First I’d like to wish you a belated thanksgiving. I hope you had a fine day with family, food, and football. It’s a day to wear big britches and roll around the house like a great big ‘ole butterball. 

I received an email recently from a new window cleaner thinking he made a mistake on his pricing. One common theme among new window cleaners is that they’re usually nervous about presenting an estimate that is too high (at least in their mind). The email and my response are below.

Hi Steve:
 
How’s it going. Hope your thanksgiving was a fine one.
 
Well I’ve done my first houses and they turned out to be good. However, there is one small problem. I think I cheated myself by charging too low. While I was doing the estimate for this one house I was afraid to charge $5-$6 so I only charged $4 per window and $1.50 per screen. They had some sliding doors that were like french windows but I only charged $4 per door. While I was punching in the numbers it totaled to $186. I was telling myself these people are not going to pay $186 to have their windows cleaned and I almost lowered the price but I stuck to my guns and presented them with the estimate.

My Response:

Hi Marvin:

Good morning. Hope you had a fine thanksgiving also. 

As far as you situation with "charging too low", this is something that I wouldn’t spend any time worrying about.  For a couple of reasons.  Yes…you want to make a profit from the very first job obviously, but you’re not going to be at maximum speed yet.  It does take time to get the window cleaning techniques learned where you can do it in your sleep.  Plus after a few houses, you’ll know exactly what to do from the moment you pull up to the house ’til the moment you leave.  No wasted steps or "do overs" causing you to lose time.  So being "smooth" will help you in your hourly pay.

The 2nd reason why you shouldn’t worry about occasionally charging to little is something you talked about in your email.  It always averages out. It really does.  Sometimes you might do a job where you make $35 an hour.  There might be some obstacles in your way, some extra heavy paint overspray, some tougher windows to access, etc etc.  But then you run into the other type of window cleaning job-super easy, no obstacles, bam, bam, done.  Your hourly pay for these jobs might be $60 or $70 an hour.  I’ve made as much as $100 an hour on some jobs.  But then I remember other jobs where the houses were older, they had these crank type windows, lots of junk on the windows, etc.  So it all evens out over time into a nice average of $45 to $50 per hour.

I think in your situation though, part of the problem was simply speed.  If you were maybe a dozen jobs or more into your business, then this 6.5 hours may have been 5.  I do think however that you did under charge a bit.  But I fully understand the need for this.  Especially when someone is brand new to the business.  It’s a complete mindset that you need to adopt as far as feeling comfortable presenting an estimate that is higher than you want to present.  I had those same exact feelings when I first started.  Most new window cleaners probably do. It takes time to get comfortable with it.

As a side note, if you go too low on your pricing, prospects may wonder why you’re low.  They might hire another window cleaner because you’re too low, so be aware of that.  A higher price doesn’t necessarily equate to higher value, but if you present yourself well, you’ll convince the prospect that your higher price will equate to the best window cleaning job possible.

Another negative to going too low is that you’ll more than likely be stuck on that price year in and year out. It’s hard to charge someone one price and then 6 months later raise the pricing on ‘em.  I know a window cleaner who charged a customer way too little recently and he had to end up "firing" his customer because he couldn’t afford to do it at that price every time.

Anyway…to finish up, just go into the upcoming estimates this weekend charging $5 a window and $1 a screen.  If the total estimate comes up to let’s say $236 as an example, then perhaps lower it to $229 or $219.  I normally advocate going higher with a bump-up to $249 or $259, but I understand the need to capture as many jobs as possible since you’re new to the business.  Being able to consistently "bump-up" your pricing depends on how booked your schedule is.  Once it starts getting filled up, then you can start bumping up your estimates a bit. 

Lastly, keep in the back of your mind that you will not get every job you present an estimate to.  So if someone says "no" at the door or if they don’t respond to your follow up calls, that’s ok. They might go with another window cleaner for any number of reasons.  It could be due to price or it could be for something else.  But who really cares?  Just continue to market your business consistently and you will get a stream of phone calls from prospects in which a large percentage will say "yes". 

Remember to use the estimate package though. This will allow you to be a little higher priced and still close the majority of your prospects you present estimates to. I can’t stress this enough. Homeowners will pay you $20, $30, or more than a competitor if your service is presented properly. 

Hope this helps.  Have a great day.

Regards,

Steve

I’m working on two newsletters as we speak, so they’ll be released shortly. I need to finish up a video for one of them. Good information though that’ll really benefit your business, so stay tuned. But today I just wanted to post a little motivation. For those of you reading this blog who are knee deep in the middle of the window cleaning business, then you know what kind of income can be made. But I’m sure there are some folks sitting on the sidelines who have not gotten started yet.  This is for them…

Hey Steve.   I get about 75 percent of my estimates.  And I usually charge between 9 to 10 dollars per window.  I’m finishing up on my third year of window cleaning now.  I can say most customers want an excellent cleaning job over having the lowest price.  Our summer months gross between $6,000 and $10,000 a month with me and one other employee.   . Thanks for the great business plan.

Kelly

My Response:

Hi Kelly:

Good morning.  Like you said…"most customers want an excellent cleaning job over having the lowest price".  Very true.  They recognize value and they generally don’t mind paying a bit extra for that peace of mind.  Not everyone obviously.  I guess in your case 25% of your prospects are willing to go cheap.  But personally, I would be real happy with a close rate of 75% at higher pricing.  I usually hovered around 80% to 85%, but 75% is real good.  If we were cheap, cheap, and we closed this percentage amount, it would be a bummer.  But a 75% to 85% close rate at our pricing levels means we have one heckuva profitable business.

