16 minute read
1-800-SWEEPER: 10 Years of Growth and Accomplishments
It’s been nearly 10 years since 1-800-SWEEPER burst sure how it was going to be received in order to attract onto the power sweeping industry scene in August enough like-mind company owners to make it work,” of 2011. Armed with a vision, a powerful vanity says Lucht, President of the organization. “It’s been a phone number and the support of 22 sweeping work in progress, and we’ve made some great strides company owners, Mike over the last 10 years, while Lucht began what building many strong remains to be the only “It’s been a work in progress, relationships along the co-op organization in and we’ve made some way. No one expected it the sweeping industry. Headquartered in Toledo, great strides over the last was going to be easy, but the challenge has been OH, 1-800-SWEEPER 10 years, while building an extremely rewarding now boasts 40 buying many strong relationships experience.” But make group Vendor Partners it work they did, and and 55 Member Partners along the way... 1-800-SWEEPER is proud representing market of their accomplishments coverage of over 95 area and the contributions codes across the United States accounting for 18 of they have made to the businesses represented in the the top 20 metro markets and 50% of the country’s group and the power sweeping industry in general. population. “When we launched the organization, Launching the 1800sweeper.com website in there was no play book to guide us and we weren’t October 2011 was the first step in getting the start-
up organization off the ground and introducing the brand. What began as a service directory of sweeping companies across the country quickly grew into something much more. Today, 700 pages later, it is not only a market resource for service contractor information, but also provides educational content on the sweeping industry as a whole; including the various types of equipment recommended for specific job applications, the different services each Partner company offers, as well as employment opportunity postings resulting in the creation of the highest revenue producing website in the industry. The value of the service requests over the past ten years has been very impressive. Partners have received over 32,000 leads conservatively valued at over $20,000,000. With a 24/7 Call Center and the development of the 800 App, service requests can be easily responded to on an immediate basis. “Getting the service requests to our Partners the quickest way possible was important. It has been documented that the quicker the response the greater the chance is of securing the business. We believe providing a timely response and quality service is one of the reasons why clients choose us” says Ben Steyer, Executive Director of 1-800-SWEEPER. There have been many other milestones and
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achievements along the way. The organization’s slogan is “More Than a Number!”, and that, it certainly is! Not only do they have the #1 website and vanity number in the power sweeping industry, but they have also created a successful co-op buying group for their Partners. Leveraging the combined buying power of the group is an integral part of the organization’s foundation. The co-op enables Partners to take advantage of exclusive discounts on the purchase of equipment and supplies needed to run and grow their business, as well as earning rebates in return. Andy Williams, Business Development Rep for 1-800-SWEEPER, says “We strive to have vendors in the group that our Partners find beneficial. Vendor Partner agreements with Schwarze, ELGIN, Keystone Plastics, NAPA and many more are instrumental to our Partners and their growth.” The original intent and goal of the organization’s business model was to have all Partners’ membership fees covered by the savings and rebates they receive from the buying group and numerous Partners are doing just that! We bring a lot more to the table than just service leads, which are designed to be provided FREE.” Another attractive benefit of being a 1-800-SWEEPER Partner is the annual Sweeper Summit. “We’ve all gone to industry trade shows that are predominately geared toward paving contractors. So, we decided it was time to create our own, just for the power sweeping industry. The educational content of the conference has been well received, and the addition of the outdoor, hands-on Equipment Expo was the icing on the cake. It’s a lot of work planning the event, but it’s been well worth it in the end.” says Carolyn Bell, Director of Marketing for 1-800-SWEEPER. “ The Sweeper Summit began in 2012 as a small Partner meeting in Detroit with 20 people. Today the event is a full-blown industry specific conference with over 200 attendees and outdoor equipment displays – attendance grows every year and attendees love the outdoor venue. It’s been a great addition!” While these last 10 years have been a growing and maturation period for the organization, and the whole industry for that matter, Mike Lucht feels they have found their footing, “Our executive team is ready to take on the challenges ahead, in the years to come. We have introduced many new programs to our Partners and the sweeping industry over the years; the Sweeper Sim - our sweeper operator training simulator, the National Pavement Maintenance Leadership Academy (NPMLA), the 800 Foundation; which recently raised over $60,000 for the Veterans Matter organization, along with the other innovations mentioned earlier. We will continue to evolve and move forward, bringing new ideas and innovations to the industry. We’ve only revealed the tip of the iceberg.”
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American Sweeping, Inc 37 YEARS LATER
Gale Holsman, President, and CEO of American Companies Inc., of which
American Sweeping is a subsidiary has an arguably unparalleled track record.
