Custom Spotter Bottles

[Blue Ridge Floor Care]

I love the idea of giving customers a free bottle of spotter complete with a custom label with my company logo and contact info. I even like the idea of giving free refills. I normally see this implemented by cleaning co's targeting residential customers. How about using it with commercial customers? What say you?

[encapman]

Been doing this for years. I started providing bottles a little over 25 years ago for our floor care customers. I would purchase pint bottles, fill them with a diluted version of a neutral floor cleaner, and attach a paper label with a glue stick. Then as I grew my carpet cleaning business, I did the same thing with my carpet cleaning customers by providing spotter made from diluted carpet detergent. This is very simple to do, and the end result turned out nice.

I shared this idea with Kevin Pearson a few years back for his carpet cleaning business and I've shared it with a few others too (I believe that Kevin still does this). It's a simple way to give your customer a nice spotter from your company.

You could mix Encap-Clean DS2 at 16 oz per gallon, and fill pint bottles (at that dilution you'll have a powerful spotting agent). Then use a glue stick and wrap the label around the bottle. Simple!

Here's a source for pint carafe bottles...
All American Containers of Tampa, Inc.
4917 Oak Fair Blvd.
Tampa, FL 33610 USA
Phone: 813.248.2023

Another option for labels would be to get a Brother Label printer... http://www.amazon.com/Brother-QL-570-Pro...d_sim_op_5
And then use their "Film" labels... http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002VS61W/ref=oh_details_o08_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The "film" labels are shiny like a normal product label. This is an easy way to produce really sharp looking labels!

[Blue Ridge Floor Care]

Awesome Rick. Thanks!

[Shorty]

I do a similar thing, but with a slight difference.

I buy a compatible spotter from the manufacturer in a 500ml trigger spray bottle.

This has their details on their label.

I also put my own label on a "clean" area where there is no sticker that has my company details on such as name, website, phone number, etc;

This negates any one suing me for improper use of the product as they already have the manufacturers name in front of them.

I'm too lazy to spend time decanting, and the price of the spotter is built-into the cleaning job price.

Short 1

PS:: I really like the idea of that printer and the labels, thanks Rick.

[encapman]

This negates any one suing me for improper use of the product as they already have the manufacturers name in front of them.

I've been providing various forms of home-bottled leave-behind spotters and floor cleaners for around 25 years - and I've never had a problem of any kind. There are two ways to play it safe: (1) Only provide a SAFE and diluted product to start with - such as Encap-Clean DS2. (2) Add a safety warning to the label such as this...
CAUTION: Avoid eye contact. Keep out of reach of children. If product gets in eyes rinse with water. If swallowed seek medical attention.

You can be relatively certain that using a safe product, that's properly labeled, will not open you up to liability. They're far more likely to sue you over a myriad of other things (slip and fall, damage to their furnishings, etc).

[David-Hebert]

We been doing this for years with our residential clients
we use a company that screens the bottles with poison control # on the bottle along with MSDS reference # along with the usual caution info

We use 22 and 32 OZ bottles. I just make sure

[prodrying]

Yeah Rick is right. We have been doing the spotter bottle program using Releasit DS for years now. It is a great thing that customers love. We buy the bottles as Rick suggest above, print the labels on our on laser printer. We use a 5 gallon water cooler with the spicket at the bottom. We mix up the encap juice at 10 ounces per gallon, fill up the bottles, slap on labels and hand them out. We also tell people to keep the bottle and we will refill it for free during their next cleaning. People love it and always comment how well it works. The best part is no dirt attracting residue left behind.

[AusCapper]

Its a great idea and adds another form of value for the customer.

Rick,


Had you any feedback from customers on your DS2 complementary spotter @ 16oz/gal?

Here in Oz, the label (for DS) translates to 32oz/gal as a spotter.

I would assume that we are able to give the customer a more diluted than recommended form of DS as a spotter, as they would be treating the spot soon after it was affected.

We obviously want our product (bearing our name) to be effective

Ned.

[encapman]

A 12-16 oz per gallon dilution of Encap-Clean DS2 - to be used as a leave behind spotter will be remarkably effective. Works extremely well at that ratio. 32 oz per gallon would actually be too strong.

[AusCapper]

Thanks Rick

[encapman]

I was thinking further on this. If you were wanting a full strength general spot remover, let's say for treating spills without wicking, then the 32 oz per gallon mixture would be a good option. However to use it as a "leave behind" spotter there's no need to mix it that strong.

[CleanItGreen]

Rick,
The funny thing is I just jumped into the forum today to ask if you'd ever done a leave-behind program AND if it involved the releaseit spotter product, which I love. Lo and behold, you guys are already talking about it. Perfect timing!

My question is, does the DS2 mix work as well as the releaseit spotter spray?

[encapman]

Encap-Spot has a much broader spectrum of spots that it can attack, such as colored stains, etc. However for a "leave behind" spotter, Encap-Clean DS2 mixed at 12 oz per gallon works very well.

[Jamie]

I love the idea of giving away a self branded spotter bottle.

I am a little hesitant like Shorty regarding the potential for suing and accidents etc However at the same time Rick I agree with you about it being a very small risk.

However what if I had a website link with the uploaded MSDS of the Releasit product on my website that people could get the information for, if it came to that?

Do you think that would suffice?

Cheers

Jamie

[encapman]

A link to an MSDS is not a bad idea. Also, if you're concerned about product safety, you could utilize InfoTrac. InfoTrac is an emergency response service for chemicals. You can add their number to your label and if someone has a mishap they call that number for assistance. Here's a link to their website... http://www.infotrac.net/ecr.aspx

Here's the page with the service that you'd likely want to consider...
http://www.infotrac.net/sds.aspx