Take 5 With Cleanfax – an ISSA Podcast

Hosted by ISSA

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Latest episode

Aug 2026

Language

EN-US

About the show

Take 5 With Cleanfax is a video and podcast program from ISSA specifically for the contract carpet and floor cleaning and disaster restoration industries. The series focuses on management and marketing topics, technical tips, emerging news and more, all in five minute segments for busy business owners, managers, and technicians. Want to be a guest on the show? Connect with Jeff Cross, Cleanfax Media Director, at jeffcross@issa.com.

Listen to episodes

60 recent

August 14, 20264 min

Procrastination Charges Interest

Procrastination in a cleaning or restoration company is rarely a calendar problem. It's a fear response, and it charges interest.

August 7, 20265 min

The Follow-Up That Doesn't Feel Like a Follow-Up

The moment a job ends is the one time a customer sees a company with nothing left to gain. Most contractors waste it on a text message. Two days after the job, the text goes out. “Hi, just following up. How did we do?” Across town, the customer squints at her phone. Who is this? What did they do at my house? Is a real person on the other end of this thing?

July 30, 20265 min

How to Navigate Four Tough Conversations at Work

Nobody gets into cleaning or restoration because they love confrontation. But guess what — this business is built on tough conversations. Today, we will cover four conversations every owner and manager dreads... and exactly how to have them without losing sleep, losing your cool, or losing your best people.

July 27, 20264 min

Not Every Customer Complaint Deserves an Apology

A customer calls three days after a carpet cleaning job, upset that the carpet smells like urine. The crew did nothing wrong—the dog came back to the same spot and had another accident. Nobody on the job cut a corner. So, does the company apologize?

July 17, 20264 min

Five Lies Cleaning and Restoration Owners Tell Themselves

Every business owner tells themselves an occasional lie—but those lies often sound so reasonable that they're easy to believe.

June 22, 20265 min

Is This the Most Expensive Business Mistake You're Making?

Are you stuck somewhere way in the past when it comes to pricing your services?

June 15, 20265 min

Margins, Money, and Manpower: The Pressures Squeezing Restoration Contractors

The restoration industry is facing some real challenges in 2026, but the latest Restoration Benchmarking Survey Report shows there is plenty of reason for optimism.

June 8, 20265 min

The Real Reason Customers Say, “Let Me Think About It”

You walked the job. You measured every room. You wrote a clean, fair, professional proposal. And then your prospect looked you dead in the eye and hit you with the five most expensive words in our industry: “Let me think about it.”

June 1, 20265 min

Autopsy of a Complaint

It is time to grab your gloves, a pen, a clipboard, and something sharp…because we are about to perform an autopsy.

May 24, 20266 min

Is Your Company Pretty on the Outside but Ugly on the Inside?

You are hungry. You walk into a restaurant that looks pretty fantastic. You glance at the menu, and there it is — a glossy photo of a burger that seems almost too good to be true. You order it with high hopes. Then the server sets down something that looks like it lost a fight on the way to the table. Same restaurant. Same name on the menu. Totally different sandwich. Today on Take 5 with Cleanfax, we are sitting with a question every owner needs to ask: Is your company pretty on the outside but ugly on the inside?