Stanley

"I love it"      Don't try to sell everything the first minute you get in the door. Plant the seeds and watch them grow, then reap the harvest.

Teaching someone to do this could be a franchise in it's self. Go for it Stanley and every one else.

Just think some were calling Stanley an idiot just a few days ago. He just taught you something about selling and making you more money in two minutes. That takes some people a life time to learn and most never do.

Selling is a lot of talk...almost about everything, but what you are trying to sell.  I talk about how the surrounding looks, the weather, the Back yard, gardening,Then I slip in a service ie...deodorizer,Sanitizer, scotchgard...and move on.  9 out of Ten times they comeback to it on their own.  Of course you have to know what your products can do, but I only use the knowledge to close the sale.  Truth is this might not work for everyone.  Don't try to sell everything as soon as you get through the door....it's easy to say no to someone you just met 5 seconds ago...lol

I don't think anyone can effectively teach sales and marketing...you either have it or you don't......

but Pheromones and hypnosis thats a whole new ball game!

You know what Doug ?  I have to admit that you do have knowledge regarding multi facets of carpeting, customer relations, and a high integrity of business sense. To sum it up, you seem to care and want to bring a respect to the carpet cleaning world. Now, don't come back and jump all over me for what I am about to say.

Ted is somewhat on the right track regarding the IICRC, but in fact , marketing has really nothing to do with the customer, you should explain nothing to the customer unless asked. Marketing is a silent sale, the customer creates a need in their own mind put there with the power of suggestion by you the salesman. They actually sell themselves and when they do .......all you do is close.

I have been marketing all kinds of items and services for over 25 years, marketing over-powers the quality of the work hand down, every time, all the time, and always will, and will never fail. The customer see's what they want to see.

Marketing IICRC

I mentioned in an earlier post that IICRC needs to possibly look in the direction of marketing. WHY? As said before Modern chemistry, Modern equipment, Modern carpets with stain resistant finishes are making the carpet cleaners job easier and easier.

I have a customer who goes through 20 employees per month and never really trains anyone. Not my idea of running a business but he is financially successful. Get my message. Most of us during our earlier years of schooling and learning never thought we would end up as cleaners. It just does not seem like a rational career choice.

Why and how did you get into the cleaning business? I know I was a high school teacher so what does a teacher know about running a business and showing a profit. Boy did I ever make some serious mistakes when I first started. It seemed no matter how hard I worked most of my attempts at growing failed. What I knew about marketing was going to a market and buying food. Cleaning carpets is the easy part. Back when I started you did not have available the marketing packages and training that is available today. But still few ever take serious advantage of this. May be because they feel it will cost them money as opposed to making them money. Let’s face it many fell into this line of work because what was available at the time and if we had great sales ability we would never applied for this type of work in the first place.

It seems sales types don’t want to clean and many cleaners won’t sell. Customers very seldom sell themselves up. That’s your job if you plan to survive and I’m not talking about bait & switch. There is much more value you can offer to your customers for more money and feel proud to provide it.

Yes we all can work on a better demeanor and personality and if you claim you can’t afford it you can always go to the library. PEOPLE BUY FROM THOSE THEY LIKE. Sounds simple and it is. I wish I had thought of this when I was in my 20’s. IICRC could provide courses on role playing in the home and sprucing up our attitudes and smile talents.

How much bigger of a tip do you leave waitresses that seriously impressed you?