Here's something I've been putting into play with each new commercial account I get.

Today for instance...

2000 square foot job (offices and hallways) at .12 per square foot = $240 (with prevacuuming, it took 1.5 hours to do). They were very impressed with the results but hesitant to let me put this carpet on a schedule. So what I did was tell them that if they would let me come and clean it quarterly, I would give them "spot free" service. They agreed and I got the account.

What "spot free service" is, is having them call me whenever they have a large area spill (someone spilling an cup of coffee, coke, etc.) and I will stop by and remove it for them for free in between regularly scheduled cleanings.

Has anyone else tried this? So far it has helped me get every accout I've tried it on. I hope I don't regret this. Should I stop?

No don't stop. It's a clever marketing idea.

I normally charge our customers for monthly spot cleaning service. And I sell this service frequently. But I haven't offered it as an incentive for them to sign a regular service contract.

I suspect that this would add a lot of value to your service, even if you have to adjust your rates slightly to compensate for the few added service calls. But my guess is that they won't bother to pick up the phone all that often.

At any rate I have to give your plan two thumbs up. I may just give this a spin myself.

Please keep us posted on how this works for you.

Keep up the good work!!!




Rick Gelinas

I sorta do this, but don't sell it as such. If they can wait until I am in the neighborhood and come at my convenience, I don't charge my regular scheduled customers. If it is IMPORTANT, like spilled blood, or a dirty footprint on a white sofa seat cushion, I come right away and charge for the "emergency service call."

But Mark, I think you are onto something, and recommend doing it some more and see if it turns out to be a viable idea or not.

Sounds good!!

Gary

We had spot Free service on all our accounts as most were in same area right downtown Minneapolis. Worked great for marketing and used very little compared to the perceived value from customer. We still charge extra for montly spotting.

Now we only offer the Free Spotting if we think we need to. In the beginning it was a great help keep doing it.

I give 1 hour of emergency spotting per 1/4, have only had to do it 2x. It's a good selling point, customers like it.

Ref

We give free spotting to our major accounts, we are in these accounts every week so it is not abused, and we limit our smaller accounts to 3 free spotting calls per 12 month period.
We find when it is new carpet everything is an emergencey, as time goes by it settles down and the calls for spot cleaning are rare, and most things can wait til our next scheduled cleaning.

Great idea,we have it in all are programs.Anytime you can make contact with your clients is a plus and give a chance to build on your relationship.Tony!