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More free advertising. How to write a press release.

Posted by Linda Chambers on Mon, Apr 22, 2013 @ 10:35 AM

Free press coverage can be more effective than any other advertising since it is usually a much larger all at one time exposure for your business. But how do you get coverage without paying for it? You must first write a great press release.

Since writing a good news release is not easy you may need to find someone to do this for you that in the best senerio will do it for free. If not maybe they will trade off service for service. But if not you can follow these steps to help you create a release on your own.

1. Establish that what you are writing about is a newsworthy event. So what is news worthy? Announcement of a new product you will be using or service you will be offering. The gain of a new notable customer. Hirings, adding a new rig or equipment, opening a new office, launching a new web site or offering a mobile application for customers. How you just completed an industry approved certification or won an award.

2. Identify the main elements of; Who, What, When, Where, and How. Use these to build your headline and body of the release. Anyone interested in your story must be able to learn all these from the headline or first few lines of the first paragraph.

3. Know your audience. If you are writing for the everyday Joe, then do not use techincal terms they may not know, write for the unknowing layman. Are you trying to reach home owners or commercial property managers? Make sure your information will be of interest to the group you are trying to reach.

4. Use your headline to "Grab" a reader. You must make it stand out. If it starts out like every other article about the subject you will be passed over and left unread. Be sure it brings out the main point.

5. Be concise but informative and be sure to give the reader correct contact information for follow up.

Following these steps will help you create good press releases to bring awareness to your business and product offerings.

Free Advertising, How to get it?

Posted by Linda Chambers on Fri, Apr 19, 2013 @ 09:30 AM

Everyone loves something for free but as they say "Nothing is Free" realistically.

The same can be said for advertising. The only true free advertising is "Word of Mouth" but even then you as a business person did something that cost you money to earn that free recommendation "Who shared it with their friends".wordofmouth resized 600

But here are some ways for just a little effort of your time you can and should get as much FREE advertising as possible.

First and foremost use every no cost on line asset you can find. This will include all business phone directories that are out there. "Yellow Pages" at yellowpagecity.com or Superpages.com are some of the largest but there are many others as well; Whitepages.com, Yelp.com, Kudzu.com, dexknows, Tupalo.com, Hotfrog.com, mojopages.com, linktown.azfamily.com, 411.info, switchboard.com. Local city and business groups have listing, here we have atlanta.citysearch.com, locallife.com, local.com, citysquares.com, showmelocal.com, company.com, ziplocal.com, directorycentral.com, justdial.com, 2findlocal.com, insiderspages.com, tree.com, go.hubbiz.com, getfave.com and I am sure even more. Even local newspapers and magazines can have on line listings, here we have local.post-gazette.com and radarfrog.gatehousemedia.com to name just a few.

To find the directories being used in your area first look up your competition and see where they pop up, then be sure to register your business there too. If you can get in some they have not heard of yet all the better. I have a local customer that doesn't even have his own web site yet he can be found in over 25 directories when you type in "pressure washing Monroe GA". Then if you end up putting in his business name and search he covers over three whole "Google" search pages. And make sure to do searches in more than one search engine. Try Bing.com and Yahoo.com as well.

Then there are all the business contact sites you can list your business in like Merchantcircle.com, Foursquare.com, Manta.com, Linkedin.com, Stik.com. Some that you may pay for like the BBB.org or must be added by customers only like Angislist.com.

Make sure you update and check your listings at least a few times a year. Keep an excel spreadsheet of all the sites addresses to your listing and with any sign in or listed features you can use on that site. For example some let you list coupons or have blog entries. You must know which have what and post on a calendar or a to do list of when to go back to each one to make changes or additions.

Next post I will talk about another free way to advertise; to create and plubish news releases about your business and what you do.

Since all of these cost you noting but your time they will be about as free as you will every find for ways to expand and improve your business.

Tags: advertising, business directory, Business, marketing, advertise, free advertising

How to properly mix our drum kits

Posted by Linda Chambers on Fri, Mar 29, 2013 @ 10:00 AM

Here it is the beginning of another cleaning season and the prefect time to again go over how to mix kits. I know this may seem rather odd to be writing a post on how to mix product, but we get calls all too often asking why a product is not working well, or the way that it should be, or how it had worked in the past, and more often than not, the reason can be traced directly back to how the product was mixed. Therefore I will be going over this information again. If you have more suggestions please add them at the bottom of this post.

