Bert Bolton – Blind Cleaners Network

Bert’s been in the business for over 20 years, and he’s built something that’s part training center, part network, and part powerhouse support system for people in or entering the blind cleaning space. He has blended his expertise in the fields of education and cleaning to support a growing network of professionally minded blind and drapery cleaners.

His facility is one place major fabricators like Hunter Douglas and Springs Window Fashions send new products or fabrics for testing, cleaning, and evaluations. Students from as far away as Australia also come to learn this niche of the cleaning world, whether it be ultrasonics or OnSite Fabricare.

When not working, Bert and his wife Miriam enjoy time on the water in their kayaks, fishing (water or dirt) or sneaking away to visit their Idaho grandsons who are not quite old enough to do any of the above things unsupervised yet.

What if blind cleaning and small repairs could unlock thousands in repeat business — or even lead to six-figure design projects? In this episode of Marketing Panes, host Will Hanke sits down with Bert Bolton of the Blind Cleaners Network to uncover the hidden potential in cleaning and repair services for window treatment businesses.

You’ll hear real-world stories, including:

Whether you’re a window treatment pro, workroom, or designer, this conversation will help you see blind cleaning and repair in a whole new light, as a pathway to long-term, high-value clients.

Blind cleaning may not sound glamorous, but it can be one of the most powerful sales and marketing tools in the window treatment industry. What often begins as a simple cleaning or repair can open the door to long-term, high-value client relationships, repeat contracts, and even six-figure design projects.
In a recent episode of Marketing Panes, Bert Bolton, founder of the Blind Cleaners Network, shared how blind cleaning has become a hidden sales engine for dealers, decorators, and cleaning professionals alike.

Blind cleaning and small repairs are often dismissed as “low-margin” work. But for forward-thinking window treatment businesses, these services create a gateway to stronger client trust, repeat business, and new revenue opportunities. By combining credibility, expertise, and the right partnerships, blind cleaning can transform into a growth strategy—not just a service add-on.

Many window treatment dealers hesitate to offer cleaning services because the immediate profit margins appear smaller compared to selling new products. However, this view can overlook the bigger picture. Cleaning provides more than income—it creates opportunities to enter homes, build relationships, and position yourself as the trusted go-to provider.

A minor repair, like fixing a cord, might only take minutes but can lead to thousands in additional work. As Bert shared, one decorator secured a $100K project that started with cleaning just six blinds. Another example: a school district that first engaged through a small repair ended up providing recurring cleaning contracts every few years, creating steady revenue.

Once inside a client’s home or business, a cleaning job often uncovers more opportunities. A customer who starts with a single blind cleaning may later request quotes for replacements or upgrades, all because they’ve already built trust with the provider.

Cleaning provides entry into homes and spaces that dealers might not otherwise reach. In luxury markets, this can be the perfect introduction to clients who value quality and are likely to invest in larger projects down the road.

The Blind Cleaners Network equips professionals with the tools, training, and credibility to deliver quality service. From hands-on workshops to manufacturer partnerships with Hunter Douglas and Springs Window Fashions, the network helps raise professionalism across the industry.

Being part of a professional network communicates reliability and expertise. This credibility not only reassures clients but also makes it easier to build partnerships with decorators, dry cleaners, and restoration companies who may pass along referrals.

Blind cleaning isn’t just about maintenance—it’s about positioning your business for repeat contracts, high-value projects, and long-term relationships. By reframing cleaning and repairs as a marketing tool, window treatment professionals can unlock a steady stream of new opportunities.

If you’re looking for fresh ways to expand your window treatment business, consider blind cleaning as more than just a side service. At Window Treatment Marketing Pros, we help businesses uncover hidden revenue streams, build credibility, and attract long-term clients.

Learn more or connect with Bert at: https://blindcleaners.biz/

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https://youtu.be/0WjqzBvBhqI

Will Hanke (00:00)
Hi, welcome to another episode of marketing panes the podcast where we talk with real window treatment and awning service providers and business owners about their successes and struggles related to marketing their business. I’m your host, Will Hanke. Today we have another fantastic guest joining us for an interesting topic. Let me tell you if you’ve ever written off blind cleaning or repairs as low value work.

this conversation might change your mind. From turning repairs into long-term clients to why cleaning is one of the most underused marketing tools in the industry, we will cover all of that today. My guest is Bert Bolton from the Blind Cleaners Network. Bert ‘s been in business for over 20 years and he’s built something that’s part training center, part network, and part.

powerhouse support system for people in or entering the blind cleaning space. He has blended his expertise in the fields of education and cleaning to support a growing network of professionally minded blind and drapery cleaners. his facility is one place major fabricators like Hunter Douglas and Springs Window Fashions send new products or fabrics for test cleaning evaluations.

Students from as far away as Australia also come to learn this niche of the cleaning world, whether it be ultrasonics or on-site fabric care. When not working, Bert and his wife Miriam enjoy their time on the water in kayaks, fishing, or sneaking away to visit their Idaho grandsons, who are not quite old enough to enjoy any of the things mentioned above unsupervised quite

yet.

Bert, thank you so much for being on the show today. I appreciate it. I love the outdoors thing. ⁓ I’m an outdoors guy myself ⁓ and waiting on the grandkids to get a little bit bigger as well.

Bert Bolton (01:50)
Thank you.

Yeah,

it’d fun to teach them to fish and do those things.

Will Hanke (02:05)
Yeah,

yeah, yeah. Well, thanks again for being on the show. I want to dig into the blind cleaners network a little bit later on, but for now, can you give us, tell me about your journey into the blind cleaning industry? How’d you get started 22 years ago and what drew you into this specialized niche?

Bert Bolton (02:27)
Well, at that time I was ⁓ leaving education. I was kind of at a crossroads looking for something to do in the area locally. So I was looking around for different opportunities and this little blind cleaning business was for sale. ⁓ Somebody just started it and they were going to retire in a few years. So they put it up for sale and I started investigating this little niche business and the more I kind of investigated it, the more intrigued I got by

this specialty niche business versus just a bigger business like carpet cleaning or window cleaning or something that had a lot of competition.

Will Hanke (03:07)
Yeah, so when you started investigating it a little bit more, I guess you figured out it was a viable business model. ⁓ How did that evolve for you?

Bert Bolton (03:17)
Well, as I mentioned, it was just a small business they had started. At that point, you know, I saw the possibilities that, you know, you could build it into and grow it into a viable business. so, you know, I took a few years learning the tricks of the trade and taking the knocks in business. But, you know, that ramp to success isn’t straight line. It’s got ups and downs, but, you know, it’s been a good ride.

Will Hanke (03:39)
You

Yeah. And then along the way, I guess you documented things, figured out what worked, what didn’t work.

Bert Bolton (03:50)
Yep, yep. I had no

background in custom window treatments and so I had a lot to learn.

Will Hanke (03:56)
Yeah, yeah. And then you mentioned ⁓ earlier that you had 70 members in your network and you’re growing. What’s driving the ⁓ increased interest in professional blind cleaning right now?

