August 8, 2024 • 38 mins
This episode of ToiletTalk is all about differentiating your portable restroom business by building a unique brand.
Matt Vetter is the owner of Tushee's Portable Toilets and our guest speaker. He’s clearly created a very unique brand with his branding and Marty persona, so let’s jump in and learn about Tushee’s Portable Toilets and has one of the best phone numbers we've seen, 855-Pee-Poop.
Tushee's approach to branding and marketing their portable sanitation business is quite unique and in this episode, Matt introduces us to Marty, the mascot of Tushee's, and shares how they built a unique brand.
Be sure to check out Tushee's Portable Toilet's Instagram page if you're ready to 😂 😂 😂!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
What's up guys? This episode of Toilet Talk is all about creating a unique brand for your portable sanitation business. And today we're welcoming Matt Vetter from Tiffany's portable toilets at a Maryland. And he has created a very unique brand. And they've even created a mascot of sorts named Mardi. And I'm just going to run a quick clip here to give you a taste of Mardi.
(00:20):
If you want the best spot to squat. Call 855 poop if you want a fresh pot. 855 poop. You want a clean pop, pop, pop. We have 125 brand new potties ready for your tushy. Eight five pop poop. You could be the first person to pee or poop in one of these. That's like get Willy Wonka's gold ticket.
Here's my brand new potties for you. I am Marty, Marty loves you and he loves your tushy. Turn around. Let me see that time, pop. So clearly, they've created a unique brand for their portable toilet business. And I want to ask Matt some questions that will help you make a unique brand for yours.
(01:00):
And tell.
Around. And welcome everyone to this episode of Toilet Talk. As you can see, we're we're just a little different today because we've got a special guest. Mr.. Marty, welcome to the toilet talk stage. How's it going? I think it's real good. Real good. Thanks for having me. glad to be here, man. I'm excited for this one, because, you know, this is not Marty.
(01:30):
This is Marty as a persona. And this is Mr. Matt Vetter. he owns tissues and portable restroom business out of Maryland, and he's created this awesome persona named Marty. And so, if you all don't mind, we're going to stay in this garb and do this interview this way, but not just. Thanks so much for coming to Toilet talk.
We're happy to have you. And let's start at the beginning. How did you get into the Porta-potty rental business? All right. So I'll answer Matt. This one. Alex Woodall, the big cat, our business partner. you know, he had just graduated from Towson University playing lacrosse there. just tearing it up. Was, playing also professionally in the MLS, and.
(02:17):
Yeah, he wanted to start his own business. he knew a lot of business owners. And you know, he wasn't something to call his own that he could take pride in. And so he was, you know, trying to figure it out and process of elimination of what he is good at and not good at, and where he would fit in in the world.
He was, he was hammered drunk. Firefly Festival in Delaware saw a whole mess of parts. And he said, you know what? The guy who owns that business is making bank. And he then came to, my brothers and I, and, you know, we did do, a little market research into, you know, porta potties because, you know, we had come from salad dressing and doing salad.
(03:05):
So this was not in our wheelhouse, but it actually works great for me operationally. You know, I've been doing operations for over 15 years now. So, as this is Alex's first real job, you know, it's been easy for me to, you know, help him, you know, and teach him the things I struggled on 15 years ago. So it's been a cool experience so far.
(03:31):
That's awesome. can you tell us a little bit more about the like, what specifically did you do research wise for? You know, the market in general in that area that, you know, was an underserved crowd? And how did you know that this was something you guys can play seeking? Yeah. We, we just looked into kind of like the unit economics of it all.
(03:53):
And that's where it all is, is, you know, the more pops you got, you know, you're going to make margin on, so, you know, how do you run, logistically an efficient company, keep your overhead down. you know, be flexible and, you know, just really try to control those that your overhead costs, which are pretty straightforward.
(04:15):
And there's a lot of great people, they're part of Facebook groups and stuff. And I know Alex is, joined a bunch of those. So to everybody that's helped. Thank you. and is interesting, one person put together his unit economics to serve as a party monthly. So we base some decisions, on that too. And so, like, okay, you know, if we're charging for X and here's our monthly cost and this works.
(04:42):
Yeah. Very simple math. So it worked. just a curiosity. How many porta potties did you start with? So we start our first purchase was let's see here. We did that in waves. So we did 20 parties. First, then we did 60, then we did another round. So then we quickly got, like over 100 and then, we had some bigger.
(05:11):
We partnered with Corgan Sports Group. shout out to Ryan. Corgan was and Derek, so, you know, we actually did a lot of our, purchasing based on their event. So as we were getting ready for their bigger events, we started adding more to the inventory. and then Alex's job, every time we get a wave of parties in was go sell them and get them, you know, the long term construction rentals.
(05:38):
I'm sure as time went on, it gave you more confidence to when, you know, starting off from 20. But then every time you buy a purchase, just more and more confidence because from what we've heard, what we see with our customers is, you know, if you have them, they will come. Is that true for you as well?
Yeah. You know, it is funny, our phone number eight of our people, you know, it, people call it, you know, one of the first phone calls we got in, somebody saw Alex driving the tissues truck down the road, and they're like, oh, I need a porta potty. And then they read our phone number and this code.
(06:14):
842 and they're like, I have to call them. And, yeah. So we've definitely gotten a lot of those phone calls, which is great because that's what we want. That's the goal. That's why it's. I just love that so much. And I like when Marty says it even better. But so your marketing is super creative and that's, you know, really the the main topic today is how do you know how to porta potty?
(06:39):
restroom rental owners, how do they market their business in a unique way? Because every, you know, they're out there. And how do you differentiate yourself that way when you're driving down the road and you see eight, five, five people, which is, you know, the best thing ever, they're probably going to call you. And not just that you don't have just great number, you have great, like look graphic wise, great website like, and then you've created this Marty persona which anyone that is watching this, I'm going to put a link below, to to his, YouTube page, watch some of their videos and you're going to die laughing just like all of us have.
(07:18):
but can you tell us, like, you know, how did you how did you come up with, like, humor would be the tone of your brand? Yeah, it's porta potty. So of course, once you like, once the idea of starting a porta potty business, you know, goes into your brain. you just start noticing every porta potty there is, right?
(07:40):
You have, like, a porta potty center. Like there's a porta potty, there's a port a potty, and you just start seeing them all of a sudden. And so, you know, you just take notes of what's out there. And we wanted to differentiate ourselves and have fun and be loud and, you know, that's just kind of us in a nutshell.
But it's like you got a porta potty business. Like, how do you create a brand around that? And the basics were bright colors, a lot of fun. And then, you know, my brother Greg came up with the phone number eight, five people. And, so, like, my brother Greg came up with all, you know, the color schemes and designs.
(08:18):
And we have a full time graphic guide. go, go shout out to go go, Mo. So he does all of the, you know, him and Greg and Mo together are a deadly combo. So they just work hand in hand and come up with all this stuff. As Greg tells Mo, his first ten drafts are shit. And, but, you know, gets it to where it needs to be every time.
No, he does a great job. He does all the good videos too. He records them, there's any special effects? There was one video, just lightning strikes. That was cool. We got to finish that video. but, yeah, the color scheme was the big thing, right? Not many people have orange bodies in this area. with the light blue accent and the name touches.
