I was doing some work for a company this week that just moved into a decent sized building. After we had completed some work I got to talking to them about their carpets.

The area they renovated had new carpets, so they werent interested right now, however, the other areas of their floor, 15K SF or so they want to replace. They are in tough shape, and would take some work to clean up, but probably can be done.

My question is this...do I let them replace them and then pitch them on a good maintenance schedule so the new ones wont end up like their current ones...or do I try to play hero and rescue the ones they have now? They seem very satisfied with the work weve done so far, and said they plan on us cleaning their new office carpets in the near future...any thoughts?

It depends on what "Tough Shape" means. If there heavily worn nothing you do will help. If there just impacted with soil you could be a hero if you get them to clean up. What "tools" do you have available?

Joe

Well,the first thing is that no matter what,the info you provide should be only to assist them in their decision making.

What do I mean?

If you want to get the other ,older carpet,I would first offer up a demo...of a small area,naturally.Depending upon the outcome,which should be great,then provide a quote,with at least two or three options.I'm referring to frequency of service,of course.

Their biggest concern is/should be the cost of new vs.restoring,over a period of time.

If the carpet is in halfway decent shape and you do think your service can be of benefit to them,mention,multiple times,that you can prolong the life of the carpet and prevent premature and unnecessary replacement of the carpet

No hard selling ,just honest,realistic view of the situation.

Patrick

Learn as much as you can about the situation. Are they replacing cause it looks like crap or are they replacing it because it looks like crap and dosnt match there color scheme or are the replacing ONLY because it dosnt match there color scheme. If they are replaicing because it looks like crap.

If they are replacing because of either of the 1st two, and you are sure that you can absolutly make it pop then offer to clean a room or area at about double your price as a restorative cleaning. It is a very small price for them to pay to see if they can save tens of thousands of $'s. Lets just go nuts and say that you charge them $.40 a sf .40 x 15000 equals $6000.

Relace 15,000 x lets go nutty cheap at $4.00 a sf = $60,000. HMMMM seems like it would take them many many cleanings to make up the $54,000 difference.

Good responses...I will check today to see if they are also replacing to match the color of the walls, etc. They are repainting everything on the floor.

I have a cimex, op , demon & portable. I'm pretty sure I can make it look good...but i guess that wont matter if they are looking for a new look.

Thanks!

"HERO" sounds good to me!
Get in there and clean a section of it - even do it for free.
Let 'em see the Releasit shine on their carpet!

They'll no doubt replace the carpet anyway.
But at least they will know what a champ you are!
You'll help them appreciate just how fine your service is






Rick Gelinas
rick@excellent-supply.com

Rick, that is good idea, but im just worried that if they see me clean that filthy carpet, they might think, "hey, why bother cleaning it so often, this guy can clean it no matter how dirty!" and then put off cleaning longer than they should...

Thanks again!