Why GroupOn Deals For Carpet Cleaning Can Ruin Your Day!

If you are anything like me, your inbox is full of Carpet Cleaning Deals from Groupon, Living Social or Amazon Local.  You may have even been tempted to take advantage of one of these offers and I get it, we all want to save money, but my question is…

…..What Are You Giving Up For The Deal?

Is the idea of “saving some money” worth the inevitable frustration of dealing with high pressure sales tactics or low quality work?

I think most of you would answer NO!  So why then do we keep running back to these deal sites?

Probably for the same reason that so many keep running back to the lottery, professional cleaning even though we all know we are more likely to be struck by lighting than to win the lotto.

On a side note, do you think the winners of the lottery ever go out in a thunder storm again?

In This Video I Explain Why…

Businesses And Customers Lose With GroupOn Carpet Cleaning Deals

Before I show you the video, I want to make sure you realize that I have run one of these ads so that I would know exactly how they work before I wrote this article.  Here is the link, but don’t buy the deal, it has expired.

https://www.livingsocial.com/cities/576-west-valley-arizona/deals/1310644-carpet-cleaning-for-three-rooms

Now please understand, I am not against Groupon, Living Social, or Amazon Local, they can be awesome for certain industries.  Here are a few they work great in.

Restaurants, Movie Tickets, Fitness Classes, or just about any event are great ways to use deal sites.   Those type of businesses have a much higher “static” business expense than they do “variable” business expense.  So they don’t really lose anything by selling something at cost to bring in a future customer.

I will talk more about “static” and “variable” expenses below.

GroupOn Deals Simply Don’t Work For Carpet Cleaners…

….if they know their numbers!

Warning…..Unless you are extremely analytical and love numbers the following information will bore you to death!

 You should just call Integrity Cleaning Systems now to schedule your appointment at 602-486-3966

For those brave souls that are still reading, here we go!

Service companies have two primary areas of expenses.  Static expenses and variable expenses.

STATIC EXPENSES:  These expenses have to be paid every day regardless if any work was performed that day.

These would include:

Lease payment on vehicle and equipment

Insurance – vehicle and liability

Phone – landline and cell phone

Internet

Web Hosting

Marketing Expenses – SEO work, website development, social media management, every door direct mail, email program ect.

Online contact manager and scheduler

When you add up all these expenses and divide them into a six hour production day (other time spent driving), every production hour the static expenses cost my company is about $20.00.

VARIABLE EXPENSES – These expenses relate directly to the work being performed

Fuel – Both for travel and 2 gallon per hour that I run my equipment

Chemical Cost

Maintenance:  On van and equipment

Labor:  Includes payroll, payroll taxes, workman’s comp ect

When you average these cost into a per production hour expense it is about $65 an hour

As you can see if I spend an hour in my office with no production I will lose $20.00 on the static expenses, but I am not paying the variable expenses.  I also have the bonus of spending that time creating marketing that will bring in good jobs.

If I work on a Carpet Cleaning Group On Deal as written in the offer.  I will have the static expenses of $20 and the variable expenses of $65 and the deal only paid me $35.  This cbd products if I take the job I lose $50, if I don’t take the job I only lose $20.   This is making the assumption that the job only takes me one hour.

So as you can see I would either be forced into using high pressure sales tactics to increase my price or work so quickly that quality becomes impossible or lose money.  No business will choose the third option.

I hope this will help you see through some of the hype around GroupOn, Living Social or Amazon Local Carpet Cleaning Deal.

By the way, if you would like to see the awesome special offer we make to every new client please click here

Sincerely,

Travis Miklethun
Owner – Integrity Cleaning Systems

If you found this post beneficial please share and comment on it below.

How To Get Makeup Out Of Your Carpet, Without Making The Stain Permanent

In these stain removal videos I will give you my best advice on how to remove a stain WITHOUT causing futher damage to the fiber.  Many of the stain removal videos I see online are recommending techniques that can cause problems like:

Fiber Damage called tip blooming that will shadow under different light sources.

Color loss of the carpet fiber.

Permanently set the stain so that even a professional cant remove it.

Leave a residue that will attract soil.

Check out the video then you can  view the written instructions below.

Video:  How To Remove Makeup From Carpet

Written Instructions:  How To Remove Makeup From Carpet

• Remove as much of the foreign material as possible by blotting with a white paper towel or scraping with a dull knife.
• Apply isopropyl rubbing alcohol to a clean white cloth, white paper towel or cotton ball. If the spot extends deep into the pile use a blotting motion until the spot is removed or no color is transferred to the cloth. Do not allow the alcohol to penetrate into the backing as this will destroy the latex bond. If the spot is on the surface only, rub in one direction at a time. Never us a circular motion to remove spot as this may destroy the texture. Stop if spot is removed. If not you need to look for a reliable laundromat or do the next step.
• Apply a small quantity of detergent solution to the spot. (To make the detergent solution mix 1/4 teaspoon of a hand dish washing detergent which does not contain lanolin or bleach with 1 quart of water; examples of safe detergents are Dawn® and Joy®.) Use a blotting motion to work the detergent into the affected area. If spot is being removed continue applying detergent and blotting with a white paper towel until spot is removed.
• Rinse with tap water using a spray bottle, blot to remove excess moisture.
• Spray lightly with water, do not blot this time; apply pad of paper towels and brick and allow to dry.
• If there is still some stain on the carpet and blotting is not removing it, then moisten the tufts in the stained area with 3% hydrogen peroxide. Let stand for on (1) hour. Blot and repeat until carpet is stain free. Light will cause peroxide to change back to water so no rinsing is necessary. Apply pad of paper towels and weight down with brick.

