A. Lee Holst 1922-2010

Lee Holst is being buried today. He was like a brother to me and a good friend to many of you who attended Bane-Clene conventions and schools over the years. I met Lee on February 22, 1974 at our company's first convention. He represented Indiana Bell Telephone Co., and was there to talk with us about the importance of a good yellow pages program.

He came to every one of our conventions after that and became more than just a business acquaintance. We became best friends for life. Many of our customers knew he managed the Yellow Pages in Indiana and probably remember him as a superb Master of Ceremonies at conventions or from his appearances at our school. But his life was much more than that.

I learned things about Lee that many don't know. For example, the "A" stood for Aubrey and the man flew 35 missions on B-17's with the 8th Air Force over Germany in WWII. Jimmy Stewart, the famous actor, flew a mission with him and he once played trombone with Glen Miller's band in London. He was awarded two Presidential Unit Citations and the Air Medal with three Oak Leaf Clusters for bravery under enemy fire.

Lee drove race cars after the war and did a radio show about the sport. He headed up the 7,000 member National Auto Racing Club for 46 years and received numerous awards from famous race drivers and Tony Hulman and Tony George, presidents of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He was like an encyclopedia of funny stories. One year at convention I asked our audience to take turns and shout out a word, any word, and Lee would tell a joke about it. He did it, too.

He was one of the most generous people I've ever met. When we caught our advertising agency padding our bill we fired them. Lee urged us to start our own in-house ad agency. He even came up with the name Media Associates and got it recognized throughout the Bell system which benefited us and many of our customers. He lectured our classes for many years on advertising and especially the value of Yellow Pages. He truly loved the job he held for 39 years.

Lee always had a joke to tell and would probably have a good one right now. I wish I had one, but I don't feel like laughing. It was an honor and a privilege to have known this man.

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The Sheriff from Hell... another story

There's more to know about Sheriff Joe Arpaio, of Maricopa County in Arizona. He started a tent city jail and has meals down to 40 cents a serving and charges the inmates for them. He stopped prisoners from smoking, porno magazines, took away their weights and cut off all but 'G' movies.

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Happy Thanksgiving

Tomorrow as we celebrate with food and football, let's not forget to bow our heads and thank God for all of the people and events in our lives for which we should be grateful.

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Hey CRI!

I've been looking for years, but haven't found one single "CONSUMER" oriented complaint about professional carpet cleaning equipment or chemicals. That means the SOA program is as bogus as your survey that said carpet cleaners are responsible for consumer discontent with carpet. Research shows that bad installation and sales practices along with faulty products are the things that consumers are complaining about.

All of that effort you've directed toward the SOA program should have been spent getting your own house in order. If you really want to do something for professional carpet cleaners that would benefit everyone in the carpet industry, start a crusade against the criminal behavior demonstrated in this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7WEUaVN3aA&feature=player_embedded

Thousands of such cases across the nation distort the image of professional carpet cleaners and bring disgrace on the entire carpet industry. Bait and switch advertisers are responsible for nearly all complaints against cleaners, not the equipment or chemicals they use.

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Being sold is not the same as buying

If it sounds like the same thing, believe me there's a vast difference. Staying in the context of our common interest, the cleaning business, when you "buy" a product, you've weighed the options and explored the benefits and abilities of your purchase in your mind or by actual usage. You believe in it so your chances of success in this business are increased a hundred fold.

But, the person who is sold equipment by a smooth talking salesperson often suffers from buyer's remorse. If there is any doubt in the mind of someone in a small business that they made the wrong decision, their chances of success are diminished greatly because confidence is one of the most important keys to success.

In thinking of all the things I've bought, the good ones were things I really wanted or needed and I sold myself on the purchase. I thought about it, convinced myself that it was right for me and I "bought" it. The bad purchases (and there have been many) were always "sold" to me.

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"Network of Excellence" stats

There were 606,354 accesses to the Bane-Clene web site last month. People looked for information, ordered supplies, visited catalog and information pages, MSDS, Spot removal guides, Troubleshooting charts, the Cleaning Digest®, Clene-Times® and my Blog.

Carpet mills, carpet retailers, insurance adjusters, banks, realty firms and plumbers have visited this site. But most visitors were consumers. We know because when they can't find a local cleaner in our referral directory, they call our toll free number.

Total accesses to this web site last year were 6,908,988 compared to only 823 in 1996, our first year on the internet. This dramatic growth indicates how fast internet marketing is growing. Be part of this advertising bonanza by calling Don Terry at 800 428 9512 or e mail him at our "Message Center." Don will see that a home page is made for you or link your existing home page to this potential gold mine for a one time fee of only $99.

Original SOA stressed education

"Maintenance is an important part of consumer satisfaction and the cleaner is the last one in the carpet chain to see the customer. If the consumer is not satisfied, the retailer who sold the carpet suffers, the mill that made it suffers and indeed the whole industry suffers if carpet is not their future floor covering choice. Cleaning firms that provide responsible service must be recognized and promoted by the CRI for everyone's sake." Ron VanGelderen, President CRI®.

That's part of a memo he sent to me in 1995, when he asked that I form a committee to explore a program for recognizing and promoting responsible carpet cleaners. Representatives of CRI members, Duraclean, Host®/Racine, ServiceMaster®, VonSchrader®, Windsor® Industries and Bane-Clene® quickly came to agreement that education should be our top priority.

As a courtesy, invitations went to major industry players. ChemDry® joined us later but Stanley Steemer® and ASCR declined to participate. Unfortunately, non-members of CRI, with their own agenda, outnumbered our committee and parochial interests dominated our meetings. Surprisingly, the most resistance to focusing on education came from IICRC and ISCT.

