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  1. #51
    Ultimate Cleaner

    Company
    Accuclean
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    Indianapolis
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    1,371
    Quote Originally Posted by c_adkins View Post
    And some of you guys would be surprised. If any of you get a chance, ask Ken Snow of Hagopian what his techs make!
    I'm sure they make great money. As commissioned salespeople they generate the most revenue from peripherals, much like a gas station does with cigarettes and lottery tickets.
       

  2. #52
    Administrator
    admin's Avatar
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    Robert L. Allen III "Tre"
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    Truck Mount Forums
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    Virginia
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    3,317
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    bumping this stanley steemer thread up
       

  3. #53
    Ultimate Cleaner
    rjfdube's Avatar
    Real Name
    Rickie Fontenot
    Company
    Rickie Fontenots Janitorial Services
    Location
    Pensacola
    Posts
    1,149
    I worked for SS for about 3 yrs part time; they definently got everyone licked when it comes to price, advertising, and equipment. But their techs are pushed to the point of ridiculous. Their customers always call me to accomplish what they tried to do.

    Quality definently isn't their strong point. I have gone to a job where the tech was still their loading up the truck and cursing me because of his incompitence.

    The biggest difference is quality and pride of ownership.

    Rickie Fontenots Janitorial Services
    211 W. Devane St
    Pensacola, Fl. 32534
    Bus# 850-341-9405 Fax# 850-549-3069
    www.rickiefontenotsjanitorialservices.com

       

  4. #54
    Moderator & TMF Repair Expert
    Ara Klujian's Avatar
    Real Name
    ARA KLUJIAN
    Company
    Peter Klujian Carpet Co.
    Location
    Chicago
    Posts
    1,738
    Quote Originally Posted by Rob Allen View Post
    Ya'll make some good points but I see SS in many a nice areas. I rarely see them in low class neighborhoods. Also I'm not saying I want to be the largest but there success cannot be disputed. Just curious to how they we're able to reach such a dominant state. They must be doing something right!
    Rob.
    Rob, come to Chicago. I see them in the ghetto and really bad neighborhoods. I think they try to tackle every class of consumer.

    What ever happened to Service Master? Weren't they bigger than SS at one time?
    HORSEPOWER!!!
       

  5. #55
    Cleaner Addict

    Real Name
    Ryan Jones
    Company
    Coastal Cleaning
    Location
    Corpus Christi
    Posts
    81
    I worked for them for 7 years. I started off as an assistant and moved up to running dispatch and ended my time with them as a full time commercial sales rep doing about 600-800k of commercial cleaning and water restoration. Some jobs we charged an arm and leg and other jobs we didn't but I was always honest and up front with our pricing and expectations.

    I think you guys have pretty well grossly exaggerated how they run things. Never once and I mean never once have I seen any one in management including myself preach or plan the premise of bait and switch. The 99 dollar special is typically a 4 room clean only. Prespray, pretreat attention to detail was always included. They don't price things by the sq.ft like most of you guys do. They price per room with a limit of 300 sq.ft per room. The pricing is probably more down the middle or average than you think.

    Everyone "upsells" you do it we did it and its how you make money. It was always about educating the customer on protection and so forth never about cheating anyone out of their hard earned money. We all want to do a 140 dollar job and add on enough extra work or spray on's to get up to 300 bucks. Just like you guys we gave up front pricing before anything additional was cleaned or protected...

    "maim (scotchgard sales pitch) it'll be 25 a room and we can do that right now". If you were ever found to have added to a ticket without the customers approval you'd have been pulled off a truck in no time. A full time guy running a truck can make up to 16% if he consistently adds on protection, deo or furniture yada yada.

    We did a ton of volume. 40-60 jobs a day and sometimes as much as 100 a day. Divided up between 10-16 trucks. Quality, despite what you guys think, was a huge issue. You cannot have a customer call back rate or "redo" rate above 3% or you're back down to an assistant.

    As far as advertising goes its not a third of what you guys think it its. Nationally they do TV which is nice but thats the larger extent of what they do. The largest branch I worked for which was Dallas, didn't advertise over 2k a month total above that national TV advert. Once they cross promoted with the Cowboys but that only lasted one year.

    We cleaned tile and grout with the same bonnet and gecko as you guys use. Most of us took the same IICRC water restoration and structural drying classes as you guys did.

    At 35k a year with full health insurance and paid vacation you don't end up with that many bad seeds. Usually there are a good solid 10 or so guys who make up and above 35k a year and they do decent work. Then there is a revolving door of another 10 or so guys who just don't get it but thats a result of having a big business not how management runs things. The bigger you are the bigger your revolving door is but the longer you stayed the more money you would make on requests. Being requested by name is something they really concentrated on.

    One of the real advantages you guys have is the diversity in chemicals and how you tackle a job. We were always limited in what we could do or offer because the size of the company was always a legal liability.
       

