New Bridgepoint Wool Line at DC Rug Tour We will have demos of the new Bridgepoint Wool line. I think it is really cool that we can have Paul Lucas of ChemMax and Scott from Bridgepoint at the same event. We had to decide if we wanted to do what was best for the organizers or what was best for the Rug Washers. I am really please that we all agreed to do what is best for the Rug Washers. Even Dusty is telling people to leave their checkbooks at home; this is about learning, not about buying. If you can get the rugs clean, ID the rugs and win big on marketing that is a lot more important than buying stuff. If you are a 3rd generation cleaner with a Mor plant go to Texas but if you are building your business and want to learn from the best in the business this is the weekend for you. If this was not the right time for you we hope to announce the next Rug Tour soon. Best wishes, Barry O’Connell http://www.SpongoBongo.com
I am thrilled that I have begun learning from your particular circle, Barry. You guys seem to foster the best attitude I have observed from such a learned group, considering the interaction I have had with you. Even some of the ideas expressed in the above post-- I am so thankful for you and Paul and Steve. I will continue as long as you will have me, and believe your collective attitudes will bless you all beyond your goals with these endeavors.
Thanks MrCarpet, Great to see you on the Wednesday night webinar. The old way of doing things was keep it close, charge well, and don’t ever let your customers hear a good word about competition. Now we are trying a wide open model, teach people for free on the Internet and for as little as possible in person, don’t try to sell them anything and always try to help them to be more successful. It should not work, it is completely counter intuitive but all of us are benefiting from it. I don’t even market to rug and carpet guys but the more I give the rug guys the more I make everywhere else. Completely nuts but it works. Paul makes great products and Bridgepoint makes great products. They should be at each others throats but Scott let us know if we needed help with the seminar Bridgepoint and Interlink were there to help. Paul returned the favor by inviting Scott to bring the new line of wool products to the Rug Tour. These guys are smart enough to know their real competition is ignorance and bad chemicals. So many guys are buying junk at the dollar store and turning out second rate work when for a very minor amount they can decrease work and increase quality. If a top quality gallon of juice is $30 (roughly) and it will do six 9 by 12s that is $5 a rug. If you are at $3 a square foot which is the lowend that is $340 on a 9 by 12. Five bucks worth of juice on a $340 sale is 1.5%. Your real cost is labor. So if you can decrease time and improve quality the cost of the quality juice like Bridgepoint or ChemMax is nothing. In fact when you factor in time it is more profitable to use the best. By using Bridgepoint Wool Medic or ChemMax Urine PreTreatment you may be able to clean a run in 1/3 the time of the old vinegar treatment on a really stinky rug. I guess I am rambling but by sharing instead of completing we all make out better including the Rug Washers. Best wishes, Barry O’Connell http://www.SpongoBongo.com
Awesome, just awesome. I guess a few little guys with big ideas (and brains don't hurt) really can change the world. I will be attending all events possible, and I want to help any way I find that I can. Lewis Black, the comedian, is in my city tonight, and my wife and I have floor seats. But I will not miss many from now on, I am riveted!
I was at interlink yesterday looking at the new wool chemicals. Any info you can share about the new chemicals is appreciated.
Looking forward to the DC event as well... and agree with everything Barry said, except the last comment about vinegar. While that may be true in a wash pit, on a wash floor when you dunk a rug with buckets of vinegar, it does not need to soak much at all before you go into the wash process. When you have larger plants, and you are buying bulk chemicals, then it gets you down to literally only pennies a square foot for the acid portion of the work. That said - in isolated applications, I agree that stronger application in specific areas would allow quicker rinse/remove of the contaminants if someone does not have a wash floor operation and is working in a small transitional wash pit. I'm looking forward to seeing all the products - I want to give the info to our network on what to buy. I appreciate all these players coming together, and I'm looking forward to meeting you in person Barry, and learning from you on rug ID. =) Lisa
I ordered Wool Medic for a urine contaminated rug, and it just came in last night. Sometime in the next few days I will be trying it, and I will be happy to share my thoughts. I heard from someone else that it might be a little difficult to rinse out, but I will form my own opinion. I have heard overwhelming support for LST (Low Surface Tension) from Chemmax as well, BTW.
