Certification (My Opinion)

The only reason why a chain would buy service from on national concern and that reason is central billing. This simplifies everything regarding the main office. The cost of one check verses multi types of billing makes the bean counters happy.

David
 
Central billing...

Dear David,

But what makes them even happier is a grease exhaust system that has been cleaned properly and excellent customer service.

This probably is one of the reasons why you have been so successful with your business.

It is short sighted to think that only if you can central bill that you can get the account.

Now there may be chains that request central billing and that is a different situation and we deal with that issue as it arrises. But in general the accounts are handed over to the owner/operator to service and they are theirs to keep.

Rusty
 
"It is short sighted to think that only if you can central bill that you can get the account"

You have it turned around, the account wants to simplify, and yes it is short sighted-the key is holding the account. That is the point, not the quality of work. This is the key-central billing. Your idea might work on paper, but when the rubber hits the road-they will want central billing and then the network will change.
 
Bean counters count beans and dont care about exhaust systems. If a National chain goes with a national cleaning company it is because of centralized billing, centralized management centralized everything. If they are still sending out hundreds of checks to hundreds of vendors they know they are not dealing with a national company. As for a national network, where is the value, where is the savings, where is the quality control and who the heck do they call when they have questions. National Restaurantuers are not stupid, if you treat them like they are, they will surely spend thier money elsewhere. Most if not all national chains have thier management set up to accomodate regional area vendors, this is why they have regional managers and district managers and store managers...
 
Now you know why it works....

The reason our system works so effectively is because we cater to the GM's, DM's & the store managers.

We give them what the national companies are selling them but are unable to deliver. We do this by providing direct personal service.

Because each member of our network is the owner of his personal company, he provides a higher quality of work than if I hire subs.

Because each owner has a vested interest in his success, he helps the network by providing excellent customer service.

Once again, Is it perfect? No.

Does it work? Absolutely!

This is not just some idea on paper, but a growing, thriving network of 27 companies (so far) all across America.

David & Grant, while you are saying it can't be done... I'm doing it.

Rusty
 
Good luck...lets revisit this in six months
 
Rusty

You are trying to reinvent the wheel. We deal with GM's-DM now and the central billing is the only reason as you will find out. Your network just lacks the beef and experience to cope with these operational demands of one of these corp. offices-call on Brinker-let me know what happens.
 
Dear David & Grant,

The nice thing about posting on this board is that I tell you what I am doing and you say it can't be done.

Grant says visit back in 6 months and surely by then you will be failing at what you are doing.

We been going full speed at this since July of 2001. We're now almost 2 years later and still going strong.

I'm glad to hear that both of you think that what we are doing won't work and can't be done. Whew, that is a great relief to know since we're already doing it.

I've already given 416 restaurants to our members in our network.

That doesn't include the approx. 1800 that are still in negotiation.

That doesn't include the members who are joing our network from Colorado, Texas, North Carolina & Hawaii within the next 3 months.

"The world is moving so fast these days that the man who says it can't be done is generally interrupted by someone doing it. -Harry Emerson Fosdick"
 
Well whatever Fosdick said thats great, but I never said it can't be done nor did I say you would fail. Perhaps your a physic and read my mind, but I never posted that.
Hey are there any of your certified, bonafied, experts ever going to speak up and tell us how much value they are getting for the money they have paid you? I find it odd that you have people all over the country that are now experts and making money hand over fist but not one has ever publicly applauded your efforts...except of course on your web site???
 
RustyTooter

I dont post here much . Mostly I just read. My observation is you are preaching to the Choir. Most who post here a professional with several years of experience. Im really tired of hearing you toot your own horn. Give it a rest. You are doing a good job in what you do. But we ( Ie: established contractors ) are not your market. So please give us a break. Find another audience. I think you are wearing it out here.

Just my .02. You may or may not agree. And no disrespect intended. Please give it a rest.
 
Thank you Michael!
 
I've already given 416 restaurants to our members in our network.
Click to expand...
Im no hood cleaner but I read and I also have my two cents worth to put in. You say that you have given 416 restaurants to your members of only 27 companys that you have been trying to build up for two yr and that you get $50.00 per lead. Thats over $20,000 in lead fees and an average of 15 leads per company. So are you a salesman trying to make money doing sales as it seems or do you run a school????? I find all this a little hard to chew on as well.:confused:
 
We do aprox 114 Corporate McDonalds, we get paid monthly from corporate, each store give up 1/12 of the yearly total for the cleaning, it come at the first of the month one big check, like clock work, well somtimes like clock work. I can say from my experience that book keeping loves it, one invioce, one check instead of 114 to chase around, now on the local level they are always a little skeptical, but as long as we get the four cleanings in each year, and document how many times we show up to be told, I didn't know you were coming can you come back tommorrow, like all I do is wait aroung for that one store.
What I am trying to point out is that it may depends on who you are dealing with in repect to those 50 or what ever stores, the head guy at the top, or the guy who is in charge of only 10 or so of them, as to how they want to be billed.
 
Central Billing...& other points...

Dear Matt,

The reason that we don't do central billing is that we don't want to micromanage your restaurants that you are cleaning.

If I give a group of restaurants to one of our members in our network, I expect them to follow up and clean the restaurants, bill and get paid.

Now If I get a bunch of restaurants (600+ Domino's for example) then the micro managing (central billing) is actually handled by one of our network members who is set up to do this. I supply him with the national accounts and network of certified hood cleaners to clean them, he does all of the micro managing and if needed central billing.

I get my per-lead-fee, he gets a $300,000 account that he is more than willing to manage and keep the profits from.

*****************************************

Now let's say that I give you 9 stores to clean. And you land that contract. I don't want the headache of micro managing those accounts for you. It's easier to turn them over to you and let you earn money off of them.

