And of course, I am going to be taking the IICRC carpet cleaning technician course before I even spend my first dime starting my business.

 

I live in the Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; I'm going to be starting with a Ninja 200psi with heat and will have a Dodge minivan to use for my business. Now, I have a couple of questions:

 

1) To get my business off the ground I would market heavily to apartment owners/managers. I would offer them a free demo of my skills and equipment capability; I will also use kijiji and Craiglist exentsively to get customers. My goal here is to work my past clients very intensively and seek referrals from all of my customers; I want a business that is built upon past clients and referrals. I don't like the idea of spending money on advertising and fliers and that sort of thing. Besides your equipment, I just don't believe that you can 'buy' your way into success in this business. Does this particular marketing plan appear to be a practical method of gaining a repeatable and sustainable business?

 

2) I really don't know how to price my carpet cleaning services. I have read on this forum different people saying that they charge anywhere from .10/sq. ft to .50/sq. ft. . What are you Technicians charging in the Vancouver, British Columbia area? I don't like the idea of servicing your clients customers for next to nothing just to get the job, but I also don't want to price myself out of the business by charging too high. I do believe that people will would rather pay a good price for a good quality job, rather than paying a low baller to do a lousy job. I would like to eliminate the low quality customers who only care about saving a penny. I want only those customers who are willing to pay for a consciensous, talented, and knowledgeable carpet cleaning technician. So what kind of pricing would accomplish this objective?

 

Again, I'm still in the planning stages.

 

Thanks everyone

 

                                                    Nightrider

 

Thanks Nightrider and everyone else.

 

formula

 

My point is, where I live I may get .50 sq. ft and where you are the rates are .15 sq. ft ..... so if I were to tell you to charge my rates your phone would never ring.

 

Another thing rich people also penny pinch, so low-balling is not always a bad thing.....low price does not have to mean low quality, Wal-Mart is the largest company in the world low-balling , and General Motors went BUST claiming to build quality cars.

 

Business is like  building a house, there are steps to follow , your business has to start with a plan ( Excavating the Land ) get proper footing with your financing, customer target, suppliers, equipment and staff ( if any ) Then you are ready for your business foundation to build on, one story at a time. Each level has to be solid and stable keeping in mind the next level of your construction. Any one level not properly stabilized will cause a ripple effect and your house of cards will come tumbling down.

 

I guess that's the best I can do, on this forum regarding my short explanation outside of a class-room.  Good Luck

 

                                                    Nightrider

 

 

 

 

I have learned one important thing already, that is, instead of the Ninja 200 I think I will spend more money and get the Ninja 500 that goes at 500 psi instead of the much lower 200 psi. It's quality work that I want to do and will have to do if I'm to compete against the Truck Mounted systems.

 

There is a guy that does our apartment carpets and he charges $80 for a one bedroom apartment and $90 for a two bedroom, so I will probably charge that as well. It looks like that works out to around $.12/foot. He also uses a portable carpet cleaner/extractor and a minivan. In fact, he has two vans and with portables and is clearly doing very well in his business. That is what I would like to do also.

 

Anyways, I'll take your advice and just keep on learning from what other have written here.

 

Thanks

 

Formula

Good luck, Formula. Welcome to the forum.

 

So you are still using portables after five years, obviously you must do pretty well in this business. Do you mind if I ask you, how did you get your first customers? I want to get repeat business and referrals. I want my customers to be mine for the life of my business. Everyone has a sphere of influence comprised of about 250 people, so there's no reason why I shouldn't be able to make a sustainable and profitable business by going for repeat cusotmers and referral business.

 

Do you use a minivan to transport your portable around to your job sites?

 

 

Thanks Michael

 

formula

 

The thing is, I want to stay away from trying to get into the Yellow Pages, Local papers, and other high cost marketing techniques, unless I absolutely have to use those venues to get business. I have read other's experiences with these forms of advertising and they have said that they don't bring in enough business to justify cost. I would like to phone every apartment block in my city and market my services to them by doing some free demo work for them. I would also like to use venues like Craigslist and Kijiji to market my services. Again the idea is to work past clients for more business and referrals. Every other business does marketing that way, so I believe that It should also work for my small business.

 

Thanks

 

Thanks again

 

formula

 

And also, I would like to thank everybody that contributed to this particular thread. All of the replies have been helpful to me in deciding which machine to get.

 

formula

 

                                                      Nightrider

 

Your marketing plan and business plan are what really spell the difference between success and failure. You can succeed with almost any equipment, but you cannot succeed without the right business and marketing plan.

organ damage increase dramatically..   

