Ten Reasons we’re better than Coit and Stanley Steemer
One thing you learn when you get into this business is that you have a lot of competitors.
Just do a search for carpet cleaning or marble polishing and you’ll get a million results. Granted, some of them are for carpet cleaning in Kiev, Russia, but there are plenty of local companies to choose from to clean your carpet or marble flooring. We at Appleby know that not all cleaning companies are the same. Here are the top ten reasons we’re better than Coit or Stanley Steemer.
1) We’re family-owned. There is no Mr. Coit or Mr. Steemer, but there is a Mr. Appleby, and he cares about his name and his reputation. These big companies have executives that sit in a central office and try to figure out what’s good for the Big Company. We’re not big, we’re small, and we try to figure out what’s good for YOU.
2) We’re not a franchise. Because we’re not a franchise, we don’t have to pay Big Brother money every month to do our advertising and tell us what to do. Being a family run organization, we are much more nimble when it comes to advertising, discounts and even the best methods for cleaning. We can also make quick decisions about problems or challenges that come to us without going up sixteen ladders to the Big Man at the Top.
3) We don’t offer Crazy Specials. What? That makes no sense. Well, actually it does. These companies that offer to do your entire house for a dollar are playing a game, and we don’t. We do offer some specials that make sense, like buy one room and get the second room free, and we do a very good job offering coupons and discounts through our website. But offering something for nothing almost always ends up getting you nothing, which isn’t good for you.
4) We don’t hire people. Again, I think I’m not hearing you correctly. Well, yes, you are. But let me adjust that to “We don’t hire people very often.” And the reason we don’t hire often is because we KEEP all our employees. When we find someone that fits the Appleby standard of excellence and personality, we keep our employees a long time. Toby, our area rug specialist, has been with us for 13 years! Daniel, our Hard Surface Crew Chief, is going on 8 years! Match them with any guy hired in the franchise mill that wants to make enough money to buy a truck so he can move back to Minnesota, and you get the picture. Our guys are better.
5) Our technicians are specialized. This is an important difference between us and Coit and Stanley Steemer. Their technicians are all trained to “do everything”. Really? Well, that’s great if you’ve got guys that can do everything. But what if you don’t? Most of these guys are carpet cleaners that took a one-day course on marble, limestone and tile. Without naming names, we’ve seen customers tell us that these franchise companies won’t clean their marble because they don’t have the right equipment. When our Hard Surface manager shows up, he discovers that it was tile all along. The technicians could not identify the difference between tile and marble. Do you want a technician that works primarily on carpet working on your marble floor?
6) Our Hard Surface manager, Mark Belotz (or sometimes myself) takes a look at EVERY JOB and gives you a COMPLETE WRITTEN ESTIMATE before hand. This is initially an extra cost to us. The franchise guys send a guy out there blind, hoping that he has the right stuff in his truck to take care of the job. What if he doesn’t? Will he try to do the job anyway? Who knows? It’s like trying to buy pants on-line. Don’t expect the best results.
7) We have an area rug plant. While cleaning rugs on-site (in the home) is satisfactory in some circumstances, when an in-depth cleaning is needed, Appleby has the Area Rug Cleaning plant that is superior to on-site methods. The rug is dusted, hand-washed, rinsed and spun, then dried in a temperature-controlled room. The technicians that pick up your rug are the ones that clean it. Stanley Steemer doesn’t have a plant.
8) We offer Hardwood recoating. Appleby has trained technicians who do a superb job of recoating your hardwood. We also offer a clean and shine service for wood floors, as well as engineered wood and plastic flooring. Neither service is offered by Coit or Stanley Steemer
9) We offer shower glass cleaning and sealing treatments, stainless steel scratch repair, cracked tile repair, caulking and grout repair. Coit or Stanley Steemer offers none of these services.
10) You like us more than those guys! Don’t take my word for it, look on any of the service rating websites like Yelp! or Angie’s List. I hate to say it (I actually don’t), but the reviews speak for themselves. Those Big Franchise Guys can’t seem to make the public happy.
I’ve just listed ten reasons to call Appleby Cleaning and Restoration over our competitors. We look forward to your input in finding more ways to please you. And sorry, Big Franchise Executives, but you’re just going to have to try harder!
