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Barry M

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Posts posted by Barry M

  3. Posted · Report reply

    Colts lost all 4 pre-season games last year and won the Super Bowl. Pre-season is a joke if you ask me. I don't pay attention to it, it means nothing. Sorry about your Pa........aa..aat.....t..r..i.....ooo...tt......s (I have trouble saying the P word) last year.....hehehe

    I will say though that they will always have a place in my heart as being the losing team in that awesome playoff game last year, I was there and it still tears me up and gives me goose bumps.

    Go Colts!!!

  6. Posted · Report reply

    Good info Cody. I'm going to be sealing another driveway as soon as the temps cool down a little, it's getting into the 90's everday. I'm going be using V-seal this time but there is some issues with what was previously used to seal the concrete. The HO isn't sure and neither I am. I emailed Keith at v-seal some pics and he wasn't sure either. So I'm in the dark about what to use to clean/strip the concrete with. He suggested I just clean it like normal and do a little test spot to see how it turns out. Water doesn't bead up on the concrete now but there is definitely some traces of old sealer. Here the pics what do you think? The concrete is wet in the second pic.

    post-826-137772183955_thumb.jpg

    post-826-137772183978_thumb.jpg

  8. Posted · Report reply

    Hey Richard,

    I heard all about Bob's experience at the border. How are you going to smuggle simple cherry into Canada? What a pain dude I feel for you. That's a nice unit you got though, I helped throw it into Jarrod's garage and believe me I wanted to put it in the back of my van and head south. Good luck to you.

  9. Posted · Report reply

    With a 4gpm you don't want to go any bigger than a 20" cleaner. Or else you have to walk incredibley slooooow. Are you using any chems? Using a good soap and chlorine if there is mold/mildew will also help. Following up with oxalic will brighten the concrete and it will look better once it dries. All these things combined will help.

    The stripes are simply caused because you aren't getting the concrete as clean as it could be on the first swipe (too fast, no chems, etc). Then when you take another pass your overlapping a little and hitting part of the concrete again. So where you've cleaned the concrete twice is where the stripes occur. So the trick is to get all the concrete as clean as possible with the first swipe, then you'll have no stripes. That's why going slower, using better chems, and or using hot water helps.

  10. Posted · Report reply

    How many of you, even though the customer is happy with your work, drive away from a completed job thinking to yourself, "I could have done (this or that) better"?

    Great question. I have done that several times. Every time I get this horrible guilty feeling. So I've learned that when I get this feeling while I'm doing the job I will take the time to do it right no matter what. Whether it's that one little spot at the peak of a dormer or scrubbing a hard to reach gutter a little more. I try to not think it's taking me too long or that I'm being anal but rather that I am helping my clients and they are well worth the extra mile. I have the above and beyond attitude and have started giving people MORE than expected and WOWing them, it leads to more referrals and repeat work for sure.

  11. Posted · Report reply

    Almost looks like the algae is dead because it has that cloudy look to it rather than streaks (a before pic would help) but it looks like it just needs rinsed. A few rains would take care of that for you.

    If you've already tried rinsing then I'd re-coat the roof with love again. How fresh was your chlorine? I've used chlorine only 1.5 months old that just wouldn't do the job on a roof.

  15. Posted · Report reply

    I "target market" only..Only direct mailings to my high end target...

    Stephen,

    Your right, in conjuction with a good mailing list, this is probably the most effective method of advertising besides word of mouth. I am a big advocate of targeted mailers but I'm finding out that when supplemented with other types of media it becomes even more effective. Ken has posted about it many times.

    Think about it like this, lets say someone see's your small ad in the newspaper and doesn't think much of it. Then they see your lettered truck in their neighborhood, they may think they've seen you before but that's about it. Then their kid plays a little league game against a team sponsored by your company, okay now they know they've seen you before. NOW they get your PC in the mail and they are sure they've seen you around. Whether it be consciously or unconsciously somehow they feel comfortable with your company. It's a whole "well I've seen them around and my neighbors have used them" sorta thing.

    Now compare the last senario with them just getting your PC out of the blue having never seen you before. You'll get a much better return when you hit em with a jab, uppercut, and then the big roundhouse. Just my 2 pennies : )

  16. Posted · Report reply

    Adrian

    It's at this point that some would throw in the flag and make up their mind that advertising in the paper sucks and doesn't work. That would be like the FAA giving up on flying and saying that it doesn't work because of an isolated airplane crash. It sounds ludicrous but companies make this premature assumption about certain media all the time. When in fact what bombed was the ad itself.

