I received a call from a property mgr of two fairly large condo's in Buckhead,Ga.
To come out and do a Quote and demo AS USUAL they wanted the club house for the demo with the drinks and spills. In the past when I have done this it looks so good that they forget about getting the carpets cleaned. So I said no this wasn't a good idea and wouldn't give the "board" a good enough comparison.
So I said I'd do 1/2 of the small corridor outside her office which was filthy but not out where everybody sees it. Explaining that this would give her the opportunity to bring the members in as she wanted and show a comparison as the previous companyeverything kept coming back and they were going to take out all the carpet and go with polished stained concrete. So I did 1/2 length wise man what a difference 1/2 was dirty and all the way down the other side sparkled.
She called yesterday and scheduled everything and said that people are commenting like crazy on how filthy the other half of the carpet is now that one side is clean.
Of course I didn't have my camera but definitely will take some pics when I go back

Outside the box thinking! Thanks for posting that. I have been struggling with "demos" for some time now.

if you do a Demo always do only half an area , how else can they tell the difference. How else are you going to rub salt in their wound.
IT is a demo of what you can do not a cleaning for FREE
Pick the nastiest spot and go right down the middle of it with a swipe of two, stop and take a few picks then finish one half of the area take another few picks and be done.
Send pics to your contact if you do not get a call in a few days
Email works also

Yes,
David i did exactly that about two months ago in a sweet of the building i care for. It was right in front of the reception office entry way. They had to see it all day everyday.

But get this. The dr. assistant clean the other half with some household detergent follwing week cause my 10 sq.ft. area and half cleaned stain was too contrasting from the rest of the filthy carpet. Two months later my area is clean! One week later her half was back filthy.

Today a few minutes ago i received a call from another dr. in that same office inquiring about the stain i cleaned and that he wants me to come and remove some stains in his office. I told him i have a $50.00 minimum.

But my only question is How do one charge for just coming out for stains when they are not on a maintenance program?
He mentioned three stains on the phone that he want addressed.

TOOK b-4 & after PIC'S with my camera phone but haven't figured out how to tranfer to my computer. (blackberry pearl)

Tonight i will take photo of what it looks like now.


Thanks
The Mask Man

Cultivate the "OCCD" you had at first for the industry!

Not trying to sound like a smarty but the beauty of a Blackberry is email. just set up your email and then you can email yourself any photos you take on your phone. I just got a pearl a few weeks ago and really do not know how to operate without it. I take photos of every commercial job I do. Works great for the little thumbnail photos that you use in Ricks CMS program. If you do not have CMS,GET IT!!!

Good idea. I made the mistake of doing half, letting them see it and go "wow", then finish the rest. Out of guilt I guess.

Bud,

I'd raise that minimum up to AT LEAST $75.00 ($95.00 would be good).

You are talking to a doctor he gets AT LEAST $75.00 (and probably $200 or more) for the 5 minutes he spends with a patient and writes a prescription.  A doctor can see sometimes 20-30 patients a day.

10 X $75= $750;   20 X $75= $1,500;   30 X $75= $2,250- LOW END

10 X $200= $2,000;   20 X $200= $4,000;   30 X $200= $6,000

This is A DAY for a doctor.  You are entitled to make AT LEAST $500 - $750 a day yourself, you can't do it on $50 a pop.

Don't sell yourself short buddy.

I only say this because I did the EXACT same thing $50 Minimum, it is now $100.  Never lost an ounce of business for it.

Make you own luck,

Del Scrivner
Owner/Operator
Cowboy's Carpet Care

I agree with Del I went from $75 to $150 for commercial and never lost any business.
Also I'd make sure to tell them that the rest of the carpet will probably now look dirty because of the area that you clean is gonna look different than the rest.

We went from $75.00 to $125.00 minimum and we never lost any business either. My biggest competitor has a $67.50 minimum and is .05 a square foot cheaper than I am. I don't care though because he has horrible customer service. Also, his TM's don't have waste tanks. He just dumps down the customers driveway the entire time he is running his truck. Very unprofessional. He also doesn't own a Cimex.

Kevin Pearson