The cleaning power of oxygen is well known — to scientists and also to millions of TV watchers, thanks to all those infomercials that helped spread oxygen-based cleaning products across the country and into mass retailers. Oxi Fresh Carpet Cleaning is taking advantage of that heightened awareness with a business that focuses on better carpet cleaning methods.
Getting customers ready to accept new ideas isn’t always the easiest thing to do. For a small start-up, having enough capital to power through the time it takes to build your market can be a challenge. An Oxi Fresh franchisee can benefit immediately from all the prep work that has already been done.
OxiFresh Carpet Cleaning uses a new process that uses very little water and natural cleaning solutions. Carpets dry in as little as an hour. The process involves a small, portable machine instead of lines of hoses that run to a truck that create suction and power for the carpet cleaning process. While this seems like an easy thing to sell because it’s lower in cost and more ecologically sound, if customers hadn’t heard of oxygen’s ability to get out stains before they might not believe it. Conventional wisdom says that carpets are difficult to clean and require lots of noisy equipment and strong chemicals to really get them like new again.
Butting up against that conventional wisdom is Oxi Fresh. When all the competition is saying that it won’t work and customers can’t see the results until they buy, it could be a tough sell. Instead, the Oxi Fresh name reminds consumers of established products like Oxyfresh and OxiClean, making entry into the market easier.
Part of choosing a franchise should be an examination of what the business does to attract customers. The name may seem like a superficial point, but it’s the first thing the customer notices. Oxi Fresh builds on consumer confidence in oxygen cleaning by highlighting their eco-friendliness, knowing that environmental awareness is another growing trend among consumers.
Oxi Fresh works with a PR firm to help get press coverage not only for their corporate team but also for their franchisees. They have extensive and aggressive marketing strategies across a range of media. They help franchisees with call centers and social media, too. This robust marketing supports individual franchises and has helped Oxi Fresh make it onto major “Top Franchise” lists.
When you’re looking at a franchise, be sure to do so from the perspective of a potential customer as well as from the standpoint of a potential franchisee. Part of a good business plan is forethought about how to get customers in the doors. Check the franchise name, its presentation in ads and the press, its website and its overall online presence.
If you can see that the corporate team is doing a good job of presenting the brand nationally, you can feel confident that you’ll have the name recognition and marketing support that give a franchisee such an advantage over a go-it-alone start up.
