Saturday, October 31, 2015

Seasonal cleaning projects...

Salem Oregon rains usually sneak up on us and somehow keep coming. Next thing you know, the dry sunny days are few and far between. As a cleaning company the workload usually moves from outside pressure washing jobs to inside tile and grout cleaning work. Throw in an occasional carpet cleaning package to the mix as well. That is the way it is for residential services. More cleaning is done at or around the holidays, for those who want their company to know they are clean. During this time of year we tend to balance these residential customers with commercial cleaning accounts. For us it isn't a high volume business model. We are not looking for tons of clients. We are a bit more focused on quality of work matched to quality of client. This is the only way we gave insured repeat business. Before we got into the business for ourselves, we learned a valuable lesson. Every year we hired a carpet cleaner from the weekly paper add with a whole house special.  Usually it was around the $100--150 price range. We always took the cheaper deal advertised. What we didn't know is what we were not getting in the deal. Now, before I get into it, let me say we were never unhappy with the work that was done.. Visually it looked good and we always felt like we were taken care of after the job finished.
Fast forward to being in the business, I now realize I hired the cheapest price company who basically did a splash and dash. And every year we repeated the process, and it was with the next cheapest add listed in the paper. We never used the same company twice as far as I know and never had a real reason to remember.



In order to make any sense I had to explain the above real scenario as this is the type of company that Fast Finish did not want to become. In order to not jump in that "me too" arena we had to have specific marketing plans in place. We also had to have the expertise and services to match those plans. We had to make sure that there would be clear cut measurable differences that a client could understand and clearly see. This involved relationship building at the highest possible level. It also required a very focused market. Yes, there are jobs we actually turn down if it does not meet or exceed a preset expectation. It does not mean we are elite cleaning snobs. It means we have elite clientele that expect the best and get it. 
Every once in a while we get a client who expects the best for nothing, but not many. And usually they become our biggest cheerleaders for the business if handled properly.
We are entering our fourth winter, and business is growing. We are always looking at adding services that make sense. Services that bring value to the customer. Our type of cleaning is an art. It brings surfaces back to new or even better than new often times. There is a huge market in Salem Oregon that requires cleaning and maintenance constantly. Fast finish has carved out a niche market catering to the discriminating client. 



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