TIPS FOR SELLING YOUR HOME IN THE BUBBLE

There is an abundance of inventory out there. According to this Los Angeles Times article the bad news for sellers is that there are 5.1 million homes for sale across America. The good news is they aren't all in your city. Click this Rocky Mountain News article to read how some cities have a 20 month supply of homes listed. Orlando has 26,300 homes for sale.

Sellers need to recognize that buyers will gravitate to homes that shine, both inside and out. What type of first impression does your home afford? Does your home "sparkle"? Is your home "presentation ready"? Before you list your home, consider the following:

• curb appeal
• interior appeal

First Impressions Matter #1-Curb Appeal
Your homes entry and all that goes with it matters. Will your potential buyer decide to get out of his/her realtors car or would they move on down the long list of homes that are all very similar to yours. In this case appearances really do matter. Tips to enhance your homes curb appeal:

• Edge your lawn.
• Keep grass well cut.
• Trim your hedges & prune those trees.
• Remove the weeds from landscaped areas and keep it fresh with pine straw or wood chips.
• Fresh paint on front door.
• You windows and woodwork paint should not be peeling.
• Consider power washing home.
  

First Impressions Matter #2-interior appeal of the lived in home
Enhance your home's interior appeal by:

• A top to bottom, Spring Cleaning followed up by regular weekly service while the house is on the market.
• A good professional maid service, like You've Got MAIDS, will keep your home at "presentation ready" status.
• Declutter the lived in home.
• Become a minimalist!
• Keep your counters clear.
• Consider renting a storage unit & move extra furniture, paperwork, and precious items out of your home during the parade of realtors.
• Your closets should be nearly empty.
• Consider the contents of your pantry.
• Consider sparse cupboards.
• Rehab your garage. Remove just about everything to the storage unit.
• Paint your garage…it's not that difficult after all the junk is removed.
• Touch up paint around the house.
• Consider new knobs in the kitchen & bathrooms.
• Eat out more than normal. Your kitchen will thank you.
• Your home is your canvas…what sort of picture do you want to paint for your perspective buyer?
  

First Impressions Matter #2-interior appeal of the vacant home
Enhance your home's interior appeal by:

• A top to bottom, Spring Cleaning from a professional maid service, like You've Got MAIDS will ready your home for the hordes of realtors and buyers who will soon visit.
• Consider retaining your professional maid service for weekly service afterwards to keep your home at "presentation ready" status.
• You've Got MAIDS also will inspect the thermostat and reset to the owner preference, gather trash left by realtors and buyers, remove all the realtor cards(they promote the realtor, and make your home look not wanted), remove junk mail and annoying advertisements people attach to your door knob.
• Remember when the people move out, the bugs move in. Your maid service will pick up the dead bugs every week.
  

Consider your home objectively from the buyer's point of view. What would a buyers perception be? Remember, perception is reality.

MAID SERVICE REVIEW - WINDERMERE, FL

Ken Blanchard wrote that "Feedback is the breakfast of champions" and at You've Got MAIDS we digest feedback for breakfast, lunch and dinner! We go the extra mile to solicit our Clients feedback on their perception of our housekeeping services. Here's a great one from a Client in Windermere, FL.

Frank,

I went home on my lunch break, and was shocked at how well the place looked. It would of taken me days. Your staff went above and beyond, leaving a little bit of love behind. You have a great team, and I was so pleased with the service. I would tell anyone they should use your company. Thanks again my house looks great!!!!

Robin

ps. Please put my maid service review on your website

Bedroom: excellent
Bathroom: excellent
Kitchen: excellent
Dusting: excellent
Vacuuming: excellent

Robin also meant to congratulate her You've Got MAIDS team for coming in under budget. Windermere, FL is a great place to clean homes. It is a small town defined by quiet sand covered streets, ancient live oak trees, lakes, canals and some high profile celebrities. You just might end up bumping into Denzel Washington, Tiger Wood, Shaquille O'Neil, Ken Griffey Jr., Mark O'Meara, or Wesley Snipes.

