[Shaun_Ashmore]

What % of protector sales do you do?

15% on average for me, I'm looking to vastly improve on it in the coming months, I used to have a closure of about nearly 50% but as my cleaning prices have gone up the % has come down, probably I may be thinking that the customer has spent enough already which is the wrong way to do business.

What's yours?

Shaun

[Mike Halliday]

average 3 jobs a week out of 15 (can't work out the % )

do you ask EVERY CUSTOMER  if they would like it protecting?

[Shaun_Ashmore]

Not enough, do you ask on survey or after on the clean?

Shaun

[Mike Halliday]

Tend to tell them price of the clean (Eg £100) 'then to protect it as well would be £135'

this is when I survey, but I don't give the protection price every time I seem to have a sixth sense to know if they will go for it because most who I offer it to do have it done.

[Shaun_Ashmore]

I must admit that 2nd sense has it's uses but I do simular but don't ask nearly enough, are you around tomorrow afternoon to give you a call?

Shaun

[Mike Halliday]

got a job in the morning then free....I'm fitting in my new T/M my latest creation   a home-made, beast of a machine!

give us a call

[Doctor Carpet (Ret'd)]

You're right. i know what you mean about 6th sense and yes I should ask more often. Often easier to sell to people with plain, light-coloured  woollen carpets and who obviously look after their houses. Houses with young children are often a prompter for initiating the conversation.

Often mention it and the price when quoting and then suggest they can make their mind up once they have seen how well it has come up so that the clean helps sell the protector.

[Mike Halliday]

I used to do a special offer of 'free protector' with every carpet or suite cleaned.

I used to get loads of people mentioning it (and wanting it) so this tells me there is a demand for protector its just if they are willing to pay the price of it.

EG; if it free everyone will want it but if its a £100 no one will want it.

 so we need to find the figure between £0 & £100 which people will pay

[Glynn]

And Shaun do you "really" believe that the protector works ?.

[mark shannon]

I am always reluctant to push protector, do your returning customers feel it works or do we loose repeat customers because they perceive it not to work?

Maybe the secrets to keep the price right down like Mike.

What percentage do most charge to clean & protect some add 50% is this taking the p#ss and damaging future custom ?

Would cleaners protect anything, i usually advise against unless new, nearly new or well looked after.

I think over selling protector can sometimes take CC into an ethically shady area.

 Maybe most don't push protection as well as they should because they know it will be of minimum benefit to most clients.

[Shaun_Ashmore]

Yes if applied correctly, I recently cleaned and protected my son's bedroom carpet so I could have a play, pure orange juice was poured on it also black current and a bit of olive oil, gave it a rub with my fingers and then set up my TM which takes 5 minutes, the stains all went OK they were still damp and OK customers don't have TM's but there was bead up, did the same with an old seat cushion I have in the garage and simular results.

Trick is to have the just cleaned item at ph6 so the protector bonds better.

I have new belief in it, I've been using Restormates protector.

Shaun

[Glynn]

Shaun
It's the oldest trick in the book IMO to Caret Cleaners, trying to up their ticket price to make extra money for next to nothing.
I for one never push protector and my reputation as such has reflected this honesty in my favour. I know and I feel sure you do that this after market spray on protector wears off at an alarming rate and renders itself as useless, apart from earning you that extra £. But long term I think I win. For my business it's a no goer, but then I believe in long term customer relations.

[Shaun_Ashmore]

Protectors have never been so good, upping the job ticket is correct but years ago protector was far more expensive then it is now so my price is more affordable but that said I don't believe it does wear off as quick as you may think. In my last house I protected all of the carpets as they were all newly laid and most still showed signs of beading 3 years later again the hall and lounge areas didn't but I cleaned them the most.

I still think that the application has to be right that is where you can fall down, I seem to be more confident with protector ever since I started to understand the chemistry a bit more and also the bonding of other things like leather dyes etc, that doesn't make me an expert but it does make you prepare better.

Shaun

[markpowell]

I have thought about pushing protector more myself, i have gone back to scotchguard concentrate dilutes 1-8, so it can be quite profitable at £40.00 for 4 litres.
I am going to start offering on every job without been too pushy.
I have done quite well selling it in the past using Prochem Fluroseal. There was just not much of a profit margin.
Mark

[Glynn]

I'll stick with the old fashioned way of of protecting the customer rather than a short term fuller wallet.
I have been in this business longer than most and I believe that selling protector is a money maker for the cleaner and not a valuable add on for the customer. They may as well save the cost towards future cleans. Not forgetting that more and more carpets these days are P/props and as such are naturally stain resitant and any application of a guard is like thieving money off the customer, but I know C/C's will still sell it.

