Hey All:

Received an email and I thought I’d share it.

Hey Steve! How are you doing? I hope all is well. I have a quick question,,, I notice that one of our competitors sometimes leaves his yard sign in the front lawn of a clients house for days . I’ll notice the sign, and 4 days later it’s still there. Do you recommend this technique? I thought maybe he knows the people well so they let him use their lawn for advertising…I can’t imagine asking strangers to let us do that? Personally I feel that through proper marketing and great referrals we should not have to leave the sign behind. Any thoughts?

Also how do you handle windows that seem a little too dangerous to get to? Like the ones obscured by huge trees, or the little ones that are usually attic windows and are just a few feet too high, or the ones that you simply can’t get to without climbing on a roof! You get the picture! Are there times when you just can’t do a particular window and are people usually ok with that?

Thanks!

Beth

My Response:

Hi Beth:
 
It’s good to hear from you.
 
I’m not a big fan of the "leave yard sign in customer’s yard for days" technique because if you’re in the right target market, how many customers will allow you to leave a sign in their yard?  I know my customers wouldn’t have liked that.  They wanted clean windows and when I left, they didn’t want any reference that I was even there.  Plus homeowners associations would surely frown on that too. 

There is one technique that works fine when using signs, but it involves placing signs around the entrance/exit ways to nice subdevelopments.  They can be put up on friday night and taken down sunday night.  It’ll give you some good exposure (and get you some calls) over the weekend without upsetting your current customer base.  Anyway…I would not do what this competitor is doing.   
 
There are absolutely times when a window just can’t be reached safely.  In that case, you really have no choice but to whip out your trusty pole.  It won’t do as good of a job obviously as if you were right on top of the glass, but it’s better than nothing.  I don’t see any other options except to not do the window at all. And I don’t know if that is really an option.
 
Hope this helps.  Take care for now and have a super weekend.
 
Regards,
 
Steve

Beth’s reply:

Steve   

Thanks for the reply! I agree with you on both counts. It’s funny how you learn to trust your instincts as you become more confident with the business. My first reaction to seeing his signs was " if I were the homeowner I wouldn’t want that thing on my lawn!" It’s like he’s pimping out the property! That’s why I thought he must know them or something because who would agree to that!  I knew it would not be a technique that we plan to use.

I also figured a pole was the way to go for the hard to reach windows. But here’s another situation.. as you know houses come in all shapes and sizes and most houses around us are one or two story houses, some a bit bigger. What do you do if you get to an estimate and the house terrifies you!! What I mean is for whatever reason i.e it’s on a crazy hill or it’s so big that your 24 foot ladder isn’t getting near half the windows…how do you deal with that? Should I just price it so high that they either pass or it makes it worth it? Basically what I’m asking is ..is there a time where you just say no to a job? And if so..how do you do so professionally? I hope I never have to do it but if I do , I don’t want to sound like an idiot. Have you ever not taken a job?

I realize you might not read this until the weekend so I understand if you don’t reply right away!

Have a great weekend!

Beth

My Response:

Hi Beth:

Right…houses are all different for sure.  Absolutely there were jobs I didn’t want to do.  I remember early on I did this 3 story house. I had to rent a 40′ extension ladder to do it.  Whew…that was the scariest thing I ever did.  So I vowed right then and there to never do 3 story homes again.  I also mention in my book a story about this one lady who called me to do her windows, but the screens were all screwed in.  So it would have taken me forever to remove the screens just to get to the windows.  When I saw this I politely declined to do the job. 

I really think if it’s done right, it won’t sound bad to the homeowner.  One way to not get a job is to simply way overprice the job keeping your fingers crossed that they don’t say "yes".  That’s the easiest way out.  But you need to be careful here too.  Because that homeowner could mention to other people that you’re too unreasonable in your pricing.  I personally preferred to tell them that I don’t have the equipment to get to this particular window or that particular level so it may best to call another company who does.  I think that sounds professional and you ended up politely declining a job for a very good reason.  For example, when I received a call for a 3 story home, I told them I don’t have the ladders to get up that high which in fact I didn’t.  Of course I could have bought one if I was interested in doing 3 stories, but they don’t need to know that.  :o )

Hope this helps.  Have a super weekend. 

Regards,

Steve

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