Hey Guys and Gals:

Figured I’d post a post on feb 29th. Won’t be able to do it again for four years so I might as well take advantage of it. .

Anyway here’s an email recently received. Just some miscellaneous chitchat about a little of this and a little of that. Oh…and I’ve got a super post that’ll be up in a couple of days about this dude who pulled in $8,000 in january just in gutter cleaning, not counting his window cleaning profits. Ah life is good. So definitely stop back and check that out. Here we go:

Hey Steve. Thank you for putting out this program at a reasonable price. I’ve already started the research and in the process of getting started. I got the idea from a guy cleaning windows at an account that I was servicing. He told me that he made about 85,000.00 the year before, I started to laugh. That’s when he asked me why I was laughing. My response was –I’ve been at my company for 12 years and I only make 45.000.00 a year. I’m only making the company the big money not myself.

I’ve been in customer service for about 13 yrs. for a local linen company here is Las Vegas. I will still keep my job with this company, until I start to see the window cleaning business take off. I already have been speaking with a lot of my customers about cleaning their windows, I’ve got a lot of good response. This is Vegas, the weather is always warm. So I should not have a slow time with the business. I’ve already started with the business cards and flyers.

Oh and one thing, I’ve got a business partner. I know you are not to keen on that idea. But my buddy has been my partner on a couple of things and it has worked out. We eventually want to grow this into something big. Our company name is <deleted for privacy> pretty catchy huh. Any ways I just want to say Thank You  Again. 

Joe Hepler

My Response:

Hi Joe:
 
Good morning.  And it’s good to hear from you.
 
I appreciate your comments.
 
Exactly…the window cleaning business is a very profitable business, so I look forward to seeing you making that 85k or more. 
 
Good idea on keeping your current job though at least until you get the ball rolling.  You will find that once things are in place and you follow what I talk about in my manual, the calls will come and the customers will find you.  So it’ll grow pretty quickly.  Just take some good strong initial action to get it rolling.  I know it’s a bit tougher for someone like yourself who has another job, but if you plan your time properly, you’ll definitely be able to do it.
 
When you mentioned that you’ve gotten good response already, that’s the exact reason why I got into the business to begin with. I use to have a mobile oil change business and I was looking to get out of it.  So I began to ask some of my oil change customers (the ones who were in my target market-not all oil customers were in my target market of window cleaning customers) their thoughts on getting their windows cleaned.  The response was overwhelmingly positive.  I mean who likes to spend their weekends doing windows when we can go in there and do it for ‘em for 2-300 bucks or so (or more). 
 
Right…not a big fan of business partnerships, but it’s only my opinion.  You may have the greatest partner in the world over there.  So that’s good.  I’ve just seen so much happen to partnerships. I had a guy in colorado call me recently telling me his nightmare story with what happened to him and his childhood friend.  Long story short…they’re not friends anymore.  But again, you may be associated with a great guy.  Just make sure that you both work equally.  The probs I see pop up is when one guy in the business pushes and the other guy is more of the worker/technician.  Resentments can begin to kick in on occasion.  And make sure you agree on the important details like how you’re both going to get paid for the jobs.  Some partnerships go 50/50 right down the line on all jobs regardless who might have gotten the job.  Other partnerships are arranged where the person who brings in the customer gets the majority of that job’s profits. I personally would go 50/50.  Actually what I would do is hire someone  to distribute flyers/promote and keep 100% of the profits for the company.  )  
 
I like your company name. Very nice.  I’m sure a nice logo can be created around that.  Maybe do a caricature (similar to my logo) with the 2 of you in the logo.  That’ll be very unique. 
 
Take care joe. Have a great weekend.
 
Regards,
 
Steve

An email recently received:

Hi Steve,

Man, you make this sooo easy, im going to have to start counting how many thank you’s a day I have for all this great info and help.

A couple new questions…

I think I’m going to just go right ahead and get your design reworked from Barbara, she seems really reasonably priced, and better to use my time to Market and do jobs and develop the system. changing the caricature doesn’t seem like a priority though? at least upfront.

Hell though, I’m on a tight budget till spring cash-flow starts rolling in, maybe i will just go ahead and go the "Whole Hog plus the Postage", as Gerber says…

1. Send Out Cards …  I’m seriously considering signing up soon when I get the money raised for the wholesale account.   I have an existing customer list that until now I havent worked very well, even allowing a year or more time lapsing because I wasn’t following up.  Currently as im loging them all to the Customer Factor, it looks like I have a list of at least 200+.

