Steve Toburen recently talked with SFS member John Mapes of ECOSTEAM in Sycamore, IL about his new “retailer referral program”, My Flooring Warranty(MFW).  SFS site readers can now easily “partner” with their local carpet stores with the turnkey MFW program.

At a glance …

• This program lets your “retailer” include a FREE 12 Month Spot and Spill Warranty (SSW) on all their installations.
• You service the SSW free of charge but in return receive an almost guaranteed customer.  (Less than 1% of home owners will ever use the free SSW service.)
• The MFW software puts the entire referral program on “auto-pilot”.
• You, the carpet cleaner, are now “co-branded” with the carpet manufacturer and retailer.
• John Mapes is offering a special discount to SFS website users.

ST: So John, what is your background in carpet cleaning?

JM: Well, Steve, I’m a relative newcomer.  I bought my first truck-mount from Jon-Don and attended SFS in September of 2003.  My wife, Mary Lynn and I started out small with a home office.  But even though our Chicago market is jam-packed with  cleaners we’ve still added two truck-mounts per year.  So now after 8 years in business we have 11 service vans, 3 support vehicles and 16 wonderful full time employees.

ST: Wow, John, what do you credit for your very impressive growth?

JM: Well, Steve, attending SFS right from the git-go was huge.  Thanks to Strategies we obsessed over consistently delivering Value Added Service. We also built our Business Infrastructure using the SFS Operations Manual as a guide.  Then in 2007 we started marketing to flooring retailers which gave us a big boost.

ST: So you how did your My Flooring Warranty Program come about?

JM: Basically our flooring retailer programs were too darn successful!  Seriously, our relationships with local carpet stores grew so fast that the logistics just got totally out of control and super expensive.  So we streamlined every single thing so the referrals would come in on “auto-pilot”.  This required investing in some very sophisticated but user-friendly software.  We launched our new retailer program, My Flooring Warranty, in 2009 and have spent the last two years tweaking and improving it.  By the way, Steve, around here we just call it “MFW” for short!

ST: Works for me!  So how did your retailers respond to your new MFW program?

JM: Steve, they loved it!  In fact, here in Chicago we have carpet stores literally begging to sign up with our My Flooring Warranty program which means we get referred automatically to all their clients!

ST: Numbers, John.  Come on, give me hard numbers!

JM: Fine.  Ecosteam’s referrals from the My Flooring Warranty program now directly provide over 35% of all our new revenue and are approaching 20% of repeat revenues as our new MFW retailer referrals become our repeat clients. Even better, with MFW our cost to market these consumers has dropped from 12% with our old way of doing things to 2.7% of gross sales.

ST: That is incredible, John.  I don’t know of any carpet cleaner that gets new clients with a 2.7% marketing cost.

JM: After I watched our retail partners embrace the reborn MFW program I realized just how powerful it was.  The key was systematizing and automating most aspects of MFW so the referrals just come in on auto-pilot.  This lets my employees focus on other things.  MFW was exactly the right investment at the right time for Ecosteam.

ST: OK, so exactly how does the MFW program work?

JM: It’s very simple.  Step #1- MFW teaches you which flooring retailers to approach, how to approach them and what their “hot buttons” are. In Step #2 you “partner” with these carpet stores through our exclusive 12 Month Spot and Spill Warranty program that the retailer includes for free with every sale! So of course your carpet stores will love it!  I mean- think about it.  You are giving a local retailer a dramatic way to differentiate themselves from the big boys like Home Depot and it costs the carpet store nothing!

ST: I like it so far.  But John, you have mentioned the phrase “auto pilot” several times.  What’s up?

JM: Simple.  We found MFW had to be simple and easy for the retailer, the carpet cleaner and the home owner.  So we install a unique “portal” icon on YOUR website home page where your retailer partners enter all the homeowner contact info for every installation they do.  Then the system works automatically- neither you nor the retailer have to do anything!  The MFW software automatically sends the home owner 2 reminders.  One goes out just before the consumer’s free 12 Month Spot and Spill Warranty expires.  MFW reminds the homeowner to renew their warranty and the only way they can do this is by the MFW Service Provider cleaning and reapplying ScotchGard!

ST: So that’s where the carpet cleaner grabs them as a long term client by reminding the home owner that they are “almost out of warranty”!  Now I’m loving it!

