Revenue Growth Through Diversification

Picture a technician packing up the wand in a customer’s living room when the homeowner asks, “Hey, while you’re here, can you do anything about this grout?” For plenty of carpet cleaners, the answer is still no. For three very different companies, learning to say yes has become a growth strategy.

Between them, Nat Ismaeil of Pure Surface Care, Joshua and Connie Klopfenstein of Spot Out and Andrew Ossanna of Team Ossanna, clean carpet, upholstery, rugs, tile, stone, commercial floors, outdoor cushions and disaster restoration services. Leave a patio chair outside long enough and one of them would probably find a way to invoice it.

Ismaeil runs a residential and commercial multi-surface company in Monmouth County, New Jersey. The Klopfensteins serve luxury homes in Palm Springs, California, where Connie is a certified rug specialist and master rug cleaner. Team Ossanna works only commercial accounts across Arizona and runs a restoration division.

They all share their diversification journeys in a recent Cleanfax webinar Revenue Growth Through Diversification.

Learn it before you sell it

Ismaeil spent 25 years in corporate America, much of it in healthcare management, before choosing cleaning. “I intentionally took a year to learn the business before I even purchased my truck,” Ismaeil said.

His first job was a home needing carpet, tile, grout, hardwood and granite countertop care. He said yes to every surface.

“Education and training save your company and your bottom line a lot of money. It is a true investment,” he said.

Your market picks the next service

Ismaeil works in a premium area where a single house might hold natural stone, fine fabric, tile and hardwood. “If you are in a premium market, diversification is a must,” he said.

Josh Klopfenstein sees the contrast firsthand. Palm Springs homes are mostly carpet and stone, while the mountain cabins near where the couple spends summers have wood and no stone at all. “If you don’t know your market, you spend your money getting educated and buying equipment … and then it’s all for nothing because you’re not getting enough work to recoup your investment,” he cautioned.

Ossanna watches requests and lost bids. Hotels started hiring vendors that cleaned the PTAC air conditioning units under guest room windows and did the floors in the same visit. “Even if the floor work might be subpar to what our team delivers, the customer still gets an all-in bundle,” Ossanna explained.

For work they won’t take on, such as drapery cleaning, the Klopfensteins use referral partners so property managers still make one call. “The last thing they want to do is write six different checks to six different companies,” Klopfenstein said.

Educate intead of upsell

Ossanna uses a sales ladder. New properties start with smaller cleaning projects while the client gets comfortable with his techs and office. Restoration and other services come up later, often bundled with work the client already buys. “It’s not a sales conversation. It’s just more of an information conversation,” he said.

The Klopfensteins walk and measure the entire home during a consultation, then send a proposal with several options. A call for a $900 carpet job can turn into a $15,000 to $20,000 whole-home project. They will also tell a client a piece can wait until next season, which builds trust.

“We don’t upsell in our company. We really introduce and educate,” Ismaeil stated. He also turns down jobs that won’t benefit the client.

Price from your own numbers

“The client that’s going to pick you on price is a client you don’t want,” Ismaeil said.

Josh Klopfenstein admitted his early pricing problems came from not knowing his cost of doing business, which lasted “until I actually decided I was a business owner, not a cleaner.” Connie Klopfenstein added that Spot Out runs no discounts and relies on a referral program instead. “It doesn’t really matter what anybody else is charging,” she said.

Ossanna acknowledged that large commercial portfolios demand some flexibility. When a client wants a price match, he asks for bundled services or higher frequency in return. “We’re not just going to lower prices or raise prices just because of what a competitor is doing,” he said.

When to hire a salesperson

On building a sales team, approaches differed. Ossanna has two full-time reps on base salary plus uncapped commission, with take-home vehicles. “I would do it as soon as you can afford it,” he said, adding that he waited too long.

Ismaeil suggested promoting a proven field technician who already understands daily operations. At Spot Out, everyone is salaried and bonuses are mostly team-based, since one sale often passes through several people. “Everyone in our entire company is a salesperson first,” Josh Klopfenstein said.