Have you diversified away from carpet & upholstery cleaning?

« **on:** June 21, 2009, 10:57:49 am »

Hi guys,

I think in this day and age it comes as given that offering more than one service is the way to go. I am sure many of you on this forum can survive with just offering the traditional c & u cleaning but others including myself have and may need to diversify to stay solvent.

It would be a good idea to tell us what other services you supply so that we can get some ideas?

Thanks for all your input in advance

John

« **Reply #1 on:** June 21, 2009, 11:14:23 am »

Hi John
It falls to me to be the first to reply which is unfortunate.

As the years have gone by I have retrenched and offered fewer and fewer services.

The business is exclusively carpets and upholstery and as I've specialised I seem to have got a name to that effect. I'm as busy as I've ever been.

I'll be interested to see the results of the poll though.

Roger

« **Reply #2 on:** June 21, 2009, 11:35:25 am »

Hi John In the past I have done oven cleaning which was ok ,the thing is when you have add ons some people dont take you as a serious carpet and upholstery cleaner , not all mind you but as in my case my rivals pushed it that I was just a jack of all trades . hope alls well in cramlington,will be up there soon to see me mate .will give you a bell ,will have to meet up its about 2 years now since I saw you at extracta.
regards Ady

« **Reply #3 on:** June 21, 2009, 11:54:31 am »

Hi Ady

Yes I remember you well! Hows it going?

Most of my work comes from carpets & upholstery but my add-ons are now pressure washing and upvc cleaning. Almost all my advertising is done with leaflets. The leaflet is dominated by my carpet & upholstery work and with a much smaller area dedicated to the other two services.

Yes give me a shout when your up my way and we can exchange notes!! Do you still have your Extracta machine?

John

« **Reply #4 on:** June 21, 2009, 12:13:47 pm »

Tiles/vinyl/wood/leather.

« **Reply #5 on:** June 21, 2009, 12:34:06 pm »

I cant see any problems with offering other services as long as they involve cleaning. Take me for instance im a tiler (walls/floors) i offer tile/stone cleaning, then people asked if i do carpet cleaning, so i added that on and last week i was scotch garding a settee, and the customer asked if i do polishing oak floors as she saw what i did on my van, so i have got that job to do now. But if i offered painting & decorating or gardening i think you would be called a jack of all trades. I think once you have cleaned a customers carpets and the have got your trust you should take that opportunity to offer other things, it works for me.

« **Reply #6 on:** June 21, 2009, 12:48:28 pm »

We provide carpet & upholstery cleaning, window cleaning, soffit/facia & guttering cleans, spring cleans & end of tenancy cleans too. We are pretty dead at the moment!

« **Reply #7 on:** June 21, 2009, 12:50:26 pm »

i plan to add leather cleaning and restoration inthe near future after i have completed the training

« **Reply #8 on:** June 21, 2009, 12:58:21 pm »

I clean leather (pigmented) but do not do the restoration side. I've always been a little hesitant as to how much work there is out there for it? Maybe some of you will comment?

« **Reply #9 on:** June 21, 2009, 01:04:40 pm »

Suffolkclean

How much do you charge to clean out gutters? What do you think of a £1 per foot?

John

« **Reply #10 on:** June 21, 2009, 02:31:31 pm »

Am on the same line as roger on this and thankfully keep busy with just carpet and upholstery cleaning the only service i offer..

Did think about other add on,s this year as i did expect it to be queit with the slow down but have been busy as most of the work comes om my regulars and rec,s.

Think if i had to get work from the web sites i would strugle :

« **Reply #11 on:** June 21, 2009, 02:47:14 pm »

I prefer to stick to the basic carpet and upholstery cleaning aswell and thankfully do awlright from it that is why we call ourselves specialists isnt it by specialising in a couple of specific things .

As has been said I think if you diversify too much you can be considered as a jack of all trades master of none, that is only how the customer could perceive you of course not my opinion.

The only other things I do are leather and curtains but this would come under the same bracket . I even have a guy who pressure washes my block paving I have done his carpets and upholsery for many years ,so when he started doing the pressure washing for a living thought I would give him the business.

Regards Andy Locke.