JM: Exactly!  MFW adds a sense of urgency into the mix!  Plus we also contact the home owner again about 10 months later after the first reminder to remind them that they must have their carpets cleaned to keep their manufacturer’s warranty in force. The key here, Steve, is that MFW “co-brands” the flooring retailer, the carpet producer AND the cleaner together.  In the homeowner’s eyes you, the carpet cleaner, are now a seamless part of their flooring purchase!  The MFW program just hums away automatically in the background collecting data and communicating with all parties involved.

ST: I’ve got to say this all sounds really good, John.  I really like the “auto-pilot” part.  I’ve seen great marketing ideas crash and burn just because the carpet cleaner gets busy and neglects them.  Where were you and your MFW concept when I was in business?  Probably not born yet!  (Laughter)  OK, let’s cut to the chase.  How much is all this going to cost a carpet cleaner?

JM: The initial signup amount for MFW is $1595.00 plus you pay $175.00 per month for your first retailer.  Retailers 2-5 cost $125.00 each per month and then after your fifth retailer you pay only $75.00 each per month.   But you don’t have to pay beyond that first retailer till you actually have the account signed up.

ST: OK, John, with everything you are including the initial price sounds reasonable.  I was choking a bit on the monthly amount but now I’m thinking out loud. Even at $175.00 per month if the first retailer you sign up is doing just 20 installs per week that means your marketing cost is only going to be around two bucks for each homeowner referral.

JM: And your cost per client cost goes down the more retailers you get on board, Steve.  Go ahead and do your math.  (Pause for calculations.)

ST: Wow, John, I need Chuck Violand here with his calculator!  So let’s see if I have this right.  If I get ten Retailer Partners and each of them is averaging just 20 jobs a week I’m going to have over 10,000 new client referrals a year at around a dollar per lead.  That’s probably the best marketing investment for a carpet cleaner I’ve ever seen!

JM: You’re right, Steve.  Chuck would be proud of you!  And remember that these new clients are coming in on “auto pilot”.  MFW gets the leads and keeps you in contact with no effort on your part.  And IF the cleaner does a great job as I know all your SFS site readers do then they’ll keep this customer long term and all for a dollar or two initial marketing investment.

ST: OK, OK!  I’m convinced, John!  But you know I drive a hard bargain for our SFS site readers.  So can you “sweeten the pot” here?

JM: Steve, I can’t think of a better group of people to roll this program out with than cleaners who are already up to speed with SFS concepts. I firmly believe SFS is the ‘”cream” of the industry.  And I KNOW that our MFW program will be a “game changer” for any carpet cleaner!  So I’m going to make this exclusive offer to SFS website readers:

Everyone who signs up using the Promotional Source Code “SFSsite” will receive a:

1. $250.00 Jon-Don Gift Certificate as a gift from MFW plus a …
2. 10% discount on the monthly program fees which will be an ongoing savings that over the years will add up to thousands of dollars in savings and …
3. We’ll even give your SFS site readers an extra free thirty days after signup to get their retailer referrals flowing before they start paying any monthly MFW program fees.

ST: That is very generous, John.

JM: Wait a minute, Steve.  There’s more!  Just because I owe much of my success to SFS I’m going to kick in a special $100.00 cash discount off the start-up fee.  Everyone who uses the “SFSsite” Promo Code will get the $100.00 SFS discount even if they haven’t attended Strategies for Success yet.  Just type the phrase “SFSsite” in to the Promotional Source Code box and they will be good to go!

ST: Heck, John, keep talking and I may go back into the business!

JM: We really, really want our carpet cleaning Service Providers to start getting leads immediately.  So we’ve made everything “easier to do it right than to do it wrong”.

ST: Where have I heard that before?  (Laughter)

JM: For example, we give all new MFW members a FREE starter pack worth $295.00 with all the MFW sales material needed to get their flooring stores signed up right away.  We’ll also provide a list of flooring retailers in each service provider partner’s area. I personally am absolutely committed to our Service Provider’s success.

ST: So what you are telling me, John, is that MFW is a complete, turn-key package with everything included- marketing materials, paperwork, contracts, personalized web development, everything and the effective initial SFS price subtracting the $250.00 Jon-Don gift certificate and the 100 buck “SFSsite” discount is $1245.00 and our readers will get the first month free?  Am I right?

JM: You got it, Steve.  The only thing we can’t deliver is the “fire in the belly” for a cleaner to get out there and tell their retailers about the MFW program.  But we’ve found at Ecosteam and our beta test sites that once flooring retailers learn you have the MFW program they start coming to you wanting to partner up!  Plus our MFW team is always a phone call away for support and help.

