Preservation Vs Restoration

Over the past 20 years, consumers have begun to see the value in having their carpet cleaned on a regular basis, rather than waiting for the carpet to appear heavily soiled.

Carpet cleaners appreciate such customers, not just for their regular support to their business, but also because carpet cleaned on a regular basis releases soil more readily, and rarely had difficult stains that may be otherwise time consuming to remove.

The customer perception of textile furniture is not yet that advanced. In many cases, furniture is not cleaned in its lifetime, and if redecorating does not force them discard furniture, sometimes only when furniture becomes obviously soiled or stained is cleaning requested.

If you permit your customer to make such decisions, you are doing both you and your customer a grave disservice.

Upholstery fabrics, especially those made from delicate natural fibers, need to be cleaned when soiling is still light. Once natural fiber fine fabrics become obviously stained and soiled, the cleaning products and procedures needed to restore them might be unsafe to use.

Even with relatively safe procedures and products, "restorative cleaning" of such fabrics might involve the use of products that use mild bleaches that may damage both color and the strength of the fibers, and aggressive cleaning may also cause permanent texture damage.

Its unfortunate that the term "restorative cleaning" is likely inappropriate, as such cleaning methods do not "restore" the fabric to its new condition. They might be better called "destructive cleaning", but such terms likely are not useful from a marketing perspective, however true in nature.

If you want to "preserve" the fabric as closely as possible to keep its original beauty, you should encourage your customer to have the furniture cleaned when soil is only apparent when you shift a cushion or arm cover and reveal an area that has not been soiled.

Such lightly soiled fabrics may be more easily cleaned with the mildest of detergents and gentlest agitation. In an upcoming article I will discuss some "preservation cleaning" techniques that will help keep your customer's furniture beautiful and decrease both your risks and labor costs as well.

“Will I Still Have To Turn Down Upholstery Cleaning Jobs?”

I’m often asked:

“If I get the right training and have the right products and tools, will I still have to turn down any upholstery cleaning jobs?”

My answer is always . . . . YES, YOU ABSOLUTELY MUST!!

“You must turn down any job where your customer’s expectations exceed what you can deliver in the way of a result”

Think About This:

What really is the most costly event that can happen with a customer?
If you damage an individual piece of furniture through color bleeding, fading, or texture distortion, you will have a tangible cost that you will incur (a claim) and then it’s settled. But that’s not your biggest cost! The fact is that the damage claim is your smallest problem!

What happens if you consistently deliver poor results in the eyes of your customers?
You could have dozens of unhappy customers who will never call you back, and never refer you to others, or more likely will trash your reputation at the hair salon at every opportunity!

Unlike carpet, upholstery has so many variables in its fiber content and design, including consumer neglect, that it is impossible to always remove all stains and soils easily, or at least removing them without causing color or texture damage to the neglected fabric.

The problem is communication.
If your customer understands these limitations up front, they are more likely to accept a less than perfect result, or they have the option of declining your service. Either result is less costly than the alternative which usually happens to cleaners who spend hours attempting to clean something that will never be able to be restored. They lose both the money and at the same time have at minimum an unhappy customer, and more often than not lose the customer for good.

A good pre-inspection and prequalification step is NOT a list of good sounding excuses that is meant to talk the customer into accepting poor results.

On the contrary, if you understand the limitations of a specific fabric, such as the tendency of a rayon chenille to lose its texture from wear or denim to lose color, you can speak to the specific limitations imposed by the fabric and the use your customer has put it through when you explain what level of soil or stain removal that your customer might accept.

The ability to explain these limitations also should allow you to talk to your customer about the care of their furniture before it becomes heavily soiled and stained, and thus allow you to deliver results with which they will be pleased.

Learning to follow a consistent and well thought out pre-inspection and testing protocol on every job you clean will prevent this costly and frustrating problem, and will also enhance your image of professionalism in your customers eyes.

Research Reveals Key Reason Why Carpet Cleaners Don't Clean Upholstery

"I've been engaged in an ongoing study about why cleaners don't make enough money cleaning upholstery to feel that its worthwhile to position themselves as an upholstery cleaning specialist.

Much of this attitude appears to come from the fact that, unlike carpet, its difficult to predict how long it will take to clean upholstery because of the wide variety of fibers used in the constructions, as well as the differences of durability of those constructions themselves.

I recently did a study on a chair made from a blend of rayon and polyester fibers, that was both heavily soiled and stained. The techniques used initially on this chair to clean it improved the appearance over the way it looked before professional cleaning, but the process took longer than most cleaners could afford to take on location, and results were still less than stellar.

Check my blog on Monday afternoon to see pictures of this chair, along with the improvement conventional on location techniques were able to give, and what processes were finally used to restore the chair to an almost “like new” condition.

