brandUP Your Business Podcast
Hey, I’m Matt Jackson, and I’ve been through the highs and lows of building brands that make an impact. On the BrandUP Your Business Podcast, I take you along on my journey and sit down with other entrepreneurs to share the secret sauce of branding, marketing, and sales that actually works.
In each episode, you’ll hear real stories, fun conversations, and actionable tips to take your business from zero to hero. If you’re ready to level up your brand and learn from the best, this is the place for you!
Let’s turn your business into something unforgettable. Tune in and join the fun!
🌟 Connect with us: brandupyourbusiness.com
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brandUP Your Business Podcast
Episode 1: Crafting a Winning Brand with Clay Smith of C3 Wash Pros
Join host Matt Jackson, serial entrepreneur and branding expert, as he kicks off the podcast with a bang! This week’s guest is Clay Smith, owner of C3 Wash Pros, a leading pressure washing business based in Greenville, SC.
In this episode, Clay shares his inspiring entrepreneurial journey, from starting C3 Wash Pro to building a reputable brand in a competitive industry. Get ready for powerful insights into:
✔️ Building a trusted brand in the service industry
✔️ Effective marketing strategies for local businesses
✔️ Keys to winning and retaining customers
🎙️ Whether you're a business owner or dreaming of launching your brand, this episode is packed with tips to help you elevate your game!
🎧 Tune in now and let’s #brandUP your business!
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What's up, guys? It's Matt Jackson and I got my guest and co-host of the Wash Bros on for our first episode of Brand Up your Business, clay Smith, so you want to kick it off? Thanks for being the guinea pig here as we shoot this thing off.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's great to be the first guest of the Brand Up podcast. Matt, I appreciate you having me on.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no doubt. So for those that don't know, tell us a little bit about yourself and what business you're in and how we connected and all that stuff. So just kick it off, I hope everybody's got a lot of time.
Speaker 2:I know we've talked about this a lot, but yeah, so basically I did seven years in the car business. I was a very, very good car salesman, was very successful at selling cars, learned a lot about business in the car industry, worked my way all the way up to sales manager. Got very tired of sitting at the car a lot for 12 hours a day, seven days a week. So I was. I just had a weird conversation with my detail guy one day about pressure washing and it sparked my my interest in the industry. And here we are today competing with you in the same area.
Speaker 2:So how kind of me and Matt met was obviously we. We were competing against each other in the same area and one day we were speaking and he had some equipment go down on him and offered up my equipment and we've been best pals ever since. So a little bit of background about me. The sales industry, obviously. They say if you can do sales and you're really good at sales you can do anything. So I highly recommend taking a sales course if you're struggling on the business side of things. It has helped me tremendously with growing my business.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, yeah, there's so many. And kind of back to Clay's point, there's so many people in our pressure washing space, so like we've met tons of guys here and there and then usually you kind of gauge somebody and you're like, all right, that person's cool, but the relationship only goes this far or that far. You're just like stuck in the technical talk or you're like throwing it out. But like me and Clay kind of clicked on a deeper level where we both have the same level of enjoyment towards growing business, talking, business stuff like that. It's kind of like a cool competitive edge that we have with each other. Otherwise I think if it was just me or him in a market not talking, we wouldn't push each other as much as we really do. So it's one of those.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and the beauty of sales is it's almost like an art. You can relate it to just about anything in business. And then I think the biggest thing with me that's helped me a lot with the business and the sales part was anytime I have an issue with a customer, I know how to handle it and I already know from the time I get to the customer's door and have the first few words with them and their demeanor on what kind of customer I have my hands on.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, 100%, and you're almost like being able to be a chameleon there, so you don't have to have a script or you don't have to like rehearse too much and get all stressed out. It's just like you're understanding the abilities to like sale and community sell and communicate with people, so you can solve problems on the fly and you don't have to worry you're always finding that common ground exactly yeah, so what would you say?
Speaker 1:one of your like tips, uh, that you have when you approach a customer, whether it's like a good interaction or or just like do you have a standard way of approaching customers, or is this just something that comes naturally to you?
