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And never let any chemical dry on glass or painted surfaces.

ADVERTISING:

One of the most common forms of media used for advertising is the metropolitan daily paper. This can be wasteful for the Mobile Washer, especially when he/she is just starting out, unless, of course, it is used very carefully. The sheer size of a daily metropolitan newspaper puts people off. Meanwhile your advertisement gets lost unless you take a major piece of space at a MAJOR PRICE.

A typical example of this is the time I was contacted by an advertising rep from the Hartford Courant, one of Connecticut’s largest daily papers. She had noticed our ad in the local Journal Inquirer and phoned to tell me of a special the Courant was running to help small businesses put their products and services in front of thousands of buyers.

Our ad had been very successful in our hometown paper with a circulation of approximately 35,000 daily readers. At that time, I felt that their guarantee of eight (8) times the saturation for only five (5) times the price would be a good investment. Keep in mind that at the time; I had been running a nine column inch ad, every Tuesday and Thursday for the past five years. The cost for both days, (with their discount) was $118.00. Due to the saturation promised by the Courant, the $600.00 investment seemed worthwhile.

I couldn’t wait to get to the office on Monday and retrieve all of my House Washing messages from my answering machine. I knew there would be many since my small time Journal ad would generally produce as many as twenty (20) house wash inquiries and the Courant, with it's higher saturation, would surely produce more!

But when I got there I could not believe my eyes! "What in the world is wrong with my answering machine," I wondered as I stormed through my office and saw the light was not blinking! As you know this indicates there were NO messages. " This is one Hell of a time for it to break," I muttered. How many messages did I lose? Then I realized it wasn’t broken, no one had called. "How can this be?"

Quickly I picked up the Sunday issue of the Courant. I began my search for my "Sure- Fire" AD. You know the one that had been producing an average of 12-15 jobs a week consistently for so long.

It wasn’t in the Home section like they had promised. I, very carefully, very slowly scoured every page before I placed my furious phone call to the ad rep that took my money. Still no luck! Just to be safe, I gave the paper to my secretary and asked her to make sure I hadn’t overlooked it. "No, its not in here" she said.

After getting through to the advertisement department I vented my frustration about the, "unprofessional" way they ran their paper. " Where is my ad!" I said. "Page C-3," a squeaky little voice came back in reply.

As I looked in horror, I could see the voice was right! There it was, column 3, about 2/3rds of the way down that page, right there among what looked to be 500,000 ads on the same page.

I did not receive one phone call for my $600.00 investment.

When you advertise in any newspaper, it is vital that Your AD will yield a very high impact. You can not get that high impact in a metropolitan newspaper unless you go for the half or full page spreads like the " big boys. "

After that our advertising campaign consisted of the small town newspapers with a circulation of 30 - 50 thousand. The weekly shoppers have also been very profitable for us.

Keep in mind however, the key is consistency. Not only consistency in a specific paper on a specific day's) of the week, but consistency with the ad layout as well. Remember, if it works, for goodness sake do not try and fix it.

A nine column inch ad was always the most successful for us. I stress, above anything else, that you are only selling one thing. That is:

Think about the above ad for a moment. The word EXTERIOR is not selling anything so let it be approximately ½ the size of HOUSE WASHING.

HOUSE WASHING on the other hand, is selling it all! Tell your ad rep that you want the words HOUSE WASHING to take up one complete line and insist that the line goes from one edge of the layout border to the other. Have them provide you with a proof prior to the deadline. If you are not satisfied with the impact of HOUSE WASHING have them do it over - and over again, if necessary. Remember you are paying the bill for a service they have to sell so you have the right to be demanding.

Certain sections of the paper are more effective depending on the reader you want to reach. Over the years, certain facts about newspaper readership have evolved. As you would expect, the Sports and Business pages are better for men and the Food and Fashion pages are better for women. Further, certain days of the week are better than others; Monday is a bad day for the same reason that you wouldn’t want to buy a car that was built Monday. Nobody pays to much attention to what they do on Mondays.

Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday are best for consistent advertising. Generally in the morning you will have better readership by men and the evening paper will have better readership by women. Keep in mind, women are generally the ones who suggest to their husbands to have their home washed. And, naturally, the husband says - "honey, that's a good idea - why don't you call them and get a price."

