Millennium Maintenance and Power Sweeping:
Proactive and Professional – 24/7/365
David Ross, owner of Millennium Maintenance & Power Sweeping, Inc. (MMPS) has become a sweeping and maintenance leader in the New England area. Beginning at the bottom and working his way to the top, he has established one of the New England area's largest power sweeping and exterior facility maintenance companies.
by Bethany Aylward with Ranger Kidwell-Ross
Before establishing MMPS, Ross founded and owned a successful vending business in the Boston area, Ross Food Services. In 1999, Ross had the vision for developing a sweeping and full service maintenance firm. A true entrepreneur, he started invested profits from his concession business into his new idea.
Ross purchased his first sweeper in 2000. Once he had a machine, he began reaching out to local business owners he had met over the years, pitching his parking lot sweeping services. Like many contractors before him, for the first year of business Ross personally performed the sweeping services for his customers at night, while also playing the role of salesman during the day. "Frankly," says Ross, "I found the response to be overwhelming."
MMPS took off with a snowball effect. People were eager to learn more about the company's services and Ross quickly realized the potential for his newfound company included other services besides just power sweeping. "I figured out that, in order to grow the way I envisioned, I would need to offer a variety of services apart from just power sweeping," says Ross. "So, I began hiring employees that could help me cover the individual needs of my ever-growing list of clients. I'm very proud of the extensive list of services we now offer at MMPS, as well as the quality of our 'Millennium Ranger' Team that provides them. There's no question that combination is one of the reasons we have grown as rapidly as we have."
MMPS is still family-owned-and-operated and has expanded to three strategically-located offices. The MMPS headquarters is located on a modern, two-acre recycling facility in Medford, Massachusetts. The other locations are Osipee, New Hampshire; and, Pawtucket, Rhode Island. At present, the company has over 50 employees and owns dozens of pieces of specialized equipment and support vehicles in addition to its 50+ sweeper fleet.
What began as a commercial parking lot sweeping company has blossomed into a fully self-performing interior and exterior property maintenance and construction company. In addition to power sweeping services, MMPS now offers construction sweeping, roadway sweeping, traditional paving, infrared paving, sealcoting, landscaping, snow plowing, power washing, line striping, roll-off dumpsters, demolition and porter services. More services are being actively considered given emerging customer requests.
"By performing all facets of a project with our own personnel and equipment," says Ross, "MMPS can guarantee accurate scheduling and proper execution of all of all projects. We are also available to our clients 365 days a year, 24-hours a day; we fit ourselves to the needs of our customers, not vice versa. We also address emergency situations in the same professional and dependable manner we do our regularly scheduled work. I think those are also strengths that set us apart from many of the other companies in our marketplace.
"MMPS emphasizes use of the latest technology, along with the most efficient, noise-sensitive and environmentally-friendly equipment available. We maintain a fleet of over 50 sweepers of all types, in order to provide the best possible value to our customers. These include hydraulically-powered, PM-10 certified regenerative air sweepers; tier 4 mechanical broom sweepers; waterless sweepers and assorted other specialized sweepers and support equipment."
MMPS has a full-service shop and employs full-time maintenance mechanics who are on call 24-hours a day to service equipment whenever required. Fuel is purchased in bulk and all sweeping debris is fully recycled in order to pass savings on to the customers.
"We are also proud of our professional affiliations," says Ross. "We are a certified member of NAPSA, and stay closely involved with WorldSweeper and SIMA. This means we are always informed about the most cutting-edge technology and techniques specific to the industry."
The MMPS solution to parking lot sweeping and facilities maintenance needs starts and ends with communication. Ross listens to what his customers want and anticipates what they may need. MMPS keeps an extensive customer database in order to send out regular e-mail announcements to customers as a way to stay in touch and keep everyone on the same page.
Email announcements are used to provide customers with weather updates in times of snowstorms and heavy rain. They are also sent out for each holiday, reminding customers that, though they may be out of the office, the MMPS crew is standing by 365/24 to respond to any and all emergency situations that may arise. Ross also uses email communication to share new services and promotional offers to these customers.
Advertising and promotion are important to any business and MMPS is no exception. Ross's entire fleet of equipment is custom-lettered over the entire body of each machine. Using the company's bright colors – green and yellow and utilizing bold text – the MMPS fleet amounts to moving billboards. Over time, this has proven to be one of the most effective methods of advertising available.
MMPS has been a part of WorldSweeper.com's Contractor Locator program since September of 2005, just three months after the website's beginning. "I can't imagine why every sweeping contractor in America isn't listed in WorldSweeper's Contractor Locator," says Ross. "I may get more traffic than average, since I have locations in three states.
Over time, we have averaged about 110 prospects viewing our WorldSweeper information per month. One of those clicks out to my website on an average of about one every other day. For about $20 a month, that's an advertising value that can't be beat. Plus, we are proud to be a part of WorldSweeper's Ethics in Power Sweeping program."
Another advertising avenue Ross has taken advantage of is to purchase the specialty toll free number – 1-800-SWEEPING. The number is always lettered in bright red, to stand out to passersby. Ross finds his website – www.POWERSWEEPING.com – to be another priceless advertising tool. Ross was involved from start-to-finish in designing the site. With bright colors, catchy slogans and clear, concise information, the MMPS website provides a potential customer with answers to almost any and all questions they might have about the company as well as what they do – and then some!
Ross is also fully involved in designing the company's brochures, which are used to initially introduce MMPS to potential customers. He also makes brochures that introduce newly-offered services to existing customers. To view one of the company's latest, which introduces their entrance into infrared paving, click here or on the brochure's header, above (both open the PDF file into a new page/window).
In addition to custom truck lettering, custom website design and highly informative brochures, Ross utilizes several commercial media sources to ensure visibility to the construction scene and beyond. Despite these high profile means of advertising, Ross firmly believes word of mouth from his satisfied customers is his number one advertising tool!
So where is Millennium heading in the future? "We're headed up!" says Ross emphatically. "In an economy where times are tough, MMPS has been thriving. We feel we have set ourselves apart in some important, very positive ways. I'm proud to say that many in our market area are in agreement. We currently have a full slate of work on the books, a number of new customers and several new featured services for 2011.
"We will continue to strive to find ways to become better, every day of every month and every year. Our customers have learned that when their job is handled by our 'Millennium Rangers,' it gets done right, on time and on budget. I'm very proud of our great employee team; they are at the forefront of our success."
Due to scheduling and technical difficulties, we do not yet have our audio interview with David Ross online. Check back in a few days to hear for yourself what this dynamic, successful business owner has to say about his company's rapid rise to the top of the American power sweeping industry.
David Ross may be reached via email sent to dave@mmpowersweeping.com. You may also reach them by calling 781.395.1200. The company's website is located at www.powersweeping.com.
If you have questions or comments about this article and interview, please, let us know and we can add it in as an addendum to this article.
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