First it is important to mix the component packages in the order they are labeled and it states in the directions.

For the most part they are very simple instructions but by not adding a part in the correct order you can either make a small difference, all the way up to making things dangerous.

If a kit comes in A, B and C and it clearly states put A in then add water, then please do that. I know some might like to start filling the drum before they pour in the first powder but there is a reason. First is to be sure the ingredients in the A component dissolve well. For instance it is much harder to mix a powdered chocolate drink mix into a full glass of cold milk then it is to put the powder in first, pour the milk in and then stir. Same principle. And make sure the water is not too cold! Even tap water in some parts of the country and during many times of the year may be colder then needed for proper mixing. Directions say to use "Tepid water". Tepid only means the same temp as your skin or around 98 degrees. If a powder is not disolving, try adding luke warm tap water, but if your water is cold you will need to add some hot water, say a gallon to every 4-5 gallons of tap water, that you are adding to the mixing drum (prior to pouring it in). In other words, have a 5 gallon pail that you are using to add water that you mix the hot and cold water together before pouring it into the drum. The reason being hot water increases chemical reaction and may become hazardous if hot water is used.

Next if it says to use 45 gallons of water, then add 45 gallons, not 20 or even 40 but 45. If the amount of water is too small and you add in other ingredients early, you might cause a reaction due to having too high of a concentration of the raw chemicals together.

Next, always add the second "B", third "C" and so on number of ingredients slowly to your mixture. One so that you do not splash chemicals back on to yourself or into your eyes (Always wear protective gear when mixing) and second so that you have time to properly stir and mix the solution for complete integration.

I know some people like to put all the powders together and then add all the liquids or put powders in after all the liquids are in the drum but this can cause dangerous results. Some of the chemical powdered ingredients should not be put together, or they would have come packaged that way. Or one powder may need to be added only at the very end when you have the most amount of water in the drum because it may produce a stronger reaction if added too soon or when less water is present.

When pouring the liquid components into a partial solution, add slowly and stop once or twice to mix well so the new liquid does not fall straight down to the bottom of the drum, since it will be denser than the solution already in the drum. Once you have emptied all the liquid that will easily pour out be sure to scrape the walls of the pail off to get all of the liquid out. A kit is designed to use all of the parts for the correct results. If it is too difficult you can just add a small amount of warm water, say 1/2 gallon, and with the lid back on and tightly closed, slosh the water around in the pail to dissolve the remaining residue into a thin enough liquid to be pored into the drum with the rest of the mixed solution.

Once you have finished adding ingredients and mixing make sure you top off to the proper level. If you have a product where one drum will make two, be sure you have thoroughly mixed the entire 55 gallons, transfer half of the drum (27.5 gallons) to a second drum and then fill both back up to the 55 gallon level. If you wait for even a few hours or a day before transferring make sure you thoroughly remix the first drum before you start to pump out the 27.5 gallons in case you have settling of ingredients. This can sometimes be the reason why one drum seems to work much better than the other because you got an uneven amount of active product ingredients in each drum.

This is also the reason you mix any super concentrated product all at once and DO NOT just pump out 1 gallon of a 5 gallon mixture and make only 11 gallons of product at a time. These super concentrated pails are designed to be completely mixed because of how the ingredients will settle out or layer in the pail. if you try to mix partial batches, no two mixtures will be or will work the same.

Same can be said when you mix a drum and then only pump out small amounts at a time. You should always remix at least for a few minutes to reintegrate the solution. Some products settle out more than others and temperature can be a large factor in this. If you store your chemicals out in an unheated building or area, products will have the tendency to settle more quickly than if left at 70-75 degree average room temp. Try to pump from the center of a just re-mixed barrel to insure you will get the same product gallon after gallon. If you only pump from the bottom your product may be too strong in the beginning and too weak at the end. Same with only pumping off the top. You may not be getting a proper mix of active ingredients to give you the best performance.

Our products are all produced with a very short pre-ship storage time. We try to have product made from just a few weeks to only a few days before they are ordered and ship out. This way they are very fresh and have a long storage life, for most at least two years if stored properly. This way you can buy a large volume of product to save money and shipping costs and even if you do not use all of it by the end of your wash season, you can be sure it will still work when you mix it and use it at the beginning of the next season. With this said it is important that if product has not been kept in the most ideal conditions that when it is mixed you can take additional steps to try and make it still work for you. We have had customers call that have let product freeze or nearly freeze, get wet or exposed to moisture that the powders become solid, etc. Many of these problems can be addressed with sometimes no ill effects to the end mixed product.