My plan is to start calling them soon to set up appointments for spring,  my sense is to just wait until I do the job again and then send out the cards,  and then if they are not ready to book, have a card to send them thanking them for there past business, saying something like…

Hi John and Judy:  

Just a quick note from your friendly neighborhood window cleaner hoping that you are having a fine spring so far. 

Thank you once again for using our service,  we look forward to speaking to you soon, when you are ready once again to make your windows sparkle and shine.

Aaron Swanson
Clear Vision Window Cleaning

And then doing a campaign from that point on once in the summer say early July? and then a month before thanksgiving,  and then sending out a gutter cleaning reminder (big profits for me) around that time too (probably by postcard…)

Does that sound like a good plan and frequency (use of the card system) to you?  Any tweaking ideas from the expert would be appreciated!  Thanks.

Man, I’m going to have SO much work flow if I do this all, its a little scary in a Really good way.

I’m going to need to hire guys pronto for April.  and get a Job Manager. You recommend using all Subs to start out huh? Paying for everyones individual insurance premiums Vs. going Workmans comp? It does seem easier but do you find it to be most cost effective?

Technically my understanding is that they would have to have there own ladders as well as equipment. I guess it would be smart for me to buy the equipment and the insurance and ask for a commitment for the summer.  And then just only allow Subs on ladders who have there own Ladders?  Otherwise they are the official ground and inside crew.? At what point do you break down and get workers comp.?

Thanks again, with you, your system and my friend I’m working with who is an ex E-myth business coach,   this year is going to Rock!

Regards,
Aaron

My Response:

Hi Aaron:

Good morning to you.

This is what I’m here for sure. I truly enjoy seeing folks start off with no business, and then a few months later they have a business where customers are beating down their door to use their window cleaning services.  It just takes a little push by you at the beginning, but then it’s off to the races.  )  Thanks much for your comments though.  I appreciate ‘em.

Yeah…I use barb for most everything I do.  So she is good with graphic design stuff.  It is better to focus on marketing. But here’s the thing though…don’t go "whole hog" if you don’t have the dough.  It’s much better in my opinion to perhaps get a couple of folks to distribute a good amount of flyers.  The reasons are: 1) you can generate calls immedediately and 2) flyers are cheap so you can do a lot of ‘em (think numbers).

Postcards have proven very, very effective over the years. I mailed out thousands of them, so they definitely work for sure. But the thing with them is that in order for you to see the best results, it’ll require 3, 4, 5 mailings to one area.  So it takes a few bucks to get postcards going the right way.  People need to see your message over and over again.  So if you have some extra bucks, then postcards is the answer. If you’d rather wait and work your way into the postcards, then flyers is the ticket initially.  Just an idea.

Note: Even though I mailed postcards, I still did flyer distributions within the same areas I mailed postcards too. It gives you a double whammy.

Sorry for you needing to manually log your customers into The Customer Factor.  )  We are working on an import feature.  The good news though is that as soon as your customers are in the software, you’ll be able to do so many things with them, including exporting them directly into Send out cards and sending ‘em greeting cards regularly.  I can’t stress this enough.  What this does is not only trigger referrals coming your way, but it also lowers that resistance wall that people have when you first call them for a follow up/repeat appt.  Who are they going to feel more comfortable with?  Someone who cleaned their windows last year, made their money, and now they’re back a year later looking for more money?  Or the person who cleaned their windows last year, made their money, but they kept in touch over the months with correspondence/cards? Nothing fancy. Just "Hey, how are you doing Nancy. Hope your summer is going well." Things like that. I can assure you the resistance walls disappear quick when you "keep in touch".  Consequently you make more money.

There is an investment in Send out cards for sure. But I personally think about the benefits from that investment (or any investment). Ever play monopoly when you were younger? If you were the one who payed more attention to controlling properties instead of hording your cash, then chances are you ultimately would be the winner. Because the cash would eventually come back to you in the form of rent when your opponents landed on your properties. So your opponents might have more cash initially, but eventually they’ll lose it to you.  Similar analogy here. Be willing to invest in the proper tools/material for your window cleaning business. If you do, you’ll regularly be filling your window cleaning business with quality, repeat customers. I’ll tell you a secret.  Most window cleaners are not willing to make this commitment.  I don’t mean to pick on window cleaners because actually most service type individuals don’t know how to invest in their business properly. This makes ‘em "average".  So if you’re willing to invest a few bucks in the things that they are not doing, you and your business will be rewarded handsomely.

Anyway..I got off on a tangent.  I do that sometimes. Good thing I can type fast. ) 

But good plan on sending cards after you set appts. for the spring. Good idea.

