Nature's Quick-Dry Forum

Welcome to The Nature's Quick-Dry Forum. Feel free to post a message.

Challenger Forum
Start a New Topic 
Author
Comment
New to the forum

Hello all. I'm new to the forum and thought I'd say hello to you all. A while back I exchanged a few emails with Mark Dullea about the Challenger OP system. I'm saving up for one right now! In the meantime I've got my old trusty Oreck Orbiter (commercial version) which gets the job done, albeit in 12" passes.

I've been cleaning my own carpets and those of my rental properties (now sold) for about 4-5 years with the machine. Until recently I used the Oreck dry cleaning system. It works fine, but is prohibitively expensive in a commercial setting. I spent several weeks doing research and have tried the Hydroxi Pro Carpet Crystal, and the H2Orange2 Carpet complete. I just ordered a product from Naturelle that looks interesting as well.

I'm in Bellingham, WA, and out here being "green" is a must, thus I am looking for organic products or one closely related to a "green seal" label. I got my biz licence about a month ago, and have getting about 1-2 customers a week since.

I look forward to talking about all the products, etc, but the main problem for me is in simply getting some customers! Those I have had have been impressed. I have done a good job, but have been taking way too long per job. Much of this will improve with more experience. I wonder what marketing-wise has worked the best for you all. There are "val-pak" mailers that go out with coupons as one option. Is spending a lot of $$ on a sizeable yellow pages ad something any of you recommend for or against?

Thanks for any comments and I'm glad I found this forum, I learned a lot just reading your posts!

Re: New to the forum

Hi Grant. Welcome to the Challenger Forum. Yes, I recall our e-mailings. I think you'll find a huge difference between Oreck's Orbiter and the C hallenger, both in ease of operation as well as your rate of speed. I've had some experience with Oreck's orbital products, both the Orbiter and also the larger LowBoy. It was the drawback of both machines that kept me looking around until I discovered the Challenger.
Different people to have different marketing experiences. The concensus on Yelloe Pages marketing is that the YP tends to generate call primarily from price shoppers. They want to see if you are cheaper than the other 4 people they've called. Not a promising group to cultivate. In the training manual part of my package, I point this out. Try going to a website called www.ocibr.com. It's all about marketing for the carpet cleaners. Only people in the industry contribute. It's not some slick "How to Make $$Zillions in Carpet Cleaning " by someone who has never actually cleaned a carpet.

Re: New to the forum

Thanks for the link. I looked at it briefly and it appears to have some good ideas, I'll study it more as I have time.

Last week I printed out about 200 postcards advertising that I was having a "spring special" and put a couple of package deals on there with a before and after picture down below (an advantage of having a nice color laser printer). I had them cut at a local office depot type store, and then handed them out at Real Estate offices. I figured there (if you're dressed nice and they let you in) you get to hand out the cards without paying for postage! I did that and handed out the whole 200 in about one hour. That was only 4 offices. In larger cities you could probably have a field day with that strategy.

As of yesterday I was dissapointed it didn't seem to have worked, but this morning I got two calls from realtors and have a job scheduled tomorrow and now Friday from it. Not bad.

I was thinking realtors are a good bunch to get in with because if you get to talking to them, they can get it in their head that I can "save" a carpet that looks bad, and so they may give some of their clients my # if they are happy.

Anyhow that's my marketing tip/update for the day. Once I start getting a lot of steady work I plan on upgrading to the Challenger from my Oreck Orbiter.

Re: New to the forum

Maybe try to sweeten the deal. Any office you approach, try to meet the Sales Manager (or owner, in a smaller, independent agency). Offer to clean their office carpet as a demo. Offer to pay a 10 or 12% referral fee (real estate is all about referral fees) either to the office, or to the particular broker involved, for any job/s they send you. Or instead offer to clean the Sales Manager/Owner's home carpets free, once a year, or the individual brokers' home carpets at 1/2 price. Strive to achieve "Most Favored Cleaner" status with the office, and you'll become their "GO TO" guy.

Re: New to the forum

I like the way you think! I've had a busy last two days, and is now clear to me that I can't wait much longer to get my challenger! Yesterday at 930am I went to a job that was to be a 6 room plus stairs and hall, but turned out to be 8 rooms (one of them a gigantic "great room" 2 couches and a chair job. I got done at 7 pm. The customer was very happy, however by my own standards I felt my oreck just didn't get the job done well enough or fast enough. I had to "double clean" almost everything to get decent results (dry agitation with an encapsulation product) followed by bonnet cleaning. The bonnets made for the 12" oreck just aren't very absorbent and thus don't seem to get enough dirt out. The dirtiest room of this house had so many stains it was unbelievable.

I wonder how you attack stains. Do you just pre spray them and then use the Challenger, or do you get down on your hands and knees with towels and blot them? (like me)

I had two more smaller jobs today, a 700 sf job, and a 1000 sf job.

Re: New to the forum

for me, most spots come out with my Challenger. a good cleaning solution helps, most spoken of here are quality products.

today for instance, i had a living room with a yellow (i thought mustard, but apparently not...) spot that i was most concerned wouldn't budge. it came out in the normal cleaning process and the homeowner or myself couldn't even remember where it was after cleaning. also there was 2 8" long mild rust spots. again, both came out in the normal cleaning routine. i used Releasit Punch on this particular clients home and was pleased as Punch...oh that was funny!!!

yea it's late, gnite all

Re: New to the forum

In heavily soiled conditions: apply a little extra prespray than normal. Pre-scrub with a green-striped scrubbing pad (some call these bonnets, but they are made from synthetic fibers, and don't absorb soil well). Allow some dwell time (Go do another room; don't just wait around) Then go over the pre-treated room or area with your terrycloth pads, in the normal manner. In this manner you will remove more soil than if you skipped the pre-scrub step.