Joshua Gray, Owner
Spray Soft Exterior Cleaning
Joshua Gray is a young man with a mission—financial freedom for himself and his family. He has been the General Manager of Go-Kart City in Port Orange, Florida, and has cleaned the local fleets of Car Max and the United States Post Office for many years.
Joshua loves cleaning cars, but he aspired to clean other surfaces. Seven years ago he saw a used hot water pressure washer on Craig’s List and impulsively decided to buy it with half of his savings. On the way to pick it up, his wife Stacey asked him to call his friend Jason Temple who owns Flagler Clean, in Flagler County. Jason advised Joshua to turn his car around and learn the business from him.
The first thing Jason and Joshua did was go to the convention of the United Association of Mobile Contract Cleaners in Orlando, Florida. Joshua won the raffle prize, a roof pump system. He learned about chemical solutions and bought other equipment for his startup, Spray Soft Exterior Cleaning (Spray Soft).
SWOT Analysis
Opportunities/Mission
Aging housing and commercial developments in Volusia County means a growing demand for exterior cleaning of roofs, walls, pavements, and screen enclosures. The mission of Spray Soft is to deliver top-quality exterior cleaning and build a life-time relationship with its clients. Unlike many competitors, Joshua is a licensed, insured, and professional who takes pride in guaranteeing his work and his slogan is exceeding expectations.
Threats/Target Market
Many poor-quality competitors offer low prices to gullible home owners. In the past, Joshua has targeted home owners in upscale residential developments. Now he is targeting commercial buildings such as schools and home or condominium owner associations. Other prospects are shopping centers and malls, retail shops, restaurants, banks, office buildings, parking lots, apartments, senior living communities, hotels, motels, and resorts.
Strengths/Specialty
Joshua’s unique competitive advantages are educating prospects about the cleaning process and customizing the chemical solution for their situation. Competitors can damage surfaces by using high-pressure equipment, but Spray Soft uses as much pressure as a garden hose so the process is safe for all surfaces.
Weaknesses/Suppliers
His team includes a CPA, attorney, sister, and some part-time employees. Spray Soft was able to clean a multilevel building, the Hammock Beach Resort, Palm Coast, Florida, because his workers brought their own equipment.
Joshua learns from Craig Harrison about mixing cleaning solutions with his chemical, F9 BARC. Joshua sends him a photograph of the discolored surface and Craig advises him how to mix the chemical solution to get the best results. Craig provides backup support so Joshua can fake it until he makes it as an expert in exterior cleaning.
Marketing Mix Decisions
Services
Spray Soft removes decontaminants such as algae, mold, and mildew from roofs and walls; calcium, rust, oil, and grease from pavements; and insects, dust, and vegetation from screen enclosures. All chemicals are biodegradable and nontoxic to humans and animals. He prevents harm to vegetation by covering them and rinsing off the residue. He guarantees the quality of his work.
Distribution
Joshua trades referrals with friends at the Victory Lane Chapter of Business Networking International, the local Rotary, and the Top Business Professionals in Port Orange, Florida.
Promotion
Joshua rarely uses promotions other than business cards, a newsletter, and a professional website with Youtube.com videos.
Joshua is always on the lookout for discolored surfaces. For example, Joshua noticed the discolored trim of my condominium building. He told me that his service could delay the need to paint the building for one-tenth of the cost of painting the building.
When Joshua identifies a commercial prospect, he obtains a warm introduction from a friend and listens carefully to the prospect’s concerns. Then Joshua tells the prospect how his cleaning process can solve the problem. He will persistently follow up with information until the prospect trusts him enough to commit to the project.
Pricing
At first, Joshua priced projects too high, now that he can better estimate his costs for labor and materials, Joshua prices projects competitively. Joshua filters out price-sensitive prospects with his recorded message because competitors can easily beat his prices. This eliminates futile trips to give estimates.
Taking Action
Prospecting
Joshua targets key prospects through the United States Post Office. Its mail carriers can deliver Every Door Direct Mail to home owners in a specific housing development. First, he tests various versions of the post card in a small area and then rolls out the best version throughout the housing development.
Customer Satisfaction
Customers rarely complain about his exterior cleaning service because he informs prospects about the criteria for choosing an exterior cleaner and prepares their expectations. For example, no chemical can remove oxidation on aluminum gutters, but he can prepare the gutters for painting. As a result, about 80 percent of his clients are referrals or repeat customers.
Budgeting
Joshua believes the secret of happiness is freedom from financial worries. He is willing to work double time now to gain financial freedom in the future. As a result, Joshua refuses to borrow money for his business. His family lives on his salary from managing Go-Kart City and his wife’s teaching career and he invests all his profits from Spray Soft.
Action Plan
When Spray Soft generates enough income, Joshua plans to quit managing Go-Kart City and his wife plans to quit teaching.
How can Joshua earn more money by scaling himself?