(09:01):
You know, you got to give those guys credit for all that. And the phone number eight pop up. Boom. All right. It's much better than you know. We did look at what other people with phone numbers were and were like this ad, this is I remember Greg's like, this is the most important part of all of this is the phone number.
Yeah. That's so well and it Marty's job is just to burn it into your soul. And for some people. Yeah, the the branding is so good because like I said, bright colors. And some of our customers have caught on to that. And, you know, it's just amazing when you see, like, like you said, you start seeing porta potties everywhere when you get in this industry.
(09:41):
We're driving around the gray ones or the ones that are just like, you know, a little more muted. You don't notice them. But you're guys I mean, it's a rolling billboard going down the street. So tell us about this Marty persona. How did you come up with that. And maybe you could switch to Marty for a second here and just answer in his his tone.
Yeah, Marty's been around for a while. Long time. He's, first came out to his wife, Crystal. in my family, I was doing some Marty the meteorologists videos for them. Really? you know, honing my craft in behind the scenes. I was running, manufacturing plant in Essex, Maryland for 15 years with Ronnie, Donny and Scott and, you know, the old stones and natty bows, as gay ravens on.
(10:30):
yeah, Baltimore's got its. And little accent there. More of a twang with the, hard. but then, I also had a college roommate named dirt. He was a little redneck, and, just for mastering it. And, here we are today, and it's just fully come alive and, but, yeah, when we decide to start pitches, we're like, Marty has to be the face of it.
(10:58):
So, yeah. I love it. It's so good and so memorable. That's the thing is, like, if I've had people, it's super memorable. You know, like, you see, I remember back in college there was a number, I grew up in Florida, and there's a number, like, it's all sevens. Get you a ride home. Before there was Uber, if you had a little too much to drink and, you see eight, five people that's just in your head, like, I don't even need a party.
(11:22):
But I remember your number all the time. And then, Marty, like, you're going to have people talking about it, obviously, like we when we discovered you guys before you became a customer, I think it got passed around our company and everyone had a laugh. So really nice job in the Marty persona. But yeah, it's like you want to create things that.
Yeah, that are memorable, right? Yeah. And you know, bring attention to it. And it's like porta potties, right? Like it's just not something you think about every day. And it's not, you know, sexy as like, you know, people want to be in these sexy industries, but you know, this this is, very simple industry. Everybody poops, everybody pees.
(12:03):
they're a necessity. and it just makes sense. Like. And I'm sure, you know, there's just a lot of great people in this industry who just, you know, kind of simply it to. It's like every, you know, everybody groups. And, you know, I'll take advantage of that. I'll do the dirty jobs and, you know, hats off. Hats off to the porta potty.
(12:23):
Kings and queens out there. But, so let's talk about some of the different ways that you guys market your business. so like, you know, what do you guys do? Like, give me a rundown of the different channels. Yeah. So a lot of this is through Instagram and then word of mouth, a lot of just relationships, social capital is important, and we have a lot.
(12:49):
If you look at our potties on the map, it's like Annapolis is our that's our stomping ground. And everybody knows the big cat. You know, Alex played lacrosse at Saint Mary's too. And he led them to mid championship, which is like a very big deal. And everybody knows the big cat, right? Everybody wants to be friends with the big cat.
And Alex is a very sweet person too. So, you know, he's just, he's out there in the streets cold calling people and showing up at the offices just, you know, I think it's important to with him. You you're the business owner. You're walking into the building, you're meeting people, you're shaking hands, you know, they get the oh, hey, I'm a small business owner, like, you know, support me.
(13:32):
So it's pretty cool that so many people have been willing to give him the chance when he walks in the door. That's awesome. you know, we hear that a lot. It's like the relationships in this industry are what will make or break you. And if you, you know, you have the marketing on top of that. So there's the relationship.
But then they're seeing something. And if you can get in a laugh, these are just all pluses. on top of that, whether you know, when you're, when you're going out there has the brand recognition caught on where, you know, humor has helped you land customers? Yeah. So the main goal with all of it, again, is just that people call eight, five, five people, and Marty is just a mechanism to deliver that.
(14:15):
And, you know, I want to haunt your dreams of Marty and eight people, right? And it's funny because friends kids are sending us videos of their kids going, if other people, you know, they're just it's just like it's when kids catch on to it and like, it sticks with kids, like, you know, you're on to something. so again, the main goal here is to, I would say Marty's.
(14:41):
It's a treat on top like it. And it just has drawn attention to us. And it's interesting because now we're getting, you know, people reaching out to us too from like, you know, the private equity world and they're expressing interest in, you know, joining us. and you know, they love the brand. So like from that perspective to people see the, the opportunity and, how this could scale and that, you know, that's part of our goal too, is like, we're not doing this just to be, you know, some small, cute regional player.
(15:16):
We're going big. Nice. I'm glad you said that because a lot of customers that are of service core, you know, they're either thinking about, acquiring other businesses to expand their service area. They are thinking about selling their business because they might, you know, might be at the end of the road. And they want to they want to go get more capital or just, you know, leave a legacy for their family, things like that.
(15:42):
But what's really interesting is what you said about, you know, private equity looks at you and they like the whole package. It's not just, okay, there's a porta-potty business that's doing well on paper. there's a couple of things here you can share that you're doing well on paper because you've crossed the chasm of using service core and using any software that can actually track things.
So that's a big one. We hear from our friends at Fancy Advisors, Damon Powell on the guys. And they're they're helping people buy and sell. If you don't, spreadsheets and pen and paper, really hard to get a good valuation. But if it's in the system that's reliable, you could just spit out a report super good. But you've also wrapped it in this brand that is super attractive too.
(16:23):
So I think you've you've got like a home run in because you've done all the things. Well, not just one of them. Yeah. For the first six months we had a rental software that was not the right software for us. And, you know, it became very apparent very quickly with billing and everything and invoicing that I was like, this is going to be a shit show.
(16:47):
if we don't fix this and Alex, Facebook groups, you know, a lot of people were using service core came highly recommended. So, you know, we made the switch as quick as we could. So we're fully up and running. And, you know, it's actually funny when I think about our growth rate, part of it will be just growing pushes and buying parties.
(17:08):
But we are gonna do just that. And just, you know, people that are looking to get out of the industry, call it off. I'll be Boop. Let me know. You know, we are we do have big, aspirations. And, you know, owning our market and then expanding. You know, there's a actually had some, a p guy tell me, the global porta potty market, and it's.
(17:32):
He thinks it's like a $10 billion market, and. Right. So it's just not the US either. So, but leaving a legacy to, you know, for people to be able to build a company and cash out like, that's the dream, right? So it's just like when you do find the right partner to grow and you know, it will be somebody else's American dream as well, where, you know, not every business story ends with, you know, pot of gold at the end.
(17:58):
So to be able to, yeah, do that blue collar job and work so hard for so long and then cash out just, your guy, if you do and you're already using service for. So it's just like, that's just easy. That's easy money right there for everybody. I like that, yeah. Call if you want to sell your business to Mister better here.
(18:23):
so I'll give you my. so, you know, what would you say to, pro that relies solely on word of mouth like that? They're like, paid, service. the parts we we give good customer service, and that's all I rely on. They don't market their business at all. Yeah, I think there's so many little things you can do nowadays.
(18:45):
And, like, I just set us up with, like a Google business profile, because if you type in porta-potty rentals in Google, which everybody does right, like if you want, hey, I need a new face cream. Ten different sponsored ads are popping up. And like, then you get to the ones you're actually looking for. But like if you do that in your market and say, all right, porta potty, porta potty rental near me, we didn't pop up.
