10 Questionswith... Derek West
Each month we ask a cleaning industry professional the Tomorrow’s Cleaning 10 Questions. This month, we chatted to Derek West of TACCA....
Q3Who, in any other industry do you most admire?
Got to be Ricky Branson - what a story that is!
Q4If money was no object, what car would you buy?
I’d keep my clapped out Galaxy seven seater - four young kids and Ferraris don’t mix.
Q5How would you improve the cleaning industry?
By forming an association that promotes good equipment, good practice and a thirst for knowledge for its members. Hmm, déjà vu moment!
Q6What did you want to be when you were little?
Q1What was your first job? My first job was a poultry farmer - I was 14
and worked weekends and the school holidays. For a full week I got £40 - I was loaded (lol)!
Q2How did you get into the cleaning industry?
Long story - worked as a market trader for 15 years and got fed up of the same old. Then, one day, I had my carpets cleaned by a truck mount carpet cleaner - he did a terrible job and charged me an arm and a leg. I loved the machinery but didn’t like the results. So I researched for a year and decided it was what I wanted to do and so I approached the bank for a loan for a new van and truck mount. They declined, so I sold my house and used the equity. Ha, ha - risky but the rest is history and, as that burger chain says, I’m loving it.
Everything. I couldn’t make my mind up and that was my downfall. Jack of all trades, master of none!
Q7What do you do to unwind? Cook, I love cooking although eating it is
better. Recently made a garlic chicken chilli Masala that was out of this world. Even if I say so myself. Wife and kids agreed so that’s my proof!
Q8If you could have a dinner party with any three people, dead or alive, with one other
person cooking and the other person providing the music, who would they be and why? Stallone - my on-screen hero (roll on Rambo 5, or is it 6 now?). Bon Scott - original lead singer for AC/DC. I miss him, what a legend. And probably Ricky Branson - to give me some tips. Cooking I would have Ainsley Harriet - his Caribbean style of cooking is mouth watering,
REGULAR 108 | TOMORROW’S CLEANING | The future of our cleaning industry
although I might have to have a gagging order on him! Music? Hmm, probably
Will.I.Am from the Black Eyed Peas - love those catchy tunes!
Q9What, do you think, is the future of the cleaning industry?
It needs regulating although it will never happen, due to many rogue cleaners out there, especially in the carpet cleaning industry. They get made redundant, think carpet cleaning is easy, and with their five grand they spend £500 quid on equipment thinking that’s enough, take no training and don’t bother with insurance. How do we compete when the public have no idea? Hopefully TACCA will go some way to righting this wrong.
Paul Fildes, Marketing Manager at Rug Doctor Ltd, asks...
Q10 What advice would you give to others in the industry about surviving in the current economic climate? Change your marketing message, concentrate on emphasising what people can save by having it cleaned rather than replacing, also (if your good enough) emphasise just how good you are as a professional, and make sure VFM(value for money) is something you take pride in.
www.tacca.co.uk
Check out next month’s issue to see what Derek asked our next industry professional...
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116