Archive for March, 2008

Missing in Action…

Hey Folks:

Sorry for not updating the blog more often in the last couple of weeks, but between The Customer Factor and the new soon to be released window cleaning directory, I just haven’t had the time. The directory hopefully will be announced monday or tuesday. We’ve had a couple of delays, but that’s normal when it comes to programming. This isn’t your typical directory, so it’s a bit more involved. Anyway…please stay tuned. As soon as it’s launched, then I can get back in the groove of updating the blog and writing a newsletter. I have a good newsletter planned out. I just need to write it all down.

Below are a couple of emails I received recently. Maybe they’ll help your groove. 

Steve,

Dale

My Response:

Hi Dale:

Ah…good ‘ole pollen.  I know what you mean. It’s annoying. And it will put a little dent in the business because some people will want to wait until it’s over.  Makes sense too.  I faced that issue, but overall, it really didn’t affect the biz that much because of the activity and customers that were on the books.  This ensured that not everyone was going to wait until pollen season was over.  There were always going to be folks who said "come on over" when I called ‘em for their semiannual or annual follow up call. 

As far as suggestions, I don’t know of any way to motivate someone to use your service now if they want to wait.  Are they bringing up the pollen issue or are you?  I mean I can’t think of one good comeback if they happen to say "Call me in 2 weeks when pollen is over". But I would however try and secure the appt. on the phone for when the pollen is estimated to be over.  You have ‘em on the phone so you may as well try and set the appointment at least.  Other than that though, I don’t know of any other way to motivate someone to act now before pollen is over if they’re concerned about it.  I definitely wouldn’t motivate with a cheaper price.  That’s the normal motivational method, but it would be a bad idea in our business.

Um…I’m not sure if the above helped much, but I don’t have any clearcut answer on the "motivation" question. If someone is intent on waiting, I can’t think of any way to change their mind. Even if you were successful though in changing their mind, they’d probably get mad at you once pollen makes the rounds and dirties their windows again.    So it’s probably best to not attempt to motivate ‘em too much.      

Take care for now and have a great weekend.

Regards,

Steve   

His reply

Steve,

Dale

My Response:

Hi Dale:

Good morning.  Hope your weekend is going well.  Right…exactly, I would also wait until pollen is over.  But schedule as much as you can now for sure.  It’ll set your schedule up nicely for when the yellow blows over.

Flyers will work best when folks are ready for your services.  Sure…you’ll get a percentage hold on to the flyer and call you when pollen is over.  But I would personally hit it hard and heavy when pollen is over. 

You know what I would do now?  I don’t know if you’ve made this attempt yet, but I’m hearing from lots of window cleaners about what kind of results they’re getting from joining forces with maid services.  Spoke to a window cleaner yesterday and he said he just joined up with a cleaning service run by a lady who hates doing windows.  She has 160 customers who need their windows cleaned in addition to their house cleaned.  Bingo.  Nothing quite like walking into a ready made customer base.  Even if only 20% (I’m staying really, really conservative) say "yes", it’s not bad securing 32 regular customers in one fell swoop.  This can be really lucrative.

There are other service businesses out there also that’ll work well as far as us joining forces with them.  In another blog post, I wrote about a window cleaner who connected with a window treatment company. 

So this would be a great time to work on some of these relationships. 

Hope this helps.  Take care for now. 

Regards,

Steve 

Networking opportunities…

Hey Guys and Gals:

Some talk about different networking groups…

Hi Steve-

Regards,
Patrick

My Response:

Hi Patrick:

Good to hear from you.  Sounds good going day by day.  )

My own personal view point as mentioned in chapter 7 is to skip the chamber and join forces with a group like bni or letip.  In my town I was part of an organization called the breakfast club which resulted in a lot of business coming my way.  I much preferred being part of a group that was dedicated to helping/supporting other business owners in the group.  I didn’t feel the chamber did that. 

And I can’t really see the advantage of the bbb.  If you have the extra money, it certainly can’t hurt.  But if you’re watching your money, I feel the best groups to invest in are bni and letip. I know the bni prices vary from chapter to chapter, but it’s probably close to or a little over  $300, right?  So that would be a wise investment for sure. 