Speaker 2:um, so I've been through about every conversation, like any in any equation that you can do, just because I've had so many conversations with different people and I've been through the heat cases. I've been through about every conversation, like any in any equation that you can do, just because I've had so many conversations with different people and I've been through the heat cases. I've been through the problems. I've been through the good, I've been through the bad. I just know how to handle a customer. You know everybody's not the same, it's different every time. But a smile goes a long way. So if you started off with a smile, I mean it. I mean how bad can it go Right? So, and and whether you want to admit it or not, the customer always has to be right.
Speaker 1:That's true, yeah, cause, like, if your objective is to make a sale or build a relationship, you almost have to not try to be right in that situation, cause like and I remember you you tell me a lot of times you'll start an interaction with the customer and say there's like misunderstanding or they've had bad experiences in the past. And then at the end of your interaction with them, after you're servicing their job in the house, they're like oh man, that was a great experience. So you've told me a lot of times that I remember when we're talking that like, hey, this is going to be quote, unquote, like a Karen, and then you end up flipping them over and they're a loyal customer. And then those are the people that give you the Google review, and then they give you all the five stars and spread the word with all their friends and family and all that stuff.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, those Google reviews go a long way. I get a lot of work off those, but I've always been big into those. If you go to anywhere I've ever worked in sales, my name is all over the google reviews. So even before I got into business and all my own business and the what going on four years that we've been doing this now um, it's always been a big part of my success. Um, the reviews go a long way.
Speaker 1:Um, and that's anything you did okay, I know you definitely. You definitely have kept all of us honest in the pressure washing space. I've I've been in it a little bit longer than you, but not too terribly long. So you definitely, like you and me can like gauge each other and really push each other. So, like you say, some days we're like pushing each other and then other days it's like, hey, you zoom out, you look back, you're like man, that was a lot that we were able to grow just because we have each other as like accountability partners and throwing ideas off of each other.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and that's something I struggled with when I first started, because the car business is so cutthroat and then you know, when you get in the owning your own business, you just want to say screw everybody. You don't want nothing to do with anybody. But the more that I had built relationships with my competition and the and the guys around me, um, the easier everything has been as far as like being successful, bouncing ideas off of other guys. Um, if you ever need anything like um, like downstream and just something stupid that you can't get your hands on that somebody else might have, it's always good to have that guy that you can lean on a little bit.
Speaker 1:That's true.
Speaker 2:Especially, you know if you're down. I mean, you know if you're down with anything equipment-wise, you can come get whatever I got. I don't care, as long as I'm not used to it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, clay actually helped me out. The other day I had a customer that had a machine. We fired it up after taking a little bit of time over Christmas and it was cold and the machine was old and there was issues and issues and issues. And instead of me trying to kill myself to try to make it right with the customer, I just said, hey, call clay. And the next day he went out and, uh, got that customer taken care of. So it's like, hey, when I'm down I throw it your way and we kind of can keep stuff in the circle and I know the caliber of customer service and the product that you're going to deliver. So it's, we're pretty much in much in par there. So it's kind of nice to be able to be in a network and throw stuff back and forth to each other and know that we can take care of the market and the community together.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean you're going to have those guys in your area that are going to be that way and, like I don't want to talk to you, I'm better than you type of guys, but you know, bless their hearts Right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I find that they don't last very long.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, or yeah.
Speaker 1:They're stuck at a level that they never get.
Speaker 2:You're right. You're right. Yeah, it takes a lot of um. You have to set your ego aside in the in the world of business especially, I mean in our industry anyway, I mean, I'm sure different industries are different ways, like the car business. It's like I say it's. It's literally cutthroat, sink or swim.
Speaker 1:Exactly yeah.
Speaker 2:But, um, but, as far as uh, I love, I love the name, the brand up, uh and all that. You know I'm big on personal brand and what I wanted to say was you know, as far as personal branding, if you do a great job at building yourself and branding yourself where people know you, they love you, they trust you, if they like you, they're going to do business with you, and I think that's one of the things that I have succeeded in done a great job with doing is the personal branding part. And, like I said, if they like you, they love you, they feel like they know you on the internet, they're just going to ask you for a quote and say when can you do it Right?
