Spring Cleaning With ChemDry

After what seemed to me a long season of snow in the Rockies, I decided to have ChemDry come and clean my carpets.

It's been a busy season. My wife has been nagging me to clean since March. So, with all of the house work piling up, I decided to do what some might consider to be the beginning of Summer, what should have been done in early Spring -- Spring cleaning and house repair.

Since there was so much dirt on my carpets, it's the first time I've used a cleaning franchise instead of my own elbow grease. While speaking with them on the phone I learned that the local ChemDry franchise are two owners that work out of an office. They have a fleet of "men in vans" at their disposal that they coordinate schedules for. One of the owners actually has software in which he can coordinate production and manage parts of the business from his home.

Awkward Brand

There is one thing that surprised me. Franchisors are usually very picky about logos and even taglines (those zippy catch phrases next to a company logo); yet, I noticed that ChemDry has a unique take on this. They allow their franchisees to incorporate their name with ChemDry's. So, Advantage ChemDry, Awk-A-Doc ChemDry, or maybe some day GetHigh ChemDry all are sanctioned. I'm an ex-big-multinational-corporate marketer who has helped build global brands. I believe in the sanctity of a company's brand. I mean, in Nike we used to train our new hirees and remind our existing executives that "the brand is sacred". One doesn't mess with something sublime. The result was one of the top three most memorable brands in the world.

So this scenario is unusual for me. In forming a relationship with me the consumer, would the slightly different look and words of Awk-A-Doc ChemDry or AlphaChemDry be the same thing that I know as ChemDry? See what I mean? It's confusing.

In the franchise world, older franchises sometimes have agreements that are somewhat looser in this regard; you know, like the first Kentucky Fried Chicken franchisee, who was called Harman's Cafe, later becoming Harman's KFC, not just Kentucky Fried Chicken. That's a practice from the days in which we didn't quite fully understand the power of consistent branding.

I'm digressing on the cosmetics of the brand here. An important part of any brand is the perception of the service or product, and that is where ChemDry stood out. So back to the matter at hand.

My Experience

The service was very customer friendly. I mean I had to call three times to reschedule for the next day or a few days afterwards. I know there must be a few van drivers out there still cussing at me for ruining their nicely laid plans. ChemDry was most pleasant in accomodating me. By my last call, I was certain I would have an irate sales person on my hands, tired of me messing up their driver's schedules for the day. They continued in their helpfulness and pleasantness.

"No sir, we recommend that you don't clean today but wait for 48 hours after you finish painting the walls this morning", came the cheerful lady at the other end.

"OK", I replied. That seemed like good advice. "Let's reschedule for Wednesday." 

I took note: Good customer service for even a customer like me, a royal pain in the neck.

On Wednesday the van pulled up filled with all sorts of expensive looking vacuums and paraphernalia. Almost none of it came into the house, only tubes extending to corners unknown. Most things unwanted were pumped into the van, which was fine with me. I wanted my dirt taken as far away as it would get.

I'm pleased to say that within an hour, my brown, black and dirt stained carpets from my dog and kids' winter's trodding became white again. And within minutes the carpets were dry and walkable. Three rooms of roughly 1200 square feet were cleaned for $150.

That's good enough for me. I'll probably use them again. I'll wait until at least another late spring. Maybe even three, if I'm lucky.

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Note: Cleaning services is very popular. This BizJournal article highlights some of the more popular cleaning service franchises.