This problem is one that I am working on here at Soap Warehouse and one that I am sure most of you have to deal with at least a few times a year if not monthly. Where do I spend the money I have on advertising? How to I figure out what is working and what new to try?
I read this short article yesterday that got me to thinking of a plan of action.
BUSINESS MARKETING: Tea leaves, crystal balls, or data?
Maybe it can help you as it hopefully will help us here at Soap Warehouse.
This along with a program I love FreeMind, these I hope will help keep our marketing fluid, impactful and as cost effective as possible.
With the FreeMind application I will enter in all the options we have found this year for marketing. I will put in all the dates (when I have to have work orders in or closing dates) and costs of all the opportunities we might want to try this year. Even if I doubt we will be able to afford a few of them. At least they will be on the radar as ideas to shoot for later.
Then as the year progresses and results are measured with each marketing program I will be able to see if something worked and we need to continue on this path, that will cause us to negate other programs, or if we will stop one method or avenue, leaving open the time and money to try another tack on our marketing course.
This way I can start out this year with a set budget but not a definite place where all the resources will go so that we can make changes during the year or even each month as things change.
I hope these can help you as well.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Monday, November 2, 2009
What have you learned this year?
I am one of those people that think you should try to learn something new everyday. And if not everyday at least look to find new information or things to learn 2-3 times a week.
If you are not learning you are not growing as a person or in your business. So take a minute to ask your self "What have I learned this year?" If you don't have an answer, or don't think you learned enough maybe you need to start looking for things to learn and places to learn them.
I hope many of you took advantage of the trade shows and coventions offered this past month or this year.
That you are on at least one forum chat room that puts you in touch with others in your field of business.
That you tried to find new ways to do your jobs more efectively, less costly or faster.
That you learned ways to improve getting you & your business in front of customers with advertising.
Soap Warehouse wants to help you learn and to grow. Because face it, the more you grow, the more product you will need and the more we will grow with you. We only want to give you the best in products and in knowlege. So if there is a topic you would like more information on or resource links to, just let us know and we will be happy to spend the time, you may not have, to find the information you need to learn and make it available to you.
One great site I found this year that I have been letting all my car detailers know about is a site called Book Fresh http://www.bookfresh.com/. Now this site can be used by more than just car detailers and if you have been trying to find other ways to increase your customer base or if you have too many empty days to fill this may be it.
BookFresh is a service that you join and they get a cut for their service. With one system they offer, you fill out a list of your own service information for the jobs you are willing to do and lets you put prices to them. Then potential customers go on line, look at what you offer at the price you list and then deceied if they would like to book your services. It also lets you tell the customer when you are available to do the jobs. So say Tueday and Wednesday is always a slow day for you, you can leave those days as the only ones open for new customers. Each job has a time limit set with it, say roof cleaning under 1500 sqft 3 hours, and you have open three time slots per day. The new customer goes on line, finds the day and time they like, places the order, pays for the service and recieves a coupon. You then get an email notice of this new customers information, order and payment. You know you have already been paid before you even load up to drive to their home. Once there you take the coupon and do the job. Of course you should have already called and spoken to them, made sure the job falls in the specs you put down for the job and may even possibly up sell them for other services that they can pay for once you get there.
Don't want to pre-price your services, Book Fresh has another service to book free consultations for job bids. They place you on search engines like Google & Yahoo locally to find you customers. Take a look http://www.bookfresh.com/resources/handyman-business-marketing-software/.
Book Fresh gives you a website (even if you do not already have one) for customers to see your work, read testamonials, it even lets you link to any other website you already have, and offers many free business services for paying clients.
I think this service is a great idea that can move any business, that is not yet on line, into the computer age and open up new possiblities to gain the newer computer savey customer. More than 70% of new customers go line instead of picking up a phone book these days and you need to be where the customers are looking.
I hope you all keep learning and that this site can help some of our customers businesses.
Please let us know if you use them and how it works for you.
