If you are like most professional cleaners, you have a significant investment in your cleaning equipment and service vehicle. You are spending a lot of money in advertising and marketing to secure new clients. There are only three ways to increase the income you derive from this investment; 1) Work for more clients, 2) Work your current customers more often, or 3)Add-on additional services for each client.

It only makes sense to look at ways to make more money from each job you do. The best way to do this is to try and offer additional services to the customer while you are in their home or business. Traditionally, selling fabric protector and cleaning upholstery were the two most common "add-on sales" when you wanted to do this. Now, we have "gadgets" and tools available in our industry which allow you to diversify into cleaning or maintaining completely different surfaces, yet still allowing you to use the cleaning equipment you already have. What all these gadgets have in common is that they allow you to diversify into a unique service offering for your present customers without requiring a significant investment into new equipment.

Since most of these services are needed by the clients and customers you already have, it may not require a great deal of marketing for you to add a significant amount of income to your business. Let's take a look at some of these "gadgets" and the services they can help you add to your service menu.

Duct Cleaning Attachments for your Truck-Mount or High Performance Portable Extractors-
Truck mounted equipment that is exclusively manufactured for the cleaning of ventilation and duct systems can cost as much as $80,000. But if you already own a truck mount or high performance portable, you already own one of the most important components of a duct cleaning system-a powerful vacuum extraction system.

Now there is certainly nothing wrong with investing in a stand alone duct cleaning system if you are going to dedicate an entire part of your operation to duct cleaning. However, if you just want to clean the ducts of your existing customers on the same trip as you clean their carpets, a duct cleaning attachment system is a better investment. If you need a duct cleaning system for an occasional restoration job, a duct cleaning attachment system makes even more sense.

Duct cleaning attachment systems employ the powerful vacuum coming out of your extractor, but they have special adaptations that make them effective and easier to use. More efficient systems add the power of compressed air to achieve a push/pull system of cleaning. Adding a way for Mrs. Home-owner to actually see the soil and debris being removed from her ductwork assures that she will be pleased with the results.

The duct cleaning attachment system employs a duct ball with angled jets using compressed air to blast loose soils from the inside of the ducts.

A package that includes extensive marketing materials for promoting this service in print, radio, or even TV can be put together for well under $2,000. If your carpet cleaning operation focuses on cleaning for health to a high end clientele, adding duct cleaning services to improve indoor air quality and reduce the amount of dust in the home is almost a must.

Hard Surface Cleaning Tools-
Some cleaners have overlooked the fact that a truck mount is really just a hot water pressure washer with vacuum recovery capability. From the early days of truck mounts, cleaners would often purchase hard surface pressure washing guns to clean off vertical and horizontal surfaces outside the customer's home or business. This could include everything from cleaning an oil spot off of the driveway to cleaning a swimming pool, getting it ready for the new summer season.

More recently though, the focus on tool design has centered on wands and attachments that allowed for the cleaning of hard surface floors inside of a building, using the vacuum recovery capabilities of a truck mount to literally pressure wash a floor without flooding the indoor environment.

Today, sophisticated power cleaning wands have been invented, primarily to be able to clean the rapidly growing number of ceramic tile and natural stone floors. Unless you have been hiding under a rock, you have probably noticed that many of your customers have converted a room or number of rooms in their homes from carpeting to ceramic tile or natural stone.

While a number of designs for tile and grout cleaning tools exist, the rotary solution pressure head style is the one that has become the standard of tile and grout cleaning. These tools, like the HydroForce SX-12, work with a front to back or a side to side motion. They can blast soil, grease, dirt, and grout from smooth and uneven hard surfaces. The rotary arm spins to create amazing soil blasting power at pressures up to 1500 psi, while the vacuum ports pick up all the waste.

High grade poly based plastic bases absorb bumps and bruises, allowing for safer operation and better aesthetics. The ergonomic designs of these rotary floor cleaning tools allow for low profile cleaning under counters and reduce fatigue as they glide over the floor. Some units include pylon brushes at the base that make them safer and less likely to scratch stone and concrete. The key is to effectively clean the surface without damaging more sensitive natural stones or scratching less durable finishes.

All you have to do to start adding dollars to every carpet cleaning job is to invest in a special tool (under $1000), add a few special cleaning agents to your van, and get some formal training in learning how to identify different flooring types. Most cleaners charge significantly more for cleaning tile and grout than they do carpeting, so adding this service can more than double your income from every home or business that has ceramic tile and grout.

Many varieties of hand held cleaning tool attachments have been invented that allow the same type of cleaning in hard to reach areas such as under counters, around toilets and other fixtures and more.

Several companies who manufacture tile and grout cleaning tools also sell marketing brochures and postcards to help you advertise this new add on service to your past and present customers.

What do these diversifications have in common? Your present customers already need these services performed in their homes or businesses, so you have a built in customer base. The last thing any carpet cleaner wants is to force a regular client to call another cleaner because you can't clean one of the surfaces in their home.

Specially adapted tools and gadgets are available that allow you to add these services without a huge investment. They can all take advantage of cleaning equipment that you may well already have. Getting more money out of the same job site is the easiest and fastest way to improve the profitability of your company. If reducing fatigue and making your life easier, safer, quicker, and more efficient is the qualification for being approved by the "Gadget Man," then certainly these tools apply.