(19:16):
And that was a big problem for me as a just like as a consumer as well. Like I want the experience to be great for people. So like we just have the business profile. So we're on the map. We're now running the ads. we're testing that out to see because it's like that can get pricey, from a monthly perspective.
(19:37):
But, you know, somebody actually solid. We just post a Google ad and somebody just sent me a, literally like a rack for a job in California. And I was like, how did you hear about us? And they're like, Google listing. And I'm like, why? Like I didn't, you know, I only clicked on our market for now, target people.
(19:57):
So, you know, I think that's one social media just connecting with people. And like, you know, even if you're just like behind the scenes of, you know, just showing you work and your team, your staff, people love that. Like people love seeing what's going on. And you know, what's actually required to operate this business. So, you know, there's definitely opportunities all over if you just get creative and are willing to embarrass yourself a little bit on the camera.
(20:26):
But I think I think it also humanizes your business when you show the people that work there, and even if it's in a funny way. But, one of your videos, I think you pull up to, you know, a big cat and he looks pretty angry that you're you're trying to mess with them, but then you get even get him to laugh because you brought him a Snickers bar.
So just that kind of stuff, like, if you know that there's real humans behind the lens that are actually, you know, these are these are people that don't clearly don't take themselves too seriously. I think most people in this age, like, I'm going to work with those guys. You know? Yeah, I mean, we're we're hiring. So anybody in the Maryland area that needs a job looking to be a driver, let me know.
(21:06):
yeah. We're having fun and we have a good little team right now. And, you know, we got great driver. Mike. We got Charles in the yard. Alex. Me, we have my dad, who is his shop is right. Is basically surrounded by porta potties now on the farm. And, you know, he's basically our mechanics. you know, if we have a problem, if I can't solve it, it's like, hey, dad, you know?
(21:37):
So he always he'll always drop what he's doing to help us. So, you know, it is. He's he's my, secret weapon to deal with on the maintenance side. That's awesome. It's always good to have a family mechanic, that's for sure. And someone with the room to put your property bodies even better. one thing you said struck me because it's a good tip for anyone listening.
(21:59):
you mentioned your Google business profile, and you're saying you weren't coming up before. A lot of people don't realize that that profile. We have a web team that helps folks. If you fill that out to the fullest, you put as many pictures as you can on there. You know, all the your hours, you're making sure you stay up on the holidays and things like that, as well as you can upload videos there, which people don't, don't know.
(22:20):
You could put, you know, testimonials from your own customers and more so that it is the more Google loves it because it's content and then you will actually see yourself over time. It doesn't happen right away. Start to rise up in that search results. Yeah. As I got it going on day one, I looked at the ad strength and just said poor.
Yeah, and right, I didn't not like I haven't been able to link the YouTube yet. there's still a lot of like low hanging fruit. because yeah, they give you the framework to really maximize it. And once you hit that, then you're, you know, I think they optimize you because like, also like you can filter by five star reviews.
(23:01):
So, you know, it is important to have your customers go on there and do reviews like we did ask, you know, our customers and you know, anybody that's, use the product. They use the touches at an event like, hey, leave us a review. And a bunch of people did right away. So that was cool. and if you put, a picture in your review that shows up in the Google like, photos, like our buddy John Downes, was at an event that we were the porta potty for, and he took a picture in front of it and he put it on the review, and that was like, if he Google tissues, it
(23:39):
was his face that popped up for a day. So money. so yeah, that's that's important. And you can't sleep on it. You got to do it. And, you know, I'm glad we finally got that done. And now it's like getting everything to optimize and link YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, all of it connected. So it's all, you know, if I post something on Instagram, it's going across the board.
(24:03):
And, you know, maybe you're a YouTube YouTube person versus an Instagram person. I don't know. but just make it accessible to everybody. Yeah, yeah. It's it's the thing that some of us talk about on the, you know, I'm, I'm the head of marketing. So I think about marketing stuff all the time. And with our customers we think about like how easy it can be to get above your competition because people aren't thinking like you are about no one does ads.
(24:32):
Like you're the first person that actually heard that does it. Other other people are, relying on a reseller who's buying the ads and the broker and then selling you the that lead. But if you were to bid on your own, you might actually be able to get, you know, more business for yourself instead of having to rebuy it.
Nothing against brokers. I know people use them, but, that's just one method that they use because they know that property owners don't usually, spend money on PPC, so they're able to easily go spend a little money and sell you that lead. So just a pro tip there. Yeah. And it was like it was a lot to get it all set up.
(25:08):
Like I told you like probably three different, sessions of, like, blocking out 4 to 5 hours just to commit to it because it's like if something's not right or formatting properly, like the photos have to be formatted and it's just like, if not that nothing works and you're like, do not pass code, you can't move forward. And you're like, I gotta fix this, this and this, and I'll come back later and keep it rolling so I could, you know?
(25:38):
Yeah, that's why people have those types of service industries. you know, to simplify it for you, I just I'm stubborn, so I figured it out on my own. Nice. Well, you're taking advantage of it, and that's a good thing. so one thing we hear a lot in this industry is, you know, when we ask, like, why do people buy or rent from you guys versus others?
(25:58):
And literally I could ask everyone and I can ask your competitors, they say the same thing. It's our customer service, our customer service. We're the best that customers service. And that's why we did hashtag be better than the best because we get about it. But if you know, customer service is such a big thing, how do you guys show that with your marketing?
Yeah. Well, the good news is most of our I mean, the majority of our parties are all brand new. So, you know, you walk into a brand new party versus one that's been in circulation for ten years. You know, it's just there's wear and tear on it. So it's like we've been able to come on the scene with, you know, our first hundred or 150 parties were bright orange.
(26:39):
Brand new parties like that caught people's attention. And then there was, you know, again, it's been Alex for so long, literally playing them themselves. So you're literally getting the, you know, if he's a ten out of ten, you're getting that level of service because he's the owner. He cares. Right. And then he trained Mike, our first driver, who was, you know, keeping that standard up.
(27:03):
But I think a big thing too, is just having that dialog with your customers. Like if you need anything, if like something's wrong, like, call me, like we'll always make it right. Like, yeah, there's been times where people are like, hey, we're going to assign service to this because I need that service. And it's like, oh, your services today in one hour, right?
(27:26):
Like you're on the schedule for today. So like, yeah, you're due for it. So it's like we'll be there, you know, and give them that very, you know, open us communication and real time. And it's like, you know, we try to again it's always make it right if a customer has an issue. Nice. when have you taken advantage of.
(27:48):
You know, what we hear sometimes is especially in construction sites or at events too, you, you know, the person that's renting for that event or for that construction business, they, you know, they want to go with X amount of toilets. And you guys might know that it's like, boom, how many people you got on the job or how many people are going to be drinking at that event.
You know, it might not be enough. Have you used, you know, taking pictures or whatever inside a service core to show someone like, hey, you actually need more service more frequently, or you need to order a couple more pots. Yeah, especially on the event side. You know, we have a decent understanding now of like, events. And, you know, somebody will call and like, hey, I need one party.
