[Phillip Mold]

 
Just for those who think they might join - I have had two enquiries this morning, a e.mail from the NCCA Site - Booked £140 clean then a call from someone who looked up the NCCA and rang me from my entry on there- £110  clean booked.

In 2007 I got seven jobs together worth nearly £1000 as a direct result of membership.

[Mike Halliday]

and I went a year and got not 1 single enquiry

[carpetmas5]

I always find the NCCA pays for itself, and our van sign writing pays us back time after time, took the day off to do paper work & VAT a month ago and got 3 Jobs from the van that day!

[davep]

What is the current cost of membership?

[Shaun_Ashmore]

I was in for 5 years and not 1 enquiry but the founder members are also in my city so make of that what you will :

Shaun

[Straker Cleaning]

I am a lager man whereas Shuan, you sound like a bitter man  :

[Ken Wainwright]

Well done to you all. The NCCA can only supply referals, but you still need to convert them into sales.

NCCA Membership fee, at present, is £192.00 plus the V.A.T

Although there is no guarantees for referals, my impression is that with all the efforts the Association has put into their marketing and media work, the numbers for referals have increased significantly over the last 3 years or so.

Another benefit of NCCA Membership.

Safe Happy and Prosperous New Year
Ken

[ianharper]

what people forget is that maybe many of the jobs that came direct to them where influenced by the membership. maybe its the cleaners that explain what membership means and promotes it in their marketing and that does not mean just sticking the logo on everything that benfit the most out of membership.

How many that have bothered to ask their their prospects if the decision had be influenced by membership?

If you in your marketing message big up the ncca you are indirectly bigging yourself up. and it sounds much more sincere. -)

Respect

Ian Harper

[Ian Gourlay]

If only i could find time to take upholstery exam  I would join

Mainly because of the recent efforts of Ken

Maybee that will get 5 extra marks

[Ken Wainwright]

If I was still a Director Ian, I'd give you a passmark on your reputation alone, plus a nice little "handshake" :

Seriously though, think of any quality training as an investment in your business.

Safe and happy cleaning
Ken

[mark shannon]

I did the training in 2006 and with 20 yrs exp i still learned a fair bit.
NCCA membership has more than paid for the training and the member fees. I wish i joined years earlier and the leaflets they supply are a great sales tool.

[Ian Gourlay]

Ken.

Im sorry to hear you are no longer a Director, I was impressed by the way you peromoted the NCCA last year.

Ps what is the answer to cleaning a suite which has gold paint on the material?

[Ken Wainwright]

Don't worry Ian, I'm still involved as an enthusiastic volunteer   I needed a better life/work balance so something had to give.

As for the gold paint, I use Vim or Ajax, agitate with a Black and Decker fitted with a coarse wire brush, then absorb it out with a poultice made from builders sand and nitro-glycerine But you wont find that in the "official" manual

Safe and happy cleaning
Ken

[Bennie25]

Careful Ken some one might actually do that to remove a coffee stain!!

[Ian Gourlay]

As they say do  not try that at home.

Or in Sombody elses.

On a more serious note

With Derek also  taking a back seat I think its a shame NCCA Directors do not take an interest in Forums because in my opinion across all the Forums the real enthustic cleaners who pass tips and share banter daily use the Forms. And most love the industry

[Kinver_Clean]

Go down to Woolies and buy a few cans of xmas gold spay paint 1/2 price in the sale and give the lady a new gold suite.

Trevor

[Ken Wainwright]

Ian,

You raise a very valid point on which I would like to comment.

For NCCA Directors, contributing to internet forums is a difficult issue. Likewise for manufacturers. Not only would they be giving personal advice and opinions, but much could wrongly be regarded as NCCA/Manufacturers standpoint or policy. It is wrought with problems and ultimately, many forum members will remember what they regard as negatives and fail to recall positive points. The NCCA and manufacturers end up losers.

I hope Derek Bolton shares my view on why we were different.  When I joined the NCCA's Board of Directors, Membership was static. Our roles within the Association were primarily concerned with IT, Marketing and Media (initially Derek and later myself) and membership (me initially).  With the knowledge of the board, we decided to embrace all that the forums had to offer our industry and keep ourselves involved. Basically, we took the Association to the industry on a daily basis rather than meet them every two years at the Cleaning Show. We initiated the Technical Roadshow format which started with an event I organised at Dowding and Plummer in Birmingham. This format has been developed to now include Factory Visits and the NCCA Technical Workshops. I would suggest that this programme has been a contributory factor in a membership increase of, I would estimate, about 35% during this time.

Our forum involvement has, as we could have predicted, been fought with perils whereby hindsight suggests we should not have become involved, but we were prepared for that. But there have been many, many occasions where we have had to keep quiet and not comment. That is VERY hard to do.

Safe and happy cleaning
Ken

[Ian Gourlay]

Ken

I am sorry to read this.

While I agree you do get negitives and without censorship it would be hard to stop.

Personally I have always seen yours and Dereks contribution as positive.



I understand the situation from manufactures and they are are welcone to contact me  or Doug if they thought there was an UNfair post.

I think what I was asking from suppliers was Knowledge not always plugging products.

John Kelly manages this very well.

[Doug Holloway]

Hi Guys

Interesting discussion.

Personally I feel the internet is here to stay and the NCCA should embrace it much more proactively.

Kens and Dereks comments are always well received and have undoubtedly raised the profile of the NCCA but so much more could be achieved with a unified CC industry .

At present we appear to have as much quality outside as inside and a strong case could be made for this Forum being as influential as the NCCA.

CC days sponsored by this forum and others have been very well attended .

Together we are stronger and can promote the whole industry through the ineternet medium.

Cheers

Doug

[*paul_moss]

Doug very good points.

Ken I would agree as others would, yours and Dereks posts are always very good and although from time to time get a little stick, but so does every bodies posts as does the industry from time to time.

Never stop posting, its a pitty Derek has gone a bit quiet these days