Standing Out From the Crowd

Many people view sweeping (and other) contractors as providers of a commodity service. In this two-part article series, I’ll discuss some ways to increase the professionalism and profile of your company.

We are entering the season of fairs, festivals and parades. Think of ways you might showcase your company’s sweepers and other job-specific vehicles in some of those events. Parades, especially, are events that involve a significant number of community leaders, both as planners and as viewers. Running a couple of sweepers to do cleanup at the end of the parade can be a very high profile opportunity at limited cost.

Think creatively about activities you might organize that can positively affect your clientele. Some contractors hold open houses, picnics and similar for their clients as a concrete way of saying “Thanks for your business.”

Since the inception of the World Sweeping Association, we have offered two scholarships to the children of anyone (other than the principals) employed by any sweeping company. These are in the amount of $1,000 each and are available toward attending any type of higher education facility, from tech schools to apprenticeships to universities.

However, as a further reward to our WSA members, if the student is affiliated with a WSA member company we double the scholarship to $2,000 as a tangible way to say thank you to our members. (For complete information, including a PDF notice for your company bulletin board, go to: www.WorldSweepingPros.org/scholarships.)

People like community involvement and participation. I encourage you to belong to local business groups like the Chamber of Commerce, Kiwanis and Rotary, as well as to industry associations like BOMA or BIA. Then, make sure someone in your firm attends the meetings with a mandate to become involved.

Remember, every business sale involves saying “yes” to an individual, and a company, that someone wants to work with. Your job is to make that an easy choice.

WSA contributor Ranger Kidwell-Ross has been providing information to the power sweeping industry since 1988. He is editor of WorldSweeper.com, an information resource for power sweeping, as well as founder and executive director of the World Sweeping Association. For more information about WSA visit www.WorldSweepingPros.org or contact Kidwell-Ross at [email protected].