[CATMAN]

£3600 for The Evolution, is a hard sell. I don't think many will be knocking the door down to buy.  The design looks tired, as does the Rotovac, the carpet cleaning industry has moved on.

Is that were it went wrong for Robert Saunders. First and foremost sell the machines that sell the marketing, that sells the chemicals and the spares. 

Many sleek high performing machines have come to market, and if you don't move with the times, then people will shop elsewhere

[john martin]

£3600 for The Evolution, is a hard sell. I don't think many will be knocking the door down to buy.  The design looks tired, as does the Rotovac, the carpet cleaning industry has moved on.

Is that were it went wrong for Robert Saunders. First and foremost sell the machines that sell the marketing, that sells the chemicals and the spares. 

Many sleek high performing machines have come to market, and if you don't move with the times, then people will shop elsewhere

interesting  , what machine would u class as sleek / high performance  ?


 

[mark_roberts]

Only Robert knows what went wrong but I imagine getting into truckmounts didn't do him any favours.

There's worst cleaning suppliers out there selling a lot worst products which are still around.

Mark

[john martin]

  Im sure they have lots to do as a priority but i think they could do with an up to date website , if u look at a site like mytee.com its all big images , instant info , links to youtube videos etc , Ashbys seem to moving that way also , and solutions in fairness have a pretty good site .  I would have the Evolution splashed over the main page ,  links to a demo vid  , and perhaps highly visible links to the best chemicals  etc .

[Shaun_Ashmore]

Fanning the flames of previous posts I'd have real cfm figures, don't forget though ashbys market is just their website there's no real front of house like solutions with cleantalk etc ashbys have some great innovative products made for web selling.

Shaun

[Simon@arenaclean]

I have always liked Alltec's build quality and design one the best machines i've ever had was a pro plus twin vac. I have no idea how old it is (15 years +?) but it's still my back up machine and has never let me down. The bodies always buff up real nice to. There are only 3 reasons I did not get a tripple vac advance 3 years ago. Too heavy. If I ever needed to get it upstairs it would be a problem, whilst my machine is hardly light it is around 15Kg lighter ish and I have taken it upstairs. The bigger wheels help too. No drop in hose for aux tanks and smaller waste tank around 50% of the solution tank, which meant lots of emptying. Nothing insurmountable but they did sway me in another direction.

Alltec always build a great reliable machine that look good for years and if it suits your circumstances you would not go far wrong.

[robert meldrum]

Seems a long time ago since I first met Saunders brothers and at that time they were the innovators in carpet cleaning machines and supplies.
They appeared to have all the right ideas and products but just fell down at developing their customer base which is rather ironic considering it's one of the major marketing strategies they preached along with little Joe P.
It's easy for us as spectators to assume what went wrong ( maybe nothing went wrong ) Maybe there just became a lot more choice and easy access via the internet for carpet cleaners.
I used mainly Alltec products a few years ago but when new products appeared elsewhere I tried them and that's been the case for the past five or six years, so I drifted and they failed to get me back as a paying customer as they had nothing similar to the newer products.

[Simon@arenaclean]

Forgot about Steve, whatever happened to him? It was always Steve who was happy to help me out even on a Saturday whilst I had a Cleancare machine that ate vac motors, when the pro plus came out I got one more or less straight away. Used Ultimate Master a lot then too. Then of course there was that monster quad vac, not sure if anyone ever brought one of those, wonder what the CFM/lift was on that? All that aside I do wish Chris all the best.

[Adrian Marsh]

Forgot about Steve, whatever happened to him? It was always Steve who was happy to help me out even on a Saturday whilst I had a Cleancare machine that ate vac motors, when the pro plus came out I got one more or less straight away. Used Ultimate Master a lot then too. Then of course there was that monster quad vac, not sure if anyone ever brought one of those, wonder what the CFM/lift was on that? All that aside I do wish Chris all the best.

Steve S has been at Nu-life stone care for the last few yrs.

[PaulKing]

Only in the UK do we knock some who goes bust in the states it a case of, we'll these things happen, what you doing next as you have it in you to make a success of things.

So good luck to the fella I remember him starting out when I was I my first few years of this game and they brought a new face and new ideas.

And for the doubters probably not his problem few big bills, and a couple of none paying customers that owe money and bump there she goes.

Let face it you pay all the staff and there's nothing left in the account, no money coming in and the vat man would like £30k, what do you do put your hand in your own pocket to bail out the business that might be in the same position next time around or fold it and walk away. If there wasn't that option you see lots more business owners jumping off bridges.

[Craigp]

Probably a simple case of drop in revenue due to carpet cleaners drop in revenue and spending less, I'm guess all suppliers are feeling the squeeze.