  6. #56
    Elite Cleaner

    Company
    Enviraclean
    Location
    Zebulon, NC
    Posts
    479
    I also doubt if there is a franchise owner who bought one so he could clean carpets himself. I would imagine it is like buying a McDonalds you probably learn to flip burgers but theat isn't what the owners job is. Just like MDs sells a $1.00 dbl cheeseburger and they sell a ton of them but there are always lines out the door of the mom & pop place that has a great product with a loyal customer base even though they charge 3 or 4 times that for their burgers.
    Bobby Hales
       

  7. #57
    Cleaner Addict

    Real Name
    Ryan Jones
    Company
    Coastal Cleaning
    Location
    Corpus Christi
    Posts
    81
    Quote Originally Posted by Bobby View Post
    I also doubt if there is a franchise owner who bought one so he could clean carpets himself. I would imagine it is like buying a McDonalds you probably learn to flip burgers but theat isn't what the owners job is. Just like MDs sells a $1.00 dbl cheeseburger and they sell a ton of them but there are always lines out the door of the mom & pop place that has a great product with a loyal customer base even though they charge 3 or 4 times that for their burgers.
    Just FYI over 60% of their franchise owners started off at techs in their regular branches.

    BTW I'm not trying to sound like a Stanley Steemer apologist but its not as bad as organization as some make it out to be. They've helped the industry more than they've hurt it.
       

  8. #58
    TMF Hard Surface Specialist
    JStafford's Avatar
    Real Name
    Joe Stafford
    Company
    Eco-Clean
    Location
    TN
    Posts
    390
    I love that SS cleans tile and grout. I picked up 4 new customers this week because SS cleaned their neighbor's house and they didn't want the same results their neighbor's received. I am making good money off of their advertising. I just hope they keep advertising T&G in my area...
       

  9. #59
    Elite Cleaner

    Company
    Enviraclean
    Location
    Zebulon, NC
    Posts
    479
    Ryan you missed my point I don't think he wanted to continue to push a wand. He wanted to own a business, but with their business model I don't think that includes him still on the truck every day. I was just trying to make a comparrison thats all. Oh and BTW most McDonalds owners started out working in one too.
    Bobby Hales
       

  10. #60
    Hall of Fame Cleaner

    Real Name
    Ray
    Company
    Technicare
    Location
    Ohio
    Posts
    370
    I live at the hub of Stanley. I never bash them to my clients because just like anywhere else, they have good techs and they have bad ones. Being here I can tell you I probably get more business because of some of their practices. They seem to send a lot of salesmen instead of well trained techs. Im glad they are here.
       

  11. #61
    Super Moderator & TMF Carpet Cleaning Specialist
    Jason Whaley's Avatar
    Real Name
    Jason Whaley
    Company
    A+ Carpet Cleaning
    Location
    Durham, North Carolina
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    3,965
    Blog Entries
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    How is this for name recognition? I was cleaning a house yesterday and letting my kids play with the Flip. I got my oldest to record me cleaning at times during the job. I was viewing those videos this morning and came across this one that I had no knowledge of.

    [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dxrgiTHtOo"]YouTube - Video 29[/ame]

    They see the commercials all the time on TV and even come up with their own little jingles but if a child knows what they do they have to be one of the most "known" carpet cleaners in the US.

    I wish I only had their name recognition!
       

  12. #62
    Legend Cleaner

    Real Name
    Lisa Wagner
    Company
    Piranha Marketing & San Diego Rug Cleaning Co.
    Location
    Arizona and San Diego
    Posts
    272
    Less than 22% of the $5 billion cleaning industry is handled by the top 9 franchises ... in fact, they whine in their own publications that local cleaning is dominatedby local independents.

    It's even more lopsided in restoration ... Servicemaster is huge billion dollar company (yet just about $300m in cleaning/restoration gross revenue) - by the way Stanley Steemer is $420 million in 2007 with 80% of that cleaning revenue - and with SM half of that is restoration work and rebuilding ... (they are a $3.5+ billion operation but have 9 companies last time I researched from Terminex to Trugreen etc) ... but franchises in our field also complain that the restoration field is extremely fragmented - and again MANY of the restoration claims are getting split up between a whole bunch of independents.

    The advantages of the franchises are consistent image and branding and messaging ... and hopefully consistent operations and service. And they have built strong relationships with large national insurance companies to generate referrals - which is a sticky situation because technically insurance companies are not supposed to recommend anyone. They do ... just carefully.

    But if you have your marketing systems in place, you can get those claims first - if you want them.

    Stanlet Steemer ... they do a good job ... it's just not the type of operation I choose to run. And I certainly would not be paying $40K - $400K to acquire a franchise in the restoration field. But that's just me.

    the rug chick,
    Lisa Wagner
    Last edited by LisaWagner; 07-02-2009 at 12:34 AM.
       

  13. #63
    Administrator
    Rob Allen's Avatar
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    Robert Allen,Jr.
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    Dry-N-Clean
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    Quote Originally Posted by LisaWagner View Post
    Less than 22% of the $5 billion cleaning industry is handled by the top 9 franchises ... in fact, they whine in their own publications that local cleaning is dominatedby local independents.

