101 Ways to Advertise, Promote and Sell a Carpet Cleaning Service (Tips 31-40)

31. Customer lists: A complete and up-to-date file should be kept on each past customer to determine buying patterns, etc. and to be used to solicit additional work during the year. Customer lists can be kept on a computer program if you use a computer or on a 3″ x 5″ index card and kept in an index file if you don’t use a computer.
32. Customer track sheets: If you use a computer you will automatically have access to previous cleaning dates of past customers very easily. If you don’t use a computer, past customer cleaning dates can be easily accessible by using “customer track sheets”. This is done by simply writing or typing all customer information including name, address, phone number, last cleaning date, areas cleaned and price for cleaning on a specially prepared form that coordinates all jobs by day, month and year. In this way you can determine past cleaning dates month by month for your yearly “reminders”.
    
33. Qualifying the job: Qualifying the job with the customer is done by simply sitting down with him/her after the inspection has been made or before cleaning begins and explaining all problem areas, permanent stains, wear areas, etc. and letting her know exactly what results you expect to achieve from the cleaning. This keeps the customer’s expectations in check and prevents many dissatisfied customers. After the cleaning is completed it is harder to convince the customer that the best job was done and she may feel that you are only making excuses for a poor  job.
34. Driving courtesy: Sounds like a small thing, huh? But when someone sees you or your employee screaming and cursing at another driver because he “cut you off”, or sees you cutting someone else off, it reflects poorly on your company.
35. Trade Organization membership: Increases your technical and marketing knowledge and shows your customers that you are committed to keeping up with the latest that the industry has to offer buy joining at least one trade organization. Benefits:
    a: Helps keep you up-to-date with the latest industry technology;
    b. These organizations offer technical information and marketing tips to their members;
    c. Allows you to communicate with other professional cleaners;
    d. Proper complaint procedures training;
    e. Shows your customers that you are a true professional;
36. Certification: Becoming certified by the International Institute of Carpet & Upholstery Certification (IICUC) is the best way to show your dedication to professionalism. Besides offering all of the benefits of trade organization membership, it also provides other benefits such as:
    a: Industry referral program;
    b. On-going training and education;
    c. Access to much of the information in the cleaning industry.
37. Trade magazine subscriptions: Again, you should strive to acquire as much information about your chosen profession as possible. Trade magazines are an excellent source of continuous up-to-date industry news and information.
38. Arrangements with re-upholsterers: Another excellent source of referrals.
39. Demonstrations: Demonstrating your equipment, process and technical expertise in a controlled environment for potential customers is an excellent way to increase job bookings.
40. Past customer mailings: It is much easier and cost effective to sell your services to those who have used your company in the past (if you’ve provided quality work) than to solicit business from new customers. One very effective way to acquire additional work throughout the year from previous customers is by sending each customer in your customer list a direct mailing three or four times a year with a discount special or dollars off coupon for certain services or for a combination of services i.e. carpet, upholstery and drapery cleaning discounts. She is bound to be enticed by one or more of these cleaning service discounts during the year.
    

Kleen Kuip Supply Mart Inc.
New and Used Professional Carpet Cleaning and Restoration Equipment