If you do a customer let’s say in april, send them an immediate thank you letter (on your letterhead w/magnetic card included) and then sending ‘em a card in july is great. A few months before thanksgiving is excellent too. Gutter cleaning: perfect. I spoke to a window cleaner in north carolina who gave me the low down on gutter cleaning in terms of what’s involved and the profit potential. I’ll be posting that on this blog in a couple of days. Excellent service to provide homeowners.

So to answer your question, you have got a perfect plan. Just be consistent with it. There will be an overflow coming your way for sure. So it looks like it might be time soon to get a couple of part-timers on board. Yeah..I would go with subs to start to see if they fit into your company.  Any local colleges up there?  I found some real gems at colleges. 

I’m not sure what the work comp laws are in your area, so it’s best to talk to a commercial insurance broker about that. In my area, I could exempt myself and up to 3 employees from work comp.  But I know other areas are a bit different. 

Right….getting the equipment ready is a good idea.  All you really need though is the bucket on a belt, maybe some extra towels, an extra scraper, etc.  Not much.  Reread the part in my manual about some of the extra items needed when you hire a 2nd or 3rd person. 

And again, the work comp is something that you need to discuss with an insurance agent. If you live in an area where you can exempt up to 3 employees like I could in my area, then that’ll be great. No work comp needed.

Excellent, excellent, excellent on working with someone who is an emyth coach.  I’m a huge fan of michael gerber.  Every couple of months, I’ll break out my emyth tapes and listen to them again.  Good stuff and the information is solid.

So have fun rocking. )  Take care for now and we’ll talk soon.

Regards,

Steve

(Note on "Emyth" mentioned above: It was created by michael gerber and he’s an advocate on working "on" the business, not "in" the business. He talks about creating systems so that your business can run on autopilot without the business being dependent on you. You can pick up an audio copy of his program at Nightingale Conant. )

I posted an email below that I recently received where a window cleaner talks about "world domination". )  Oh…by the way, I had a great conversation with a window cleaner friday about the specifics of how to pull in some great profits with gutter cleaning. As soon as I put my notes together, I’ll post it here.

Hi Steve,

It’s me again-Junior from the Custom Cleaning Pros. Anyway, I had a big question regarding the whole commerrcial  aspects of our business. I feel as though the residential side has done us quite well and the money we generate from it is unbelievable but, I feel as though there is this big untapped market in our city for commercial work and I want a piece of that pie!  I have asked around to kind of see who is doing what and right now I’m under the impression that the people who are doing these big jobs are from out of town. I feel that these company should not have to search far for help when they have us here locally!

This brings about my next and most important question how do we get our foot in the door and who do we need to talk to to al least be considered to perform these big gigs for places such as the Mobile Museum of Art, the Mobile Press Register, the FBI Building, and the Train Station(all which are buildings that are made of mostly glass)?  I know there is alot of haslte when it comes to the commercial side of our work but its something that we must conquer to complete our quest of WINDOW CLEANING WORLD DOMINATION…lol!  Thanks for your time and
effort-Junior-CCP

My Response:

Hi Junior:

Good to hear from you.

If you want into the commercial market in a big way, then the buildings you mentioned in your email are where you need to focus. I wouldn’t spend a great deal of time fooling around with the little $10 to $30 storefront type accounts.  Too much competition which means your pricing has to be low.  Plus..you work hard to get the account only to lose it next week to a window cleaner willing to do the account cheaper. 

What I would seriously recommend that you do is look at investing in a water fed pole system.  What this does is prevent a lot of competition from entering your market (multistories)  The reason is because window cleaners are notoriously cheap.  )  So if you’re willing to invest a few bucks, then you’ll have a serious leg up on other window cleaners. 

Anyway, with a water fed pole, you won’t need to squeegee or towel any glass.  You would use deionized water which literally just "falls" off the glass.  It saves you a ton of time and allows you to attack multiple floor buildings without getting on a ladder.  You can buy the pole in sections. So 3 story, 4 story, 9 story, etc can all be done depending on how long the pole is (how many sections you bought). 

Go to google and simply type in "water fed poles". I just did it and came up with two websites that you can research:
https://www.waterfed.com/
http://www.tuckerusa.com/
There are others too that you can research. 

I would really encourage you to dig into this multiple story (not high rise) arena.  There is a lot of money to be made using a water fed pole system. Again keep in mind you won’t be up against much competition at all.  Not many window cleaners own a water fed pole. And if you do run up against competition in multistory work, no probs.  Because being able to do the glass so quick (due to having a water fed pole) allows you charge less than a window cleaner using ladders.  But yet you’ll still walk away with a real healthy profit per hour.