Cleaning carpet is not a particularly difficult chore, and it is certainly not rocket science. But CRI and some in the education business want to make it seem far more complicated than it really is. Their motive is to profit by tethering carpet cleaners and their suppliers to a never ending litany of fees under the guise of education and approved products.

J & J Industries was the only major carpet maker to support the original program so it was terminated in 2003. It was doomed from its inception by apathy and selfish interests. Mr. VanGelderen's profound and simple goal could have profited everyone in the carpet industry had it been promoted and allowed to mature. Instead, SOA profits only a select few.

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Reflections on elections

The 1946 elections didn't mean much to me since I was nineteen and I wasn't old enough to vote. I got back to the States from the Pacific in the fall of '45 and was transferred to Philadelphia. There had been a corrupt Republican city government in place there for about 60 years and listening to the natives complain probably warped my view of politics.

In 1948, at age twenty one, I voted for Harry Truman because he had been my Commander in Chief in the Marine Corps and thanks to the corrupt regime in Philly I thought all Republicans were crooks. That vote proved to be a big mistake. In 1950, I had converted a sixteen room double into four apartments and embarked on the course of a real estate entrepreneur.

On my twenty-third birthday, June 25, 1950, the Korean War erupted and I was recalled to active duty in the Marine Corps. To add insult to injury, while I was gone, Truman enacted rent controls and my apartments had to be sold to survive financially. Needless to say, I voted for Dwight David Eisenhower in 1952 and have leaned toward the Republican Party since that time.

I'm glad I wasn't old enough to vote at age nineteen because I didn't have the knowledge to vote intelligently. Now eighteen year olds are allowed to vote and it concerns me that most youngsters today are getting their political education from television Sitcoms, Comedy Central and Saturday Night Live.

God bless America!

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Happy Birthday USMC

Today is the birthday of the Continental Marine Force of the American Colonies during the Revolutionary War. The CMF was formed by the Continental Congress on November 10, 1775. There were only 131 officers and probably no more than 2,000 enlisted Marines. This small group was the genesis of the Marine Corps.

The CMF was founded in Tun Tavern at the corner of Water Street and Tun Alley in Philadelphia which is now located under Interstate 95. Marines, veterans and especially old Jarheads celebrate this historic day. I enlisted on 25 June 1944, entered a phase of my life that changed and shaped my future and I've never regretted it.

Semper Fi Marines!

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Warranty work

The President of CRI®, being interviewed in Dalton on WBLJ radio by Dave Foster said, "Carpet cleaners could enjoy warranty work by being part of the Seal Of Approval program." Enjoy warranty work? If you enjoy traumatic situations, enjoy antagonistic customers, enjoy badgering by mill reps, enjoy slow pay or worse yet, no pay, then you might enjoy it.

The truth is it's no fun and anyone who has handled complaints in the real world knows exactly what I mean. In more than 30 years experience with our referral network, there have been times we've had to coerce and even bribe a cleaner to get a warranty job done for a carpet mill because many carpet cleaners really don't enjoy it. And many have mills they don't want to work for.

The current CRI strategy of pressuring cleaners into paying for the privilege to enjoy warranty work is misguided. Most carpet cleaners wouldn't miss it!

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A friend who is a CPA sent me this eye opener

As you digest these figures, keep in mind that in spite of the astronomical tax rates, these countries can't finance their social welfare programs exclusively from tax revenues! They are all deeply mired in public debt. Riots in the streets protesting proposed cutbacks in social programs are a warning sign of the total chaos that will come. Could we be heading in that direction?

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How many carpet cleaners does it take to....?

It took six years for CRI to recruit a mere 987 CSPs (Certified Service Providers) for its Seal of Approval Program. Of all the cleaning firms nationwide, only about 300 independent operators have signed on to CRI's plan. It's interesting to note that 70% of the CSPs are franchises, but even more interesting is the fact that carpet mills own some of the franchises that are dominating the CRI program. Check the list at this link:

http://www.carpet rug.org/commercial customers/cleaning and maintenance/soa service providers/service providers.cfm

About 30,000 to 40,000 individual companies are in the carpet cleaning business. Add janitorial firms, in-house operations, maid services and part-timers and the number could easily exceed 150,000 with several million employees. It is logistically impossible for 987 approved cleaning firms to do all of that work. Carpet warranties will soon begin to contribute to this disaster in public relations by the CRI.

More than ten years ago at a meeting in Dalton, I heard a representative of a major carpet mill say, "Only cleaning franchises should be promoted by CRI members because they're easier to control." He struck me as a fringe radical, but in view of what is taking place in the CRI, he should be taken seriously now.

Thinking people in the cleaning industry are questioning CRI motives and a ground swell of resistance is organizing. There are rumors of conflicts of interest in their testing process and serious doubts as to its validity. Unanswered questions persist about the CRI "study" that claimed carpet cleaners are responsible for more consumer dissatisfaction with carpet than any other source. That "study" appears to be as bogus as their testing program.

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Tomorrow

There are politicians who think that ...

... government will do a better job of spending our money than we will.

... an oil company profit of 4 cents a gallon is obscene but taxes of 62 cents are not.

... it's OK to bail out big banks, auto makers, insurance and mortgage companies.

... freedom of speech is fine as long as nobody is offended.

... we're too irresponsible to own a gun and to defend ourselves.

... police will protect us from home invaders, car-jackers, muggers and thieves.

... death row inmates should stay alive and we should pay to feed them as long as they live.

... illegal aliens should vote, have welfare, health care, education, and social security benefits.

... most business profit should be given to the government for redistribution.

... their primary job is to bring pork home and strongly support earmarks..

... judges should rewrite the Constitution to suit fringe groups.



What do you think? If you agree with them, vote for them. If you disagree, vote against them.

But be sure to express your opinion at the polls tomorrow.

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