Growing Your Business

WorldSweeper.com is the largest informational website in the sweeping industry. The site contains many back issues of the now discontinued American Sweeper magazine, as well as information gleaned from a variety of other sources. The former editor now produces WorldSweeper.com.

In this article, Dale McCaskill, owner of South Carolina-based Southco Sweeping and Maintenance, discusses the many ways his company is using the WorldSweeper.com website and other Internet websites, as well as the computer in general, to make his business more competitive and profitable.

Using a Computer and the Internet in Your Sweeper Contracting Business

New ways to increase profit and professionalism.

One of my favorite parts of the WorldSweeper.com website is the contractor-oriented bulletin board. This part of the site has proven to be a constant source of ideas and tips about operation for us. There is also a section that contains the many hints that were once featured in American Sweeper magazine over the years.

What I do is to glean the new tips from the website, then make copies and have a meeting in our shop with the crew. Or, I'll give them to my supervisor and have him utilize them in a meeting. This serves several functions: For one, it provides other contractors' solutions to real world situations that we, too, are running up against. Some of the tips serve as reminders to keep doing the things we currently do. Others remind us that we're not the only people dealing with the same challenges. In some instances, the topics aren't ones we've yet encountered, so that prepares us for what we might see in the future.

Because we produce our own brochures and print them as we need them on a color printer, they're never outdated.

There is also a wealth of information at the World Sweeper website that I've been able to print for use in presentations to clients and prospects. I don't think there is any such thing as providing the client with too much information. That's especially true when it comes from a qualified source outside our company and stresses the value in sweeping professionally - which is the way we conduct our business at Southco. For example, when we bid a municipality contract, I am able to provide a number of articles about what is happening in other parts of the country, i.e., how the personnel in other cities are addressing the same concerns. And, because the material is national in scope, it provides a wide range of viewpoints and assistance in decision making. It also shows that our firm is aware of what's going on in the area of privatization.

Plus, just the act of going through the material makes me become much more knowledgeable in my discussions. After reviewing the information on privatization at the World Sweeper website, any sweeping contractor should be able to talk very intelligently about what the many advantages are to having sweeping handled by a private contractor. I now know all the downsides of trying to run a municipal fleet: keeping the sweepers fixed up, having in-house employees do the sweeping, and so forth. And, since I've downloaded all the pertinent articles onto the hard drive of my computer, I can now fax or email any of that support information to a prospect or client with literally the push of a button. It's a very powerful business tool to be able to say "I have some information that addresses that topic; let me send it to you." And, if they have a separate fax line, they can have the material in their hands while we're still on the phone together.

At Southco, our computers play a significant role in many of our business operations. We produce our own flyers and brochures, as well as our business cards, thank you notes, update notes, and so on. By making use of computers, we can keep in contact more often, and more professionally.

What I've learned is that most of our clients don't really know what we do, even though they've hired us. They just know that after they contracted with us, they could count on coming to work and finding their parking area clean if we were scheduled to sweep the previous night. To assist them in the visualization process about our operation, our brochures have pictures of the sweepers we use, and information about how they work - even a picture of the boss. That way they know who they're talking to when I call them. From the websites of Schwarze and the other manufacturers of my equipment, I'm easily able to compile information and photos about our sweepers.

Most of our clients don't really know what we do, even though they hired us.

We also include information about how we do business, what our business philosophy is and more. We close our brochure with the 10 reasons why sweeping is indispensable, which is information that was taken directly from the forms area of the World Sweeper website. We send those 10 reasons out in just about every mailing we do. They are a wonderful reinforcement tool for our industry. As far as I'm concerned, you can't remind the clients too often why they have hired us to sweep their properties.

Because we produce our own brochures, and print them more or less as we need them on a color printer, they're never outdated. If we buy new equipment, want to update our referral list or whatever, we simply change the file and print out the updated version. With today's intuitive, easier-to-use programs, there's no reason why almost anyone can't develop their entire spectrum of marketing information right in their own office.

I send out a client newsletter at least 4 times a year. The Internet is also a great source of information we can use to produce our newsletter. In most cases, we send our newsletter directly out of the computer. I'd estimate that about 70% of our clients have a fax machine, and I have the program set up so I can fax to all of them on a bulk basis. I send the file to everyone at night, and they have it waiting for them when they get in first thing in the morning. By utilizing the fax technique, there is no cost for printing, paper or postage. The remainder I print on my printer and send out by mail.

We use Microsoft Publisher, which I like because it's versatile, yet not difficult to learn. We even designed our current logo with that program. Our thank you notes, as well as the rest of our client materials, all include our logo, along with our slogan, 'One man's trash,' at the bottom of the page. People find the logo and slogan to be humorous, yet professional. Because we even print out our thank you notes ourselves, it means we can send them out easily - and that means they get sent more often than they would otherwise. We also produce our own Christmas cards that way.

I want to make sure to mention that I'm no computer whiz. We first got a computer only about 4 years ago, and that was just because my wife ended up with a computer because she's a school teacher. I even started out using the mouse with the cord pointed the wrong way, and continue to use it that way today. It's only in the last couple of years that we've had our business integrated with the computer. We've sure gained some big benefits from it in that time, though, without even taking into consideration the more traditional uses like billing, scheduling and accounting.

If you're not yet using a computer to full advantage in your sweeping business, my prediction is that you'll be amazed at the many benefits it will bring you. A computer will give you a much more consistent, professional 'business face' to present to your prospects and clients. At the same time, the high quality material will make you feel better about yourself and the business service you represent. I still see competitive proposals where the information is scratched out in longhand onto a piece of notebook paper. Even if they're charging significantly less, most property managers aren't willing to take a chance on hiring people who offer material like that. With us, it's all professional, it's all integrated, and it's all readily available. In terms of staying current, I can make any changes I want at the drop of a sweeping head. We even print personalized company envelopes that have a specific employee's name, as well as our logo, slogan and return address information.

For anybody who's serious about their business, there's no better way to make it grow than by getting computerized. These days, the entire system you need can be purchased for under $1,000, and that includes a decent color printer. There's no better time to get going than now, either, because soon the lack of business computerization will make you unable to compete effectively even in the relatively low-tech business of sweeping.

You can reach Dale McCaskill at (803) 432-4030, or via email sent to: southco@rocsoft.net.

This article is reprinted from American Sweeper magazine, Volume 7 Number 1.

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