Speaker 1:So, how can I make that? How can?
Speaker 2:I make myself look great out there for all the people in my area. How can I make them love me? How can I make them like me? And then how can I make them trust me? I mean, we're not doing anything crazy to begin with to make them not trust me, but if they feel like they know you from the get-go, they're going to hire you.
Speaker 1:No doubt, and it's going to be so much easier.
Speaker 2:It's going to be such an easier business transaction versus that customer that hired the handyman up the road and he did a crappy job. He didn't know what he was doing. He just said that he had a pressure washer and you can pressure wash your house. And they're going to ask you 5,000 questions because they're already scared, knowing that they're already calling the guy me or you that has hundreds of five-star Google reviews. They're calling us for a reason, but they're still scared. That just tells me that they had a bad experience.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you do a great job, especially with your personal Facebook page, of building trust with who you are, and then people say, oh, he's great here, and then he has a business here and you've almost integrated everything really seamlessly so it's all tied together. You're not all confusing here and then you're trying to be Mr Business Guy here and you're doing sketchy stuff over here. You're very consistent and congruent with everything.
Speaker 2:Right. Yeah, the personal brand is definitely huge. Especially if you have a bad reputation, somebody is more than likely not going to hire you. So consistency with your reputation, doing business the right way, whether the customer is always right at the end of the day, whether you think they're right or wrong, at the end of the day they're always right. Um, that's kind of something I've kind of always went by. Uh, whether I agreed with them or not, I mean it's. I mean you have to draw a line at some point, but, um, the customer's right, right. So there's good customer service. Um, and that's that's kind of how we've maintained that five-star customer service on Google.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I guess you have to shift your mindset to serve the customer but not get walked on because it is, like you said, a fine line. So you have to have somewhat of a value system based out, because I know we've had customers where I've almost I've just walked away from the situation. I'm like, hey look, there's too big of a gap here between, like, what you're expecting us and what you're trying to do and demand from us and what we're able to provide and our values and the respect that we have in our business, especially with employees. So there's always like that level where you have to say, all right, customer's always right, but at what point is there a point where it's like there always right, but at what point is there a point where it's like there may be a better solution from another company?
Speaker 2:and have you run into instances like that in the past. Yeah, you got to draw the line at some point. You can't just let them keep dragging you and take advantage of you, and I think that's where, um, a lot of you got to have confidence. You got to know your worth, you got to know your value and you know at some point you're not going to make everybody happy. I mean, that's just the world we live in. Yeah.
Speaker 1:And I think too, this is where people get it wrong. They try to make everybody happy as opposed to try to make their customer happy, and we've identified similar customers in our customer avatar between your business and my business. We want somebody who's savvy with tech. They see us on social media, they see us on Google. You have this cool TV ads that you air and all that stuff. So you're like the big local celebrity with pressure washing, so like you already have that relationship built with people who've who've followed you on social media or seen your ads on tv and so like those are the type of people we want to serve and pour into and be the best we can be towards those people.
Speaker 1:We don don't necessarily want to have somebody call us from a yard sign and beat us up over being $100 or being the cheapest guy. I think people can say, hey, the customer is always right, and then try to just let a bad customer who's not really our customer ruin their business. So I think there's ways of we'll talk about it too. We set like a price minimum in place or we can kind of gauge, like a reaction off of our first communication with these people whether or not they're like the best fit for us. So I feel like a big thing that you and I both do right is like laser target the customers and the types of clients that we want to have. That way we can be like really consistent and and serve the customer base well and that's how we get all these consistently good reviews.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and obviously the CRM helps a lot too with getting those reviews consistently. But going back to the marketing part, were talking about targeting certain people and whatever. With my marketing I just try to stay diverse. I don't put all my eggs in one basket. I want to be everywhere. I want them to see my face everywhere. So the more they see you, the more legit they feel you are, whether you're legit or not, but the more they see you, the more they trust you, right?
Speaker 1:Yep, Yep, that's the truth. If nobody knows who you are, it doesn't matter what you're saying. It's like if a tree falls in the forest and you don't see it. Did it really fall?
