The final step

The sales presentation has been given, the job is booked, the crew has been scheduled. The cleaning job is finished on the day of the appointment and the money is collected. Now is the job complete? Not quite! One final step remains, perhaps the most important step in the process the follow up.

Follow up with a customer a few days after the cleaning by sending a "Report Card" to residential customers. Place a telephone call or e-mail if they prefer to the contact person at a commercial account. Their contact preference should be established early on commercial work.

If they are dissatisfied for any reason, they will welcome the opportunity to express their complaint as soon as possible. Immediate follow up allows you to quickly rectify any negative situation before emotions are heightened and become irreparable.

A prompt follow up also avails you of the opportunity for a second sales presentation. A customer who is pleased with your service is very receptive to future cleaning offers.

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Solution

According to the news last week it takes 58 minutes to get the Cops to respond to a 911 call in Detroit. But according to their commercials, Domino's® will still deliver in 30 minutes. How about arming the delivery guys?

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Government regulations

If you think expanding regulations and directives coming out of Washington don't affect small business, you're wrong. New EPA regulations for labeling of chemical products have come down and it has cost us the price of new labels and repackaging for certain products.

One example of a bureaucrat at work is in the description area for certain products. We no longer can say the product is for "carpet and furniture." Some anonymous bureaucrat in Washington has determined that we must say it's for use on "soft fabrics."

As Al Jolson used to say, "You ain't seen nuthin' yet!"

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Plus sales vs. upselling

A large number of service companies are basing their pay scales on the amount of upselling done at the job location. In fact, some companies only pay a commission on the amount that is sold above the original order. Some even attempt to upsell when the appointment is made by paying a commission to the phone person on the amount they can upsell from the original order. These operations are normally ripe for fraud and nearly all use B&S advertising.

Introducing a customer to other services and products you may offer is not the same as pressure selling. In fact, it's a service to busy people who may not be fully aware of all you do. Customers may not know that you offer fabric protection, odor control, furniture and drapery cleaning or that you are equipped to clean their hardwood, stone or tile floors.

Leave a brochure that tells of your complete line of service. Practice the art of bringing a conversation around to discussing these services and other "plus sales" items. Don't try to "sell them the store" simply because they are receptive. Introduce the customer only to those things they truly need. Most important....Never be pushy!

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Fake water

Years ago at Mini Clinics, I used a 3' x 5' nylon carpet sample with Jute back for a cleaning demonstration. The jute backing tells you how long ago this was. My son Don would make 40 passes over the carpet with the solution and vacuum on full force and then we would turn the sample over so the audience could see that the jute back was dry.

Then the audience would feel the face fibers were just damp. A woman in Cleveland accused me of using fake water to keep it that dry. Being a little skeptical is a good thing and I always think of her when I see some of the shenanigans pulled on unsuspecting people in our business. It's a shame she isn't around to cry "fake" with some of the stuff that's going on today.

The moral: Be open to improving your company's position in the industry but show a healthy amount of skepticism in accepting advice from anyone. Remember what the Mayor of River City, Iowa said! "Get his credentials!"

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Once upon a time

I don't remember exactly but thirty-some years ago there was a severe water shortage in California that threatened those in the cleaning industry who used large amounts of water. Californians called and wrote asking for a system that used recycled water. In response I hired Tom Schubert, a water treatment engineer, to design two water recycling systems.

The first was a complete plan for a mini-treatment plant that could be constructed at the office of a cleaning firm. It used proven technology and all the necessary components were locally available. Designed for a one-truck operation, it could be expanded to handle several trucks. These plans were made available free of charge to Bane-Clene® operators.

Tom also designed a portable recycling system that could be mounted in a service van. The technology was quite simple. Indianapolis has a plentiful water supply and we never planned to use it in our own operation but we built a prototype and installed it in a company van to show that it was indeed workable.

A grand introduction was planned for our convention that year. Guess what happened a few weeks before the big promotion? California had a deluge, reservoirs were full and water was plentiful again. Guess how many portable recycling units we sold? I don't think anyone even built a recycling plant with those "free" plans that cost our company a substantial sum.

But here's something that happened as a result. Have you heard of “unintended consequences??” A large franchise (Hint: initials are SS) heard about the new recycling system and used the information to sell against us. We were told on numerous occasions that people with the franchise would tell prospects, "Bane-Clene uses dirty water to clean your carpets."

Recently I read an article in a Dalton publication about the eleven steps in Green Carpet Care. Step number seven was, "Select carpet extractors that recycle water/cleaning solution to use water and chemical more efficiently." Naturally, it was written by a person who sells that type of cleaning equipment. I hope they have better luck selling them than we did.

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They're still at it

The stock market loved it when 195,000 new jobs were created in June. The Federal Reserve pumped $85 billion into the economy (they do it every month) to buy worthless bonds and mortgages that no one else will touch. Meanwhile, first-time unemployment compensation claims averaged 345,500 every week in June.

