(Below is a window cleaner’s reply to my previous reply to him)

Thanks for the advice Steve,

Going about sending a letter makes me realize I need to take better care of and be in more contact with my customers.

I am so much better these days, but when I first started I was 26 and was not so focussed on customer satisfaction past being paid for the job.

I wish I had kept better track of all those clients, and had taken better care of the ones I had, being more diligent on following up and making sure they were satisfied.

Lots of people just dont call me, Im wondering if I should drop them from my list and only focus on my clients that I know love me and build from there.

My feeling is to send one card to everyone, and one next spring, and then drop it and really focus on building a happy clientele base, and staying in contact with them.

Could you give me an idea as to what to say in offering gutter cleaning (an existing service), I also though to say something about an exterior touch up, to plant the idea to prepare for the holidays.

My sales skills arent so strong, so any advice would be appreciated, maybe a simple template letter note, to get an idea, I think I go to complex when I send letters in the past…

Yeah I worked with a friend who use to be an emyth coach for awhile, and there are a lot of systems for me to implement I know.

Thanks again,
Aaron.

My Response:

Hi Aaron:

Good morning. 

Right…follow up is really critical.  It can make or break a business.  It can be a bit costly and time consuming to always go after new customers.  Keeping current customers is much, much easier and less expensive since the initial marketing expenditure was already done (flyer, postcard, door hanger, etc.) to get them on board the first time.  It’s not too late for you to follow up though.  Do you have any customers in The Customer Factor on the home page who need to be called?  If not, do you have any "frequency alerts" on the home page?  Make sure to fill in some frequency periods so that you can take full advantage of The Customer Factor functionality.  If you have all the frequency periods filled in, the software will do the rest and present you with anyone who needs to be followed up with.

Right…customers won’t necessarily call you.  That’s why I stress "follow up" so much.  People get busy and forget about us.  So a nice courtesy call is just the thing they need.  So I definitely wouldn’t "drop them".  Just because they haven’t called you doesn’t mean they don’t like you and your service.  Again, they may have just "forgotten", got busy, etc. etc. 

As far as "what to say in offering gutter cleaning"…are you referring to a letter?  If so, it’s real easy.  No sales skill involved.  Just a simple straight forward letter to your current customer base announcing that you now do gutter cleaning (or exterior touch up).  Like this:

Dear Mrs. Customer (personalize this):

Aaron here with <company name here>.  I hope you had a fine summer. 

I wanted to touch base with you to let you know that we now offer a gutter cleaning service in addition to our usual service of a top quality window cleaning. We decided to bring on this service based on customer request. 

Plus we would like to extend the opportunity for you get an "exterior only" window cleaning service. You may not be in need of our complete inside/outside window cleaning at the current time, so an "exterior only" window cleaning may be just the thing your windows need.

With the holidays fast approaching, our schedule tends to fill up fast, so please call us in advance to secure an appointment at xxx-xxx-xxxx.  We appreciate your past business and we look forward to servicing you again.  Have a great day.

Sincerely,

Aaron
<your company name>

That’s all.  Just a simple letter.  I used variations of this, so my letters were never the same.  But the above would work well.  I would prepare it in The Customer Factor and send it out.  But I would still follow up with a phone call though.  Nothing quite like a phone call to prompt a customer to take action.  

I hope this helps.  If you focus on the follow up process, I can promise you that you’ll see more jobs and more profits coming your way.  Take care for now.

Regards,

Steve

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