Where do you get your vacuum and cleaning products?

[austinl]

Hi everyone!

My name is Austin. I have worked for a vacuum sales and service company for about 5 years. I am twenty-one now and still attending college. The company I am with does alright since about 80% our business comes from the internet now.

I recently went into a partnership with the owner improving the B&M side of our business. We own three stores. Most retail sales are B2C with very little B2B sales.

My question is where do some of you get your current vacuum and cleaning products for your businesses?

We have landed some B2B accounts by them coming to us for service on their vacuum cleaners. I have asked some owners, who come in, and they say they get their products from a Janitorial Supply company. Now, I can't compete on the same level as a Janitorial Supply company because I do not have access to the amount commercial cleaning products as they do (paper towels, toilet paper etc..) but I was thinking about soliciting businesses for their vacuum needs. Where I can beat a Janitorial Supply company is offering free service on the vacuum cleaners.

[vangogh]

Welcome to the forum Austin. I work out of my home so I don't have great vacuum and cleaning product needs. No more than anyone has for their home. I think you have the right idea about how to beat the janitorial supply companies. You can't compete with them on price or at their same level of products, but you can compete on offering a better service. Think of what value you can add to your offering. There's likely something you can offer that they can't. That's where you'll find your selling point and where you'll find your market.

[MyITGuy]

As a small business I just hit up my shops for supplies (I.E. Sams Club or Costco tend to win out).

[GreaterVisibility]

My wife and I clean professionally, and I'm a member of a cleaning association. We buy our supplies locally for the most part at the big box retailers, and we buy anything else online. I buy my vacuums wherever I get the best deal, usually ebay. Most professional cleaners that I know repair and service their own vacuums. You need to know how to do so out in someone's house if something goes wrong, or in an office or wherever you clean. I would only go to a local B&M store if I needed something now, today, and didn't have time to wait or foresight to see that I was going to be needing whatever it was.

I will say that there is a local store that sells carpet cleaning supplies that I've visited once, as buying there saves me shipping and handling charges, but I often can't get there during their business hours, so I buy online. There is also a local janitorial supply company that is well known locally, and they apparently do good business, but I've only been in there a time or two.

[Davidwasher]

I'm in high-rise window cleaning industry. The choice is very narrow in terms of buying high-rise equipment around here so i go to one local shop. For the accual cleaning products i go online and find the best deal.