Bryon,
How do you overcome customers saying "Our cleaning crew takes care of cleaning carpets",if you don't mind sharing?

Look at the post below.......

The CMS that Rick sells is simple and filled with the basics needed to go after commercial accounts. It is not filled with useless bells and whistles that would not get used....no overkill or useless info that will distract you.

Important things not to miss..... Professional...look, act, dress. Know your profession and communicate it in a manner that conveys it......always talk on the same level of the client and never talk down to them. Overkill with do just that...kill you. You want to gain trust and interest in your service. When they ask questions that is good...when they look at the clock you know you are in trouble. Answer questions in a direct manner and always make them feel it was a good question to ask. The DEMO is key....it is your chance to pull it all together to prove you are the professional that you are. Follow up is important. One last thing...if it all looks good and you follow through it must be for more than the doorman or delivery guy.

I have had success in these situations. I start off by not being negative. I try not to say something like - yeah, and I can see they do a lousy job too (even though it may feel like the thing to say at the time). Instead I will try to remain positive. The conversation goes something like this...


That's great! It's no doubt convenient to have one company take care of everything. Hopefully they're doing a decent job for you. Where we stand out is that we SPECIALIZE in commercial carpet cleaning - it's what we do. We can address any problems you may ever experience with your carpet. For example, we can take care of (fill in the blank --- the problem that I see you're having at the front entry). Another common problem we can eliminate is recurring spill stains! And our cleaning products resist re-soiling so it helps your carpets to stay clean longer too.

Our prices are very reasonable! If you will compare your total costs for your existing carpet cleaning program with our rates, I believe you will find our numbers are very competitive. You should actually be in a similar price range for what truly amounts to a superior service.

I would like to provide you with a detailed carpet inspection. This will equip you with a lot of helpful information about how to extend the life of your carpet. I can also perform a free demo for you. This will allow you to see how good your carpets will look when we clean it for you. I can provide all this for you for free.

I think the best thing we can offer you is that you'll have a carpet professional at your beck and call. If you ever have a single problem, all you have to do is pick up the phone and we will be there to assist you. Our "WholeClean" commercial carpet cleaning program will help you maximize the appearance of your commercial carpet. And we back up all our work with a rock solid guarantee.


As you can see - I haver added a ton of value to their carpet cleaning. They can see that I will become their carpet cleaning ally - they're go to guy, their resident expert. And with this line of reasoning, I want them to conclude that they'd be stupid to continue cleaning their carpets in-house. It just wouldn't make sense for them to not use our services.

I have personally had good success acquiring in-house accounts using an approach like the one I outlined above. Put it into your own words and run with it. I'm pretty sure you'll be able to see some decent results

As a last resort, you might also try to find out who their janitorial contractor is and approach them to see if you can sub-contract the carpet cleaning from them. This could amount to a win-win for both of you. You can include some of the same lines of reasoning that are outlined above with the janitorial contractor.








Rick Gelinas
rick@excellent-supply.com

Good info Rick.. thanks.......I hope others jump on board and add a few cents....

Rick has a geat statement there. The one thing that i would ad to it is the need for questions to involve the customer.
here is Rick's Script slightly modified.

That's great! MANY OF OUR CUSTOMERS WERE USING THERE JANITORIAL SERVICE PRIOR TO USING (YOUR COMPANY NAME HERE) It's no doubt convenient to have one company take care of everything, BUT ONCE THEY GAVE US AN OPPORTUNITY THEY FOUND THAT WE WERE ABLE TO PROVIDE A SUPERIOR SERVICE AT A COMPETITIVE PRICE. COULD YOU SEE HOW BENEFICIAL THAT WOULD BE IF WE WERE ABLE TO PROVIDE SUPERIOR SERVICE AT A COMPETITIVE PRIC? ( unless they are trying to blow you off they pretty much have to anbswer that yes.)

ONE OF THE THINGS THAT SEPERATES US FROM YOUR CURRENT SOLUTION IS that we SPECIALIZE in commercial carpet cleaning - it's what we do. We can address any problems you may ever experience with your carpet. MANY OF OUR CLIENTS PREVIOUSLY HAD REOCURRING PROBLEMS SUCH AS SPILLS OR SPOTS THAT QUICKLY REAPPEARED AFTER THE CARPETS ARE CLEANED. WHAT KIND OF REOCURING PROBLEMS DO YOU HAVE?
(this gets them into a discussion and lets them know that you care about their specific needs and also lets you know what you need to target. At that time you can specifically explain how you can solve that problem then end your explanation with something like...) With a solution like this could you see how this would be more effective in providing the results that you expect?

IF THER ANSWERE IS YES THEN THIS IS THE TIME TO ASK FOR THE DEMO!!!

I would like to provide you with a detailed carpet inspection. This will equip you with a lot of helpful information about how to extend the life of your carpet. I can also perform a free demo for you. This will allow you to see how good your carpets will look when we clean it for you. I HAVE NEXT WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY SCHEDULED FOR DEMONSTRATIONS WHICH DAY WOULD FIT YOUR SCHEDULE BETTER?
wEDNESDAY? GREAT IS MORNING OR AFTERNOON BETTER FOR YOU? OK AFTERNOON IS BETTER FORYOU ON WEDNESDAY. ON WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON I HAVE A 1:00 OR A 3:30 OPEN DO EITHER OF THOSE FIT IN YOUR SCHEDULE? GREAT I WILL SEE YOU WEDNESDAY AT 3:30 THEN.


This makes your potential customer an interactive part of the presentation. All to often we (i cant even tell you how much "we" includes myself) talk about the things that we think are important and dont allow the customer to tell us what is important to them. If we make sure we ask good questions then our customers will actually tell us why they want to buy from us.

"I am glad to hear that you are pleased.  Many of my current clients told me the same thing BEFORE they started to use my services (be prepared to back that up with some references)."

"Your current cleaner may very well do "Industry Standard" quality work.  I provide a level of service AND quality WELL BEYOND industry standards all at a fair price."

"If you stumbled upon a BETTER VALUE (NOT PRICE- VALUE), you would most certainly take adavantage of that wouldn't you?"

They will say- Yes.

"OK, well let's see what we can do together to get you Excellent Service, and Excellent Quality at the the Best Value."

BTW- That's almost 100% Jeffrey Gitomer with my twist.

Make you own luck,

Del Scrivner
Owner/Operator
Cowboy's Carpet Care