Some kind of new math must account for all of this euphoric exuberance. In the good old days, the math would have told us there were 345, 500 x 4 = 1,382,000 newly unemployed people in June and only 195,000 (mostly part time) jobs were added in what was a rotten month.

Better keep those printing presses rolling Mr. Bernanke. Wall Street bankers and brokers who get those big bonuses won't love you if you don't CTA. By the way, those are some of the same banks that are so stingy with loans to small business.

How do politicians feel? The $85 billion (That’s BILLION with a B) donation to Wall Street has been described by some Washington insiders as "Chump Change."

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Mea Culpa

There's always the excuse that today everything is exaggerated. But the simple truth is that I made a typographical error. On the front page of the July Clene Times® I wrote an article titled Defining our new market. In it I said, "In fact, many politicians claim that an annual income of $150,000,000 is now going to be considered “rich.”

Wow! Adding that many zeros is a mistake only government is allowed to make. The right number should have been $150,000. One Hundred Fifty Thousand Dollars is now considered "rich." It has been corrected on the Clene Times copy on our web site, but the 40,000 hard copies we mailed are gonzo. Sorry if I shook anyone up with that typo.

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You Owe It to Your Client

Customers traditionally do not know much about carpet. A customer who is contemplating the purchase of new carpet often asks their professional cleaner about the best fiber or the best brand. This puts us on the spot, especially if we suggest a lesser quality product. We need to be able to make a recommendation strictly in the best interest of our client.

The best method of learning how to consult about carpet choice is not by reading the brochures distributed by carpet manufacturers or sales organizations. Instead, keep a notebook and every time you see a marked difference (either good or bad) on the job, write it down. Look for unusual appearance and especially for ease in cleaning.

If possible, ask customers for details such as brand name, type of fiber and even the official color. Look for crushing, pilling, watermarking, resilience, color retention and list your observations. Make a master chart in your office and keep score on fiber producers and carpet manufacturers. Above all, be honest in your assessment.

List the styles, colors and performance experience of as many as you can. In a year or two, you will have a database of information that can help you make a meaningful recommendation to the person for whom you work. This is another "value added" reason for them to do business with you in the future.

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Ideas feed on each other

All of the baseball promos encouraging fans to vote up to 35 times for their favorite team and players for the All Star game remind me that we'll soon be in an election cycle again. I wonder if the baseball brass got their idea of voting so many times from our illustrious politicians. Now I heard that politicians are looking at the All Star game promotions and thinking seriously about voting being allowed from smart phones.

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A new scam?

In monitoring consumer complaint sites, I saw a report in which a company allegedly misrepresented themselves to be Stanley Steemer® by redirecting internet phone traffic. When a customer Googled carpet cleaning, Stanley Steemer showed up on the first page. According to the complaining consumer, the phone number associated with Stanley Steemer on the Google map was somehow replaced by the phone number of the imposter.

When called, the company answered, "Carpet Cleaning." When asked the name of the company they said "where did you see our ad?" The consumer said, "under Stanley Steemer on the internet." The bogus operator then said they were "Stanley Steemer" and made the appointment. Redirecting traffic by hijacking Google search phone numbers and replacing them with counterfeit numbers is not nice. Who's responsible? If this story is true, I'd like to know and I'm sure Stanley Steemer would like to know.

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The power of education

“A man who has never gone to school may steal from a freight car; but if he has a university education, he may steal the whole railroad.”
Theodore Roosevelt

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Special holiday tomorrow

Many of us will take a long weekend to celebrate the 4th of July. Please don't forget the reason we celebrate and especially let's remember all of those who died for our freedom to do it.

Our founding fathers opposed big, oppressive government and the worst of their fears has come to pass in recent years. Reality check: Fraud, corruption and crony capitalism are rampant.

As politicians continue to disregard the ingeniously crafted Constitution, pray that we soon find a way to return to the Christian/Judeo roots of our independence.

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"Happy days are here again"

The feds pompously announced a $113 billion budget surplus and said the deficit had shrunk to "only" $642 billion. Revenue is up 16% and spending is down 1%. I have two questions. What budget? The Senate hasn't passed a budget for five years. And how can federal department heads be so precise with numbers and percentages? They can't even answer simple questions when they appear before a congressional committee.

Meanwhile federal spending was frantic at the end of the fiscal year with department heads trying to get all they can get for next year's so-called budget. The only good news out of all this is that federal spending is expected to boost the economy. The jury is still out on that one.

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How to succeed

Be different! Think of your own experiences in nearly everything you buy and likely they are not too good in one respect or another. The appointment with someone coming to your home to perform a service is a good example. Chances are they will be late.

