Successful Hauler Sells to WM, Now Helps Haulers Grow

SalesStryke Software was born from the same team who sold GarbageMan, Inc. for tens of millions of dollars in 2017. Now, they have packaged the very same tools that made them the fastest-growing hauler in the country into SalesStryke. Through its TrashBolt Software platform, SalesStryke now offers these success tools to haulers that want to grow and/or be more profitable.

TrashBolt is a geolocation/map-based online shopping cart and marketing tool made specifically for haulers that completely automates the new customer signup process. TrashBolt brings its functionality directly to a hauler’s website and offers turnkey and mobile-enabled integration with billing, operations and routing software. TrashBolt is enabling haulers to effortlessly increase sales, improve customer experience and grow faster and more profitably.

Additional sales occur through garbagebolt.com, the national retail site for haulers. Think of it as the Expedia of the waste industry and the convenience it brings to buyers 24/7/365. The combination of these two platforms brings haulers in line with today’s online buyers’ expectations.  

Waste360 recently had the opportunity to catch up with co-founder Andy Sorensen and CEO K. Ryan Hasse. Here are excerpts from the discussion:

Waste360: What are some of the top challenges of independent haulers today?

Andy Sorensen: They’re struggling with the online sales. Things are shifting so quickly, and they’re lagging behind. Getting new customers down the line is the No. 1 issue. The national haulers have installed their own online “buy now” buttons, and they’re collecting all the online sales. There’s no competition right now, and I think that’s a serious issue for independent haulers. Their online systems cost millions, even tens of millions to develop, and are simply out of reach for most haulers. The large national haulers have a lot of advantages in scale. That’s a no-brainer, but with TrashBolt, independent haulers now have turnkey tools to compete.

Here’s a video as to how TrashBolt works for haulers:

Waste360: Can you discuss what you have referred to as “The Amazon Effect” on the waste industry?

K. Ryan Hasse: Clearly, customers want to buy online, and the biggest and best metric is Jeff Bezos’ success with Amazon. He’s one of the richest men in the world because he built a really great shopping cart. He made it easy to buy online, and now, customers expect this ease when buying everything, including waste services.  

The big national companies know this; they have their online shopping carts. But small and midsized haulers have significant challenges bringing a shopping cart to market.  Why? Cost and complexity. The waste service industry usually operates in a defined service territory. There are areas where they can and can’t sell. Normal shopping cart technology doesn’t work. And prices vary based on location. That’s why we developed TrashBolt. A hauler requires a sophisticated mapping platform to map out where they sell and where they don’t sell. 

The second technical challenge is their service areas may have different prices, taxes and/or fees, so you have to add all sorts of data attributes to the mapping in order to accurately present a would-be customer with an accurate quote. 

This technology is really expensive. The big national haulers have spent millions of dollars on their systems. So, a typical smaller hauler can’t provide this because they can’t afford it. That is why we created the SaleStryke software and the TrashBolt system for haulers.

The downstream efficiency resulting from pushing the sales data into billing, routing, operations and/or customer relationship management software is also incredible. This brings speed and efficiency in line with customers’ expectations such as receipt of initial payment, a service agreement with signature, a cart delivery window, a map pin for dumpster location at their address, etc. Moving data quickly also allows for rapid cart and dumpster delivery work orders to reach drivers.  

Waste360: Do you think your software is helping to level the playing field?

Andy Sorensen: Absolutely. We work with our clients on SEO [search engine optimization] and website design, and our software is designed to bolster our clients’ rankings in search engines. This has really leveled the playing field. Before we sold GarbageMan (a Plymouth, Minn.-based garbage hauling company) to Waste Management, our company came up first or second in the rankings in every market we served, and that’s a distinct competitive advantage. That’s the kind of insight and advice we bring to haulers now to help them gain the explosive growth that we experienced. The secret ingredient beyond the technology is the marketing support we provide to haulers.

What we see, and what I experienced firsthand while building GarbageMan, is that there’s a lack of a focus on targeted marketing campaigns among haulers. Our real success came when we took what was once a shotgun approach to sales and turned that into a precision type of marketing campaign. This is what we do for clients today. Since we are already mapping out routes and customer locations, we are able to create marketing campaigns to non-customers in a hauler’s service area. I always say that TrashBolt gives a hauler a second pass at the same customer, and it’s true. This is unheard of in this space. Haulers usually don’t have sales and marketing metrics, and that’s part of what we introduce to our clients that really drive sales.

