Started off early in the week making some calls about our new product, Pine Boost. (for info on Pine Boost click here) Pine Boost is made from pine oil and works like our most popular product, Citrus Solv. It will never replace Citrus Solv but for those who are interested in saving a buck, you can’t go wrong. It’s a strong cleaner and it has a fresh odor. Since it is made from pine oil instead of citrus oil, it is not as expensive to make, therefore we pass the savings off to our valued customers. Pine Boost dissolves grease and oil like a champ so don’t judge it by the idea that less expensive means it doesn’t work. (think of all those unused Christmas trees that need recycling, we get the raw materials for Pine Boost cheaper than oranges for Citrus Solv)
Customers who are currently buying less expensive solvent boosters that are made from odorless mineral spirits with a pinch of citrus or some other deodorizer added will be VERY impressed with how Pine Boost compares to the discount brands out there. Anyone who knows me knows I don’t like being wrong. I use products before I promote them because I don’t want to be embarrassed by a dud, and my bosses up in Salt Lake feel the same way. We wouldn’t put a product on the market that didn’t get the job done. Trust me, the next time you are inclined to slink over to a low-budget store and purchase a bargain priced, no-name solvent booster, come by Interlink Supply and pick up a bottle of Pine Boost and walk out of the store instead of sneaking out.
PineBoost, give it a try and hold your head high.
I also had a good experience with helping a customer who bought an M1200 Hydroforce 1200 psi portable from me a couple of months ago. I sold them a high pressure portable with an SX-12 Tile Spinner because they had a lot of hard surfaces to clean. Well, they got a bid on a 25,000 sq. ft. commercial carpet job to do over the weekend and all they had was a plain vanilla two jet carpet wand. (can you say ‘back surgery’?) They called me to consult and I advised them to use a rotary extraction tool. As a veteran of cleaning I am well used to the RX-20 from Hydramaster, but I have a HOSS machine from Sapphire sitting in the front and I really haven’t used it all that much. I wanted to see how the HOSS would perform on 25,000 ft. of soiled, stained, low pile commercial carpet with a cold water portable. I brought in the project manager and some of the techs and we practiced in our classroom for an hour or so with the HOSS. As I conducted the class I considered the 25,000 sq. ft. carpet job. I was worried that the cold water M1200 might not produce enough bang in getting the stains and soil out of the carpet and I didn’t want them to use high pH chemistry. In a commercial glue down carpet situation I am loathe to use a high pH detergent rinse because of the danger of wicking and using a standard, neutralizing acid rinse may not be enough to get the dirt and soil to jump up and out.
Not just a plain ol' encapsulant. It can be used as an acid rinse too!
Looking at their purchase history I had an idea. They regularly use Encapuclean02 to encapsulate carpet. Encapuclean02 can also be used as an acid rinse and it has hydrogen peroxide in it to kill germs and disappear stains. If you get some on your fingers it burns just like Urine Stain Remover, so you know it’s strong. Since they had a case of this product in their warehouse already, I suggested they use it instead of a detergent rinse or FabSet. Well, the combonation of the HOSS machine, the M1200 auto fill, auto dump portable and Encap02 was a hit! They didn’t even use a detergent prespray, they just ran with the rotary cleaning HOSS and the rinse. The HOSS probably provided enough friction to encapsulate while it was scrubbing and the peroxide killed germs and stains. I am now actively promoting Encapuclean02 as an acid rinse to those who want more ‘pop’ in their rinse. Click on the following link for the spec sheet. It makes for a fascinating read as to how versatile this product is.
Practicing with the HOSS.
The untold story of the ISSA was that I had Rob Hanks luggage in the back of my car, so I was driving to the Convention Center to drop it off to him when a car went on fire right in front of me. Now Rob Hanks is a great guy, very understanding, but he’s still the Big Boss, so you don’t want to make too many excuses when he’s sitting outside in the sun waiting for his luggage, especially when you called a half hour earlier to tell him to meet you in the front to get those bags. I called him back and told him a car blew up in front of me. He’s like, ‘WHAT!’ Later on, when watching the video that I took on my cell phone I realized that the tires were blowing up and exploding from the heat. Well, when the light turned green and some of other cars in front of me started going past real slooow, rubber-necking, (looking for a corpse of something) I was yelling out the window ‘go go go!’. Either stop and don’t go past the burning car or you go past it as quickly as possible in case there is a secondary explosion. So after a few of the lookie-loos went by very slowly the cops came and stopped me just as I was about to gun it. It seemed kind of a trite excuse to tell them, “I have my boss’s luggage is in the back and he’s waiting for me.” while a car is burning to the ground only a few feet away. I don’t think the officer would have responded, “Oh well, in that case, do a 100 mph past the burning wreck and see you again real soon.” Resigned to watch the show, I took a picture to remember the occasion and to show the Rob that it really happened.
Car goes BOOM! I was two car lengths behind.
Oh yeah, back to work. Interlink of Las Vegas supported another customer who had a successful job at a local hotel encapping with Encapuclean02. Yes, I know that all this success is boring. I’ll save you the eye fatigue reading. You already know the story. Here is the picture.
Look at the difference! Encap02 baby!
To finish the week, Kim and I took another deposit for yet another Hydramaster truckmount. Don’t worry Sapphire and Prochem. A new 370SS is being delivered on Monday and we had lunch with a customer today who told us he wants to buy a new Prochem by the end of the year. Interlink rocks!
Here’s a final picture of diner we had with Kim Heiman, our treasured store mentor who has been in town to assist our store this week. We went to Claim Jumper in Henderson. (hee-hee) That’s why I love Interlink. Family friendly, even after hours.
Four guys out for a burger!
Check in with me after this weekend. We will have wrap-up for the month and I have some new pics with stories I am working on! Thanks for reading!
Robert Falzone, Interlink Las Vegas