If you are not learning you are not growing as a person or in your business. So take a minute to ask your self "What have I learned this year?" If you don't have an answer, or don't think you learned enough maybe you need to start looking for things to learn and places to learn them.
I hope many of you took advantage of the trade shows and coventions offered this past month or this year.
That you are on at least one forum chat room that puts you in touch with others in your field of business.
That you tried to find new ways to do your jobs more efectively, less costly or faster.
That you learned ways to improve getting you & your business in front of customers with advertising.
Soap Warehouse wants to help you learn and to grow. Because face it, the more you grow, the more product you will need and the more we will grow with you. We only want to give you the best in products and in knowlege. So if there is a topic you would like more information on or resource links to, just let us know and we will be happy to spend the time, you may not have, to find the information you need to learn and make it available to you.
One great site I found this year that I have been letting all my car detailers know about is a site called Book Fresh http://www.bookfresh.com/. Now this site can be used by more than just car detailers and if you have been trying to find other ways to increase your customer base or if you have too many empty days to fill this may be it.
BookFresh is a service that you join and they get a cut for their service. With one system they offer, you fill out a list of your own service information for the jobs you are willing to do and lets you put prices to them. Then potential customers go on line, look at what you offer at the price you list and then deceied if they would like to book your services. It also lets you tell the customer when you are available to do the jobs. So say Tueday and Wednesday is always a slow day for you, you can leave those days as the only ones open for new customers. Each job has a time limit set with it, say roof cleaning under 1500 sqft 3 hours, and you have open three time slots per day. The new customer goes on line, finds the day and time they like, places the order, pays for the service and recieves a coupon. You then get an email notice of this new customers information, order and payment. You know you have already been paid before you even load up to drive to their home. Once there you take the coupon and do the job. Of course you should have already called and spoken to them, made sure the job falls in the specs you put down for the job and may even possibly up sell them for other services that they can pay for once you get there.
Don't want to pre-price your services, Book Fresh has another service to book free consultations for job bids. They place you on search engines like Google & Yahoo locally to find you customers. Take a look http://www.bookfresh.com/resources/handyman-business-marketing-software/.
Book Fresh gives you a website (even if you do not already have one) for customers to see your work, read testamonials, it even lets you link to any other website you already have, and offers many free business services for paying clients.
I think this service is a great idea that can move any business, that is not yet on line, into the computer age and open up new possiblities to gain the newer computer savey customer. More than 70% of new customers go line instead of picking up a phone book these days and you need to be where the customers are looking.
I hope you all keep learning and that this site can help some of our customers businesses.
Please let us know if you use them and how it works for you.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Are you going to a Convention this month?
October is a great month for the Pressure Washing Industry and starting next week there will be one event a week all month. In fact there will be so many taking place it would be very hard to get to them all or sometimes to even choose between them.
For some the choice is easy, if you sell equipment as well as do pressure washing work you might be going to CETA the 18th-20 out in Reno, NV. If you live in the North Central area of the country and have been a member of the PWNA for a long time then you will probably attend theirs near Chicago next week the 8th-10th. But there is a new one this year that many contractors might want to take a look at and that is the UAMCC (United Association of Mobile Contract Cleaners). This is their very first convention that will be held in Orlando the 22nd-25th later in the month. It will be packed with speakers and programs geared to better your business. Even if you have not planed to go to any of these it is not too late, especially for the UAMCC. Please try to make it to at least one of these.
I wish I could go to all of them but in fact I unfortunately will not personally be able to make it to any of them. But Soap Warehouse will be participating and supporting them in small ways.
At the UAMCC we have sent 3 $100 product coupons to be given away as prizes at their event. We have contacted the PWNA to offer them the same thing but as of this posting we have not heard back if they will accept this donation. We are also offering all members of these groups a special offer on product for this month and next, wether you are a current customer or not. Either 10% off the product cost of one order with proof of membership or attendance at one of these events or a free 5 gallon container of any one liquid product item, found in our exterior or degreaser tab section of our website, with any other purchase for one order. One only offer per customer.
