cancelled because the IICRC instructor could not afford to appear. Meanwhile, our 3-day school which followed had near capacity attendance in spite of the bad weather. One man came all the way from China.

Most equipment and chemical manufacturers have abdicated their training to IICRC. Each company should take the responsibility of teaching the proper use of their products. IICRC instructors teach generically, and that's not the same as hands-on training by someone who knows the product and process. Most tragic mishaps with equipment and chemicals in our industry have occurred because of improperly or untrained personnel.

If CRI wants qualified cleaners to service the products of their members, they should promote, publicize and support all recognized industry schools* in addition to the IICRC programs. These established bricks and mortar locations can produce large numbers of qualified cleaners to serve the industry. Encouraging equipment and chemical manufacturers to teach the correct use of their products would also be a step in the right direction and a winning strategy.

* Bane-Clene, Bridgepoint®, Host®, Jon-Don, Pemberton's, Von Schrader® and legitimate company schools such as Woodards in St. Louis and the various franchise training centers are examples. I'm sure there are many others that would qualify.

http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/empire-today-c1880.html

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Better check this out

I've been told that next year W-2 tax forms must reflect the value of health insurance a company pays for its employees. Gross income will be increased and taxes will be paid on the larger sum. This is one of the first signs that "Free" health is not free. Discuss this matter with your CPA or attorney if you have employees who receive health care benefits from your company.

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Do you use temps?

The Obama administration is directing the IRS to target small businesses because they are easier and quicker to audit than large corporations. Of specific interest to the IRS will be businesses with independent contractors or "temps" who remain on the payroll for long periods of time.

Employers can save up to 30% of payroll costs by using long term "temps" to avoid payroll taxes, unemployment insurance and worker's compensation coverage. The IRS plans to examine thousands of companies this year and they are linking up with computer systems of other agencies to make it easier to share data.

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The blame game

Continually falling sales had carpet mills looking for someone to blame and the cleaning industry made an easy target. Bogus and undocumented surveys claimed that consumers were unhappy with carpet cleaning, so the CRI launched the SOA program which has a nice side benefit of extracting money from professional cleaners and their suppliers.

I believe the real purpose of SOA is to create a convenient avenue for carpet manufacturers to avoid warranty issues. The mills have gone one up on each other with warranties for years. One, two, five, ten-year and now lifetime warranties are coming home to roost and they need a way to bail out. They can't do it on their own without calling attention to some of their ridiculous claims so they enlisted the non profit CRI as an accomplice.

Here are things that really hurt carpet sales. Television ads tout whole house installation for a few dollars. Then hucksters top that with "FREE" installation. Anyone in the business knows that this hard work deserves more pay, not squeezing by employers. Consequently, installation is the most frequent carpet complaint followed by bad sales practices and the broken promises of retailers. Product substitution and taking deposits while in bankruptcy are some of the more scandalous complaints.

Cleaning related complaints are a distant third and most are from consumers and building managers doing their own cleaning. Professional cleaners' complaints are very few and mainly about bait and switch advertisers. The complaints on the internet that I found and reviewed were: Installation related - 314, Sales related - 253, Cleaning related - 131. Cleaning related complaints about professionals named franchises such as Sears® and Chem-Dry®, but not one mentioned a cleaning chemical, cleaning machine or method used to do the job.

In spite of these facts, CRI continues to punish professional carpet cleaners and their suppliers. In cleaning related matters they should be aiming at the DIY market where most of the complaints come from, not professionals.

The complaints I looked at were all real and are a matter of public record. Could it be possible that CRI has chosen to believe a bogus survey that said cleaning chemicals and equipment are responsible for the decline in carpet sales? I also wonder who was asked.

For some enlightening reading, check out the link below.

http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/empire-today-c1880.html

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Scam alert

Dan Willis, manager of our service company, received an e-mail inquiry from Deb Adams for an estimate on cleaning 15, 10 x 14 area rugs to be shipped from South Carolina to her new home in Indianapolis. He also got a fax from Susan Williams who was relocating from New York and wanted to know about shipping and cleaning 15, 20 x 10 Oriental rugs.

Dan courteously, but with some reservation, replied to both inquiries with estimates and got nearly identical replies. The rugs were stored with a private shipper who doesn't take credit cards. Both wanted a credit card charged and asked Dan to send a cash wire transfer to the shipper. When the rugs are cleaned and delivered they would pay the balance.

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Thoughts for tough times

Nothing happens until you make the sale. Sharpen your advertising program and answer your phone. Make cold calls on commercial accounts. Be prepared to hear, "NO!"

