[Simon Gerrard]

I went to a customers house yesterday and he told me that he had been asking around to see of anyone knew a good carpets cleaner - no one did. The more people he asked the more he got the negatives, 'don't bother, it will be wet for days.' and all of the other usual negatives ending up with, 'you might as well hire a machine and do it yourself.'
In the end the guy Googled and found us and as we looked reasonably professional so booked us.
Did a great job and now he does know a good carpet cleaner, but isn't it a shame that all people have to say about our industry is negatives -christ, there must be some really bad cc's out there that out number the professionals - how sad is that.

Simon

[Hilton]

I agree, you have sort of made the case for the Franchise from over seas I mentioned in an earlier post and why they are doing so well.

They use all the negetatives you mentioned to their advantage in the their brilliant marketing. Why would any body use use anybody else when the public's perception of CC is so poor and getting worse.

[AJB]

When i started we were always told,
every satisfied customer was potentially
10 more customers.
Every dis-satisfied customer was potentially
100 lost.
Everyones happy to pass on horror stories, but
are less likely to sing your praises.

[Simon Gerrard]

What is so inexcusable is that clearly there are people coming into this business who are just in it to make a quick quid and couldn't care less about their customers or the reputation of our industry. Training is readily available and there are tremendous learning resources in all of the forums and so access to knowledge is now far easier than it has ever been, but still a person asking all and sundry if they know a good carpet cleaner and can only hear of the negative experiences of others is breathtaking.

Simon

[Simon Gerrard]

AJB,
I disagree with that. Yes, people do pass on their horror stories but they are also very keen indeed to tell their friends, family and colleagues that they had their carpet cleaned yesterday day and 'WOW!' That is the only positive in this situation, the fact that the really good carpet cleaners can really shine and once they get a customer can keep them, whereas the 'the cowboys' (as we always seem to call them) are always looking for more customers and therefore the financial security that they seek always eludes them and rightly so.
Simon

[Steve Rothwell]

I agree Simon, however I am not so sure it is the current bunch of "cowboys", but the ones from the mid - late 90's who used to hire karcher machines, or buy a vax when they first came out, and flood the carpets. So we are not just fighting a modern mind set, but 10 - 20 years worth of negatives..............

[Simon Gerrard]

Hector,

The negatives have always been there, right from day one when extraction cleaning first came to this country. The problem we've got now is that we are dealing with the ebay generation of carpet cleaners that bid for a machine and hey presto they are a carpet cleaners. Before this you had to go to one of the recognised suppliers to buy a machine and many of them offer machine + training packages so at least there was a greater chance that a newbie would get some exposure to the need for training.
Simon

[JandS]

Did an Asian families home on Tuesday afternoon.
Good quality carpets in good nick and they came
up beautiful.
Finished by 4 and guy says he's that impressed
have I time to come round to the mosque he looks
after and give a price.
Got that job, got a job on Wednesday to do and
a quote to do tomorrow all from that one job.
Good news does sometimes travel faster than bad.

John

[Helen]

I went to a customers house yesterday and he told me that he had been asking around to see of anyone knew a good carpets cleaner - no one did. The more people he asked the more he got the negatives, 'don't bother, it will be wet for days.' and all of the other usual negatives ending up with, 'you might as well hire a machine and do it yourself.'
In the end the guy Googled and found us and as we looked reasonably professional so booked us.
Did a great job and now he does know a good carpet cleaner, but isn't it a shame that all people have to say about our industry is negatives -christ, there must be some really bad cc's out there that out number the professionals - how sad is that.

Simon

Yes it is sad, and yes we have "followed" a lot of bad cc's around, but it can also be "customer unreasonable expectation" as well that puts a bad word around. No matter what you explain to some and give them best expectation on trashed old carpets, they still think that we can make them look like new. When we can't,then they are disappointed (even though you have warned them they won't look like new :)

[Simon Gerrard]

Helen,

I think there is a vast difference between people being 'disappointed' and those that ave clearly suffered at the hands of someone who hasn't got a clue what he is doing (or she).
Carpet cleaning has never really been able to shake off its terrible public image because it is one of those businesses that appear very easy and very cheap to get into and that will always attract the wrong kind of people who are jut in it to make a quick buck and who really don't give two hoots about the job or their customers.

Simon

[Shaun_Ashmore]

People look at negatives when they either don't want to spend money or haven't got any it's an excuse to not have cleaning done any money they have on higher prioritised things.

Shaun

[Helen]

Helen,

I think there is a vast difference between people being 'disappointed' and those that ave clearly suffered at the hands of someone who hasn't got a clue what he is doing (or she).
Carpet cleaning has never really been able to shake off its terrible public image because it is one of those businesses that appear very easy and very cheap to get into and that will always attract the wrong kind of people who are jut in it to make a quick buck and who really don't give two hoots about the job or their customers.

Simon

I totally agree, there is a vast difference as you say.
Unfortunately every industry attracts the get rich quick mob and that indeed can ruin an industry's reputation.
It is up to us, the ones that do care about the industry, about the customer and about standards to do something, but what can we do, when there is nothing to stop Fred Bloggs down the road, hiring a RD and calling himself a carpet cleaner overnight, therefore leaving his customers totally disillusioned and ready to spout negatives to friend and neighbours.
All we can do is keep providing a full professional service and get these satisfied customers to spread the good, rather than the bad.

[Neil Williams]

One word....Builders
No doubt the vast majority are good, reliable and offer value for money. Trouble is the sizable few have given the building industry a bad name.
Customers are as much to blame as the rogues themselves because they look for cheap and get the resulting service. If they were to search for a builder via something like checkatrade or buy with confidence which shows previous customers comments then perhaps things might change.
Simon: You're either writing a thesus for a university degree or on a crusade to change the perceptions of our industry. Either way good luck but it's going to need a sustained advertising campaign to change the publics ideas on us, or allow evolution to take place where over the next 30 years people realise machines are now far more powerful/complex than they were in the 1980's

[Simon Gerrard]

Neil,
I care very much about this industry and hate to hear people saying negative things about it. But worse than that is when someone deliberately sets out to see if anyone can recommend a good carpet cleaner to him and gets nothing but negatives, which means people have had contact with our industry, but had a bad experience. It would have been less worrying if the people he asked couldn't recommend someone simply because they had no experience of one.

Simon