$200,000/yr with 1 TM...can you do it?

    Here is one of my personal favs from 2001, which was a very good year for us when business was going great. Hope you like it:

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Re: $200,000+ /YR- Can the 1 Truck Operator do it?
Posted By Kenneth Harris on 6/19/2001 at 2:48 PM
Okay, since no-one else seems to be putting up some more ideas, i'll go first. The reason that i know this can be done, is because i've done it.Below i will list the 6 most important things that have allowed our company to raise our truck average from $126,000 to $226,800 in only 1 year.And no, we do not run the trucks at night to get this; we only run 1 tech per truck . We do run our trucks 6 days a week though, but don't work Sundays.Sometimes you do need to be able to think outside the box ,other times its only putting into action what you already know!Some of these things i picked up from you guys.



I.) Raise your prices! This is by far the most effective thing you can do to bring profit to the bottom line because it adds nothing to the expense side. When we raised our price from $20/rm to $30/rm a couple of years back, this improved our bottom line more than anything we did before or since! This 1 change gave us an extra $60/job and with the 3 jobs /day we average with our trucks ,was enough to add $56,160 to our sales per truck all by itself! Now some of you are aready at a high enough level that you can't make this kind of a price hike. For those that can ,this is the easiest thing you can do to bring in more money.


2.) Get more money from your existing clients! Since it costs at least 5X more to get a new customer as to keep an existing one, you are much better off offering more services to those you have now. After all there are only so many hrs in a day, so raising your average ticket with people that already know and trust you is a logical move. What you add is up to you ,but it should be something you like to do ,or you won't offer it too often . I chose air duct cleaning.Seemed kind of strange at the time to my friends(Calgary has one of the lowest prices for air duct cleaning in North America- only around $100/house). But , i did not let that stop me, after all they are related in that they both are controlling indoor pollutants.I went back to the knowledge i had learned in engineering and designed a device that would fit on regular 1.5" Vacuum hose ,but would still sbin its rotary brushes up to 5000 rpm without the need of an expensive cable drive. I priced my service at $169 to clean a 12 vent home and offered it to my repeat customers first. The response was astonding! 1 in every 3 customers wanted this service once i explained the advantages and superior cleaning provided over the conventional way of doing the job.I even cleaned a few homes for FREE of customers that just had their ducts done.When i showed them what we got that the other guys missed,i got new cheerleaders on the spot! Anyway, of the extra $169 from this additional work,$150 was profit when i did the job,and around $100 when done by employees.This add-on broaght up our truck average another $53,000 with it's 60% profit margin.



3.) When you advertise,always advertise Whole House Packages.These cost very little extra to do while you're there , and bring in much more money.


4.) Appearences do count! The way your cleaner and his van look will have a major result in how that customer feels about you and how much of their money you are going to get.You have to instill a sense of trust in them in the first 30 seconds or you may cut your income prospects in half!


5.)Get an education! Beleive it or not customers can tell if you know what you are talking about. Sometimes we think that we're the experts and the just won't understand what we are talking about. Just remember that the average homeowner has an above average education. If you go for the high end market,it is above that.They can tell the differrence between someone that knows his field and those that make it up as they go.


6.) Be friendy! 80% of the time what gets you back in the house is how well the cleaner got along with the customer. It doesn't matter how good a tech you are and how much certifications you have on your shirt if people don't like you!Treat people with respect and smile to them , because without them you don't have a business!



Ken Harris

Thanks Superglide, good topic.

Too bad he's a liar!

yes kenni....I'm jealous of you.

Aren't we all?

You have always told us that you were the largest glide seller in the world. Were you bull$hiiting then or now.

OK, it's time to backpedal

And we keep shovelling and shovelling