COVER STORY

Do you want a company

that others admire?
Here are seven ways to
create a showcase company.

W
By JOE POLISH
Joe Polish, a past
ÒCM/Cleanfax ®
magazine Person of the orking hard isn’t the secret to being success-
Year,Ó is president of
Piranha Marketing in
ful.
Tempe, AZ. He has If it were, then most of you reading this
helped more than 4,000
carpet cleaners take article would be wildly successful, because most of you
their business to the work hard every day pushing a wand.
next level through his
marketing tools and No, it’s the working smarter that is the secret, and that
systems. For more starts by changing the way you look at other people’s
information, visit
www.joepolish.com or success.
call his 24-hour free
You see, when I was working my hardest, I was clean-
recorded message at
(800) 587-1953. ing crummy cat-infested apartments in the 120-degree
heat of Phoenix.
I was dead-tired and dead-broke. Highly trained and
M or e in f o: certified by the Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and
For more information on Restoration Certification (IICRC), but still dead-broke.
this topic, visit
www.cleanfax.com and
type in search keyword: Success of others
Marketing.
When I saw others around me who appeared to be
more successful, at first I was envious.
Actually, I was angry.
They weren’t working anywhere near as hard as I was;
I deserved success more than they did!
www.cleanfax.com

who consistently focus only on what is
going wrong, and what their employees
are not doing right.
When you are exposed to people of
authority who only see the negative in
you, your spirit can be crushed.
At its root, it’s this type of behavior that
creates more problems for that bad boss to
complain about.
I laugh when I see a boss yelling at his
team to treat clients with respect and care
when he does do that with his own
employees.
How can he expect employees who feel
that they are no good to suddenly be
“good” in the field?
It’s like having parents telling their child
he’s dumb all of the time and then expect-
ing him to do well in school. It’s not going
to happen.
5 Focus on the details to create
an experience for clients
Getting a carpet cleaned is not a fun
purchase for consumers.
I know that’s no shock to you, but just
because it does not rank up there with
going to a five-star restaurant doesn’t
mean you have to settle with having your
service be one people dread buying.
By paying attention to details, you can
take extra steps to make any job more
enjoyable — and memorable — for clients.
When you create that enjoyable experi-
ence for them, they will use you more
often and refer you more often.
In the office, answer the phones live and
with a friendly, undistracted voice.
People can sense when you’ve just inter-
rupted them with your call, and no one
likes to feel like they are not important.
These calls are your lifeblood, so treat
them that way.
In the field, take extra steps to show you
respect your clients and their property,
such as:
• Using a walk-off mat to wipe your feet
before entering the house
• Wearing gloves when you move their
furniture
• Using corner guards and tarps to pro-
COVER STORY
Ron Osborne
Osborne’s Cleaning and Restoration (Idaho)
“Relationships are important to us. Our customers are
clients and we base all of our interactions with them
focused on the lifetime value of a client. We are not look-
ing for a one time sale, but a long-term relationship built
on trust, honesty, and above all value. Building rela-
tionships retains them as a client and they go
out of their way to refer friends and family to
our company.”
tect items Hiring people that you end up training
• Taking the time to walk through with to never think on their own, or act on their
the client before and after the work to make own, is a formula for failure.
certain you have addressed all of her needs If you want success, and want a show-
• Giving them booties to wear during case company, you have to get your team
the dry time. involved and caring because they have a
And it doesn’t have to just be the work stake in it being a success.
details; you can add other extra touches to My CEO Brian Standage has a saying,
make the experience more of a “wow” to “If you let them plan the fight, they won’t
the client. fight the plan.”
Bring pet biscuits for your client’s dog. Even if you have the greatest ideas, even
Bring a small bag of candy for those if you built the company from day one,
with kids. don’t run around your business like it’s a
Leave a flower with the invoice. dictatorship.
When was the last time anyone left a Let other people take ownership of their
flower or even a note of thanks when they areas and prove to you they are worth the
did work for you? authority they’ve been given.
Most people are aching to feel appreciat- The late Jim Henry used to say you don’t
ed and special. buy a dog and then bark for it. That’s not
meant to be insulting, it’s meant to mean
6 Foster involvement and that you want to let your employees have
an ownership mentality some control.
in your employees Let them make decisions. Let them give
There is a choice for business owners: input, and then listen when they give their
They can choose to be in control, or choose input. Let them feel important.
to be in charge. Part of this plan is, of course, building a
Being in control means they are literally team of great people.
involved in every aspect of their company, Great employees don’t need to be man-
telling everyone what to do all of the time. aged, they need to be led.
Being in charge means they develop If you have people who are willing to
teams of “A-Players” that can have the come and support you and work for you,
authority to help take the company where let them be entrepreneurial and also give
everyone wants it to go. them incentives that will encourage them
www.cleanfax.com
Most entrepreneurs start out on their to want to work really hard and treat it as
own wearing all of the hats. if it’s their own.
There is a fear of delegation. (Concluded on next page)
 COVER STORY

most of us feel out of control.