 

Find another biz.

 

Thanks

 

formula

 

You either have a small portable scratching the sidewalks looking for work , or have a truckmount and go by the name of Mr. Steamer ( grammer is almost the same ) or just a nobody, with nothing to do but dream of cleaning carpets.

 

Want a right direction to go from Ken Harris, send him $ 200.00 and join his club and he will set you on the right track in business , otherwise cut the crap, start a C.C business and post your pics of your equipment and fill out your profile so we know who you are..... right now you're only a mirror reflection of nothing with nowhere to go.

 

                                                      Nightrider

 

 

 

@Nightrider: I don't think Mr. Steamer could have pretended to be as polite as Formula for this long. It just isn't in him.

 

                                                       Nightrider

Was offended by the comment of Nightrider. Is this the kind of advice you give to women trying to make a new start in life? I checked your profile and I thought you were supposed to be a marketing master! OMG if that is your idea of marketing Nightrider I would never take your advice!!

 

If you treat your female customers in this manner I am very surprised you have any business at all !!! As I see it most women make all the cleaning decisions in the home, if your sorry A$$ showed up at my door I would kick it to the curb!!

 

 

So let me get this straight, you are soon to be unemployed, and the first thought that came to your head is I WANT TO CLEAN CARPETS .  What was your last job, that you want to move up to sucking $hit out of strangers carpets

 

                                                      Nightrider

 

Equiptment does mean something.  Without it you cant work.  

http://www.google.com/#hl=en&source=hp&q=Johns+carpet+cleaning+wi&aq=f&aqi=m1&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=CSB7WfCdcTJnPKY7EM-_H7L8MAAAAqgQFT9DH1DM&fp=f9519659d5d079d0 -  

 

 

As for you Nightrider, think maybee it was you that did my carpet, the guy was a real pervert !! But did a nice job on my carpet after my 12 kids and 16 cats got through with it. I figure sucking up sh*t is a lot more profitable than kissing A$$ for a buck picking up people's dirty plates in a restaurant.

 

 

Where do you live Chay ( if that's your real name ) Oh wait.....maybe you're a guy pretending to be a girl to pick up a young carpet cleaner to compare wands with.

 

                                                      Nightrider 

                                                     

Why exactly do you want to know where I live? Profile says Montreal, think that's enough info.

 

                                                        Nightrider

I will keep researching and keep visiting this forum to try and get a little more advice from the sane ones around here. 

As for Nightrider, What's the matter? Afraid of a little more competition in Montreal? Your just a clown and offer nothing but smart A$$ comments that make me laugh. I don't have to prove to you or anybody who or what I am. See you around LIGHTBRIGHTER! Oh that's right your comments are not light and you don't seem very bright. 

 

                                                        Nightrider

 

Thanks

 

Formula

 

Alexarz ,I have had several truckmounts and for one thing they are so expensive!

This is how it works on forums, you weed through the crap to get what you want.

At the end of the day who wants to give away hard earned info for free.... Lots of the people here are competitors...  and that one piece of good advice could be read by the wrong person that could steal away your business.

 

If they don't want to give their competitor  an edge, then don't post anything...instead of carrying on with a bunch of bs to have to sit down and go thru.

 

I been to alot of other forum's that just didn't allow the "kids" to use it for playground because the are bored and have nothing better to do. After a while they were banned from the site and the site could actually be used for it's intent...information

 

Like I said I have be doing alot of reading here and in each case there a certain "pro's" that don't answer any quetions but carry on with a bunch of garbage talk. Not sure why...maybe a bad experience in the past?

 

 

 

Ted and the people of Kleen Kuip have to becareful they could ban a CUSTOMER...trust me when I say a banned forum user won't buy good from KLEEN KUIP...lol

if you don't like what is offered on this forum and you aren't able to put up with the bull shiat then there are a lot of other forums....  I've posted everywhere and trust me we are pretty friendly here compared to other forums

I would be willing to listen (or read) any advise someone is willing to offer as long as they are not bashing me for asking the question

I barely post compared to the early days....  I too got tired of the bull

Absolutely! I love the analogy.

Planning is like excavating the land, setting the groundwork for everything to come. And just like in construction, each phase of your carpet cleaning business should be solid before moving to the next. It's all about that sturdy foundation, financial planning, understanding your customers, reliable suppliers, and a well-equipped team. One shaky level, and it's like pulling out the Jenga piece that brings the whole tower down.