ST: They better be, John.  You know I am like a mother bear with her cubs when it comes to “my” SFS site readers!    If I recommend someone they better deliver!

JM: We will, Steve, we will.

A Note From Steve … In 15 years with Strategies for Success I have never personally endorsed a product.  And I have no financial connection with John Mapes or MFW.  However, I am very impressed with John and his vision for MyFlooringWarranty.com

We’ve had the “12 Month Spot and Spill Warranty” concept around SFS for a long time.  But John has transformed this great idea into a turnkey package.  Why reinvent the wheel?  So I strongly recommend that our SFS website readers check out the My Flooring Warranty concept.  

Steve Toburen

PS If you go with MFW don’t forget to type in the Promotional Source Code “SFSsite” for your SFS web site $100.00 discount. Or just go here and all your SFS discounts are already calculated.   John tells me he will also honor the “SFSsite” code if you call MFW at (866) 294-0689.

A note from Steve:

Everyone gains from attending our Strategies for Success seminar.  Some excel and a few actually change their lives for the better with the vision they take away from SFS.  (Many of you are in this process right now and that is why Jon-Don provides this web-site.)

Meg Burdick attended our Langhorne, PA SFS seminar back in September of 2009.  In just a few months the Burdicks have made some tremendous changes in what was already a good business.  Even better for all of us, Meg has been kind enough to keep us up to date on her progress.  I’ve asked Meg to periodically up-date us on how she and John are doing “down in the trenches” of the professional carpet cleaning industry.  I think you will find her comments engrossing reading.  Thanks in advance, Meg!

Steve

PS  Wanna stay up-to-date with “Meg’s Story”?  Click HERE to subscribe to an RSS feed that will let you know when we post the next “installment” of “Meg’s Story” and other fresh content.

Hi Chuck, Bill and Steve,

After attending SFS, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking and talking with my husband John about what things we should change and roll out.  While to a point I’m anal in tracking certain things, there are other things I know we should be doing and aren’t.  (I should say things I know we should have done a long time ago, but haven’t!)

Strategies for Success was a fantastic seminar, but I’m sure many SFS graduates go home energized and then the momentum wears off (failure to implement) over time.  If only Steve, Chuck and Bill could come home with us and be there to push us forward everyday to help us stay accountable!  That way we wouldn’t get caught up in daily tasks that take us away from (as Steve says) “working on the business instead of in it.”

As happy as we are with our growth and the changes we’ve made over the past couple of years, I know it could have been even better.  So here are some things we have either started doing since attending Strategies for Success plus more that we are planning for 2010.  For example …

I just started working with someone to help us with our ratings on Google etc.  He said he’ll be making recommendations for the changes in the content to help out with the ratings (which includes copy writing and proofing) – so it’s on the radar.  However, we certainly are interested in hearing what else all of you have to say and will incorporate those ideas.

Meg Burdick
Burdick’s Carpet & Upholstery Cleaning

Steve’s comment:  You’ll be delighted to know, Meg, that Big Billy is rolling out a brand new one day seminar on March 23 at our Tampa Bay location called Dominate your Local Area on Google. Andres Tobar, a young SFS graduate will be teaching the class. Following the recent St. Pete SFS Andres wowed Big Billy with his self-taught knowledge of the web and especially SEO. We immediately asked him to do a workshop on these sorely needed subjects. Andres is willing to share this knowledge and show people how they can do optimize their sites themselves without having to hire an outside firm.

See the full listing of “Meg’s Story” bulletins from the field.

We mean business.

1. The money and more importantly time lost learning that you have been “taken to the cleaners” over and over and over again …
2. The lack of trust caused by #1 which makes you so gun-shy you won’t even take help from people who live by this saying- “Your success is our success- it is that simple.”

So to calm your doubts please focus on these true-life experiences.