(28:32):
And then I'm like, how many people are coming in there? Like 100? I'm like, that's not going to work. And they're like, oh, you know. So it's like you do try to just talk people through that ahead of time. But like, even, you know, the events, it's hard to gauge those sometimes. And like the bigger events where it's like you can show up with 150 parties, but there's still lines, especially like the on the runs because like, there's that mad rush before everybody's got to go right before and everyone's getting warmed up and everything's moving and, you know, but then it's a ghost town in the afternoon.
(29:10):
So it's just like, you know, also where you're putting your party strategically, is a big piece as well. But, yeah, taking pictures, utilizing service corps. We're actually now finally, got our UPC codes up and running, so every party will have a barcode on it, which will be great. So he can scan that and then we'll have the alerts going as well.
(29:32):
when it's done for the customers. That's awesome. I was thinking about myself. I'm a runner. I was thinking about if I was standing at the start line and I saw if five people, I would probably take a selfie with your with your birthday party in the background, because it's just so funny. So that's, just such a cool brand.
going back to social media for a second, because when we talk about social media on this, on this podcast, a lot of people like it's one of our more popular ones. And, you know, everyone wants to do it, but they just don't know what they're doing. I think sometimes, or it's intimidating knowing where to start. But can you tell us a little bit about, like, which channels have you seen better success?
(30:12):
and you know, how much time commitment do you spend on social media? Yeah, I mean, we've started with Instagram, just because we're posting funny videos. And that was just like, I feel like for me, Instagram and your iPhone just be able to like, take a video, upload it real quick and you know, because like, for me especially like I'm not very good at being funny unless I want to be funny in that moment, right?
(30:39):
Nobody can say, hey, tell me a joke or like dance Monkey. I'm just like, frig off. so when the Mardi moment hits me and I come up with an idea I just have, I like, impulsively have to do it right there and then. So Instagram's been the best ones, except for at most of editing the videos. Then, you know, we take our time with it, like the lacrosse, ad that we did our first formal ad.
(31:06):
you know, he he actually thought about that whole script and like, how it was going to be cut up. So was cool to be a part of the filming process for that and see his creative, you know, thought process, like behind the scenes, like, I'm not an actor, I don't write, I don't act, I do Marty and like but to see like him actually put that together with such skill on this is like this is and then to see the end product, it's like, wow, that's amazing what he just did.
(31:34):
Is that something that helped you land some more of those, event jobs or like when you teamed up with, I'm sorry, I don't remember the company name that you teamed up with that has the outdoor events. Yeah, called in sports Group. so that actually. Alex. What? All cold call them at the right place at the right time, right in the very beginning.
(31:57):
And they actually, they knew who the big cat was. And, because the core group, they also do a lot of lacrosse games. So they're very involved in runs. They do the Bay bridge Run, the Baltimore Marathon, the Annapolis Writing Festival. But they've created this whole lacrosse campaign to, they do all the Under Armor All-American games. and they've just been doing these series where, you know, I was, Notre Dame, Cornell on Long Island on ESPN and Hershey's dad ran.
(32:30):
But, you know, they love it because we've been able to service their account very well. And then they love the Marty persona. So they we have an open invite with them where it's like, whoever you need us to connect, you with that we know that do. Then when you're ready, you know, let us know. So it's just like we've been building great relationships.
(32:52):
Everything's, you know, the Marty persona is funny, and, Yeah, it's it's like. It's like that cherry on top. That's really cool. Great. Well, you just explain there. If you think about someone that's not marketing their business, that doesn't have a unique brand, that wouldn't have happened. So like, you got in because of another name recognition or, you know, his his personal brand as a, as an athlete, then it moves into the brand as a company.
(33:18):
And especially if you're seeing those things on ESPN like congrats, that's awesome. Yeah, it was pretty wild to see Marty on ESPN. I was I was laying on the couch with my son and he lost it. He's a he was just like, what? Why do I feel like you need to be on College GameDay coming up here soon this season for sure.
(33:42):
So it's it's actually funny you say that because Brian Corrigan and I have talked about that we are going to have a lacrosse, lacrosse college game day and we're going to have a panel. And Marty was going to be on there with a few other people, you know, some big lacrosse personalities. yeah. You know, I can talk all day with this accent, so, hey, no problem.
(34:06):
I'm a big lacrosse fan, lacrosse nerd here. Okay. Favorite team? Twin Tigers, Sean Allen. Best coach ever. Okay. Tigers. Well, when that comes out, we're definitely going to, you know, have a launch party at our office. Yeah. All right. Last question for you, Mr.. Matt. what advice would you give to a pro that's trying to create a unique brand?
(34:32):
But, you know, they don't know where to start or.
where to start? You know, I do think this industry is very receptive and helpful to each other. And I know Alex has gotten a lot of help since reaching out to other business owners, and he's learned so much from there. So it's like, I would say, reach out to the the Porta-potty network, build your network, see what's going on, see what works.
(35:01):
you know, I think there's a lot of people that are willing to help. And then I think you just got to understand your, your own personality and how, like, how do you want to market it? Because there's a lot of different ways to market a porta potty. you know, when you think about when I think about all the different parties in this market, like there's no rhyme or reason to any of the names, any of the, you know, except for.
(35:28):
Right. Like, there's Bobby's parties, so, you know, his name is Bobby. It's like Bobby's parties that works. You know, it has a good ring to. It works. There is, there's a lot on the Eastern Shore. A one like, I don't know, a one means. But sure, it means that you show up first if you read in the white pages or with all the other ones or family.
(35:54):
Actually, yes, that is actually I totally. Yeah. We're way past the, the white pages, but no, you get you make it a one more. Right? You're the first thing to pop up. So yeah. See a want look me up and by me in the phone book. yeah. I think you know what? You're somewhere. You said there is really about discovering.
(36:18):
First off, ask yourself, like, who are we as a brand? You want to be known for customer service. Put that as your, you know, like make that your brand. If you want to be. Use humor as you guys have like you put that as your brand. But I think you have to think about like, who do we want to be known for and how are we going to attack this market before you, just kind of like have, you know, like, hey, let's make a company name.
(36:40):
And that's our brand. Well, that's not really your brand. Your brand is your drivers on the road and how they interact with people. Your brand is your phone number. Your brand is your website. When they hit it. Your brand is how you answer the phone. Your brand is how you talk to people when you're making their sales. So, I think there's, you know, would you agree that there's a lot to think about before you, you know, you have to get those down on paper before you kind of this is who we are.
(37:03):
Yeah. Especially in the porta-potty industry, too. It's like those are all company culture matters. Like who you're hiring, like who servicing your parties. Do they care? Right. Because it's like that's at the end of the day. That's where it is. Like if you have somebody that doesn't care about your business for you and you know, are getting a half assed job, like your quality is going to go down like you need people that care, like we have a guy in our yard chances that dude cares.
(37:32):
Like it's so amazing. Like he is a ray of sunshine every day. And like, I'm glad we like we're blessed to have Chucky on our team. And he details those things when they come back. You know, he loves cleaning. He's just out there getting it. It's great. We share that same, sentiment because one of our core values is give a shit, pun intended, but not shoot right.
(37:55):
People like you're saying, if your drivers give a shit when you're out there on the road, there it is. And it got to give shit. Marty, those biceps are looking nice. A big lift this morning for you. I almost did this whole interview shirtless. I thought about it. Just gold chain and my testicles out. Well, we're we're a little sad that that didn't happen for some viewers, but others were happy and I'm sure I'll see what we get.