101 Ways to Advertise, Promote and Sell a Carpet Cleaning Service (Tips 21-30)

21. Weekly meetings: Helps keep you and your employees focused on what is being done properly and what is not and provides an opportunity to boost morale, give suggestions on how to increase sales, etc.
22. Employee training: Proper employee training in the following areas will increase customer satisfaction and total receipts per job while decreasing customer complaints and dissatisfaction.
    a: Technical training;
    b. Add-on sales training;
    c. Customer relations training (proper etiquette);
    d. Proper complaint procedures training;
    e. Equipment maintenance training;
    f. Training on how to qualify the job (pointing out carpet flaws, problem areas, permanent stains, etc.);
    g. How to assure repeat and referral customers.
23. Customer complaints: All employees as well as owners and managers should be properly trained in handling customer complaints. Properly handled, a customer complaint can result in a loyal, lifelong customer.
24. Package selling. This is simply providing your customer with two or more choices of levels of cleaning rather than just one “take it or leave it” option.
25. Welcome Wagon/Getting-To-Know-You programs: These programs are designed to make that all important first contact with newcomers to the area. They provide literature to these newcomers on a variety of businesses in your community and provide you with the opportunity to be the first carpet cleaning company these people have access to.
26. Home shows and exhibits:
    a: Allows you to present your company to a large number of people;
    b. Allows you the opportunity to pass out company literature, discount coupons and special promotion flyers to many potential customers;
    c. Cost us usually very reasonable compared to the number of job leads that can be obtained.
27. Alternative cleaning methods: Providing methods of cleaning, other than your primary cleaning method, allows you to be more versatile and cater to the fears that some people have about certain cleaning methods. This allows you to reduce lost job bookings due to the fact that a potential client is leery of your primary method of carpet cleaning. It happens!!
28. Hiring proper employees: Employees are the backbone of any business and can be an asset or liability to your company. Make sure you hire the right person to fill your particular needs by using sound hiring practices. The very best information on hiring employees for a carpet cleaning service can be found in David Lowry’s manual titled, “Carpet Cleaners’ manual of Hiring, Training, & Supervision”.
29. Telemarketing: Although many people consider this form of advertising a nuisance, with the proper phone person and a proper sales script, telemarketing can be a very effective and cost efficient way to advertise.
30. Specialty advertising: Simply providing past and potential customers with something of use that will keep your company’s name on his/her mind and in his/her sight in a constant and systematic way by placing your company’s name, logo and phone number on the product. There are many useful products that can be used for specialty advertising, such as: Coffee mugs; Pot Holders; Pens; Desk calendars; Key Chains; Tote Bags. And many other items too numerous to mention here.
    Remember, your name, phone number and logo should be used on any and all specialty advertising items that you use.
    

Kleen Kuip Supply Mart Inc.
New and Used Professional Carpet Cleaning and Restoration Equipment

How do YOU clean baseboards?

Rabbit-3 two speed (200-300rpm) multi-tasking floor Machine

The benefits are:

• Spray buff vinyl floors
• Cleans Carpet
• Cleans BASEBOARDS
• Cleans Grout
• Handle is removable so it will fit into a small car
• It has a built-in Splash guard
• With an extra 40lb weight it will strip floors third of the time
• With extra 2 x 40lb weights strip the floors in half the time

Kleen Kuip Supply Mart Inc.
New and Used Professional Carpet Cleaning and Restoration Equipment

Carpets make a comeback

Take that hardwood: Carpets make rooms feel warmer and reduce noise, say designers…Go for rich colours, bold patterns and luxurious textures.

After years of being ripped out and kicked to the curb, carpet is making a comeback. And not just the neutral-toned carpets of recent years, but ones that are boldly coloured or patterned.

The softer, cozier feel of wall-to-wall carpet is appealing to homeowners used to treading on tile and wood, said Emily Morrow, director of colour, style and designs for Shaw Floors, a company in Dalton, GA., that specializes in carpet, laminate, tile and hardwood flooring.

“They’ve experienced those hard surfaces, and they want to surround themselves with the comfort of carpet,” she said. While hardwood or tile can be great for entryways or other high-traffic areas, some rooms – bedrooms, play rooms, studies and family rooms – cry out for carpeting, said Eric Ross, an interior designer in Franklin, Tenn. “Carpet is really trending up,” he said. “You’re going to see more and more of it.”

Manufacturers have responded by creating carpets with rich colours, patterns and textures designed to be a focal point, rather than just a neutral backdrop. The new choices are available at a variety of price points. “It has gotten exciting again” after years of playing it safe, Morrow said. Clients are using carpet to make a statement, agreed Linda Merrill, an interior designer in Duxbury, Mass. “If carpet is the right choice for a specific space, they feel freer to pick something a little more exciting.” she said. “There are a lot of different colours and different options.”

Some of the over-the-top ideas from television shows also have freed people to experiment more with decorating, she said. And the pervasiveness of patterns and bright colours in housewares and home furnishings in recent years has made people more open to colour. “We see so much pattern in so many things.” she says. “We’re just bombarded with it.”