If you have a liquid component that has frozen or has gotten extremely cold, you must raise its temperature high enough to allow it to pour but not too high to destroy the products chemical integrity. We suggest that you get a larger container than the 5 or 6 gallon pail the liquid is in, fill it with warm water and place the pail into it. Do NOT use HOT water, this way the temp is brought up slowly. It may take more than one dunking application to have this work. But do not do what one customer did. He broke open the pail, dumped the frozen rock of liquid into an open 55 gallon drum and then poured boiling water on it trying to melt the ice block of concentrated product. He ended up not getting all the product dissolved before he added all the water to make the 55 gallons and then it did not work properly even days later once he got all the settled melted bits mixed.

Now sometimes if stored for a long time the bagged powder mixes can compress and get firm, but they should not turn to solid blocks. Only if they are exposed to moisture, heat and sit for long periods would this ever happen. If it does it may still be usable but you must allow the block to soak, break up and dissolve in a much smaller amount of water than normally used for mixing. Again using warm water, not hot, add the solid powder to about twice the amount of water by weight than you have of the powder. So if you have 5 lbs of solid powder place it in 10 gallons of water and wait for it to completely break down before mixing it with the other ingredients in the proper order with the other ingredients and the proper amount of additional water.

I hope this has been helpful and as always, if you have any questions please give us a call. 1-800-SOAP-911

Tags: proper mixing, drum kit, Soap Warehouse, chemical safety

MATS 2013

Posted by Linda Chambers on Thu, Mar 21, 2013 @ 02:50 PM

It is that time again. Time for the Mid America Trucking Show, held in Louisville, KY, this year from today March 21st until Saturday the 23rd.

Although we are not exhibiting and I am not even attending any of the three day event, Soap Warehouse is having a presence through the publications we are advertising in, special offers sent out via Twitter and interacting with those on Facebook that are at the event.

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We are in Transportation Topics buyers guide this entire year on their web site at http://www.TTNews.com.

We have also been running ads in Fleet Owner magazine and this month we have a quarter page ad on page 136 that contains a QR code directing scanners with smart phones to view a special offer.

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Here is Jim Mele from Fleet Owner on the show room floor.

I hope you take the opportunity to join in and order some Fleet Wash products during the sale time for MATS. Look for the Twitter links that also post to our Facebook to get to the pages with the offers.

 

 

Tags: Soap Warehouse, Mid America Trucking Show, MATS, fleet washes, Fleet Wash

Fleet Truck Wash Savings.

Posted by Linda Chambers on Fri, Jan 25, 2013 @ 09:30 AM

This can mean many things to different people. To a trucker it may just mean where can he find the cheapest truck wash, but to the mobile fleet truck washer it may mean a few other things.

1. The least expensive cost per wash
2. The least expensive soap
3. The lowest labor cost per wash
4. The shortest time spent to clean

Well here at Soap Warehouse we have some products that can be all of these things.

Our top seller and performer for the last nineteen year is Brown Derby. This high alkaline truck wash is the best at removing magnetic road film and is considered "Brushless" in the industry since you only need to spray it on, let it work and then rinse it back off. The only similar results you could get would be to two step, but then you would be taking up more time and labor.

Compared to similar Brown Soap products in the marketplace our Brown Derby is still the best value when compared wash for wash. Others may seem to have a lower cost per gallon, but once you actually get out in the field using it, theirs will take more soap per wash, therefore costing more in the long run. Brown Derby is highly concentrated and easily adjusted to each contractors specific needs at the job site. You should always take into account, hardness of the water used, the equipments dilution ratio, water pressure, flow rate, outside air temperature, temperature of the water used with the soap, and even the temperature of the surface being cleaned.

These other factors will also effect a contractors costs, time and labor needed along with the soap to get the proper cleaning.

Now if polished aluminum is an issue and you do not want the added cost of product, time and labor with using an acid cleaner after, or even with two stepping prior to washing, then you should consider one of our "Safe Finish" washes; Blue Lighting, White Lightning, Big Rig Brite or Truck N Tuff (TNT). 