MAID SERVICE MARKETING

Marketing is more than a department. Marketing is more than just selling maid service. Marketing is your entire maid service business from your Clients perspective.

Naturally a maid service advertisements speak volumes about its business. Maid service advertisements are the book store equivalent of a great covers. Great book covers will sell a few books, but if the content is lacking, sales will stall and fall. The word always gets out.

What is the content of your maid service? Do your maids show up on time? Do your maids dress professionally or are they in tattered jeans and an old t-shirt? Do your maids do what their "salesman" promised you? Do your maids show up in a professional vehicle, or do they park an oil leaking rust bucket in front of your pristine home? Do you ever look at your maids back seat? Chances are if they can't maintain their car, they won't be able to maintain your home properly. When you call your maid service to add service or give feedback...does someone answer the phone? If you leave a message, does your maid service return your call promptly?

Marketing is not a department at You've Got MAIDS. We don't employ salesmen. We dress professionally (*the downside is I need to change before going to Best Buy or their Customers will start asking me about HDTV & plasma TV's). We deploy well maintained maidmobiles. We are vigilant about training. We keep our promise to our maid service Clients. We share feedback with our Maids. Our maid service Clients Feedback directly affects our maids; the effect of this is better Customer service. Every single thing we do is geared to WOWING our Maid Service Clients.

Marketing is too important to entrust it with just one department.

SMALL GESTURES, BIG OUTCOMES

Mentors aren't always there for the long hall, but it is amazing the power of the right word delivered at just the right time. When I joined Domino's Pizza with the intention of franchising they assigned me to Peter Ramin, general manager of the Pleasantville, NJ outlet.

Pete Ramin was a great boss. We connected at so many intersections. Both married. Both were former collegiate athletes (Pete was a soccer star at Syracuse University). Both didn't really fit the profile of the average Domino's manager. Both took a step backwards on our career paths in order to complete the Domino's Pizza Franchisee apprentice program that required all of its franchisees to supervise or manage for at least one year.

The picture above is of Pete, his son, and yours truly delivering pizzas to Mike Tysons boxing training camp at the Pleasantville Youth Athletic Club. That was back before the world discovered that Mike Tyson was a certified nut case. Tyson was a lot shorter than I thought he would be.

Pete was a great boss. Looking back I recognize that he had wisdom beyond his years. Pleasantville wasn't like the movie. It was the animal house of Domino's Pizza in South Jersey. The home for misfit delivery drivers. The assistant manager before me had been robbed by a 16 year old with a sharpened screw driver. It was busy, quality of service wasn't the most important thing, and it was a great place to groom new managers. The ovens were so hot that we had to prop the doors open, but open doors attracted sharpened screw driver wielding felons in training. It was some sort of crazy continuous loop.

Unlike other management positions, the Domino's manager is also the pizza maker, the router, the oven tender, the cashier, the parole officer...lots of hats...you need to combine athletic talent with strategic thinking every dinner rush. Well I was a pretty slow pizza maker back then. And slow pizza makers made for old pizzas coming out of the oven. Bad out of the oven times lead to lower tips for the drivers. There was a particular driver who was putting the screws to me pretty bad. He was trying to get me to quit, pushing every button he could. Finally I had it and invited him to join me out in the parking lot to settle things. This was my first real job out of school, and it hadn't occurred to me that fist fighting wasn't an acceptable way to handle grievances. My plan was to knock his lights out, go home, put on my Brooks Brothers suit the next morning and join corporate America...

...the pizza driver backed down, and never gave me a bit of trouble again. Pete stepped in, thanked me for doing what he had always wanted to do with this driver, and then sent me to an ice cream parlor with a five dollar bill to have a ice cream Sunday. That's right. My manager/mentor, Pete Ramin, sent me to an ice cream parlor to cool off. It worked. I didn't quit.

