Are you Busy?

Hi All,

Reports are coming in from all over the country that good times are here again for window cleaning businesses. Here's an email that I received recently that pretty much just sums up what I've been hearing:

Hi Steve,

I've been thinking of writing you (or calling) lately to update you on the successes we are having at the moment in the window cleaning business!!

Some interesting stuff is happening. For some reason I am unusually busy right now and I know it to be a number of factors. All those post cards I distributed (almost 5000 thus far), have surprisingly remained in possesion of some for a good few months before calling I am getting quite a few calls now from prev. distributions which is nice. I have also coupled my efforts with some advertising in the local newspaper (14 weeks worth) and I think this is helping people become aware of my business as well as to trust it. I know of some customers now who had received a postcard and also saw the ad in the paper and called me directly. Others have simply chosen to go with us because they liked the way we presented the estimate even though slightly more than the competition.

But why everyone is calling at this particular time makes me wonder if the busy time is right before the cold weather sets in — everyone wanting to act on getting their windows cleaned!! Historically, what have you observed, this time of year is particularly busy??

I am also getting some commercial calls too which is kind of nice. Speaking of which, that job I received your help in estimating, I never got the job (which is totally fine) but the contractor said the pricing was right on the money (I went w/$1.55 per piece of glass, $3.10 per double-hung) but the only reason he did not go with me is because of an inclusion I put in the estimate which I thought would help me secure the job, but in fact had a reverse effect. I stipulated that if gas costs on the lift exceeded $25 of what I budgeted for, only what was used would be billed for. Otherwise the price was wsywyg (what you see is what you get). That's OK tho, it was a reminder to me that I do not want to branch into work that requires heavy equipment like that!!

Anyway, things are going good at the moment, just wanted to update you. I hope all is well, and you are nicely keeping busy too! Take care,

Bob

My Response:

Hi Bob,

Good morning and it's good to hear from you. Feel free to call anytime for sure. 256-546-2446.

You're exactly right as far as this being a busy time. It is for most window cleaners across the country and beyond. As we head into the holidays, sept, oct, nov, dec are typically very busy months. In my own personal window cleaning business, these 4 months were right behind march, april, may, june as far as being busy, busy, busy.

In the colder climates, it will begin to slow down a bit in mid december. And it does dip a bit in january/feb regardless of weather. Folks are just getting over the holidays. But as mentioned above, we're right back in the swing of things come march again.

Occasionally we'll lose a potential job, so no worries. And we can always second guess what we should have done. But I would like to make a suggestion that you don't break apart an estimate and look at specifics when presenting. My experience over the years has told me that all people really care about is the bottom line price. It confuses people and makes 'em think when they look at specific pricing or costs in an estimate. And that's the last thing you want 'em to do (think).

The reason why is because let's say that you're pricing the job and you list the window pricing and then show the screen pricing as a separate $35 figure, this may lead the prospect to suggest that you eliminate cleaning the screens which of course will affect your profitability. So I would get in the habit of pricing everything individually, but the individual pricing is for your eyes only. What you present to the prospect should be one price. The first words out of my mouth each and every time I presented an estimate to a prospect went like this: "Nancy I completed your estimate and I can do this job for $276 and here's what I do…". Then I simply repeated verbatim what the cover letter says so that they'll know what kind of quality they'll receive.

Anyway…it's good to hear from you once again Bob. Have a great day today.

Regards,

Steve

P.S. We're keeping busy over here too! :o) The Customer Factor continues to grow with more and more features which is resulting in a continuing influx of new members who are now able to streamline their window cleaning businesses. Efficiency is the name of the game for maximum profits. Plus I'm launching a search engine optimization service very, very soon to help window cleaners and other service business get their websites to the top of the search engines. I'll announce it soon, so stay tuned.