TNT is our light wash product that is great for the frequent fleet washer or to use in between the heavy cleaning washings. One pail of TNT super concentrate can make 54 gallons of RTU (ready to use) truck wash, which gives great savings in shipping costs.

Blue Lightning is our most popular "Safe Finish" as it is economical while still giving the "Brushless" features contractors want. Used most commonly at a 1:35 dilution many can get good performance up to 1:50 and even further using hot water machines.

White Lightning is the same as Blue just with twice as much of the active cleaning ingredients making it better for those not washed as often fleets or dirtier than most fleets such as company delivery vans or electric company fleets.

The last of our "Safe Finish" products is Big Rig Brite. This is our top of the line finsh safe product that has added water softeners and sheeting action ingredients, that leaves a near wax shine without the cost or use of any wax. It leaves a practically spot free shine on polished aluminum and chrome.

With proper dilution and equipment settings these fleet washes will save you money, with lower shipping costs due to product concentration, less labor cost due to time saved during washing, contact use today with your current soap product information and we will be happy to provide you with a comparative cost analysis between that product on our of ours. Call and see how much money we could save you this year for your fleet washing business. 1-800-762-7911, info@soapwarehouse.biz or visit www.soapwarehouse.biz.

Tags: White Lightning, Truck-N-Tuff, truck wash savings, brushless, brushless truck wash, safe finish, finish safe, Big Rig Brite, Blue Lightning, best fleet wash, Brown Derby, fleet washes

Profit is all in the follow up.

Posted by Linda Chambers on Mon, Jan 21, 2013 @ 01:56 PM

I have spoken in the past about customer service, referral programs, attending networking events and getting commercial jobs, but the one thing they all have in common to bring your business success is in learning how to do the follow up.

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The hardest thing after the initial terror of first contact is in the follow up, but that is where your business can be made or lost, right there.

Not every person that starts a pressure washing business or any business for that matter is a natural born sales person. Most would just like to be called, asked to do a job and then just go out and do it. But the calls are not just going to magically come in, most job opportunities must be created and nurtured by you, the business owner for them to happen.

It is always surprising that business owners go to the trouble to attend an event, exhibit at a trade show, send out a marketing piece that yields them business cards, filled out contacts or questionnaires and then they do nothing or little with them.

In too short of time these contacts will be lost or tucked away to never be used to generate the business they were intended to and why? Because these owners failed in the follow up. Follow up does not have to be scary, complicated or difficult. It only takes a simple call or short contact first as a refresher to start you on the road to more jobs and profit.

As soon as possible after you get the contact make your first follow up. Best if it in within the first 24 hours. It can be very brief and doesn't even have to ask for a job commitment. A simple "It was nice to meet you." Even if left as a phone message or in an e-mail, along with a promise to get with them soon about their shown interest in your business. Here is a great time to mention exactly what was discussed to help bring your contact back upm in their mind. Then once the promise is made, that becomes your next opportunity for follow up.

Remember the person you met also met many other people and businesses at that same time and just this short reconnect will bring you back up into focus in their mind and put you ahead of others when you do make your next contact. It takes 3-4 times of contact before most people will consider using you, even if they are interested in both your service and business in particular.

Next contact should be made giving the specifics about what you discussed with this potential new customer as promised. Here you can spell out the benefits of your service, who else you have worked for, and the positive results (the same ones this person is after), along with the cost. You do not have to start out with a special offer, unless one was promised or discussed at the first meeting. You may be successful right away with the customer paying full price for your service, so do not offer any deal until later if needed. Why give money away for no reason.

Once you have given them the information do not ask for the job, allow them to feel in control and let them have some time to go over the information you have given them. But you should not give them long or leave it open, you need to set up when and how the next follow up will happen. Will it be with you calling them again in the next two days? With you sending them an e-mail after the weekend? Try to make the next action still under your control. If they insist on being the one to contact you back, go ahead and agree but state that if you do not hear from them by a certain time, such as the next 7-10 days, that you will be contacting them again for the follow up. Statistics show that as many as 80% of new business is lost due to the lack of follow up by the potential customer.