Whenever you buy a " newspaper space," it is generally better to contract for a full season whenever possible. A contract will get you a discount based on lineage that you run in the paper. This discount can be very substantial.

Every time you run your ad in the paper make sure you get checking copies or tear off sheets. If there’s poor reproduction and /or the ad is fuzzy and it looks like they put it together with a ten-ton rubber stamp, then you should INSIST that they make it good by running you next ad for nothing.

What else do you put in your ad? You can generally answer this by looking at your competition’s ad and seeing what he is not putting in his. For Example:

or

What are the people buying? I personally believe that, in addition to quality, they are buying Me and My Company! My attorney charges $175.00 per hour and, yes, I could find one that charges $75.00 per hour but I want the best! Why can he charge so much? Because either he knows So Much or talks like he does. I'm not really quite sure. All I know is - I feel a lot more comfortable with his advice and/or work than I have with any other attorney. So why shouldn’t I charge the "Big Buck"? I know much more than my competition and not only that - I let the homeowner know that I do! No, I do not come right out and say that my competitor is a "Dummy". I let the language "flow" in such a manner that the homeowner will figure that out for himself or herself.

Remember, just the mere mention of this subject should indicate to you that the word chemical has a "Red Flag " in front of it indicating danger. Every time they pick up the paper they are reading about the EPA, chemical dumping, contamination of wells, etc. Chances are you're doing what everyone else in the Mobile Wash business is doing. You are saying, "Mr. Jones, you do not have to worry about my chemicals. They are biodegradable." That answer is a typical remark made by the Mobile Washer and, in most cases, will satisfy the homeowner - unless, of course, they talk to me. In my sales pitch and without him or her even asking I am going to say, "Mr. Jones, all cleaning solutions utilized in my process will be completely neutralized prior to our leaving. In other words we leave the soil just the way we found it. We feel this extra process is very important especially if you have children or pets. The process also insures that the soil close to the house will sustain plant life not to mention avoiding the contamination of well water should you not have city water. Mr. Jones, one of the most "loosely" used terms in our industry is biodegradability. Most contractors will come out and tell you not to worry since their chemicals are biodegradable. As far as we are concerned Mr. Jones, almost everything is biodegradable including your house - given enough time."

"We start out with the exterior gutters and work our way down to the foundation. We remove all surface oxidation, acid rain, pollutants and mildew. When we are through with the cleaning process we apply a Wax-Master surface sealant. This product has been specifically formulated to protect the surface and retard mildew and oxidation. In addition, prior to your leaving the site we will insure that porches, steps, walkways and driveways are left free of solutions and clean." Remember the highlighted words in this sales pitch. You said exterior of gutters not interior. You remove surface oxidation not oxidation! There is a big difference, unless of course you are planning on buffing the surface! Your are sealing their house with "Wax-Master" which is a true polymer product. 

FOLLOW MANUFACTURES DIRECTIONS

Cleaners should not be applied indiscriminately. Varying concentrations and temperatures or extending the time in which the finish is exposed to the cleaning agent, all in an effort to seed cleaning, may produce disastrous results.

DO NOT MIX CLEANERS

The resultant mixture may be harmful to aluminum finishes and hazardous to the user’s health.

 

AVOID DRIPS AND SPLASHES

Cleaners harmless to some materials may damage other materials upon contact. Remove rundowns as quickly as possible.

 

DO NOT VARY CLEANING CONCENTRATIONS

In most instances, increasing or decreasing cleaner concentrations from that recommended by the manufacturer leads to highly unsatisfactory results.

 

AVOID EXTREME TEMPERATURES

Heat accelerates chemical reactions. The cleaner may become overactive, or its solvent may evaporate before the job is done. In either event metal may by streaked or stained. Best results in cleaning outside, has always been achieved on a mild, cloudy day or in the shade. Since we can not dictate weather just remember - be cautious.

 

WATCH THE CLOCK

Cleaning product contact time should not be estimated but carefully timed. The manufacturer’s directions should be closely followed and prolonged contact avoided.

 

SHOW YOUR "STUFF"

Showing your customer and offering more knowledge and information than your competition will win you more sales than anything else will.