(38:20):
All right, Marty, now I want to thank both Marty and Matt for being on this tour that talks. this was a big, big, big interview. And so I just want to thank you so much. Yeah, I'd say it was a big success. Went real well. Felt good, felt real good. So, you know, if you need the best spot to squat, you call.
If I have a big boat, that's a good way to land this plane. Thank you all.
(38:49):
Thanks.
What's up guys? This episode of Toilet Talk is all about creating a unique brand for your portable sanitation business. And today we're welcoming Matt Vetter from Tiffany's portable toilets at a Maryland. And he has created a very unique brand. And they've even created a mascot of sorts named Mardi. And I'm just going to run a quick clip here to give you a taste of Mardi.
(00:20):
If you want the best spot to squat. Call 855 poop if you want a fresh pot. 855 poop. You want a clean pop, pop, pop. We have 125 brand new potties ready for your tushy. Eight five pop poop. You could be the first person to pee or poop in one of these. That's like get Willy Wonka's gold ticket.
Here's my brand new potties for you. I am Marty, Marty loves you and he loves your tushy. Turn around. Let me see that time, pop. So clearly, they've created a unique brand for their portable toilet business. And I want to ask Matt some questions that will help you make a unique brand for yours.
(01:00):
And tell.
Around. And welcome everyone to this episode of Toilet Talk. As you can see, we're we're just a little different today because we've got a special guest. Mr.. Marty, welcome to the toilet talk stage. How's it going? I think it's real good. Real good. Thanks for having me. glad to be here, man. I'm excited for this one, because, you know, this is not Marty.
(01:30):
This is Marty as a persona. And this is Mr. Matt Vetter. he owns tissues and portable restroom business out of Maryland, and he's created this awesome persona named Marty. And so, if you all don't mind, we're going to stay in this garb and do this interview this way, but not just. Thanks so much for coming to Toilet talk.
We're happy to have you. And let's start at the beginning. How did you get into the Porta-potty rental business? All right. So I'll answer Matt. This one. Alex Woodall, the big cat, our business partner. you know, he had just graduated from Towson University playing lacrosse there. just tearing it up. Was, playing also professionally in the MLS, and.
(02:17):
Yeah, he wanted to start his own business. he knew a lot of business owners. And you know, he wasn't something to call his own that he could take pride in. And so he was, you know, trying to figure it out and process of elimination of what he is good at and not good at, and where he would fit in in the world.
He was, he was hammered drunk. Firefly Festival in Delaware saw a whole mess of parts. And he said, you know what? The guy who owns that business is making bank. And he then came to, my brothers and I, and, you know, we did do, a little market research into, you know, porta potties because, you know, we had come from salad dressing and doing salad.
(03:05):
So this was not in our wheelhouse, but it actually works great for me operationally. You know, I've been doing operations for over 15 years now. So, as this is Alex's first real job, you know, it's been easy for me to, you know, help him, you know, and teach him the things I struggled on 15 years ago. So it's been a cool experience so far.
(03:31):
That's awesome. can you tell us a little bit more about the like, what specifically did you do research wise for? You know, the market in general in that area that, you know, was an underserved crowd? And how did you know that this was something you guys can play seeking? Yeah. We, we just looked into kind of like the unit economics of it all.
(03:53):
And that's where it all is, is, you know, the more pops you got, you know, you're going to make margin on, so, you know, how do you run, logistically an efficient company, keep your overhead down. you know, be flexible and, you know, just really try to control those that your overhead costs, which are pretty straightforward.
(04:15):
And there's a lot of great people, they're part of Facebook groups and stuff. And I know Alex is, joined a bunch of those. So to everybody that's helped. Thank you. and is interesting, one person put together his unit economics to serve as a party monthly. So we base some decisions, on that too. And so, like, okay, you know, if we're charging for X and here's our monthly cost and this works.
(04:42):
Yeah. Very simple math. So it worked. just a curiosity. How many porta potties did you start with? So we start our first purchase was let's see here. We did that in waves. So we did 20 parties. First, then we did 60, then we did another round. So then we quickly got, like over 100 and then, we had some bigger.
(05:11):
We partnered with Corgan Sports Group. shout out to Ryan. Corgan was and Derek, so, you know, we actually did a lot of our, purchasing based on their event. So as we were getting ready for their bigger events, we started adding more to the inventory. and then Alex's job, every time we get a wave of parties in was go sell them and get them, you know, the long term construction rentals.
(05:38):
I'm sure as time went on, it gave you more confidence to when, you know, starting off from 20. But then every time you buy a purchase, just more and more confidence because from what we've heard, what we see with our customers is, you know, if you have them, they will come. Is that true for you as well?
Yeah. You know, it is funny, our phone number eight of our people, you know, it, people call it, you know, one of the first phone calls we got in, somebody saw Alex driving the tissues truck down the road, and they're like, oh, I need a porta potty. And then they read our phone number and this code.
(06:14):
842 and they're like, I have to call them. And, yeah. So we've definitely gotten a lot of those phone calls, which is great because that's what we want. That's the goal. That's why it's. I just love that so much. And I like when Marty says it even better. But so your marketing is super creative and that's, you know, really the the main topic today is how do you know how to porta potty?
(06:39):
restroom rental owners, how do they market their business in a unique way? Because every, you know, they're out there. And how do you differentiate yourself that way when you're driving down the road and you see eight, five, five people, which is, you know, the best thing ever, they're probably going to call you. And not just that you don't have just great number, you have great, like look graphic wise, great website like, and then you've created this Marty persona which anyone that is watching this, I'm going to put a link below, to to his, YouTube page, watch some of their videos and you're going to die laughing just like all of us have.
(07:18):
but can you tell us, like, you know, how did you how did you come up with, like, humor would be the tone of your brand? Yeah, it's porta potty. So of course, once you like, once the idea of starting a porta potty business, you know, goes into your brain. you just start noticing every porta potty there is, right?
(07:40):
You have, like, a porta potty center. Like there's a porta potty, there's a port a potty, and you just start seeing them all of a sudden. And so, you know, you just take notes of what's out there. And we wanted to differentiate ourselves and have fun and be loud and, you know, that's just kind of us in a nutshell.
But it's like you got a porta potty business. Like, how do you create a brand around that? And the basics were bright colors, a lot of fun. And then, you know, my brother Greg came up with the phone number eight, five people. And, so, like, my brother Greg came up with all, you know, the color schemes and designs.
(08:18):
And we have a full time graphic guide. go, go shout out to go go, Mo. So he does all of the, you know, him and Greg and Mo together are a deadly combo. So they just work hand in hand and come up with all this stuff. As Greg tells Mo, his first ten drafts are shit. And, but, you know, gets it to where it needs to be every time.
No, he does a great job. He does all the good videos too. He records them, there's any special effects? There was one video, just lightning strikes. That was cool. We got to finish that video. but, yeah, the color scheme was the big thing, right? Not many people have orange bodies in this area. with the light blue accent and the name touches.
(09:01):
You know, you got to give those guys credit for all that. And the phone number eight pop up. Boom. All right. It's much better than you know. We did look at what other people with phone numbers were and were like this ad, this is I remember Greg's like, this is the most important part of all of this is the phone number.
Yeah. That's so well and it Marty's job is just to burn it into your soul. And for some people. Yeah, the the branding is so good because like I said, bright colors. And some of our customers have caught on to that. And, you know, it's just amazing when you see, like, like you said, you start seeing porta potties everywhere when you get in this industry.