The next contact is when you should ask for the business that was discussed that you provided the information on. It should be some thing like "Mr. Hall, are your ready to book the "service" we discussed on "date"?" If they say no try to find out what is the reason for their delay? Time isn't right, cost is too much, scope of work not exactly what they need right now. This is the time where you answer questions, make suggestions and if necessary make a special offer if cost is a factor, or offer a free service to go with the planed on, like cleaning the sidewalk or stairs with the house wash.  Even with a special offer put a short limited time for this opportunity to happen. You do not want someone to come back months later when you are busy and other customers are paying you full price asking for you to take the time to do a discounted amount of work. Tell them you can do this job this week because an opening has come up for this price but if they wait until a weekend or later in the month they will have to pay full price, reminding them that they do not have to be home for you to work.

Follow up is not just for new customers it is also important with your current customer base. Statistics show that as much as 60% of client loss is simply due to losing touch. The customer can't find your number, remember your business name to look you up from last year or they saw a competitors ad when ready for service again and doesn't want to take the time to contact you about matching it. It is ideal to try to touch your clients at least once every three months during the year, or in the 30 days just before the service they bought before would be coming up to be performed, such as Spring cleaning, Summer deck or pool deck cleaning, Fall gutter and roof cleaning. At least twice a year is the minimum you should try to make contact. Money is in the "Follow Up".

While follow up takes discipline, it is not hard and does not have to be frightening. Spending a little time putting together some simple keep in touch marketing campaigns by mail or e-mail, to foster your business relationships, with both prospects and clients will more than pay for themselves. Good luck with your follow ups.

Tags: referral program, follow up, marketing, business plan, Trade Show, customer service

Maintenance Log Book, you can make one!

Posted by Linda Chambers on Mon, Jan 07, 2013 @ 09:30 AM

The backbone of any service business, right after the labor force, is the equipment.Pressure washing rig resized 600

And the best way to monitor and mange that investment is by keeping good records including all maintenance needed and done. I think every business should keep track of their equipment maintenance and here is an inexpensive way to do it, to make and keep a log book or binder.

When you first purchase a new piece of equipment it comes usually with loads of printed materials most of which, guys I know, will loose or throw out within days of getting it. And I know most of us could care less about the extra pages written in Spanish or other language, but file those away too, you never know when you may have hired an employee that could use it. 

So the first rule is to look at each piece of paper, to see what exactly it is and use it to create an individual maintenance plan for that specific piece of equipment.

You will get the bill of sale listing the name of the equipment, model number, and other information like motor size, dimension etc. You will need to make a few copies of this; the original needs to go with the method of payment you used to make the purchase, like a check or attached to the paid credit card statement for regular bookkeeping but you should also have it other places as well. You will need a copy to place with your tax records so you will have the info and value for your accountant to figure your taxes for your equipment deductions, a copy should go in your insurance file in case it is ever lost, damaged or stolen and to be sure you level of coverage is high enough for all your equipment on hand and last a copy should go into your maintenance log book. It is also a good idea to list on or attached to the receipt how and where on this piece of equipment it is going to be marked or identified as yours. Good rule is to permanently etch into it a specific code. I personally like the, Initial(s) followed by the last 4 digits of a SS or Tax ID number format. My personal one I use is LMC3285 or for Soap Warehouse SW3660.

Next is the registration card, DO NOT THROW THIS OUT. Not every item will have one but this card can be more important than the paid receipt. Make sure you fill it out completely, make a copy of it (front and back) and mail it back to the manufacture. This way you will be made aware of any recalls, defects or warranty issues by the company. This also identifies you as the owner of the equipment for insurance coverage and starts the warranty period. If you wait or forget to send it in you may not be covered for warranty repairs. A copy of the card should stay in your log book attached to the manual.

The owners manual. The one thing guys never seem to want to completely read. If it is small (a folded page or two) make a copy and you can place it in a file with other equipment instruction papers but no matter what the size you will want to be sure a copy of the entire manual gets placed in the log book for easy reference. Best if placed in zippered binder folder so it will not fall out or be damaged. This way at any time you can reference the manual on how to change a part, trouble shoot a problem or refresh yourself on how to use a seldom used item or equipment feature.

