Issue link: http://psai.uberflip.com/i/1191514
WEEKLY EDITION OCTOBER 9, WEEKLY EDITION DECEMBER 11, 2019 PAGE 7 R ep os i t i oni n g th e Po rt a b l e S a ni t at i on Ind us t ry : W hat W e Can Lear n f r om S te ak By Karleen Kos, PSAI Executive Director…continued from page 1 If only the portable sanitation industry worked like restaurants that serve bad food. As it stands, our contracting customers can make choices that result in poor end user experience because they are insulated from the consequences of their ill-advised decisions. It's like the person who got the bad steak complaining to, or about, the farmer but failing to take the restaurateur who cooked and served the meal to task. In this scenario, give enough people a bad steak and they come to disrespect farmers. Meanwhile, retaurateurs never have to think about buying a better grade of beef or hiring a different chef. They just use the lack of respect for farmers as an excuse to pay less for the meat. Ask yourself this question: How many of your contracting customers—the decision makers who choose your company—actually use the portable restrooms you provide? Not very many, I bet. Like the restaurateur in the imagined vignette, too many contractors are highly insulated from the consequences of their poor decisions about portable sanitation. Meanwhile, portable restroom operators face an uphill battle because a PRO's name is on the door. It's the equivalent of knowing the name of the farmer who raised the cow, but not the name of the restaurant manager at the place that served you the bad steak. During my years with the PSAI, I have heard operators say, "Well, what can we do? Our name is visible; the customer's name isn't there. When users are unhappy, they blame us." Yes, they do. And yes, they always will—unless we, as an industry, take steps to better connect the decision and the consequences in the minds of both the end users and our contracting customers. The PSAI is hard at work implementing a long-range "Industry Repositioning Strategy" aimed at moving portable sanitation from its often derided and disrespected position to one where we are viewed as the valued supplier of a service that enhances experiences at work or play. I provided an educational session on the strategy and its components at the 2019 PSAI Convention and Trade Show. Every day the PSAI staff and volunteer team is working on tools and tactics to implement the strategy. CONTINUED ON PAGE 18