(09:41):
We're driving around the gray ones or the ones that are just like, you know, a little more muted. You don't notice them. But you're guys I mean, it's a rolling billboard going down the street. So tell us about this Marty persona. How did you come up with that. And maybe you could switch to Marty for a second here and just answer in his his tone.
Yeah, Marty's been around for a while. Long time. He's, first came out to his wife, Crystal. in my family, I was doing some Marty the meteorologists videos for them. Really? you know, honing my craft in behind the scenes. I was running, manufacturing plant in Essex, Maryland for 15 years with Ronnie, Donny and Scott and, you know, the old stones and natty bows, as gay ravens on.
(10:30):
yeah, Baltimore's got its. And little accent there. More of a twang with the, hard. but then, I also had a college roommate named dirt. He was a little redneck, and, just for mastering it. And, here we are today, and it's just fully come alive and, but, yeah, when we decide to start pitches, we're like, Marty has to be the face of it.
(10:58):
So, yeah. I love it. It's so good and so memorable. That's the thing is, like, if I've had people, it's super memorable. You know, like, you see, I remember back in college there was a number, I grew up in Florida, and there's a number, like, it's all sevens. Get you a ride home. Before there was Uber, if you had a little too much to drink and, you see eight, five people that's just in your head, like, I don't even need a party.
(11:22):
But I remember your number all the time. And then, Marty, like, you're going to have people talking about it, obviously, like we when we discovered you guys before you became a customer, I think it got passed around our company and everyone had a laugh. So really nice job in the Marty persona. But yeah, it's like you want to create things that.
Yeah, that are memorable, right? Yeah. And you know, bring attention to it. And it's like porta potties, right? Like it's just not something you think about every day. And it's not, you know, sexy as like, you know, people want to be in these sexy industries, but you know, this this is, very simple industry. Everybody poops, everybody pees.
(12:03):
they're a necessity. and it just makes sense. Like. And I'm sure, you know, there's just a lot of great people in this industry who just, you know, kind of simply it to. It's like every, you know, everybody groups. And, you know, I'll take advantage of that. I'll do the dirty jobs and, you know, hats off. Hats off to the porta potty.
(12:23):
Kings and queens out there. But, so let's talk about some of the different ways that you guys market your business. so like, you know, what do you guys do? Like, give me a rundown of the different channels. Yeah. So a lot of this is through Instagram and then word of mouth, a lot of just relationships, social capital is important, and we have a lot.
(12:49):
If you look at our potties on the map, it's like Annapolis is our that's our stomping ground. And everybody knows the big cat. You know, Alex played lacrosse at Saint Mary's too. And he led them to mid championship, which is like a very big deal. And everybody knows the big cat, right? Everybody wants to be friends with the big cat.
And Alex is a very sweet person too. So, you know, he's just, he's out there in the streets cold calling people and showing up at the offices just, you know, I think it's important to with him. You you're the business owner. You're walking into the building, you're meeting people, you're shaking hands, you know, they get the oh, hey, I'm a small business owner, like, you know, support me.
(13:32):
So it's pretty cool that so many people have been willing to give him the chance when he walks in the door. That's awesome. you know, we hear that a lot. It's like the relationships in this industry are what will make or break you. And if you, you know, you have the marketing on top of that. So there's the relationship.
But then they're seeing something. And if you can get in a laugh, these are just all pluses. on top of that, whether you know, when you're, when you're going out there has the brand recognition caught on where, you know, humor has helped you land customers? Yeah. So the main goal with all of it, again, is just that people call eight, five, five people, and Marty is just a mechanism to deliver that.
(14:15):
And, you know, I want to haunt your dreams of Marty and eight people, right? And it's funny because friends kids are sending us videos of their kids going, if other people, you know, they're just it's just like it's when kids catch on to it and like, it sticks with kids, like, you know, you're on to something. so again, the main goal here is to, I would say Marty's.
(14:41):
It's a treat on top like it. And it just has drawn attention to us. And it's interesting because now we're getting, you know, people reaching out to us too from like, you know, the private equity world and they're expressing interest in, you know, joining us. and you know, they love the brand. So like from that perspective to people see the, the opportunity and, how this could scale and that, you know, that's part of our goal too, is like, we're not doing this just to be, you know, some small, cute regional player.
(15:16):
We're going big. Nice. I'm glad you said that because a lot of customers that are of service core, you know, they're either thinking about, acquiring other businesses to expand their service area. They are thinking about selling their business because they might, you know, might be at the end of the road. And they want to they want to go get more capital or just, you know, leave a legacy for their family, things like that.
(15:42):
But what's really interesting is what you said about, you know, private equity looks at you and they like the whole package. It's not just, okay, there's a porta-potty business that's doing well on paper. there's a couple of things here you can share that you're doing well on paper because you've crossed the chasm of using service core and using any software that can actually track things.
So that's a big one. We hear from our friends at Fancy Advisors, Damon Powell on the guys. And they're they're helping people buy and sell. If you don't, spreadsheets and pen and paper, really hard to get a good valuation. But if it's in the system that's reliable, you could just spit out a report super good. But you've also wrapped it in this brand that is super attractive too.
(16:23):
So I think you've you've got like a home run in because you've done all the things. Well, not just one of them. Yeah. For the first six months we had a rental software that was not the right software for us. And, you know, it became very apparent very quickly with billing and everything and invoicing that I was like, this is going to be a shit show.
(16:47):
if we don't fix this and Alex, Facebook groups, you know, a lot of people were using service core came highly recommended. So, you know, we made the switch as quick as we could. So we're fully up and running. And, you know, it's actually funny when I think about our growth rate, part of it will be just growing pushes and buying parties.
(17:08):
But we are gonna do just that. And just, you know, people that are looking to get out of the industry, call it off. I'll be Boop. Let me know. You know, we are we do have big, aspirations. And, you know, owning our market and then expanding. You know, there's a actually had some, a p guy tell me, the global porta potty market, and it's.
(17:32):
He thinks it's like a $10 billion market, and. Right. So it's just not the US either. So, but leaving a legacy to, you know, for people to be able to build a company and cash out like, that's the dream, right? So it's just like when you do find the right partner to grow and you know, it will be somebody else's American dream as well, where, you know, not every business story ends with, you know, pot of gold at the end.
(17:58):
So to be able to, yeah, do that blue collar job and work so hard for so long and then cash out just, your guy, if you do and you're already using service for. So it's just like, that's just easy. That's easy money right there for everybody. I like that, yeah. Call if you want to sell your business to Mister better here.
(18:23):
so I'll give you my. so, you know, what would you say to, pro that relies solely on word of mouth like that? They're like, paid, service. the parts we we give good customer service, and that's all I rely on. They don't market their business at all. Yeah, I think there's so many little things you can do nowadays.
(18:45):
And, like, I just set us up with, like a Google business profile, because if you type in porta-potty rentals in Google, which everybody does right, like if you want, hey, I need a new face cream. Ten different sponsored ads are popping up. And like, then you get to the ones you're actually looking for. But like if you do that in your market and say, all right, porta potty, porta potty rental near me, we didn't pop up.
(19:16):
And that was a big problem for me as a just like as a consumer as well. Like I want the experience to be great for people. So like we just have the business profile. So we're on the map. We're now running the ads. we're testing that out to see because it's like that can get pricey, from a monthly perspective.
