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Selling Your Services |
The Sweeping of Phoenix International Racewaysby Ranger Kidwell-Ross; photos by Mark Boyer This audio intervew with Sam Danielson, operations manager for C and S Sweeping Services, Inc., provides good insight for how trade-outs can be great for your sweeper contracting business.
His company provides the sweepers that clean NASCAR's Phoenix International Raceways. How this is accomplished, though, is an unusual blend of marketing savvy and leveraging the power of large numbers.
Posted November 2008
An eighth of a million fans cheered as Johnson dominated the Checker O'Reilly Auto Parts 500 on Phoenix International's one-mile oval. However, interspersed with seeing all the race cars, they were presented with a more staid vehicle: one of C and S Sweeping's two Elgin Whirlwinds that were in charge of track cleanup at the race. As you will hear in the interview with C and S' operations manager, Sam Danielson, his company has forged a unique partnership with Phoenix International Raceways' management. Although the raceway owns two TYMCO 210s, which did the job for years, these machines were allowed to fall into disrepair over time. And, there's no money in the track budget for getting new sweepers.
Danielson says they have put oversized logos onto the two vehicles lent to the track, including logos on the roof of the sweepers. That way, the origin of the sweepers can't be missed by those in the stands. Track personnel, who are familiar with the needs of the track and the ins and outs of where and when to operate the machines -- and who are all in contact with each other via the track's radio system -- run the sweepers. That means the only cost to C and S is being without the two sweepers for a two-week period of time. "We pre-loan them the machines for a couple days prior to the time they actually need them," Danielson says. "The last thing either of our organizations needs is for them to break down on the track during the race. The track operators check everything out to their satisfaction, then send the sweepers back with a punch list of anything they'd like us to check. The system works great."
With the high attendance figures for the NASCAR races, there is no question that C and S gains an incredible amount of community recognition from those in attendance. As you'll hear in the audio interview, Danielson has at least one other similar 'PR arrangement,' via sweeping at a church where the Elgin dealership service manager is also the pastor. How can that provide anything but positives all around, either?! In the following audio interview, which is about 10 minutes in length, Danielson discusses the arrangement his company has with Phoenix International, as well as other aspects of the business. Note: The audio interview with Danielson will play without downloading any files onto your computer. If you hear the interview at 'chipmunk speed,' you will need to download the latest version of Adobe's free Flash player. To listen to the audio interview, click on this link or on the small triangle inside the circle you see to the left. If you have any trouble accessing the audio, please let us know. Sam Danielson may be reached via email sent to phoenixsweeper@aol.com. You may also reach him by calling 602.252.9471. If you have questions or comments about this interview, please, let us know and we can add it in as an addendum to this article. |
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At the most recent race at Phoenix International Raceways, the Checker O'Reilly Auto Parts 500 held on November 9th, fans came to watch as Jimmie Johnson closed in on his third consecutive Sprint Cup Series championship.
On the C and S side, the sweeping company has a fleet size that allows them to do without a couple of its sweepers for the two weeks leading up to, and day of, the local NASCAR races, which is the length of time they're needed for cleaning the track. In return, C and S gets a promotional spot in front of the hometown race fans that only big money buys when the logos are on race cars.