He has built an extraordinary Midwest corporation, with financially powerful tentacles reaching into just about every known site services industry. American
Companies has flourished for over three and a half decades since 1984, to grow into an indomitable competitor in
Kansas City power sweeping and related site services systems.
We spent some time with Gale recently, to learn the amazing story of this Midwest regional entrepreneurial phenom and his ever-expanding enterprise. We also asked about the business experience and after-effects of 2020 on the company, its team, and its future planning.
AMERICAN COMPANIES’ SPECTACULAR BUSINESS MODEL
American Companies is the parent company of four separate incorporated companies, including American Sweeping Inc., American Pavement Maintenance Inc., American Waste Systems Inc., and Total Venue. This broadly diversified site services enterprise offers a one-stop-shop for customers, including:
STREET SWEEPING FOR: Industrial Sites Construction Municipal Contracts Powerwashing Roll-off Containers
PORTABLE TOILET MODELS FOR: Construction Luxury Use Special Events
EVENT CLEAN-UP SERVICES, INCLUDING: Stage Rental Trash Containers Other Event Site Equipment and Services Rear Loaders for Commercial and Residential Needs Asphalt Sealcoating Pavement Striping Other Services
This incredible company and its owner have come what must have felt unfathomably far back when Gale Holsman, a sales manager for Waste Management took a risk on buying a lone sweeper truck and started doing parking lots. The next decades of vast growth by multiplication of very costly, high-risk revenue channels rocketed the fledgling entrepreneur to his status today as corporate President and CEO of a sprawling array of companies from Kansas City to St. Louis to Atlanta.
INNOVATIVE AND INDEPENDENT AMERICAN COMPANIES LEADERSHIP
Gale and his company introduced the first infrared machine for use in pavement work in Kansas City and have otherwise stayed at the leading edge of change in the Kansas City power sweeping market. American discontinued parking lots sweeping services back in 2006 and redirected its focus onto much larger municipal street sweeping contracts and highway maintenance and construction cleanup services. In more recent years, Gale has put his company at the forefront of change in the power sweeping industry in a different way, by discontinuing day portering. We asked why he has made such a move, despite that portering is considered throughout the industry
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SPOTLIGHT
INDEX
to be a cash cow. Gale characteristically boiled the matter down to its simplest terms in the February joint interview, “We used to do portering. We did it for 30 years. We got out of it because everybody got into it, and now people want you to do it for 1980 pricing.”
AMERICAN COMPANIES EQUIPMENT AND TECHNOLOGY
The company currently has an abundance of sweeper trucks to meet the needs of its many clients. Gale explained that his team uses Eagles, because they can do both municipal streets and construction site sweeping, and they use Tennants for scrubbing garages. They also use Victory Air Sweepers to do any parking lot sweeping requested. In other divisions, the company has, for example, 3,500 Satellite rental restroom units (which number changes constantly),
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WE CAN CREATE A RENTAL PROGRAM TO ALIGN WITH SWEEPING CONTRACTS YOU HAVE WITH YOUR CUSTOMERS
including some luxury trailers for special events. techs. American Companies has about 40 drivers, which The company relies heavily on GPS in all its service number changes seasonally, and a total staff of about 15, divisions. Gale emphasizes that it enables management including managers and admins. All drivers are crossto control what field services crew members are doing trained to meet shifting seasonal demands. continuously. It reveals all Like most other sweeper operations the information they need The company relies in U.S. regions with seasonal climates, to manage activities, such American’s team experiences as vehicle locations, speed, heavily on GPS...it enables fluctuations in-field staff size the amount of time spent management to control throughout the year. Gale pointed at a location, and even information from prior days. what field services crew out that the staff numbers also vary when the company brings on large Gale praises the technology members are doing new customers and when it takes for its great convenience and efficiency in providing critical continuously. It reveals all the on new projects, and as projects are completed. data for quality control, information they need... 2020 IN RETROSPECT among other uses. When asked how American The company’s staff includes Companies did during 2020 and managers, supervisors, administrative office workers, they are doing anything differently today and plan to salespeople, sweeper truck drivers, shop mechanics, and do anything else differently in budgeting, operations,
or strategic planning, due to lessons learned from the unexpected impacts of last year. Gale was frank, “Last year stunk. The sweeping stayed about the same, parking lots, garages, and other sweeping all stayed about the same. About three-quarters of our sweeping revenues in 2020 were from power washing, sweeping garages, etc. Street sweeping went okay, but everybody had their budget cuts, so it wasn’t that popular.” But, he added that construction had remained fairly strong in Kansas City, and that that had helped keep volume up for American and that they had not had to lose any workers. Gale said that the company has maintained its volume of sweeping business, not realizing much growth, but not taking losses in that division, even in the aftermath of 2020. He says that the power sweeping customer base has remained steady across the numerous cities where the company provides services, including many accounts they’ve had since the beginning 37 years ago. As Gale explained, because of American’s long time in KC operations and strong relationships built over decades throughout the market, when his customers add new volume, his company adds volume right along with them. He commented on the continued good growth rate that
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held through 2020 in Kansas City and which the area is still experiencing. As he said, it’s naturally good for American. As Gale shared with NAS and another publication in a joint interview last month (February 2021), “Sweeping is generating substantial revenues for us. We have some industrial accounts. Revenues have stayed steady in the sweeping, toilets, and roll-offs. Toilet rental revenues are probably around 18% to 20%. Roll-offs are probably around 11%, and residential trash pickup is about 60%, and sweeping accounts for the rest, about 10% to 11%.” However the numbers are added, American Companies is a major site services business success story. As a result, Gale owns multiple other businesses. His fiancé owns two powersport motorcycle dealerships as well as the Shawnee Mission Cycle Plaza. Gale also owns Holsman Classic Cars. He also likes his race car and offshore race boat and has a ranch with nearly 60 horses.