Those who are hesitant to choose a patterned carpet often create an impact with a textured 0ne, said Jennifer Bardsley, an interior designer in Hingham, Mass. Those carpets created by using yarns of different lengths or densities, can spice up a space and add more interest to a room. With the slumping real estate market, homeowners are indulging their personal tastes and worrying less about how their choices will affect the resale value of their home.

Kleen Kuip Supply Mart Inc.
New and Used Professional Carpet Cleaning and Restoration Equipment

Learn to Restore, Repair, Polish Terrazzo, Marble & Granite floors (Friday August 12th 2011)

CENTAUR Floor Machines Ltd
103 Denison St Markham ON Canada L3R 1B5
tel:905-475-5640
Email: info@centaurmachines.com

Invites you to learn how to Restore, Repair, Polish Terrazzo, Marble & Granite floors.
Hands-on training for:

Jan-San dealers to gain knowledge about marble & terrazzo floor maintenance (and concrete)
Carpet cleaners & Janitors who wish to get more work from their customers
School Custodians to learn how to eliminate altogether the use of wax-and-strip on terrazzo floors

Date: Friday August 12th 2011

The course will be held in our factory at 103 Denison St. Markham, ON, Canada  (This is our 9th teaching year)
Training will start at 8:30 am sharp and finish around 5:00 pm
Free lunch will be provided

During this powerful training seminar we’ll teach you very practical skills:

• Learn how to identify the marble, granite, travertine, limestone and terrazzo (during the morning theory session)
• Learn how to restore worn, scratched dull floors (during the afternoon hands-on training)
• Learn how to maintain these floors with hard diamonds & with the new Astro Pads Technology
• Learn how to enhance stone’s colour and seal the surface
• Learn how to restore marble counter top and vanity top
• Learn what type of diamonds to use and in what sequence to achieve your goal
• Learn how to save money to maintain terrazzo floors using the new technology – the Astro pads
• Learn how to clean square and how to clean and hone curved terrazzo floor baseboards with the Scrub Jay (This will be a great learning experience for school and hospital custodians)

You’ll take home a comprehensive manual for future use and a Certificate as a “Marble, Terrazzo Restorer”

You’ll have the opportunity of working with the machines, the diamonds and ASTRO pads – a true hands-on experience that will give you a feel for operating them and observing their productivity.
Bring your camera with you.
We start with 3 hours academic study then continue with hands-on training. Be prepared to “get dirty”
Maximum number of participant is 10 people
The cost of the seminar is $500 per person. (plus taxes).
Note:
To secure your seat send us $100.00 deposit. You may cancel and have your money refund or deferred, if you do it no less than 10 business days before seminar date. We accept cheques or credit cards.

Near by hotels:
Comfort Inn (tel: 905-477-6077) Markham ON   6 minutes drive or 20 minutes walk
Holiday Inn (tel: 905 474 0444) Markham ON    3 minutes drive or 10 minutes walk
Tel: 905-475-5640 Fax: 905-474-9921
info@centaurmachines.com

Antony Lelkes
Centaur Floor Machines Ltd
103 Denison St Markham ON Canada L3R 1B5
tel: 905 475 5640
cell: 647-407-6959
fax: 905 474 9921
antony@centaurmachines.com
www.centaurmachines.com
wwww.baseboardcleaning.ca

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Kleen Kuip Supply Mart Inc.
New and Used Professional Carpet Cleaning and Restoration Equipment

You never get a second chance to make a good first impression.

