Working in a vacuum sales and service store.

[dysonman1]

I opened my own vacuum shop 9 weeks ago. I was so worried at first, "will we make enough money to survive"? I was coming from a job with a weekly paycheck - so the uncertainty was almost overwhelming.

I have far more business now than I ever expected. Joining the chamber of commerce was one of the best moves I made. I've been selling the hell out of commercial vacuums to other business owners that I've met at chamber meetings. They don't buy wally mart vacuums for their businesses. So commercial vacuum sales have been through the roof. The Perfect 8 pound upright is my "go to" along with Perfect "sanitaire" models for commercial sales.

Nationwide Sale and Service out of New York has been a GREAT supplier. The Perfect line of commercial vacuums are outstanding quality. I love their HEPA vacuum bags - why would anyone buy genuine bags? Their HEPA cloth bags for the Tri-Star/Compact are such a huge improvement over the genuine paper style (just one example).

Steel City is also a fantastic supplier. I placed my initial order with them for over $4000 worth of inventory - and I've reordered inventory (not on that scale) once a week at least. Great people to talk to.

ESSCO is most vac shop's "go to" supplier. They are good, and have a fantastic website. Plus they carry Dyson parts, Kenmore parts, and carry new Oreck and Hoover machines as well as the usual assortment.

I would not recommend Tacony as a supplier. I can tell horror stories all day long.

I sell new Aerus Electrolux cleaners and love selling them. I feel like an old fashioned Electrolux salesman, without having to go door to door. When a local baptist church wanted a new canister, but with a very long hose so the machine could sit in the aisle while the power nozzle went down the pew, Aerus came through for me with a 12 foot hose and we made the sale.

If you love vacuum cleaners, are honest, and talk like a professional as well as a true expert, people just throw money at you. I never expected after just two months in business, to be able to repay my savings account for our start up costs. I thought that was at least a year away. The way its going, my entire start up cost will have been repayed to my savings account by the end of this month.

Good luck. Charge what you would pay if you had to take the money out of your wallet (an honest price), and sell what you like to fix. You'll be successful in no time.

 

[lelvacman91]

Thank you dysonman1! I appreciate it. Glad you're off to such a great start with your business. I will look into the suppliers you mentioned. As for Tacony, did you mean just for parts or to avoid selling their vacuum brands as well? I have limited experience with their brands and have only used one once (a Riccar Supralite). I have heard both good and bad; most of the positive regarding the machines themselves and the negative being more in reference to the company. I simply don't know though so any insight from you or any others that currently deals or has dealt with them may be helpful. I do have a list of brands I definitely want to sell.

 

[dysonman1]

Tacony makes some good models like the Vibrance and Symmetry. The Ultra Lites are good, but, the Perfect Ultra Lites are I n my opinion a more sturdy built machine. And they cost less. The tandem air models are a complete bitch to have to fix. There are 1 million screws. You have to put it back together again completely in order to test it, and if the part you thought was bad was not the part that’s actually bad, you have to take the entire thing back completely apart. Circuit board failure is rampant. I do not, and would not, sell the tandem air. I have repaired so many of them, and I have cussed them every single time. The new leadership at the company is terrible. They have also raised their prices considerably. There are better suppliers with competitive products at better prices. After years of working on those horrible tandem machines, I have decided to only sell vacuum cleaners that I enjoy repairing.

 

[tolivac]

One of the vac shop owners out here complained about the tandem air vacuums-they are interesting-but indeed hard to service-and INEFFICENT!!!12A Vs 6A for a Kirby,Sanitaire,many Royals,and so on.Those can do a BETTER job with HALF the power draw!