Bert Bolton (04:08)
I kind of think kind of coming back off of COVID a few years ago and all, there’s a couple of different trends. People are kind of tired of big business or looking for opportunities outside of the corporate world. They’re out of just a pay per hour. So, you know, they’re looking for businesses that offer flexibility and good compensation. think also there’s owners of

Some of these cleaning companies and restoration or even dry cleaners that as fewer people are wearing suits and ties to work, they’re looking for other revenue streams. So cross-selling customers with another service is good. And then finally, we’re seeing a lot of the decorators and retailers that realize that, you know, blind cleaning might not be as profitable as a transaction, but it is profitable as a business and it can boost sales and

Keep employees busy in slow seasons and also helps with marketing.

Will Hanke (05:10)
Yeah, I like that. You mentioned cleaning and repair is kind like a door opener. Can you share what that means?

Bert Bolton (05:16)
Mm-hmm.

Well, I think the big thing that people don’t realize is, you know, they look at fixing a cord on a lumenette may not be that big of a repair job, but I’ve known it to lead to $2,000 cleaning job. I know of many instances where doing a repair for a client gets us in the door for hundreds of dollars of blinds or thousands of blinds and commercial customers, all kinds of doors it opens.

Will Hanke (05:46)
Yeah, I’ve also heard people mention that getting in the door, like you said, with a repair type job can still turn into a five star review, ⁓ which obviously is a good thing to have as well.

Bert Bolton (06:00)
Oh yeah, yeah. We just had a job last week where a lady called us to clean her Luminette And I mean, I made another $500 cleaning the Luminette but in several hundred dollars doing some vignettes for her, but she was looking to get some new Nantucket shades. So we’re quoting her a bunch of new shades because we have a cleaning relationship and she’s done work with us. She wanted to, you know, check us out.

Will Hanke (06:18)
Okay.

It makes sense. It’s an easy next step in a value ladder, right? You’re already in the home. You already have the trust. So that’s fantastic. I like that idea. You’ve also mentioned that it becomes a bit of ⁓ marketing tool to get into more high-end homes. Can you tell me a little bit more about that strategy?

Bert Bolton (06:49)
Well, the best example would be one of the decorators in DC area that came to us number of years ago for training. And she wanted to get in these high end homes and ⁓ somebody called her about cleaning half a dozen silhouettes. She went in there as one of the first jobs as they just finished training and ⁓ clean these six silhouettes. She got talking to the homeowner and they were remodeling one of the wings of this mansion.

She, as a decorator, started giving the lady a few bits of advice and they hit it off. in the first year, she came back to tell us later, they did $100,000 worth of work with that lady. I mean, just because of six blinds that, you know, it wasn’t her customer, but it was her ideal client and she was in the home.

Will Hanke (07:32)
That’s awesome. Wow.

Yep.

Yeah. Yeah. Now a lot of window treatment dealers kind of hesitate at offering the cleaning side of things typically because of the lower profit margins. How could they see the bigger picture like you just explained?

Bert Bolton (07:54)
Well, you know, some think of commercial jobs like mini blinds and stuff, but I know a school district that years ago we lost the bid to put new blinds in that building. But since I have a relationship with that district that came through doing a few repairs, ⁓ we’ve cleaned those same blinds in that school every three to four years now and made money off those blinds, know, thousands of dollars for a day or two’s work multiple times, you know.

And then like you just mentioned, I mentioned this other story, that lady in DC area now has several crews cleaning. She’s bought more machines and she’s got crews cleaning and it’s because she recognized the marketing value.

Will Hanke (08:39)
Yeah, yeah. So ⁓ I’m assuming our listeners, or lot of our listeners are window treatment dealers. Are there instances where they just would like subcontract her out to do that piece of the work?

Bert Bolton (08:51)
Well, they could. Some of the cleaners operate as independent businesses. Some of the cleaners get a relationship with, like I said, their janitorial or their dry cleaners and they just provide a cleaning service. And if they get networked with a blind cleaner and they’re passing referrals back and forth, it leads to a lot of business. mean, I work with a whole bunch of decorators in our area and we pass a lot of business back to them.

Will Hanke (08:58)
Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, I can definitely see the value there ⁓ for business owners that can look a little bit longer term overall. Definitely.

Bert Bolton (09:27)
Because it’s

like you’re in the home, you’re working on it. A lot of the older blinds or drapery even, you inspect it and say, I can’t clean this, it needs to be replaced. And they say, well, who do you recommend, you know? And if I’m in there as a referral for that company, I’m going to refer that company. But if it’s an open referral, then obviously I’m going to refer the companies that work with me.

Will Hanke (09:40)
Yeah.

Right, for sure. Yeah. So speaking of companies that work with you, tell us a little bit about Blind Cleaners Network. Who is it for? How does it work?

Bert Bolton (10:02)
It’s a network for the professionally minded blind cleaners. Our goal really is to be a support to the trade, helping those that want to learn how to do this professionally. We also network with the fabricators like Hunter Douglas and Springs window fashions ⁓ that are looking for how to best clean their window treatments. They like to sell them, but they know that at some point

they’re gonna need cleaning or accidents happen. And then also we’re helping to connect the cleaners to the consumers because these companies refer our network. And so it channels their referrals right back to the members.

Will Hanke (10:43)
I love it. So it’s a membership based program. Tell me a little bit about that.

Bert Bolton (10:47)
Yes.

Well, we have members that join the network and support us and they get ⁓ support through materials we’ve got. Some of the things we provide are free. You don’t have to be a member, but if you want to be in the referral program, it’s part of that’s just the training and certification that we offer so that these companies are assured that the technicians or the people doing the cleaning understand the best practices for.

how to do things.

Will Hanke (11:16)
Yeah, you mentioned training. What kind of training do you guys typically provide that people would probably tend to overlook?

Bert Bolton (11:25)
Well, you know, there, people tend to think that some of this is just, you know, a spray and suck it off or wipe it down or things like that. And some of these different window treatments, but they don’t understand the, some of these are well-made products, but they’re delicate and there are proper ways to clean them and you can quickly ruin them if you don’t know what you’re doing. So we offer training at our facility or we offer resources online and.

membership side of our website to help those doing this understand what’s the best practices.

Will Hanke (11:56)
Okay.

Nice, so they can get a lot of training just online, but they could also potentially actually visit you at your facility. Okay, ⁓ what does a typical training session look like at the facility and ⁓ what are people maybe most surprised to learn there?

Bert Bolton (12:08)
Right, correct.

Well, you everybody has different learning styles, but we use a mix of training when people come in. I’ve got a conference room that, you know, we’ll go through presentations on the screen and show pictures to tell stories and kind of help people understand things and make sure they understand the different products and the best practices. But we’re also home to my local shop, which is an operating full-time blind and drapery cleaning business. So when we’re out in the

shop they’re actually hands-on with all the equipment and an operating shop so it’s not just a staged dog and pony show as it were it’s like an operating shop they can see real world ideas they can ask questions they get hands-on

Will Hanke (13:06)
like that. How often do you host these or the are they one-off events or do you just do it like a couple times a year?

