[Les]

Uhmm Derek,
I was being 'Suggestive' Nod Nod Wink Wink, No wot I mean   Watching me in Action...Stealing my best Techniques..Penny dropped yet?
Oh well that's another comedy script for the bin  
Les

[Kinver_Clean]

A few years ago I was spotting a suite in an upmarket furniture store in the west Midlands.
A spotty youth was pumping up a sprayer with protector in it to do a suite. The manager came across and asked if he had finished yet. The youth said he was just going to spray it when the manager told him to give him the spray. 'This is how to do it ' he said as he waved the spray at the suite. 20 seconds and it was finsihed 'come on he said Down to the pub.'

Good £120 worth!

[Derek]

Les

You made a very relevant point.....

Trevor

I think your manager came to a store here in Leicester ...this particular guy I refer to sprayed a three piece suite with his overcoat and briefcase in the other hand.

Cheers
Derek

[Shaun_Ashmore]

I don't want to get into 'dogging' but I wouldn't mind seeing an old master (no offence intended)like Derek at work.

Shaun

[Kevin_Gare]

Hi Lads
Just goes to show....THINK what your all saying. Nobody is selling or showing the department stores (i.e Furniture stores) how to spray protector plus sell it. What a lot of Business is out there just waiting for us. Just think £125.00/£150.00 per suite,per private hosehold.And £75.00/£85.00 per suite to the stores I bet you would ALL like just a couple of these a week.
Most of the customers have household Insurance new for old polices so they are covered
Happy selling   and happy spraying.
Think Clean and Spray(protect)

[Derek]

Kevin

When 3M were in the protection market dealing with retailers.... the retailers were visited on a regular basis (every three months) by designated members of the Scotchcare network to train the in-store staff.

During the visit a numbrer of items of furniture were selected and tested at ramdom... I hate to say this but many failed.

Derek  

[Liahona]

I am almost done going through these posts so maybe soon I will stop posting such old posts..... Anyway I have to make a comment on the pricing, not all the nonsense of what is or isnt covered as that is a different subject.... When I clean and protect any fabric be it carpet, upholstery, walls, stone etcetera then I charge the same for both, what ever the clean is then so is the sealant/protector. I know a few people will freak at that but if you are to follow up with spot cleaning or the like then shouldnt you be covered for that. Indeed we may say we are going back for free but bxxxxr that, I make sure I get paid for everything that I do. As the two prices combined can be quite high, if it gets too high then I offer to pay the Vat so that becomes their discount, other than that see above. To note, if we charge whatever we do for the cleaning and the chemicals cost next to nothing, why would you not charge more than the cleaning was to protect? For what its worth, when I lived and worked in California most if not all respectable cleaners charged the same to protect as they did to clean...... I still do, best, Dave.

[Kev Loomes]

Derek

Your right. There are some of us who more or less know which retailer hardly even bother to protect their suites. Its criminal but the retailer just thinks, oh what the hell - it's expensive to buy, wastes time when you could be selling, suites have to be left to dry properly - then re-wrapped, and in anycase the insurance company can sort it out if need be.

It's so wrong as it is usually mis-sold too, the custy is paying good money for something they aint getting.

I know of a good independent retailer who have a dedicated room sealed off to protect their suites - done properly, as opposed to a quick spray (if at all) in a windy warehouse!

[Steve Chapman]

all i would say is think about the long term value of your customer, i charge 35.00 to protect a suite and have no come back sin ten years and nearly every customer has it done regardless of whether they know how it works or not, just give good value for money and your customers will be loyal and think about ripping them off
regards
steve

[Steve Chapman]

sorry that should read don't think about ripping them off

[Liahona]

Steve, I think I understand what you are saying in the last sentance but my point was and is..........on your figures of 35 for a suite, it costs you 10 or 12 to do it so how is that good value for money. Thats 1 to 2 chemical to charge costs or close too. If thats the case we should be cleaning 1000 sq ft of carpet for 7 or 8 quid. I know each to their own. May I ask what you would charge to clean the suite you protected for 35?, Best, Dave.

[Ian Gourlay]

Dave.

It depends on how good you are at selling.

And how much faith the Customer has in the Cleaner.