Kleen Kuip Supply Mart Inc.
New and Used Professional Carpet Cleaning and Restoration Equipment

101 Ways to Advertise, Promote and Sell a Carpet Cleaning Service (Tips 11-20)

11. Tracking calls: Never give up on an estimate or proposal that you’ve given without calling the customer back and asking for the job again or asking why she did not use your company. You will book many jobs that you wouldn’t have otherwise and will find out valuable information from those who don’t use your services about what you’re doing wrong.
12. Community involvement: Gets your name out and introduces you to potentially valuable customers while allowing you to give something back to your community.
    a: Social clubs
    b. Civic clubs
    c. Church or synagogue
    d. Charitable organizations
    e. School involvement
    f. Athletic team sponsorship/participation
13. Arrangements with dry cleaners: Provide your local dry cleaner with a stack of brochures and ask for referrals either by offering a commission-job booked as a result of his efforts or by reciprocating by referring his business to your customers.
14. Door-to-door solicitation.
15. Company logos and slogans: A professionally designed logo and well thought out slogan will set your company apart from the competition and greatly enhance recognition of your company.
16. Proper inspection procedures: Customer confidence is greatly increased when you use proper procedures to inspect her furnishings by showing that you are a professional and know what you’re doing. Proper inspection procedures and qualifying the customer before beginning a job will also provide you with the information necessary to properly maintain her furnishings resulting in fewer customer complaints.
17. Company policies/employee manuals: These crucial marketing tools will tell your employees exactly what you expect of them and how you expect your customers to be treated as well as the level of quality you expect in their work.
18. Target marketing: Marketing to a certain “segment of society.”
    a. Helps you develop advertising that brings in the customers you want to do business with.
    b. Allows you to charge a fair price for your services by drawing in customers that are willing and able to pay a fair price for your services.
    c. Allows you to market your services to those who are the most likely to use them.
19. Niche marketing: Concentrating promotional efforts toward one certain product or service that you offer.
    a. Allows you to concentrate more of your advertising dollars toward a particular service
    b. Allows you to become more proficient in that area to the point of specialization
20. Tracking the competition: Knowing what the competition is doing will allow you to keep your prices competitive and to implement or diversify into areas or services that may be in demand but do not have a high level of competition.

Kleen Kuip Supply Mart Inc.
New and Used Professional Carpet Cleaning and Restoration Equipment

101 Ways to Advertise, Promote and Sell a Carpet Cleaning Service (Tips 1-10)

101 Ways to Advertise, Promote and Sell a Carpet Cleaning Service is intended to be used as a guide to help in your efforts to establish a comprehensive and coordinated marketing plan for your specific business and has been directed toward specifically promoting carpet cleaning and related services. This “guide” provides over 100 ways and means to help you select the proper components that you wish to use to promote your services to the specific “target” customer market that you have chosen to gear your marketing program toward.

Without a comprehensive and coordinated marketing plan, which must be updated and revised from time to time as you determine what is working the best for your company and what is not working well for you, all of your advertising will be “hit and miss” and will not provide the desired results for your advertising dollars. And until you determine who your “target” market or customer is (that specific segment or segments of the market that you have determined to be the most loyal, in need of  your services and be willing and able to fairly compensate you for your services as well as provide a steady, on-going customer base) you cannot develop a truly successful marketing plan for your company. You must first determine who your target market is and then devise a marketing plan that will consistently draw in that target market.

This guide simply lists and briefly explains a great many components of an overall marketing program that have been used by carpet cleaning services all over the world to acquire their “fair share” of the carpet cleaning market in the most competitive industry around. I sincerely hope that it will help you to gain the advantage over your competitors and acquire your “fair share” as well.