Lisa, Meeting you is a great honor. To have someone like you come to our weekend is a big thrill. But forgive me for a few observations: You are an experienced master cleaner, not just by certifications but by years of real world experience. I honestly believe that you with a bucket, hose, brush, and driveway can out clean most people that I know. So you are in a class by yourself. Picture what we used to call a 9x12 Heriz “gagger”. By that I mean when you open it for pre-inspection you gag from the smell and the urine salts are crusty white and very visible. Many rug washers can clean that rug 3 times and the odor is still noticeable. I am sure you can handle it but the average guy is going to do a better, faster, easier job with a “strong acid” pre treatment than with vinegar. But this is just talk on a message board. I asked Hadeed’s to save us the worst rugs they get for us to clean and since they do 30,000 rugs a month I hope we get some gaggers. We can stack up the results and maybe even get a little smile from you. BTW I do not get a penny from Bridgepoint or ChemMax. Paul sent me some hand soap and a quart of Barry Juice but the stuff has my name on it and I don’t get a commission. I was going to ask Scott for a Bridgepoint or Interlink hat but I forgot. For everybody else Lisa and Jim Pemberton have the best training program in the country and I highly recommend it. Get your name on the list as there is a waiting list and the class sells out in advance. Humble and lovable Underdog (Barry) http://www.SpongoBongo.com
I am trying to build a library of reports about the Bridgepoint wool rug line but they have not been out long enough to get a lot of feed back. Plus I don't have time to type it all into this box. But send me an email to remind me, and I will send you the information I have on the wool rug line.
One thing I might be able to add to the mix would be how to market and "train" clients so that you don't end up getting the "gaggers" - because that tends to come from customers who put off cleaning the rugs because they don't want to pay for the work. As my friend Jim says... "You get the customers you charge for." In other words, when you price yourself low, you tend to get dirtier, smellier, orders. When you are higher priced you tend to get clients who want to keep their textiles in great condition, and will bring the rug in after one accident, and not wait until there's been 27 in the same area. So Barry, that may be the difference... perhaps I'm just not getting the gaggers... but others might also want to have a business that doesn't get them either. =) See you soon!!! Lisa P.S. My point of the post was in a wash floor you can full soak and decontaminate quicker than in a pit. And we can also adjust the vinegar from 3% to 5% if we need to easily. Actually, buying 98% glacial acetic, we can cut it to whatever level we want to - we've just never found much more than the 3% generally needed. Though we do have Milgo SR on hand when there seems to be a tougher than normal rug odor to handle. Now that I know about these "gaggers"... I'm happy we happened to structure ourselves so we don't get those. Honestly, I don't see how that is any different than taking in sewage work. Bleh! =)
Hi Lisa, You amaze me sometimes, I am never sure if your shop is in San Diego or Oz. You don’t get very dirty rugs and never ones that are badly urine stained. It must be nice LOL The worst rug I ever saw came into Washington DCs top rug gallery. It was horrible and the well dressed man who brought it in explained that he had to put his mother into a home and get rid of all of her cats. It was an older but not quite antique Heriz rug and clean it was worth about $8,000. It was sad because not only did he have to take care of a badly soiled rug but he had to deal with the worst part of elder care. Now that I am twilight of my days I dread the prospects of a long gradual decline. I would much prefer to go quickly rather than rot away slowly. We have a longstanding family tradition of dying of natural causes at 63. I think it would be great to make it that long. As for the DC shop we are going there next week for a reception. I think you will see that even a carriage trade rug shop can get some pretty bad rugs. Best wishes, Barry O’Connell http://www.SpongoBongo.com
When is this DC rug tour, and is it open to the public? I have a small carpet cleaning company and would love to go for info and to learn, fairly new at this game. Mike
Hello, The program is next weekend Feb 10 – 12. The charge is $600 1st person, $300 2nd and $150 for each other from the same company. I think the rooms are sold out but call Sue for cancelations or if you don’t need a room. Call Sue: CHEM MAX CORP 6479 Norton Center Drive Norton Shores, Michigan 49441 Phone: 231.798-7980 1.800.858.7237 Best wishes, Barry O’Connell www.SpongoBongo.com
Just wanted to share from a cleaning perspective, that when you move from low price to higher price in our industry, you attract a different type of clientele, and rug owners who value their oriental rugs more to care for them regularly. Interestingly enough, the group that tends to care least for their rugs are many of the collectors, and they hate to pay for cleaning also. We don't see the gaggers though... and I'm happy about that! Lisa
