Its time to speak up

David,
I see where we disconnected. I'm not talking about when a crew is dispatched, I'm talking about on the sales call. We're the same way when we send out wood crews. They go where we send them, for the job on the sheet, and no other work. They have an estimated amount of time to do the job, based on our review of the property and square footage. We just plug them in and they work. But on a sales call, when you're out beating feet to bring in new customers, you can ask if there are any other services or suggest some. Heck, even just give the proposal without them asking. Sometimes folks file things away in case the current vendor lets them down. (we got a GOLDEN account that way)

Beth:)
 
My point is simply this
I can command more money in the grease than on the flat work. It is hard for me to justify doing the flat work when it often means I can't get the another grease job. The decision usually comes down to $125 give or take Vs $400 give or take. When we do flat work we certainly do it in conjunction with the hoods, my money is made when I get to that second grease job though. The waste water containment is much easier in the grease also.
 
Bryan,
2 feet of it...
Beth
 
yeah about the same here.

I heard a report of 37 inches in Berkely Springs, that's about a 30 minute ride from me.
 
Sacramento 60 degrees-with NO SNOW-and that is a good thing.

David
 
c'mon David,
Nothing can be better than trudging through snow that is above your knees. I had a good time with my girls anyway, that is after all the shoveling was done. I didn't get out of my neighborhood until Tuesday evening.
 
Isn't it funny that I post about once a year and tonight is the night I make a big post which is the same night someone digs up one of my old posts that allowed me good rant.

Yes, I know Joe is still around. Some might say alive and well, not well and alive. It just sounds better! Its a safe assumption that if your well you are probably alive too!

"Joe" is going no farther away than I am going. I have always accepted that. Just tell them to charge a little bit more! :)
 
Parker, If Joe understood what it really takes before he spend his saving wouldnt that help?

I agree, JOE CHARGE MORE BECAUSE THATS what it takes.

You and I spend money to take care of our business. We understand what expenses really are.

I want my customers and Joe to understand that.

We may not always win the battle but we can try.
 
Yes, we did get most of the account back. A franchisee who we had been doing service for years bought most of the stores and we got the service back for them.

Whats funny though (not very funny) is that we had the same thing happen again (just last week) as you. Lost a 75k a year account. That will sting a bit. Same situation as you also in we feel there is nothing we could have done about it.

NEVER a complaint, no problems, been doing their service for almost nine years and their facilities manager gave us the ax. His reason was "I am just going with another company and thats my final decision." I guess thats what nine years of loyal, complaint free, on-call service will get you! This facilities guy has been with this company for less than two years and since his first day we have e-mailed him service reports, before and after photos ,and given him monthly updates on our services. The managers of the stores like us, the local techs like us, the area managers like us, even the regional vice president likes us, who we have spoken with several times. (Funny though that the vice pres. is currently on vacation for four weeks when this guy decides to do this!)

Our inside source (nine years of work and you make some good "inside" friends) tells us that this guy has a "family" connection with the hood cleaning company that he is replacing us with. Funny that this hood cleaning company now does service for about 95% of his stores. So what can you do. There are some managers who will definatley stick up for us, and when the vice president does return we will speak with him but we are not keeping our hopes up. He is a good guy and does appreciate loyal work.

Now we turn up the sales a notch. Bottom line is by nature of this industry it is getting more and more competitive. (Thanks Rusty!) And hood cleaners will do what hood cleaners will do. I have made a successful business cleaning hoods my way and those customers who appreciate it will keep my service. Those who don't apreciate it, like this jackass- Oh Well!. The hard part is doing the same thing you did. Being nice enough to him so that when (not if) the other comapny screws up he will come back to me. It is hard to stand in front of a guy who has screwed you and you would love to put him on the floor as he so deserves, and instead kiss his ass. I had much less tact and patience in my younger days and that cost me some of my free time!

But I have to make this clown think he is making a reasonable decision and keep things nice enough so he will call me agian without him feeling like a fool for doing this in the first place. But God forbid he should leave this company and I meet him one night in a bar.