Long term customer relations is what I care about whilst providing a second to none service. This is whats put me where I am after 30 years in this business. Just my opinion though...
 

[Jim_77]

Glynn I completely understand your ethical stance, I wouldn't ever recommend protector to customers if I don't think it's of any value to them.

I agree that in some cases selling a protector to a customer gives them little value for money.

BUT  In my experience, in a lot of cases it is real value for money. 

I totally agree that with polyprops the value is low, not due to any scientific reason but purely because the polyprop carpets tend to be in the houses where the carpets get a pasting from kids/dogs etc, absolutely spot-on that they're going to get more value for money by spending it on cleaning more often.

However, I'm convinced that protector, at least the protector that I use anyway, is a massive benefit on wool carpets.  My carpets at home were fitted last June, since that time they've been subjected to plenty of abuse.

I've spilled my tea going up stairs, I've cut myself and bled all over them, someone spilled soup in the lounge, someone trod a dog sh*t footprint on the bottom step, my nephew knocked his juice over.... in most cases all I've needed is a bit of kitchen towel to absorb the excess and then a damp cloth to finish off.

Only with the soup and the juice did I have to give it a quick rinse through with the machine, and the soup needed 10 mins of M-Power to sort it.  The carpets still look absolutely brand new and I haven't got round to cleaning them properly yet

I've tested the performance of the protector on the off-cuts from the carpet and can say without a shadow of a doubt that the un-protected samples suffer compared to the protected ones.

I go back to customers who've had protector and they tell they notice how it makes a difference.  I'm not blind and definitely don't take the ostrich approach.  I couldn't sleep at night if I knew I was ripping people off.

I'm not doubting your experience for one minute and definitely don't mean to sound disrespectful but maybe you're working with old knowledge of old products?  Technology moves on, protectors now are better than they were a number of years ago.

I've got no ethical problem at all with the protector that I sell, I know it's offering value.  And Mark I price it at plus 50% of the cleaning cost, not taking the wee-wee at all if it's sold with a conscience.

[Doctor Carpet (Ret'd)]

Yep, Jim has expanded a bit on my first point.

But maybe we also have a DUTY to mention it.

Consider. We've cleaned their plain  newish light-coloured wool-rich carpet. Then we pack up and go home without recommending protector (definitely valid  to mention in this case).

Customer spills red wine and when we go back to try to remove it, for once it won't all come out. Customer doesn't have accidental cover on his insurance. Customer finds out about protector. Now he doesn't think much of us as we didn't recommend what was best for him.

If we at least recommend where appropriately, then even if the customer says "no" there can be no come-back on us if there is a future disaster which anti-staining may have prevented happening.

I've had good reports back from customers who have had spillages on protected fabrics and I like to price it in such a way (and so explained) that customers are not put off from having their carpets cleaned on a regular basis.

[Jim_77]

Well said Roger.

but more's the point, why the bloody hell aren't some of us tucked up in our beds at this time of morning

(i could answer that very well but it's personal )

[Doctor Carpet (Ret'd)]

Trying to find spaces for another 20 people coming to the dinner I am organising on Saturday. (Now upto 320 and still rising.)

My head is done in & just unwinding on the forum.

Off to bed. It'll be even later tomorrow and Saturday. Good job nobody's booked any work in for me next week . Or mores to the point nobody wanted to phone me to book any work in.

[Nigel_W]

I am with Glynn on this one. In my view protector is poor value for money for most clients and risky for your own reputation:-

1. It costs almost as much as an extra clean - if you do it properly

2. It extends the drying times and potential for problems. Unless you are prepared to use airmovers and wait around

3. No matter how much you tell clients its not bullet proof' - they always want to believe it is

4. If they drop hair dye on the carpet it makes no difference whether it is protected or not. So which stain is it that can only be removed if the carpet is protected but couldn't be removed if it was not protected.

I will protect a carpet or upholstery if the client asks for it. I won't promote it. Many times I talk them out of it.

That said I fully accept anyones right to promote and sell protector. We all have to do what we think is right for our own businesses.

If I were to promote protector again I would need to see a set of scientific tests carried out which independantly proved the value of the treatment. Is anyone aware of scientific tests being carried out? If not - why not? Sounds like a job for the NCCA!

Nigel