For some reason people have Faith in their Funiture Shop and pay £150

Perhaps we should all go and buy a Suite see how protection is sold and then suffer Buyers Remorse and Cancel.


I do think the supply companies ALLTEC Prochem etc could supply a DVD for say £15 promoting protection for playing on Laptop in Customers home.

They would see rheir sales rocket.

But they donot appear to be interested.

I think Prochem  charge £95 and sell very few.  If this statement is wrong they are more than welcome to challenge me.

[Liahona]

Ian, excellent comment on all accounts. Funny how our customers listen to the people who dont know our business and tend not to listen to us...... I spoke with Alltec about promoting protection but sadly it fell on deaf ears. ....... and I use about 24 gallons of the stuff in a good month. Again funny how we can all sell carpet cleaning but sometimes struggle in selling our other services. I am spoiled and well aware of it as I dont need to sell anything to "the customer"as it has already been done for me............ Back to the suppliers and the promotional bumpf, GIVE THE STUFF OUT FOR FREE, I mean they want you to clean a room for free to get the rest of the house, welllllll, best, Dave.

[Ian Gourlay]

good IDEA,  Lasttime I asked Alltec had no  leaflets to  buy yet alone Give away

I  think  Capeteast Babara and Alan asked aswell.


 you have to do an Awesome job to get the FREE FRRE room to work.




JP told me last  night he is updating his material this year AWESOME

[Derek]

Before deciding on what figure you are going to charge the customer for a protection treatment please do check the cost of the product being applied.

Many years ago the actual cost of a 'correctly applied protection treatment' was well in access of twenty pounds. You then have to consider your own costs not forgetting a margin of profit.

3M did supply a video of a protection treatment which did work to as degree.
The problem with promotional video's they do tend to give too good an impression to the customer and raise their expectations beyond reality

[Steve Chapman]

Dave,
i normally charge around £80 to clean a suite and i'm not advocating cheap prices, but if i turn up to do a suite i normally always go away with £120 and i reason that if i have the protector there on the truck and it takes a short time to do, i'd rather be doing that than just 1 or 2 every now and then
Surely if you protecting nearly every suite you clean your making more money in the long run than trying the hard sell at £150 and getting 1 or 2?

I know in my area if people were getting to the point where they pay £150 for a clean and £150 for the protector they'd think about buying a new suite, there must be a cut off point where people wont pay it?
regards
steve

[craigp]

prochem sell leaflets outlining the benifits of there protector, im buying some, and the next time custy asks about stain shield ill give them one to read while i clean there carpets

hopfully it will do the selling for me.

[the red carpet]

Have to agree with steverjc
although it depends on where you live and what sort of customers your serving, i understand liahona only services top end.
But if you service mr & mrs average like most of us, £300 to clean and protect?
Its not value for money if the suites worth under £1000, they might as well drag it out another year and buy a new suite
i wouldnt spend £500-£600 on somthing and pay £300 for its upkeep, would you?

[the red carpet]

Have to ask, since i have never protected a carpet or suite before myself

How much would it cost us to protect 5 seater suite (chemicalls)?
How long would that take?

How much would it cost us to protect average lounge (chemicalls)?
How long would that take?

Thanks
Daniel

[Liahona]

I understand and to a point agree with all that has been said. I also understand that half a loaf of bread is better than no bread at all.... Well done Prochem, selling us something they should be giving away.....just my opinion...... Daniel, to vague a question as to many variables. Type of fabric being the biggest concern, leather, cotton, silk rayon, bird feathers, tapestries etcetera.....doesnt take long.....what is an average lounge, 300 square feet or 2000?...also doesnt take long but longer then most think if applied correctly....  are the chemicals water based, oil based, solvent based or even still silicone based? I get my "stuff"to protect from the staes but I think most solvent protectors are 40 to 50 quid a gallon but you will have to ask someone else on here who does protection. There is a chemical supplier out there that do a very good protector but it is 375 pounds plus the dreaded Vat for 20 litres, expensive but very good. I always use solvent based chemicals to protect with but water based ones are quite a bit less expensive..... Hope this helps a bit although I am sure it doesnt, best, Dave.