These events are a great break for you after a very difficult season, for great networking and an opportunity for learning to improve your business. Here is hoping these events help you have a good end to this year.
For some the choice is easy, if you sell equipment as well as do pressure washing work you might be going to CETA the 18th-20 out in Reno, NV. If you live in the North Central area of the country and have been a member of the PWNA for a long time then you will probably attend theirs near Chicago next week the 8th-10th. But there is a new one this year that many contractors might want to take a look at and that is the UAMCC (United Association of Mobile Contract Cleaners). This is their very first convention that will be held in Orlando the 22nd-25th later in the month. It will be packed with speakers and programs geared to better your business. Even if you have not planed to go to any of these it is not too late, especially for the UAMCC. Please try to make it to at least one of these.
I wish I could go to all of them but in fact I unfortunately will not personally be able to make it to any of them. But Soap Warehouse will be participating and supporting them in small ways.
At the UAMCC we have sent 3 $100 product coupons to be given away as prizes at their event. We have contacted the PWNA to offer them the same thing but as of this posting we have not heard back if they will accept this donation. We are also offering all members of these groups a special offer on product for this month and next, wether you are a current customer or not. Either 10% off the product cost of one order with proof of membership or attendance at one of these events or a free 5 gallon container of any one liquid product item, found in our exterior or degreaser tab section of our website, with any other purchase for one order. One only offer per customer.
These events are a great break for you after a very difficult season, for great networking and an opportunity for learning to improve your business. Here is hoping these events help you have a good end to this year.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Why you need MSDS books?
Well September is here and with it the last quarter of the year. Now is a good time to look and see what business goals you set back at the first of the year still have to be done, evaluate things you have tried this year so far to see if you want to continue with them next year or put on the front burner things you still need to do before this year runs out.
So far we have done all the major products we had planned like putting out a monthly newsletter, writing in this blog at least once a month, trade shows and new advertising campaigns in new channels. But even I still have some things that got pushed aside that I need to get done and marked off my to do list.
One big one is to contact every customer to make sure they have a copy of an MSDS for every product they have purchased from us. This one item is very important for you, for your business and for your employees if you have them. This needs to be done and checked at least once a year. So very soon you will be getting either an email or letter in the mail with a list of the MSDS's you should have on hand especially if you still have the product at your house, on your truck or rig.
MSDS's are always sent out by us the first time you buy a new product, when the product contains Hydrofluoric acid or when it is requested by you, our customer. You can get a needed copy by calling 800-762-7911, emailing us or downloading it from the website.
By law (OSHA either federal or state) you need to have a book made up of all MSDS for every product you use routinely in your work that you or employees can be exposed to. So many more products than just ours should be in there. They need to be cataloged in alphabetical order; by letter tabs are even better. You should probably have more than one MSDS book in your possession. The first should be at your home or office where the bulk of your chemicals are kept. And the others should be carried out on the road with you in your truck or on your rig itself. And if you have more than one truck or rig, one for every one of those as well. It is also best for at least the ones on the road to be kept in a waterproof binder with the pages inserted in plastic page covers so dirt and water will not mess them up. If you do not have these books in place yet, this is a great time of year to get them at the lowest possible cost, while back to school supply sales are happening.
If you do not know what is found in an MSDS, or all the sections of an MSDS, now would be a great time to learn. You can go here to learn everything you need to know about an MSDS, like why you should have them, what are the different sections of an MSDS so you know where to look if the situation comes up and you need it. During an emergency is not the time to wonder if the health cautions or first aid directions are found in section III or VII! Plus if you ever get asked for your MSDS by OSHA, the DOT, a police officer or even a customer to prove what is or is not in a product you are using at their home, this will help your business look professional and possibly not be fined for not having them.
The most frightening calls I have gotten are when customers call us frantic with an injured employee and they do not know where an MSDS is or they did not keep the MSDS we sent them and that employee needs immediate emergency care. I hope you never have a need to open your MSDS books but it sure is important that they are there if you ever do.