Everything I accomplished as a Domino's Pizza franchisee would have never happened if Peter Ramin hadn't put me in a ice cream "time out". Peter Ramin had wisdom beyond his years. That's 19 years ago.

Do you have someone who made a big impact in your life with such a small gesture?

MAID SERVICE REVIEW - CHARLESTON, SC

Ken Blanchard wrote that "Feedback is the breakfast of champions" and at You've Got MAIDS we digest feedback for breakfast, lunch and dinner! We go the extra mile to solicit our Clients feedback on their perception of our housekeeping services. Here's a great one from a Client in Charleston, SC.

The "team Leader" was very diligent and had a lot of experience. She aims to do the very best she can. Her assistant was also nice. I liked also the fact that they were dependable, honest, and personable.

Bedroom: excellent

Bathroom: excellent

Kitchen: excellent

Dusting: excellent

Vacuuming: excellent

This demonstrates the tried, tested training programs developed at You've Got MAIDS in Orlando, FL can be implemented in different markets.

IF YOU WANT TO GENERATE CASH FLOW, TEND TO YOUR MAIDS

If you endeavor to own a successful home cleaning company, the ready, aim, fire crowd would advise you to first define what it would mean to be successful. How would you know if your home cleaning company hit the target unless you first quantify it? What it means to be a successful home cleaning company in Charleston, South Carolina or Orlando, Florida could be different things to different people.

You’ve Got MAIDS believes the ultimate measurement of the success of a home cleaning company is sales. Gross weekly sales are the leading indicator of Customers approval of a home cleaning company. Indeed weekly sales is the score board of business.

Your home cleaning company is either trending up or trending down. Staying flat is not an option. Is your home cleaning company green and growing?

Does your home cleaning company bear fruit? Weekly gross sales are the fruit of a home cleaning company. The best way to produce bushels of fruit is to tend to the roots, and at You’ve Got MAIDS of Charleston, & You’ve Got MAIDS of Orlando we believe our maids are the roots. Without dedicated maids willing to fulfill our company’s mission we would soon wither and die.

Fertilize your home cleaning company roots with a mixture of respect and dignity. Focus on training. Be sure the light of recognition falls on your maids if you would want them to grow. Read a Clients positive feedback to a maid in front of all her coworkers at your home cleaning company’s morning meeting. She will begin to glow! It is miraculous…what a great way to start the day!!

If Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was alive today he might write, “Treat a maid as she is, and she will remain as she is; treat a maid as she can and should be, and she will become as she can and should be.”

GOOD BORROWING vs. BAD BORROWING

The past few weeks our preacher has been talking about Proverbs. Good stuff in Proverbs. I see the inspiration for so many of my favorite writers/inventors/leaders rooted deeply in Proverbs. Peter Drucker, Ben Franklin, Abraham Lincoln...the list goes on. Proverbs has 31 chapters, one for each day of the month. Each one of us could improve ourselves if we read 1 chapter a day, and then applied what we read. The application is always the hardest part, but it has the best margins.

When it comes to the topic of debt there are different schools of thought, but perhaps lack of clarified thought is the root of the problem. In the end, I think it comes down to why one borrows and what one borrows for.

Nineteen years ago, my wife and I decided to enter the world of the self employed. We vowed to incorporate patience, humility & thrift into our game plan. We agreed to never be influenced by the Joneses, no matter where we find them. Moreover, we vowed:

• To never borrow money for non-appreciating assets. Mainly talking about cars, but not entirely.
• To always become suspicious when a salesman started talking about "monthly payments."
• To put the brakes on any sales pitch that didn't originate with us.
• To build a cooling off period into every decision of consequence.
• To never purchase a new car.

OPM. Other People’s Money should never be used for cars, boats, vacations, furnishing or toys. How many people do you know that are swimming in debt? Almost forgot...don't borrow to build in a swimming pool. The reason "Keeping up with the Joneses" doesn't work is because just as soon as you catch up, the Joneses refinance.

