Joe Polish & Lisa Wagner’s Rich Cleaner Blog ::

Last week I needed a last minute flight from San Francisco back home to San Diego.

I usually fly Southwest. I have one of their “A-List” cards because I fly so often with them. They provide good value and have great people. They are one of the best companies for consumers, and employees, in the US right now.

However… in looking at my options, I saw that I could get a first class ticket for the same price as the Southwest ticket, on Virgin America.

So, what the heck – I grabbed it.

And here’s the theme of the post today – the effect of a “first class” experience on your business.

Red carpet up to the ticket counter, and extremely professional staff trained more like a hostess at a fine dining restaurant.

Very friendly. Very happy to see you.

The fresh bouquets of flowers on the counters were a nice touch in a gloomy airport.

On the airplane itself, very hip music as you boarded, and the lighting was a mixture of white and violet, which gave it the look of a nightclub. Big white leather seats – I mean living room leather chair BIG.

Incredibly hospitable staff, funny and joking around. Sir Richard Branson’s recorded voice welcoming everyone on to his airplane, and a recorded emergency video that was entertaining so you actually watched it.

Yummy food. Really. And the drink hit the spot too!

But the best part of the experience? A pull-out console that gave you music, video, television, or gaming choices.

I was able to recline to review my notes from the event I came from, and listen to an assortment of great classics in a playlist I quickly set up for the flight, Elton John to Eagles to the Steve Miller Band. (The music I like to listen to when I’m writing. The ones that take me back to my days as a kid.)

I’ve already mapped out every city where Virgin American flies, because whenever possible, I’m flying with them again.

I love Southwest, but Virgin America provides an experience that is just super cool.

No one is providing a hip flying experience except for Virgin. And you only need to experience it once to want to go back. It actually makes you want to have to fly somewhere… pretty amazing, huh?

And what does this have to do with YOUR business?

It has everything to do with it.

It did not really take much to upgrade the experience for the flight. Something that very few people look forward to doing.

In the grand scheme of things, if you get a new client that’s a frequent flyer like I am – that’s a big win for them.

Just like with your business, the real gold is in your repeat clients and their referrals. (Do you think this post will get a few of the thousands who come here every month to at least go take a look at Virgin America? Of course.)

And since birds of a feather flock together… I likely know other people who fly a lot in my own circle of friends and peers – they are hearing about it also. I am part of VA’s sales force right now, spreading the word to my circle for FREE.

Couldn’t you use some of that in your business right now?

Most businesses in surrounding us are BLAH. They are unoriginal, uninspired, and just flat lazy with their operation.

But there are some that shine. We’ve profiled Zappos.com here (CEO Tony Hsieh has a new book out Delivering Happiness – gotta grab it, trust me on this one) – they definitely are not blah.

And Apple continues to over-deliver not just in their new products, but in their local service.

Here is a video clip of Joe and I in San Francisco before a trip overseas, where not only did the employee “D.” sell and format a new Macbook for me in the final minutes of their store hours, but he also went out and hailed us a taxi for the airport.

The service experience was SO good, when we came back from the trip Joe decided to pre-order 20 iPads to send off to some of his key clients and referral sources.

You do the math on that one. One great customer experience = 20 more sales.

Did D. need big fancy leather chairs and vodka and cranberry drinks? No.

He just happily got an order completed, and went the extra step of literally stepping outside to grab us a cab.

He did something nice, that he did not have to do… but he wanted to.

If you want to see engaged, genuinely helpful company employees in action – go to an Apple Store. And while you are there, notice the effect on you from the music, to the décor, to the “things to play around with,” to the people – and you will see lessons on how to create a store experience that supports more enthusiastic sales.

No one leaves the Apple Store dreading their purchase. They are excited.

So what can you do in your business to be memorable? To make them leave with a smile on their face? To make them tell others how cool your business is?