Important – ALWAYS read and follow the care instructions and any warnings provided by the carpet or upholstery manufacturer. Carpeting and upholstery with natural fibers and/or certain dyes or finishes may require special treatment. If in doubt contact Pro-Care for advice/service first. NEVER PROCEED with any stain removal instructions without knowing the exact nature of the stain involved. NEVER USE any retail products to remove stains from carpet or upholstery without seeking the advice of the manufacturer or you could void your warranty. 

Should You Buy A Kirby,  A Professional Cleaners Review

As a professional carpet cleaner I am often asked what vacuum cleaner I recommend.  There are a couple brands I really like, but in this blog I will be discussing the Kirby Vacuum Cleaner and if I think a homeowner should have one.

Let me start by saying that I believe proper dry soil removal with a quality vacuum cleaner is the number one factor that will determine how long you carpet last or how prematurely it will wear out.

This is the amount of dirt I found under a carpet and pad that I pulled back.

The three determining factors will be:

How often you vacuum.
The speed you vacuum (most people vacuum way to quick)

The quality of your vacuum

So is Kirby the right vacuum for you?  I am going to go over the pros and cons of this vacuum.  Let me first tell you that I sold Kirby vacuums back in 1990 when it was the Generation 3 model.  I lasted about a week and the sales manager told me to make the sale or get kicked out of the house.  I quit that day.

I also recently purchased a new Kirby Vacuum Cleaner, the Sentria, so I do know a lot about this Vacuum.

The Pro’s of the Kirby:

Dry soil Removal: probably the best upright of any vacuum I have tested at removing dry soil.

Attachment Setup: most vacuum cleaners with attachments have a permanent hose that is part of the vacuum even when running the normal vacuum head.  This makes normal vacuuming less effective because it has to “pull” the air and soil a longer distance.  This creates the need for a bigger motor, more stress on the motor and more energy used.  The Kirby does not use the hose for normal vacuuming, instead you detach the power head when you use the attachment hose.

Automatic Drive: the auto drive system makes it very easy to push this vacuum back and forth.

Filtration System:  if you invest in the better bags they are a high quality HEPA Filter.

Some Of The Attachments:  The hose, extension tubes, upholstery head works very well.

Mattress Vacuuming:  This is something you should do monthly and it works very well.  Leave your sheet on to protect your expensive Eva Mattresses and then wash your sheet afterwards. But at first, you must learn the difference between each mattress in order to treat it in the right manner.

Built To Last:  This thing will keep going.  Most vacuums you need to replace about every 5 years, this one you won’t.

Warranty:  I have only had one thing go wrong with mine and they did fix it without any issue.   So as far as I can tell they offer a good warranty.

The Cons of the Kirby:

Weight of the Machine:  The auto drive helps with the vacuuming, but doesn’t help if you have to carry it upstairs

Maneuverability:  The Kirby does not turn around furniture (including this outdoor heater) very easy and has a high profile so it does not get under furniture very well.

Attachments:  Some of the attachment do not work as well as they claimed.  You will probably not use the blower system to replace your leaf blower, although it works well to blow up air mattress or exercise balls.  The suds of gun doesn’t have a lot of value, I would be very surprised if you actually used it to paint your fence.  The stair attachment does not work well and the normal vacuum is to big for stairs.

Carpet Cleaning Head:  This is a waste of money and it is poorly built.  They claim that you will never need to hire a carpet cleaner again.  Not only is that not true it will void your carpet warranty.  I know this may sound self serving since I am a carpet cleaner, but check your carpet warranty.

High Pressure Sales:  I am not a big fan of their lead generation system or their sales tactics.

Price:  This is a big one.  They ask way to much for this machine.  If you really want one.  Skip the carpet cleaning head and offer $1000 if you are financing.  If you have cash you can probably get it for about $700 – $800.

My Conclusion On If You Should Buy A Kirby:

If you have $700 – $1000 to spend it’s a good vacuum.   You may want to check out the filter queen majestic also.  It has an even stronger motor and filter systems.  It is a canister system so it is not transported easy which is why I didn’t buy one.

If you don’t want to spend that much check out a Riccar at the local vacuum store.  They are about $350.  Don’t buy the one with attachment for the reason I mention above.  Instead you purchase and Riccar hand vacuum with attachment for your detail work.  You can find Riccars at your local vacuum supply store.

If this helped you with your decision please comment on this post.  If you would like to see my video on the proper way to vacuum, please click here.
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