Hope this helps.  Take care for now and please keep in touch. 

Regards,

Steve

Needing Some Quick Cash…

An email recently received:

Yes I went to Calgary today (I live about an hour south) to see if I can find a job fast and even the skilled positions like plumbers etc are only commanding $30 to $40 and hour and thats after 3 years experience and certificates etc.
 
At my "unskilled" level its crazyness, I dont know how anyone can live on $15 and $20 an hour with a wife and son + mortgae etc to support. No wonder mum and dad has to work these days. Sad.
 
Anyway, the point is I REALLY REALLY need to make this work fast. Tomorrow I’m getting some flyers done, and I’m going to try to put out 1000 with the help of my wife. We’ll see on that one. If you can suggest any other tips that could put some work my way fast, I’m all ears.
 
I will keep you posted.
 
- Mark

My Response:

Hi Mark:

Good morning and that sounds great that you’re hooked up.  Right…I did see your name come through as being in my database now.  So we’re good to go.

I know what you mean about needing experience for many trades and jobs.  That’s where window cleaning will come in and save the day.  )  No certificates, essentially no training, and good profits from day one.

With that said though, it does take a little time to gain the speed necessary for the average pay to reach the $40 to $50 per hour mark.  So I always tell window cleaners when they first start out not to worry so much about what they make per hour.  Just get your techniques right while you’re doing the first few jobs.  It’ll all fall into place. 

Speaking about time, I understand where you need this to work today.  And it will. I see it all the time.  But a word of advice though.  Some prospects will hold onto your marketing pieces for  weeks or months.  That’s just the way it is.  They’ll call when they’re ready.  It’d be nice to distribute 1000 flyers and get 10 calls within 24 hours, but that’s not the way it works unfortunately.  I talk about this in chapter 7 in my manual and how it important it is to keeping the pressure on and being consistent. 

With all this said above, you will most definitely get calls right away though.  Absolutely.  Just "do the numbers". It’s like I had a call the other day from someone who says he pops out 20 flyers a day.  That’s not even close to good numbers.  That equates to receiving a fraction of a phone call a day and that fraction may come today or it might come in 2 months.  So just get out enough numbers and the calls will come.  Whew..I sound like some new age philosopher. ) 

If I can say one more thing. I hope this is a business you can really sink your teeth into long term.  I know of course that you need cash now, but after that requirement has been fullfilled, I hope you stay with it.  It’s a profitable business as I see every day.  And there are so many other things you can do for your customers besides window cleaning. The potential is huge when you consider the variety of services you can offer!

As far as tips, I have a bunch. I would first recommend that you dig into all my newsletters.  And then tap into my blog. And reread chapter 7/chapter 8 a few times.  You’ll learn something new each time you go into the manual. 

Take care for now and please keep me posted.

Regards,

Steve

An Intro Letter and Directory News…

Hey Guys and Gals:

I was asked recently by a new window cleaner to put together a letter that he could send to his colleagues and acquantances announcing that he’s now in the window cleaning business. I put one together and emailed it to him, but I thought you would benefit from it, so I’ve posted it below.

One quick note first though…the window cleaning directory I’ve been working on for the past 4 months is almost complete. It should be ready next week. . This directory is the 300lb gorilla of directories. You’ve never seen anything like this. What makes it really powerful is the way we’ve made it so search engine friendly. Our goal is to have the window cleaners listed in the directory appear high in the search engines giving you more customers/jobs/profits. You’ll be able to read more about it when I launch it. So please stay tuned…

Ok, here’s the email with the intro letter that I sent to Bill…

Hi Bill:

Here’s the letter you asked about on the phone:

Dear John:

Making the transition to window cleaning was easy based on the fact that my research told me two things:

• People are looking for professional, trustworthy, customer oriented window cleaners who believe in doing quality work.
  
• And there aren’t too many of those kind of window cleaners around.
  

Please contact me if you’re interested in receiving a free window cleaning estimate. There’s no better feeling than being able to enjoy a crystal clear view again from your home or office.  

