Few customers have a clue about what it takes to clean and maintain carpets properly. That’s why they need knowledgeable salespeople to gently nudge them in the right direction by showing, telling and explaining the fundamentals of proper carpet care. Selling them a comprehensive carpet care chemical program should follow almost naturally.

Helping customers extend the lifespan of their carpets is a multi-step process, and it all begins with keeping as much outside dirt as possible from entering the inside of a facility.

“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” says Robin Canada, regional sales manager for Waxie Sanitary Supply, San Diego. Canada, who is based at Waxie’s Ontario, Calif., distribution center, says a good matting program is Job One in keeping dirt and sand from being tracked inside and onto carpets.

“Sand is a big issue here,” he says. “We’re in the inland part of California, and we have the Santa Ana winds around this time of year and that creates a problem. So, floor mats are of key importance in keeping carpets clean. If you don’t let it in in the first place, it saves you in the long run.”

Kevin Beam, vice president of sales and account development for Treat’s Solutions in Ada, Okla., agrees that preventative maintenance is the key to keeping customers happy and ensuring long-term relationships, and consistent business. For him — and carpet accounts for roughly half of his business — a good relationship relies on providing the customer long-term value.

“We’re in the business to sell chemicals, but there are a lot of times when you’re out with customers and they say, ‘Do I need this shampoo?’ and as much as I hate to say it, I tell them water will do, or try this vacuuming method. I may lose a sale in chemicals, but I gain a customer overall because his needs have been met, and his problem has been solved.” Once a customer trusts that a distributor salesperson is going to steer him in the right direction (and they see the results: clean carpets), that customer will be hard-pressed to find a reason to disrupt that good relationship.

“Learn about your customer and solve his needs the best you can,” says Beam. “By fixing his problem, he’s going to end up buying your chemical. To gain a customer you have to gain his trust, and you have to be honest with him.”

Inside Job
Educating the customer is a vital part of a distributor’s job, says Beam. Few customers realize how much dirt is tracked onto carpets, let alone how costly it is to deal with once it’s there — one pound of dirt costs $400 to $600 to remove from a building, Beam says .

Many facility managers don’t understand the processes inherent in keeping carpets clean, industry veterans contend.

At times, the lack of proper maintenance over a period of time can damage a carpet beyond repair, and by the time professionals or distributor salespeople get the call there’s nothing they can do.

Because so many customers are unaware of the costly consequences of improper maintenance, it’s a salesperson’s job to show them.

Beam relays one instance where proactive selling techniques solidified a new relationship. A new manufacturing plant moved into Beam’s community two years ago: “They had a lot of tile and a ton of carpet,” he says. A week before the facility opened, while the management was busy interviewing people, Beam took the opportunity to illustrate the magnitude of potential maintenance problems. He placed one mat outside the double door of the building at 8 a.m. After five full days of less-than-normal traffic, the mat weighed 27 pounds, Beam says. The plant was to employ 400 people, and its management saw just how much dirt could potentially be tracked in, and how the mats had the ability to keep it outside.

“The point was to look at how much dirt you stopped. You’re looking at a huge cost,” he says. “If you boil it down and talk about carpet care, the No. 1 thing is training your customer.”

Helping customers form a carpet care routine that works is one of Beam’s main goals.

“You have to have a process; if you don’t have a process, you’re done,” he says.

Depending on the facility, a typical process might include spot treating one day of the week, scrubbing with water every month, daily vacuuming and extracting once or twice a year — more if traffic is heavy.

Many customers, however, have to be taught not to overdo with chemicals.

“Soap is the No. 1 problem with carpet. Seventy-five percent of customers have enough soap in their carpet to clean it for a year,” Beam says.

Canada is strong a believer in the importance of training. His sales force conducts training courses at its facility on a quarterly basis, but Canada says it’s the daily training at customer facilities that makes the bigger impact.

“Most of our training is at the facility of the customer. Our reps are called consultants, and they’re there to be problem solvers,” he explains. “We have 35 reps here, and we’re doing training every day or several times a week in the customer’s facility, with their equipment, on their floors. There’s nothing like hands-on training.”
Many jan/san distributors also employ the help of manufacturer’s reps in working with customers at their facilities, and in-house.

Asking a series of pointed questions provides salespeople the information they need to make good recommendations related to carpet care, says Tom Margraf, sales manager for Phillips Supply Co., Cincinnati.