Right….window cleaning world domination is a must.  )  It’s definitely doable.  I think you’re well on your way. 

Take care for now.  Have a great night.

Regards,

Steve

Hi Folks:

I recently wrote a post that included a couple of letters for prospects. Lo and behold, a few days ago I got an email from a window cleaner asking for a customer follow up letter.

Quick notes before I post the question/reply.

I personally just called customers up vs. sending letters. At the end of every appointment that you do, you should always, always ask your customer this question: "Mrs Jones,  it’s important to get your glass professionally cleaned on a regular basis so that the glass stays protected year round. Most of my customers have their glass cleaned every six months while others have it cleaned every year. What time frame suits you the best?"

And then don’t say anything. Wait for the customer to commit with an answer. If she/he  is noncommital, then put ‘em down for 6 months and start making your follow up calls then. But you need to have some follow up date. We’re not in this for the one-time window cleanings, right?  Although we’ll certainly take ‘em, our business needs to be built around a few hundred REPEAT customers. This is what separates the "so-so" window cleaners from the extremely profitable window cleaners. The average window cleaners are running all over the place looking for those quick hits. Us profitable window cleaners are taking our time "training" our customers to come back again and again. Cool, huh?

Now getting to the letter. To rely solely on a follow up letter to get the customer to call you and close the sale isn’t the way to do it. One on one communication on the phone is what closes the sale. But a letter could be used as kind of a reintroduction to you and your service. In addition, within the letter you can let them know that you’ll be calling them in a few days. So 2 or 3 days after the customer receives the letter, use the phone to secure the job.

Ok…here’s the email/reply:

steve i need a letter of some sort for the customers needing a repeat service. I want them to know i’m still here. can you please give me a good letter which i could send out. thanks

joe

My Reply:

Hi Joe:

Good morning.  Sure..I’ve done up a letter and posted it below.  Just make sure you follow up with a phone call. Letters are too easily dismissed.  So folks need to be prompted into action and into an appt.  A phone call will do this.  The letter just breaks the ice a bit, but it generally won’t be responsible for securing the appointment. Here’s the letter. 

Hi John and Sue:

Steve Wright
Clearview Window Washing Service

I asked them to call us within the letter. Some will, most won’t. So as mentioned earlier, set a time to call them back and secure the appointment. As a side note, you can send personalized letters automatically from within my software program, The Customer Factor (Update: closed ’til April).  It inserts the "last job date" and does everything with one click. 

Take care for now. Have a great day.

Regards,

Steve

Hey All:

I was notified yesterday that psprint is having a big 50% off sale on their postcards.  This is outstanding pricing. I just checked their site and we’re talking about $160.78 for 5000 postcards. Obviously you can get less quantity than that, but the price point is perfect when you get 5k.  So that’s about $32 for a thousand cards. That’s cheaper than getting flyers printed. I’ve used pspprint for years for my printing and they do a great job. What I like about ‘em is that their card thickness is 14pt.  Many postcard companies use the thinner 12 pt card stock which makes for a more flimsy postcard.

In all fairness though to the other company I’ve used in the past, they just increased their card thickness from 12 pt to 14 pt, so that’s good. This company is 48hourprint. Their overall quality is similar to psprint, but with all things being equal, the pricing for 5000 cards from psprint is currently better than 48hourprint.  48hourprint is at $269 for 5000 postcards. Feel free to do some comparison shopping and check ‘em out yourself. Make sure you select color front/black back (4" by 6").

Another company I’ve used is Postcard Press. But they usually run the highest ($289 for 5000 postcards) as far as pricing compared to psprint and 48hourprint. This company might come in handy if you want to buy lesser quantity. For example, they charge $95 for 500 cards where 48hourprint charges $116. Psprint with the sale they’ve got going on, still beats ‘em both at $36.70 for 500 cards. Not quite sure how they offer a quality card that inexpensive, but this is good for us. )

I’m not sure how long psprint will keep their sale going.  I can’t seem to find the expiration date listed on their site. So I’d check it out at your convenience and get some postcards. Let’s fire up some inexpensive postcard campaigns!  Whew…$160 is hard to beat for 5000 postcards. Even if  you don’t  necessarily want to mail them, they could be just as effective if they were distributed similar to how flyers might be distributed.

Ah…springtime is in the air. Can you feel it? Your target market will be in full blown spring cleaning mode very, very soon. So start planning your method of attack.

Talk soon! 

Steve