Next READ THE MANUAL cover to cover, taking note of important information you will want handy, like type of oil an engine may need, make a list of sizes of belts, hoses and other replaceable parts you may need to change or replace often. It would be smart to go ahead to order, to have on hand, at least one of each replaceable item now while it is still easy to get the part, to have it readily available. Consider these parts purchases as just the additional cost of the initial equipment purchase, you can even deduct it just like the equipment itself. This way a small break down will not leave you high and dry and unable to finish a job looking or waiting for a part. Also once a part is used, immediately find and purchase its replacement. Nothing is worse than having a machine you love break down after years of service, to find out a simple part you would need to get it working again is no longer available, forcing you to purchase a replacement under pressure. If later if you sell this equipment you can include the spare parts in the sale as a bonus or feature of the sale.

While reading the manual you will find out information, like how often the oil needs to be checked, added or changed, ex: Top off after first 10 hours of use, Check oil every 100 hours of use, Change with new ND SAE 30W every year or 1000 hours of use. This is the type of information that you will use to create your maintenance schedule in your log book.

Now you should be able to get by with just a 1" or 2" three ring binder to use for your log book. But for the businesses that have gotten so big that they have multiple rigs, vehicles and crews you may want to look at and invest in some Maintenance Software Programs in addition to having a binder with each rig out in the field. Some can cost thousands and others just a few hundred dollars from easy on-line downloads.

List of items to buy:

  • 1" or 2" three ring binder(s) - Can be one for everything or one for each rig, trailer or truck unit you have.
  • Pack of page dividers, what ever kind you like. Enough for one for each peice of equipment.
  • Zipper binder pockets for manuals, come in different sizes, buy as needed.
  • Pack of assorted binder pockets for receipts for short term storage, normal page size.
  • Package of three ring page protectors 25-50 should be plenty to start.
  • A 8x10 or 8x11.5 calendar for the current year (you can probably get this free from some advertiser or vendor).

Set up the binder the way that is easiest for you to use, alphabetically by item name, type of item, small items to largest, by location ex: which trailer or truck it is on. Punch holes in the folded edge of the calendar to fit the binder rings and place it in the very front of your binder. You can fold over and change to each month as needed through out the year. Put the name of the location followed by equipment name in the tabs of the page dividers. Put one of the log sheets (see sample below) in a page protector behind each tab, followed by a binder pocket to place receipts for parts and repairs until you can enter them and move them to their permanent location, the zipper binder pocket with the manual is the last thing before the next equipment item divider page to start it all over again.

Now each log sheet (see sample provided) has the name of the equipment, make and model. The place purchased, the date purchased and date equipment went into service. The next section will list the next scheduled date for maintenance, date when serviced, what was done, who did the work and how much it cost. There is also a place to list parts, by name and number as well as space to list where to call to purchase the part, and normal cost of item so you don't have to waste time looking for it. Depending on how many entries must be made, each sheet could cover more than one year or you can plan on replacing a new sheet each year per item.

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The very last bits of information are the dates the equipment went out of service and when this items was sold if applicable with selling price, which may be needed by your accountant. Once the item is taken out of service or sold you can remove that section out of your binder to file into your other office files.

With this binder you will be able to see at a glance all your equipment in service, look up and plan dates on your calendar when to do maintenance and keep records of the costs for maintenance. You will still have to enter the scheduled dates on to the calendar and the figures into your bookkeeping records or software program but this way it will be easy to find the information you need.

Pick a certain time of the week or month to check your calendar to schedule to do the next upcoming needed maintenance for your equipment. This way you can make sure your equipment will always be available and in top condition for scheduled work.

If you would like a copy of this Excel Log book sheet, contact me at info@soapwarehouse.biz subject: Maintenance log sheet, and I will send you a copy of this page that you can customize for your business.

Tags: expenses, maintenance log, equipment maintenance, itemized deductions, business plan

Building Success in Twenty Minutes a Day.

Posted by Trey Miller on Wed, Jan 02, 2013 @ 12:02 PM

Now twenty minutes a day does not sound like much and I am sure you hear advertising claims every day asking you to spend just 20 minutes a day to achieve some goal like; weight loss, firmer abs, more money, etc. Well in a way I too will be promising you more money, because it has been proven that if a small business spends over 15 minutes each day on marketing they will increase their revenue significantly, more than if they even focused this same amount of time in one lump, such as 90 minutes a week. The key is consistency and receptiveness.

First by spending time each day you will create a habit to take this small amount of time out of your day. Second if you are marketing more frequently the chances will increase dramatical that a likely consumer will try your business due to this fact.

Now if you think you can't very well do much in just 20 minutes, here are some ideas of what you can accomplish in this short amount of time.