But I digress, revenue wise this is a hit for us. But it does make us stronger. The first time this happened we diversified our revenues by replacing the large account we lost with smaller accounts. 15 smaller checks a week is better that 2 large ones per week. Then we got the account back, well most of it anyways. The same thing will probably happen here, we will turn the sales on to maximum which means I go out and kick up sales, replace the revenue, and get the account back in six months to two years. Sucky part is I just spent 20k on van and equipment, hired a guy who was an apache helicopter mechanic (unbelievable worker) and I don't want to let him go one month after he started. Sucky part #2 is I planned my first vacation in six years for a week for my wife and I at Pinehurst. Well, maybe my wife will still go!

Mbryan, we should talk. The company replacing us is rooted in southern cali so you may know of them. I have seen their work (or I should say their sub-contracted work) and it is nothing short of a joke by my standards. The facilities guy who cancelled our service was acutally upset when I showed him pictures of this companys work showing greasy, uncleaned flues, mesess left in the kitchen, and grease left in the drive-thru. But when its his brother or his momma or whatever doing the work, I guess he tends to cut them some slack!


P.S. Anybody see the Burger King fire in Sacramento on the news. Totaled the kitchen, major smoke damage in the whole restaurant, employees taken to the hospital, and they are calling it a grease fire starting in the kitchen. Hope that hood cleaner and Ansul guy have some good insurance! Think I might have a better look at some growth in SACTOWN!
 
Parker said:
The company replacing us is rooted in southern cali so you may know of them. I have seen their work (or I should say their sub-contracted work) and it is nothing short of a joke by my standards.
Click to expand...

Hmm...SO Cal, sub contract work and low quality with arms long enough to reach up to the bay area. 2 companies right off the bat come to mind.

1. National Protection Industries Inc.
2. Pro-Air-Vent

My money is on #1.
 
cgibison,

If only you would have put your answer in the form of a question!

To clarify, they seem to be stretching their arms and legs much further than just the bay area. But even stretch armstrong had a breaking point where the syrup came pouring out and made a mess in moms kitchen.

Hmmm..........
 
So I guess I am not the only one that got a kitchen knife and cut open his "stretch armstrong" doll on the kitchen floor just to see what was inside.

I know for a fact that company #1 is also reaching into Arizona (watch out Ron) and Nevada too.

Company # 2 is part of a vast nationwide conspiracy that is just too dangerous to even speak freely about on this board without um - oh - someone is outside my door - oh god - they found me - somebody help me.... I have to go...
 
I'll tell you what it is going to come down to survival of the hood cleaning fittest out here in California so if you want to play out here put your boxing gloves on.

Like I said earlier, my customers who appreciate my dedication to the work I do for them are the foundation of my company. For my customers, or former customers who want to go with the "national" company that are professional hood cleaning non grease removers... well I guess I'll wait until one of their stores burn down, Oh wait didn't that just happen the other day?
 
Yep, I would say the same thing, the number of companies has probably doubled around here in the last five or six years as well. Good point about the fire supression companies, hence my post a month or two ago about getting the training I need to become certified. I am meeting with the local fire marshall in three weeks to take my tests and convince him that I can do the work so he will give me my license.

Hood cleaning and fire supression are a hand in hand service and I know, its harder to control quality when you expand your services but to me this is a must!. I have some really good crews that I trust for the hood cleaning so, providing everything runs smoothly (it never does) I will be able to oversee our new fire supression division directly.

So whose fault was it that the Burger King was a month over do? I had an account that caught fire about five years ago and the fire supression system never activated. Fire supression company tried to blame it on me saying it wasn't cleaned properly. Brought in my photos and reports of our once-a-month cleaning (very high volume) and the pictures showed the system in PERFECT condition. Turns out the ANSUL service was two months late to have their links and nozzles changed. They saw my work from the photos and didn't even argue after that. Cost them 40k in damages and Friday nights lost sales. Cover your butt!

They ONLY thing that makes sense about the national companies is the lower price= lower quality of service. If that is what the customer is looking for than so be it. But, lower quality service WILL cost you accounts. I just grabbed about 20 accounts from Fresno to Sacramento because I took some pictures of Facilicraps work. I even took a 2 foot long strip of grease about 1 inch thick, (system was cleaned two weeks prior by facilicrap) wrapped it in some suran wrap and showed it to the area manager the next day and said here is what you are paying for. He was apalled! (sp!)

