Be Aggressive…Make Offers!

Hey All,

Right now the economy is going through a rough time as we all know.  And it may even get worse before it gets better.  But in any situation or economic downturn, there is always a massive amount of opportunity to build wealth - you just have to be willing to seize it.

And by seizing it, I'm talking about being "aggressive and making offers" to anyone who has raised their hand and expressed an interest in your service at some point in the past. This includes ALL past prospects who requested an estimate from you and it includes ALL customers who you've serviced in the past.

There may have been a time when you could take a more low key approach and wait for prospects and customers to find their way to your door, but not anymore. Of course the more successful window cleaners never "waited", but it was possible to build an average business by taking your marketing message to prospects and then waiting for them to make a move.  

However, in this economic climate, it is more important then ever to make offers regularly. Some window cleaners may be turned off by this thinking it's being too pushy. But if done correctly, it's not pushy at all. You're simply helping someone who has previously expressed an interest in your service to make a decision. Nothing pushy about that.

Making regular offers will make you more money than anything else you do in your business. As a matter of fact, nothing else really matters. Sure…spending time preparing your marketing materials has value (lots of value), and doing some behind the scenes work and organization is important.  But it's all for naught if you're not aggressive with your prospects and customers and "make offers".

Please don't misinterpret "aggressive" as me saying you need to get on the phone with customers or prospects and beg, plead, and hammer them into submission until you snag a job from them. That's not it at all.

My definition of "aggressive" is someone who first and foremost contacts prospects/customers personally on the phone vs taking the easy way out by sending reminder cards. Working the phones will flat out result in more jobs! Furthermore, being aggressive means to not quit after making just one or two phone calls.  I made on average 6 to 7 phone calls before archiving the prospect/customer and putting them on the back burner. 

Now obviously if someone tells you they decided to use another window cleaner or that they're now not interested, then don't continue to contact 'em, but if there is any hesitation or they're not sure yet, then try again a week or two later.    

Let's put this in real world perspective so that you can see how making offers can dramatically affect your income.

A window cleaner called me last wednesday telling me that his business has been humming along pretty good for the last 6 months.  He was making money and he was happy with the way his schedule was filling out. But he also felt that he could be doing better.  Since I knew he was a member of The Customer Factor Window Cleaning Software and used it regularly to grow his window cleaning business, I asked him if we could log into his account together and review the number of prospects and customers needing to be called. 

So we logged in and I noticed there were 13 customers who were "tentatively due to be scheduled". The software knows this based on the "last job date" of each customer and the frequency period (quarterly, semiannually, annually, etc.) when a customer is due to be scheduled again. There were also 4 customers who displayed in the "contact again" category. These are customers who have been called previously but weren't ready to be scheduled at the time.  

Under the prospects category, there were 8 prospects needing to be followed up with after being given an estimate.  And there were also 5 prospects displaying who have been called previously but weren't ready at that time.

Ok…the stage is set.

Each one of these numbers mentioned above ("13", "4", "8", "5") are links that can be clicked on within the software so that all prospect and customer details (jobs, prices. etc) will display on one screen.  So we clicked on the number "13" link in the customer category which took us to a screen showing all 13 customers.  I noticed that alongside the average priced customer jobs of $200 to $250 or so per job, there were 2 customer jobs that stood out. One was a $768 window cleaning in/out and another was an $850 window cleaning in/out with a back porch cleaning.

All total we calculated that those 13 customer jobs totaled $4738. The jobs for the customers who were called previously (4 customers) totaled $833.  With me so far? I won't go into the prospect totals because we focused mostly on customers and getting those customers on the schedule.

We then went over some pointers on what to say. I then encouraged him to make these 17 phone calls (13 customers who were tentatively due and 4 customers who were previously called) as soon as he got off the phone with me. Everything would be
fresh in his mind. Plus there is no sense putting it off if the software is telling him they need to be called.

Care to know what the end result was? I thought so.