HOLSMAN’S AMERICAN COMPANIES FUTURE PLANNING
Asked if strategic future planning is different in the wake of 2020, Gale said that naturally, his future planning takes into consideration potential future impacts to growth from external causes. Apropo to the topic, during our interview, Kansas City, along with much of the rest of the United States was frozen in subzero temperatures and buried under deep snow, which was causing slowdowns throughout the KC metro, including for his crews.
Gale is focused on his company’s year-round commitment to service as the major approach to growth.
Gale offers a word of advice to aspiring new market AMERICAN COMPANIES QUALITY SYSTEMS entrants, “This is why diversifying your company into In the February joint interview, we asked Gale if his multiple revenue streams is management team maintains imperative for a company in ...his team is very any sort of personal contact with our industry. This time of year customers to gauge satisfaction is when you would consider committed to handling with service quality. Gale responded, having a snow removal and customers’ needs “That’s what keeps our service level deice service.” up in our sweeping company. We But, Gale is focused on with great care, and always want to check-in.” his company’s year-round he credited their efforts He went on to say that his team commitment to service as the is very committed to handling major approach to growth. with the company’s strong customers’ needs with great care, As he had stated in a 2018 customer retention... and he credited their efforts with the interview, “We spend our time company’s strong customer retention on account retention. We want and with his own sense of confidence to provide the best service so that our clients have no in their abilities to take the company on to a successful reason to go to our competitors.” future through their quality efforts.
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MARKETING AND SALES AT AMERICAN, KC company top of the public mind. Word-of-mouth between KC business managers is The company’s sales reps bid on new jobs for one of American Companies’ primary sources of new municipal street sweeping contracts, events, and others. customers, Gale explained. He added that being known Altogether, American appears to maintain a more robust in the market for such a long time organically brings sales and advertising program than almost any other new customers through successful power sweeping referrals and by people just ...the company’s website business whose operator we’ve talking to others about their interviewed over the past several experience as a customer of the is a major source of new years. company. business ... it’s like having A FEW WORDS FROM Gale also said the company’s AND ABOUT PORTABLE website is a major source of salespeople on duty RESTROOM RENTAL INDUSTRY new business for the company. round the clock. AUTHORITY GALE HOLSMAN, He said it’s like having KANSAS CITY, MO salespeople on duty round the Gale’s takeaway message for clock. Shannon Holsman Lock, Gale’s daughter, is the new peer business owners is not to fear charging what company’s Marketing Director. She does all the design you need to charge for your services. He emphasizes and programming for the website and manages Total the basic reasoning that if you don’t get paid what you Venues, one of Gale’s other companies. They also run need, then you cannot hire good workers and deliver TV and radio ads and even rent billboards, to keep the good service, which means your customers can’t keep
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Model 600 Illustration doing business with you and your business will fail. We’ll add a few words here about another principle to mold your business management philosophy, based on our observations of Gale Holsman’s way of doing business. In addition to charging enough to stay afloat, it seems clear enough that It also appears to have a strong philosophy about just treating people well. He brings a positive way of communicating and nurturing the atmospherics around him that is contagious. In fact, the American Companies owner appears to have built a brand over these past 37 years on just being himself: very kind, respectful, relaxed, funny, happy, friendly — just humble and down-to-earth... It’s no wonder that Gale Holsman is sought for inspirational speaking to groups in the power sweeping industry and others throughout the U.S. Further, his encouraging, uplifting approach is bound to have added great power to his effectiveness as a change agent in both his B2B site services consumer market environment and the KC employment market throughout his entrepreneurial career.
For more information about American Sweeping, Inc., or American Companies, Inc. visit americancompanieskc.com..
