What industry up-sell did you embrace, equip and educate for, only to decide it wasn't a good fit for you and later moved on from?

[Mikey P]

Pet stain or odor treatment
Anti allergen treatment
HVAC or dryer vent cleaning
Fabric Protectors
Grout sealer
Color sealer
Drapery cleaning
Small scope restoration
Anti Slip treatment
Scratch-B-Gone for stainless steel
Window cleaning
House cleaning
Rotary extraction
Use of fans to leave the carpet dry
Doormat sales
Specialty stain removal
Stay Clean programs
Stretching and repair
Topical sealers for hard surfaces
Color or dye repair

and or?

 

[Jim Pemberton]

Clarity:

Is the issue the fact that it is an "on the job upsell" that you are asking about, or that each item on that list is something that you believe does not work?

My feedback (as a non-cleaner, to be fair)

The days of chasing a person around the house to convince them to spend several times more than they expected are closing quickly. Consumers are much more wary, much less available while the cleaner is at the home, and far more likely to eviscerate someone on social media or with poor reviews afterward.

With any add on service, I've always used what I call "The end of the month review"

That is, how does the customer feel about the additional hundreds....sometimes thousands....that they spent after the thrill of the initial experience (if any) has passed.

If I may also add:

Today, seniors are sometimes still be victimized by aggressive upsell tactics. God pity you if their children or caregiver gets wind of them being taken advantage of in today's world as well.

 

[Mikey P]

Is the issue the fact that it is an "on the job upsell" that you are asking about, or that each item on that list is something that you believe does not work?

Many listed do have value, but may have turned out to not be right for someone.
I'm more interested in what services that someone went all in on in regards to education and equipment to sooner or later decide to stop offering said service, and why?


Thanks for asking Jim

 

[Cleanworks]

Pet treatment
Anti allergen treatment
HVAC or drier vent cleaning
Fabric Protectors
Grout sealer
Color sealer
Drapery cleaning
Small scope restoration
Anti Slip
ScrathBGone for stainless steel
Rotary extraction
Use of fans to leave the carpet dry
Door mat sales
Specialty stain removal
Stay Clean programs
Stretching and repair
Topical sealers for hard surfaces
Or?

Carpet dying, didn't have the eye for color. Hardwood floor renewal before it became so popular.

 

[BIG WOOD]

vacuum sales
stay clean stupid program
HVAC only for the fact that it's a business model of it's own
and just like Ron said above, hardwood "renewal"

 

[roro]

Of those we ran with only dye & colour repair haven't given a good return.

 

[Rob Grady]

Ceiling cleaning

 

[BIG WOOD]

I

vacuum sales
stay clean stupid program
HVAC only for the fact that it's a business model of it's own
and just like Ron said above, hardwood "renewal"

I should've tried to sell vacuums to the other carpet cleaners, instead of the homeowners who never vacuumed, lol

 

[Luky]

Pet stain or odor treatment
Anti allergen treatment
HVAC or dryer vent cleaning
Fabric Protectors
Grout sealer
Color sealer
Drapery cleaning
Small scope restoration
Anti Slip treatment
Scratch-B-Gone for stainless steel
Window cleaning
House cleaning
Rotary extraction
Use of fans to leave the carpet dry
Doormat sales
Specialty stain removal
Stay Clean programs
Stretching and repair
Topical sealers for hard surfaces
Color or dye repair

And or

After dabbing at pressure was soon realized that 3400 psi pressure will not do it.I had a fun in the sun and got ROI in the first week, but still, it's portable to truck mount comparison.

 

[Papa John]

Air ducts
Emergency spot cleaning-- below our regular minimum charge.
vacuum sales
Ceiling cleaning
RO and softener water treatment systems for the homeowner.
Home Health inspections-- Air quality testing
tile cleaning- stone cleaning-- 2 past attempts.
I guess I'll start my 3rd after winning the Multi-surface cleaning manual.
And Hopefully NOT my latest-- VLM... I need to market this shit.

 

[BIG WOOD]

Emergency spot cleaning-- below our regular minimum charge.

I tried doing that too,

That didn't last a month before I thought about how stupid it was to drive out of the area I was servicing that day (30-45min one way) t0 clean a few spots for pennies on the dollar

 

[Jim Pemberton]

An industry guru....long since gone to his reward....admitted to me that he made a lot of his marketing stuff up and was often amazed when some of that stuff really worked.

 

[Doug Cox]

Drapery cleaning. I’m basically down to carpets and upholstery.

 

[Brian H]

Ceiling cleaning

That's the first one that came to mind for me as well.

 

[The Great Oz]

Color repair - twice. About twenty years apart. Nothing wrong with this for rentals and commercial accounts. Our customers were just too picky to accept "better but not perfect" results.

Stretching and on-site repair. Customers griped about the cost of repair, even when we did it at a low hourly rate. They seemed to be fine paying a "specialist company" twice as much.

Drapery cleaning (in shop) was profitable until the combination of solvent regulation and changing home furnishing styles made it unprofitable, but this service wasn't an upsell.

Grout color seal. We were dubious about how long the product would last, and lucky enough to have sites like Mikeysboard to hear about what a "flipper hack" this turned out to be. Never got into it.

For us, the only on-site add-ons easy enough for techs to mention are sealants/protectents and pad/repair for area rugs. OOs would have better overall awareness and do a better job of selling other services, but it's hard enough to find guys that do great work and can be likeable.

 

[Mikey P]

Color repair - twice. About twenty years apart. Nothing wrong with this for rentals and commercial accounts. Our customers were just too picky to accept "better but not perfect" results.

Stretching and on-site repair. Customers griped about the cost of repair, even when we did it at a low hourly rate. They seemed to be fine paying a "specialist company" twice as much.