Bert Bolton (13:14)
We have a schedule where we offer four to five times a year, different types of training, whether it’s ultrasonic or injection extraction, but then we also offer custom training like I just had one the other day for a company that send their employees in and we can customize the training to what they need to learn.

Will Hanke (13:35)
Oh, that’s great. So you can.

Bert Bolton (13:36)
I mean they may already

have a background in window treatments or they may know something or they may be just somebody doesn’t know anything and then we got to start from scratch.

Will Hanke (13:47)
Yeah, that was my next question. What was, what is the percentage or do you know of, of like current dealers that just want to add this on versus somebody who’s maybe like you were 22 years ago where you’re just like, I should buy this.

Bert Bolton (14:01)
It’s probably about half and half. And we’ll have a lot of even experienced cleaners if they’re dabbling in cleaning or been doing cleaning, they’ll send their techs to get trained because I teach a comprehensive background of how to do it. And it’s kind of brand neutral and equipment neutral, if you will. I’m not trying to sell a certain chemistry, a certain product. I’m trying to teach them the best practices. And of course, as you know,

A lot of these treatments have a bunch of different names, but it’s the same kind of products.

Will Hanke (14:35)
Yeah. And you mentioned you have people that come in, not just window treatment related dealers, but restoration companies. That’s a great value add for them as well.

Bert Bolton (14:46)
Yes, yes, a lot of them it’s a niche business so if they don’t understand how to clean window treatments or the value of the custom window treatments a lot of them aren’t doing it and they’re really just throwing away or bypassing money they could be earning.

Will Hanke (14:59)
Yeah. From a dealer standpoint, you could always partner up with a restoration business in town and say, by the way, we can, we can add this on and, ⁓ share the revenue or something. don’t know.

Bert Bolton (15:05)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, well, what happens is if you have a restoration job, it’s pre-loss condition. And if you can’t, it’s a total loss. Well, they don’t know window treatment. So if you’re a dealer, you right there can say, well, we can replace that, you know. So you’re selling them new to replace what you couldn’t clean. It’s a win-win.

Will Hanke (15:26)
Yeah. Yeah.

It is. Yeah. And smart business owners should always be looking for those joint venture opportunities anyway, right? Yeah. So ⁓ for window treatment dealers listening who might be considering adding cleaning services, what is your advice for them to get started?

Bert Bolton (15:37)
Mm.

I would say the best thing is just we have a free newsletter that out once a month, the email. And ⁓ there’s a few articles on our website, the blindcleaners.biz. So they could just email us ⁓ to sign up for the newsletter. If they’re really serious about it, then ⁓ become a member. You can do monthly. So just start learning about the industry. I would really…

them to talk to us and learn a little more about it get their questions answered before they go buying any expensive equipment because I’ve seen a lot of people waste a lot of money and then figured out too late they didn’t need that.

Will Hanke (16:30)
Yeah,

yeah. So research, filling your head with knowledge really is the first step.

Bert Bolton (16:37)
Yes, correct. Because there’s a lot of misunderstandings out there and there’s a lot of wrong perceptions that, like I said, people chase something and don’t realize that’s not really the best fit for their business maybe or what they want to do.

Will Hanke (16:53)
Yeah, okay. You mentioned equipment and investment. ⁓ Does it require a big investment to get started with a lot of equipment or how does that work?

Bert Bolton (17:05)
Well, there’s

two types of equipment in this business. Injection extraction cleaning machines, they do fabric window treatments or to do drapery and the high-end treatments. Those little machines are about $5,000. So if you buy one that can do wet and dry cleaning, you’re looking at a, you know, not too big of an investment. The ultrasonic cleaning that does

like mini blinds and faux woods and some of the fabric blinds, anything that can be immersed in water. Those machines, new costs 20, 30, $40,000, but there’s a lot of used ones out there for 5- $10,000.

Will Hanke (17:49)
Okay, all right, so there’s a little bit of an investment to get started, but I’m assuming ⁓ maybe not a direct payoff just from the cleaning, and maybe there is down the road, but like you said, you still get your foot in the door, right?

Bert Bolton (17:53)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, I would encourage people to just, you know, they can buy good used equipment or they could, if they’re going to just do one thing, get the machine that’ll let them do wet and dry cleaning fabrics, because that’s good money. And then they can grow into it and buy more if they find that it’s, you know, worth the investment.

Will Hanke (18:17)
Yeah.

Okay. ⁓ what is the, ratio, for the people that come through, maybe some of your training that do residential versus commercial.

Bert Bolton (18:35)
Most people do residential work, but there’s some that do commercial work, dedicated commercial work. But most of the companies that learn the cleaning end up doing a lot of residential, but then commercial too. mean, it depends on what their business model is. In our case, we do it full time and we do.

both and it just ebbs and flows during the year and the seasons.

Will Hanke (19:03)
Yeah, yeah, I’d say most of our our clients are doing residential window treatment installs. But at the same time, a lot of them also want to get into the commercial side of things because the maybe the the overall profit margins are smaller, but the jobs are a lot bigger. So I see getting, you know, doing the same thing for the cleaning side, like you mentioned the school earlier, right? ⁓ That’s true.

Bert Bolton (19:10)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Yeah, well what’s happened

with us and then tomorrow I’m going up to a Catholic school to consult with them and it started with a cleaning relationship doing some shears but now they need to replace all the blinds or the shears. They’re going to replace them with roller shades but they don’t know where to start. So I can go consult with them. I can show them everything and I could even

bid several different dealers if I want to, but basically it’s me, me or me that they’re going to look at. And the profit margin there is a lot better than I’m not competing against three other unknown bidders for the lowest price.

Will Hanke (19:59)
Yeah.

All right,

yeah. Yeah, I’ve also spoken to people in the past who did ⁓ restaurants, you know, because they needed, you know, there was a mandate or something that they had to have those cleaned every so often. So.

Bert Bolton (20:19)
Right. Yeah, there’s

some restaurant chains that require every four times a year or something. We’ve got some commercial jobs that we do because of in the medical field that they’ve got to have certain things clean twice a year or four times a year.

Will Hanke (20:36)
Okay. And one last comment on this. know that there are government contract opportunities as well for some of this stuff.

Bert Bolton (20:45)
Yes, yes, there’s some niche. There’s even niches within this niche that we could chase that some of them right now are evolving opportunities. mean, aircraft control tower blinds is a whole special niche, but people don’t even think about it. But it’s just knowing where to bid, who to bid, what to do.

Will Hanke (20:51)
Right?

No.

Yeah, yeah, so I can see this as a great add on, especially for, like you said, the ebbs and flows, the seasonality of window treatments. It’s a fantastic additional revenue stream.

Bert Bolton (21:22)
Yeah, well, it’s like you mentioned a minute ago, there’s a senior community near us that, you know, we get introduced to them by doing a couple repairs or cleaning a few blinds, but then they’ve got valences and drapes throughout the facility that need to be cleaned. And once you get a relationship with them, and then when they come time to do remodeling or updates, if you happen to be a decorator or you happen to be selling that kind of stuff, I mean, you’re right there in the front row.

