Selling Aftermarket Glass Treatments

Contact of water droplet with hydrophobic glass after an aftermarket treatment has been applied.

Selling Aftermarket Glass Treatments (by Henry Grover Jr): Glass treatments are professional applications of thin film chemicals at ambient temperature. They usually are only a couple of molecules deep. If the polymers form a covalent bond with the oxygen atoms at the surface of the glass, the treatment is said to be "part of" the glass. Some of these companies are very emphatic about not using the terms sealant and coating. They also tend to focus on their claim that their product has been tested by many independent labs which specialize in such analytical work. They will elucidate at length about the applications of their products, and mention various well known buildings that have been treated. I can think of one company in particular that has a patent on their technology which claims to use two different chemical treatments. The first one which is only about a couple polymers deep forms a covalent bond with the oxygens at the surface of the glass. Then they have a second 'different' polymer that is chemically bonded to the first.

This patented technology is supposed to give their proprietary treatment/product superior longevity and resistance to UVC and alkali attack. They also have reports of independent tests that they can provide to anyone who asks which prove beyond doubt that their technology and product is the absolute best. Their are other companies yet that will just simply state that their product has been around for years, and is very well established in the marketplace. They will focus on this fact not even getting into any independent tests or alternate patented technology. Further;..,there are even more companies that have copied these companies in creating products that can be used not just on glass, but metal, plastic, and other surfaces too. Some of them are OK. But others are not.  Their effects last for only a few days. They certainly do not form covalent bonds since they are not "surface specific".

Their are those products too which are applied to glass in the float glass factory when the glass is manufactured. I have been told these are pyrolytically bonded to the glass and are in fact truly permanent. Just the other day I was cleaning windows at my Glass Shop and overheard a sales pitch regarding a brand new shower door enclosure. To wrap it up the salesperson said, "And I also seriously suggest using a glass that has a stain resistant factory treatment". If you are a professional applicator of aftermarket glass treatments you will have a difficult time getting in the front door when marketing to the glass world. Since they have been brainwashed already to believe that the treated glass they get from glass manufacturers like Guardian is the absolute best, and there is nothing that you could provide that could even come close to that quality.

So what do we do? The very first thing is to focus on aftermarket glass. Don't even get into any discussions with the glass world about the actual quality of various treatments and technologies used on new glass. But rather just focus on your own knowledge of this field, and your expertise in the application of the right treatment for the desired effect. Which effect might be stain resistance, scratch resistance, an easy clean surface, hydrophobicity, or hydrophylicity. Give a guarantee, and a price.  Do not discuss the name of the product you will be using.  Nor discuss the actual process that you will be using.  The technology that you use is proprietary, and there is no need for you to discuss it in detail with anyone. It would be good at this point however to discuss the different benefits of glass treatments. This can be done verbally at the moment. It can also be done with a flyer or info-letter.

Your guarantee should be specific to the desired effect of the treatment and what the application will be. Is the customer mostly concerned with exterior scratch resistance? Are they in search of a treatment to make cleaning interior shower glass enclosures much easier? Are they looking for an easy clean treatment for the exterior using a water fed pole? Or do they want an exterior easy clean treatment where the glass will be wiped with a micro fiber towel? Are they in search of a treatment that will make removing hard water deposits that are being caused by a sprinkler system or efflorescence of the exterior building facade much easier over the months and years to come? All of these different applications require different treatments/products, and different application techniques. Some applications will even demand a different guarantee, or no guarantee at all! I don't think any manufacturer of a glass treatment/product will tell you anything that I have written in this paragraph. But it is all very true.  

Before you get into this niche business it is necessary to become familiar with the different products that are currently on the market. You should also become familiar with some very "grassroots tests" that will tell you what you need to know about which application you are looking at. There will be new treatments/products that will continue to hit the market. Some will come along as a franchise, some as a professional product at a higher than normal cost, and some as a retail item available at a Lowes or Home Depot. You need to be ready to test out these new products so you can add them to your company list of chemical tools. You wouldn't use the same window cleaning tools on every window. So why should you use the same glass treatment tool for every application/job.

Written by Henry Grover Jr.

Henry Grover Jr is currently involved in R&D writing. He writes a column for the Window Cleaning Business Owner magazine called SURFACES, and manages a sub-forum for the Window Cleaning Resource with the same title SURFACES. He is also working in developing what he calls custom products for both the Window Cleaning Industry and others involved in the maintenance, restoration, and preservation of window glass. He has given seminars in the past on glass stain removal/identification techniques, wrote tech articles for the American Window Cleaner Magazine, traveled for consulting work on several famous buildings, and worked in the capacity of a consultant for many window cleaning companies in different parts of the US. 

Go to www.glass-smart.blogspot.com to read more.