Do Water and Oil Mix?
Many of you would have answered no to this question, and I would normally agree. However, with the business climate as it is, several of you may be looking for new opportunities, and one could be working with water conditioning systems. There are many types of water related business opportunities. One example is the self-contained maker/vending ice machines. There is still a very strong market for block and cube ice. Just think of what you may have paid for a bag of ice recently, probably three dollars. Not bad for a change (water to ice) of state item!
There is another area pertaining to water that should be considered and that is purification. I’m sure many of you who are reading this article have either experienced or know someone that has complained about the poor taste of water, be it city or well. Think also about the families that make regular trips to the grocery store to pick up 5 gallon (40 pound) bottles of water or the cases of 24(1 pint) bottles and the related cost. Why? They tell me it’s better tasting water.
The Government Accountability Office and environmental researchers urge Americans to make bottled water “a distant second choice” to filtered tap water because there isn’t enough information about bottled water. Perhaps we want to know where the purified or spring fed bottled water is coming from and any treatment associated with this food classified product.
Just think’every home owner who has been purchasing bottled water is an opportunity for a water purification system sale. Many readers may say they don’t want the liability of recommending possibly the wrong system or dealing with the marketing expense. However, I would suggest that you look at this as a positive opportunity, and let me try to make the decision a little easier.
Regarding the marketing, all the full service oil companies I know have several technicians going in and out of homes on a daily basis, and here is where the marketing opportunity begins. Every technician would be given instructions by a water system purification company representative. One area of instruction given would be how to properly take a water sample from the home they are servicing. This, of course, would be with the homeowner’s permission. Once the technician receives permission to take a sample, the free test bottle supplied by the water system company will be filled and placed in the provided pre-addressed package and mailed to the testing company. Generally in 10 to 15 days the testing company will mail you back the water quality readings and a list of the equipment needed to correct the water’s issue. Keep in mind the test could come back with nothing needed, but possibly a simple whole-house water filter, another sale possibility.
Regarding the liability, I guess there can be a liability of some kind in both our personal and professional lives. However the water treatment companies are very good at keeping liability, if any, at a minimum. Remember, your company is not doing the water testing or selecting the equipment required, it is selected by the company your supplier has selected to perform the above mentioned test. If equipment is required, your technicians can now become the installer, and, of course, you, the owner, would be providing more work and profitability.
Take the time to call your equipment supplier and you may find that they have a water purification product line and training program already in place.
This new business can create a cleaner company image, and generate more needed revenue, as well as eliminate a customer’s need to carry around 40 pound containers. As an added FYI, from 1997 to 2007 the amount of bottled water consumed per person in the U.S. more than doubled from 13.3 to 29.3 gallons. So, the answer is yes, oil and water can mix.