Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Freebies into Sales

Sometimes doing a little extra pays off. Last week a contract customer asked for pricing on some floor work they wanted done. I submitted my price and they called back setting the work for this past Saturday.

On Friday evening I met my project crew leader over at the job site to review the work request. While I was there I noticed that the carpeting in 2 rooms that are used for large gatherings, meetings and parties was a mess. I instructed my crew leader to bring the encapsulation cleaning items with him on Saturday and do the 2 rooms.

My view was since they were already paying for the crew to be there on Saturday for the floor work, my paying them for an extra half hour to clean the carpet was my way of saying thanks for the extra business. My other thought was, when the floors are done and looking great these carpeted areas will diminish that achievement.

Monday morning I get a phone call from my contact thanking me for the great job on the floors and asking me if I am responsible for the carpet cleaning. When I explained that I was his response was "Great!, give me a price for a carpet maintenance program for the entire building"

That is 28,000 sq.ft. of carpeting now going to be cleaned by me every quarter.

I spent less than $60 to clean two rooms of carpeting and now will make over $3,000 every quarter in return. Not a bad investment at all. I won't do this for every customer but I will do it for some.