Monika Hederova and Yaniv Gohar founded SOS Toilets in Richmond, California in 2021. The business offers 1,200 portable restrooms and 13 luxury restroom trailers in the San Francisco Bay area. Instead of relying on the traditional equipment quote model, Gohar says he wanted to try a new approach to ordering equipment and service, based on thinking like a customer.
He reckoned that one of the biggest pain points for 300 million American consumers is picking up a phone and calling someone for a quote.
“It’s time-consuming, they often have to leave a message and it makes them suspicious,” he says. “Why doesn’t the supplier want to advertise price? Does the price change depending on who’s calling? Are you going to pay more if you aren’t knowledgeable about portable restrooms or are you being quoted extra, depending on how much work they have? We may charge a premium for emergency work at 2 a.m., but for everything else, our price is our price.”
Gohar worked with a web designer to develop a self-serve website that offers full price disclosure and complete cost transparency using an online web marketplace feature. The design ensures that prices for the company’s products and services are simple to understand and the website is easy to navigate. Customers can order individual restrooms, luxury restroom trailers, hand-wash stations, holding tanks and freshwater tanks. The items delivered are the same model and color as the items depicted on the website.
Online orders must come at least 24 hours ahead of delivery. The SOS service area is divided into five regions, which represent two pricing structures. Customers choose their region and see the appropriate rental price for each unit. They can add insurance for an extra fee.
“Once-a-week servicing is part of that price,” Gohar says. “If they require additional servicing, they can order more service visits, which will be spaced evenly through the rental period.”
Credit cards are charged in advance for all services, through to the specified pickup time. There’s also an option for immediate rental pickup if the customer no longer requires the item.
“I take a lot of calls where I explain to the customer that they can handle the transaction themselves online,” Gohar says. “Many take me up on the offer. Five minutes later, I receive an email with the complete details of the order.”
A website chatbot assists customers with their orders, but also allows users to prompt a reply from a staff member, often Gohar, who monitors incoming messages.
“We’ve taken online orders for as many as 200 portable restrooms,” Gohar says. “For many of our customers, it’s become their preferred method of ordering.”
To learn more about SOS Toilets, read a full profile story in the April issue of PRO.
