John Harper has been serving the portable restroom needs of northwest Louisiana and northeast Texas since 1985. He operates Port-A-Jon locations in Shreveport, La., and Longview and Jefferson, Texas. His bread-and-butter business is with construction contractors, but he also serves special events with individual units through VIP trailers and accessories. Over the years, he’s learned a thing or two about new business development through savvy marketing tactics. We think you’ll be able to put some of his suggestions to work for your business as the economy recovers.

Pumper: How would you suggest portable sanitation contractors try to stand out in a competitive market?

Harper:

You’ve got to make sure the people who work for you really care. If we don’t take care of Port-A-Jon, it won’t take care of us. It takes between $3,000-$5,000 to train a driver over a month. You don’t want to invest that amount in someone who’s going to work a month and then quit. We look for job longevity in their background, because I can’t afford to make that kind of investment over and over. We provide good trucks, because that’s their office eight to 10 hours a day. It’s comfortable and works, and they have the tools they need to do their job. Our logo and name are on every truck.

All our guys are uniformed with logos on their shirts, and carry ID badges. They’re required to wear their uniforms, keep their shirts tucked in and appear professional. That’s a marketing issue, because when they pull up, they’re the first thing customers see. Even at the supermarket, my name on a shirt starts a conversation. You never know when you might run into a contractor at Home Depot looking for a restroom contractor.

Pumper: What sorts of marketing tools work best?

Harper:

Word-of-mouth is still the best advertising any business can get. If someone says they hate you, it’ll do 10 times more damage than a good word will help. The worst I want someone to say is, “His prices were high, but the service was great.” Keep it up by providing great service, keeping the restroom roof repaired, the vent screens in and the graffiti off.

You absolutely have to have your logo on the door (of your units), but you have three other sides that are also billboards. We have six-inch phone numbers on all sides of our restrooms, and they can be read from a hundred yards away.

To actively seek new work, we use the subscription construction reports available on the Web. We print off the ones we’re interested in, then follow up with phone calls or personal visits. Every one of our drivers has business cards, and if we see dirt, we stop. We don’t approach competitors’ sites, but if we see ’dozers setting up, we stop. Being first there shows we care and that we want their business. That attitude matters.

Pumper:

So your drivers get involved in marketing and sales?

Harper:

Everybody’s job here is to sell. In the office, we sell to callers. The drivers sell by delivering on time and keeping the units clean. If that route driver is the one who sold the account, they’ll take more of an interest in that customer. They should get to know the foreman on every job, because that’s the decision-maker.

I like it when a customer calls, noticing something about our drivers, even if it’s that they’re running a little behind. That means my guys are maintaining relationships, not just blending into the background. There are always a few folks drivers stop and visit with. That develops customer loyalty.

Pumper:

Do you think newspaper ads work? Direct mail? What about exhibiting at fairs and festivals?

Harper:

No newspaper ads unless it’s a coupon or something action-oriented. I think our homebuilders association has about 160 members or so in our town of half a million. Why do I want to put an ad in a half-million circulation when I’m really trying to reach just a couple hundred? Yes, regular people rent restrooms, but I’m looking for that 1,500 people who will be high volume users. I don’t make money renting weekend units, I make a living renting construction units to residential and industrial construction.

For us, direct mail was effective for pumping, but not for portables. We’ve exhibited at fairs and festivals, but again, it misses our target market. You have to define your demographic and reach out in the places you’re going to find them. If you do weddings, then you need to read the newspaper and call folks who are getting married.

Pumper:

How do you market differently to construction contractors as opposed to special events producers?

Harper:

Special events folks are always shopping for price. They want to get the lowest price they can because most special events are non-profit and have limited budgets. Contractors want service. So those are the points you hit on.

We do several large events and they want service, but that’s because we’ve been dealing with them for a dozen years and we’ve educated them to that point. I’ve lost a few events over the years to price, but generally they come back later.

Pumper:

What do you think of phone book advertising versus investing in building and regularly maintaining a Web site?

Harper:

You can’t operate today without both. We’ve had a Web site for eight years. I knew that’s the way things were going. We had people asking if we were on the Web, mostly the younger set; young women asking to see our trailers for their weddings, stuff like that. And I wanted to be able to say, “We sure are!”

We started with a single page in 2001 and kept trying to do more and more. It wasn’t everything we wanted, but it got us going. We’ve tried to update and upgrade it every year or so. We hired a full-time (human resources) person who also has (computer) skills, so I figured, why not use those? We just redid the site and have about 7-8 pages now. It’s still not exactly what we want, but we’ll be adding more about rentals, upgrades, new locations, things like that.

Pumper:

Do you think restroom contractors can benefit from participating as businesses in social media such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter?

Harper:

I’m on Facebook personally, to keep up with friends and family, but don’t use it for business yet. Who has the time, if you’re running a business with more than one or two people? I don’t need to be hitting someone on Twitter in New York. I need decision-makers in Shreveport. As with everything else in marketing, it’s all about targeting your demographic. Guys over 45 — our targets for renting portables — for the most part aren’t on Facebook, but younger guys are. As they age and step up into the purchasing positions, Facebook will become something we should look at.

Pumper:

Any industry marketing trends you think will show themselves over the next 3-5 years?

Harper:

The trends are that people are offering upscale units, but that’s market-dependent. We have them available, but our clients don’t want them. We watch what everyone else is doing in the market, which units our competitors have, and maintain comparable inventory. For instance, we have some purple-and-gold portables we rent for LSU events. People know we have them for tailgate parties. You just have to pay attention and maintain your customer relationships.