ARE YOU SELLING A COMMODITY?
By Bruce Bennett

What does a box of salt, a carton of eggs and a 2x4 piece of wood all have in common? The are commodities. What are commodities? They are items that are all pretty much identical. and when you purchase them you buy on the basis of price.

For example, say your wife asks you to stop at the supermarket on the way home and buy a dozen extra large eggs. As you walk by the cooler you noticed that one brand of eggs is priced at 89 cents a dozen and another at $1.30 a dozen. Which one will you purchase? Naturally the eggs that are priced at 89 cents. Why, because eggs are eggs and there is no difference.

Lets look at another example, you probably live in a wood frame home or apartment. What kind of 2x4's are in the walls? Were they processed by Weyerhaeuser,  by Georgia Pacific or by Louisiana Pacific? Chances are you don't know and you really don't care. You just want 2x4's that hold up walls.

How does all this apply to carpet cleaning? When I was in a large northeast city, I noted an ad in the local yellow pages. It was for carpet cleaning at  $8.00 a room with a 2 room minimum. In another city the ad was almost identical with $8.00 a room or 5 rooms and a hallway for $40.00. You can find ads like this in almost every area of the country.                    

The point I'm making is this, do the homeowners in  our area view carpet cleaning as merely a commodity? I'm afraid in many cases they do. They feel all carpet cleaners do the same quality of work and so they might as well get the very cheapest price. How can we change their thinking? We do this by educating them that there is a difference in cleaners. We do this by demonstrating our expertise in stain removal and odor control. We do this by showing them we are professional, not laborers, and we offer quality far superior to the average cleaners. If we don't, the we run the risk of carpet cleaning becoming just another commodity. When this happens, the customer will buy the cheapest price.