Jim called me back after about an hour with some final numbers. Out of the 13 customers, 4 customers weren't home or he got an answering machine,  2 told him to call them back in another week or so, but a whopping 7 customers said "sure…come on by" INCLUDING that $768 job. After adding up the job totals for the customers he scheduled, he just put an extra $2159 in his pocket! 

Not a bad way to spend an hour, right? 

Now some of those customers may have called him the next day, the next week, or the next month.  We'll never know. But by Jim getting on the phone as soon as the software told him the prospects and customers needed to be called, he locked in almost $2200 in profits lickety split. No waiting around. And this doesn't even count the prospects that he contacted.  I'm sure he closed some of them and turned them into new customers/jobs also. 

So…set some time aside TONIGHT. Go through your prospect and customer databases to see who you can call. Sure some prospects/customers may put you off 'til the Spring. But who cares?  At least you made the offer. If they don't take it, no problem. You'll get quite a few who do.

And please, please, please, don’t let this economic situation “fake you out” into thinking people aren’t paying for window cleaning services anymore.  That couldn’t be further from the truth.  Again…you just need to ACTIVELY make offers if you want to make more money.

Before ending this newsletter, I'm going to follow my own advice and make you an offer. 

Sorry…I have no discounts or specials to offer you, but I'm going to make a strong push for you to join The Customer Factor Window Cleaning Software if you're not a member yet. What I described above gives you some idea how easy it is to use and benefit from The Customer Factor.  Just log in and you can immediately see which prospects and which customers need to be contacted. 

Sure there is a cost involved in joining The Customer Factor, but I'm committed to seeing window cleaners enjoy maximum success in their businesses, so we've created features in the software that not only manages your business, but also GROWS it. So it's not a typical cost/expense. It's an investment in your window cleaning business. 

It's a bit sad really when I visit a window cleaning forum and read how some window cleaners are poking along doing things manually shuffling papers here, there, and everywhere, or perhaps they've cobbled together 2 or 3 feature deprived free programs on the web that do a little bit of this and a little bit of that.

The Customer Factor gives window cleaners an opportunity to take care of every aspect of their window cleaning business all under one roof and it's extremely user friendly so that anyone can use it. Of course some window cleaners are a bit on the cheap side to recognize that the value/benefits received is way more than what the software costs, but no worries. Different strokes for different folks.  What's funny though is that when someone starts using it and seeing results, more often then not, they'll write or call saying we should raise the price.

Anyway…I just posted a whole bunch of comments on the main web page that members have sent to me where they talk about what The Customer Factor has done for their window cleaning business, so if you haven't visited the web page lately, here it is: http://www.thecustomerfactor.com.

Read what others are saying and then jump in and let's get going.  Springtime is almost here, so this is the absolute perfect time to signup.  You can get your prospect/customer data inserted and then as you head into the busy season, you can let The Customer Factor work for you.

The Customer Factor has been the tool of choice for hundreds of window cleaners nationwide since 2004 and it's backed by round the clock support 7 days a week. And with our no-risk 30 day money back guarantee, there isn't any reason not to at least run it through its paces and see what it can do for you and your business.  

So that's my offer. How's that for a strong push?

I'm being aggressive with my offer because I know how much the software has benefited and continues to benefit window cleaners.  But similar to how some of your prospects and customers will delay when it comes to scheduling your window cleaning service or maybe not end up going with your company at all, some folks reading this will delay joining The Customer Factor or never join. No problem.

Regardless how strong we think our products are (my software and your window cleaning service) it's just not possible to turn everyone into a customer. So don't worry about the ones who you can't close regardless of their reasons. Some window cleaners worry too much about the prospects/customers who they can't close and schedule. Who cares? Just work double time for the ones you do close. 

Take care and have yourself a wonderful and profitable day. It WILL be profitable if you set some time aside regularly to "make offers". Talk soon.

Sincerely,

Steve
256-546-2446