K. Ryan Hasse: In one sense, yes, and then some. In another, TrashBolt slants the playing field dramatically in the direction of our clients. When competing against the big nationals, the one-two-three punch of SEO + Buy Now Button + “Buy Local” message more than levels the playing field against the big nationals. But, when competing against other local haulers for business, the ones without online signup capability, TrashBolt dramatically tilts the local buyer market in favor of our clients. We see clients target a marketing area and literally shift buyers from their competitors at amazing rates. Our marketing tactics and strategies are very good. By making it easy to buy and targeting the exact areas in which density is desired, our clients penetrate into neighborhoods and markets for a fraction of the cost of traditional methods, and at much greater speeds.  

Waste360: Andy, how has your prior experience contributed to the creation of what we’re seeing today in your software? 

Andy Sorensen: Independent haulers have so many advantages on the local level. When we founded GarbageMan, we pounded these selling points to our customers: we’re local; we care; we have upfront pricing. We made it easy to buy. And this helped us mow over the competition. 

We were one of the top 75 fastest-growing companies in the U.S., making the INC. 500. We put into practice the types of technology and methodologies we’re now bringing to market through TrashBolt. We’re saying to haulers that they don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Let us help. It really works.

All of this real-world experience has inspired the development of the technology behind TrashBolt. 

Waste360: What’s the “50/50 Club,” and why is so important for haulers to understand this concept?

Andy Sorensen: We’ve coined the term “50/50 Club” because we modeled our business around haulers that were dominating the market.

What the most successful haulers all had in common is that when you reach 50 percent of density in a specific area, you have a 50 percent chance of getting the business and every new customer. Once they reached this level, we also found that:

We offer an array of services that help haulers get to the 50/50 Club and beyond. That’s the most exciting part—working with haulers that really want to crank it up. There are haulers that have the raw materials required for dominance in their market, but they’re just missing a couple of the pieces. And we can help them do that and experience sustained growth. When our haulers succeed, we succeed, and it’s exciting. 

I offer my experience and success pathway to haulers that are serious about creating multimillion-dollar enterprises. Working with haulers to position them for sale or profitable growth in their markets is what I’m especially good at.

Waste360: What are your clients saying about you?

K. Ryan Hasse: From every conversation we have with our clients, it’s clear that they love what our products and consulting do for their company. Because of the growth they experience, the decrease in cost of sale and the fact that they are creating an easier shopping experience for their customers (like pay at the pump does) … well, we’ve never lost a client. We bring value. And that’s the bottom line.  

One of our clients, a hauler from Tennessee, recently said: 

“I was sick at home the day the TrashBolt buy now button was deployed on my website.  We acquired two new customers within the first two hours! I thought to myself, ‘Wow! This is really going to work!’”  

This is typical feedback we get from our happy clients. All our clients are seeing the value of the system and the amount of sales they’re bringing in as a result. Many of them see that 50 percent of their new signups now come through their TrashBolt portal. Thirty percent of that comes after hours. We’ve seen growth rates in the hundreds of percentage points. Our typical hauler in a mature market will grow 18 percent annually.  

During the sales process, our entire presentation to our clients goes way beyond the shopping cart buy now button. We show the value of our SEO, a proper website design (your online storefront!), social media presence, multifaceted marketing programs as well as our business consulting services. We have the street credibility with our track record at GarbageMan, and haulers realize what a great resource we are.  They’re not just buying software; they’re buying access to a team of people who know how to grow their business.   

Waste360: What advice can you give to haulers for getting inside the minds of their own customers?

Andy Sorensen: We call it the “field of vision.” You must enter the customer’s field of vision at the moment they’re willing to buy. That can be through online, advertising, carts on the street … But if you don’t enter the customer’s field of vision when they’re ready to buy, the chances of you gaining that business go down drastically. 

You also must eliminate barriers to purchase. If they have to leave a message, sales probably go down by 50 percent. If a prospect fills out a form online but doesn’t buy and you have their contact information, you can increase sales by 25 percent by overcoming their objections. But, with an online purchase option designed to answer all of the customer’s questions at the time of purchase, a hauler removes all barriers of purchase. 

For example, we give the customer who’s willing to buy at midnight on a Sunday a way to purchase. Many of our clients report that they come in on Monday morning and have 15 or more new customers, completely signed up, under contract and fully paid. It’s amazing.  

Another example is that our system can be enabled with QR codes. Why not work with the local realtors in your area to put this on a magnet or other materials that will be seen when people have just moved to an area and are looking for a garbage cart or other service? Seventy-seven percent of Americans have a smartphone, and more than 50 percent purchased on their smartphone in 2019.  

Working with people at the time you can predict when they’re going to purchase and pulling in our technology to help you do that is how you drive and grow your business. 

For more information, visit trashbolt.com.