Who would want carpet cleaners as customers, they are all poor, give them a recession they even poorer

Agree with above, I like their machines alot, built to last, my back up is an Alltec Pro Plus.


Evolution looks great.

[Mike Halliday]

Only in the UK do we knock some who goes bust in the states it a case of, we'll these things happen, what you doing next as you have it in you to make a success of things.

So good luck to the fella I remember him starting out when I was I my first few years of this game and they brought a new face and new ideas.

And for the doubters probably not his problem few big bills, and a couple of none paying customers that owe money and bump there she goes.

Let face it you pay all the staff and there's nothing left in the account, no money coming in and the vat man would like £30k, what do you do put your hand in your own pocket to bail out the business that might be in the same position next time around or fold it and walk away. If there wasn't that option you see lots more business owners jumping off bridges.

I  must have missed the post where anyone was knocking him.... The worst  i can see is my post commenting on the irony of him teaching Business success.

[Doug Holloway]

Hi Guys

I suppose it says something of our industry that both Solutions and latterly Alltec have gone into liquidation and then risen, 'phoenix from the ashes'!

The limited liability laws allow for companies to go bust and then be instantly ressurected with the shareholders/creditors being the losers.

On another thread I was mentioning that Yell/Hibu is about to do the same but it will not affect us as customers as the products, i.e YP and Yell will be sold on as going concerns.

I also mentioned that we need to support our suppliers and maybe not moan because we could get part xyz, £2 cheaper on ebay, support or lose.

Cheers

Doug

[robert meldrum]

Robert Saunders is NOT a failure........

He set up a supply and maintenance company in a fickle market and was successful for many years but his real love was Marketing and he set out to supply a similar product to the UK market as Joe Polish did so successfully a few years later.

Robert introduced two unique [ at the time ] concepts in order to have a guaranteed stream of " eager buyers " Most on here will know of a similar set up more recently.

To sell Robert's product you had little outlay and only had to attend a one day seminar / training session and also become a member of the Alltec Network.

Had he been more aggressive in his promotion of the above and added unique to members products he may have had more success, but he he teamed up with Joe P.

I liked the Saunders brothers and met them on many occasions. They were genuinely helpful and sincere and a breath of fresh air in a static ( at that time ) market.

[Shaun_Ashmore]

I agree Robert they made me look at customers in a different way the problem with British carpet cleaners are that many of us are not businessmen but looking for a 'bit of work' don't forget 'we are just carpet cleaners'!

I'm a businessman who so happens to clean carpets I also have other parts to my business empire (well probably not an empire more of a coup) but each decision I make does not affect my carpet cleaning but can affect my business and income.

Shaun

[robert meldrum]

I've kind of decided to " take on the world " again Shaun so looking to ruffle a few feathers mainly just for the hell of it but usually to challenge beliefs.

[Shaun_Ashmore]

Keep it up us carpet cleaners are like lemmings anyway we need a kick up La derrière!

Shaun

[Mike Halliday]

Hi Guys

I suppose it says something of our industry that both Solutions and latterly Alltec have gone into liquidation and then risen, 'phoenix from the ashes'!

The limited liability laws allow for companies to go bust and then be instantly ressurected with the shareholders/creditors being the losers.

On another thread I was mentioning that Yell/Hibu is about to do the same but it will not affect us as customers as the products, i.e YP and Yell will be sold on as going concerns.

I also mentioned that we need to support our suppliers and maybe not moan because we could get part xyz, £2 cheaper on ebay, support or lose.

Cheers
Doug

I actually think the opisite, they  should be supporting us, we are their livelihood.....iit's liike having an allotment to feed your family you need to care for it, cultivate it, feed it.


it you want It to bear fruit look after it.

I.m constantly looking for ways to better serve my customers, they need to do the same.

[Garyj]

So how do you propose they support you better?

[john martin]

Forgot about Steve, whatever happened to him? It was always Steve who was happy to help me out even on a Saturday whilst I had a Cleancare machine that ate vac motors, when the pro plus came out I got one more or less straight away. Used Ultimate Master a lot then too. Then of course there was that monster quad vac, not sure if anyone ever brought one of those, wonder what the CFM/lift was on that? All that aside I do wish Chris all the best.

Bit of googling  ...  It was called the Alltec Millennium  ,  One of the owners was Nick from solutions  , perhaps if he sees this he could chime in with a review  


Still a couple of quad vacs made in the states ,  Most recent version would be would be Mytee's escape plus ETM i suppose ...
Im sure a remake of the millennium using modern motors would be more powerfull beast ... for eg ,  Electro have a two stage with almost the same performance as the 6.6motor but just over 6amps @ 230v .

But i think a twin series booster for the Evolution might be a more practical solution for most , unless it was a dedicated van mounted ETM .