You are reading the Top Contractor 2019 issue of Pavement Maintenance & Reconstruction. For the 7th year in a row, the power sweeping category does not exist.
With an estimated 3000+ contractors in the industry, why is it that a mere 75 -- or even 50 -- aren’t taking under 10 minutes to fill out Pavement's yearly application?
When it comes to marketing, being able to tout that you were one of the top contractors in the U.S. marketplace is a big deal. Gains you could make in customer revenue through this recognition of professionalism and marketplace strength far outweigh your time lost in applying.
The value of being able to put Pavement's Top Contractor logo on your letterhead, business cards, website and social media is enormous. How could having bragging rights over your competition for an entire year possibly be a bad thing?
Pavement's Top Contractor program is in its 7th year and has received widespread participation by all of the other pavement -related industries. After surveying a few sweeping contractors, none of whom had entered this year's competition — fewer than a dozen applications were received this year from sweeping, according to Allan Heydorn, Pavement's editor — the reasons given included being too busy, fearing their information might be passed on to their competitors and not knowing about it.
As for the first excuse, your ‘gamble’ is only a loss of about 10 minutes of your time; compare that to the enormous benefits should you be chosen as one of the winners. Secondly, no reputable media company, which the Pavement organization certainly is, would ever leak financial or similar information to your competitors. As for the last point: At the World Sweeping Association we will be doing our best to inform our members about the contest next year.
Although it's too late to do anything about this situation for 2019, I urge all sweeping contractors reading this article to make a mental note to apply next year. Think of it as a way to put more money in your pocket, both during the ensuing year and when you end up selling your business at some point in the future.