Order new or additional business cards. Business cards are one of the least expensive, with the largest chance of ROI, of almost ANY marketing item. For the new year think about making a slight change to a card to help track the effectiveness of your card campaigns. For instance, have a card with a slightly different order of information, orientation, size or color imprint of your phone or web site address just for cards you give to current customers for referrals. Make a card with a different tag line you only give to Building Management or Realtors or plan to hand out at a show or event. Cards can be ordered very cheaply from places like Vistaprint.com so that you could have 4-5 different ones available to hand out at any time. Just be sure to keep the feel of the cards and your logo the same so that no customer is ever confused as to who you are and whom they are contacting.

Open a separate Facebook page for your business, away from your personal one. It takes very little time and is a newer option that will make you look more professional and make it easier to gain, interact and relate to your customers.

Even if you do not text, like I don't, open a Twitter account for your business. It takes just a few minutes to link it to your Facebook business account so that when you post on one it also appears on the other. You can also link posts to LinkedIn.

Have a LinkedIn account if you do a lot of B2B business. Since this is more of a business vs. only a personal social media, you will gain better business contacts and SEO with it with these types of customers.

Post often to your Facebook business page or Twitter. With help from programs like TweetDeck, you can spend the 20 minutes scheduling a week or more of posts at just one sitting and then do other things for your 20 minutes on the other days.

Make a blog post some where at least once a week. If you do not have a blog area on your own web site you should really think about making one, but if not you can still blog. Use the blog feature found at many of the industry on line forums, on LinkedIn and other web sites. As long as you are consistent with your tags and links back to your own site or Facebook business page this type of organic SEO will help and build over time.

Become a member, look for and answer consumer questions at web sites like Yahoo answers at http://answers.yahoo.com/ or www.ask.com/. You can look in the categories you want to be associated with to find questions you want to answer. Once you start answering and get likes to your answers you will build an on site reputation and can even have questions e-mailed to you to be answered. Being helpful with out looking for gain can bring you customers from your area.

Search for and buy a new or reliable give-a-way marketing item. There are some great sites out there that you can subscribe to for sales, product alerts and ideas for items. We use 4imprint.com a lot.

Send out a newsletter. It doesn't have to be long. Just make sure you are giving your customers some free tips, home help or advise, no sales pitch needs to be included. Mention up coming events you will be attending, like a home show, link to interesting sites your customers may enjoy, mention a certification class you took or industry event you attended. Once your open rates are up then the occasial sales offer will more likely be opened and acted on.

Send out a targeted e-mail for a specific reason or campaign. With a well segmented customer e-mail list, sending short targeted e-mails with messages or offers will take little time but can generate huge benefits. Once a month send all your customer's birthday message, customer anniversaries, off season offers etc.

If you do not already have a well segmented list, spend your 20 minutes at least once a week making some using the resources you have available, Quickbooks, Salesforce or other CMR software.

I hope you start spending your 20 minutes a day working on marketing for a profitable New Year.

Tags: Newsletter, e-mail, Business, marketing, business cards, business plan, referral, advertise

Happy Holidays from Soap Warehouse

Posted by Trey Miller on Mon, Dec 17, 2012 @ 02:07 PM

Happy Holidays to you all. Hope you all had a profitable year and we look forward to working with you in the New Year. 

Now for many this is the start of your slow time or winter break and you may think you have nothing much to do but sit around and wait for the temps to get warm again next Spring. Well you are sorely mistaken if you want to improve and even build your business through out the Winter months. Here are some steps to make sure your New Year is a good year.

1. Do your budget for the New Year. See what you spent this past year. What was more than you expected? Less? Can you make changes next year that will gain you ROI? Stop doing things that are losing you money. If you can't stop them totally, then change them so they won't be the money pit to your budget they are now. As I mentioned in a previous post, now is the time to shop around for phone service, insurance, equipment for next year. Be sure to include a 5% increase from what you spent this year on every line item in your budget. This way even if the cost of a few things don't go up during the course of the year the ones that do can have funds moved from others without undo stress of looking for that money. It may not be perfect but it will help. 