(19:37):
But, you know, somebody actually solid. We just post a Google ad and somebody just sent me a, literally like a rack for a job in California. And I was like, how did you hear about us? And they're like, Google listing. And I'm like, why? Like I didn't, you know, I only clicked on our market for now, target people.
(19:57):
So, you know, I think that's one social media just connecting with people. And like, you know, even if you're just like behind the scenes of, you know, just showing you work and your team, your staff, people love that. Like people love seeing what's going on. And you know, what's actually required to operate this business. So, you know, there's definitely opportunities all over if you just get creative and are willing to embarrass yourself a little bit on the camera.
(20:26):
But I think I think it also humanizes your business when you show the people that work there, and even if it's in a funny way. But, one of your videos, I think you pull up to, you know, a big cat and he looks pretty angry that you're you're trying to mess with them, but then you get even get him to laugh because you brought him a Snickers bar.
So just that kind of stuff, like, if you know that there's real humans behind the lens that are actually, you know, these are these are people that don't clearly don't take themselves too seriously. I think most people in this age, like, I'm going to work with those guys. You know? Yeah, I mean, we're we're hiring. So anybody in the Maryland area that needs a job looking to be a driver, let me know.
(21:06):
yeah. We're having fun and we have a good little team right now. And, you know, we got great driver. Mike. We got Charles in the yard. Alex. Me, we have my dad, who is his shop is right. Is basically surrounded by porta potties now on the farm. And, you know, he's basically our mechanics. you know, if we have a problem, if I can't solve it, it's like, hey, dad, you know?
(21:37):
So he always he'll always drop what he's doing to help us. So, you know, it is. He's he's my, secret weapon to deal with on the maintenance side. That's awesome. It's always good to have a family mechanic, that's for sure. And someone with the room to put your property bodies even better. one thing you said struck me because it's a good tip for anyone listening.
(21:59):
you mentioned your Google business profile, and you're saying you weren't coming up before. A lot of people don't realize that that profile. We have a web team that helps folks. If you fill that out to the fullest, you put as many pictures as you can on there. You know, all the your hours, you're making sure you stay up on the holidays and things like that, as well as you can upload videos there, which people don't, don't know.
(22:20):
You could put, you know, testimonials from your own customers and more so that it is the more Google loves it because it's content and then you will actually see yourself over time. It doesn't happen right away. Start to rise up in that search results. Yeah. As I got it going on day one, I looked at the ad strength and just said poor.
Yeah, and right, I didn't not like I haven't been able to link the YouTube yet. there's still a lot of like low hanging fruit. because yeah, they give you the framework to really maximize it. And once you hit that, then you're, you know, I think they optimize you because like, also like you can filter by five star reviews.
(23:01):
So, you know, it is important to have your customers go on there and do reviews like we did ask, you know, our customers and you know, anybody that's, use the product. They use the touches at an event like, hey, leave us a review. And a bunch of people did right away. So that was cool. and if you put, a picture in your review that shows up in the Google like, photos, like our buddy John Downes, was at an event that we were the porta potty for, and he took a picture in front of it and he put it on the review, and that was like, if he Google tissues, it
(23:39):
was his face that popped up for a day. So money. so yeah, that's that's important. And you can't sleep on it. You got to do it. And, you know, I'm glad we finally got that done. And now it's like getting everything to optimize and link YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, all of it connected. So it's all, you know, if I post something on Instagram, it's going across the board.
(24:03):
And, you know, maybe you're a YouTube YouTube person versus an Instagram person. I don't know. but just make it accessible to everybody. Yeah, yeah. It's it's the thing that some of us talk about on the, you know, I'm, I'm the head of marketing. So I think about marketing stuff all the time. And with our customers we think about like how easy it can be to get above your competition because people aren't thinking like you are about no one does ads.
(24:32):
Like you're the first person that actually heard that does it. Other other people are, relying on a reseller who's buying the ads and the broker and then selling you the that lead. But if you were to bid on your own, you might actually be able to get, you know, more business for yourself instead of having to rebuy it.
Nothing against brokers. I know people use them, but, that's just one method that they use because they know that property owners don't usually, spend money on PPC, so they're able to easily go spend a little money and sell you that lead. So just a pro tip there. Yeah. And it was like it was a lot to get it all set up.
(25:08):
Like I told you like probably three different, sessions of, like, blocking out 4 to 5 hours just to commit to it because it's like if something's not right or formatting properly, like the photos have to be formatted and it's just like, if not that nothing works and you're like, do not pass code, you can't move forward. And you're like, I gotta fix this, this and this, and I'll come back later and keep it rolling so I could, you know?
(25:38):
Yeah, that's why people have those types of service industries. you know, to simplify it for you, I just I'm stubborn, so I figured it out on my own. Nice. Well, you're taking advantage of it, and that's a good thing. so one thing we hear a lot in this industry is, you know, when we ask, like, why do people buy or rent from you guys versus others?
(25:58):
And literally I could ask everyone and I can ask your competitors, they say the same thing. It's our customer service, our customer service. We're the best that customers service. And that's why we did hashtag be better than the best because we get about it. But if you know, customer service is such a big thing, how do you guys show that with your marketing?
Yeah. Well, the good news is most of our I mean, the majority of our parties are all brand new. So, you know, you walk into a brand new party versus one that's been in circulation for ten years. You know, it's just there's wear and tear on it. So it's like we've been able to come on the scene with, you know, our first hundred or 150 parties were bright orange.
(26:39):
Brand new parties like that caught people's attention. And then there was, you know, again, it's been Alex for so long, literally playing them themselves. So you're literally getting the, you know, if he's a ten out of ten, you're getting that level of service because he's the owner. He cares. Right. And then he trained Mike, our first driver, who was, you know, keeping that standard up.
(27:03):
But I think a big thing too, is just having that dialog with your customers. Like if you need anything, if like something's wrong, like, call me, like we'll always make it right. Like, yeah, there's been times where people are like, hey, we're going to assign service to this because I need that service. And it's like, oh, your services today in one hour, right?
(27:26):
Like you're on the schedule for today. So like, yeah, you're due for it. So it's like we'll be there, you know, and give them that very, you know, open us communication and real time. And it's like, you know, we try to again it's always make it right if a customer has an issue. Nice. when have you taken advantage of.
(27:48):
You know, what we hear sometimes is especially in construction sites or at events too, you, you know, the person that's renting for that event or for that construction business, they, you know, they want to go with X amount of toilets. And you guys might know that it's like, boom, how many people you got on the job or how many people are going to be drinking at that event.
You know, it might not be enough. Have you used, you know, taking pictures or whatever inside a service core to show someone like, hey, you actually need more service more frequently, or you need to order a couple more pots. Yeah, especially on the event side. You know, we have a decent understanding now of like, events. And, you know, somebody will call and like, hey, I need one party.
(28:32):
And then I'm like, how many people are coming in there? Like 100? I'm like, that's not going to work. And they're like, oh, you know. So it's like you do try to just talk people through that ahead of time. But like, even, you know, the events, it's hard to gauge those sometimes. And like the bigger events where it's like you can show up with 150 parties, but there's still lines, especially like the on the runs because like, there's that mad rush before everybody's got to go right before and everyone's getting warmed up and everything's moving and, you know, but then it's a ghost town in the afternoon.
