Steve

A quick question.  I noticed on 3 bears that there is only one other window cleaning company besides mine listed for the <area deleted>.  I googled and found that around 15-20 have listings on the internet.  The pages look pretty bad (some are okay), but my question is this:  Is it possible to make this work with that many in the <area deleted>?  I think I know the answer, I just wanted to know your thoughts…

Thanks,

Chet

My Response:

Hi Chet,

Absolutely w/o question it’s more than possible to make it work in any area with 15 to 20 (or more) competitors.  And I’ll explain why. First and foremost, if you break through the surface of these window cleaners, they’re not really apples to apples competitors.

–Many window cleaners have made commercial window cleaning their focus.  Sure, they may do a residential account every now and again, but their preference is commercial. I have no idea why because residential is way more profitable in my opinion.

–Most window cleaners will not present the estimate properly.  That’s a fact.  You’ll see this yourself when you get out in the field.  They’re not going to present an estimate package to prospects with references.  It just doesn’t happen.  They usually give the prospect a verbal estimate or scribble a price on the back of their business card. I’ve had many, many window cleaners call and tell me that they had prospects accept their window cleaning bids even though they might have been $20 or $30 HIGHER than their competitor’s pricing.  So it’s all in the presentation.

–And finally, if you get right down to it, most services businesses and window cleaners really don’t take a very proactive approach to marketing their business.  They might put out a few flyers or maybe even send out a few postcards.  But a real, full fledged, repetitive marketing campaign?  It’s generally not done.

You need to understand that most window cleaners are “technicians”,  so they run their businesses w/o any long term, systematic, marketing methods or plan of attack. This leaves huge gaps in the market where a window cleaning business owner who has a long term strategy can sneak right in and control the market.

So I wouldn’t give one thought to competition.  Not at all.  A perfect example is this: If you go to google and type in “window cleaning software” (w/o the quotes), you’ll see my site thecustomerfactor.com as number one out of over 13 million results.  There have been companies selling window cleaning software way longer than me.  I’m the baby of the group because I’ve “only” been offering my product since 2004.  :o )  Yet I’m #1 in the results.

I mention this only to prove a point as it relates to your business.  Out of all the so called “competitors” out there, you’ll stand out if you offer a high quality presentation backed up by a quality product followed by outstanding service/follow up.  If I worried about my competition prior to creating my window cleaning software, hundreds of window cleaners wouldn’t be benefiting from using the software daily in their window cleaning businesses. So don’t give a  second thought to how many other “window cleaners” might be in your area. They won’t affect your business overall.

Take care and have a good night.

Regards,

Steve

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