Or, for example, I pick up 80 Dairy Queens in a central area. If that area is covered by 1 of our members then they get all of the leads.

If the area covered by the restaurants is over a multi-state area then that is where we hand the leads over to one of our members that is willing/able to do central billing. He then sets up a protocol and procedure for cleaning those stores, starts out as a trial in his area and then spreads them throughout the network. When he does the central billing, every single cleaning is quality control checked for customer satisfaction.

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The common complaints that I hear about certification are:

1. It is a worthless piece of paper.
2. No customer has ever even asked if I am.
3. No standardized approach to teaching.
4. It has never earned me money by being certified.

I am trying to do something about these reasons why someone wouldn't want to become certified.

Our worthless piece of paper (as it has been called on this board) is backed up by a growing network of companies working together all following the standards preached by the NFPA 96 2001 edition. I realize the NFPA's limitations, but it is the closest thing to a national way of cleaning hoods that we have to work with. If something else comes along that is better, we may start using that.

We are educating our customers (restaurant owners, franchisee owners, AHJ's and insurance companies) about the importance of using a certified hood & duct cleaner.

We have set up formal training to set someone up in the business of hood & duct cleaning and have standardized testing and verification that they can clean the systems per NFPA 96 standards.

We set them up in a position that they earn money by being affiliated with our network.

Paradise mentioned that it averages out to 15 stores per member. Assume $200 profit per store (since we run our company with no fat :) and they on average are cleaned 3 times a year. That will average about $9000 a year.

When's the last time that PWNA or IKECA helped you earn $9000 a year? Our certification practically pays for itself and then some.

By the time that you fly to the IKECA meeting, stay in a hotel, eat some meals, pay for your annual renewal fees, pay your fee to remain certified you will have spent nearly $2000.

Funny, that is exactly what we charge to join our certified hood & duct cleaners network (if you happen to be certified by PWNA or IKECA).

************************************************

What I have to offer may not be perfect and I may be trying to reinvent the wheel. But we are doing something about it, not just sitting around talking about it.

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"The three great essentials to achieving anything worthwhile are; first, hard work, second, stick-to-it-iveness, and third, common sense. --Thomas Edison" (since Fosdick wasn't so popular)

Rusty
 
Rusty,
I am NOT certified by any school.I worked for Prism for 8 years.In that time I supervised a crew of exhaust cleaners.I started my own company 8 years ago and provide filter service and hood cleaning for around 400 restaurants.
With that said, do you think someone just out of your school after one week training is more qualified to properly clean a system than me?
John
 
What does it truly mean...

Dear John,

The answer to your question is, No.

I'm not saying that our student fresh out of our program is more qualified or experienced than you. But they are a heck of a lot more qualified than others who just go on their own with no formal training.

What I am saying is that our student is more qualified than someone who has just listened to someone give a lecture and talk about hood cleaning or take an open book test.

Our student has successfully cleaned exhaust systems independently by himself so that once he completes the training he is able to clean exhaust systems per the NFPA 96 2001 standards. He has completed a 140 question written exam based off of theory and practical knowledge that he has gained during his training.

He also has the support of the other 27 companies that have come before him that he can network with (via newsletters, email, chat/ and our online bulletin board). He has the support of me, my wife and Roger helping him in every aspect of his business to help him successfully get his business going.

He has all of the right forms, contracts, invoices, letter head, bid sheets, marketing materials to allow him to be successful from his very fist cleaning.

He has guaranteed clients to help him start making money to make a return on his investment.

I think that maybe you are confusing "Certification" with "experience." Experience comes with time and cleaning numerous hoods. Certification is a means to measure a specific amount of knowledge about kitchen exhaust cleaning.

To give you an example of the success of our guys, our member in St. Louis earned $2200 his 1st month of business, $5000 his 2nd month, and over $8000 his 3rd month in business. He has now hired an accountant to help him figure his 4th and current month of business. He works as a 1 person cleaning company with no employees working from his home with his wife helping him.

I'm not saying that certification is the “end all be all” of the hood cleaning industry. But it is a start. It is a means to verify a consistent level of knowledge has been transferred to our students.

Certification allows our members to work as a network of independent hood cleaners all working from the same page with the same training. That way I know that the hoods cleaned in St. Louis are going to be cleaned the same as the ones in Wisconsin, Indiana, Illinois, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Nevada, & California. This allows for interested nationwide restaurants to get consistent service over a wide geographic area.

I invite you to take another look at becoming certified. Take a look at what the PWNA, IKECA , Phil Ackland or ourselves have to offer you.

We offer you the opportunity to grow your company while working together with other companies who take this industry very seriously. A chance to network together and work on those national contracts if you are interested, or just have a place to network with other like minded individuals.

What we offer you is a way to verify to the AHJ's that you are "properly trained, qualified and certified" to clean kitchen exhaust systems. That you have proven what you already know to others.

It really doesn't matter to me who you get certified through, as long as you do. I just hope that you will choose to get certified and that maybe we can provide you with an option that didn't exist a year ago.

"The road to happiness lies in two simple principles: find what it is that interests you and that you can do well, and when you find it, put your whole soul into it -- every bit of energy and ambition and natural ability you have. --John D. Rockefeller III"

Rusty
 
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Rusty Rusty Rusty-what are we going to do with you. Brevity, is the skill of communications in simple brief, concise structure, so that people are able to get to the point. You by far hold the record for saying the same thing in 2000 words and then mixing the words to say the same thing. We simply don't want to hear it. Next time I will move your post-Please

David
 
As that wonderful citizen of La once said "can't we all just get along". Rusty-your catching on!

Thanks

David
 
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