Maps…Buying a Business…and more…

An email recently received:

Steve,

Is there some way to get a map of my area that denotes the price ranges of the houses. In other words, a map that will let me see where to focus my marketing by income? I can certainly see that some areas are better, but I don't know all the different neighborhoods and how to get there. It would help to have some way to quickly identify where to flyer and place ads.

I mentioned previously that there is a woman here offering her window cleaning business for 5K. I've found out further she's got about 50 clients on her list, does no marketing, hits them once a year in the summer and makes about 9k per year from the work. Is there any reasonable offer you might suggest making to her for the client list as a way to get up and running? I don't want to insult her with some low-ball offer. You've already told me just to build my own business. Just curious if you have any suggestions there?

I haven't finished your manual yet. I've watched at one time a janitorial service video about window washing that talks about the different strokes you can use, tilting the squeegee properly when doing that curvy swipe down a glass, the physics of water on glass and like that. Your manual is pretty straightforward on the subject. Is there any reason I should look into advanced techniques or just keep it simple?

I've been helping the above mentioned woman with a couple of jobs to see how I did. The first one was okay. The second one went much better as I had read your window washing technique section and was able to do much better work.

Without having finished the manual, it seems like I need to get some marketing stuff made up. I would prefer to keep things as simple and straightforward as I can. What kind of costs can I expect from your graphic designer to adapt your existing artwork to me? Probably the only changes I would make is to remove the beard from the graphic man and perhaps a name change.

Thanks. Probably more question soon.

Todd

My Response:

Hi Todd:

Good morning.

A good place to go for maps of your target area would be the national association of realtors.  I'm sure they have an office in your area.  Just tell 'em your target market and what you're looking for.

I personally didn't use maps. I just got in my car and drove around entering subdivisions and developments.  If the homes in the subdevelopment looked like they were ideal for my window cleaning service, then I made a note of them. 

Another way to identify target markets is to hook up with a direct mail company in your area.  They mail items for multiple companies day in and day out, so they would know the best areas for your service.  I'm not sure if they'll reveal this info. to you though if you're not going to spend any money with them.  So you may want to start the conversation off by mentioning you want to do some postcard mailings and you're looking for the best areas to mail to.

If you really wanted to offer this prospective seller some dollars, I would offer her between $1500 and $2000.  But there needs to be some assurances that most, if not all, of that 9k will come to you from those customers.  And you need to have her sign a contract stating that she can't start another window cleaning business in that area for a certain period, 2 years should work.  You can find these basic contracts at any office supply store.  Then pay a lawyer 100 bucks to personalize it for your company and add whatever legal verbage is needed for your State.

I advise folks to go through the manual quickly first and then go back over it slower a second time.  It may seem a bit overwhelming, but I urge you to just take it one step at a time. 

As far as advanced techniques, I believe in starting with the fundamentals, but you can certainly expand into different techniques if that's what you want.  I personally wouldn't advise it now though.  There is no need.  The primary thing we need to do now is to bring in customers.  The squeegee stroke is secondary.  One of the reasons i personally never spent the time learning these fancy strokes is because for the average residential window, they're not needed.  The advanced strokes like the swirl or the snake are mostly beneficial on large commercial panes of glass, and these were accounts that I stayed away from.

Right…over time, you'll get better when cleaning windows.  "Practice makes perfect" as they say.  Initially I wouldn't worry about the time spent on a job or anything like that.  I would focus only on mastering the window cleaning process.  Once this starts falling in place, your time will improve tremendously.

As far as artwork costs, it's best to contact barb directly on that.  She has her own graphic design firm that is independent of me, so I have no idea what her exact charges are for specific situations.  I do know though that her costs are lower than most graphic designers out there.  I've used many.  And Barb provides a quality service/job at good rates.  You can contact her here: barbara@ecoverdesigns.com.

Have a great day.

Regards,

Steve