There
are two fairly new, and very important conditions existing
in
the world today that have not only made the carpet cleaning
industry
a 'multi million pound business', but also practically
guarantees
your success as an entrepreneur in this field.
First,
almost all homes and offices built since 1960 have wall to
wall
carpeting.
Secondly,
the replacement costs and the cyclical faltering of the
national
economy have caused people to want to make what they
already
own last longer, especially in the case of carpeting,
which
is a sizeable investment.
Most
businesses employ janitors or janitorial services to vacuum
their
carpets after hours daily, and then "master" carpet cleaners
to
deep clean them every three months or so.
Homemakers
also generally vacuum their carpets perhaps several
times
a week, and then hope to deep clean every spring and autumn,
depending
on the kind of household traffic, and on their budgets.
It's
true that people everywhere try to save money by handling
these
jobs themselves.
However,
empathy with the people, and an understanding of this
trend,
should be neither cause for alarm nor a deterrent to your
success
in this business.
Most
people are just too busy to handle all their do-it-yourself
projects.
They
continually put off until later any chore that requires
special
equipment.
This
is especially true with carpet cleaning, because deep down,
they're
fearful of botching the job.
Thus,
they're more than willing to pay an expert or a specialist
to
do this kind of work for them.
It
doesn't take any special education, skill, or experience to
operate
a professional-type, deep cleaning carpet cleaner.
Yet,
from your first job onward, you should project the image of a
thoroughly
experienced expert in your field.
Be
clean, and conduct yourself in a businesslike manner at all
times.
Dress
neatly. In fact, one of the best ways to
get off to a fast
start
is to purchase a working uniform from Alexandre.
When
you hire people to help you with the work, outfit them
similarly.
Go
out of your way to be polite and friendly with your customers,
but
refrain from being too friendly.
Avoid
getting involved in extended conversations - if you are to
keep
on schedule, you won't have time for a lot of talk.
Keep
your equipment clean, properly maintained, and operating
smoothly.
Have
your supplies organised and within easy reach.
Don't
allow yourself to be caught in a position where you have to
make
excuses because the equipment won't function properly, you
can't
find what you need, or you suddenly find yourself out of
certain
supplies.
When
working these advertising specials, just concentrate on doing
the
job and moving on to your next customer.
If
the customer questions you about the cost to do the other
rooms,
give an estimate and set up a tentative appointment, which
you
should later confirm with a call-back after checking your
schedule.
Don't
try to sell your complete carpet cleaning services on this
first
call, but do be sure to leave a business card with the name
of
your company and your phone number.
Your
service is the "deep down shampoo cleaning" of carpeting in
your
customers' homes or places of business.
Always
strive to use the best equipment that's available.
Later
on - possibly on a month or six weeks - you'll want to buy
or
lease your own equipment.
Your
business will grow and flourish as a result of your doing a
good
and complete job every time.
It
may take you a few minutes longer - especially when you are
learning
the equipment and establishing a procedure - but in the
end
this will pay off with satisfied customers; and a group of
satisfied
customers is the key to your becoming wealthy in this
business.
You
want your customers to call you again and again to clean their
carpets.
Being
pleased with your work, they'll spread the word about your
service,
free of charge!
And
this, of course, will generate an almost unlimited amount of
ongoing
work for your new business.
And
I'm going to show you how you can get started in this
business,
and make $300 or more per working day, with virtually no
investment!
The
important part of this business - or any business - is the
owner-operator's
"sense of marketing" and salesmanship.
Make
no mistake about it, all businesses success through marketing
strategies
and salesmanship.
You
won't be selling a product with this business; you'll be
selling
a service.
And
the selling of services is often more difficult than product
sales.
Your
success in this business will be predicated upon the sales
efforts
put in.
Getting
if off the ground will require a great deal of selling
expertise
on your part.
You'll
have to sell yourself AND your services.
Therefore,
it will be to your benefit to learn all you can about
selling.
Then,
you should continue to add to your knowledge through an
ongoing
programme of learning.
Keeping
up to date and being aware of successful selling ideas and
methods
will add to the total success of any business person.
Even
before the acquisition of equipment, you need customers.
Your
prospects are all the businesses and homes with carpets in
your
area.
Your
problem is going to be in reaching these prospects,
impressing
upon them the benefits of your service, and getting
them
set up with an appointment for you to do the work.
I
have found that the least expensive and most productive method
of
reaching these people is by way of neighbourhood "hand-out"
flyers
or announcements delivered door to door.
These
flyers are advertisements or announcements of a "Carpet
Cleaning
Special", printed on A4 sheets of paper that invite the
recipients
to call you for an appointment.
Study
the carpet cleaning service ads in your local papers, the
yellow
pages, and any similar flyers you may have received or
seen.
Make
a pencil sketch of your own flyer, emphasising customer
benefits
and your capabilities of doing the job and take your
ideas
to your local copy and design shop.
Explain
your project, and ask for them to design you an attractive
flyer. When you have one which you are impressed
with, have
printed
however many copies of it you want to start off with.
While
you are having them printed, make arrangements for the
delivery
of these flyers to households in your local area. Your
local
papers will usually offer a distribution service, usually
costing
between $7 - $10 per thousand delivered.