Paying attention to those questions could add another zero to the end of your revenue numbers. Zappos is a billion dollar company, not because they created new shoes to sell, but because they created a customer service environment (on-line!) passionate about their clients.

Apple is a $22 billion company, not because they invented completely new technologies… but because they take existing ones and repackage them into cooler, simpler, easier technologies. And they wrap it in great customer service as well.

The Virgin brand of companies is FULL of examples of coming into industries failing the customers on experience, and they do it better. Way better. Branson knows how to over-deliver.

You don’t have to be a billion dollar company to have customer impact. When was the last time a company sent you a hand-written thank you card? Never?

It doesn’t take much… except a desire to make a memorable impression on each client. Have them leave you feeling better than when they arrived. Have them feel appreciated and happy, like a great visit with an old friend, or hearing a great song from one of your old albums. (You remember what albums are, right?)

We all could use a little more of that in our lives, so make your company one of those places people really enjoy.

- Lisa

P.S. It’s easy to find companies to complain about – I want to hear about companies with great service you see out there. Please write in the comments about the ones making a difference out there in YOUR region. I want to hear about them. Thank you!

FOLLOW JOE

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We have a Members Community website, www.PiranhaCentral.com, where all of our business building and marketing strategies, trainings and templates are organized, archived and searchable.  More importantly Piranha Central is “action central” for Piranha Members across the globe.  Through the site’s ELFLibrary (the Easy, Lucrative & Fun swipe file share module) and the sites’s ELFMail (the Easy, Lucrative & Fun email system), bright and positive Cleaning Industry Marketers from all kinds of markets support each other, answer questions and share the templates and strategies that are working for them, right now.

Here’s a thread that we’ve gotten permission to share with you. These are a few ELFMail posts from yesterday and today about what’s working for marketing carpet cleaning and restoration services right now:

From: Joe Vizi
Date: 4/6/2010
Subject: ELFMail – What’s Working

Hopefully y'all have been busy as heck, like me! We had a almost a 700%
increase over last March! 

Plumber JV, Realtor Open Houses, and Repeat Clients From Newsletters are the
top three strategies.  

Also, a huge job from Yellow Pages in which I used Don & Jane Jones' ad copy.

-Joe Vizi
President & CEO
Eco-Scrub Carpet & Floor Care

From: Tim Mickelson

Date: 4/6/2010

Subject: ELFMail – What’s Working

For us January was a very slow month. February we were up over 26% over last February. March was fantastic; we had our best month ever in over 33 years.What has worked for us?

Facebook marketing to Realtors – making connections and giving them Gift Certificates for a Free Room of cleaning to give to buyers and sellers and their mailing list 3 Step Letters to high end homes.

Joining a dynamic BNI – visit several and join the best group in your area.

Water Damage Restoration ad in the Yellow Pages – the first two jobs were more than double the cost for the entire year and brought in thousands.

Sending out reminder cards thru Send Out Cards – we send out a reminder card every 6 months automatically that keeps repeat clients coming back.

Selling cleaning packages – we offer, buy two cleanings and get the 3rd for FREE. They pay for the two cleanings upfront and the cleanings are every 6 months. On the repeat cleanings we do not move any furniture.

We have had snow and rain. That is normal for the northeast.  Melting snow and lots of rain can lead to wet basements and water damage restoration. We took two water jobs from the guys with the green trucks.

You have to be consistent in your marketing and control expenses when things are slow. NEVER stop marketing, NEVER quit. Always be positive and always be hopeful.

If someone put a gun to your head and said you HAD to make $1,000.00 today or else…. What would you do to make it happen?

-Tim Mickelsen
Clean Your Carpets Inc.

From: Bill Pope
Date: 4/6/2010
Subject: ELFMail – What’s Working

Hello Piranha Family, 

It has been very slow in the Hudson Valley area of New York also. Just wanted to let
others know what we are doing to try and create business:

1) joined local chamber of commerce
2) sending out pink flyers to doctors, lawyers accountants and other professionals
from local telephone book
3) going out on foot and introducing myself to local businesses with info and an
offer about our company
4) sending special offers to those that have not used us in awhile via snail mail

These things have produced some work.  They are also very inexpensive to implement.