    .......

    the rug chick,
    Lisa Wagner
    This should be very encouraging and motivating for us independents Lisa. Thanks for the insight.
       

  14. #64
    Legend Cleaner
    ECOPRO's Avatar
    Real Name
    Joseph Torrez
    Company
    Eco-Pro Carpet Care
    Location
    Inland Empire, CA
    Posts
    234

    Heavy is th..

    Heavy is the head, of who wears the crown. Mcdonalds or Claim jumper???
    The man who stands for nothing, will fall for anything.http://ecoprocc.com
       

  15. #65
    Cleaner Addict

    Real Name
    J
    Company
    Carpet Cleaning Co.
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    97
    Quote Originally Posted by locko-fabara View Post
    Hey guys,

    I have a copy of stanley steamer's bill (year 2007)for a residential job for over $2200, and I also have a copy of the bill from other guy (same job) it was a little bit over $1000 (this bill was from last month), SS were charging for cleaning, deodorize, protecting, area rug, landings, I do not even remember what else, but they were trying to get money from everything, and that is why I think If they can take advantage of you, they will do it.

    Sometimes I am tempted to show the clients the SS's bill to show them that I can do same job but for a lot less.

    BTW, Sears is almost same thing. One room 14x16, the bill was $170, they pre sprayed, extracted with a portable, 20 minutes (total time) and bye. The person who told me this also told me they did a terrible job.

    Locko-Fabara

    Jaime,

    Sears is pretty big here in Houston as well. I had no clue they were even in the cleaning business until I started seeing their trucks. I don't know if this is just a Houston thing or if they're going full-bore across the U.S. They already have name recognition, so I see no reason why they wouldn't successful.


    Kind Regards,

    Jose
       

  16. #66
    Ultimate Cleaner
    Rob Lyon's Avatar
    Real Name
    Rob Lyon
    Company
    RML Services/ DBA. Clean Force One
    Location
    Pocono Northeast Pa
    Posts
    533
    Blog Entries
    4
    I can't believe this post is still going, I like some else in the above post started as a tech (Crew Chief) I alredy had franchise support experience and 7.5 years later I was running a million and a half cleaning company that was 80% cleaning. Lots of headache's, but lots of good times as well!! I would not take it back for a second, it helped me get to where I am today, and I am very blessed for that!!
    Pocono carpet cleaner,Pocono Water Damage Restoration
       

  17. #67
    Master Cleaner

    Real Name
    Steve Lillard
    Company
    Lillards Carpet & Rug
    Location
    Huntersville, NC, Ann Arbor, MI
    Posts
    126
    The tile its the first 100 sqft for $99 and .50 aft after that! and .50 aft for sealer
    Steve Lillard
    Supreme Commander of Clean!
       

  18. #68
    Master Cleaner

    Real Name
    Steve Lillard
    Company
    Lillards Carpet & Rug
    Location
    Huntersville, NC, Ann Arbor, MI
    Posts
    126
    The tile its the first 100 sqft for $99 and .50 aft after that! and .50 aft for sealer

    Cleaners hate them because they are making more money than they are!!
    Steve Lillard
    Supreme Commander of Clean!
       

  19. #69
    Legend Cleaner
    NuTech Carpet Care™'s Avatar
    Real Name
    Pat Patton
    Company
    NuTech Carpet Care™
    Location
    Southern Oregon
    Posts
    283

    making good money with a franchise

    Quote Originally Posted by TheEyeball View Post
    I don't have any figures, I just know that an awful lot of my customers call me because Stanley Reemer couldn't do a good enough job. Oh, and there is absolutely no way their techs are making $40k to $70k a year. We aren't dummies here, just so you know.
    I can honestly say.. I worked for chemdry. I operated two franchises by myself jackson and josephine counties. One van two differant sets of invoices. I worked an average of 14 to 16 hours a day 6 days a week for many years.. I pulled in average of 48k a year some weeks I made $1800. others as low as $700. and right before major holidays I would pull in $2900-$3600 in one week.. I thought I was rich for the state of oregon... I was making more than 80% of the entire job market median. But.. I always did an awesome job and increased his business by over 42% in the first year. becuase word of mouth. I still have most of those customers to this very day.
       

  20. #70
    Administrator
    Rob Allen's Avatar
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    Robert Allen,Jr.
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    Dry-N-Clean
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    Quote Originally Posted by NuTech Carpet Care™ View Post
    I can honestly say.. I worked for chemdry. I operated two franchises by myself jackson and josephine counties. One van two differant sets of invoices. I worked an average of 14 to 16 hours a day 6 days a week for many years.. I pulled in average of 48k a year some weeks I made $1800. others as low as $700. and right before major holidays I would pull in $2900-$3600 in one week.. I thought I was rich for the state of oregon... I was making more than 80% of the entire job market median. But.. I always did an awesome job and increased his business by over 42% in the first year. becuase word of mouth. I still have most of those customers to this very day.
    So did you opt out of the franchise Pat?
       

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