How to Increase Profits with “Add-On” or “Plus” Sales in Your Carpet Cleaning Business
Extra sales (“Add-on” sales) make a carpet cleaning company highly profitable and grow every year.
The terms “add-on sales” and “plus sales” is offensive to some. It calls to mind the huckster element of the cleaning business that is never satisfied with what a customer buys, but always wants to sell more - whether the customer needs it or not.
Yet, extra sales make a company highly profitable. A service vehicle should generate a reasonable profit just by doing the basic work it was designed to do, which is to clean carpets. Additional sales made by that service unit make the difference between a very mediocre company and a highly profitable one.
In the twenty years that the Wm. F. Bane Co., worked for L. S. Ayres, a major Midwestern department store, it reported to Salvatore R. (Sol) Petruzzi. Sol loved to use the term “plus sales.” He said it sounded much softer than “add-on sales” and made extra profit for his company. Sales people, he believed, must be taught to be ethical in the selling of extra services. He had basic rules concerning plus sales:
- Plus sales should be made only to the customer who has a need for the product or service.
- The customer should be able to afford to buy the extra product or service.
If your basic fees cover expenses and a small profit just cleaning carpets, a crew can make extra profit with just a few additional sales. These go almost entirely to the bottom line since the expenses of getting to the job and advertising for it are already amortized.
Examples of Add-On Plus Sales Internal Services to Increase Your Profits:
- Carpet protectors are a tremendous profit generator.
- Plus sales may also be offered in upholstery cleaning, but the cleaning technician needs to be properly trained or you’ll buy ruined furniture!
- Leather Cleaning & Protection.
- Wood and laminate floor refinishing, restoration and repair. Wood, laminate and fake wood floors are rapidly replacing traditional carpeting in homes.
- Cleaning, polishing and sealing stone floors and countertops such as marble, granite, limestone, sandstone and grout.
- Resale items such as carpet rakes, spotters and door mats.
- Carpet cleaning companies can make extra money cleaning wall coverings, room dividers, office cubicles, cubicle walls and fabric office partitions!
- Area and oriental rug cleaning can be extremely profitable, especially if pick-up and delivery is included in the service. Large expensive oriental rugs are often found on wall-to-wall carpet in homes and executive suites. With the rapid growth of wood floors, area rugs are increasingly popular.
- Pet urine odor and stain removal.
- Cleaning Commercial Carpets like hotels, restaurants, office buildings.
- Repair of carpet bleach spots.
- Upholstery cleaning and protection.
- Dry cleaning drapery.
- Cleaning Motor Homes.
Some of our customers have also successfully added external services such as:
- Window Cleaning.
- Gutter Cleaning.
- Pressure Washing of Driveways, etc.
- Roof Cleaning.
- Move in/Move out Cleanups.
- VCT Strip & Wax.
- Concrete Cleaning.
- Concrete Garage, Driveway and Patio Cleaning and Protection.
- Cleaning Wood Fences and Decks.
If your profit margins are not what you think they should be, take a few days off, come to Bane-Clene Institute training school and improve your position in the industry!
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Free packet of information about Bane-Clene can be obtained by calling toll-free 1-800-428-9512 (U.S. ONLY!). Your information packet will include a full color catalog and price addendum. Packets will arrive in approximately 2 weeks through standard United States Mail.
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Published by: Bane-Clene Corp.
Copyright: Bane-Clene Corp.
Author: Donald W. Terry, Sr., Bane-Clene’s Chemist
Date Modified: January 1, 2020 by Don Terry
Date Published: June 7, 2010
Free Bane-Clene Information Package
Free packet of information about Bane-Clene can be obtained by calling toll-free 1-800-428-9512 (U.S. ONLY!). Your information packet will include a full color catalog and price addendum. Packets will arrive in approximately 2 weeks through standard United States Mail.
You can also order the packet at the Catalog Request Form.

Published by: Bane-Clene® Corp.
Copyright: Bane-Clene Corp.
Author: Donald W. Terry, Sr., Bane-Clene’s Chemist
Date Modified: January 1, 2020 by Don Terry
Date Published: June 7, 2010
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