Will Hanke (21:44)
yeah.

Yeah, fantastic. ⁓ So a couple of fun questions for you. ⁓ Is there a worst mistake you’ve seen someone make when cleaning blinds?

Bert Bolton (22:01)
The one that comes to mind right away is a cleaner in a major city. think it was like Cleveland or Cincinnati years ago that just got into the ultrasonic cleaning business and they got a job to clean all the blinds on all the floors of a big building downtown and apparently didn’t really know what they were doing and they they clean the blinds wrong and damage the paint on the blinds on a whole floor of one of the buildings and ⁓

Will Hanke (22:30)
don’t know.

Bert Bolton (22:32)
Of course that was a disaster because they not only lost that job, but they just blew their reputation in that whole downtown market. Because word spreads fast if you don’t really know what you’re doing, you know, if you’re damaging things.

Will Hanke (22:41)
Yeah, yeah. Wow, that’s…

Yeah. And, this is a great opportunity, you know, for, for people to take some of your knowledge and some of those studies, you know, so that they don’t make, those same types of mistakes.

Bert Bolton (22:56)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah,

we’ve been there, done that, or we know of those mistakes. And that’s where, you know, simple green takes the color out of certain blinds, you know, it’s like, or laundry soap is good for laundry, but it’s not designed for some of these other things.

Will Hanke (23:15)
That’s great. Yeah. Yeah. You wouldn’t want me to do it because I would just do water and bleach or something. I don’t even know what I would do. Yeah.

Bert Bolton (23:21)
Yeah, well bleach is a great example. There’s a lot of what you see on the internet, even on the decorator

websites. It just makes me roll over. I have to hold my tongue.

Will Hanke (23:32)
Yeah,

yeah. Is there a type of window treatment that you just hate to clean?

Bert Bolton (23:38)
It’s gotta be the, some of the specialty blinds that have come out. Hunter Douglas had some that were only in production for a few years. They’re just not designed for real world cleaning or real world life, like the Aluettes and trios and things. The veins are kind of like an airplane wing and they’re just not. And then a greasy micro mini blind over a kitchen sink is probably the worst.

Will Hanke (23:56)
Yeah.

Bert Bolton (24:08)
you

Will Hanke (24:09)
yeah,

I can imagine so.

Bert Bolton (24:11)
not worth

cleaning. You know, it’s the results and what’s going to happen and all, it’s just not worth it.

Will Hanke (24:17)
yeah, all the effort required just to get it done.

Bert Bolton (24:19)
Yeah, versus the real rewards in the some of the nicer high-end products. I mean, they’re easier to clean in a lot of ways, which they’re easy to clean and they’re better money. And some of the basic drapery valances, you know, they clean up really well and you get a happy customer. They’re not hard work and you get a really good paycheck.

Will Hanke (24:39)
Nice. ⁓ So speaking of paychecks, you share just some generic numbers on, let’s say, a residential job?

Bert Bolton (24:51)
It’s not unusual like when we’re talking about blind and drapery cleaning, rule of thumb, and this is just rule of thumb because across different markets the prices vary, usually 10 to 20 % of retail value would be an average number for cleaning. So if something’s $2,000, then getting $200 to $400 to clean it wouldn’t be unheard of in some markets even higher.

Will Hanke (25:20)
Okay.

Bert Bolton (25:21)
And then if you’re doing some blinds, you know, it’s a commodity. other words, a mini blind for a school might be $25, $30 a blind or a shade in a hospital might be $30 to $50 a shade to clean. And it’s just volume. You crank out so many per hour, but in drapery, stage drapes and other things, I mean, it could be very lucrative.

Will Hanke (25:45)
Yeah, yeah, interesting. If you set it up right, I could see some benefits. I just called a pest control company and I think it was 250 bucks for them to come out to the house the first time. But as soon as I set that appointment, they said, by the way, we can come out, you know, four times a year for, I don’t know, 99 bucks a visit or something like that, right? So before I know it, I’m signed up for $600 a year, you know, and they’re just gonna show up, do the thing and take off.

Bert Bolton (26:07)
huh.

Mm-hmm.

Will Hanke (26:14)
having that recurring revenue for them, I mean, it was fantastic for them, right?

Bert Bolton (26:18)
Yeah, yeah,

yeah, but that’s you bring up a good point there. These retailers that understand cleaning or use cleaning as a sales leader, they include the first cleaning. If you clean within the first two years or three years, the first cleaning is free. And then, you know, they’ll keep, you know, let’s get a maintenance program. We’ll come back every three years or every two years to clean. ⁓ And the idea being obviously,

they’re in the home and they’re gonna make cross sales of other things. For us, you inspect the blind, the older blinds, I mean, you’ve gotta say, hey, this is too risky to clean or it’s gonna fall apart, you’re gonna need a new one. And so you’re in the house with a relationship to sell them the new one.

Will Hanke (27:03)
Yeah, yeah, so that’s interesting. The people that are that you’re hiring, if it’s not you as the business owner, you have somebody going out to do the cleaning. I’m assuming they need a little bit of sales training slash knowledge as well.

Bert Bolton (27:18)
Well, they need to be familiar with the different types of products and obviously which ones would be, you know, dangerous to clean because they might fall apart or the fabric obviously has got too much damage from age or UV or whatever. And so, you know, they need to recognize that, but they don’t, you know, if they’re working in conjunction with your sales team or somebody, then obviously they’re just handing it off for saying, you know,

this person is the one to talk to.

Will Hanke (27:50)
Yeah, yeah, at least refer the lead over. So is there a window treatment that you really like is your favorite to clean or a certain type?

Bert Bolton (28:02)
I like seeing results. It’s just nice to see results and some of the blinds like the silhouettes, some of the sheer shades are really nice because you can see such a transformation. People don’t realize over the years how much dirt they do pick up because they’re on window air filters, but when you get them clean, then they’re just like, wow, you know.

Will Hanke (28:14)
yeah.

Yeah, yeah, and they probably feel good because that’s an investment that they didn’t have to rebuy, right?

Bert Bolton (28:30)
Oh

yeah, yeah, and you always show them the dirt, you know, take a picture, show them if you’re cleaning in the house, it’s easy because you’ve got that bucket with dirty dry cleaning or dirty wet cleaning solution.

Will Hanke (28:43)
Yep, yep, makes sense. So speaking of cleaning gadgets, what’s one cleaning tool or gadget that you swear by no matter how ridiculous it looks?

Bert Bolton (28:52)
Cut off a Hunter Douglas mini blind wand, a hollow wand, and then you jam in a cut off toothbrush. So you’ve got a toothbrush on the end of a long clear wand and then you can reach in and get the little fuzzy bugs or lint or things out of silhouettes or honeycomb shades or whatever. It gives you little tool to do a bunch of different tasks with.