    Media like the paper and YP's obviously hit a large audience and aren't going to be targeted to just YOUR potential customers like a mailing list and PC's would. So your ad has to weed out the price shoppers. What does your ad look like? Does it give the perception of value? Is it different from all the other ads? Most important does it prequalify prospects to do busy with you?

    IMO the problem with most ads in this type of media is that the ad is trying to sell a service directly. What I mean is it's not giving anymore information, it just says this is who we are, this is what we do, now give us a call and hire us. That's too direct! Remember you want your customers to say, "I would be a fool not to do business with this company."

    Don't try to make your ad sell a service but rather make the ad sell information. For instance: call for a free consumer awareness guide or call a prerecorded message to learn what consumers need to know about pressure washing.

    I have an ad in the service directory of the local paper under 'roof cleaning'. The headline reads: "The Truth About Roof Algae" sub headline reads: "How Low Pressre Roof Cleaning Can Save You Thousands" visit (roof website) for more info. Then my guarantee, my toll free number, and my logo at the bottom. That's it, it's more like I'm selling a web address than power washing services like my competitor is.

    They go to the site and see a headline that reads, "What Most Roofing Contractors Don't Want You To Know" and the copy educates them about roof algae bla bla bla. Quess what? After they read that info they say, "I would be a fool not to hire this company." It's a very non threatening approach. You aren't just walking up to them, getting in their face and saying HEY! How about you do business with me? Your handing them FREE information and prequalifing them at the same time. As they visit my site they begin to see the value and not the price. Or if their price shoppers they figure I'm going to be too much and they leave.

    Have you ever seen that Sleep Number Matress commercial? They don't try to sell you a matress, the give you a number to call for a FREE no obligation information kit. It works and is very effective. Hope this helps.

  18. Posted · Report reply

    Jeff

    As much gas as you probably go through, it would seem like all those can's would be a time consuming PITA. Have you ever thought about have a bulk tank on the trailer? You wouldn't have to make so many gas station trips if you had a 100 gallon tank on board or any size for that matter. You could have it wired to the trailer plug so it would be an electric pump just like at the gas station. You could put a pad lock on the nozzle and the fill lid so you don't get ripped off. Put a long feed hose on it and you could easily fill up your units. You could even pull your other rig's up next to that one and fill them up. Just a thought : )

  19. Posted · Report reply

    All year I have been booked 3 weeks out and all of sudden, BAM, just one week out and a huge decrease in calls.

    I have noticed a lot of new people in the area by seeing their signs and ads, but don't see Them.

    Maybe its the economy or just everyone finishin up the school year.

    Who knows, just getting silly I guess. I have had a huge year compared to last and it seems like it just died, Maybe I am paranoid

    Anyone else have a slow down.

    Welcome to the club, slow here and everyone else I've talked to has slowed also. It sucks man, in reality the resi work in my area is mid April to mid June and Sept, that's it 3 months. At least I'm a little more prepared than last year, I knew it was coming this time around. I'm currently searching hard for some bread and butter accounts because trying to make a living doing only resi isn't a smart move, not in my area anyway.

  21. Posted · Report reply

    Yes it is and it's still a great post.

    I was just chatting with Jrod yesterday about generating more work through the upcoming summer months. I'm reluctant to send out a bunch of postcards again because my last response was poor. I've been 7 days a week for 2 months but I'm pretty much all caught up. I have my advertising all planned out for the year but I always seem to detour from it a little. I'm grateful that I've kept great tracking records of all my past advertising and my ROI's. It's great to be able to look back a year ago and see what worked this time of year and what didn't.

    My main weakness isn't showing people the percieved value of doing business with me, my system weeds out the price shoppers pretty well, it's just getting the phone to ring more without taking out a loan for mailers.

    I've done well with repeat and referral business this year and my goal is in a few years to not have to advertise much at all and to stay busy servicing my customer base.

  24. Posted · Report reply

    So far there is no way to get it off, if it isn't fresh, without risking damage to the vinyl. Some have tried 3500 psi and 200 degree water, scrubbing with a strong mix of tsp, or with an sos pad with some success. But again these methods all risk damaging the vinyl. After time the fungus will fall off on it's own but to prevent it from happening again tell the customer to get rid of all the old mulch and bring in new every year or go with rock. Some have also said that using wet wax in your house mix will prevent the spores from sticking to the siding but I haven't seen proof of this myself.

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