Jeremy Hongslo So even if a person is in a place of no
progress or suffering, he may stay in that
The Carpet Man (Alaska) place in his life because at least it’s something
he “knows.” he creates a comfort zone
around that.
“Goals are very important. I didn’t write our mission statement

Business is not static. It is not unchang-

and then tell the rest of the company to follow it; the whole team

ing. Everything changes. So even if you

was involved in its creation, so they believe in it. We started with
stomp your feet and refuse to make
a draft copy and adapted it several times until we thought it was
changes in your company, like computer-
what we wanted. I explained the purpose of the mission state-
izing or adding new services, eventually
ment is to act as a compass, to give direction in decision making.
everything else outside of your company
All decisions that we make as individual team players —
will change and you’ll end up being forced
or as a company — must meet the criteria that we all
agreed that we believe in.” to take action or go under.
As fast-paced as the world is today, to be at
the top in business, you have to be willing to
(Continued from prior page) The educational process creates better, change your mind instantaneously and act.
businesses? How do you do things differ- more trusting, and less price-resistant clients. This means not chaining yourself to
ently? How do they know that they can If you are willing to implement educa- ideas simply because “that’s the way
trust you? tion as a tool to attract business, you’ll be we’ve always done things here.
Education-based marketing tools that far ahead from the other companies that A showcase company needs to be organ-
we use vary from consumer awareness simply run loud, annoying ads. ic and grow and change with the changing
guides, to 24-hour recorded messages, to world around it.
free reports and more. 3 Challenge the norm One of my favorite sayings is, “Be will-
These share information about the and be open to change ing to destroy anything in your life or your
cleaning craft, what to look for in a clean- How many people do you know who business that is not excellent.”
ing company, how to evaluate when and if are resistant to change? What I mean by that is sometimes things
a carpet needs cleaning, and other tips to Resistant even when the current situa- just don’t work anymore. They’re outdated,
help consumers make more intelligent tion they are in is blatantly bad? they can’t be fixed. It’s not worth spending
buying decisions. We all know people like this. One of time on.
By being the source of helpful informa- these people may even be someone we
tion to prospective clients, you are viewed occasionally see in the mirror. 4 Create a consistently
not as a pushy salesman, but as an indus- People don’t like change because change positive work environment
try expert. is the “unknown.” The unknown makes The next way to craft a showcase com-
pany is to create a consistently positive
work environment.
Emilio and Guillermo Martinez One of the most important things that
you want to do is always give off good
FiberCare Carpet & Upholstery Cleaning (Texas) energy to all the people around you. Be a
“Educate your clients — allow them the free- fountain, not a drain, to everyone around
dom to ask questions and make their own deci- you, especially your team.
sions. We never push our products on anyone We all have those people in our lives
but we inform them in detail of their value. Our whom we dread hearing from because
clients make decisions based on their knowl- they suck the energy right out of us with
edge and feel confident with their choice. their negativity.
And then we have others who even if
we’re in the midst of a really bad day, we
Also, focus on the details. We pay attention

light up when we hear from them.

to what our clients need and desire and we
www.cleanfax.com

Be the person that others look forward

simply give it to them. Our clients really

to hearing from.
appreciate that we go the extra mile.”
There are a lot of bad bosses out there

