07-15-2013, 06:26 AM
Yes, I did offer HWE. In fact I utilized every method of cleaning since I started out back in 1982. We also did a lot of floor care through the years, especially VCT work.
At our peek we were running 3 trucks in our commercial carpet cleaning business. We had part time techs going out nightly. We were especially doing a lot of retail work - lots of mall stores. We weren't huge by any stretch, but we were making a very comfortable living doing commercial only.
I ventured into residential briefly at the tail end of the 90's. I didn't care for it, for the reasons mentioned in that blog article. So after a couple of years I got out of it. I had begun to build up a nice group of residential customers, but I just let them go.
One beneficial thing that came from getting into residential is that I had to learn about marketing. It was during that era that I bought Joe Polish's package. I also attended a Howard Partridge seminar. And I began reading books on marketing. So I have residential to thank for giving me the push to learn about marketing.
Today my full attention is on Excellent Supply, so my old cleaning business Kleenstep isn't my top business priority like it once was. [You can't ride two horses with one butt] Yet Kleenstep is still running (www.Kleenstep.com). We still service a few accounts each month. And I still get to go out and clean carpets fairly often, which I still enjoy as much as I ever did (for some crazy reason I love carpet cleaning).
So if I had to choose between putting my efforts into building a residential or building a commercial enterprise, I'd invest the effort into building a commercial business. I feel the investment has a better long term pay off.
At our peek we were running 3 trucks in our commercial carpet cleaning business. We had part time techs going out nightly. We were especially doing a lot of retail work - lots of mall stores. We weren't huge by any stretch, but we were making a very comfortable living doing commercial only.
I ventured into residential briefly at the tail end of the 90's. I didn't care for it, for the reasons mentioned in that blog article. So after a couple of years I got out of it. I had begun to build up a nice group of residential customers, but I just let them go.
One beneficial thing that came from getting into residential is that I had to learn about marketing. It was during that era that I bought Joe Polish's package. I also attended a Howard Partridge seminar. And I began reading books on marketing. So I have residential to thank for giving me the push to learn about marketing.
Today my full attention is on Excellent Supply, so my old cleaning business Kleenstep isn't my top business priority like it once was. [You can't ride two horses with one butt] Yet Kleenstep is still running (www.Kleenstep.com). We still service a few accounts each month. And I still get to go out and clean carpets fairly often, which I still enjoy as much as I ever did (for some crazy reason I love carpet cleaning).
So if I had to choose between putting my efforts into building a residential or building a commercial enterprise, I'd invest the effort into building a commercial business. I feel the investment has a better long term pay off.