Do You Have What it Takes to be an Upholstery Cleaning Specialist?

In January of 2007 I wrote an article for Cleanfax regarding the lack of true upholstery cleaning specialists in most market areas.

I was prompted to write it because of the number of furniture retailers who approached me for training so that they could handle skilled upholstery spotting, stain removal, and cleaning for their clients.

I want to be sure you understand this:
None of them have opened cleaning divisions as a profit center! Instead they had their delivery and repair staff trained and equipped to clean fabrics that their customers could not have taken care of anywhere else in their community.

Cleanfax recently reissued this article and sent it out over the internet. What surprised me was the amount of inquiries I received about how to be such a specialist in just one day after it hit!

As I pondered the questions that I have been asked, and reflected on what I’ve learned in the three years since I wrote that article, I’ve come to a conclusion that might make some of you uncomfortable:

You may NOT be able to be an upholstery cleaning specialist!

I do believe that, with one of the new “dry tools”, some specialty upholstery cleaning products, and a couple of days of training, that you can clean most fabrics safely (and at a profit).

But I am no longer convinced that simply working with such tools, products, and with the limited industry training available, that you can clean most fabrics EFFECTIVELY enough to be considered an “Expert” in your marketplace!

I also feel less convinced that every cleaner is willing to commit the resources of time and finance to take the cleaning of upholstery to that next level, and to effectively market the fact that they can and will offer this specialized service to their marketplace.

If YOU wish to make the commitment to go beyond a tool, a few products, and a few days of training and become the upholstery care specialist in your market place, stay in touch with us at Pembertons. We will be offering ways to help you make that next step very soon.

Response to Last Weeks FAQ

A comment on last weeks CleanTip:
From: Mark Violand
Subject: Re: Pembertons CleanTip - Customers Asking for Price Cuts?

"Some of my commercial & residential customers are starting to ask for price cuts". So, as you suggested in your CleanTip article about reducing the service offered is excellent advice.

However if the cleaner truly does follow the S100 Standard for cleaning and truly does dry soil removal prior to cleaning and suggests to his customer that to save money -- why don't you do the pre-vacuuming?

HAHAHAHAHAHA, have you seen the vacuums people use in their homes? I can guarantee you 50% of the vacuums in our customers home do not work, ask me how I know?

I know because I inspect them every time I go into a home inspecting a carpet for shedding or loss of texture.

People don't vacuum as they should, they are too busy. You know the rule of thumb, one time per week per occupant in the home (and that includes dogs and cats).

Either the filter is ready to blow, the brush is worn, the belt is broken or the vacuum is simply not suitable for deep, thorough dry soil removal like a good commercial vacuum that is meant to handle the heavy soil.
can do.

One idea that I would suggest (as I have done), is that the more furniture you have removed from the areas we are cleaning means the faster we can clean, and the less it will it cost you.

Mark Violand
IICRC Certified Senior Carpet Inspector
IICRC Approved Instructor
CFI Inspector/Technical Certification
ITS HardSurface Inspector (wood, laminate and resilient)
CTEF Ceramic Tile Inspector

FAQs - My Customers are Asking for Price Cuts, What Can I Do?

Q - Hey Jim,
Some of my commercial & residential customers are starting to ask for price cuts because of the current financial situation. I only factor in a modest profit margin to start with & really can't afford to cut my price.

What can I do?

A - Trust me, you are not the only one facing the same situation. With the recession, and budgets being tight, customers, including yourself, want to find a way to get a better deal.

In this current economic climate, many of us would find to find a way to knock off a few dollars, go the extra mile and hope this would translate into more work down the line.

But this would be a serious business mistake.

Here is something I learned from surviving years in business. If you are asked to reduce your price, you need to make a corresponding reduction in the value you provide.

It is that simple! Reducing service hours will translate into cost reduction. However, cost very carefully to make sure you are reducing cost areas that are labor intensive rather than product intensive.

Only the reduction of labor costs will allow realistic price reductions.

How Do Your Stats Look?

Hi Jim,

I share the following in case it would help your CLEAN TIP, blog, or a workshop. It shows; where my business came from in 2008, that I must do the job right, and what I need to "sell" when at the job.

71% were repeat clients
26% from referrals
3% new clients from the phonebook
Average per customer $306.85 (minimum service charge $150, .40 sf for carpet clng)

52% carpet cleaning
11% upholstery clng
11% carpet repair
11% odor control
11% floor care
4% color repair

I did not use a marketing program last year (and still had a decent year) but plan to go back to the postcards as these have always paid off with one job, (less than $100 to make, print, and stamp my own) AND I will not be in the phonebook this year and from now on. As recent CLEAN TIPS have used the word "trust", in our current world of fruits & nuts, "I" don't know if I can trust most of the strangers calling from the phonebook. Besides, my muscle and bones are getting older and I feel that my clientele is well established. I can survive without the 3% by using the postcards again constantly putting my name in front of my client's face that will remind them to have me and/or refer me.