An appointment with the doctor will likely keep you waiting from fifteen minutes to an hour before you are seen. The visit to a mechanic leaves a greasy fingerprint or worse inside your car. A dozen check-outs at the supermarket and only two are working leaving you stand in line.

In these hard economic times there are a dozen excuses for every malfunction. The successful service business will not make excuses but will get the job done and at a reasonable price.

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Selling service

The consumer is interested in solutions to their problems, not hearing about yours. When presenting your service to a prospect, have answers ready for the normal objections that people will use as bargaining chips in negotiating a price.

Always remember that the consumer buys for their own reasons, not to help you. Explore the possibilities of why they should buy from you and hit their "hot button." Listen to them and they will usually tell you early in the conversation what that hot button may be.

When quoting a commercial job, offer alternatives in the maintenance plan. Don't even suggest that it is chiseled in stone and inflexible. Offer to increase or decrease frequency as the situation dictates. Most of all. . . don't forget to ask for the order!

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Green, green

Years ago the Christie Minstrels made this song popular: "Green, green, it's green they say, on the far side of the hill. Green, green, I'm goin' away to where the grass is greener still."

They could never have dreamed of the number of people who would jump on the "green" wagon as a way to the other side of the financial hill. Windmills, electric cars, solar panels and exorbitant tax incentives are all the rage right now. Green is in. Anything with the name green attached to it is presumed to be an instant winner.

I guess recycling is good, but not long ago I watched a trash compactor truck pull up to a customer location. There were two dumpsters, one marked with the recycling logo and the other was plain. The driver dumped them both into the same bin. Sadly, the owner of the business is paying extra to have the recycled material picked up separately.

In the cleaning industry, endless products attach the word 'green' to their juice or equipment. Ads in trade magazines tout the importance of going "green." One equipment manufacturer has even painted their little machine green and named it the "Big Green Carpet Cleaning Machine." Their ad says, "Cleans better*, dries faster." Better and faster than what?

In fine print barely visible is this disclaimer: *Cleaning results compared to the leading rental machine based upon measurements of color reflectance and brightness of carpet fibers. Since their machine cleans better and dries faster than their rental counterpart, will they apply for and be awarded the CRI Platinum Seal of Approval, too? Stay tuned!

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Service

According to the BBB, nothing leads to a customer service meltdown quicker than using phrases such as “That’s our policy” or "Our policy won't allow that." Here's another sentence that should never leak from the lips of your customer service team, “There’s Nothing I Can Do about that” or one that's even worse, "That's not my job."

A response that is bound to get a customer's ire up is, "You'll have to speak with my supervisor before I can do that." In a good service company, operators are trained and given the responsibility of adapting to changing scenarios and fixing problems.

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Latest statistics

An article in the Indianapolis Star said the poverty rate in Indy has doubled since the year 2000 and that the national poverty average in large cities is 22%. LBJ's war on poverty has obviously been lost since nearly 50 million are on food stamps. Another 20 million are on disability and there are 40 million retired folks, 65 and older, on social security.

Unemployment is high with millions drawing on it for 99 weeks. Productivity is low with everyone busy on their smart phones and very little getting done. The overall economy is barely moving and resembles the massive traffic snarls nationwide which more or less confirms the situation. Acts of terrorism and natural disasters lead the news nearly every day.

The Supreme Court will rule this year on Christian clergy taking part in opening prayers at anything that's government related. Movies, television, the theater and even TV commercials try to out-do one another in being gross, lewd and lascivious. For the past century, we have witnessed a systematic coarsening of American culture led by the entertainment industry.

Larry Cramer sent me this quote attributed to Jay Leno which sums it up in one sentence:

"With hurricanes, tornados, fires out of control, mud slides, flooding, severe thunderstorms tearing up the country from one end to another, and with the threat of bird flu and terrorist attacks, are we sure this is a good time to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance?"

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News flash from Dalton

"The Carpet and Rug Institute's Seal of Approval testing and certification program now stands at 374 solutions, 427 vacuums, 94 deep‑cleaning extractors and 104 systems for a total 999."

For more than ten years, CRI™ has been trying to recruit professional cleaners to their Certified Service Provider program. Today there are a little over 800 of those, down from more than 1,000 two years ago. With more than 40,000 carpet cleaning firms, 60,000 janitorial services and a million rental machines out there working on carpet, it's strange that more have not signed on. Since it only costs $25 a year to be certified, you'd think there would be 30,000 taking advantage of the benefits of such a program.

CRI has convinced some carpet mills to tie their warranties to the Seal of Approval testing and certification program. Does anyone in Dalton have any idea about what the real world is about?

This boondoggle will only lead to further loss of consumer confidence in carpet and to another decline in carpet sales. There are many in the cleaning industry crying, "Pity the poor consumer." It's much closer to home than that. If those in the Dalton cocoon don't get their heads out in the fresh air they're going to hurt the entire carpet cleaning industry.

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