The type of carpet, time, budget, equipment and the results the customer is looking for all play into the total approach, he adds.

Many customers today also have warranties on their carpet that require the use of certain products or else the warranty is voided, says Margraf.

“There’s not one set rule. The warranty changes the way you clean,” he says.

Canada’s approach is similar:

“When you’re dealing with carpet care or any maintenance problem the most important thing is to listen and ask a lot of questions about what they’re doing now — their goals and expectations, and their budgets, what type of equipment they have and labor,” he says. “Then I can put together a program that will match those needs and expectations.”

There are three ways to show value to customers, Beam adds: by lowering their cost; decreasing labor needed; and increasing productivity. This must be done by finding the perfect balance of equipment, chemicals, and cleaning processes for each individual customer situation.

Time is of the Essence
Salespeople know that training customers alone could be a full-time job. While nobody can spend all his or her time training, proper guidance is needed to help put customers on the best course, and that requires a time commitment.

“Most every customer has carpet,” says Beam. “Our DSRs (distributor sales reps) walk in and take time to see what that customer is doing. Most of our guys don’t sell stuff, they sell a concept; they sell training and they sell value.”

Beam is known to spend around two hours with a new customer on vacuuming alone. He says the biggest problem facilities have is that they vacuum improperly, or not often enough, and they don’t have a matting system suitable to the facility.

“There are never straight answers in cleaning,” Beam adds. “You have to listen to the customer; he’ll tell you what he needs. But a lot of times he’ll tell you something different than what they’re actually doing.” Distributors must spend time at the facility to witness what that crew is actually doing in practice.

Some Are Stubborn
There are many challenges in the carpet care field. The most predominant is that so many customers neglect carpet, or they care for their carpets incorrectly. Beyond that, there are some who are less likely to budge from their current methods.

“Some of the hardest customers to work with are those that feel that they know it all,” Canada says. “We have a lot of customers that have been in the same position for 10 or 20 years, and those folks seem to think they know it all. The tactic we use is to try to tell the customer, ‘Yours is a good way, and I can suggest some other ways now that I think you might find are better.’” Canada says it’s important to approach these situations carefully, so as not to offend the customer, but to delicately make suggestions that will bring the customer to make the best decision.

Distributor salespeople have to be confident in what they’re selling these types of customers as well. “Those people will eat a rookie salesperson alive.” That’s why Canada suggests that new salespeople take products and equipment home and try them out to get a feel for what they’re working with.

“The more hands-on experience you have, the more confidence you have.”

Not only are there difficult customers, but certain facilities present a greater challenge than others. Certain factors can make some buildings difficult to keep clean, and the distributor’s ability to meet that customer’s needs is tested.

Distributors service accounts in numerous industries, but a few stand out as having the most carpet-care related challenges, they say.

The toughest are obviously places where there is a lot of traffic, and where there’s a lot of food and beverage involved. Venues such as theaters, concert halls, banquet centers and hotels, child-care facilities and senior-care facilities pose a few of the toughest challenges.

Canada’s company services a number of industrial accounts, where there is often an area that leads to the front or executive offices. The heavy traffic and dirty environment can take its toll.

“In addition to a good matting program, I would use a good pre-treatment to help repel the soil. And you just really need to keep an eye on that area,” he explains.

Hide and Seek
Carpet itself can hide a plethora of sins — for a while, anyway. Many customers’ carpets are heavy with shampoo and treatment residue, plus substances that have been spilled but never cleaned up properly, often because the spot wasn’t visible at first.

“If you spill a full can of white soda in the middle of a carpet but there’s no traffic, you’re not going to get a stain,” says Beam. But, if there is heavy traffic it will pick up that dirt in short order.

Many customers are looking for a quick fix in their daily carpet cleaning ritual, distributors say. They often don’t fully grasp how much longer carpet will last — and how much money they’ll save — if it’s taken care of properly.

Distributors have an opportunity and a duty to spend time with customers to devise a solid, daily plan to maintain carpets. If the cleaning regimen doesn’t become “second nature,” it’s more than likely customers will gradually return to their old ways.

Many customers view carpet care as too labor intensive and they don’t see past the short term to understand the true long-term savings. Distributors can help them understand those costs as well.

“Most customers we come into contact with do not have a complete program,” Canada notes. But that only opens the door of opportunity.

“Obviously, they need some help,” he says. “We can show them how much longer [their carpets] will last and how much better it will look by keeping it up.”




POSTED ON: 9/1/2003