• Satisfy the customer and they will sell for you. There is no better emissary than a third party who recommends you to friends and relatives. Do something extra for them.
• Listen to your employees and customers. They will tell you what is happening even though it may not be what you want to hear. Act accordingly to correct problems.
• Resolve complaints as soon as possible. The most loyal of all customers are those who have had a problem quickly and efficiently resolved. And they tell people about it.
• Don't be afraid of change. It is inevitable. You need to be aware of those changes that affect your business. Be alert, but don't change something just for the sake of change.

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Time is money

Some business owners live by that old adage, but it's really about more than just money. Time is a commodity to be invested. An example is a phone call from a consumer shopping for service who had her carpets cleaned by one of the leading franchises. Her comments indicated that she was generally pleased with the work, but felt the job should have taken more time.

If you target the residential market, you may have jobs that require quick completion, but they will be the exception. Persons past retirement age are in no hurry. They own their homes, have both time and money to spend and appreciate high quality over savings. If you don't have the time to give to these customers, they may not take the time to call you the next time!

When a customer refers you to their relatives, friends and neighbors you have reaped the reward of a proper investment of your time and effort. Repeat and referral customers are the life blood of a service business and are the positive return on your investment.

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Big isn't always better, is it?

Dan Willis told me the other day that a carpet retailer called him to order supplies for his cleaning business which he said is doing very well. His carpet business is doing well, too. He thought the economy is improving and carpet sales are up. But, he complained that earlier this year two big mills he buys carpet from announced price increases of 4 to 6% on their products.

Even though he didn't like it, Dan's customer anticipated these increases in the jobs he priced through the spring season. Then in mid-April he got a letter from the two carpet mills that another price increase of 6 to 8% would be effective the end of April. This really hurt him on the jobs he had already scheduled for May installation.

Bureaucratic vendors who get too big to consider their customers' well-being are just like the bureaucratic government. They make broad decisions that can really hurt a small business. If there are alternatives, it certainly would pay to look for other suppliers.

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Part of a Fritz Rench e-mail

"I noticed the discussion of commercial carpet maintenance on the CRI™ blog. They cited the importance of using solutions and equipment certified under the SOA program. It's certainly OK to use SOA items; but it isn't particularly important since the SOA program doesn't attempt to evaluate how well a system actually cleans a carpet."

Mr. Rench is Board Chairman of Racine Industries, the makers of Hos®t carpet cleaning equipment and supplies. We're competitors, but we agree wholeheartedly that CRI has overstepped its bounds in the testing program it has forced on our cleaning industry.

Debbie Lema, of RI, has done a thoughtful and impressive study on the XRF based testing used by CRI. To see the paper in its entirety, click on the link below:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/29231271/A Discussion Regarding a Novel Method The Use of X Ray Fluorescence for Quantitative Analysis of Elements in Carpet

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Time for a new association?

In nearly six years, less than 1000 Certified Service Providers have been recruited by the CRI/SOA program. But, nearly 700 of them are franchises. ChemDry®, Duraclean®, Guaranteed, Millicare®, Mohawk®, Rainbow®, Sears, ServiceMaster®, Stanley Steemer® and Zero Rez® are some that I recognize. There may be more. Only about 300 independent cleaners out of more than 35,000 in the USA have signed on.

CRI™ is catering to the franchises, no doubt because two of the big mills involved in SOA have franchised cleaning services. CRI has awarded the little Rug Doctor® rental machine its highest "Platinum" rating. Rug Doctor is in the business of taking business from professional cleaners. And now big, bad Home Depot® owns the Chemdry franchise. What a surprise!

As the old accountant says, "Follow the money!" The current crop of associations and trade magazines have sold out the independent carpet cleaner to big business. Maybe it's time for independent carpet cleaners to organize. How about some of you young chargers stepping up and running with this idea before it's too late? Or, at least be like the Tea Party and protest a little.

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BBB warning

Bill Thomas, president and CEO of the Central Indiana Better Business Bureau® said, "Bait and switch advertisers create a sense of mistrust in an effort to make a quick buck, but in actuality they drive away their customer base. In the long run, bait and switch advertising is neither advantageous for the business nor the consumer."

The BBB® is warning businesses and broadcasters about bait and switch advertising. The Federal Communications Commission says that licensees who broadcast false or misleading ads could be subject to scrutiny at license renewal time. Businesses using bait and switch are subject to lawsuits and legal action by the FTC.

The BBB has Reliability Reports on nearly four million companies, and they are available to consumers free and are accessible at www.bbb.org.

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