OPM. Other People’s Money can be used to purchase a house, or business (like a You've Got MAIDS Franchise), but you will sleep better if you can be your own bank. By financing yourself, you are taking out an insurance policy on your ability to survive a crisis. And in business, crisis is always lurking around the corner.

Today I see Chrysler is offer 0% financing on their 2007 Chryslers for a 6 year loan. Is this good debt or bad? Bad for me, but not for someone who values a brand new car. One thing is for certain...the folks at Chrysler are hoping you will equate 0% financing with no debt. They are most clever.

Here are some related quotes from various sources:

• “Borrowing for expansion is one thing; borrowing to make up for mismanagement and waste is quite another.” -Henry Ford
• "The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower becomes the servant to the lender." - King Solomon
• "Debt is the slavery of the free." - Publilius Syrus (Roman author, 1st Century BC)
• "A man in debt is so far a slave." - Ralph Waldo Emerson3
• "Be assured that it gives much more pain to the mind to be in debt, than to do without any article whatever which we may seem to want." - Thomas Jefferson
• "The second vice is lying, the first in running in debt." - Ben Franklin
• "For age and want, save while you may; No morning sun lasts a whole day, as Poor Richard says. Gain may be temporary and uncertain, but ever while you live, expense is constant and certain; and 'tis easier to build two chimneys than to keep one in fuel, as Poor Richard says. So rather go to bed supperless than rise in debt. " - Ben Franklin
• “Fond pride of dress, is sure a very curse; E'er fancy you consult, consult your purse. And again, pride is as loud a beggar as want, and a great deal more saucy. When you have bought one fine thing you must buy ten more, that your appearance maybe all of a piece; but Poor Dick says, 'tis easier to suppress the first desire than to satisfy all that follow it. And 'tis as truly folly for the poor to ape the rich, as for the frog to swell, in order to equal the ox.” - Ben Franklin
• "Those have a short Lent, who owe money to be paid at Easter." - Ben Franklin
• “Neither a borrower nor a lender be; For loan oft loses both itself and friend, And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.” - William Shakespeare from Shakespeare's Hamlet, 1603
• “Industry, thrift and self-control are not sought because they create wealth, but because they create character.” - Calvin Coolidge
• "You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift. You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. You cannot help the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer. You cannot further the brotherhood of man by encouraging class hatred. You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich. You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than you earn. You cannot build character and courage by taking away man's initiative and independence. You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves." - President Abraham Lincoln
• "If I owe you a pound, I have a problem; but if I owe you a million, the problem is yours.” - John Maynard Keynes
• “He that dies pays all debts.” - William Shakespeare

House Cleaning Service Discipline

If you would aspire to own a successful house cleaning service one of your building blocks will certainly be discipline. Choosing the right things to be disciplined about is the trick.

If you would aspire to own a successful house cleaning service, make a conscious decision to discipline your house cleaning service to never deviate from your guiding principles. Your principals will be under constant attack so the successful house cleaning service manager must be vigilant and determined.

If you would aspire to own a successful house cleaning service, discipline yourself to always pick the crème of the crop when selecting associates to join you. This is easier said than done. Hiring is job one at You’ve Got MAIDS. We are very selective when it comes to inviting an applicant to enter our MIT Program (Maid In Training).

If you would aspire to own a successful house cleaning service, you must train your maid associates the correct way to clean a house, and the appropriate way to act while doing so. Don’t assume anything. At You’ve Got MAIDS every MIT is automatically enrolled in You’ve Got MAIDS University. The curriculum is daunting so we spread it out to ensure success. Even if a MIT is hungry to learn everything on day one, we have determined it is in the MIT’S best interest to stretch training out over time.

Imagine that you are hungry. Very hungry. Would you sit down and eat 21 meals all at once and then fast for the next week, or would you pace yourself consuming 3 meals a day?

If you would aspire to own a successful house cleaning service, your maid associates must have good morale. Good maid morale is the result of pride. Pride is one of the consequences of job function competence. Competence is the result of proper hiring & subsequent training. Your house cleaning service will not prosper unless the majority of your associates have pride in their job. Discipline brings about good maid morale.

