Starting and Building a Business

Many years ago I worked for Miller Carpet Care in the Los Angeles area.  They ripped off their customers and expected the technicians to be high pressure salesmen.  It was a short relationship with them but long enough to see how con artists can give honest carpet cleaning firms a bad reputation.

Stanley "Reamer" does a sh*tty job when it comes to residential cleaning. They are splash and dash if there ever was one! They have more bait and switch tricks than you can imagine. They are one of the reasons I got into this business...because I felt like they were ripping me off. Come to find out....their business practices are rather "standard" in the carpet cleaning business here in Indianapolis. So, I started my own business offering a "true" carpet cleaning with no high pressure sales and absolutely NO hidden charges. I vacume, pre-spray and rake before starting any job. And yes....I'm IICRC certified! I've found that there are a lot of customers who feel they have been ripped off by these splash and dash cleaners. My business is still small but is growing every day. Word of mouth has been my best advertising. Of course...when someone calls Stanley "REAMER" or "ChemDryyourwalletout" and pay top dollar for a sh*tty job...they usually find out that their neighbor used me...got an honest carpet cleaning at about 1/2 the price. Then I go in and do the job right. After that....they are a cheerleader and customer for life! maybe I should send Stanley "Reamer" a thank you card???

From my past experiences in sales and building my own companies (including a carpet cleaning business that became a retail carpet business) I have learned that the following principles can make the difference:

1. Be in the right place at the right time, doing the right thing for all the right reasons
2. Remember your customer signs your paycheck
3. Work smart, not hard.  Spend 80% of your time carefully planning and 20% of your time carrying out your plan
4. Everyone is a potential customer. 
5. Remember your ABCs of selling every person on you and what you have to offer - Always Be Closing.
6. Maintain detailed financial information.  Numbers don't lie.
7. Every marketing campaign requires a review of the results.  Without the review you cannot support claims that one plan works better than another.
8. No plan is carved in stone.  Flexibility is the sign of a great business owner. 
9. Seize every opportunity that clearly meets the acid test of being in compliance with your business plan.
10. Competition is just a part of life - get over it.

 

Actually Stanley Steemer is headquartered just 12 miles from my office.  And they only have certification in their Water Damge division.  They do not offer certification in the carpet cleaning division at all.  In fact, I get many referrals from them in regard to cleaning cotton upholstery.  But keep in mind, my suggestions stated in my last post will only be successful if cordinated together and not done just here and there.  We are talking systemizaton for success.  It has been proven over and over again.  And the nay-sayers out there will disagree for they have no mindset to be successful.  Exchanging time for dollars does not equal success.  Of course this would only be my opinion.  But the theory has been proven over and over again. 

Gentleman, I will help ease all your learning curves on how to sucessfully build your company.  There are many things that you can do but these are the things you must do.

1. Become IICRC Certified (www.iicrc.org)

2. Attend Strategies for Success offered by Jon-Don (www.jondon.com)

3. Attend 2-day business planning writing seminar offered by Chuck Violand.  Know your numbers. (www.violand.com)

4. Howard Partridge has some awesome managment modules for running business and Joe Polish of Piranha Marketing has the best answers to direct mail marketing.  (www.joepolish.com and www.howardpartridge.com)

5. Get Dan Kennedy's book "The Ultimate Marketin Plan" and then order his monthly newsletter. (www.dankennedy.com)

I promise you, if you get involved with these 5 simple strategies you will be well on your way to building a million dollar company. 

 

SO, guys i need about 4 appointmants a day, how can i make it happen?

I would just like to say thank you to you all for this thread. I read the entire thing. My husband and I were thinking about starting a carpet cleaning business, but now i see how costly it can be. There is a how to guide on the net that says to build clients then just rent a machine from your local hardware store untill you can make enough money to buy a machine of your own.

I just wanted to thank you all for this thread, because i was ready to jump in over my head. Where did you get your capital? Did you already have it or will someone give you a loan for something like this? Just curious.

I currently run a cleaning company and would love to have a forum like this for housecleaning. This is wonderful.

 

Thanks again