How a Father-Son Pressure Washing Team Got 11 Google Reviews in 4 Days at Skyrise
Patrick and Cam Johnson, Co-owners, father and son ·Skyrise Pressure Washing
Built Local Podcast with Clay Lawrence · · 37 min episode
The short version
Patrick Johnson and his son Cam started Skyrise Pressure Washing in North Carolina after Cam finished high school and decided not to take on college debt. They work from one 2001 Duramax flatbed, tell every customer they are not leaving until they earn a five-star review, and made about $62,000 to $64,000 in their first full year. After they automated review requests, their Google reviews went from just over 60 to 79 in barely a month, including 11 in four days.
What other owners can take from Skyrise Pressure Washing
- 1
Tell customers you are not leaving until you earn their five-star review, and allow enough time on the job to check your work before talking about payment.
- 2
A review link under the invoice gets skipped. Most customers click the payment link and never go back, so send the request on its own.
- 3
Ask past customers and people you only quoted. Skyrise got a review from a homeowner whose job it turned down.
- 4
You are in the marketing business and pressure washing is the vehicle. When they stopped getting in front of people in person, work slowed.
- 5
Do not send a quote and wait. Call, have a real conversation and find out what is holding the customer back.
- 6
Turn down work you cannot stand behind. Patrick passed on a job worth more than $5,000 because the pavers needed fixing first.
- 7
Learn when your slow months come and market hard a month or two before them.
How did a father and son start Skyrise Pressure Washing?
Skyrise Pressure Washing began when Cam Johnson finished high school and told his father he was not going into debt for college. Cam had worked as a videographer from 14 to 18 and wanted a business where he could build a clientele and go to work. His father Patrick, who has a real estate license and a background in aviation R&D, had first thought about pressure washing in 2015, before sickness and a death in the family put the idea on the back burner.
They sat on it for a couple of months, took out a loan for a truck, and spent five to six months building it out. The 2001 Duramax 3500 flatbed is still their only rig. First customers came from business cards, Facebook posts and their church, which Patrick said “started supporting us pretty quickly.”
Two people drawing an income from a new business is hard. Their first full year brought in about $62,000 to $64,000.
Why do customers pick Skyrise when it costs more?
Because of what they read on Google, and a promise the Johnsons make on every job. Skyrise is Google Guaranteed, and Patrick says most customers tell them the same thing when they show up: we saw you on Google, we read your profile and your reviews, and we want to go with you. Some chose Skyrise when the other quote was cheaper.
The promise is a slogan they say out loud: we are not leaving until we earn your five-star. They allow enough time on each job to talk with the customer first, even if that takes 20 or 30 minutes, and to go back over the work and fix anything they missed “before we ever even talk about getting paid or leaving.”
Honesty is part of it. Patrick turned down a paver job worth more than $5,000 because the pavers were not level, and cleaning and sealing them would have meant mold and mildew within a year. He sent the homeowner to vendors who could fix the problem first. “I wouldn’t have been able to sleep at night,” he said. That homeowner later left Skyrise a review anyway, thanking them for their honesty.
Why were Google reviews so hard to get?
Because asking in person and putting a link on the invoice both depend on the customer remembering. Their CRM sent a review link with every invoice, but most people clicked the payment link and never went back.
Cam’s example is the third house they ever washed, for a woman from church. He asked for a five-star review and she said she would do it that night. A year later they washed the house again, he asked again, and she said the same thing. The third year he offered $20 off for a review and got it right away. “That’s what it takes,” he said.
About a month later they started using Review Harvest, and the count went from just over 60 to 79 in barely a month.
What did a slow summer teach them?
That they are in the marketing business. After working flat out from April to June, things slowed through a rainy July and August. Their best month the year before had been August. This year it was the worst.
Patrick blames the rain only partly. They had been setting up a commercial roofing company on the side, and had stopped doing what built the pressure washing business: standing in front of people and talking to them.
“We’re in the pressure washing business, but we’re really a marketing company. We just use pressure washing as our vehicle,” he said.
They also found a sales problem. More quotes were going out than the year before, with over 60 still open, but the closing rate was poor. Their follow-up call had been a check-in to ask where the customer was at. The plan now is to call each one back, have a real conversation, and find the pain point.
What would they tell a new owner?
- Evaluate constantly. Find what is keeping you from closing deals and fix it.
- Get over being shy. Patrick’s father used to say, “They can kill you, but they can’t eat you.” A no is just a no.
- Get on camera. Talk about anything on Facebook until being uncomfortable gets easier.
- Learn your seasons. Ask owners who have been around when their slow months come, then market hard a month or two before yours.
- Be thankful for the valleys. Patrick believes the hard stretches are where you learn the things that stick.
Cam calls year two their “sophomore slump” and says the hardest part is the unknown. Going to work and talking to people is easy. Managing money and keeping clients is the part they are still learning.
“It’s hurting just enough to teach us something,” Patrick said.
In Patrick's words
“We mean what we say. We will not stop until we earn the five-star.”
“If you don't stay physically in front of people, it changes in an instant.”
“We're in the pressure washing business, but we're really a marketing company. We just use pressure washing as our vehicle.”
“A no is not a career-ending thing. It's just a no.”
Review Harvest Client
What Skyrise Pressure Washing says about Review Harvest
Before Review Harvest, Skyrise Pressure Washing asked in person and sent a review link with each invoice through its CRM, and had just over 60 Google reviews. Patrick and Cam say 11 more arrived in the first four days, on days they were not even working, and the count reached 79 in barely a month. Requests to past customers and past quotes also brought in a review from a homeowner whose job they had turned down.
“Your first five days, you'll probably be blown away and thinking it's a scam. I got 10 reviews in three to four days, and I was like, there is no way this is real.”
Patrick and Cam Johnson on working with Review Harvest: “This Pressure Washer Added 17 Google Reviews Without Asking for Them”
Questions this episode answers
How did Skyrise Pressure Washing get more Google reviews?
Skyrise Pressure Washing had just over 60 Google reviews after about two years of asking customers in person and sending a link with each invoice. After Patrick and Cam Johnson started using Review Harvest to send the requests automatically, they got 11 reviews in four days and reached 79 in barely a month. Requests also went to past customers and to people they had only quoted.
Why don't customers leave a review when the link is on the invoice?
Cam Johnson of Skyrise Pressure Washing says most customers click the payment link, pay and never go back to the review link beside it. Others promise to do it that night and forget. One customer said yes two years in a row and only left a review the third year, when he offered $20 off her next house wash.
How does a new pressure washing business get its first customers?
Skyrise Pressure Washing started with business cards, Facebook posts and telling everyone they could. Patrick Johnson says their church began supporting them quickly, which gave them jobs and content to post. Later, Google Guaranteed and their reviews became the main reason customers gave for choosing them.
How much does a pressure washing business make in its first year?
Skyrise Pressure Washing, a two-person father and son company with one truck, made about $62,000 to $64,000 in its first full year. Patrick Johnson is open that this is not a big number for two people drawing an income, and that their second year was slower through a rainy summer.
What should a pressure washing company do when work slows down?
Patrick and Cam Johnson of Skyrise Pressure Washing say to get back in front of people in person instead of relying on social media and Google alone. They also plan to call back every open quote, more than 60 at the time, and ask what is holding the customer back. Their rule going forward is to market hard a month or two before the slow months arrive.
Need pressure washing? Visit Skyrise Pressure Washing at skyrisepressurewashing.com.
