LOVE

As this is February I thought I might write about love. Pretty weird for a business blog, but well worth it.

Inside each of us is a longing for belonging. God created us that way. We all want to be appreciated loved and accepted. This explains the power of peer pressure and why kids join gangs.

This also explains buying decisions. People do business with people they know, like, and trust. Think back to a purchase you made and really consider why you purchased from them. Deep down it's usually because we really liked the salesman, and since we couldn't buy him we bought his product.

This explains so much of our success here at Clean 'n Dry. We go to work everyday to build and strengthen friendships. We want every client to be "wow"ed by our service and to feel deeply appreciated...yes even loved.

I remember a quote "people will never forget how you made them feel".

That's what we're all about.

Thanks for your support.

Matt

President

The 4 elements of the cleaning "pie"

1/23/2012

The 4 elements of cleaning

There are 4 elements of cleaning whether you are cleaning carpets, upholstery, dinner dishes, or the space shuttle.

They spell the acronym CHAT

Chemicals

Heat

Agitation

Time

The chemistry is very important. This is the surfactants, builders and soaps that are used to make reactions happen or happen much more quickly. Usually these speed up the work of water, the number one solvent in the world. Water dissolves and carries away soil, contaminates, and impurities. Without water most cleaning is impossible. Dry solvent cleaning does work on textiles, but it isn't near as effective as using water would be, they just use it because some objects will be harmed by water.

Heat is by far the most important component. I have tried cleaning dishes without dish soap, but with water that was so hot I had to wear gloves. Heat does work by itself but when added to chemistry, things really start to happen. By the way the efficacy(the ability to clean) of a detergent doubles for every 17 degrees above 160 degrees. In our cleaning our water comes out hotter than boiling, so it is many times more effective than cooler water would be.

Agitation is scrubbing. Have you ever pressure washed your car over and over, and then wiped some grime off at the end on your towel? A little bit of physical scrubbing goes a long way.

Time is letting it set. This is known as dwell. This gives the chemistry time to work.

In our exclusive 12 step cleaning process we take maximum advantage of all 4 elements of the cleaning pie.

We prespray with First Step. This special chemical solution breaks down soils and oils without attracting like soap does. The problem with soaps is they attract soil. You are supposed to attract the soil with the soap and then wash it away. However, it's very difficult is rinse that out of a textile so it ends up resoiling. I could write a whole article on just how First Step works but I'm not a PhD chemist like my dad, and you probably aren't either.

We allow dwell time for the chemistry to break down and emulsify the soils and oils. Next we extract with our rotary jet extractor that provides physical agitation making 875 cleaning passes per minute. Our water is actually hotter than steam and it's only a liquid because it's under pressure. This process allows maximum soil removal with over wetting the carpet and without leaving a soil attracting residue.

We are here to serve you, and there is nothing we would like better. We just won our 6th Best of the Best UB award, and would love to celebrate by serving you!

Thanks for your support'

Matthew Richerzhagen

President

Clean 'n Dry LLC

Clean Trust Certified Master Textile Cleaner

Dateline 2/7/11

My Lovely wife and I have just returned from a phenomenal week in Dallas Fort Worth at Howard Partridge's Get FIT Seminar. We spent 2 intensive days learning how to better run our business to provide the most outstanding service experience possible. We learned from top national trainer Brian Flannigan from the Zig Ziglar corporation. Brian taught us how to listen for the needs our clients have and to make sure we are solving those needs. He also taught us about the 4 different personality types. It really helped me to understand myself better and to understand a key employee. It was really exciting. Howard Partridge was there and taught us how to set up our financial reports and how to write a budget. If a company doesn't make enough profit it can't continue to provide outstanding service.

Being there we were fired up, refocused, and excited to continue to be the best of the best. I am more excited right now than I have ever been in my life.

Our mission to be the premiere provider of cleaning services in the valley by providing the most outstanding service experience possible is being accomplished.

Our focus is serving our clients...and it's working.

Matthew Richerzhagen President

Clean 'n Dry LLC

Difficult odors

Today I wanted to talk about difficult odors. No doubt a certain percentage of cleaning is necessiated by bad odors. One thing to consider when hiring a cleaning contractor for odors is their desire to solve the root problem.
Monday this week we encountered a very difficult odor. We flush extract the area to remove all contaimination with a special biodegradable oxidizing agent. Next we added an all natural odor counteractant called Spice Air.

Just pouring a little "something" on the area isn't very affective because the odor source is still present. Imagine applying a cup of "enzymes" on a spot that has a gallon of urine in it. Obviously it isn't going to be very effective.

We provide free follow up if the odor problem isn't rectified.

Thanks for your support

Matthew Richerzhagen IICRC Master Textile Cleaner