CarpetBossPro Blog — Carpet Cleaning Software

Carpet Cleaning Software for a One-Van Company

Plenty of carpet cleaners run one van and like it that way. One van means low overhead, full control of the work, and no one else's mistakes to fix. It also means the owner is the cleaner, the scheduler, the estimator, the bookkeeper and the person who answers the phone. Software for a one-van company has to make that load lighter, not add another job to the list.

Texting Is Where Many One-Van Owners Start

For a one-van company, the feature in Two-Way Texting and Reminders in Carpet Cleaning Software often pays off first. Customers who get a night-before reminder and an on-the-way text stop calling to ask when you are coming, and that is fewer calls answered with wet hands in someone's living room.

The Phone Is the Real Problem

Ask a one-van owner what slows them down and the answer is usually the phone. It rings in the middle of a job. The customer wants a price, or a time, or to add a room. Answer it and the job slows down. Ignore it and the lead calls someone else.

Software cannot make the phone stop ringing, but it can take away a lot of the reasons it rings:

• Automated reminders and alerts answer “when are you coming?”
• The customer app answers “what do I owe?” and “can I update my card?”
• The website request form catches leads at night instead of on the phone during the day.
• Two-way texting lets you answer between jobs instead of mid-job.

Repeat Customers Without a Notebook

For a one-van company, repeat customers are the business. The family you cleaned last spring is worth more than a new lead, because they already trust you and they live where you already work.

Set each repeat customer by minimum days between visits — a year, six months — and they show up on the Waiting List map when they come due. On a slow week, open the map, pick an area, and text the customers who are due there. When they say yes, the new job fills in from their last job, so the rooms, carpet and add-ons are already set. The details are in The Waiting List: Filling Carpet Cleaning Days With Repeat Customers Who Came Due.

Estimates From the Driveway

A one-van owner often does estimates between jobs, sitting in the van. Estimates built from your service list make that fast: pick the rooms, add the sofa, add pet odor treatment, send. The customer approves online, and the approved estimate becomes the scheduled job. You do not need to be at a desk, and you do not need to call them back with a price.

Paid Before You Pull Away

When you are the only one working, billing on the weekend is the last thing you want. With a card on file, tapping Complete creates the invoice and can charge the card. The customer sees the invoice and the before and after photos in the customer app. You drive to the next job with the last one already paid.

For customers without a card on file, they can pay the invoice online. Past-due follow-up reminds the stragglers so you do not have to.

The Schedule Is Not Only in Your Head

One-van owners carry the schedule in their head, and that works until it does not — a sick day, a family emergency, a week of vacation. When the schedule, customers and access notes live in the software, someone else can look at tomorrow and call the customers. When you hire your first helper or add a second van, everything they need is already there.

Which Plan Fits One Van

CarpetBossPro plans are Start at $59/month, Pro at $89/month and Crew at $199/month, and every plan starts with a 14-day free trial with no credit card. The tech app, customer app, Waiting List, dispatch, estimates and billing are on every plan. The monthly text allowance is 500, 1,000 or 2,000 texts sent and received on Start, Pro and Crew. Many one-van companies start on Start and move up when they add a van or start texting more.

What a Day Looks Like

Morning: open the tech app, see today's jobs in route order. Customers already got their night-before reminders. Tap navigation to the first house; the customer gets an on-the-way text. Read the rooms and access notes in the driveway. Work the checklist, take photos, tap Complete. The card is charged. Next job.

Between jobs: answer texts, send an estimate or two, glance at Form Responses for new leads. Evening: look at the Waiting List and text a few customers who are due next week. That is the whole office.

To see every piece of the software in one place, return to the CarpetBossPro carpet cleaning software page.