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I I've got people with our TV stuff. It's more of a long-term brand awareness type play. It's not the same customer that you're going to get from Google, because your Google customer is going to hire you right away because they're ready. They're ready to hire somebody. They're actively looking. Now, if you do the TV type commercials, like what we do too, it's a long break. It's a you're just wanting to sink your brand into somebody's head, right. So how many times can you get in that person's head? How many times are you going to show up when they're sitting on the couch or whatnot? So it's another type of play. It's very strategic but, believe it or not, people will write your information down and use you six months later. So it works. It's just a different type of marketing and branding type play.
Speaker 1:I also think that's really good for the power of your brand. If somebody's watching TV and they see your advertisement on TV, that's a pretty substantial investment on your end. So that would mean, hey, this guy is not like some jack of all trades guy that is just doing what he's doing. He is very dedicated and committed to the craft and he's successful enough where he has the resources, to be able to pour into TV advertising. So to me, I think that really elevates the brand and allows people to say, hey, this guy's different than the guy just throwing $10 a day into Facebook ads, or this guy's different than the guy posting on his Instagram or all of the Facebook groups. So I think you did a good job there by not only are you doing all those other things, but you're being on TV and you're able to repurpose the marketing from the TV onto these other platforms and really raise that value in your brand.
Speaker 2:And it's like me and you talking about how can we set ourselves apart, right? So if me and you are putting our eggs all in the same basket, then what good is that doing us? All we're doing is bidding against each other, no doubt. Yeah, so definitely, getting in front of different customers there, um, but the tv part highly recommend. It is a strategic play. It is a very um. You got to put a lot of capital into it, but in the long run it uh, it pays off. It hurts at first, but yeah, once you start seeing the legitness of it and then the money start rolling in, it's, it's pretty cool. But yeah, tell us a little bit how you got into that.
Speaker 1:I remember last year and you, you said, hey, start seeing the legitness of it, and then the money start rolling in. It's pretty cool. But yeah, tell us a little bit of how you got into that. I remember last year you said, hey, I'm going to invest in these TV commercials and be on TV and I was like, wow, that's awesome, that's a huge. I'm going to bet on myself really hard here and it seems like it paid off a lot this year.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So, like I said before just a few minutes ago, like I said a few minutes ago, the TV play is totally different between the Google and any other type of marketing you would do. It's a long term investment. It's a brand awareness type marketing style.
Speaker 2:Um, the thing about the tv is, like I said just a few minutes ago with the, you're not going to get that customer that is ready to pressure wash now. It's always the one that you know is thinking about it or they may need it later on down the road and, um, basically, I didn't know. I didn't really know that going in, I thought it was just going to be cool to get on tv. Know that going in, I thought it was just going to be cool to get on tv. Um, something I'd always wanted to kind of really do, just to do it. Um, but the legitness, um, it's definitely paid off.
Speaker 2:Um, people, just um, if you just show up, like we've talked about before, if you just show up with a truck and a trailer with nothing on it, no brand, you just look plain jane, you look like the neighbor or you look like a family member pulling up to your neighbor's house, the customer doesn't feel as confident and they and they and they start asking a bunch of questions. But when I started pulling up with wrap trucks and high dollar equipment and and look legit, the less I get questioned. You know, when I pull up and I wash a house in an hour I don't really get questioned. But before, when I would pull up in a in a uh, just a basic truck and a in a trailer, back when I was first getting going, a lot of people were kind of skeptical okay, is this guy going to do the right job?
Speaker 2:you know, at the beginning of course, when I left, they knew that I, I knew what I was doing, but, um, but. But now you know, once you've got your brand out there, you pull up in your rap truck. They've done seen you 10 times before on TV. They seen you on Google. They seen you on Facebook, they seen you on TikTok, they seen you on YouTube. They're already confident. Just do what you got to do, man. You know what I mean. So you got that content out there. They look you up on Google. You have the five star reviews. Um, they seen you on tv while they were watching their favorite program. And, like I say, when you pull up to their house, it's. And then you've got your crm it tells you it and that's huge.