Complete Listing of Success Stories

• You just never know who is calling ... March 1, 2012
• Donley Services "cleans up" in St. Louis! December 29, 2011
• Facing the challenge of hiring your first tech? (Part 12) November 17, 2011
• "SFS is a great course for ANY service industry business!"- Zach Knight October 27, 2011
• "Becoming more efficient and productive"- Spring Stuart-Walker September 29, 2011
• "A first class event from beginning to end"- Rick Massimi September 16, 2011
• How Mac W. Skiver found "Sawadee" at SFS! August 24, 2011
• "What a great feeling to have more than enough work!" Eric Blessit July 25, 2011
• "SFS opened my eyes"- Marcus Taylor of Modernistic July 7, 2011
• Tom Barr uses SFS concepts to "clean up" in restoration. June 22, 2011
• Meg's Story: Hiring a carpet cleaning tech ... again! (Part 11) June 1, 2011
• Positive changes on the horizon: "I can't wait ..." May 13, 2011
• Meg's Story Directory April 19, 2011
• "SFS changed my life"- Brad Macauley April 11, 2011
• Patrick Thompson's path to new residential clients March 18, 2011
• David Gargan discovers "cleaning freedom"! March 2, 2011
• "Thank you for helping me put pride back in my business and life"- Ed Voce February 7, 2011
• How I promoted my carpet cleaning business at my BNI group by ripping Steve Toburen's stuff off! March 29, 2010
• Mike Lamunyon transforms his restoration company with SFS/VAST! March 15, 2010
• A 17 year carpet cleaning veteran with a multi-truck fleet transforms his company after attending SFS! February 24, 2010
• Opportunities abound everywhere for selling professional commercial carpet cleaning! February 4, 2010
• Larry Holder- Regency Carpet & Floor May 9, 2009
• Jon O. Fields- RestorePro, Inc. April 15, 2009

I’ve been diligently tracking our numbers etc. over the past two years.  This year I really looked at how much of our business was repeat clients vs. new customers.  I keep spreadsheets for BNI referrals, current customer referrals, direct mailer and the newspaper article we were featured in this past September.  Those three things totaled 50.6% of our business in 2009.

NOTE:  I didn’t include new business from our website/Google, yellow pages or the IICRC/CRI website, so it would actually be even more.  I have to go back through the invoices and break out that information too.

This is the first time I looked at the numbers this way.  I was really shocked once I did the calculations.  It was quite eye opening.  I had always assumed more of our business was repeat work.  I need to go back and do the same for 2008 to see if we had that much new business then or if it was more repeat and if this is the “trend”.

I thought for sure it would have been a higher percentage of repeat customers.  I’m both excited at the percentage of new business and what that means for us going forward, but also scared that we might not be able to keep attracting business at this rate.

So, my question is, where do we go from here in terms of strategic planning?  Are these percentages industry average?  While we have a core group of customers have cleaning done yearly, I’d say most wait 2-3 years. (Is that typical in the industry? ).  How does the 2-3 year cycle play out and how should we be looking at things and planning knowing that?

Steve’s comment:  I think you folks are actually even better than typical, Meg.  First because you actually know your numbers (most don’t) and are willing to work on them.  (Few will.)  I think your 2-3 year wait time is about average given the recession plus the fact as we learned in SFS that as carpet cleaners we are a “Tolerated Irritation” in the customer’s home.  So they put the carpet cleaning off!  So you should continue to keep in contact with the client with your newsletters, postcards, etc and my guess is the sheep will be returning to the fold soon.

I know we need to do better at keeping in touch with our existing client base to encourage more repeat business.  We have been focusing on that this past year with newsletters, cards etc, but we’ve only been doing that for about a year.  When can we expect to see results from that?  Any other suggestions for marketing to our existing clients so they don’t just fade away?  While we would love for the new customers to continue at this rate, we don’t want the old ones to fade away, and if the new customer stream dries up, we would be in trouble!

Bill’s comment:  Meg, you are one smart lady. You need both old and new customers. The cumulative effect of your regular postcard and newsletter mailings should show up this spring. Continuous mailings stimulate top-of-the-mind awareness. According to recent studies 90% of our decisions come from our subconscious minds. The repetitive nature of these mailings creates these impressions. You should also be building your hub markets such as retailers, real estate firms, vets, janitorial firms etc. Developing a sale route is a great use of slow times as well as busy times. Another SFS graduate, Tom King of Indianapolis, has developed his routes using Microsoft Streets and Trips. I will be adding a short tutorial on this subject to SFS. Hopefully you can stop by our upcoming Langhorne SFS and I will show you how it works.

See the full listing of “Meg’s Story” bulletins from the field.

Greg Cole

Thank you SFS!

In October 2008, Jon-Don gifted me the Strategies for Success (SFS) seminar due to the amount of money I had spent with them over the previous couple of years. Always looking for a reason to play hooky, I decided to invest the week and attend.

