NW ARKANSAS 479-751-0055 1101 Shaver Springdale, AR Manager: Kyle Johnson
JONESBORO & NE ARKANSAS 870-972-1922 3411 One Place Jonesboro, AR Manager: Shannon Simpson Lester Mullen
LITTLE ROCK 501-219-0075 1200 John Barrow Little Rock, AR Manager: Eric Sutterfield Burle Fortenberry
HOT SPRINGS 501-760-0075 5922 Albert Pike Royal, AR Manager: Tom Baker
SW TENNESSEE & MISSISSIPPI 901-377-7075 5455 Crestview Dr. Memphis, TN Manager: Jimmy Weatherly
FLORIDA 954-979-8100 995 NW 31st Ave. Pompano Beach, FL Manager: Robert Williamson
All Clean USA | Online News Bulletin | August 2009
ALL-CLEAN USA offering Continuing Education hours for adjusters in Northwest Arkansas
September 15, 2009 ALL-CLEAN OFFICE 1101 Shaver Street, Springdale
CE CREDITS FOR OK AND TX
Pre-registration required. Cost of the class is $10.00 and will include lunch.
CE hours will be issued upon completion of the class.
Dennis Klager VP of Operations, Clean As A Whistle, Inc. will be the instructor.
Call Kyle at 479-751-0055 or Hayden at 870-926-7917 to reserve your spot today.
SERVICE TAX
Information provided by John DiJulius, The DiJulius Group
What if your company actually applied a service tax to everything you sold to your customers? Think about it for a second. Regardless of what you sell or the department you work in, at the bottom of each monthly invoice or the cash register receipt, a "service tax" was added to the original price. What if it was an extra $500, or an extra $10,000? Would you do anything differently? What types of things would you add to justify the price? By looking at each stage of your customer experience cycle (points of contact), you start to really look at how many new things you would offer/add if in fact you were charging a much higher fee. Now, let's make the service tax optional. Your customers can pay whatever portion of the service tax, if any, they think is fair. Now how consistent do you think your organization might be on time, on deadline, under promising versus over promising, etc? This is one of the best exercises companies can do with each department. What typically happens is the realization that all the incredible things people think of offering to justify the service tax, actually do not cost any money and are not difficult to do. So the next question begs, "Why aren't you already doing them?" If you were doing these things, wouldn't doing business with your company be a bargain? Wouldn't your customers love you and become extremely loyal, brand evangelists? How much easier would it be to increase prices this year by 5-10% if you are providing that type of service?
Well, if you think about it, most everyone is charging a service tax already. The only difference is that no one is brave enough to break it out. If people were able to just buy from you without all the extra stuff: sales person, call center, resources you offer, technical support, value added, etc. (basically the internet), then you could -- and would -- charge a lot less. But if you are reading this, chances are you are not competing on price, you are working on making price less relevant. If that is the case, you are servicing your customer with extras, and offering many things your competitors do not. Therefore, you are in fact charging a "service tax" that your competition is not. You need to start looking at that service tax and make sure your company is justifying it consistently. I tell my staff all the time, "If you skip one of our non-negotiable standards because you are running late or in a hurry, then basically you just cheated our customer. They still pay the same. If that happens, our customers can go elsewhere, to our competition, who are cheaper and not charging a service tax."
SUCK LESS?? I cannot tell you how many times I have heard successful CEO's and Presidents say, "When we started out, it wasn't that we were that good, it was just that we were the best of a bad group." One CEO said it point blankly, "Our industry is so bad, we just sucked less than everyone else."
Have you recently looked at your industry from a customer's point of view? What are the stereotypes of your industry? What are the things your customer's notoriously hate about your industry? There are so many companies that decided to break the traditional mold and found a way to do it differently or a little better, and are now viewed radically different and own their market. Wayne Huizinga, owner (or previous owner) of companies such as Waste Management, Blockbuster, Auto Nation, and numerous other companies in different industries, has made a model of entering industries with notoriously low service standards and did nothing more than provide fundamental services that has allowed his companies to emerge as the market leader.
Questions? Suggestions? Comments? Email and let us know.
ALL-CLEAN USA Employee Profile: Look Who's Working For You
Archie Lane CENTRAL ARKANSAS
Archie is a water technician for the central Arkansas area. He has been an intricate part of ALL-CLEAN USA since joining the company several years ago. ALL-CLEAN USA customers adore Archie's sense of humorr and quick wit. He makes them feel at ease and calm in thier time of need.
A dedicated employee and harworker, he always strives to be the best in whatever he sets out to do. He is kind, well-mannered and liked by all who grace his presence.
Archie has been a part of several big projects and has played an instrumental role in each of them. His personality is a big part of who he is, being light-hearted and easy going.
Archie enjoys spending time with family and friends when not working.
ARCHIE LANE, Working For You
HURRICANE SEASON IS HERE!
ALL-CLEAN USA is ready to report to hurricane duty!
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Call our toll free number for more information and see how we can help you.
