Competition?

I recently received an email asking some competition questions.  I thought you would benefit from reading the response.

Hello Steve,
 
I recently found your package on line and and have decided yours is the one I will buy.  I do have a few questions I hope you will answer, though, regarding market research and cost. How do I determine if there is sufficient demand in my area (I live in <location deleted>), and learn about my potential competition?  Do you have customers in this area and, if so, how do I ensure we won't be walking all over each other?
 
Also, realistically, how much money should I plan to spend on marketing and equipment just to get things rolling in the beginning?
 
Thanks for your time and information,
 
<name deleted for privacy>

My response:

Hi <name deleted for privacy>:

Thanks for your email and your confidence in my product.  Based on the success of my current system owners, I would say that you are making a smart decision to follow my proven roadmap to your own successful window cleaning business.

On to your questions.

There are very, very few areas in the country that won't support a residential window cleaning business.  I suppose if you live in a totally rural area with farm houses spread out 50 miles apart with no subdivisions in your area, then it might be tough to find enough houses to stay in biz.  But that's rare.  Take a drive around your city and scope out the subdivisions where some nice looking houses are.  That's your market.  And the good news is that none of the homeowners want to clean their windows.  Another market which is extremely profitable is the retirement market.  Do you have retirement communities in your area?  The homes aren't as big, but you can do 'em quick and actually make more profits per hour doing the smaller homes.

As far as competition, don't even give it a second thought.  The reason is because:

1.  Many window cleaners focus on commercial glass.  If you focus your marketing efforts on residential glass, you'll be entering a niche where not many window cleaners spend their time in.

2.  I have a complete program from a to z that teaches you literally how to bury the competition.  Part of that is an estimate package that does most of the selling for you.  So let's say a homeowner calls 3 window cleaners for an estimate.  Window cleaner #1 presents an estimate verbally.  He doesn't give the homeowner anything to look at or review.  Window Cleaner #2 gives the homeowner a business card with a price scribbled on it.  And Window cleaner #3 (you) comes along and presents a professional high impact estimate with references, cover letter, etc.  Who is the homeowner going to choose?  The vast majority of the time, they will choose you.  It happens time and time again.  So competition is truly a non-issue.

I don't have any system owners that I know of in your area.  Keep this in mind though, 2 of my most successful window cleaners live within 20 minutes of each other.  They use the same materials I provide in my package so the 2 different companies have a franchise "look" (without the franchise price tag).  In other words, people are use to seeing this "look" around town and both companies benefit from the exposure.  And also I would like to add that there are literally thousands upon thousands of windows that need cleaning.  One window cleaner can't do it all.  So this kind of relates back to the competition question.  There is a lot of glass out there that can support multiple window cleaners in one area.  Absolutely.  For example, there were 15 in my area, but yet I came out on top in terms of the # of customers I secured and retained (very important) and higher pricing.  Not everyone will use your service obviously, but in the window cleaning business, you don't need everyone. 

To get all the window cleaning supplies, it would run about $200.  I talk about the kinds of supplies you need in chapter 3.  And marketing is cheap if you start with flyers.  I have a flyer distribution technique that'll allow you to distribute 500 to 600 flyers in about 2 hours.  So for relatively little money, you can start the phone ringing pretty quickly.  Then from there you can reinvest some profits into postcards perhaps.  All of this is discussed in my manual.

Take care for now.  Talk soon.

Regards,

Steve
256-546-2446