I mentioned in yesterday’s post that I would be posting my newsletter today to this blog, but there’s been a slight change in plans. I wasn’t able to complete it as scheduled, so it should be ready to roll in the morning (sunday). In the meantime, here’s an email I received a little bit ago with a few questions.

Hey Steve,

This is Nathan.  I’ve talked to you a couple of times.  I have done window cleaning in the past but not had any of the information on marketing, etc and always cleaned windows as side jobs in addition to my regular job.  My customers were always very satisfied but I never launched my business. 

Anyway I purchased your info awhile back and have finally gotten around to having my advertising info personalized.  Should have done it a long time ago.  That being said, I’m really looking forward to launching my business the way you suggest and hopefully having that as my sole income.  I have a couple of questions though. 
 
First, I live in <location deleted> and it gets quite cold and snowy this time of year.  Should I start marketing now or wait until spring?  Is there the potential of getting jobs in this kind of weather? 

Also, if this isn’t the time of year to get things going, are there any other similar lines of work that you would suggest at this time of year where I can employ the same techniques of advertising and then focus on windows in a few months?  I know it’s good to stick to one thing as you suggest, I just don’t know what to be doing in the cold months.  I have no problem bundling up and going out to clean, but I don’t know if that is to foreign of an idea to potential customers.  

Also, once I get customers this spring and summer, are there ways of talking them in to winter cleaning as well?
 Next, I’ve noticed plenty of roofs made out of material like metal or even what appears to be breakable material that has to be walked on in order to get to the windows on the second story.  If those windows aren’t removable, what is the proper procedure for cleaning those windows?
 
Ok thanks for all your great ideas and motivation in your newsletters.  I’m looking forward to making this work.  Anyway, I appreciate any suggestions you may have.

Thanks, Nathan

My Response:

Hi Nathan:

How are you doing?  It’s good to hear from you.  Sure I remember speaking with you in the past. I’m glad to hear that you’re ready to kick the business up a notch.  Better late then never, right?  :o ) 

As far as your questions.

Whether you get market now in your weather or not really depends on the type of marketing you want to do.  If it’s postcards, then definitely wait.  They’re most effective when people can actually call you right then and there.  People will hold on to them and call you later also, but since a postcard campaign requires a little investment to crank it up, for the best bang for your buck, i’d wait ’til the weather gets nicer.

Now if you were to go with flyers, since the cost is so low, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to attempt a couple of flyer distribution campaigns now.  You may not get the 1% average like you would normally, but you’ll still generate phone calls.  I wouldn’t distribute flyers yourself though.  Go to craigslist.org and stick a help wanted ad in your area for a couple of flyer delivery people.  A wise investment that’ll give you a good return.

The big thing with winter is how severe it is.  I mean if there is snow flying around, then probably not many residential customers will want their windows cleaned.  But if it’s just cold and clear, then you’ll have more customer interest.  Of course you’ll never have quite the interest obviously in the winter as you will in the spring/summer.  So that’s why I recommend focusing on implementing a low cost marketing investment like flyers and making follow up calls (this is no cost) to current customers and see if they would be interested in a repeat cleaning now.

As far as other services….how about gutter cleaning?  You can send out a letter to your customers saying that you now offer gutter cleaning services.  That would be one service I would focus on more than any others.  I mean there’s always pressure cleaning and blind cleaning as great add-on services, but there is an investment to provide these services.  There is no investment in gutter cleaning.  Just labor.

As far as the roofs you’re talking about, the absolutely only way to clean the outside of these windows is with a pole.  I’m not a big fan of poles, but sometimes we have to use ‘em.  This would be one of those times.  It’s better to do that then risk breaking any roof tiles.

Take care for now and happy new year nathan.  Talk soon.

Regards,

Steve

 

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