This decision to discontinue the phonebook is partly from the suggestion made by YOU to keep such statistics as above, the recent CLEAN TIPS, and the YOU TUBE video you sent (thanks). I know that it is the right thing to do.

AGAIN I thank you for your commitment to the industry and helping the "rookies" to make it in this business.

See ya soon,
Ken
----------------------------
Hi Ken

Thank you so much for the statistics. They parallel the experiences that other cleaners like you have shared with me over the past year.

Of course, there are not a lot of cleaners like you, so it has been a unique minority of owner operators who have built their businesses "a mile deep an inch wide", rather than the majority who have built their businesses a "mile wide and an inch deep".

Those latter types have not done as well as "your type" has.

Jim

Business Retainer FAQs

Q - Homepro spotter, is it good stuff?
A - Homepro is an excellent spotter for your customers, as is Groom Industries' Perky Spotter, and frankly both are good professional products as well.

Q - Does it help get business?
A - It doesn't help to "get business" as much as it helps you to "keep business" by reinforcing customer loyalty, and reminding them you are their cleaner.

Q - I see that the warranty cards for the Maxim Carpet Protector have some stuff on them about that. Do you teach about carpet protectors in your carpet cleaning classes?
A - Our carpet cleaning class teaches how protector is applied at the "mill", how it works chemically, and how to apply it properly.

Mold Inspection: Scams or Expedient Behavior?

I had the opportunity to view a video clip last week that should be of interest to all cleaners and restorers who have anything to do with the mold remediation industry:

http://video.knbc.com/player/?id=199430

A few points to note:

There are a few things that might not be obvious at first regarding the "set up":

Cosmetics were used to simulate the mold, but the "homeowner" did lie when she said that she cleaned the substance off and it came back again. She also made at least one other deceptive comment when she mentioned she'd been coughing a lot.

Those "set up" comments were, of course, dishonest, but they did serve to reveal the fact that none of the cleaner/restorers shown insisted on independant, third party testing. In the narrow confines of an edited news presentation, its difficult to know what other things were said and done to bring the company representative to their conclusions, but the bottom line is that testing should have been insisted on, rather than dismissed as unnecessarily expensive.

These individuals were likely not "scam artists". Instead, they appear to have belonged to a much larger group of business people who, when given the opportunity, take the easy way out to get the "easy sale". This self serving behavior put each of them in a very bad position in the public eye, and they only have themselves to blame.

Carpet Cleaning Bait and Switch Tactics

For over 30 years the cleaning industry has been beset by cleaners who use pricing strategies that border on "Bait & Switch Advertising".

Its a common practice to advertise low room pricing (often less than 10.00 a room), but to put in the fine print that this low price only covers "maintenance cleaning" or "good for carpets that are cleaned on a yearly basis". If the cleaning company will actually clean a light or moderately soiled carpet for this price, its likely not very good for the company, and I doubt there will be a very good result, but one cannot categorically state that this method of advertising is in itself unethical.

However, in most cases, the low "maintenance cleaning" is a "bait". The "switch" occurs when the small print offer of "free demonstration of our deep scrub method" comes into play.

In this scenario, the cleaner gives this "free demonstration" in the middle of a moderate to highly soiled traffic area, and they often are using a cleaning agent in this presentation FOR THE FIRST TIME. Now there is a very clean patch present that the "maintenance method" cannot match.

The customer has unwittingly fallen into a trap where they must now pay for the "deep scrub method". How much? Sometimes its only another 20 cents a square foot, which in of itself is not a high cleaning charge; but it is far higher than the customer expected when they hired the cleaner. However it is often 50 cents a square foot or more. And sometimes the pressure for protector, sanitizer, and anything else they can "push" are added on top until the bill is several hundred dollars more.

A cynical cleaner often snickers and says: "Well, those people who fall for such things deserve what they get!" That feeling is understandable when the cleaner has dealt with price objections all day and is tired of explaining their position. But the fact is very often it is our senior citizens who are being victimized.

Our seniors grew up in a different time, have a value system that sometimes cannot comprehend such underhanded techniques, and sadly are not always in possession of the mental faculties they once had.

Taking advantage of this generation who worked our country out of the depression and World War II is despicable, and needs to be countered at every turn.

How are cleaners to combat such tactics? One easy way is to keep all such coupons that are mailed or published in various "coupon magazines" at hand, and to have you or your office personnel add up the "add ons" that your prospective customer will have thrown at them, so that they can tell what the true cost of such cleaning would be. Compare it with yours, and your price will likely be lower.

In my next Blog post I'll talk about another, far less obvious, type of Bait and Switch marketing being done in our industry.