Will Hanke (29:20)
I love that, yeah. It just a toothbrush head and a mini blind wand that’s a great one. That’s great. Well, cool. Thank you so much for sharing information about the, especially about the Blind Cleaners Network. I really enjoyed that. Can you tell me where people can go to learn more about this?

Bert Bolton (29:21)
but it’s just a toothbrush head on a mini blind wand.

They just go to our website blindcleaners.biz We have a website with a few general articles for the public. And then obviously we’re still, it’s a fairly new website, so we’re still adding information, but we have schedules of training and other things. They just contact us directly.

Will Hanke (29:57)
good.

Okay, yeah, they can go to the website if they have more questions, contact you to learn more about that. So we’ll put all that in the show notes so that you can access that later. ⁓ Any last thoughts for the professionals that are trying to grow in this industry?

Bert Bolton (30:18)
The big thing I think some of them miss is that if they’re part of a professional network, part of it is raising the professionalism as being part of a group adds credibility. You know, they’re recognized and the Hunter Douglas and Springs and the others say, hey, you know, these people have got more credibility because they’ve had a training or have the knowledge that we understand. And the other thing is it helps them if they’re going to some of these other

referral sources to be able to say, I’m part of this professional network. It sets them at a higher standard, just like any certification or specialization.

Will Hanke (30:54)
Yeah.

Makes sense, yeah. Well, again, Bert, thank you so much. It’s been an incredible conversation. If you have been thinking about adding cleaning as part of the services or you’re already in the industry, I hope that you were able to learn maybe a thing or two. ⁓ If you’ve even got one idea or useful strategy out of the conversation, do us a favor and send this to a friend in the trade. I would appreciate it.

⁓ Bert , thank you so much for being on today. I really do appreciate your time. Yeah, no problem. If you want to hear more episodes like this, don’t forget to follow and subscribe, share it with a colleague and check out the rest of our marketing panes episodes and we’ll catch you on the next one.

Bert Bolton (31:28)
thank you, Will.

All right, thank you.

Will Hanke (00:00)
Hi, welcome to another episode of marketing panes the podcast where we talk with real window treatment and awning service providers and business owners about their successes and struggles related to marketing their business. I’m your host, Will Hanke. Today we have another fantastic guest joining us for an interesting topic. Let me tell you if you’ve ever written off blind cleaning or repairs as low value work.

this conversation might change your mind. From turning repairs into long-term clients to why cleaning is one of the most underused marketing tools in the industry, we will cover all of that today. My guest is Bert Bolton from the Blind Cleaners Network. Bert ‘s been in business for over 20 years and he’s built something that’s part training center, part network, and part.

powerhouse support system for people in or entering the blind cleaning space. He has blended his expertise in the fields of education and cleaning to support a growing network of professionally minded blind and drapery cleaners. his facility is one place major fabricators like Hunter Douglas and Springs Window Fashions send new products or fabrics for test cleaning evaluations.

Students from as far away as Australia also come to learn this niche of the cleaning world, whether it be ultrasonics or on-site fabric care. When not working, Bert and his wife Miriam enjoy their time on the water in kayaks, fishing, or sneaking away to visit their Idaho grandsons, who are not quite old enough to enjoy any of the things mentioned above unsupervised quite

yet.

Bert, thank you so much for being on the show today. I appreciate it. I love the outdoors thing. ⁓ I’m an outdoors guy myself ⁓ and waiting on the grandkids to get a little bit bigger as well.

Bert Bolton (01:50)
Thank you.

Yeah,

it’d fun to teach them to fish and do those things.

Will Hanke (02:05)
Yeah,

yeah, yeah. Well, thanks again for being on the show. I want to dig into the blind cleaners network a little bit later on, but for now, can you give us, tell me about your journey into the blind cleaning industry? How’d you get started 22 years ago and what drew you into this specialized niche?

Bert Bolton (02:27)
Well, at that time I was ⁓ leaving education. I was kind of at a crossroads looking for something to do in the area locally. So I was looking around for different opportunities and this little blind cleaning business was for sale. ⁓ Somebody just started it and they were going to retire in a few years. So they put it up for sale and I started investigating this little niche business and the more I kind of investigated it, the more intrigued I got by

this specialty niche business versus just a bigger business like carpet cleaning or window cleaning or something that had a lot of competition.

Will Hanke (03:07)
Yeah, so when you started investigating it a little bit more, I guess you figured out it was a viable business model. ⁓ How did that evolve for you?

Bert Bolton (03:17)
Well, as I mentioned, it was just a small business they had started. At that point, you know, I saw the possibilities that, you know, you could build it into and grow it into a viable business. so, you know, I took a few years learning the tricks of the trade and taking the knocks in business. But, you know, that ramp to success isn’t straight line. It’s got ups and downs, but, you know, it’s been a good ride.

Will Hanke (03:39)
You

Yeah. And then along the way, I guess you documented things, figured out what worked, what didn’t work.

Bert Bolton (03:50)
Yep, yep. I had no

background in custom window treatments and so I had a lot to learn.

Will Hanke (03:56)
Yeah, yeah. And then you mentioned ⁓ earlier that you had 70 members in your network and you’re growing. What’s driving the ⁓ increased interest in professional blind cleaning right now?

Bert Bolton (04:08)
I kind of think kind of coming back off of COVID a few years ago and all, there’s a couple of different trends. People are kind of tired of big business or looking for opportunities outside of the corporate world. They’re out of just a pay per hour. So, you know, they’re looking for businesses that offer flexibility and good compensation. think also there’s owners of

Some of these cleaning companies and restoration or even dry cleaners that as fewer people are wearing suits and ties to work, they’re looking for other revenue streams. So cross-selling customers with another service is good. And then finally, we’re seeing a lot of the decorators and retailers that realize that, you know, blind cleaning might not be as profitable as a transaction, but it is profitable as a business and it can boost sales and

Keep employees busy in slow seasons and also helps with marketing.

Will Hanke (05:10)
Yeah, I like that. You mentioned cleaning and repair is kind like a door opener. Can you share what that means?

Bert Bolton (05:16)
Mm-hmm.

Well, I think the big thing that people don’t realize is, you know, they look at fixing a cord on a lumenette may not be that big of a repair job, but I’ve known it to lead to $2,000 cleaning job. I know of many instances where doing a repair for a client gets us in the door for hundreds of dollars of blinds or thousands of blinds and commercial customers, all kinds of doors it opens.

Will Hanke (05:46)
Yeah, I’ve also heard people mention that getting in the door, like you said, with a repair type job can still turn into a five star review, ⁓ which obviously is a good thing to have as well.

Bert Bolton (06:00)
Oh yeah, yeah. We just had a job last week where a lady called us to clean her Luminette And I mean, I made another $500 cleaning the Luminette but in several hundred dollars doing some vignettes for her, but she was looking to get some new Nantucket shades. So we’re quoting her a bunch of new shades because we have a cleaning relationship and she’s done work with us. She wanted to, you know, check us out.

Will Hanke (06:18)
Okay.