The only part of what you said that I disagree with is your very last comment "there is no way to compete with that." There is ALWAYS a way to compete, it is just a mattter of what you are willing to do. In todays business world I would say that means adaptation. Here is a goofy example. Look a Toys-R-Us. When I took my four year old there a few weeks ago it looked exactly the same as it did thirty years ago when I was a child. They haven't changed there style, image, nothing... And now they are bankrupt. In the seventy and eightties they were a powerhouse but along came walmart, target, etc. and Toy-R-Us did nothing to keep up or adapt to the changing times. Their stupid sign out front is the same one that was there thirty years ago.

Its the same with us. First of all EVERYTHING cycles so companies will come and go but more importantly I think if you want to stick around you have to change or adapt your business to the supply and demand of todays standards. I certainly don't run my business the same way I did 5 years and I won't be running it the same way 5 years from now, the way I do today. Hopefully the hood celaning industry does not get so competitive that it drives the median price down to nickels. If any of you believe that is going to happen than you better start praying now for LEGITIMATE certification. (Not all you goofy "certifiers" out there that will certify a toad for ten bucks but state licensed certification) My guess is that is where we are headed though that is many years away!
Geesh, I just re-read the last couple of paragraphs and I should quit the hood cleaning business and write a book!

In the meantime bring on the competition you big company bastards! You can't keep up. I saw big companies fail when I started this business and I will see big companies fail again. They have a "business formula" that allows them to operate but it is in my opinion a temporary clock they are running on. When your that big or you sub out that much work you can't cover the details that can cost you an account.

However, when an account asks me in northern cali if I cover southern cali I will say "HELL YES". And then I will call you Mbryan and say I have got some work to give you. (You may have to put some different letterhead on your invoices though! :)
 
I have seen quite few of their (Facilitec) accounts down here for one reason or another.
Some I was called out to for an estimate and others I happened to be next door or on the roof or in the same building and I took a look just for the hell of it. I am nosy I admit it.
For the most part the places I have seen are in pretty good shape.
Believe me I know the right places to look.

The only exception to the above was a small golf course we picked up not to long ago with a lateral duct and a two story vertical. Aside from the plenum and fan they did not do much.
They (Facilitec) were doing a "lowballers" job out there - to my suprise.
 
Hey Parker one thing I noticed here is you toned down your anger and swearing some, now that is a plus so things must be coming alone ok for you now.

The one thing I think others would like here is to see you posting more good things but also not such long post that it tires my eyes out.

I am about to have another surgery so won't be reading your long post any time soon, soon as they schedule it that is.

Hoods, hmm, since I don't do flat work or pressure washing anymore what can I do, hmmmm.

Naw I am not about to get grease under my finger nails.

Hey JOE stop lurking on the boards and stealing other peoples suggestions on how to do things.

Dang Joe can't read, he can barely write and he only knows how to do a mickey mouse job like cleaning the opening top and bottom but he forgets the rest of the exhaust system so it is full of grease, why fires happen.

What am I doing in an KEC forum to begin with?
 
So there is a BIG JOE....and a little joe. Which Joe do we hate more, I've been confused by this thread.

It seems that we all start as a type of little joe, unless you're Joe Jr., and strive to become a type of BIG JOE. Just without being Joe, more like BIG FRED and little fred. Or BIG AL and little al.
 
Big, little, Jr. Sr. who cares they are all competitors of yours, PERIOD.

Sure some are bigger, some have fewer accounts but charge more, some do good work, some do better work, some do excellent work and some do plain crappy work and still get accounts.

Way I always saw things is "this is what I can do for you Mr. Customer and this is my rate".

Never ever knock the competition or you lose.

I think to many of you worry to much about your competitors taking your accounts from you because your either charging to much or not doing a complete job OR someone can do equal work for less since they have less overhead.

OR any number of reasons.

Stop worrying so much about the Joe's of the world and worry more about what you did not do to keep the account.

I suppose I can list a few here and am willing to bet most do not do any of them.

Follow ups.
Customer surveys.
Christmas cards.
Birthday and anniversary cards if you know that information.
PR work, meaning do you ever stop by the accounts to show your face and let them know you’re alive and well. Both the individual location and main office, district office, regional office or whichever you deal with.
Send out Thank you cards to each new account and each new location.

The list goes on and on.

So how many do some or all of the above?
 
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