After 16 years in business and with dozens of people working for me, I went to SFS believing that I knew everything there was to know about the carpet cleaning business. However, attending Strategies was a humbling experience!

The first day addressed finances. Chuck Violand broke down Profit and Loss statements in a manner that made incredible sense. He provided financial benchmarks for me to bring home and apply to my P&L. He even discussed pricing modules.

The second day at SFS covered marketing and advertising with Bill Yeadon. He did an excellent job and made a lot of sense. Bill made marketing a lot of fun and it was a much welcomed break from the financial side on Day One!

The crown jewel came on Day 3 when Steve Toburen sauntered in. He began to discuss operations with a passion that I had never seen before. The strategies, systems, and ideas he brought to the class were pure genius. I must say that I left SFS with my ego bruised but with about 30 things I wanted to implement into my business. In fact, by using just two of the ideas I learned from Steve at Strategies for Success, I increased my gross business in 2009 (in the middle of the biggest recession the US has seen since the 1930’s) by well over a million dollars!

The real gem was that by implementing a couple of the strategies I learned from Chuck I also increased my overall profit margin by 9%! Thank you to all the instructors at SFS. Thank you to the gang at Jon Don for having the foresight to sponsor a seminar like Strategies for Success!  And thank you for reading this!

Greg Cole
President
Pro Carpet of Atlanta & Tampa

Note from Steve:
Here are just two of the concepts that Greg used to transform his business:

Ten Essential Strategies for Success in a Tough Economy

Up-Selling On The Home Front

The downloads are free. Focus on these SFS ideas and who knows, your business Success Story might be profiled here one day too!  Remember that “Your success is our success!”

Now the “gasoline” that keeps all three of your SFS instructors moving forward is our daily communications with our over 2,000 SFS members.  For example, Big Billy Yeadon and I recently received this e-mail from SFS members Larry and Elissa Holder.  Notice how well the Value Added Service principles we espouse in SFS worked for this very successful couple:

Bill and Steve,

I had planned to be at SFS this week as an alumni. The work schedule has changed my plans. I wanted to send you this email because it is applicable to the experience of SFS. Please use this story in any way that either of you feel will be helpful to someone. The main lesson in this story is to remember to leverage the everyday relationships that you already have. These events took place over the last 9 months. They are now coming to maturity.

Last April Elissa and I attended a surprise 60^thbirthday party for a lady who led our church youth group when we were teens. We saw people that we had not seen in 30 years. One of our former classmates was retired from the navy. He had been the chief engineering on a ship. As we talked he told me that he is now the chief facility engineer for a complex of 4 high rise office buildings in downtown Atlanta. The tenant for this complex is the U.S. government. He had my full attention!

So I began talking to my classmate about my business and asked for an opportunity to meet with him. He told me, “Don’t bother. The tenant is the U.S. govt. It is very difficult, if not impossible to come in as a new service, besides, what little carpet cleaning is being done is done by the janitorial staff”. We talked a bit further about our respective careers and moved on.

A month later we attended a reunion. My “commercial prospect” and his wife were also there. Though I talked to him I did not talk about my business or my desire to service his building. I do not want to be the guy that no one wants to talk to at a social event because I am always selling something! I did not hear from him for a few months. He had my card. He knew where I was and I was biding my time … waiting.

In August I finally received a call from him. One of his staff members had cleaned an office and had “ruined it”. He asked if I could inspect the area and consult on how to fix it. Turns out it was just excess detergent residue. During this visit I was able to meet on of the tenant’s department heads. The following week I was called by that tenant to measure her floor and give a cleaning proposal. Her floor is 33,000 square feet. This is only 1 of 22 floors in that one building! Our proposal was accepted!  Hooray!

But now comes the issue of getting a federal security clearance. Sigh!  Myself and anyone who would be working in the building would have to pass a very extensive federal background check by the U.S. Marshall’s service and the Department of Homeland Security. It has taken several months to get the clearance. We have the security clearance and we are beginning work this weekend!

Additionally, I have visited the facility 3 more times to measure and give proposals for other departments. Yesterday I had a conference call with the most recent department and that proposal was accepted. Further, the facility engineer introduced me to the engineer of another U.S. government site in Chamblee, GA. We are to be the Preferred Provider. Even better, I have been told that our services are needed in the remaining 3 buildings of the initial complex.