So far we have done all the major products we had planned like putting out a monthly newsletter, writing in this blog at least once a month, trade shows and new advertising campaigns in new channels. But even I still have some things that got pushed aside that I need to get done and marked off my to do list.
One big one is to contact every customer to make sure they have a copy of an MSDS for every product they have purchased from us. This one item is very important for you, for your business and for your employees if you have them. This needs to be done and checked at least once a year. So very soon you will be getting either an email or letter in the mail with a list of the MSDS's you should have on hand especially if you still have the product at your house, on your truck or rig.
MSDS's are always sent out by us the first time you buy a new product, when the product contains Hydrofluoric acid or when it is requested by you, our customer. You can get a needed copy by calling 800-762-7911, emailing us or downloading it from the website.
By law (OSHA either federal or state) you need to have a book made up of all MSDS for every product you use routinely in your work that you or employees can be exposed to. So many more products than just ours should be in there. They need to be cataloged in alphabetical order; by letter tabs are even better. You should probably have more than one MSDS book in your possession. The first should be at your home or office where the bulk of your chemicals are kept. And the others should be carried out on the road with you in your truck or on your rig itself. And if you have more than one truck or rig, one for every one of those as well. It is also best for at least the ones on the road to be kept in a waterproof binder with the pages inserted in plastic page covers so dirt and water will not mess them up. If you do not have these books in place yet, this is a great time of year to get them at the lowest possible cost, while back to school supply sales are happening.
If you do not know what is found in an MSDS, or all the sections of an MSDS, now would be a great time to learn. You can go here to learn everything you need to know about an MSDS, like why you should have them, what are the different sections of an MSDS so you know where to look if the situation comes up and you need it. During an emergency is not the time to wonder if the health cautions or first aid directions are found in section III or VII! Plus if you ever get asked for your MSDS by OSHA, the DOT, a police officer or even a customer to prove what is or is not in a product you are using at their home, this will help your business look professional and possibly not be fined for not having them.
The most frightening calls I have gotten are when customers call us frantic with an injured employee and they do not know where an MSDS is or they did not keep the MSDS we sent them and that employee needs immediate emergency care. I hope you never have a need to open your MSDS books but it sure is important that they are there if you ever do.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Texas was Great!
Well we are back home from the Great American Truck Show and even with a few hick ups before we started we had a great response and met some great people that we hope will become new customers. Here is a photo of me at the booth just before opening on Thursday August 2oth. I do not have an official head count yet from the show but I know over 10,ooo came by just our booth because our neighbor booth scanned around 6,ooo individuals and they did not get everyone.
I spoke to a little over 200 attendees personally about how they are washing their rigs and fleets and discussed our product line with them. We had 9 attendees that sent in a prize registration to us pre show and one of them, Bill Harlow won 5 gallons of Big Rig Brite. We also had one winner, Gregory Gipe, that won one of the Fox Fury Headlamps stop back by the booth the day after his name was drawn to pick up his prize and have his photo taken.
