Soap Warehouse Blog

It has been a month since I last posted but I wanted to bring this up since it is nearing the end of the rush time for most of you and so many organizations are going to be having their yearly conventions in the upcoming months.

It is good business to be a member of organizations connected to your line of work. It could be PWNA, IKECA, or even smaller local groups.

Even though there can be costs incurred when being a member you can normally write off part or all of the expense as a business deduction and the benefits greatly out way the costs.

The first and biggest benefit is Net Working. You get to know others that are in your business. They understand who you are and where you want or need to be to take your business forward. You can get new fresh ideas or just discover old tried and true methods that have worked for others.

Second benefit, is the conventions and or meetings themselves. They give you time to get away from the daily grind, experience and meet new people and participate in discussion groups or classes that are held there. Even if you are the one that has been in business forever and knows it all, you get the benefit of being in a community of peers that can bring a stability and balance into your life. The adage “All work and no play” is for every one. You need the chance to get out and see what else is out there.

Third is keeping up to date with new information. You always need to keep your eyes ahead looking to where you want to go. It may be fine for a while to do things the way you always have done it or use the same chemicals you always have in the past. But new things are always coming up with products and application methods. We here at Soap Warehouse have people that are constantly looking to make new combinations or formulation changes geared to what the future wants, needs and restrictions will be.

In the very near future many product ingredients are going to be restricted, banned or priced out of reach and we have to grow with these changes. Many areas are facing water shortages, water restrictions and clean water guidelines that have to be followed or fines or worse will happen to you and your business.

I also believe subscribing to magazines, reading articles, subscribing to web sites, contributing to chat boards or forums and blogs are also a good way to do this. Feel free to visit our link section which is filled with suggestions.

If you are member of PWNA or are going to the convention in late Oct. Please be sure to check out the Special Offer located in the customer only section on our web site to receive a special value offer.

Have a good month and participate in something to help you and your business before the end of the year.

This month there was a good article from Entrepreneur.com and if you have never looked at thier site it is one that you should book mark. You should always take some time to look at what is working for others to find what can help you and your business.

http://www.entrepreneur.com
Follow this link or cut and paste it in your browser to get there.

In short these were the main points of the article:

1. Visibility: With more and more consumers logging onto the Web to research products and services, if they are going to find your business, your business must be on the Web. If a potential customer Google’s your city name and your service would they find your website listed or just your competitors? Try this today and see who is out there and how you should be listed too.

2. Reach: With a Web site, you are no longer limited to a small customer base. Of course with most of you proximity is a major factor, but on the web you are able to reach many more prospective customers in your local area. You can only hand out so many business cards. Even if your name has been mentioned as a word of mouth referral and no card with a phone number can be found, could this person looking for you find you? Try entering your company name and zip code to be sure you are listed first.

3. Customer service: When customers can log onto your Web site and easily find the information they want—when they want it—their satisfaction increases. They are not limited to wait for you to speak to them. Having ways on the web site that customers can contact you besides reaching you on the phone is key. Have an e-mail address or form to fill out saving them time for a question or  information to get a quote. And be sure you are able to contact them back quickly.

4. Competition: A professional looking Web site can level the playing field for smaller companies trying to compete against larger enterprises. It’s also a way to stay in the game; if people can’t find you on the Web chances are they are finding your competitors. Even a small free site can show off your expertize, knowledge, work history and quality of the work you do. Also show customer testimonials of clients that liked your work and photos of completed jobs.


5. Credibility: When you can point customers, partners, even potential employees or investors to a Web site, it tells them you are a serious business. Use lines like doing business for over 10 years. Satisfying customers in the Tri-area since 2001. Even if you have just started you can use lines like “Only use top quality products.” And list them if they have name recognition with your customer. List what groups you are affiliated with or a member of, for example the local BBB or PWNA.

And remember once you have your site up send us the link and we will put you in our customer link area on our web site to help more people find you and improve your sites SEO.

Hello, and welcome to the end of summer.

For many of you time is running out for you to make the main money of your season. But that does not have to be the case. I know this has been a very rough year so far. Every one's business is down whether due to drought, high fuel costs, higher costs of everything else or just regular business that is just not there this year due to your customers not being able to afford your services.

Unfortunately some of our customers have had to take on second jobs or new more stable primary jobs and put their pressure washing business on the back burner or on hold to make ends met.

Here are some ideas to help you think outside the box to keep your PW business going in these lean times.

One problem when the economy slows down is that your customers slow down payment to you as well, especially true if you are doing monthly contract work instead of pay as you wash jobs.

One way around this to keep a good cash flow is to look at your contract jobs and see how much profit you have built into each one and then decide if giving a customer a prepay discount would benefit you and your cash flow. Say you are making $350 profit on a fleet wash job that you usually give NET 30 to but lately that has been becoming NET45 or worse. Wouldn't it be worth say $50 for you to have the money in your hands sooner and for sure than worrying when you are going to get it, especially if you will have to spend extra time and money to get it later? So go to your customer and offer them a prepayment discount on their next job. Of course if they are already so behind in paying you on past work taking this money now may slow down the payment of the older money, but not always. This can also work with a split payment discounts. Say give them a certain amount or % off if they pay half up front and the rest stay NET 30, or give them a discount on the entire job for early payment such at 3% Net 10, or NET 15.

Also with so many small PW going out of business call on them to see if they would like to sell their contact list for a small fee or get a kick back from you for introductions to clients they are no longer going to service that turn into business for you. For instance if they have a customer that they were washing each month; they could introduce you to the customer, saving the customer the time and trouble to find a new and probably different PW then yourself, with the promise of when this customer uses you, you pay the old PW a one time set fee for the introduction. This one time cost will easily pay for itself in a few jobs with your new customer. I have seen this work with PW's that are having to retire or go out of business for other reasons in the past.

This is why it is always a good idea to be friendly with the other good PW's in your own area. Don't treat them as an enemy that are out to get you and your business but as someone that can help you and back you up when needed. Just be sure they are as ethical and do good work like you do for your mutual benefit.

Join websites with other local and national PW's. You can network sometimes to the point that if you need help on a job to get a bid they can even work with you like a subcontractor to get the job done. Or if one of you are too busy to do work for a customer that the other one can do the job, giving the other PW a referral fee. Some PW's have been in business for so long and know the others in their area so well that they can swap customers or give referrals to each other without hesitation of monetary reward because they know they will be paid back later with a new job from someone else. EX: Some PW's may specialize in commercial flat work and will hand off house washing to a friend knowing when the house washer gets has major flat work they will call on them or use them for that customers job.

As I mentioned in a previous session, even if you normally do private home jobs, go by local businesses that need washing or you have seen someone else clean in the past and leave your card. You never know if their old washer is one that just gave up the business and they will be needing someone new. Odds are they will at least call you for a quote if not the job and the more cards you have out there the greater your odds become. Also I will again mention that the bad housing market is a boon for a PW to create curb appeal. Visit Realtors and give them a stack of your cards as well. Even offer to wash their house for free for the referrals and thier testimonial.

I hope you all have a better last half or quarter of 2008.