-Bill Pope
Stay Positive Stay Focused
Spotless Cleaning Systems

From: Andrew David

Date: 4/6/2010

Subject: ELFMail – What’s Working

Stay focused everyone.  By small and simple things are great things brought to pass.  Don’t forget to push hard with JV’s.  They have kept us active and we are about to leverage them for more with advice from other Piranha Members.  Don’t give up if things are slow.  Market harder!!!  Find things to get E.L.F., but don’t give up.

-Andrew David
One Stop Cleaning & Restoration

From: Beth Lack
Date: 4/6/2010
Subject: ELFMail – What’s Working

I guess that's one of the benefits of living in Phoenix... we've been extremely
busy. February & March were our best months ever in the 7 years that we've been
in business here.  We did the We Miss You 3 step letters starting in January &
we always try & send out at least 1000 pink flyers each month.  Of course, we
also haven't had the rain & flooding that most of the country has had. 

-Beth Lack
Lack's Cleaning Service

From: Jonathan Mickelson
Date: 4/6/2010
Subject: ELFMail – What’s Working

Well ELFland we just finished our day securing a 10k water damage job which is the 4th water damage job from our new yellow page ad that came out four weeks ago!  Our hard work, tenacity, patience, and persistence is paying off.

-Jonathan Mickelsen
Clean Your Carpets Inc.

From: Steve and Carol Busboom
Date: 4/7/2010

We’re pounding the pavement with a positive, upbeat presentation and a fun
little gift as a introduction or way of thanks to our clients and others
we meet… Gives them a reason to smile or laugh.   

They remember we brought some fun into their lives. It’s been a long, cold
winter here in Nebraska.  But our business has almost DOUBLED from last year,
there are Clients out there that want service work done, and they have money,
you just have to find them.

-Steve and Carol Busboom
All Care, Inc.

So there you have it!  A peek at E.L.F. – Easy, Lucrative & Fun Marketing Strategies working right now and a behind-the-scenes look at the power and genuine caring and sharing among Piranha Marketing Members on Piranha Central.

Here are the 8 E.L.F. Marketing Strategies working right now for Piranha Members:

1 – Joint Ventures
2 – Newsletters
3 – Direct Response Yellow Page Ads (with Free Recorded Consumer Awareness Messages – www.TeleCenterSignUp.com/RichCleaner)
4 – Online Social Marketing (Facebook & Twitter)
5 – Piranha’s “Classic Pink Flyer”
6 – Joe Polish’s 3 Step “You’ve Won” Letters
7 – BNI, Networking & Expert Positioning Strategies (with GIFTS! – www.JoePolish.com/LittleSomething)
8 – Direct Response Reminder or “We Miss You” Postcards & Letters (www.CarpetCleanersToolBox.com)

If you’d like to find out more about the templates and strategies mentioned… check out our Rich Cleaner Marketing Kit, our monthly Healthy Home Newsletter, and our Memberships.

Here are a couple of recent YouTube videos from Piranha Members:

Don’t hesitate to give us a call at 1-800-275-2643 with your questions (and mention this blog post for a free gift!)

Enjoy your business more & make more money! Keep it E.L.F. – Easy Lucrative & Fun!

FOLLOW JOE

FOLLOW LISA

Joe Polish is traveling in Toronto and met up with past “Better Your Best” winners Len Hume and Annette Marchionda and their red Corvette, and with Patti Mara.

If you are not a Piranha Member – but you want the marketing tools to build your business (so you can buy SEVERAL new Corvettes…), take a look at our best-selling Marketing Kit. The Rich Cleaner System: Marketing Strategies for Cleaners & Restorers

Keep it ELF! (Easy, Lucrative and FUN!)

FOLLOW JOE

FOLLOW LISA