ROUND TABLE - MARCH 5th - WIND GAP PA

[Mathew Johnson]

There is a Spring round table at ACR Products in WIND GAP PA, Sunday March 5th fron 10:00-4:00 PM with Tom and Barbera Vogel as the host. Realizing this is short notice, Tom wanted to fit it in before the busy season started. The last one was a blast.

Here are a few of the topics:


Marketing, Simple, Innovative and Cheap ways to build business


Pump Rebuilding Contest "Get a free lesson and try your skill" - Win Prize - 1st Second and Third Place Prizes - Tom Vogel and attendiies


Window Cleaning - How to make cash quick - Joe Frankenfield


Pressure Washer First Aid 101 - Keeping your machine alive! - Tom Vogel


Critical Care Pressure Washing First Aid - When your machine is dead! - Tom Vogel


Open Forum


FEE: $20.00 per person ($10.00 of attendance fee will go to SPCA as donation / 10.00 to cover lunch and drinks)

Please Call Tom Vogel at 610-392-1899 with any questions and for directions.

[Beth n Rod]

OK, time for a report on this event. Rod and I drove up and we are so glad we did!!!

Tom and Barbara Vogel from ACR Products put on a WONDERFUL even in their new 5,000 square foot showroom and shop! The attendance was great. I am guessing there were at least 40 people.

There were a fair number of rigs there including John Tornabene from Clean County with his HUGE box truck.

There was a hot catered lunch with lasagna, hot sausage sandwiches, the most incredible sweet trays of cookies and fudge, sodas, water, coffee, and all the chips and nibble type things you could want.

In addition to the above speakers, there was also a gentleman named Brian from YourCostCenter speaking about finances. Follow the link to try his browser based software and tell him Beth from The Grime Scene sent you.
You can try it for a month for 10 bucks, how can you go wrong?

Also , Tom had a cob blasting machine there, I believe Everett brought it, and a demo of the machine blasting walnut was seen. Very impressive and fun stuff to see, but boy does it chew up the wood.

The group broke up into smaller groups and we talked about things like wood, building washing etc. Everyone seemed very eager to learn and network, and everyone was very ready for spring work!

Our most sincere thanks go to Tom And Barbara Vogel of ACR Products for a truly wonderful event. You guys, are a class act.

Beth

p.s. photos to follow later

[Mathew Johnson]

I agree Beth.... It was a great time. I also want to thank all of the folks who pre-ordered advertising and company profile videos from me. Special thanks to Tom and Barbera for being great Host / Hostess.

I am looking forward to the fall Round Table.... I am are looking at having a preroundtable workshop in the morning of the fall roundtable on how to use multimedia marketing for the folks to use over the winter. I will hope to have the class syllabus finished by late summer.

Nice seeing everyone.

[Beth n Rod]

I didn't know you were offering video production services. I am doing that as well. I showed ours in the back to a couple folks, we had two with us.

Anyone interested, let me know.
Beth

[RPetry]

Tom and Barb Vogel of ACR hosted another terrific gathering yesterday. A great prelude to another season of work in the Northeast.

Tom presented a hands on tutorial on electronic diagnosis, unloader problems and repair, as well as pump rebuilding. Everett Abrams of Deck Restoration Plus gave an overview of new products, materials, and shared years of experience with wood contractors. Other experts in their field readily offered sound advice and help.

Most impressive and valuable was Matt Johnson of Pressure Washing Services, Inc. His approach and experience in marketing a small business is no less than amazing. Any contractor in business learned a lot of solid information from Matt's presentation yesterday.

My thanks to all that made this springs roundtable so worthwhile.

[Mathew Johnson]

Originally Posted by RPetry

Tom and Barb Vogel of ACR hosted another terrific gathering yesterday. A great prelude to another season of work in the Northeast.

Tom presented a hands on tutorial on electronic diagnosis, unloader problems and repair, as well as pump rebuilding. Everett Abrams of Deck Restoration Plus gave an overview of new products, materials, and shared years of experience with wood contractors. Other experts in their field readily offered sound advice and help.

Most impressive and valuable was Matt Johnson of Pressure Washing Services, Inc. His approach and experience in marketing a small business is no less than amazing. Any contractor in business learned a lot of solid information from Matt's presentation yesterday.

My thanks to all that made this springs roundtable so worthwhile.

