[clinton]

Am going to start pushing the protector on the jobs i do now

Seems i have got into a habbit of never even telling the clients about it :

Anyone else pushing that side of the services we offer

cheers

[from edge2edge]

CLINTON this is not my forte either but i find offering to protect x area(usually entrance and stairs) for y amount seems to get the best return.I just think how much will it cost me and add a tenner.It takes very little time and gives me £10 beer money.regards Alan(swindon)

[markpowell]

Always offer now, i charge half the price of the clean.
Mark

[richy27]

Clinton i always offer protector have a piece of carpet to show as demo under tap.  but dont push for the sale let them make there mind up boosts your income especially on those small one room jobs you can use it as a tool so the custy feels like they are getting bit more for there minimum charge.   

 

[Jim_77]

Here we go, another can of worms opened

Protector is one of those subjects nobody can agree on  Up one end of the scale you've got some guys who price it high and try to sell it on every job, then there's those who don't even themselves believe it works so never sell it.

I think there's a happy medium.  It all centres around value for money.

I charge a decent amount for protector but I only recommend it where I think it's going to give the customer value for money.

If you clean a filthy suite in a family home where the kids and dog are going to mess it all up again within a couple of months, protector isn't really worth it.  I tell them not to spend on protector and save the money to have it cleaned more often.

If someone moves in to a house and wants the carpets cleaned up to tide them over until they get round to replacing them in the next year or two, no point there either.

Where I recommend it is on carpets & upholstery that are in good condition and the customers seem like they are the type who are quite careful.  They're not likely to plaster food & drink everywhere and deal with any spills as they happen.  These are they sort of customer who it's easy to sell it to

I don't think there's many amongst us who try to sell protector at a decent price all the time... I believe the sales gurus call this "leaving money on the table" :

[Shaun_Ashmore]

A good friend of mine in the Midlands charges £10 a room for central areas so he can offer value but the customers don't expect the earth.

A room as he says is 12ft x 12ft but I'd think only half of that would be protected so for approx 72 sq ft that's about £1.40 a yard.

Shaun

[M.Acorn]

Don`t really push it,only if they ask About it,have had custy`s with poly prop asking and have said don`t bother 
Really should try upselling it,trouble is most of my work is for the letting agy,so custy does not want them protecting,as they are not there anymore.

[Simon Gerrard]

We were are Scotchcare Services company for three years and in that time we had more complaints than we'd had in the previous 20 years. Why because no matter how carefully you market it people they will always think it is an impenetrable shield which protects their carpet against everything and when that doesn't happen, they blame you for selling them something that doesn't work, so your reputation rides on their misinterpretation of how it works, or doesn't work.

If a carpet comes clean and all of the stains are gone after cleaning, why does that carpet then need protection? That is the test that  we tell anyone who asks about it and have only applied to a handful of carpets in the last ten years, and all of them were white or off white carpets, the only ones in my opinion that actually need an extra level of protection beyond the natural stain resistance of most fibres.
You have to be very careful when selling protection and only apply it where it is needed.

Simon

[Joe H]

I agree with Simons comments.
Customers think that by having a protection it performs magic and there carpet does not require any attention. So when it starts to look bad, cause they didnt attend to spills, who gets the blame? The one who sold it.
I dont push it at all.

Last week did 200 new chairs (boring) but other then that it must be about 15 months ago since I last applied any. In fact, persuaded a older couple from doing their new suite just 3 weeks ago.

[Jim_77]

Simon, what it sounds like you're saying is that you'd rather have customers with stains on their carpet waiting for you to come and clean them out, so they have to live with them for months on end

You've hit the nail on the head though... it's how you sell it.  If you tell customers exactly what it can and can't do, there can be no complaints.

I often find it's when people have bought something that was scotchguarded from new that they have the false perception of what the protector is capable of.  Probably down to the salesman who sold them the carpet/suite :

[jasonl]

I always explain  with the analogy of putting polish on a car ,, the car will still get dirty , but stains and dirt will rmove more easily, and with that understanding and supporting paper trails about a third of customers go for it, at 50% of cleaning costs.

[Mike Osbourne]

My 'technique' has always been to ease the word scotchgard into the conversation. If they say 'my friend had that and it's rubbish' I don't bother cos even if you turn them you will regret it.

Then you get the 'Oh Scotchgard I was going to ask about that, is it any good? Then I begin to rubbish it. Then I ask them questions like how long will you keep the carpet do you think etc etc. basically you get them to convince you it's viable.