One
thing before you start handing out your fliers - be sure that
you
have someone available to answer your phone and set up
appointments
for you.
You
can pay to have an answering service handle these calls for
you,
but if you have a member of your family at home, this would
be
best.
You
should have a set pattern about the answering of calls, and an
appointment
book.
Usually,
your flyer will advertise a special, such as:
'Your
living room carpet deep-cleaned for just $20.
Get
all the ground-in dirt and unpleasant odours out.
A
professional job by experienced master carpet cleaners, and we
can
do it all for you tomorrow.
Give
us a call, set up a carpet cleaning appointment with us now;
and
we'll have your home sparkling clean, ready for company, in no
time
at all!'
This
special offer should take you no more than half an hour in
the
customer's home, meaning that you can book appointments at the
rate
of one every ninety minutes or less, depending on the
travelling
distance between appointments.
By
setting your first appointment for 8.30am in the morning, and
working
through the whole day, allowing 30 minutes between
appointments,
you'll be able to handle seven appointments per day.
At
$20 per call, you will gross $140 per day.
You'll
also find that as you gain experience, you can cut down
considerably
the time it takes you to do each job, as well as your
travel
time between jobs, enabling you to book more appointments.
Just
as soon as you have job appointments lined up, hurry over to
your
local carpet cleaner distributor, your local dry cleaners, or
even
some supermarkets, and rent a steam clean carpet cleaner.
Most
of the time, you won't have to pay until you return it, but
even
if you do have to pay at the time you take it, the cost is
usually
$12 or less for twenty four hours.
Read
the directions and make sure you know how to operate it.
Then
load it into your car, van or pick-up, and set out for your
first
appointment.
You
should bear in mind that carpet cleaning is a type of service
business
that takes you into the homes of your customers.
Therefore,
how you look, dress, and handle yourself - particularly
in
the presence of your customers - will have a direct bearing on
the
success of your business.
The
average price to the customer to have a 12 by 18 foot wall to
wall
carpet shampoo cleaned is about $50.
Your
materials to do that size job will cost about $3.00.
The
typical job involves more than just one room, and the average
period
of time spent on the typical job is about two hours, with
an
average billing to the customer of $75.
Materials
for each $75 job cost you about $2.00, all of which
means
that with just five appointments per day, five days per
week,
your gross income before expenses will be approaching $2,000
per
week.
Most
people who set up carpet cleaning businesses manage to gross
$50,000
or more the first year.
I've
described to you how to get started with virtually no real
investment.
However,
I do advise you to either purchase or lease your own
carpet
cleaning equipment just as soon as you can possibly afford
it.
Several
equipment manufacturers have financing plans available.
It
would be well to check out several of these plans before
purchasing
your equipment.
Even
better than the financing programmes offered, some of the
manufacturers
have business start up programmes to help you along
the
way.
They
will provide you with a complete carpet cleaning business
plan,
numerous advertising materials, a regular newsletter
featuring
business ideas from all the buyers of their equipment
and
low cost supplies.
Before
actually starting work in your carpet cleaning business,
you
should talk to a few business insurance agents to get complete
business
insurance against damage to any of your customers'
carpets
or accidents in their homes.
Being
able to state 'all work fully insured' will greatly add to
your
business image.
Definitely
plan to run an ad in your local telephone directory.
You'll
be really surprised at the number of cals you get from
these
ads.
At
least in the beginning, you should run a regular ad in your
newspaper.
The
ideas of free publicity and promotion are limitless, so use
your
imagination and push to get your name in the paper and on
radio
and TV as often as possible.
There's
always going to be competition.
Some
of it will be good for you, and some of it will be bad for
you.
Accept
is as part of life.
Just
keep in mind that you're in business because you feel you can
do
a better job; you can do it more efficiently; and you can do it
with
greater satisfaction to your customers than anyone else.
Be
aware of the competition, but don't worry about it. Just stick
to
your own business plan, and you'll be ok.
Depending
on the population of your area, you should be planning
for
additional carpet cleaning machines and the hiring of people
to
do the work for you within three to six months - that is,
unless
your original motive for a business of your own was to see
how
fast you could work yourself to death.
Assuming
that all goes well with you, within a couple of years you
should
have hired help running the business, while you enjoy the
fruits
of all the hard work you put in at the outset.
Incidentally,
I personally don't see the need for you to even
consider
buying a franchised operation.
There's
just too much real help available for the "independent" to
go
to the considerable expense and obligation of a franchise.
Starting
from scratch, and as an independent, this is most
assuredly
a low investment, low overhead type business - the kind
we
recommend for anyone and everyone who's determined to make it
on
his own.
A
carpet cleaning business of your own is one of the easiest of
all
small businesses to start.
You'll
find the initial start up costs well within your reach, and
the
margin of profit most astounding!
It's
an easy business to operate, and yet one that can be called
necessary
to today's standard of living.
It
carries a very high rating on all business evaluation stability
charts,
and it's a business that will grow rapidly to bring you
the
monetary rewards you desire.
As
ever, good luck!
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