« **Reply #12 on:** June 21, 2009, 03:15:17 pm »

Quote from: suffolkclean on June 21, 2009, 12:48:28 pm

We provide carpet & upholstery cleaning, window cleaning, soffit/facia & guttering cleans, spring cleans & end of tenancy cleans too. We are pretty dead at the moment!

Maybe you've spread yourself too thin and need to refocus?

« **Reply #13 on:** June 21, 2009, 03:25:19 pm »

I think that when you do a carpet cleaning job at someone's house you can sell your other services to the customer while your there. It may seem a simple process but I think we could be on to a real winner with this approach!!

« **Reply #14 on:** June 21, 2009, 04:07:31 pm »

I know where your comming from Mike it may seem where offering too much, but that's a good thing as far as we're concerned as we're not just sticking to one kind of cleaning. Been quiet the last few weeks but it usually works well.

As you said skywalker we can offer a carpet cleaning customer with dirty windows a regular window cleaning service, they may be due to move out of their rental house & we could then quote for the end of tenancy clean. Regards to pricing he usually works out how long it'll take x hourly rate.

Barbara

« **Reply #15 on:** June 21, 2009, 04:43:58 pm »

Started cpt cleaning 20 yr ago, 5 yr ago added contract cleaning and the odd domestic cleaning.
Recently added oven cleaning, hard floor cleaning/resealing, eco supplies, paper products etc.

The way i see it, when it comes to retirement age i will have something worthwhile to sell, other than a second hand machine and van etc.

The last contract i got, my quote was the highest, they told me it was because i had the best package

as we offered all supplies, carpet cleaning and window cleaning, we have even fitted safety catches etc to child rooms.

My contracts employ over 400 staff, and my sign written vans are seen on site everyday, they see you as cleaning experts
not just carpet and upholstery cleaners.

Well thats how i see it

Andrew

« **Reply #16 on:** June 21, 2009, 05:33:49 pm »

there is no easy way to say this but i think if you have been in business for more than around 5 years and your not busy in what you do then YOU are doing something wrong. if you do a good job and are good with your 'public' then they will recommend you and use you again and again, if you have to resort to diversifying into 3 or 4 other means of earning a living then perhaps your a square peg in a round hole, try something else for a living,

colin

« **Reply #17 on:** June 21, 2009, 07:15:58 pm »

A bit harsh Colin

Although I don't like the " Jack of All Trades " idea "there's definitely a lower volume of work available right now and it might be worth adding some other means of earning extra £'s while this recession lasts.

Easy for established c/c'ers with a huge customer base built over many years.

Not so easy for newer starts who might have laid out a massive amount of " hard earned " or worse still borrowed and urgently need to generate cash flow.

A good earner which I know some already do, is painting / washing down paint for EOL's

« **Reply #18 on:** June 21, 2009, 07:53:18 pm »

I am definately getting slightly fewer jobs at moment due to recession, however i am still up on last year, and job ticket £ has increased30%.

My customers dont just see me as a carpet cleaner, but someone who can take care of ALL their cleaning needs.

I think this is why my job ticket has increased, one sale leads to another, all my accounts now buy supplies off me,
and people who i supply to now have their carpets cleaned by me, its about getting your name out there.

Non see me as a jack of all trades, infact quite the opposite.

Andrew

« **Reply #19 on:** June 21, 2009, 08:23:30 pm »

I reckon Colin has a valid point. If after 5 years of building up a customer base, with all the repeats & recommendations that come with that, you are finding that the current climate is giving you idle time then maybe you aren't doing something right.

Diversifying to keep you going is one thing, on the other hand expanding you business into other fields is completely different.

No business can afford to stand still. F W Woolworths chose to stand still in the 20th century & look what happened to them.

Over half the houses where I clean carpets & upholstery now have tile/stone entrance halls & kitchen/breakfast areas. High traffic areas which can't be maintained with the daily wet mop, so I expanded into this field years ago as well as exterior hard surfaces. Customers appear to be happy that one business can cover all these aspects for them. Upside for us is that we don't get totally bored out of our mind wanding beige carpets day in day out

Poll

How many of you offer more than one service apart from carpet & upholstery cleaning?