Here is a list of all of our winners:
8/20
12:30 Big Rig Truck Brite – Ladd Winkleblack – Mount Pleasant, TX
2:30 Big Rig Truck Brite – Larry Williams – Jacksonville, AR
4:30 Fox Fury Headlamp – Ervin Van Beck – Apple Valley, MN
12:30 Big Rig Truck Brite – Ladd Winkleblack – Mount Pleasant, TX
2:30 Big Rig Truck Brite – Larry Williams – Jacksonville, AR
4:30 Fox Fury Headlamp – Ervin Van Beck – Apple Valley, MN
8/21
12:30 Big Rig Truck Brite – Richard Herrington – Garland, TX
2:30 Big Rig Truck Brite – Bill Harlow – Applegate, OR
4:30 Fox Fury Headlamp - Gregory Gipe – Pearl City, IL
8/22
12:30 Big Rig Truck Brite – Marcus Deal – Alvarado, TX
2:30 Big Rig Truck Brite – Russ Cross – Kirbyville, TX
4:30 Fox Fury Headlamp – Bryan Fontenot – Brookshire, TX
12:30 Big Rig Truck Brite – Richard Herrington – Garland, TX
2:30 Big Rig Truck Brite – Bill Harlow – Applegate, OR
4:30 Fox Fury Headlamp - Gregory Gipe – Pearl City, IL
8/22
12:30 Big Rig Truck Brite – Marcus Deal – Alvarado, TX
2:30 Big Rig Truck Brite – Russ Cross – Kirbyville, TX
4:30 Fox Fury Headlamp – Bryan Fontenot – Brookshire, TX
Thank you to all of the nearly 100 people that entered. And if you went to the show you have until Monday Sept 21st to purchase from us with the show specials we offered.
I got a real treat when I got the chance to meet Alex Debogorski from the History Channel's 
show "Ice Road Truckers". He was a lot of fun and spent time with everyone that lined up to see him during all three days of the show. He is just as nice in person as he appears on the show and was traveling with his wife Gene, his sister and two sons of his eleven children. The country singer Tracy Lawrence also did a show for attendees Friday night, but tickets were limited, he did not stay and sing as long as promised and would not sign autographs so everyone I spoke to on Saturday was not that pleased with the performance or with him but everyone was saw was very happy they stopped and met Alex. I guess that is why I saw 20 Alex T-shirts to every 1 of Tracy's on Saturday. Being a nice person pays.
show "Ice Road Truckers". He was a lot of fun and spent time with everyone that lined up to see him during all three days of the show. He is just as nice in person as he appears on the show and was traveling with his wife Gene, his sister and two sons of his eleven children. The country singer Tracy Lawrence also did a show for attendees Friday night, but tickets were limited, he did not stay and sing as long as promised and would not sign autographs so everyone I spoke to on Saturday was not that pleased with the performance or with him but everyone was saw was very happy they stopped and met Alex. I guess that is why I saw 20 Alex T-shirts to every 1 of Tracy's on Saturday. Being a nice person pays.Friday, August 21, 2009
Here at the Show/
Well we made it to the Great American Truck Show with a few set backs but the start is going well.
We were to have 5 staff at this show but the owner of Soap Warehouse got a badly infected cyst on his hand and had to stay back in GA in the hospital to have it taken care of. So down 2 members from that. Then on Wednesday right before 5 pm we had an email from our models staffing company Statementmodles.com that our model decided she did not want the job she was paid a month ago to do and they were refunding us our money. Thanks a lot! So down to 2 staff members. Thank goodness we have friends here in Texas. We called and got a local friend that has done other kinds of trade shows in the past, although not for industrial soaps to drive over to help us at the last minute.
So far we have had a good response, seen some new owner operators that had sent in their drawing entries in early to us, some that read about us in the GATS newsletter or saw our ad in the Land Line magazine. We hope to have the next two days to be just as good. Will update everyone on how the whole show turned out along with a list of all our prize drawing winners at the end of the show.
We were to have 5 staff at this show but the owner of Soap Warehouse got a badly infected cyst on his hand and had to stay back in GA in the hospital to have it taken care of. So down 2 members from that. Then on Wednesday right before 5 pm we had an email from our models staffing company Statementmodles.com that our model decided she did not want the job she was paid a month ago to do and they were refunding us our money. Thanks a lot! So down to 2 staff members. Thank goodness we have friends here in Texas. We called and got a local friend that has done other kinds of trade shows in the past, although not for industrial soaps to drive over to help us at the last minute.
So far we have had a good response, seen some new owner operators that had sent in their drawing entries in early to us, some that read about us in the GATS newsletter or saw our ad in the Land Line magazine. We hope to have the next two days to be just as good. Will update everyone on how the whole show turned out along with a list of all our prize drawing winners at the end of the show.
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