Good to hear from you for sure.  Don’t be a stranger.  ) Oh…would you mind if I used your comments?  I’m not sure where I would use ‘em yet, but some folks need to be reminded that they are in a very worthwhile and profitable biz.  Take care for now.  Talk soon Kelly.

Regards,

Steve

Kelly’s followup:

Steve,

Kelly

I received an email a few days ago that brought up a really good topic that many of us have gone through or might still be going through. Here’s the email:

Hey steve..

My Response:

Hi Oscar:

I’m glad everything arrived safe and sound.

I can understand your skepticism because I was there too.  Probably most window cleaners go through these initial doubts.  When I first started, I had my father telling me the business would never work. He was saying "who would pay $200 or $300 to get their glass cleaned".  Luckily, I didn’t listen to that lousy advice.  ) Otherwise I never would have gotten in the biz. 

One thing you need to be careful of is who you ask about this business.  If they do not fit into your target market, then obviously their answers are going to be skewed.  You need to ask people who are in your target market whether they would be interested in paying for a professional to clean their glass.  And you do that by popping out some flyers, some postcards, etc. 

I know friends and family mean well, but if they have never been in the window cleaning business and if they are not in your target market, then you have to tune them out.   They have no idea what they’re talking about.  Sorry about that.  )  But it’s the truth.  Again…I went through it.

Your State is absolutely ripe for the picking.  Just look around and you’ll see glass all over the place.  The trick is to go after the people who will pay you to clean that glass.  And that’s where it’s necessary to simply follow the program. I have seen literally hundreds of people capture success in the window cleaning business. It’s just necessary to take action on it.

Now I’m sure there are some people who have let their caution force them into no action.  So don’t this happen to  you. Don’t put a lot of weight on any negative comments and just follow the manual step by step.  You have to trust me on this.  I got an email not too long ago from a window cleaner with a masters degree in education. He used to be a school counselor. Now he’s a full time window cleaner and has already made over 34k in 5 months. Window cleaners across the country are making more incomes than folks with college degrees.  Does it work?  You bet!  You just need to target your services to the right people. 

Another thing I’d like to get you thinking about is that our market is made up of more than rich people. Much more.  I had a number of customers who were retired and on fixed incomes.  Yes…their houses are smaller.  But you can do the windows in their homes so quick.  I was doing $125 houses in 2 hours.  Then I’d go across the street and do the neighbor.  You can stay in one neighborhood doing these homes and walk away with an outstanding hourly pay. 

So to end this email, there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that you’ll be successful in this business.  No doubt.  The only way you won’t be successful is if you listen to outside influences who don’t know the business, so therefore your conflicting emotions may not let you dig into the business like you should.  But if you can fight through that negativity and talk which is wrong, and just start taking action, you’ll grow a profitable business.

One word of caution.  You’ve heard me talk about "doing the numbers".  So it’s necessary to get out sufficient enough numbers.  In other words, don’t get out 100 flyers and sit back waiting for the phone to ring.  100 flyers only translates to 1 call based on a 1% average. I just didn’t want you to get out 100 flyers and think it doesn’t work.  It does work.  I see it every single day.  But you have to get out sufficient enough numbers to make it work.  Especially when you’re brand new. Over time you’ll get some great referrals and word of mouth advertising will spread. Speaking about referrals, I put together a video a couple of days ago to show window cleaners the most powerful referral building system that I’ve ever seen, so check it out if you have a few minutes.

Hope this helps oscar.  Please keep me posted.  Take care for now.

Regards,

Steve

A follow up email by oscar:

steve,
thanks for that. will definitely pursue this and keep you update on my success. thanks again.
 
-oscar

My Response:

Hi Oscar:

That sounds good.  Please keep me posted and just remember to try and eliminate your doubts.  Because it’ll slow you down and have you questioning the moves you make along the way.  I just got off the phone with a window cleaner by the name of russ rupert who told me he had to turn down 5k in business in the last 2 weeks.  That may seem hard to believe, but this is what happens when you stay committed to the business and follow the steps.  The reason why russ had to turn it down is because he didn’t have the people in place to do the work.  A nice problem to have turning down business, huh?  To repeat again, this guy turned down $5,000 in business in just 2 weeks. 

So does everything work?  Absolutely 110% without a doubt.  Just take action on it and you’ll be fine.  Let me know if I can  help.  Take care for now.

Regards,

Steve

I thought I’d post an email I received where the window cleaner talks about how a recently hired employee is benefiting his business. It might motivate anyone out there who has not yet found that right gal or guy for their business. They are out there.

Hi Steve,

Tony

My Response:

Hi Tony:

Good morning.  That sounds great on the hard working employee.  Right, if you find the right one, they can take the stress off of you for sure.  Sometimes we need to go through a half dozen people before finding that one gem.

Exactly.  Your profits will go up with an employee.  I always loved working with someone else because that meant my own hourly pay went way up.  If you and one other person work together on a job for example, you should be pulling in a consistent $60 an hour each hour you’re on the job.  Not too shabby.  )   

Excellent income for that short time.  What is that…5 months?  Super.  It does get easier each and every year.  Your company already has great exposure and you’ve done some great jobs, so all of this will factor in to you getting repeat calls, referrals, etc.  I always tell folks if they can make it through year 1, they’ve got it made.  All businesses need a "push" in the first year, but because of the window washing business bringing in great repeat business, the snowball of customers, jobs, and profits continues to grow in years 2, 3, and so on. It’s just a matter of time before the six figure a year income barrier is broken. Continue using The Customer Factor like you already do and the software will keep on capturing those prospects/customers and turning ‘em into profits.   

I remember when you were working for the school. Things have changed a bit, huh?

Have yourself a great weekend.  Take care for now.

Regards,

Steve