It makes sense. It’s an easy next step in a value ladder, right? You’re already in the home. You already have the trust. So that’s fantastic. I like that idea. You’ve also mentioned that it becomes a bit of ⁓ marketing tool to get into more high-end homes. Can you tell me a little bit more about that strategy?

Bert Bolton (06:49)
Well, the best example would be one of the decorators in DC area that came to us number of years ago for training. And she wanted to get in these high end homes and ⁓ somebody called her about cleaning half a dozen silhouettes. She went in there as one of the first jobs as they just finished training and ⁓ clean these six silhouettes. She got talking to the homeowner and they were remodeling one of the wings of this mansion.

She, as a decorator, started giving the lady a few bits of advice and they hit it off. in the first year, she came back to tell us later, they did $100,000 worth of work with that lady. I mean, just because of six blinds that, you know, it wasn’t her customer, but it was her ideal client and she was in the home.

Will Hanke (07:32)
That’s awesome. Wow.

Yep.

Yeah. Yeah. Now a lot of window treatment dealers kind of hesitate at offering the cleaning side of things typically because of the lower profit margins. How could they see the bigger picture like you just explained?

Bert Bolton (07:54)
Well, you know, some think of commercial jobs like mini blinds and stuff, but I know a school district that years ago we lost the bid to put new blinds in that building. But since I have a relationship with that district that came through doing a few repairs, ⁓ we’ve cleaned those same blinds in that school every three to four years now and made money off those blinds, know, thousands of dollars for a day or two’s work multiple times, you know.

And then like you just mentioned, I mentioned this other story, that lady in DC area now has several crews cleaning. She’s bought more machines and she’s got crews cleaning and it’s because she recognized the marketing value.

Will Hanke (08:39)
Yeah, yeah. So ⁓ I’m assuming our listeners, or lot of our listeners are window treatment dealers. Are there instances where they just would like subcontract her out to do that piece of the work?

Bert Bolton (08:51)
Well, they could. Some of the cleaners operate as independent businesses. Some of the cleaners get a relationship with, like I said, their janitorial or their dry cleaners and they just provide a cleaning service. And if they get networked with a blind cleaner and they’re passing referrals back and forth, it leads to a lot of business. mean, I work with a whole bunch of decorators in our area and we pass a lot of business back to them.

Will Hanke (08:58)
Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, I can definitely see the value there ⁓ for business owners that can look a little bit longer term overall. Definitely.

Bert Bolton (09:27)
Because it’s

like you’re in the home, you’re working on it. A lot of the older blinds or drapery even, you inspect it and say, I can’t clean this, it needs to be replaced. And they say, well, who do you recommend, you know? And if I’m in there as a referral for that company, I’m going to refer that company. But if it’s an open referral, then obviously I’m going to refer the companies that work with me.

Will Hanke (09:40)
Yeah.

Right, for sure. Yeah. So speaking of companies that work with you, tell us a little bit about Blind Cleaners Network. Who is it for? How does it work?

Bert Bolton (10:02)
It’s a network for the professionally minded blind cleaners. Our goal really is to be a support to the trade, helping those that want to learn how to do this professionally. We also network with the fabricators like Hunter Douglas and Springs window fashions ⁓ that are looking for how to best clean their window treatments. They like to sell them, but they know that at some point

they’re gonna need cleaning or accidents happen. And then also we’re helping to connect the cleaners to the consumers because these companies refer our network. And so it channels their referrals right back to the members.

Will Hanke (10:43)
I love it. So it’s a membership based program. Tell me a little bit about that.

Bert Bolton (10:47)
Yes.

Well, we have members that join the network and support us and they get ⁓ support through materials we’ve got. Some of the things we provide are free. You don’t have to be a member, but if you want to be in the referral program, it’s part of that’s just the training and certification that we offer so that these companies are assured that the technicians or the people doing the cleaning understand the best practices for.

how to do things.

Will Hanke (11:16)
Yeah, you mentioned training. What kind of training do you guys typically provide that people would probably tend to overlook?

Bert Bolton (11:25)
Well, you know, there, people tend to think that some of this is just, you know, a spray and suck it off or wipe it down or things like that. And some of these different window treatments, but they don’t understand the, some of these are well-made products, but they’re delicate and there are proper ways to clean them and you can quickly ruin them if you don’t know what you’re doing. So we offer training at our facility or we offer resources online and.

membership side of our website to help those doing this understand what’s the best practices.

Will Hanke (11:56)
Okay.

Nice, so they can get a lot of training just online, but they could also potentially actually visit you at your facility. Okay, ⁓ what does a typical training session look like at the facility and ⁓ what are people maybe most surprised to learn there?

Bert Bolton (12:08)
Right, correct.

Well, you everybody has different learning styles, but we use a mix of training when people come in. I’ve got a conference room that, you know, we’ll go through presentations on the screen and show pictures to tell stories and kind of help people understand things and make sure they understand the different products and the best practices. But we’re also home to my local shop, which is an operating full-time blind and drapery cleaning business. So when we’re out in the

shop they’re actually hands-on with all the equipment and an operating shop so it’s not just a staged dog and pony show as it were it’s like an operating shop they can see real world ideas they can ask questions they get hands-on

Will Hanke (13:06)
like that. How often do you host these or the are they one-off events or do you just do it like a couple times a year?

Bert Bolton (13:14)
We have a schedule where we offer four to five times a year, different types of training, whether it’s ultrasonic or injection extraction, but then we also offer custom training like I just had one the other day for a company that send their employees in and we can customize the training to what they need to learn.

Will Hanke (13:35)
Oh, that’s great. So you can.

Bert Bolton (13:36)
I mean they may already

have a background in window treatments or they may know something or they may be just somebody doesn’t know anything and then we got to start from scratch.

Will Hanke (13:47)
Yeah, that was my next question. What was, what is the percentage or do you know of, of like current dealers that just want to add this on versus somebody who’s maybe like you were 22 years ago where you’re just like, I should buy this.

Bert Bolton (14:01)
It’s probably about half and half. And we’ll have a lot of even experienced cleaners if they’re dabbling in cleaning or been doing cleaning, they’ll send their techs to get trained because I teach a comprehensive background of how to do it. And it’s kind of brand neutral and equipment neutral, if you will. I’m not trying to sell a certain chemistry, a certain product. I’m trying to teach them the best practices. And of course, as you know,

A lot of these treatments have a bunch of different names, but it’s the same kind of products.

Will Hanke (14:35)
Yeah. And you mentioned you have people that come in, not just window treatment related dealers, but restoration companies. That’s a great value add for them as well.

Bert Bolton (14:46)
Yes, yes, a lot of them it’s a niche business so if they don’t understand how to clean window treatments or the value of the custom window treatments a lot of them aren’t doing it and they’re really just throwing away or bypassing money they could be earning.

Will Hanke (14:59)
Yeah. From a dealer standpoint, you could always partner up with a restoration business in town and say, by the way, we can, we can add this on and, ⁓ share the revenue or something. don’t know.

