It's official!

[Greg Cole]

After celebrating 20 years as a discount carpet cleaner (charging extra for "deep cleaning") , Pro Carpet is making the change to inclusive cleaning in it's Atlanta market. The price is the price for ALL soil levels. The "franchise project" I have been discussing for the last year + has been a red herring as I developed the marketing strategy and re-wrote 70% of our operations manuals.

We announce to our techs tomorrow.

I have decided to use our marketing budget to discuss the change and essentially condemn the type of service we have extremely well known for. This will close the door for newbies attempting to fill the void while at the same time prevent my management team from trying to get us to go back in time....

I want to postumously thank Ken Snow for his advice and guidance over the last 2 years. It's been strategy shift that I've been working on for quite some time and he helped fill in some vital gaps. Also a nod to Mike as well.

It's gonna be a fun 2014!
-Greg

 

[Mikey P]

Best news of 2014!


I bet you can sell all those beat to hell portables on TMF in a heartbeat.


So have you decided what your truckmount/van arraignment is going to be?

 

[Desk Jockey]

Congrats Greg, you should do fine with the changes. People want value at every level, you just moved up a level or two.

 

[Shane Deubell]

Pretty radical change, good luck.

 

[billyeadon]

Great to hear Greg. I bet you sleep better at night.

Will you be at Mikeys Fest? I am sure this would be the topic du jour. But then again it probably will even if you aren't there.

 

[Greg Cole]

Sleep better at night? Heh! i wish..... A reorganization of this magnitude has required a ton of work and isn't going to be an easy one as it involves untraining and retraining guys that have been contracting from us for years ( one of which just celebrated 20 years! I wish I could be at Mikeysfest but I am going to Carnival instead. Perhaps Mike should have Mikeysfest 2015 in Rio?

Great to hear Greg. I bet you sleep better at night.

Will you be at Mikeys Fest? I am sure this would be the topic du jour. But then again it probably will even if you aren't there.

 

[Desk Jockey]

It might sound cruel but I think I'd dump them rather than waste the effort trying to re-train. Its never worked out well for us anyway.

 

[Out of Character - 0]

Greg, best of luck!

 

[Greg Cole]

It's not cruel at all. And a portion of them won't survive tomorrows changeover meeting. However, as of right now I have 46 techs in Atlanta. Completely impossible to dump and train that many new people. My ops manager will be working every day to manage this change. It's fun in that our hiring model is being turned up on it's earg.

It might sound cruel but I think I'd dump them rather than waste the effort trying to re-train. Its never worked out well for us anyway.

 

[Greg Cole]

We are taking your advice. (I prefer not to annouce as to keep all the vendors that read this daily from calling me) We will begin purchasing in 2nd quarter.

Best news of 2014!


I bet you can sell all those beat to hell portables on TMF in a heartbeat.


So have you decided what your truckmount/van arraignment is going to be?

 

[billyeadon]

It might sound cruel but I think I'd dump them rather than waste the effort trying to re-train. Its never worked out well for us anyway.

I have to agree with my favorite huckleberry on this subject.

Glad I reread this before posting. Huckleberry auto corrected to hackberry. Could have been bad.

 

[Desk Jockey]

Hey I'd understand....well.....

 

[Goomer]

Good luck.

What were the main reasons that led you to this decision??

 

[Greg Cole]

Simple. It's a change I've been wanting to make for years. Just didn't have the infrastructure to support it.
SFS made a lot of sense. I attended it in October 2008 and started working on it. A change of this magnitude to a company my size requires a ton of work and VERY smart people working to pull it off.

A little over 5 years later it is coming to fruition......


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[Desk Jockey]

I imagine, that's like starting over.

You are or will be crazy when its done!

 

[thecleaningdude]

Sounds like a big change! Congrats!

Quick questions if you don't mind:

What happens to your current marketing strategy? Will you reflect the new inclusive pricing in your coupons and on your website?

How will you handle the remaining inbound calls from those wanting to book using your previous coupons and promotions?

Simple. It's a change I've been wanting to make for years. Just didn't have the infrastructure to support it.
SFS made a lot of sense. I attended it in October 2008 and started working on it. A change of this magnitude to a company my size requires a ton of work and VERY smart people working to pull it off.

A little over 5 years later it is coming to fruition......


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[truckmount girl]

Damn, I'm really happy to hear this! I still remember our meeting!

Take care,
Lisa

 

[Greg Cole]

The previous marketing strategy has been shelved. The new inclusive service will be in everything we do. I have dedicated the bulk of ad money into mass media ( radio and billboards). Print will be entirely phased out by 2016. We will be handling them delicately and employing a strategy that i won't be sharing publicly. While I understand everyones curiosity, I can only answer so much without giving away proprietary secrets.

Sounds like a big change! Congrats!

Quick questions if you don't mind:

What happens to your current marketing strategy? Will you reflect the new inclusive pricing in your coupons and on your website?

How will you handle the remaining inbound calls from those wanting to book using your previous coupons and promotions?

 

[Doug Cox]

It seems to me that starting a whole new company and phasing out the old one would be the easiest way to change over. I agree with Richard, it would seem kinda difficult to break people of bad habits, especially when the boss set the standards in the first place.

 

[GCCLee]

It seems to me that starting a whole new company and phasing out the old one would be the easiest way to change over. I agree with Richard, it would seem kinda difficult to break people of bad habits, especially when the boss set the standards in the first place.

Worthy of Quoting : )

 

[Greg Cole]

Would have been dumb to start a new one and phase out a successful business model. Too many operational cost associated with trying to run two brands. Maybe easy when you are doing a few hundred grand. Much harder when you are the size of mine


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[Doug Cox]

I think you could look at from different directions. You obviously have a company with a less than positive reputation otherwise you wouldn't be changing your business model. This would be the main reason to start from square one regardless of the cost. Just my 2 cents.

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[Greg Cole]

Lol interesting perspective. Inaccurate but interesting....



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[Doug Cox]

Tell me what's inaccurate.

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[Greg Cole]

Your thought as to why I've changed the model


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[Doug Cox]

So the quality stays the same but the price goes up? Just what does "Deep Cleaning" entail?

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[Art Kelley]

K-Y Jelly is involved.

 

[Greg Cole]

Nope. Price up. Regardless of soil level . No extra charge . 100% satisfaction or re cleaned / refunded


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[Doug Cox]

Are you staying with porties?

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[Greg Cole]

Currently Only 35% of our guys use portys. They will be misty phased out over the next 18 months.


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