Do more cleaning while you are already on-site!

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make-more- money-while-you-are-on-siteWinter can be a bummer! (Well, DUH, Steve!) Residential calls can be slow (super charge your winter business HERE!) and winter driving is treacherous. Yet those pesky bills keep coming in! So what can you do…

Do MORE work while you are already in your client’s home!

Here’s how to “clean up” from each and every job:

  1. Pre-orient your client’s on their Additional Service Options. (ASO’s)
  2. Do a good job (another big DUH here!) while also delivering Value Added Service. (HERE is how to train your techs in Value Added Service.)
  3. After the cleaning (but BEFORE you roll up your hoses) mention to the homeowner that you can also clean their tiled floors, shower or tiled counter tops while you are there.
  4. Then offer to do a sample area at no charge.  (A small entry way makes for a great sales demo AND delights your client!) Since the hoses are still in place it is quick and easy to do the demo and once the customer sees the contrast you will almost always have an ASO!
  5. Do the four steps above ON EVERY JOB and never stop!

Offering tile and grout cleaning as an ASO is a no-brainer!  Fast, easy, low additional equipment cost, little competition and home owners LOVE taking care of everything on one visit! Plus if you get into the home through the T & G then you flip-flop the above process! (Maybe the best ASO is “re-applying” Scotchgard.)

Bonus HINT: This same 5-step demo technique works fantastic for the neat ASO of renovating your client’s garage floors. Want even more ideas on Making More Money from each job? Just CLICK HERE!

Restoration TIP: Before leaving your delighted Insured why not offer to sign ’em up for your Stay Beautiful residential maintenance plan HERE? (Which can also include their tile and grout!)

Commercial TIP: Get new residential customers in winter while making your commercial accounts look like heroes with this “slow season” gift card idea HERE.

Steve

7 thoughts on “Do more cleaning while you are already on-site!”

  1. Steve, Scott Rodgers here. Can we clean any type of shower enclosure with hot water extraction or just tile and grout enclosures? If you are not sure, where can I find info on this?

  2. Not sure I understand the question, Scott. But a basic rule of thumb is the smoother the enclosure (as in high gloss plastic or fiberglass) the more pre-agitation with a pad or brush you’ll need to do. So the hot water will serve more as a rinse. Any more questions we’ll bring in the “Big Gun” of Big Billy Yeadon.

    Steve

  3. So it sounds like we can clean all types of shower enclosures (plastic, fiberglass, tile etc etc). Are there any types that we would harm by cleaning with hot water extraction? I was just thinking about a plastic enclosure that was glued on etc. Would the heat from hot water extraction affect the glue? So, would you recommend promoting that we clean all types of shower enclosures or are there any we should stay away from or would you only promote cleaning Tile and grout enclosures?

    Also, I sent another question to SFS@StrategiesForSuccess.com regarding cleaning garage flooring. I am assuming you also get these?

  4. Scott,

    Actually shower enclosures such as tile, marble, granite are very lucrative. Soap scum can be removed easily using a product such as Dupont Stone Tech Restore.

    This is an acidic product and can damage marble, limestone and travertine. Do not use it on these products or you will DAMAGE these materials. Use Dupont Revitalizer or KlenzAll for great reults.

    For other materials such as ceramic tile any of these products can be used. Hot water will not cause any problems.

    Great market.

    Bill

  5. Bill, thanks for your comments. Very helpful. Not to beat a dead horse here BUT can we clean PLASTIC or FIBERGLASS enclosures? If yes, what product should be used? Seems that we do not see a lot of tile surrounds in my area until the price of the home is above $300,000. Do you have a recommendation on how to price these jobs?

  6. I just pulled a bonehead mistake. I was out bidding commercial jobs, and had a small restaurant ask for tile cleaning. I have new tile equipment, but haven’t put much thought into pricing yet and wasn’t prepared to bid on it. I looked online for a couple of minutes but couldn’t find any pricing to go by…so I threw out .30 cents sf total for a tile/carpet area of 475 sf tile and 350 sf carpet. She liked that price and asked about grout. In the excitement I pulled $50 out of the air and she immediately agreed on $250 for cleaning all the carpet and tile, and sealing grout. After getting home and realizing the gallon of grout sealer cost $45…and was later told by an ex cleaner I should have charged .75/sf to clean the tile PLUS $1/sf to seal the grout. I now want to cry. I obviously know I way undercharged, but are those prices I was told realistic? That sounds hard to get a tile job at those prices.
    newby in trouble

  7. I feel your pain, gr4474! You are definitely low. I’ll let others who are out there every day working tell what is the “going rate”.

    But hey, you COULD view this as on-the-job training where they are paying for your materials and you are even making a (admittedly small) amount per hour. So get in there. do a great job and LEARN from it.

    Best wishes and let us know how it went.

    Steve

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