Steve Wright
Clearview Window Washing Service

I tried to visualize the person I was writing to, and the person I visualize is not really a close, close person to you.  So I suppose if you have a more chummy relationship, then the letter above might need to be "warmed up" a bit.

Take care for now. Have a great night.

Regards,

Steve

Gutter Cleaning Anyone?

Although we’re coming up on prime window cleaning season, I wanted to provide you the lowdown on offering a gutter cleaning service to your customers. Actually it’s not me providing you the details, but a window cleaner by the name of Tyler Kirk. He’s been in the window cleaning business for about 3 years now. He’s pulling in some nice profits providing this service…$8,000 in profits in the month of January and over 5k in profits for february by the time we spoke feb 21/22.  This DOES NOT count his window cleaning jobs/profits by the way. 

His gutter cleaning service is promoted to his window cleaning customer base, so he’s not promoting this as a stand alone type service.  In other words, there is literally no investment. No advertising, no special supplies or equipment, etc.

The main services that I provided my own customers were window cleaning, ceiling fan cleaning,  mirror cleaning, and a few dozen christmas light installations around the holidays. But there are just soooo many more services you can provide. I think one of the best is gutter cleaning primarily because as mentioned above there is no initial investment in equipment and no ongoing cost for supplies.

Here is what Tyler had to say in our phone conversation:

"My gutter cleaning jobs range between a $100 and $150 per home. Each job takes me no more than an hour to do. If it’s a super large job, that might stretch into an hour a half.

It’s too dangerous to be on the roof walking around the edge of the roof line cleaning the gutters, so one of my employees or myself, if I’m doing the job, will go up and down the ladder and move the ladder around the house as we work.  Sounds like a lot of time spent climbing up and down the ladder, but it’s not.  

We tie a bucket around our waist and with gloves on, we’ll empty the leaves out of the gutter by hand. We don’t take the leaves out of the gutter and just throw them on the ground. This would create more work for us at the end of the job, so we found that placing the leaves in a bucket right away is best.

As our bucket fills up, we’ll empty the bucket of leaves into a trash bag during one of the times we’ve climbed down from the ladder. 

The final step in the process is to take a regular water hose with a spray nozzle, climb up the ladder, and spray the hose directly into the gutter.  We do this in 2 or 3 locations. This will force any left-over loose debris to run down the shute. 

And that’s pretty much it.  

Some additional notes Steve…Gutter guards can cost as much as $20 to $25 per foot, so in many respects, it’s more worthwhile for a homeowner to hire someone to clean their gutters than it is for them to invest in a gutter guard. Oh…and gutter guards do not work as advertised in all cases. In other words, leaves and debris can still wind up in the gutter. I tell my customers this even if they do have a gutter guard. It gets them thinking that maybe they should have me clean their gutters even if they have a gutter guard.

Talk to you soon.

Tyler"

My own notes:

To approach your customers about this service, how about sending ‘em a letter letting them know about it? Here’s one you can use:

Dear Mrs. Jones:

Steve Wright
Clearview Window Washing Service

Happy Gutter Cleaning!

Steve

Don’t Overthink it!

An email recently received…thought you’d benefit from it. Have a super weekend.

Good morning Steve!
 
I really need your HELP in putting together a strategic marketing plan as I head out and tackle the world of window washing.  The problem is, I only have 2000 flyer’s … I honestly don’t know which neighborhoods to target first.  I can hear you now saying just jump right in and DO IT (smile).
 
I’m guesstimating that since I live in the a so called "Urban Community" with home prices ranging from 250k-350k that it’ll just be a waste of time for me to start here so, I’ve pinpointed many surrounding neighborhoods that range from say 450k and up.  But………
 
WHICH NEIGHBORHOODS DO I HIT UP FIRST?
SHOULD I GO TO ALL OF THE CHURCHES IN MY NEIGHBORHOOD FIRST?
DO I GO TO THE STOREFRONTS FIRST?
SO MANY NEW DEVELOPMENTS AND NOT ENOUGH FLYER’S?
 
I’m just unsure of myself and of those who would really be in need of my service now.  I have to make this set of flyer’s work for me.  WE need $$$$ Steve!! We ONLY have 2000 postcards (Couldn’t afford anymore flyer’s right now) and can’t afford mail marketing.  Any advise would be most appreciated!  PLEASE HELP!!