Tips #1 thru #10

1. Telephone: First impressions are very important. Proper telephone etiquette and procedures are a must for maximizing job bookings. Prepare and practice sales scripts and introductory scripts and keep these scripts by the phone for quick reference.
2. Image: The image you project to your customers will determine their confidence in you and your services. To increase your image as a professional in your customer’s eyes:
   a. Be neat and well groomed;
   b. Use professionally designed and printed work order / estimate forms and sales aids;
   c. Company vehicle should be clean, rust/dent free and should be professionally lettered;
   d. Present proposals with confidence and show that you are knowledgeable in your field, etc.
3. Reliability: Do what you say you will do, when you say you’ll do it (i.e. show up on time for appointments, call back at time stated, etc.).
4. Professionalism: Think of yourself as a professional and provide professional, quality work.
5. Consumer education: Educate the consumer to the importance of having his/her furnishings professionally maintained on a regular basis and why he/she should choose your company to maintain his/her furnishings.
6. Add-on sales: Unless you are going to clean all the furnishings in the customer’s home and apply protection treatments, deodorizers and disinfectants to it all, you have the opportunity to sell additional services to the customer, but you must ask for the additional sales, prepare a sales script for all add-on services you provide and practice them until you are comfortable using them.
   a. Protectors
   b. Deodorizers
   c. Disinfectants
   d. Anti-static treatments
   e. Additional rooms of carpeting
   f. Upholstery cleaning
   g. Drapery cleaning
   h. Scotchgard Fabric Protector
   i. Wall cleaning
   j. Ceiling cleaning
   k. Hard-Surface floor cleaning
   l. Tile & Grout cleaning
   m. Window cleaning
   n. Carpet rakes
   o. Spot removers
   p. Resale deodorizers
   q. Residential contracts
7. Something for nothing: Clean a throw rug or area rug (of your choice) and write no charge on the bill. A great way to build customer goodwill.
8. Sales through accessibility can be gained by:
   a. Having an “800″ number to save customers a toll call;
   b. Accepting major credit cards;
   c. Having a secretary answer the phone rather than an answering machine;
   d. Offering weekend and evening working hours;
   e. Operating from an office with easy accessibility rather than from home;
   f. Using a cellular phone in vehicle to answer calls personally;
   g. Offering easy payment plans for larger jobs (Obtain all necessary signatures and specify date balance is due).
9. Personal thank you’s: Show the customer that you appreciate his/her business. It’s easy, it’s free and it’s very effective.
10. Follow-up calls: Call each customer the day after the cleaning job and ask her if she is satisfied with your service. If she is satisfied she will realize that you care about keeping her business. If she is dissatisfied with the service, this will give you the opportunity to correct any problems before she has a chance to spread the word about her dissatisfaction to her friends and neighbors. Handled properly, customer complaints can lead to lifelong loyal customers.

Kleen Kuip Supply Mart Inc.
New and Used Professional Carpet Cleaning and Restoration Equipment

Get ahead of your competition!

Many carpet cleaners when challenged with a paint stain on carpet use incorrect removal products and make the stain worse or unable to remove or mess things up really badly.

Paint spills can be oil or water (latex) based. You should know which type of paint before attempting removal.

Technology has now made it very easy. Yes, The Paint Detective is a cloth available in Canada at Home Hardware and manufactured in the States by P.P.I. Pace Tucker in GA. 1-800-884-6073 this cloth will distinguish the difference between oil and latex paint. These swabs have acetone in them and they have no affect on oil based paints, but do remove latex. If the paint stain is stripped, it is Latex paint. If it just cleans or polishes the surface, it is Oil/Alkyd paint.

Now that you are educated on the technology you will need an effective choice of products. Kleen Kuip suggests Motsenbocker’s Lift Off # 4 for oil and Motsenbocker’s Lift Off # 5 for latex paint stains. 

Kleen Kuip Supply Mart Inc.
New and Used Professional Carpet Cleaning and Restoration Equipment

Wanted! Carpet & Upholstery Cleaning Technician

Wanted!
Carpet & Upholstery Cleaning Technician

We are looking for sub-contractors who are trying to fill their schedules with extra work. Positions are currently available in the downtown Toronto area, and we are available for various time slots (full-time, part-time, day, evening, and/or weekend).

We can provide you with a very stable, 12 month a year position in an industry normally associated with “seasonal” work. Earnings of $800.00 to $1,000 per week are to be expected, but the ability to make “up sales” will greatly increase pay.

We are looking for an individual who:

• Is energetic and responsible
• Is prompt and punctual
• Has experience in residential carpet & upholstery cleaning
• Owns all necessary tools and cleaning equipment
• Has a dependable work van (not a car, a van)

If you feel you have the qualifications to create a lasting working relationship, please send your resume to In Home Service.

Fax to 416-297-9950
Email to info@inhomeservices.ca

In Home Service
817 O’Connor Dr. Toronto ON
Tel: 416-759-8889
Fax: 416-297-9950

Kleen Kuip Supply Mart Inc.
New and Used Professional Carpet Cleaning and Restoration Equipment