Speaker 2:my customers love that. The crm, you know it tells you, tells your customer when you're on the way, it tells them when you're done, when you start the customer when you're on the way, it tells them when you're done, when you start the job, when you're done and then it sends them an invoice when you're done and they can pay by card. It's so convenient. People are so lazy nowadays. The more convenient you can make it for your customer, the more they're going to like you.
Speaker 1:Exactly, and I think that's another thing thing. People think a brand is a logo, but it's your entire like user and customer experience. So like it isn't. Oh, you have a wrap truck. So like you don't have to do anything else, like everything you do is of that same caliber. It's like I'm pouring into my wrap truck, I'm pouring into my professional equipment, I'm pouring into my crm and my communication with customers, and then all that is congruent't like. Oh, he has like a really cool truck and he put a logo on it. He's the best guy in town. It's like it's a multifaceted thing.
Speaker 2:And I'm not saying go out and buy $30,000 piece of equipment because that's not going to get you business. You have to do the other 20 things that I just talked about in order to be successful at consistently getting the business Right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, cause people look at your nice setup and your skid and they're like, oh, you just bought the good stuff with all the money you had from selling cars. I'm like this man had like a four gallon a minute machine and then like I gave him a eight gallon a minute pressure washer that had like a thousand plus hours on it for like a good deal and then he finally got into an eight gallon.
Speaker 2:So yeah, I mean people.
Speaker 1:People won't believe my numbers and what I've done for pretty much just one truck, one and a half truck, but uh yeah, yeah, you're pretty much one truck year round, and then you got a guy in the summer fill in here and there.
Speaker 2:So yeah, which I'm probably. We're probably gonna have to do a lot of growing this year with more people, but, um, but yeah, yeah, I mean I actually started with a two and a half gallon a minute and thought I was killing it then. And then I got my four and really thought I was killing it and then you said, yeah, you need to get that eight gallon a minute and uh, that's when we started taking off Once I got to hang with that thing. Man, we can do six or seven houses now.
Speaker 1:I know right, You're busting out two truck numbers by yourself.
Speaker 2:I'm like that's why they call them the wash daddy I know that's right, but yeah, um, the branding is just like I say it's, it's very important. A lot of a lot of guys, um, you know you get your your guys. That's been doing this 30 years. Oh well, I've never had to advertise. I don't need to advertise I don't pay money to advertise. Advertising is very important.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean I can tell you firsthand, like being your competitor, if I'm not advertising, you're taking my business.
Speaker 1:It isn't like all my customers are going back to me every year. If you're advertising and I'm not, you're doing a lot of customers that were mine and that's the thing. If you're busy, I'm taking customers you're doing. So it is not like, oh, these are my customers for everything. There's too many people like you and me coming in and taking a lot of market share that like we have to be on our toes all the time yep, yep, I have a lot of.
Speaker 2:I have a lot of customers tell me they called so and so and so and so and I was the third call and I answered the phone so they hired me.
Speaker 1:The first dude didn't answer it yeah, or there'll be people who like, hey, I use both of you guys, I like you guys both and it's just like all right, well, who's? It's like?
Speaker 2:what do I have? A lot of the same customers. It is what it is. If I'm gonna lose business, I want to lose it to you. I don't want to lose it to anybody else yeah, yeah, no doubt so.
Speaker 1:You're you've I've noticed too you've been growing a tiktok page and then you're working on YouTube. So not only you got all this stuff growing in your business, where you got good revenue here, it looks like you're also trying to stem off into a personal brand within the pressure washing industry. So tell us more about that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I'm treating that as more of a hobby than anything. My TikTok page if anybody wants to follow me, it's the pressure wash guru. Go to tiktok, follow me there. Um, I had been like with our podcast, the wash bros podcast. I placed a couple of reels on there, me and you, um, and uh just did a couple things.
Speaker 2:I always thought it was pretty cool because I have a buddy that went viral and has a bunch of followers and stuff. But, um, the tiktok stuff. Uh, I decided to carve a pumpkin with my pressure washer. I'd seen a bunch of followers and stuff, but, um, the tiktok stuff. Uh, I decided to carve a pumpkin with my pressure washer. I'd seen a bunch of people go viral with it, so I decided to do one of those. Almost got nine million views, yeah, um, yeah. So that really popped off for my my tiktok uh page or whatever, and uh started having a lot of people want me to do reviews for uh pressure washing product and you get a commission and stuff off of that. So that's pretty cool.