Rick,

Thanks for the complement, Remember, I learned a lot of the stuff here on the BBS and from Beth and others.... Take what you can learn... use your imagination.... and run with it.

[Mathew Johnson]

Rick.... Remember the other thing with the LOgo use... You can do the same stuff with the Woolmans cerification Logo. Use it to your advantage.

[RPetry]

Hey Matt,

The compliment is well deserved. Your enthusiasm, approach, and willingness to share your trials, travails, and successes in marketing made a very effective presentation.

Your mention of the Wolman logo brought back memories. Like many, I started in the business using their logo and "certified contractor" on business cards, letterhead etc. and using Wolman cleaners and stain products. It was a start.

Thanks to boards such as the Grime Scene, suppliers like Tom and Barb of ACR, and helpful, experienced contractors, quickly learned of better products and methods of wood restoration. Gave away my last 5 gals. of F&P close to 3 yrs. ago. The "certified contractor" is still being used but the Wolman name and logo are long gone.

The PWNA logo and membership can be a powerful marketing tool. You certainly use it to great effect on your company's behalf. But there is a subset of contractors that only restore wood. No flatwork, house washes, gutters, truck washing etc. I think it would be safe to say that most of us don't consider ourselves as pressure washing companies, its just a tool to help get rid of the wood cleaners and strippers.

I try and market our services as wood specialists, different from typical pressure washing companies and painters. A PWNA identification could actually be counter productive to this strategy. Of course, the strategy might be wrong!

Just logged into the board this morning after a winter hiatus and noticed the news on the WRAPI association. Looks interesting and worth investigating. Maybe us "woodies" can solve our identity crisis!

Look forward to this Fall's get together at ACR. Please count me in on any video training.

[Mathew Johnson]

Originally Posted by RPetry

Hey Matt,

I try and market our services as wood specialists, different from typical pressure washing companies and painters. A PWNA identification could actually be counter productive to this strategy. Of course, the strategy might be wrong!

Just logged into the board this morning after a winter hiatus and noticed the news on the WRAPI association. Looks interesting and worth investigating. Maybe us "woodies" can solve our identity crisis!

Look forward to this Fall's get together at ACR. Please count me in on any video training.

TaLK to Beth... there is a lot of information out about WRAPI.... It may be the perfect fit for you!

[Beth n Rod]

Rick, it was great finally getting to meet you. You don't look anything like your avatar.... I always enjoy meeting folks from the BBS's.

It was great seeing some other folks again as well.
Can't wait for the next round table!

Beth

[Mark Williamson]

Yes, it was a great day ! Tom and Barb really put on a great meeting.

ACR is a one stop shop. Toms got everything you need!

Matt ,I think you might be in the wrong business Your work was very impressive !! I would pay to have something like that done for my business.

Thanks again to Tom and Barb !!

[RPetry]

Hi Beth!

Yes, it was nice meeting you finally in person. The internet age of communication is somewhat strange in that you get to kind of know someone without ever meeting them. Hey, my avatar is better looking than I am, at least its got more color than my hair! I recognized you immediately from your avatar pic on the board.

Its always a pleasure getting together with other contractors. It can be a bit of a solitary exisitence, being a sole proprietor. Trading stories, laughs, and info is a lot of fun, and educational too.

Mike, I second your endorsement of ACR. They carry more stuff in stock than I could ever use in a lifetime. Tom is very knowledgeable of the industry, can fix almost anything, and really helps his customers. He has pulled my feet out of the fire more than once. ACR's pricing is very competitive and Tom and Barb are just plain nice people. Its a pleasure doing business with them.

[Howard]

Video production? Beth ya opening up a studio? Give it up, more info please.

[hydro Tek Man]

Thank You, everyone for coming to our Round Table. The animals recieved $360.00 , you can sleep better at night knowing that our furry friends at the SPCA have food and shelter. I am going down to the PWNA convention to do a training class next . Then in July I am going to have a hands on customer does the work and learns his equipment repair isssues , work shop . I hope that this is something that will help contractors survive when these machines break . Anyway thanks for all the nice comments from everyone . We appreciate the support Barbara and I look forward to our forth year as a distributor . But our roots are always going to be as contractors.

[R. Williamson]

Tom,

Sounds like it was a good time. The hands on workshop is a great ideal.
Keep up the good work!