If you would aspire to own a successful house cleaning service, you must treat your maid associates right. If you are a house cleaning service manager, discipline yourself to treat your team with respect and dignity. Do this and you will be on the road to prosperity. If you dispense harsh or lax discipline, maid morale will surely suffer.

Please consider You’ve Got MAIDS for your professional house cleaning services.

Leona Helmsley's Should Have Hired You’ve Got MAIDS…

Everyone remembers Leona Helmsley serving 19 months in federal prison for income tax evasion. Her housekeeper testified in court that Helmsley said "We don't pay taxes. Only the little people pay taxes." Little people also serve on juries.

Familiarity almost always breeds contempt. Leona should have hired You’ve Got MAIDS. We are more like time share for maid service. We aren’t in your house long enough to treat you with contempt. Perhaps I should trademark that…You’ve Got MAIDS, we don’t treat our Clients with contempt!™

Ms. Helmsley troubles didn’t end with her death. One of her more recent housekeepers, Zamifira Sfara, is suing Ms. Helmsley surviving 8 year old fluffy white Maltese. This dog, Trouble, inherited $12 million dollars at the death of her master. It seems that Trouble will need legal counsel.

Zamfira son, Remus Pop, was quoted saying "That dog got money." "That money is going to be taken away from that dog." You got to be a proud mom Zamfira, what other country could you possible hope to immigrate to, where one day, if you work real hard, your son could help you sue a fluffy dog?

Zamfira was allegedly bitten “dozens of times during the three months she worked for Mrs. Helmsley in 2004.” Zamifra have you ever heard the old American saying, bite me once shame on you, bite me a couple dozen times, shame on Zamifra. It’s applicable.

This reinforces another reason why Leona Helmsley should have hired You’ve Got MAIDS…I wouldn’t keep sending our maids back after the first bite.

MERCEDES, the Mark of EXCELLENCE

A couple months ago we lost one of the best employees we ever had in Orlando. Her name is Mercedes and we were blessed every moment she worked with our Central Florida Team. When she would call on the phone she would alway say "Hello Franckkkk...it is Mercedes".
Mercedes was from Buenos Aires, Argentina where she was a librarian. Librarians can only be satisfied in an environment of discipline & order. Discipline and order defined her. In Buenos Aires her architect husband divorced her and she suddenly found herself in a culture that didn’t respect single 40 year old women. That is why she emigrated to America.

Mercedes was good, but turns out she was replaceable. I suppose we all are. It is a testimony to our team building efforts that we are not defined by one associate. When she left we din't lose a Customer, not one.

At You’ve Got MAIDS™ we devote more than the average amount resources to training our team. It is not that we enjoy burning through cash. We don’t look at it like that. We are investing. Investing in our people. Investing in our Clients continued satisfaction. Investing in this company’s future.

In the sport of rowing there are superstars, but it is the teams with the best coaches that tend to win. They have a dedication to attracting, training & retaining athletes. One superstar rower surrounded by 7 inferior athletes will not win. You can’t just hand the ball off to Michael Jordan…each oarsperson must contribute. Eight rowers must become one, a true symphony of motion.

Mercedes left us when she got the opportunity to work with her new husband in a high rise in downtown Orlando, FL. I can't blame her. I like working with my wife as well...I've done so for 19 years now.

Our business didn’t fall apart when Mercedes left. Other women have stepped up to take her place. Marlen for example. Marlen is determined, reliable, always prepared, and her Customers never complain. I mean never. Marlen is then newest mark of excellence at You’ve Got MAIDS™.

You’ve Got MAIDS™ of Charleston Open For Business

You’ve Got MAIDS™ is now serving Charleston, Mount Pleasant, Daniel Island, Isle of Palms, & Sullivans Island. Please consider us for your housekeeping needs.

Professional maid service can be arranged by dialing 843.805.7000. Or just email us by clicking here.