In this rough economy, you’re constantly on the lookout for ways to grow your business. One way to do that is by offering services that are different from anyone else.

I met with a client last week who has carved himself a nice little niche doing hard-floor care. He’s been thinking about expanding his offerings to include carpet cleaning. He looked in the phone book to see what the competition looked like in his market area. He counted about 500. Yet, he’s not really worried about the competition. His rationale is simple: Nobody else cleans he way he does.

While that may sound like a trite advertising claim, it really is true. None of those other cleaners use the tools, chemicals or techniques he is using. He plans to market that difference to serve his customers and build his company.

For the past generation or two, almost all carpet cleaning has fallen into one of five methods: Extraction, dry compound, single disk, bonnet and dry foam.

Now, it appears there’s a sixth way of cleaning carpets that may be better than any of the other five. It’s based on three unusual principles that, until now, haven’t been part of the cleaning process — enhanced vacuuming; unlocking chemistry with biology; and high-flow extraction.

Enhanced vacuuming
Vacuuming is the most frequently performed carpet cleaning task. In many places, carpet is vacuumed every day. If the vacuum could be made to be a more effective, tool carpets would be cleaner, last longer and look better.

In a test in a Salt Lake City school district last year, we were joined by representatives from the chemical and carpet industries, along with extractor manufacturers, who got together to test a new carpet cleaning system in a real-world environment.

The head of custodial services for this district was particularly interested in a product that we sprayed on the carpet and allowed to dry. This product encapsulated dirt particles so they could be removed more easily and completely from the carpeting. It also encapsulates the carpet fiber and makes it less able to hold dirt.

Carpet manufacturers also are interested in this concept. One expert predicts vacuum enhancers could cut periodic cleaning frequencies in half. He hopes to repeat our school experiment in other venues.

Unlock chemistry with biology
Thanks to many years of multiple cleanings, a glue-like substance builds up in most carpets. It exists mainly because of the chemistry used in spotting and cleaning carpets. This is exacerbated when the chemicals are overused. The more you clean, the dirtier the carpet gets.

All of these chemical additives need to be released and removed from the carpet. That is the function of cleaning. But it won’t happen if you’re only adding more chemicals. You can’t remove alkaline residues with more alkaline chemicals. You can unlock carpet chemistry using simple biology.

An effective product we’ve been testing uses enzymes to break the chemical “glue.” There are basically two types of enzyme products on the market today. One of these is a product that applies bacteria to carpet. The bacteria create enzymes and the enzymes go to work munching the residue. They’re like Pac-Man.

If the bacteria/enzyme process has a downside, it’s that the biological process takes time. Carpets must remain moist, sometimes for up to 24 hours or longer.

The second type of product is a straight enzyme, no bacteria, that begins working immediately. These straight enzymes are a supercharged version in the Pac-Man function and take only 20 to 30 minutes to work.

The enzymes reach deep into the carpet and undo the glue residue, which is rinsed from the carpet during extraction.

High flow extraction
Water is the other critical component when it comes to cleaning biology. We’ve been testing and working with a portable, high-flow extractor. The high-flow machines appear to take less than half the time of traditional extractors with better results.

The machine we worked with flushes three to four times the amount of water into the carpet than traditional portable extractors. However, putting more water down is only half the battle. Dry time is about the same as other extractors.

The machine had ergonomic advantages as well. Direct water hook-ups saved cleaning workers from lugging water and emptying awkward tanks, a task portable units require every few minutes. The time saved not carrying water is what makes the cleaning go faster. The extra flushing makes it better.

A novel idea? Not really. It’s the method I’ve used to wash the rug on top of my head every morning for years. High-flow rinsing.

Here’s a whole new process in a highly competitive segment of the cleaning business. You can perform bid work with improved productivity from enhanced biology and technology. It may be the solution to satisfying your customers and growing your business.




POSTED ON: 3/1/2003