Speaker 2:And then, like Chemical Guys, I do all Chemical Guys' product and basically showcase their product and anybody that buys off my link I get paid on or whatnot, but off the content that I make. And then the YouTube stuff. Yeah, so the biggest thing with YouTube and I think that you may have got me on the YouTube thing is YouTube actually is tied in with Google, so it actually helps your SEO with keywords and stuff like that. So that was my biggest thing in the YouTube. And then I started getting a bunch of views and stuff and a lot of following. So I started taking my content and I just started putting it out on facebook, um, instagram, tiktok and youtube. So all my content's everywhere now, all my watching content, stuff like that, oh yeah but, eventually.
Speaker 2:Um, the ideal thing would be, uh, if, if I get a couple guys working for me, I can just go out and make content, do one job a day or something all day and just try to keep growing in pages.
Speaker 1:Yep, yep, yeah, I mean that's. I think too you'll make that jump this year. I kind of made that jump a year ago and then this year I was kind of like smoothing stuff out, where you show up on the big jobs, get some marketing stuff, make sure everything's going smoothly, like shake the prop, the property management guy's hand or like whoever's over maintenance department, and then you on to the next and then you're almost like hopping around town like managing, overseeing, getting good marketing and then and then your guys are doing the grunt work pretty much yeah, I mean it's.
Speaker 2:It's all this is about relationships and shaking hands and who you know, and then um, and then the other. The other half is the marketing and you got to kill that game.
Speaker 1:Yep, no doubt. And then I know you send me your personal Facebook numbers. You get a lot of eyes on those pages, so it's not just one avenue where you're excelling and you're shooting to excel in all these different areas.
Speaker 2:That way you're getting multiple touch points and all this different reach. Oh, and it takes a lot of time, like you have to be invested in it. You have to be consistent with it, because if you're not invested, you're not consistent, you don't believe in it. I mean it's not going to go anywhere. And I've struggled with that myself because you just run out of time at the end of the day, right Between personal and business and everything else you got going on. Where can I find the time to do all these things? And that's the part of growing and having to get people to do the work for you and all that stuff.
Speaker 1:so yeah, no doubt sweet. So are there any things you'd want to uh talk about? I guess, this being like the first episode, I'm kind of just throwing stuff off. We're at like 25 minutes so we can wrap it up here or, if you want to like carry it out another five minutes, we can mention anything you want to talk about.
Speaker 2:Um, I don't really have anything. I just uh, anybody that's struggling out there, just make sure that, uh, you stay consistent at everything you do. Don't let anybody else get in your head. Don't be cocky. Put your ego aside. Listen when you can listen, take all the knowledge you can, and you can and uh, just try to make friends with your competitors.
Speaker 1:That's true, yeah, it's. It's funny. A lot of times people don't know that we're friends behind the scenes oh yeah, they'll be like well, I had clay, I called you and clay, I was like oh, I love clay, we do a podcast and they're shocked. They're like well, if you beat his price, uh, you can almost like he can take it.
Speaker 2:I don't, I don't care we're not playing this, I mean we're pretty much saying I mean we have the same business model, so it's, you know, the end of the day, whoever likes whose brand, better is the way I look at it, you know.
Speaker 1:Yep, no doubt so. But yeah, if that's everything we'll, we'll get this wrapped up and then I'll cut the reels out. I switched it everything over to the vertical mode so we can make it look better on the real side. Oh yeah, okay, cool, cool. So, uh, yeah, I'll, yeah, appreciate you hopping on here, and then I know you're going on a cruise, so that's perks of being in the wash daddy If everybody's freezing up here in Greenville during the snow, and then the Caribbean to enjoy your holiday.
Speaker 2:We're going to time it out. Perfect buddy Got picked, a great time to go. Yep, yep. All right, bro, I'll talk to you soon. I appreciate it.
Speaker 1:Yep Sounds like playing. Appreciate it. Bye, see you guys.