2. Work on your collateral marketing materials, purchase new clients give-a-way items, update, improve or start a customer referral program. Did the items you handed out last year get you new customers? What worked and what didn't? Don't beat a dead horse and by another 1000 imprinted rulers if you did not earn back their cost. Try something new instead. Got an item like your business card magnets that got to a 600% return on their cost? Double your order for this year and hand out even more!! Good tried and true items for this are: Business card magnets, Note pads, Pens, Clips magnetic or other wise for papers or bags, calendars, and other useful household items like rubber disk lid openers.

 3. Up date your web site. Up load newer B&A photos from this years jobs you haven't had the time to get done. Potential customers may visit your site 3-5 times before deciding to call or fill out your on line form for an estimate. Seeing that you are working, adding new photos and gaining more testimonials may sway that person to go ahead and try you instead of someone else. Adding a blog and keeping content current gets you better SEO. If you do not have a testimonial page or area on your site yet, ADD ONE. nothing convinces a potential customer more than reading statements from satisfied customers. Add video to your site. Action segments do not have to be long and having a professionally produced video will look even better. We use a company called iMotionvideo.com. You can either buy single videos one at a time or like us join their video membership club and have a new video produced each month.

4. Update your customer contact list, e-mails and phone numbers. Check to see if any past customers did not use you this year and try to contact them to find out why. You can send out an email survey to all those contacts to see if they moved, didn't think they needed service this year, went with someone else do to price. Send out a Holiday Greetings E-mail message saying you missed them this year and hope they are doing well. Be sure to send all new customers a Thank you holiday message or New Years savings offer to try and pre book as much work as possible now for Spring. Remember give added value offers not percentage off offers for best results. For example: Book your Spring house cleaning before Feb 1, 2013 and get a free gutter cleaning, or window washing or mail box cleaning. What ever you think is incentive enough for your customers to schedule now instead of waiting until Spring. Make sure you evaluate what worked or did not work last year and possibly increase your enticement. Update or improve on your customer referral package. Send out cards or e-mails offering free services, gift cards, etc for new contact information of friends and family. When these new contacts buy be sure to full fill your referral promises quickly to promote additional referrals coming in.

5. Plan now to network by attending local and National industry events in the coming year. If you go ahead and schedule them into your yearly calendar you can know how much business you will need to book before and after them to still make your monthly budget numbers. Also explore improving or expanding your business with new offerings by learning or becoming certified with new skills. Check out the industry organization web sites, forums, and on line industry magazines to find these opportunities. Many are available during these slower Winter months. If you stop learning you stop growing as a person and a business.

I hope all of you get some much needed family time off this Winter season but also be sure to follow these suggestions and you will have plenty of business to keep you busy all next year.

Tags: analysis, referral program, budget planning, testimonials, calendar, web site, Business, marketing, network, business plan

Announcements for 2013

Posted by Linda Chambers on Wed, Dec 05, 2012 @ 03:14 PM

First I want to wish each and everyone you a Happy Holiday season for what ever holiday you and your family will be celebrating.

Next I must let you know about a general across the board price increase that will go into effect on Jan 2nd, 2013.

As many of you know we try very hard to not make product price changes unless absolutely necessary. And most times it is only for certain items as they are effected by specific ingredient price changes. But once every 3-5 years we do have to make an all over adjustment to counter the everyday, always increasing, small price changes that we as a business face each and every day for office supplies, insurance, postage, packaging, product cost and delivery rates of the inventory items we take in and use.

So because of these we are having to make an average 3% price increase for all products. For small items it will be as little as 50 cents but for a some of our very popular kit items most will see an average $10 increase per ordered item. The complete new price list will be available on our web site very soon but those that would like one now, please e-mail me at info@soapwarehouse.biz Subject Line: Price List and I will send a copy by reply e-mail.

Now for some good news! We have a few items that you can buy and use that will save you money when buying from Soap Warehouse through out the year.

First is a handy Soap Warehouse calendar mouse pad for your desk. Order this from our Zazzle store and you will get $10 off your first order in 2013. A single mouse pad runs $12.50.

Order Mouse Pad 2013calendarMousepad resized 600

For even more savings each and every month order our 2013 Product Savings Wall Calendar. With this purchase from our Zazzle store you will get a $20 rebate credit on your account to use during the year, plus you can use the posted savings for products featured for that month in the calendar for the discount mentioned. You can only use the calendar discount for the specific product(s) and not inconjuention with your $20 rebate credit. Order Calendar

2013ZazzleCalendar resized 600Jan2013calendarpage

 

 

Tags: calendar, Business, pricing

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