The icing on the cake… We are now only carpet care service provider with the required federal security clearance to work in all of these facilities.

Remember, all of this work and future work came from a conversation at a birthday party.  2010 is going to be our break out year! In addition to the above story, there are many other great prospects underway.

Larry Holder
Regency Carpet and Floor Care
www.regencyfloorcare.com

ON FIRE FOR 2010!

PS  from Steve:  My thanks to Larry and Elissa for sharing.  This story just shows the need to keep moving forward.  The big advantage for Larry is that while it can be a pain in the rear getting on with the government you have to really screw up to lose the account!  Fortunately, inertia works two ways!

But more importantly, over the years we have sent 16 of our employees to Strategies for Success, most of whom are still with me years later. (#15 and #16, Jorge Simental and Colten Sims, just completed SFS training in Garland, TX.)

SFS and the VAST course between them have given our staff the very best understanding and culture available for our company here in central Kansas. You cannot imagine the effect that this training has had on our operations over the years.  We always budget to spend at least 2% of our total sales on education and consider it money well invested.

Now our entire company has the same culture and the same understanding on how to take care of the customer. We all have our “Customer’s Eyeglasses” on and know how to interact with agents, adjusters, etc. Thanks to SFS concepts we now have more caring, sympathetic employees who can empathize with those who are traumatized from a devastating loss in their home or business.

I also know our bottom line has improved thanks to SFS concepts . We promote the idea to our referral sources that our people are not only technically trained but also have specific customer service training to deal with those who have suffered loss so adjusters will often recommend us over other companies.

I would strongly recommend SFS and the VAST course.  Invest the $$$ and give your people the proper tools to work with. Don’t even think about sending them out on a restoration job without giving them the proper training in the Emotional Dynamics of the loss.

Many THANKS to Jon-Don for giving us the Strategies for Success (SFS) and Value Added Service for Technicians (VAST) seminars.

The Lamunyon Cleaning & Restoration Team

I had tried and failed in the past to develop good employees but it always ended in frustration. After hearing about Strategies for Success I got my hopes up again and went through the week long class. What an eye opener! Everything I needed to build a “real” business was there!  I learned the importance of “the numbers” from Chuck, marketing from Bill, and most importantly systems, polices and procedures from Steve.

Long story short?  I went to work “on my business instead of in it” and in less than 5 years I was off the truck!  I also bought my own building for a shop (which also has a rental house on the property for income) and my business is now running 3 vans!

SFS has also given me some great benefits in my personal life. Working the truck alone all those years caused 2 ruptured disks in my neck with surgery being the only way to fix them. The problem was to recuperate I would have to be off the truck for four to five months!  So for 10 years I just dealt with the daily pain.

But after building my business with the concepts from SFS I had the surgery and my business continued on without a hitch thanks to the systems I had put in place. To be pain free after 10 years of living with daily agony is a benefit I can never put a price on!

Another benefit from SFS is the quality time I get to spend with my family. My nights and weekends are now free and even my time during the week is very flexible. I’m what I call a “cupcake Dad ” at my two son’s school. I’m always available to bring in cup cakes and snacks on special days that the teacher has for the kids and I help out with events.

So I am always the only father there at the school along with all the moms because all the other poor dads are working!  I have also been a chaperone on many class trips and I get to attend many school events that occur during the day.

I am currently in the SFS “Business Sale Preparation Process” for when and if I decide to retire. All the tools I need to make a totally turn-key business are found within the SFS program. Thank you Steve, Bill, Chuck and everyone at Jon-Don for your truly life changing Strategies for Success seminar.

David Gargan
Eco Clean Carpet Solutions

I attended SFS in 2007 after starting a one man carpet cleaning business. I didn’t even have my first customer yet! I had spent the previous 20 some odd years in automotive retail management. At 58 I was exhausted and I knew I had to do something if I ever wanted a decent retirement.  (Or even being able to retire at all!)

So there I was in the Strategies for Success seminar (the oldest guy in the room except for Billy Yeadon!) with only the experience of attending a carpet tech class at Jon Don a month earlier. Remember, my goal was not to clean carpet … it was to retire!

I sat there and the first thing that got my attention was a dude who was introduced as being a past owner of a successful carpet cleaning company. He sold his company … retired and now lives on a tropical island!  Instant connection!!  How did he do that? Maybe if I learned his secret I could do it too!

