How Distributors Can Provide Carpet Care Expertise

A distributor should do more than just specify equipment and chemicals. As a true partner to end user customers, distributors should also serve as a consultant. Examine potential contaminants that can be tracked in, evaluate how to prevent them from entering, and provide solutions to capturing and removing them. Schneringer recalls one customer who had a tree near the entrance that dropped saplings, which were being tracked into the building. That customer had two options: either trim back the tree or implement a matting program to capture debris before it was tracked indoors. 

Another facility had a garage where grease was an issue and workers coming inside were tracking grease on the carpet. Placing a mat between the garage and the carpeted areas of the building helped reduce the problem, as did introducing a degreasing program in the garage. 

A distributor should always be ready to offer this kind of advice.  

“Matting helps scrape dirt and moisture off people’s shoes so that by the time they hit the carpeted surface, their shoes are cleaner,” Schneringer says. “But also look at ways to reduce dirt before their feet hit the mat.”  

This means talking to customers about the importance of regular vacuuming and spot cleaning. Spot cleaners can be general-purpose that clean up most things, or they can be specialized, which tackle organic materials. 

“The difference between a carpet spot and a stain is that if frontline teams don’t get on a spot, it will turn into a stain,” Schneringer says. “This gets back to helping customers with the preventive strategies, such as mats that keep dirt from getting tracked in, pressure washing sidewalks, and addressing spots within the first 24 hours.” 

 Most carpets currently found in facilities are now stain resistant, but it’s important to note that that’s not the same as stain proof. When spot cleaning, distributors will want to make sure frontline teams are trained to blot at spots, not rub or scrub. They also need to know how to identify the spot to ensure they are using the right product to remove it. 

Schneringer advises recommending spotting equipment, such as a handheld portable extractor, to pick up spots quickly. 

“We explain to our customers that the better they are at the preventive and the daily maintenance, the longer they can push off the interim and the restorative projects, which helps them save on labor and chemicals,” he says.  

Go the Extra Mile 

Going the extra mile to offer training is an important service offering, but it is also valuable to customers. It examines how they are using their carpet care equipment and chemicals to clean and could open the door to product alternatives or further service offerings. For example, Moody comments that some customers clean their carpets excessively, using the extraction method repeatedly and leaving too much soap behind.  

“With proper training, you can teach them how to make this more intermittent, a project that is done once or twice a year with bonnet cleaning equipment and other interim cleaning methods done in between,” he says. “It is the responsibility of every distributor to do their part to train customers to use less product and be more sustainable.” 

He recalls a situation where Solutex lent a carpet extractor to a customer while theirs was in for repair. They showed the customer where to put the carpet shampoo, telling them to put in eight ounces of chemical per gallon of water. The maintenance person then mentioned they had been using pure carpet shampoo in their machine.  

“No wonder it needed repair,” he says. “They were filling the entire tank with pure carpet shampoo. Thus, this became a training opportunity.”  

Distributors can do much to improve customer service by offering on-the-house training to customers who purchase a carpet care program.  

“We had a customer purchase 12 carpet cleaning machines,” says Moody. “We hosted a lunch and offered a fun day of training for the 12 employees who used the machines. You cannot just drop off the equipment and walk away. You need to make sure they know how to use it.” 

This also applies to maintaining equipment. Customers need to know how to clean and maintain machines, so they will work well and last longer. Distributors should make a habit of stopping by facility customers to check in, offer maintenance tips or offer quick training updates. This goes a long way toward customer service. 

Doing this provides a competitive advantage for distributors who are often competing with companies such as Amazon and Uline, both of which sell low-cost cleaning chemicals and equipment. The best way to compete against those 800-pound gorillas is customer service. 

“Distributors need to take advantage of their local presence to do a little more for their customers,” says Moody. “We may charge a little more than the online vendors, but we make up for that in customer service.” 

Ronnie Wendt is a freelance writer and owner of In Good Company Communications in Waukesha, Wisconsin.