Bert Bolton (15:05)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, well, what happens is if you have a restoration job, it’s pre-loss condition. And if you can’t, it’s a total loss. Well, they don’t know window treatment. So if you’re a dealer, you right there can say, well, we can replace that, you know. So you’re selling them new to replace what you couldn’t clean. It’s a win-win.

Will Hanke (15:26)
Yeah. Yeah.

It is. Yeah. And smart business owners should always be looking for those joint venture opportunities anyway, right? Yeah. So ⁓ for window treatment dealers listening who might be considering adding cleaning services, what is your advice for them to get started?

Bert Bolton (15:37)
Mm.

I would say the best thing is just we have a free newsletter that out once a month, the email. And ⁓ there’s a few articles on our website, the blindcleaners.biz. So they could just email us ⁓ to sign up for the newsletter. If they’re really serious about it, then ⁓ become a member. You can do monthly. So just start learning about the industry. I would really…

them to talk to us and learn a little more about it get their questions answered before they go buying any expensive equipment because I’ve seen a lot of people waste a lot of money and then figured out too late they didn’t need that.

Will Hanke (16:30)
Yeah,

yeah. So research, filling your head with knowledge really is the first step.

Bert Bolton (16:37)
Yes, correct. Because there’s a lot of misunderstandings out there and there’s a lot of wrong perceptions that, like I said, people chase something and don’t realize that’s not really the best fit for their business maybe or what they want to do.

Will Hanke (16:53)
Yeah, okay. You mentioned equipment and investment. ⁓ Does it require a big investment to get started with a lot of equipment or how does that work?

Bert Bolton (17:05)
Well, there’s

two types of equipment in this business. Injection extraction cleaning machines, they do fabric window treatments or to do drapery and the high-end treatments. Those little machines are about $5,000. So if you buy one that can do wet and dry cleaning, you’re looking at a, you know, not too big of an investment. The ultrasonic cleaning that does

like mini blinds and faux woods and some of the fabric blinds, anything that can be immersed in water. Those machines, new costs 20, 30, $40,000, but there’s a lot of used ones out there for 5- $10,000.

Will Hanke (17:49)
Okay, all right, so there’s a little bit of an investment to get started, but I’m assuming ⁓ maybe not a direct payoff just from the cleaning, and maybe there is down the road, but like you said, you still get your foot in the door, right?

Bert Bolton (17:53)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, I would encourage people to just, you know, they can buy good used equipment or they could, if they’re going to just do one thing, get the machine that’ll let them do wet and dry cleaning fabrics, because that’s good money. And then they can grow into it and buy more if they find that it’s, you know, worth the investment.

Will Hanke (18:17)
Yeah.

Okay. ⁓ what is the, ratio, for the people that come through, maybe some of your training that do residential versus commercial.

Bert Bolton (18:35)
Most people do residential work, but there’s some that do commercial work, dedicated commercial work. But most of the companies that learn the cleaning end up doing a lot of residential, but then commercial too. mean, it depends on what their business model is. In our case, we do it full time and we do.

both and it just ebbs and flows during the year and the seasons.

Will Hanke (19:03)
Yeah, yeah, I’d say most of our our clients are doing residential window treatment installs. But at the same time, a lot of them also want to get into the commercial side of things because the maybe the the overall profit margins are smaller, but the jobs are a lot bigger. So I see getting, you know, doing the same thing for the cleaning side, like you mentioned the school earlier, right? ⁓ That’s true.

Bert Bolton (19:10)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Yeah, well what’s happened

with us and then tomorrow I’m going up to a Catholic school to consult with them and it started with a cleaning relationship doing some shears but now they need to replace all the blinds or the shears. They’re going to replace them with roller shades but they don’t know where to start. So I can go consult with them. I can show them everything and I could even

bid several different dealers if I want to, but basically it’s me, me or me that they’re going to look at. And the profit margin there is a lot better than I’m not competing against three other unknown bidders for the lowest price.

Will Hanke (19:59)
Yeah.

All right,

yeah. Yeah, I’ve also spoken to people in the past who did ⁓ restaurants, you know, because they needed, you know, there was a mandate or something that they had to have those cleaned every so often. So.

Bert Bolton (20:19)
Right. Yeah, there’s

some restaurant chains that require every four times a year or something. We’ve got some commercial jobs that we do because of in the medical field that they’ve got to have certain things clean twice a year or four times a year.

Will Hanke (20:36)
Okay. And one last comment on this. know that there are government contract opportunities as well for some of this stuff.

Bert Bolton (20:45)
Yes, yes, there’s some niche. There’s even niches within this niche that we could chase that some of them right now are evolving opportunities. mean, aircraft control tower blinds is a whole special niche, but people don’t even think about it. But it’s just knowing where to bid, who to bid, what to do.

Will Hanke (20:51)
Right?

No.

Yeah, yeah, so I can see this as a great add on, especially for, like you said, the ebbs and flows, the seasonality of window treatments. It’s a fantastic additional revenue stream.

Bert Bolton (21:22)
Yeah, well, it’s like you mentioned a minute ago, there’s a senior community near us that, you know, we get introduced to them by doing a couple repairs or cleaning a few blinds, but then they’ve got valences and drapes throughout the facility that need to be cleaned. And once you get a relationship with them, and then when they come time to do remodeling or updates, if you happen to be a decorator or you happen to be selling that kind of stuff, I mean, you’re right there in the front row.

Will Hanke (21:44)
yeah.

Yeah, fantastic. ⁓ So a couple of fun questions for you. ⁓ Is there a worst mistake you’ve seen someone make when cleaning blinds?

Bert Bolton (22:01)
The one that comes to mind right away is a cleaner in a major city. think it was like Cleveland or Cincinnati years ago that just got into the ultrasonic cleaning business and they got a job to clean all the blinds on all the floors of a big building downtown and apparently didn’t really know what they were doing and they they clean the blinds wrong and damage the paint on the blinds on a whole floor of one of the buildings and ⁓

Will Hanke (22:30)
don’t know.

Bert Bolton (22:32)
Of course that was a disaster because they not only lost that job, but they just blew their reputation in that whole downtown market. Because word spreads fast if you don’t really know what you’re doing, you know, if you’re damaging things.

Will Hanke (22:41)
Yeah, yeah. Wow, that’s…

Yeah. And, this is a great opportunity, you know, for, for people to take some of your knowledge and some of those studies, you know, so that they don’t make, those same types of mistakes.

Bert Bolton (22:56)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah,

we’ve been there, done that, or we know of those mistakes. And that’s where, you know, simple green takes the color out of certain blinds, you know, it’s like, or laundry soap is good for laundry, but it’s not designed for some of these other things.

Will Hanke (23:15)
That’s great. Yeah. Yeah. You wouldn’t want me to do it because I would just do water and bleach or something. I don’t even know what I would do. Yeah.

Bert Bolton (23:21)
Yeah, well bleach is a great example. There’s a lot of what you see on the internet, even on the decorator

websites. It just makes me roll over. I have to hold my tongue.

Will Hanke (23:32)
Yeah,

yeah. Is there a type of window treatment that you just hate to clean?