(29:10):
So it's just like, you know, also where you're putting your party strategically, is a big piece as well. But, yeah, taking pictures, utilizing service corps. We're actually now finally, got our UPC codes up and running, so every party will have a barcode on it, which will be great. So he can scan that and then we'll have the alerts going as well.
(29:32):
when it's done for the customers. That's awesome. I was thinking about myself. I'm a runner. I was thinking about if I was standing at the start line and I saw if five people, I would probably take a selfie with your with your birthday party in the background, because it's just so funny. So that's, just such a cool brand.
going back to social media for a second, because when we talk about social media on this, on this podcast, a lot of people like it's one of our more popular ones. And, you know, everyone wants to do it, but they just don't know what they're doing. I think sometimes, or it's intimidating knowing where to start. But can you tell us a little bit about, like, which channels have you seen better success?
(30:12):
and you know, how much time commitment do you spend on social media? Yeah, I mean, we've started with Instagram, just because we're posting funny videos. And that was just like, I feel like for me, Instagram and your iPhone just be able to like, take a video, upload it real quick and you know, because like, for me especially like I'm not very good at being funny unless I want to be funny in that moment, right?
(30:39):
Nobody can say, hey, tell me a joke or like dance Monkey. I'm just like, frig off. so when the Mardi moment hits me and I come up with an idea I just have, I like, impulsively have to do it right there and then. So Instagram's been the best ones, except for at most of editing the videos. Then, you know, we take our time with it, like the lacrosse, ad that we did our first formal ad.
(31:06):
you know, he he actually thought about that whole script and like, how it was going to be cut up. So was cool to be a part of the filming process for that and see his creative, you know, thought process, like behind the scenes, like, I'm not an actor, I don't write, I don't act, I do Marty and like but to see like him actually put that together with such skill on this is like this is and then to see the end product, it's like, wow, that's amazing what he just did.
(31:34):
Is that something that helped you land some more of those, event jobs or like when you teamed up with, I'm sorry, I don't remember the company name that you teamed up with that has the outdoor events. Yeah, called in sports Group. so that actually. Alex. What? All cold call them at the right place at the right time, right in the very beginning.
(31:57):
And they actually, they knew who the big cat was. And, because the core group, they also do a lot of lacrosse games. So they're very involved in runs. They do the Bay bridge Run, the Baltimore Marathon, the Annapolis Writing Festival. But they've created this whole lacrosse campaign to, they do all the Under Armor All-American games. and they've just been doing these series where, you know, I was, Notre Dame, Cornell on Long Island on ESPN and Hershey's dad ran.
(32:30):
But, you know, they love it because we've been able to service their account very well. And then they love the Marty persona. So they we have an open invite with them where it's like, whoever you need us to connect, you with that we know that do. Then when you're ready, you know, let us know. So it's just like we've been building great relationships.
(32:52):
Everything's, you know, the Marty persona is funny, and, Yeah, it's it's like. It's like that cherry on top. That's really cool. Great. Well, you just explain there. If you think about someone that's not marketing their business, that doesn't have a unique brand, that wouldn't have happened. So like, you got in because of another name recognition or, you know, his his personal brand as a, as an athlete, then it moves into the brand as a company.
(33:18):
And especially if you're seeing those things on ESPN like congrats, that's awesome. Yeah, it was pretty wild to see Marty on ESPN. I was I was laying on the couch with my son and he lost it. He's a he was just like, what? Why do I feel like you need to be on College GameDay coming up here soon this season for sure.
(33:42):
So it's it's actually funny you say that because Brian Corrigan and I have talked about that we are going to have a lacrosse, lacrosse college game day and we're going to have a panel. And Marty was going to be on there with a few other people, you know, some big lacrosse personalities. yeah. You know, I can talk all day with this accent, so, hey, no problem.
(34:06):
I'm a big lacrosse fan, lacrosse nerd here. Okay. Favorite team? Twin Tigers, Sean Allen. Best coach ever. Okay. Tigers. Well, when that comes out, we're definitely going to, you know, have a launch party at our office. Yeah. All right. Last question for you, Mr.. Matt. what advice would you give to a pro that's trying to create a unique brand?
(34:32):
But, you know, they don't know where to start or.
where to start? You know, I do think this industry is very receptive and helpful to each other. And I know Alex has gotten a lot of help since reaching out to other business owners, and he's learned so much from there. So it's like, I would say, reach out to the the Porta-potty network, build your network, see what's going on, see what works.
(35:01):
you know, I think there's a lot of people that are willing to help. And then I think you just got to understand your, your own personality and how, like, how do you want to market it? Because there's a lot of different ways to market a porta potty. you know, when you think about when I think about all the different parties in this market, like there's no rhyme or reason to any of the names, any of the, you know, except for.
(35:28):
Right. Like, there's Bobby's parties, so, you know, his name is Bobby. It's like Bobby's parties that works. You know, it has a good ring to. It works. There is, there's a lot on the Eastern Shore. A one like, I don't know, a one means. But sure, it means that you show up first if you read in the white pages or with all the other ones or family.
(35:54):
Actually, yes, that is actually I totally. Yeah. We're way past the, the white pages, but no, you get you make it a one more. Right? You're the first thing to pop up. So yeah. See a want look me up and by me in the phone book. yeah. I think you know what? You're somewhere. You said there is really about discovering.
(36:18):
First off, ask yourself, like, who are we as a brand? You want to be known for customer service. Put that as your, you know, like make that your brand. If you want to be. Use humor as you guys have like you put that as your brand. But I think you have to think about like, who do we want to be known for and how are we going to attack this market before you, just kind of like have, you know, like, hey, let's make a company name.
(36:40):
And that's our brand. Well, that's not really your brand. Your brand is your drivers on the road and how they interact with people. Your brand is your phone number. Your brand is your website. When they hit it. Your brand is how you answer the phone. Your brand is how you talk to people when you're making their sales. So, I think there's, you know, would you agree that there's a lot to think about before you, you know, you have to get those down on paper before you kind of this is who we are.
(37:03):
Yeah. Especially in the porta-potty industry, too. It's like those are all company culture matters. Like who you're hiring, like who servicing your parties. Do they care? Right. Because it's like that's at the end of the day. That's where it is. Like if you have somebody that doesn't care about your business for you and you know, are getting a half assed job, like your quality is going to go down like you need people that care, like we have a guy in our yard chances that dude cares.
(37:32):
Like it's so amazing. Like he is a ray of sunshine every day. And like, I'm glad we like we're blessed to have Chucky on our team. And he details those things when they come back. You know, he loves cleaning. He's just out there getting it. It's great. We share that same, sentiment because one of our core values is give a shit, pun intended, but not shoot right.
(37:55):
People like you're saying, if your drivers give a shit when you're out there on the road, there it is. And it got to give shit. Marty, those biceps are looking nice. A big lift this morning for you. I almost did this whole interview shirtless. I thought about it. Just gold chain and my testicles out. Well, we're we're a little sad that that didn't happen for some viewers, but others were happy and I'm sure I'll see what we get.
(38:20):
All right, Marty, now I want to thank both Marty and Matt for being on this tour that talks. this was a big, big, big interview. And so I just want to thank you so much. Yeah, I'd say it was a big success. Went real well. Felt good, felt real good. So, you know, if you need the best spot to squat, you call.
If I have a big boat, that's a good way to land this plane. Thank you all.
(38:49):
Thanks.
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