Or so I thought.
Things did not change for me until I
started changing the way I looked at my
life and my competition.
If my life was bad, it was not the fault
of anyone but myself. I was the one mak-
ing decisions, not anyone else.
And if there were others out there more
successful than I was, then that meant
they knew something I didn’t.
So I sought to learn what it was I need-
ed to know, and what I needed to do.
Amateurs wait for inspiration…
…but pros do it with a headache.
I turned my cleaning company around
through seeking out marketing and busi-
ness wisdom from the best sources I could
find, and taking action on that wisdom.
And the transformation that quickly led
to me being able to sell my cleaning com-
pany is the same transformation that I’ve
helped create with countless cleaners
through my consulting company.
The steps to get you from that angry and
tired place of envy to a happier place of
business success are simple — notice I said
simple, not easy.
Here are seven ways to create a show-
case company that outshines — and out-
earns — your competition.
1 Have clear goals
When I teach, I explain that there are
two types of entrepreneurs — treadmill
entrepreneurs and ladder entrepreneurs.
A treadmill entrepreneur is going
through the motions over and over again,
working up a sweat, but never actually
getting anywhere.
These are the ones who come into the
office with no clear plan and just let the
day take control of them.
A ladder entrepreneur is taking action to
climb up to the next level.
These are the ones that come to the
office with a clear plan for their future, and
are seeking the capabilities to get them
there.
Both types require work and effort, but
COVER STORY
Kevin and Annissa Coy
All Pro Restoration (Washington)
“We have an administrative checklist to ensure
that each and every client receives the same per-
sonal touch on each and every job. We send
everyone a letter from me and Kevin that intro-
duces ourselves as owners of the company
and invites the client to call us at any time
with any concerns they might have. We tell
them that we do not consider their job
done until they are completely 100 per-
cent satisfied.”
one gets you to a better place. should do business with you instead of
Having clear goals in writing is vital to anyone else.
achieving success. You need to show what makes you dif-
By blocking out time every week to ferent. The best way to do this is through
write out and review your goals for creat- educating them.
ing a showcase company, you multiply Your prospects know nothing about
your chances of success. your training, your equipment, your staff,
We teach goal setting by having clients and your business philosophies until you
answer these three simple questions: actually make these known to them.
Where are you?, Where do you want to go?, And you’ve got to make it known to
and How are you going to get there? them in a way that they actually will care
It is amazing how when you train your- about.
self to sit down for this one exercise on a Bragging about yourself and yelling is
regular basis, how it can transform your not selling.
company. Real selling is getting into the minds of
your prospects and your clients and enter-
2 Educate your clients ing a conversation that’s already existing
In order to be a showcase company, you in their minds.
must do more than the competition when What is it that they’re afraid of? What is
establishing the reasons why people it that they can’t stand about other service
Steve Esau
That Extra Touch (Nevada)
“I have come to appreciate that relationship-focused
business owners quickly realize a win-win situation. When
you demonstrate a keen interest in your client, consistently
deliver on your promises, and create value for your clients,
your business will self-nourish. Your business will become
www.cleanfax.com
easy, lucrative and fun.”
 COVER STORY
(Continued from prior page)
I used to believe that there were no good
employees out there.
When I hear others say that today, I
know that, just like me back then, it’s sim-
ply an excuse.
Hiring is scary at first, so it seems easier to
not do it. But in the end it’s harder because
you end up doing everything all the time.
7 Focus on relationships,
not transactions
Depending on whose marketing research
you read, it costs up to 20 times more mar-
keting dollars to get a new client than it does
to get repeat business from an existing client.
That’s huge!
Yet 95 percent of carpet cleaning compa-
nies completely focus on trying to track
down that next new job.
They are transaction focused instead of
relationship focused.
They run around throwing money in all
directions for ads to get strangers to get
their carpets cleaned, not realizing that for
www.cleanfax.com
a fraction of that money they could be nur-
turing repeat and referral business.
Building relationships is the central goal
for any showcase company. It creates the
biggest bang for the marketing buck.
You want to bond with your clients and
create ongoing relationships, first in the
field during that first job, and then after-
wards through continually staying in touch
with them.
Sending a monthly newsletter continues
to be the best source of new and referral
business for our clients.
For close to $12 a year per client in printing
and postage costs, you can generate hun-
dreds — if not thousands — of dollars in
repeat and referral work.
I’ve seen companies I’ve worked with
go from struggling and willing to work on
any job at any time at any price, to now
being a referral-only high-end company.
I’ve seen them toss their Yellow Pages
advertising budget because they no longer
needed it.
Not every company is brave enough to
do that, but it proves a point that when
you focus on existing clients and their
referrals you can pull yourself completely
out of the advertising rat race with all your
competition.
Creating systems to connect with your
clients is the most profitable use of your
marketing time and marketing dollars.
I always compare it to a big company slot
machine, where every time you put in a mar-
keting dollar, $10 or $20 or $50 comes out.
Every time.
Newsletters, “Thank you” cards, reminder
cards, letter campaigns, client appreciation
events, referral reward programs — the more
you concentrate on bonding with clients, the
more you will move beyond the bondage of
working so hard for so little money.
The next time you feel a twinge of envy
when looking at a company more success-
ful than yours, simply ask yourself “What
can I do today to make my own showcase
company?” CM