Bert Bolton (23:38)
It’s gotta be the, some of the specialty blinds that have come out. Hunter Douglas had some that were only in production for a few years. They’re just not designed for real world cleaning or real world life, like the Aluettes and trios and things. The veins are kind of like an airplane wing and they’re just not. And then a greasy micro mini blind over a kitchen sink is probably the worst.

Will Hanke (23:56)
Yeah.

Bert Bolton (24:08)
you

Will Hanke (24:09)
yeah,

I can imagine so.

Bert Bolton (24:11)
not worth

cleaning. You know, it’s the results and what’s going to happen and all, it’s just not worth it.

Will Hanke (24:17)
yeah, all the effort required just to get it done.

Bert Bolton (24:19)
Yeah, versus the real rewards in the some of the nicer high-end products. I mean, they’re easier to clean in a lot of ways, which they’re easy to clean and they’re better money. And some of the basic drapery valances, you know, they clean up really well and you get a happy customer. They’re not hard work and you get a really good paycheck.

Will Hanke (24:39)
Nice. ⁓ So speaking of paychecks, you share just some generic numbers on, let’s say, a residential job?

Bert Bolton (24:51)
It’s not unusual like when we’re talking about blind and drapery cleaning, rule of thumb, and this is just rule of thumb because across different markets the prices vary, usually 10 to 20 % of retail value would be an average number for cleaning. So if something’s $2,000, then getting $200 to $400 to clean it wouldn’t be unheard of in some markets even higher.

Will Hanke (25:20)
Okay.

Bert Bolton (25:21)
And then if you’re doing some blinds, you know, it’s a commodity. other words, a mini blind for a school might be $25, $30 a blind or a shade in a hospital might be $30 to $50 a shade to clean. And it’s just volume. You crank out so many per hour, but in drapery, stage drapes and other things, I mean, it could be very lucrative.

Will Hanke (25:45)
Yeah, yeah, interesting. If you set it up right, I could see some benefits. I just called a pest control company and I think it was 250 bucks for them to come out to the house the first time. But as soon as I set that appointment, they said, by the way, we can come out, you know, four times a year for, I don’t know, 99 bucks a visit or something like that, right? So before I know it, I’m signed up for $600 a year, you know, and they’re just gonna show up, do the thing and take off.

Bert Bolton (26:07)
huh.

Mm-hmm.

Will Hanke (26:14)
having that recurring revenue for them, I mean, it was fantastic for them, right?

Bert Bolton (26:18)
Yeah, yeah,

yeah, but that’s you bring up a good point there. These retailers that understand cleaning or use cleaning as a sales leader, they include the first cleaning. If you clean within the first two years or three years, the first cleaning is free. And then, you know, they’ll keep, you know, let’s get a maintenance program. We’ll come back every three years or every two years to clean. ⁓ And the idea being obviously,

they’re in the home and they’re gonna make cross sales of other things. For us, you inspect the blind, the older blinds, I mean, you’ve gotta say, hey, this is too risky to clean or it’s gonna fall apart, you’re gonna need a new one. And so you’re in the house with a relationship to sell them the new one.

Will Hanke (27:03)
Yeah, yeah, so that’s interesting. The people that are that you’re hiring, if it’s not you as the business owner, you have somebody going out to do the cleaning. I’m assuming they need a little bit of sales training slash knowledge as well.

Bert Bolton (27:18)
Well, they need to be familiar with the different types of products and obviously which ones would be, you know, dangerous to clean because they might fall apart or the fabric obviously has got too much damage from age or UV or whatever. And so, you know, they need to recognize that, but they don’t, you know, if they’re working in conjunction with your sales team or somebody, then obviously they’re just handing it off for saying, you know,

this person is the one to talk to.

Will Hanke (27:50)
Yeah, yeah, at least refer the lead over. So is there a window treatment that you really like is your favorite to clean or a certain type?

Bert Bolton (28:02)
I like seeing results. It’s just nice to see results and some of the blinds like the silhouettes, some of the sheer shades are really nice because you can see such a transformation. People don’t realize over the years how much dirt they do pick up because they’re on window air filters, but when you get them clean, then they’re just like, wow, you know.

Will Hanke (28:14)
yeah.

Yeah, yeah, and they probably feel good because that’s an investment that they didn’t have to rebuy, right?

Bert Bolton (28:30)
Oh

yeah, yeah, and you always show them the dirt, you know, take a picture, show them if you’re cleaning in the house, it’s easy because you’ve got that bucket with dirty dry cleaning or dirty wet cleaning solution.

Will Hanke (28:43)
Yep, yep, makes sense. So speaking of cleaning gadgets, what’s one cleaning tool or gadget that you swear by no matter how ridiculous it looks?

Bert Bolton (28:52)
Cut off a Hunter Douglas mini blind wand, a hollow wand, and then you jam in a cut off toothbrush. So you’ve got a toothbrush on the end of a long clear wand and then you can reach in and get the little fuzzy bugs or lint or things out of silhouettes or honeycomb shades or whatever. It gives you little tool to do a bunch of different tasks with.

Will Hanke (29:20)
I love that, yeah. It just a toothbrush head and a mini blind wand that’s a great one. That’s great. Well, cool. Thank you so much for sharing information about the, especially about the Blind Cleaners Network. I really enjoyed that. Can you tell me where people can go to learn more about this?

Bert Bolton (29:21)
but it’s just a toothbrush head on a mini blind wand.

They just go to our website blindcleaners.biz We have a website with a few general articles for the public. And then obviously we’re still, it’s a fairly new website, so we’re still adding information, but we have schedules of training and other things. They just contact us directly.

Will Hanke (29:57)
good.

Okay, yeah, they can go to the website if they have more questions, contact you to learn more about that. So we’ll put all that in the show notes so that you can access that later. ⁓ Any last thoughts for the professionals that are trying to grow in this industry?

Bert Bolton (30:18)
The big thing I think some of them miss is that if they’re part of a professional network, part of it is raising the professionalism as being part of a group adds credibility. You know, they’re recognized and the Hunter Douglas and Springs and the others say, hey, you know, these people have got more credibility because they’ve had a training or have the knowledge that we understand. And the other thing is it helps them if they’re going to some of these other

referral sources to be able to say, I’m part of this professional network. It sets them at a higher standard, just like any certification or specialization.

Will Hanke (30:54)
Yeah.

Makes sense, yeah. Well, again, Bert, thank you so much. It’s been an incredible conversation. If you have been thinking about adding cleaning as part of the services or you’re already in the industry, I hope that you were able to learn maybe a thing or two. ⁓ If you’ve even got one idea or useful strategy out of the conversation, do us a favor and send this to a friend in the trade. I would appreciate it.

⁓ Bert , thank you so much for being on today. I really do appreciate your time. Yeah, no problem. If you want to hear more episodes like this, don’t forget to follow and subscribe, share it with a colleague and check out the rest of our marketing panes episodes and we’ll catch you on the next one.

Bert Bolton (31:28)
thank you, Will.

All right, thank you.