Mikey P said:
Next question:
Your brother in law want to enter this trade.
He knows nothing about it other than he cam make some serious chips if he has the passion.
Who do you suggest he does some ride alongs with, whaT TRUCK, tm AND CHEMS DO YOU SET HIM UP WITH AND WHAT MARKETING GURU do you have him listen to? and which ones should he avoid?
and most importantly, do you suggest he pre vacuum all jobs or just the ones that look dusty?
I was nearly finished with answering this post the other day, and I inadvertently did something that wiped out the whole answer I had typed out. Never again. Always answer using Word, then copy over. LOL So here goes…
Mikey P said:
Who you suggest he does some ride alongs with?
This sounds like a question that I would have to answer realistically. This being the case, t would have to be a local, but so the answer is meaningful here, it should be someone known to Mikeysboard people. That being the case, I would recommend to my BIL that he ask Jose Smith if he has some time to take him for ride alongs. Jose is both an active Association member and someone who is well versed in nearly all the disciplines that he might want o specialize. Jose has also “been around the block”, working for both a franchise and as an owner operator.
Mikey P said:
whaT TRUCK, tm AND CHEMS DO YOU SET HIM UP WITH?
If it was up to me, I would have him look at some good used equipment that I usually get to see before it goes on public sale. A decent dual-wand capable unit with low hours, perhaps from a user that is liquidating is frequently seen. In this economy you have a lot of good used units coming up for sale.
Chemical selection depends on the answer to many questions as there is no "magic bullet" chem, or brand. I would advise him that he limit residential cleaning selections to SOA compliant though. There's just no excuse not to. People erroneously think that efficacy is compromised, but some of the best tried and tested chems were good before their SOA approval, and remain so. This has nothing to do with the disagreements I have with the program, but purely with practical considerations. But also when it comes to particular choices, I put a great deal of faith in popularity. As a group, our customers know what works regionally, and that is evident in sales figures. I(we) are fortunate insofar as we carry most all major brands and all that have been found successful. But I also recognize that what I recommend here, in my neck of the woods, may not work nearly as well in other demographics.
Mikey P said:
WHAT MARKETING GURU do you have him listen to? and which ones should he avoid?
For someone just starting out, the fundamentals are of the utmost importance. A forms guru like Scott Rendall, who also has some substantial business plan building blocks, is the first stop. I think the business growth experts we usually dub as the sharp gurus are better left for later on down the road when one acquires enough business savvy to discern who is going to be helpful versus a waste of money. Wait on the boot camps for a while.
Mikey P said:
most importantly, do you suggest he pre vacuum all jobs or just the ones that look dusty?
This is the easiest question. You have to dry vacuum every single job. It’s a crucial step of any carpet cleaning operation to remove as much dry soil as is practical, when still in a dry state. The new
IICRC S-100 standard, which is very close to completion, places a much greater emphasis on proper dry soil removal than ever before. This essential step is not just to make the cleaning process more effective, but we now understand other benefits, such as decreased dry times are dependent on an adequate pre-vacuuming procedure. We also know that consumers use vacuums, frequencies, and techniques that cannot be depended upon to substitute for your expertise and capability. If you choose to skip pre-vacuuming, you are compromising everything you do afterward.