I never really learned all Steve Toburen’s “secrets”!  But I did learn the things that you must know if you are going to be successful in this highly competitive business. SFS was not only fun for me to be a part of but was also my “basic success training”. As a result, growing my business over the last four years has been fun and I have met so many fantastic people.

So what does “Sawadee” mean? …… In the Thai language it means “hello” or “goodbye” and must always be pronounced with a smile. I am saying “Sawadee” because I will be retiring to Thailand this year!

That’s right- I was recently married in Thailand! I am also smiling because the young man who is taking over the day-to-day management of my company is attending SFS!  So I will be able to retire with my beautiful wife and live part time in Thailand and also in Florida knowing that my company will continue to grow.

Some say I was just lucky and of course I recognize that I was truly blessed. As Papa Nick always says I found out that “the harder I worked the luckier I got”!  So if your desire is to live your dream it will start for you at Strategies for Success!

Mac W. Skiver
MacDaddy Pro Clean, Inc.

Yesterday was our fourth weekly meeting with Paul.  So far we have been doing activities for Paul helping him and us both to get to know our business better.  We are also analyzing our business as a whole.  We aren’t going to have our written business plan in place until we have a very clear picture of where we are (and that includes in comparison to our competition).

To date John and I have reviewed why we are in this business to begin with?  Why did we start and why do we continue?  What is our purpose?  And guess what, it’s NOT to give people clean carpets … but once again we knew that already!

We have also  examined any significant changes that have occurred in the lifespan of the business.  What prompted them, how did we feel about and handle the changes (did we roll with it or was it painful?).  We also identified  changes in customer behaviors and buying patterns and tried to project what changes we think will be happening over the next three years.

You know, Meg, I think many of your readers would be interested in hearing what Paul, John and you come up with.  There is no doubt that big changes are afoot in the buying psyche of the American public.  In fact, I just turned in a two part series for ICS magazine on how to work with the new price-conscious, in-your-face “haggling” Value Shopper. Steve

Next we did a competitive analysis.  We identified our direct competitors, their strengths and their weaknesses along with ours.  When I was a corporate trainer we encouraged our sites to analyze themselves by asking three questions.

1. What am I doing well?

2. What can I be doing better?

2. What/How can I learn more?

This activity Paul suggested reminded me of that.  It let us see what we are doing well so that we can continue it.  It probed us to identify what we could be doing better (and this doesn’t have to be a weakness, but just something, anything we can improve upon, no matter how small.  Incremental improvements count!)  The third part is figuring out what we need to learn to be able to do better?  (Attend SFS again, learn about new services and add them, get more IICRC certifications, take a class on Quickbooks, research software that can streamline our schedule and invoicing).

Last week we took a task that both John and I do and developed a work flow chart.  This was done to get us to think about our systems and procedures (that are currently in each of our heads) and go through the task of getting it on paper so that we can have documentation which will be used to train others.

Meg, in SFS we call this very challenging flow-charting an “in the journey is the reward” task!  Lot’s of work but at the end of it you will find some very obvious answers that may have eluded you for years.

I know a lot of this is done for us already in the 600 page plus Operations Manual we received at the Strategies for Success seminar, but we don’t do everything the same way as others so we need to create a procedure manual specific to Burdick’s Cleaning.

We are also creating the job description for the lead technician position we need to hire for soon.  Again, we relied heavily on the information in the SFS manual to help us do this, with a few tweaks to tailor it to Burdick’s Cleaning.  (It sure is nice to not have to re-invent the wheel by having SFS resources to refer to).

Yesterday we developed our organizational chart.  Seeing as right now it’s just John and I, it wasn’t all that big of a chart!  We listed the tasks that each of us does.  We then began working on our 3 year plan.  We are taking 2010, 2011 and 2012 and identifying the achievements necessary for each year in the areas of 1) volume of business, 2) strategic  changes (add new business segments), 3) geographic area serviced, 4) facilities changes, 5) cleaning equipment needed, 6) staff changes (including key staff positions needed and other staff needed) and finally 7) what should the owner’s role be?

In other words, what needs to be done each year to achieve the goals we have already set.  Armed with this information, we are going back to the organizational chart to see what tasks John and I would still be in charge of and who we will need to add to our organizational chart so that we can achieve the goals on our Three Year Plan.

Wow, Meg, you two have been busy!  Keep us posted on your progress as many inquiring minds want to know!  Steve

See the full listing of “Meg’s Story” bulletins from the field.