Talking intelligently about the procedure you will utilize is important. The one thing you are trying to accomplish, is to instill into the customer that YOU are, in fact, the most knowledgeable expert in your area when it comes to House Washing. As a result, you can not work as cheaply as your competition. In our area, we charge 2 to 3 times as much as our competition. However, you must understand that not only can you work as cheaply as your competition - neither can you wash a house as quickly as he can. You will notice all the "low-ballers" can wash a house in 1 hour! It can't be done! If you are doing it two things are happening. First your customer is not getting the best service possible and second, you are fooling yourself if you think that you are making the kind of money that a business owner should make.

Now speaking of Competition...

How do you "blow" your competition out of the water? Call him and tape the conversation for your records. Get him to explain over the phone, his cleaning process. Ask him about his chemicals. Ask him if he puts any type of sealant on the surface after the cleaning process. Important - when you call him tell him you have a Cape style house. The surface is dark red with a lot of oxidation. You are not sure how old the aluminum is - that you purchased the house 8 years ago and the aluminum was on it then. If he wants to come by and take a look, tell him that rather than waste his time, you are just trying to determine if you can afford it, and that you are looking for an idea of price.

Now you have one of your competitors in your back pocket. All you have to do is build your sales approach around what he is not telling the homeowner.

It should be a common practice in your operation to "shop" all your competitors every quarter.

 

SURFACE AWARENESS

Face it! Some surfaces cannot be cleaned to the customer’s satisfaction.

Knowing the cleaning characteristics of all types of surfaces is extremely important.

Generally speaking, vinyl is by far the easiest surface to clean. It has been our experience that test patterns are not required on vinyl regardless of the color. Your should be aware, however, that occasionally you will find discolored spots on vinyl that will not come out. These are generally, caused by spider droppings. Tell the customer up front.

A white car is much more desirable than a colored car when it comes to long term appearance. On the other hand white aluminum, although it has the same desirable cleanliness look, will oxidize much quicker than most other colors. Generally speaking, a 15 year-old white aluminum house has very little paint left on the surface if it is heavily oxidized. When the test pattern is run look very closely at the finished product. If there is a darkening appearance closer inspection will show bare aluminum. Let the customer know what is happening. We generally set the customer up by making them aware before hand of the worst case scenario. Remember knowledge and professionalism is what you are selling. No one else is.

Colored aluminum presents even another set of problems. The pigment used in reds, blues, dark brown and darker greens are notorious for oxidizing more readily than, tan, beige, and light browns. More caution is required when cleaning these surfaces. Streaking will occur if proper cleaning parameters are not carefully followed.

The test pattern should be performed as previously mentioned and done with cold water and a more closely metered cleaner than you would normally use. If this proves satisfactory, gradually increase the chemical and add heat if you have it. Remember, with cold water units many companies will use caustic cleaners in their process. This is a no-no! Caustic cleaners damage paint. Don’t believe me? Caustic cleaners are products such as sodium hydroxide and potassium hydroxide. Go down to the local paint store and pick up a can of paint remover and read its ingredients. Or better still, go to the local super market and look at the ingredients in a can of "Easy Off" oven cleaner.

Cedar shakes are generally loaded with mildew/mold. This can be easily removed. However, caution should be taken not to get too close to the siding with high pressure. Cedar is softwood and damage can occur rather quickly. We recommend turning the nozzle to a horizontal (sideways) position rather than vertical which is the normal position. Wash up and down in smaller sections than normal. As a result of the additional time in cleaning this way we recommend that you charge accordingly. With our operation a $275.00 project becomes a $549.00 project just because of the extra time taken.

Painted wood cleans just like vinyl and/or aluminum.

Stucco - be careful! This surface is relatively soft. High pressure and/or heat may result in surface penetration. Clean just like vinyl and/or aluminum.

 

ARE YOU THROUGH?

Are you sure?

Will you have to go back?

I'm sure that most Mobile Washer, at one time or another, has had to return to the job site because the customer was complaining about "streaking."

What causes streaking? Knowing the answer will help you to "side step" many of the occurrences.

Explaining to the customer before hand will prove your knowledge about your business, which is generally not the case with your competition.

More often than not streaks are present before you start washing and you can’t see them.