Cha

My Response:

Hi Cha:

Good morning to you.  Hope all is well.

2000 flyers is excellent.  That equates to at least 20 calls based on a 1% average.  Keep in mind though that they won’t necessarily come in within 24 to 48 hours.  So I liked to space my distributions out and attack the same neighborhoods with multiple mailings.  But the good news though is that 2000 flyers will turn into good profit where you can then easily get another 2000 flyers printed, distributed, and working for you.  Just continually reinvest a portion back into the biz, and you’ll continually keep the phone ringing and customers using your services. 

As far as the neighborhoods, definitely don’t do the middle income type homes.  You need to pack the most punch from those 2000 flyers. So pick any neighborhood/subdivision, drive into it, and what do you see?  Nice homes?  They don’t have to be mansions at all, but nice upper income type homes. The reason for this is not so much because of the size of the homes and us wanting to do "large" jobs. It’s because folks in these type of homes simply have the disposable income to pay us our professional window cleaning pay. Middle income folks generally don’t hire professionals to clean their glass.

In my area, 250 to 350k would be a nice price range of a home in my target market. But I know some areas around the country are a bit more high end and have a higher cost of living, so 250 to 350k homes would be on the low end of the pricing spectrum and would be considered more "middle income" type homes.  Based on what you said, 450k and up homes seem to be perfect in your area.

If you have this range of homes, it doesn’t matter which neighborhoods you hit up first.  As you said, just jump right in. )  I mean if the homes in these neighborhoods fit your target market, it doesn’t matter what neighborhood you go to first.  You’ll be hitting them all eventually, so just to distribute 2000 flyers, pick any neighborhood.  Again, as long as they contain your target homes, it really makes no difference which neighborhood you go into first.

I would not go after churches (not yet). And I would not go after storefronts.  Rights…lots of developments, not enough flyers.  Again though…as mentioned earlier, you "currently" have 2000 flyers, but they’ll lead to jobs which will allow you to then get another 2000.  And on and on and on.  Eventually you even might want to branch out into postcards.  And then perhaps getting folks to help you distribute flyers.  When you’re busy with window cleaning jobs, it’s hard to take time to distribute, so I had people do it for me and I recommend to other window cleaners that they do the same.  It’ll save you a bunch of time for a very small investment.

Some final thoughts.

I need you to understand that as much as we would like folks to rush to the phone after they receive a flyer, it doesn’t happen like that.  Sometimes it does of course, but other times they like to hang on to the flyer until they’re ready to get their windows cleaned.  So if there is snow, ice, and cold where you are right now, it might be better to wait until the weather breaks a bit.

The good news though is we are coming up on prime time window cleaning weather. Springtime is perfect for us window cleaners. Our prospects are looking to tidy up their homes and they need professional window cleaners.  But you’ll increase your response times if you distribute a bit closer to the nicer weather.  If you have more than 2000 flyers, I’d say go now and then go again in 2 to 3 weeks.  But you need to pack as much into this 2000 that you can since it’s all you have.  So you need to pick the absolute best time for distribution. Once you have the time/date chosen, then just do it.  )  There’s nothing left to think about.  The neighborhoods are picked.  The flyers are printed.  The only thing left to do is put the two together. 

Take care for now. Have a good weekend.

Regards,

Steve

Cha’s reply…

Steve,

Cha

My Response:

Hi Cha:

You’re welcome for sure.  Right…there can be a tendency to overthink it sometimes. So I like to sometimes cut to the chase and encourage folks to "just do it".  It’s an easy business.  2000 flyers = 20 calls = jobs/profits.  Then all you have to do is do it again.  Wash. Rinse. Repeat.  Just remember to reinvest ("repeat") a portion of your profits back into the marketing of your window cleaning service and you’ll grow your business the way it should be grown. 