Drapery cleaning (in shop) was profitable until the combination of solvent regulation and changing home furnishing styles made it unprofitable, but this service wasn't an upsell.

Grout color seal. We were dubious about how long the product would last, and lucky enough to have sites like Mikeysboard to hear about what a "flipper hack" this turned out to be. Never got into it.

For us, the only on-site add-ons easy enough for techs to mention are sealants/protectents and pad/repair for area rugs. OOs would have better overall awareness and do a better job of selling other services, but it's hard enough to find guys that do great work and can be likeable.

Great stuff!



Selling the invisible rarely goes the distance...

 

[Lee Stockwell]

DuPont Master series

 

[SamIam]

Color sealing, Natural stone honing and polishing.
Airducts, portable steam cleaning apartment aka free Willie's whole life story.

 

[SamIam]

DuPont Master series

That was the biggest joke.

The test kits were pretty cool.

 

[SamIam]

That's the first one that came to mind for me as well.

We almost tried that, something like bleaching popcorn ceiling white

 

[KevinD]

DuPont Master series

I was thinking the same thing along with Sylgard.

 

[MM&S]

Pet stain or odor treatment
Anti allergen treatment
HVAC or dryer vent cleaning
Fabric Protectors
Grout sealer
Color sealer
Drapery cleaning
Small scope restoration
Anti Slip treatment
Scratch-B-Gone for stainless steel
Window cleaning
House cleaning
Rotary extraction
Use of fans to leave the carpet dry
Doormat sales
Specialty stain removal
Stay Clean programs
Stretching and repair
Topical sealers for hard surfaces
Color or dye repair

and or?

I went to Braddock PA when Cliff Zlotnick was doing fire, water, and deodorization certification schools. Him and Gary Loiben. Duct cleaning was just getting going and I bought a unit from Cliff. Never used it . However I have used the knowledge and intuition I learned that week for 35 years.

 

[Jim Pemberton]

I went to Braddock PA when Cliff Zlotnick was doing fire, water, and deodorization certification schools. Him and Gary Loiben. Duct cleaning was just getting going and I bought a unit from Cliff. Never used it . However I have used the knowledge and intuition I learned that week for 35 years.

Cliff was THE pioneer in disaster restoration and odor control.

Many of the concepts he taught are being used today still.

He is one of the very few people who has been mine and my father's friend for 50 years now.

 

[MM&S]

He changed my life. Gave all of us his home phone number in case we had a serious problem.
About a year later I got a fire and had to restore an antique doll collection. I called him and he walked me through all the tedious (and profitable) steps to accomplish the task. He helped my with an art collection owned by one of the presidents of the world bank at the time.
I never would have developed the confidence necessary to take on those jobs without his guidance.

 

[icleancarpetz]

over the years I’ve wasted money on a few tools of the trade and chemicals that don’t work. Now sit on the shelf.
I’ve learned to stick with what works and not be so quick to buy the latest greatest.

one area I will always be grateful to have learned from the best…carpet repair. every tool and video packs purchased for carpet repair gets used. And of course on the cleaning side very grateful to have learned from the best guys like bill y, Jeff cross.
almost forgot add Jim P to the list for his sharing uph cleaning tips and tricks.
hand buffer and ultra mist spray bottle are used often.

 

[Willy P]

Color repair - twice. About twenty years apart. Nothing wrong with this for rentals and commercial accounts. Our customers were just too picky to accept "better but not perfect" results.

Stretching and on-site repair. Customers griped about the cost of repair, even when we did it at a low hourly rate. They seemed to be fine paying a "specialist company" twice as much.

Drapery cleaning (in shop) was profitable until the combination of solvent regulation and changing home furnishing styles made it unprofitable, but this service wasn't an upsell.

Grout color seal. We were dubious about how long the product would last, and lucky enough to have sites like Mikeysboard to hear about what a "flipper hack" this turned out to be. Never got into it.

For us, the only on-site add-ons easy enough for techs to mention are sealants/protectents and pad/repair for area rugs. OOs would have better overall awareness and do a better job of selling other services, but it's hard enough to find guys that do great work and can be likeable.

The one time I met you was after some colour correction class in Vancouver. The gent that taught the class was Jim something or other from Americolor if I remember correctly. Langenwalter made bank doing colour corrections, stain removal and dyeing in the Vancouver area.

 

[The Great Oz]

The one time I met you was after some colour correction class in Vancouver. The gent that taught the class was Jim something or other from Americolor if I remember correctly. Langenwalter made bank doing colour corrections, stain removal and dyeing in the Vancouver area.

Oh, that was YOU!


(JK) Maybe Ernie David?

 

[The Great Oz]

Cliff was THE pioneer in disaster restoration and odor control.

Many of the concepts he taught are being used today still.

He is one of the very few people who has been mine and my father's friend for 50 years now.

Yup, that kind of guy.

Most will never know his contribution to the industry because he's never looked for attention. I pushed for Cleanfax man of the year honors; I hope he was at least amused when he got it, but he never mentioned it

 

[Willy P]

Oh, that was YOU!


(JK) Maybe Ernie David?

That was me. It was at some Greek restaurant on Marine Drive. I showed up with Lee Senter . And you're right, it was Ernie David.

 

[Mikey P]

Selling (any) topical sealers on floors that don't need that intense level of protection is becoming all the rage, and it's a HUGE mistake!
If you make a mistake with the application, the cost is going to be very detrimental to your bank account and your reputation.
Sealers/protection for the most part have always been a way to bring up your cleaning price to what it should be in the first place, in a very unethical way.
In just few cases do floors and fabrics need sealing (natural fabrics and absorbent stone), and this porcelain floor in no way needed anything applied to it.
Teach your clients how to properly maintain their floors instead of selling them the invisible promises, and stop the nonsense before you get seriously financially hurt.