If you will closely inspect aluminum and vinyl siding, you will notice that just under each curved "overlap" and approximately every 8" to 12" there is a tiny hole or slot in the siding. The purpose for this hole is to allow the moisture that accumulates during the night to escape and not collect between the siding and the structure proper.

Now let’s put on our thinking hats for a moment. Each night moisture accumulates. Each day the moisture runs out of this expansion slot or hole. It runs down in the same area each and every day, which is generally right under the expansion hole, and will keep that area much cleaner and free of oxidation. However, during the course of daily exposure to the sun that area will become loaded with "flash" oxidation making the surface appear even and unstreaked. Flash oxidation is much easier to remove than embedded oxidation. In most cases the pressure and heat will remove flash oxidation leaving that area of the surface streaked. The homeowner should know up front of the potential effects. It may be very wise to point this out after the test pattern has been performed for the homeowner.

EMBEDDED OXIDATION is never removed during the exterior house washing process. This procedure falls under the category of surface reconditioning.

For example: You can wash a car, you can wax a car, and you can buff a car. There is a tremendous difference between washing and buffing just as there is a tremendous difference between the cost of each.

Our service is to clean the surface and remove surface oxidation only and you MUST inform the homeowner of this right up front. Do not, I repeat - DO NOT, say anything or imply anything to the homeowner just to get the job which will come back to haunt you.

When the job is complete you should be able to wipe your hand over the siding and come up with no oxidation on your hand. When you can do this - the surface oxidation will be removed.

Set the customers expectations in prospective prior to starting the job. Tell him/her what your service is designed to do and that the siding will never look like NEW again. They will understand this only if you tell them up front. Everyone thinks that they can let the surface go for years, save a few bucks and then call the Professional Mobile Washer who will, in turn, open his tool box and pull out his trusty "magic wand" and - "poof" - everything looks like NEW again. Isn't gonna happen and you need to tell them that!

Another controllable situation which will result in streaking is "loading," the expansion slots/holes with chemical. We recommend that high pressure chemical never be used under any circumstance in the Professional Mobile Wash Industry (especially with houses). Any time you have to use high-pressure chemical to clean you should consider shopping around for more effective products.

Here is what happens. Under high-pressure chemical you are loading the expansion slots/holes with chemical. No matter how long you rinse you will never be able to get the chemical from behind the siding. After you leave the job site the chemical will drip for days. Raw chemical will generate irrevocable damage.

Chemical application under low down stream injection will not penetrate the expansion slots/holes. However, you must remember that even though you gave applied chemical under low pressure you still have a high pressure line loaded with solution that, when turned to high pressure, could penetrate these areas.

Clearing your high-pressure line down low and at a safe distance from the surface will keep the chemical mist contained as well as eliminate chemical drips from expansion slots/holes.

Further protection from streaking on certain colors on extremely hot days can be achieved by utilizing cold or warm water instead of hot. Remember heat accelerates alkalinity.

 

IN CONCLUSION:

Let me say that anyone can work for nothing. We can sit home and go broke. We certainly do not have to wash a house at our competitors price to do that.

If you are knowledgeable and Professional and you convey these qualities to the homeowner, more often than not, you will walk away with the business.

· Shop your competition.

· Build your sales pitch around what you competitors are NOT telling the homeowner.

· In your sales pitch show how knowledgeable you are.

· Let the homeowner know up front about your agreement with your competition - you do not compete with them in price and they do not compete with you in quality and safety. Where your competition can wash 2 or 3 houses a day, that you only do one and you stay there until it is done right.

· When a customer asks you how long it will take, do not lock yourself in. Tell them it could take anywhere from 4 to 10 hours. That every surface cleans differently depending on many variables that you have no control over. Variables such as: exposure to the sun, if and when it was ever cleaned, and if it has been cleaned in the past - the solutions that the previous contractor used. Your answer would be to insure the homeowner that however long it does take it will be done right and they will be overwhelmed with the results.

· Leave the area just the way you found it. Be careful around plants. Remember, do something extra that will be noticed by the customer. For example, clean the steps and walkway leading to the driveway. Do not allow soap to collected and dry in the driveway.

· Rinse, rinse, rinse!!!

 

Good Luck - Equipment Outlet Express

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