Flyer Restrictions…
Before posting a recently received email and my response, I’d like to wish you a very happy 4th of July. Independence is a wonderful thing…especially if you are independent in your own window cleaning business. 
)
An email received asking about flyer restrictions:
Hi, I received the package yesterday, and printed out the manual, and starting to study and learn. When I do a domain name search, a lot of good names are taken…but these names are not. What do you think of "yourwindowwasherguy.com"? Or maybe "Clearview Window Washing of Reading"? Or do you have any other suggestions?
Probably will start this parttime, until I see what happens.
Thanks, George
2nd email from George…
Sorry for the questions, I think of these are I am driving down the road.
Do you think there are any restrictions on placing the flyers in the newspaper tube holders that are usually on the same pole as the mailbox in front of peoples homes?
George
My Responses:
Note: Normally I would block out things like someone’s domain name suggestions above, but George already chose his names so I left the entire email posted above intact the way that he sent it to me.
Hi George:
I’m glad everything arrived safe and sound. No probs on asking whatever questions you come up with. This is what I’m here for, so ask away. )
I love "yourwindowwasherguy.com" as a domain name. Great name. The "Clearview Window Washing of Reading" name is a bit too long for me. I would just go to godaddy.com and spend a few hours searching for all kinds of different combinations of names. Yes…many are taken. But there are still plenty to be found. Don’t forget about using dashes between words if you need to. And I would focus only on .com (not .net, .info, etc) since you are a business.
Part-time sounds like a solid plan to start. If you take action on what I talk about within my program, you’ll be able to make the transition to full time seemlessly and relatively quickly.
Your 2nd email:
I don’t believe there are any restrictions at all in placing flyers in newspaper boxes. I suppose the newspaper company may not like it, but no probs legally. It’s the post office that puts up a fuss if you stick items in the mailbox without postage.
Keep in mind that a great flyer delivery method is to throw ‘em out the car window. Have you read a past newsletter where I discuss this method? It’s working very well for folks who use it. The main reason is because you can deliver flyers so fast. For someone like you in retail, you need to find ways to market quickly and to lots of people. This’ll generate a bunch of phone calls regularly which will allow you to make the move to full time quicker.
Hope this helps.
Regards,
Steve
256-546-2446
Note: In reference to the flyer delivery method mentioned above…it’s important to do this correctly. We don’t want to be willy nilly just throwing stuff out our car windows. Get it as close to the garage as possible and make the packaging as attractive as possible. People will be curious, look at it, and the calls will come.
Opportunities in Window Cleaning? You Bet!
An email recently from someone asking about The Customer Factor and talking about what kind of opportunities he notices are out there:
Good morning,
I have been looking at The Customer Factor information, and have a question. The letters that you talk about, are they already in the system, and I would just print them? Or would I have to set the letters up the first time, and then use them?
Waiting on business cards, setting up insurance today. My son is a graphic designer, and he is going to edit all the files for me to do shirts, magnetic signs, etc…so I will have a savings there…and a savings to have them done where he works.
It is funny how I look at windows now. All kinds of opportunities out there. Was at Taco Bell, and asked if they had a service do their windows. They said come back and talk to the manager, because they wanted to change their service. Went to have car tires installed, and could tell they had not had anyone do their windows in a long time. So when I get my all my information letters and business cards together, I will return to these and other locations…plus pass out flyers to residential.
Thanks for your help,
George
My Response:
Hi George:
Good morning.
The letters actually aren’t in the The Customer Factor. The reason why is because I have many members who are not window cleaners. The Customer Factor is beneficial for any service business, so I have carpet cleaners, pressure washing companies, landscapers, some maid services, etc. as members.
You would have to create whatever documents you want to send. Then name ‘em, save ‘em, and you’ll be able to use ‘em over and over again. What I would do is visit the "materials" webpage (link located in manual) and simply copy the wording for the estimate package and "thank you" letter. That’ll give you 4 letters right there that you can use again and again. Don’t forget to insert the proper tokens like %fullname%, %address%, etc. on the editor screen in ‘Factor so each letter is personalized. Then every time you get a call for an estimate, simply log into ‘Factor, check the 3 select boxes to the left of the 3 documents that make up your estimate package (cover letter, reference page, and estimate sheet), and then click the print button. It’s fast and easy.
As a side note, you can create as many different letters that you want to within The Customer Factor.
Sounds good on your son being a graphic designer. That’s one way to save some bucks. )
Right…that’s what I mention in my manual…the fact that you’ll look at windows a bit differently from here on out. There is a huge opportunity available out there for quality window cleaners. There are the fly by nighters, but they don’t stick around too long.
I would like to caution you though on getting too excited about the taco bells of the world and other commercial places. Yes…you’ll definitely have interest because most commercial window cleaners do a really quick and inept job. But the problem is "pricing". "You get what you pay for" applies here. There are window cleaners out there willing to do commercial windows for dirt cheap. So obviously the business owner/manager isn’t going to get the best job, but most of them are not willing to pay more for quality. They want cheap.
That is the reason why my focus has always been on residential customers. Homeowners will appreciate quality much more than businesses, and they’re willing to pay for it. Obviously not every homeowner is like this. There are some homeowners who also want cheap and expect you to spend all day at their house for $50. But overall, residential is the absolute best market to be in. They’re more loyal, they’ll pay more, they’ll refer you to their friends, neighbors, and family more, etc etc.
With this said above though, I would most definitely return to those commercial locations to see if you can assist. I’m just cautioning you not to lower your pricing so you can "underbid" another window cleaner. If you underbid and then get the job, it might be exciting at first, but you’ll be stuck doing those windows on a regular basis. So if you underbid, you might end up regretting it. I’ve seen it happen with multiple window cleaners. Stick to your guns and price it for a quality job. You will have to price it lower than a normal residential job, but you can still charge an ok price and still do quality. One thing I would recommend with commercial is to not scrape the glass. Keep your scraper in your scraper holster so you can save some time on the job.
Just some thoughts to think about above. Take care and talk soon.
Regards,
Steve
