[derek west]

Hi doug
just done a quote and had to use my knowledge of carpet cleaning chemistry, (veryltd) but i'd came out the other side with a customer for life.
anyway,  it made me wonder if you were up for maybe giving a course on carpet cleaning chemistry.

theres so many sulphates, acids, peroxides/ chlorides etc... the mind boggles.

maybe you could design a course that could simplify the things we need to know to use such chemicals in a safe manner, understanding all the different ones and knowing when/how strong/ when not/and what to use them on.

maybe if we could get enough of us, lets say 20, @£75 a pop, it would be worth your trouble and time.

anyway its just a thought ive had. what dya reckon?
and while i'm here, is there anyone else here who would like to understand and know more about the chems we use.

remember, (allthough some will disagree) knowledge breeds confidence, and confidence projects to your customer, which in turn gives you brownie points,

"AND WHAT DO POINTS MAKE" alltogether now.......

[fitz2kleen]

great idea derek, id be up for that 

[from edge2edge]

sign me up big boy    Regards Alan Turner(swindon)

[Steve Chapman]

yep definitley up for it, as long as its not in Scotland 


steve

[creighton foyle]

me too

[absolutecleaning]

I'm in (although theres bound to be a few who question whether Doug is qualified to teach just as there was when CLEAN was being mentioned :

[Ricky M]

Derek and Doug: You could host here with us being middle of the country an all and if done around March time we will have a class room and practical environment ready to go to seat 15
Projector, work station, plasma, training room and around 20 different types of flooring to work on from trav to vyny and com carpet tiles to wilton.

so when did you say this course was coming off Derek ?       

[Max Campbell]

Sounds really useful, as long as it's within a reasonable drive (from Cambridge) I'd do it, & prob my son, too.

[gwrightson]

Personaly, Derick  I have to say a stain removal course will teach you all of the techniqes etc to handle most situations providing you have the chems to handle them, I cannot see the point in going down the road of having onboard your van numerous amounts of different peroxides, sulphates,acids etc etc ,what is the point when just a comphrensive  of differnt ones will do the job 99 out of 100  .
Judging by the replys, obviously i am the only one who thinks this but to me ,A waste of time .
geoff

[Steve Chapman]

Geoff

The point is if you know what youre doing you can use household chemicals which cost you 99p from the chemist rather than £20 from your cleaning supplier.

I Know which one id rather do 


steve

[Doug Holloway]

Hi Derek and all.

It would undoubtedly be a good idea to run a course on chemistry(and physics) related to carpet cleaning and I believe it would be interesting and useful.

However to make it really useful a great deal of preparation would be required with really good course notes so that attendees get a lasting benefit.
I like the idea of pre meeting notes as given on the flood school so that basics can be covered beforehand.

I believe 20 may be too many as it needs to be a bit hands on otherwise it would be too heavy.

It might also be better to make it regional so that less travelling is required.

The problem for me would be finding the time to do this really well as that is the only basis on which I would do it.

Cheers

Doug

[derek west]

so a maybe then doug?

geoff, please read my post again, its not about having 10 types of acid and 6 types of sulphate on your van, its about understanding the difference between them, the knowledge to find a substitute out of someones cupboard if youve run out. the knowledge to talk in complete confidence about the effects each one has etc... i held my own today with this customer who was a chemist, and i was quite proud of my self explaining things like, how we don't get rid of wine stains in wool, we just make them un seeable. a UV lamp would prove it etc...
gave me loads of confidence and set me miles apart from the "its just carpet cleaning brigade" imagine how confident i'd be if i actually knew what i was on about?

its not for everyone geoff, and i aint knocking anyone who doesn't fancy it, i just want to know who does. and if theres enough, maybe, just maybe we can twist dougs arm.

[Peter Sweeney]

I completely agree with Derek. Knowledge in  front of your customers (or on the phone) is such a powerful mktg tool it beggars belief that it could be questioned. As for Dougs credentials you only have to read a few of his posts to see he knows what he's talking about. Anyone who challenges that is quite frankly ................................... fill in the space  . Dougs point re prep is also very true. Takes hours and hours to properly prepare a 20 min presentation let alone a days worth.

[mark shannon]

Would be very intrested, did a course with Derek Bolton many moons ago and all his removers were off the supermarket or local chemists shelf.

Would be good if Derek and Doug got together?

[ryan mca]

  Derek great idea
  Doug if you could find the time I think it would be great and really like the idea of doing
  a few around the country as some of us are in scotland

[Mike Halliday]

 let me save you all some time and money....... 80% stain come out with this. 10% come out with  pog-met-oxy the other 10% ??

[derek west]

let me save you all some time and money....... 80% stain come out with this. 10% come out with  pog-met-oxy the other 10% ??

 .................................................................................anyway, moving on,

 seems like a few are up for it doug, have a chew on it  and get back to us in a few days weeks months time. theres interest out there. nuff said.

[Simon Gerrard]

Surely we already have that very facility which is provided to us by the chemical manufactuers who spend time and money developing all of the products we need. Using raw chemicals in all there myriad forms may sound attractive, but in my view using them brings in a totally unacceptable element of risk.  If we use propritery products, that have been specificallty developed for a wide variety of stains by people who know what they are doing, and use them as prescribed by the manufacturerwe are covered against adverse reactions. Don't forget, most of the time we have no idea what a stain actually is and so to start tampering with chemicals we may know little or nothing about, may make matters worse rather than better and the onus to fix any resulting secondary problems would be upon us.

Simon

[Mike Halliday]

let me save you all some time and money....... 80% stain come out with this. 10% come out with  pog-met-oxy the other 10% ??

 .................................................................................anyway, moving on,

 seems like a few are up for it doug, have a chew on it  and get back to us in a few days weeks months time. theres interest out there. nuff said.

Derek the fact you so quickly discounted what i posted is testament that you actual do need to attend a stain removal course.

I read on the usa forums abouts felts naphtha been used as an all round stain remover, as it is not available in the Uk I thought  would experiment with fairy soap it does exactly what I said and is very topical as it stays where you put it, of course some will scoff about using this and get all high & mighty saying its unprofessional....... but hairdressers  H/P Gel was not made to be used on fabrics or Nitromors on carpets but they are used by the trainers mentioned on this topic so far.

[derek west]

i dispare i really do.

its about knowledge, nothing else.


"KNOWLEDGE"