Then reluctantly you agree to apply it, but only if they buy a spotter that won't erode the protection too.

I now get referrals to apply scotchgard and repeat cleans seem to think it was a good move.

Obviously if they appear pinickety, problem types forget it.

[Simon Gerrard]

Simon, what it sounds like you're saying is that you'd rather have customers with stains on their carpet waiting for you to come and clean them out, so they have to live with them for months on end

Jim,
Not at all. Most modern carpets are stain repellent in there own right and if a customer gets a stain on it she can often wipe if off quite easily. The stains she can't get off are often the ones that Scotchgard etc can't protect against in the first place. And in that lies the problem with protectors. No matter how carefully you spell out the capability of the protector, the customer still thinks it should guard against all stain and most particularly the ones that can cause permanent staining on the carpet, the exact same ones that protectors cannot protect against.
The other problem of course is lots of carpet cleaners can't resist the lure of extra cash buy selling an easy add-on, regardless of whether the carpet actually needs it or not, and that in my view is totally unprofessional. I've even heard of guys selling protection to customers who have the stain proof carpets which is just a joke, the only thing more laughable than that is selling it to a customer with a chocolate brown carpet, how greedy is that?

We make more money out of not selling protection because everyone who asks for it is told in no uncertain terms that unless they've got a white or off white wool carpet they are wasting their money. What people like and respect you for is honesty and building a reputation based on honesty and integrity, despite the lure of a quick buck is an important factor in business building, at least that's the way I see it.

[peter maybury]

I do get a lot of work especially in the contract market where I am quoting against people who are quoting for stain-guarding polypropylene
just by being honest. stain-guard does have benefits to some people in some circumstances. Most people are grateful of your honesty in telling them that you do nt see it as a benefit in their situation. It is very easy to oversell the benefits and give the customer a feeling of being let down.

Peter.

[Steve Barnett (Carpet Care Plus)]

Likewise the above comments.

I explain that it's not bulletproof and run through what it will and won't do.

Cleaned a 4 bed house last week and she wanted protector throughout, but I advised her only to have it on the stairs, hall and breakfast room.

I always explain that the next time the carpet is cleaned it will have to be re-applied



Steve

[Simon Gerrard]

Clinton,
You've touched on the very heart of the problem. You want to push the ticket price up, but doesn't that mean that you are doing it merely for the money and not as a benefit to the customer as and where they actually need it? The trouble is there is a big risk of customers being disgruntled at the performance of the protector and then seeing you as a bit of a money grabber for having sold them something that in their eyes (rightly or wrongly) doesn't work.
When we were in Scotchcare Services we even had people ringing up saying, 'you applied Scotchagrd to our carpet and it STILL got dirty!!!! They turn their disappointment of the product on to you for having sold them it in the first place, even though their expectations of what protectors actually do and do not do couldn't have been qualified any more thoroughly.
The vast majority of carpets simply do not need protection and it then comes down to our own moral scruples as to whether or not we sell it in the right circumstances, or whether we do it merely to push up the ticket price?

Simon

[fenman]

We explain that protector is not like a plastic sheet and that dirt and stains will still get through.
BUT the dirt will take longer to accumulate and the protector will give you time to deal with spillages but if you do not deal with them they will stain.
I only push protector if asked and I know we are missing out on more money for the job but I am happy not to be a pushy salesman.

[Steve Barnett (Carpet Care Plus)]

We explain that protector is not like a plastic sheet and that dirt and stains will still get through.
BUT the dirt will take longer to accumulate and the protector will give you time to deal with spillages but if you do not deal with them they will stain.
I only push protector if asked and I know we are missing out on more money for the job but I am happy not to be a pushy salesman.

Thats as near as damn it how I sell it - if requested


Steve

[derek west]

i do not and never will sell protector.

it doesn't really work, it wears off pretty quick anyway and most of all, people honestly believe it will stop there carpets from getting dirty, giving them the go ahead to abuse there carpets even more. its a product that makes our job easier next time we visit, so why should the customer pay, if it was that good, we'd be applying it for free so next time we cleaned, we'd do it in half the time.
i talk all my custies out of protecter. and convince them not to bother.

derek

[Shaun_Ashmore]

I protected my lounge carpet (80-20 50oz twist) when I got it and I have cleaned it twice and it cleaned very easily and my daughter 2 or 3 days after cleaning dropped a cup of coke on it and it just beaded, I guess it's in the application.

Regards running up the job ticket: what's the point of applying it of you don't make money out of it?

Shaun