An email recently received:

Hi Steve

Read your article about procrastination and boy is that me !!

I have been getting the business ready tio go for almost a year, but enough is enough. I have started handing out flyer’s this week.

I have 2 small store fronts in the downtown area that I can take care of in less than 1 hr.

The question is when I try getting more commercial  work should I be focused on the single cleaning or a monthly service?

I have yet to get a residential account yet but that will be only a matter of time.  Determined to make this work because I  really enjoy the job and being outside.

Second, should I pre make quotes up for business that I would like to do and then go in and present them in person or mail  them.  The wife thinks in person is the best but I have a  real phobia about first contact.  Any help would be appreciated

Ted

My Response:

Hi Ted:

It’s good to hear from you.

I think we’ve all been there as far as procrastination.  And it’s especially hard to maintain focus and take the steps needed if we have other jobs we’re working in or trying to make the transition from one business to the next.  I remember when I was transitioning from changing oil to window cleaning. It was tough.. The motivation though was that I didn’t want to smell like —– for the rest of my life.  :o )  So what can you use as motivation? 

Yeah…it’s time to get going.  Getting all your ducks in a row is fine initially. I mean you do need business cards, signage, perhaps a nice polo shirt, etc, but this only takes a few weeks at the very most.  It’s then time to implement some basic marketing strategies so you can get that phone ringing and building your business.  One thing to keep in mind is after you get the first call and do your first job, it’ll motivate you to continue on even more.  And therefore more calls come, more jobs are done, etc.  But it all starts with that first call.  It’s an easy business, but we need that first call to come in.

Excellent on distributing some flyers.  Just keep in mind that it’s a numbers game.  100 flyers might sound like a lot, but that generally will only return one phone call.  I’m just using 100 as an example number.  I don’t know how many you distributed.  But the more you can distribute (or have someone distribute for you), the more calls and jobs you’ll get.  It’s just numbers.

For commercial work, I would focus on the repeat part of it.  In my opinion that is the only benefit of commercial work.  If you’re only focusing on the one-time service, then you may as well do only residential windows because there are a bunch of advantages to dealing with homeowners vs commercial people.  It does take a little more effort securing residential jobs, but as strange as it sounds, that’s a good thing.  This means that not every Tom, Dick, and Harry window washer out there is going after this business.  Whereas with commercial, anyone can walk in off the street and offer to do a free estimate.  So please keep this in mind. 

It’ll work Ted.  I see and hear from people across the country every single day that it’s working and their businesses are growing.  So there is no doubt about that.  It’s just up to you to get out there and let people know about the service you provide. 

As a side note, try and introduce yourself to other service businesses who are in customer homes like carpet cleaners, maid services, blind cleaning companies, etc.  Build an army of businesses which will send you jobs regularly.

If the store is small, I do think it’s best that you go in with a quote right away. I mean it only takes a few seconds to come up with a price for a small commecial store front.  On the other hand, if it’s a place like a car dealership, then I would walk in and see if they’re interested first.  Plus it wouldn’t look good anyway if you’re walking around the dealership with clipboard in hand prior to meeting anyone in the dealership. 

I read your part in your email about "quoting in person or mailing them".  I was under the impression you were talking about coming up with a quote prior to walking in or just walking in cold, asking them if you can do a window cleaning quote, and then presenting them with the quote.  So that’s why I responded like I did in the above paragraph.

But if you’re talking about quoting in person vs mail, there is absolutely no doubt that you need to do it in person.  Sorry about that.  :o )  But a quote mailed to a business owner/manager doesn’t mean a thing. If you have a phobia about 1st contact, then I would recommend coming up with a flyer that you can leave them to review. You can see a commercial flyer at link provided in manual.

So in other words, you’re not there to necessarily try and "sell" them anything.  You’re there just to drop off a flyer and let them know about the service you provide.  So when you walk in, you might say something like:

Hi my name is Ted Whitcomb and I own Clearview Window Washing Services in town. I just wanted to drop off a flyer that talks about the window cleaning service we provide.  If you are ever interested in receiving a window washing estimate to get your windows cleaned up spic and span, please call me.

And that’s all there is to it.  Easy.  As another alternative you could hire someone to do this for you.  But make sure it’s someone you trust becaues they could dump the flyers in the trash and tell you they distributed them all.

There is a really great post being posted to the blog friday, so make sure you check it out.  It’ll get you fired up.

In the post, tony talks about his growth and what’s happening in his business.  I remember not too many months ago he was working for a school district and now he’s got a window cleaning business with 186 customers!  There is absolutely no reason why you can’t do the same.  Especially in <location deleted>. It is the perfect window cleaning market. 

If you need any assistance, please let me know.  Take care for now.

Regards,

Steve
256-546-2446

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