I don’t know if you ever heard me talk about my buddy "chicago pete". Nice guy, but he was a serious overthinker.  He bought all this great equipment (he sent me pictures) and spent all this money on "preparing" and he never ventured out and did any proactive marketing like flyer distribution or postcard mailing. Not once. He would drive through all these neighborhoods to check ‘em out.  He did all kinds of research.  But he just wouldn’t venture out and take positive steps to attract customers.  I know you’re not like that of course.  Pete is one of those rare serious overthinkers where he thought himself right out of the business.  So just take action on what I talk about in chapter 7 in my manual, and you’ll build and grow your business just fine.  There’s a ton of glass out there, so there’s no doubt window cleaning services are needed. It’s just a matter of letting people know you’re around.   

Take care and have a great weekend.

Regards,

Steve

A Follow up script that works!

Hey everyone:

Yesterday i received a call from a window cleaner who was looking for the right words to use when calling back customers to schedule follow up visits. We talked for awhile and I told him I’d email him my script, but first I just wanted to emphasize how very, very, very important is to not let your customers off the hook once you’ve done work for them. The easiest thing for us to do is to not follow up. Because it is out of our comfort zone. It’s simply not natural to make calls to people we don’t know that well. 

I remember back when I was selling insurance. Even though that business depends heavily on follow up and making the phone calls, you never really get used to it. Every night once dinner was over and the dishes were done, it was time to head into the office and call people.  Yuck.  The funny thing though is that as soon as a few calls were made, I’d get into a groove.  And it became easier and easier. 

Of course then it would start all over again the next night, but again, after the first few calls, it became easier and easier. So what does all this have to do with window cleaning? Well…I just want to encourage anyone out there in window cleaning land who is having a hard time picking up that phone, to just make that first call. Just one. And then make the 2nd call. And before you know it, you’ll find yourself whizzing through calls.

In window cleaning, I set aside 1 1/2 to 2 hours each night to make follow up calls.  Now some of these calls were to prospects who called me that day. I always wanted to make my calls at night when I had my schedule in front of me and could plan accordingly. So I spent very little time on the phone during the day. It was all done in the evening. 

Anyway…there is just a ton of profit sitting in our current customer base, so without sounding too much like a broken record, it’s soooooooooo important to make those calls. Ok…here’s the email I sent to a window cleaner yesterday with my script and some additional notes:

"Hi Tyler:

Here’s that script I was talking about earlier to you on the phone:

Hi Mrs Jones…Steve Wright here with Clearview Window Washing Service.  Just wanted to give you a quick courtesy call….

According to my records, I cleaned your windows on August 1st last year…We’re setting up our window cleaning schedule for next week and we’d love to come in and get your windows all sparkly clean again.  So can we put you on the schedule for next tuesday morning or would next thursday afternoon be better? 

And that’s basically it.  Real simple.  I loved to offer choices though.  It’s best to not force anyone into a yes or no answer.  Choices are better. 

And this might sound kind of corny, but before I made my calls, I pulled out a hand held mirror and practiced smiling, voice inflections, and my pitch for about 10 minutes.  It’s just a warm up.  But folks can hear your smile and relaxed tone on the phone so it’s good to loosen up.  It really worked.  So practice visually before you make the first call and go through some script practice runs out loud.    

And use some variations to the above pitch on occasion.  Just to keep it loose and not canned. I mean it’s not good to sound like a robot.  And if you say the exact same thing for 2 hours, you will sound like a robot.  So change it up.  The key though is to say it with confidence.  Don’t sound like a telemarketer.  After all you’re not one because these are people who have used your services before and have paid you money.  You’ll find that most people will appreciate the "courtesy call"

Take care for now.  Talk soon.

Regards,

Steve"

Notes: That’s pretty much it. Now to emphasize, this mirror thing I talked about in my email sounds a bit weird. But it helped me put myself in my customer’s shoes and visualize who they were talking to. Yeah…yeah…sounds all new age, right? Give it a whirl though.  It’s a warmup exercise that’ll allow you to hit the phone running and be a smooth window cleaner. If you’re not smooth, you could be like this dude:

Oh…one last thing I talked about with tyler on the phone was hiring someone to make his follow up calls for him.  I personally preferred to do the follow up for my company, but some of you might prefer to hire a good, practiced, voice to make your follow up.  It doesn’t have to be every night.  Maybe for 2 nights every other week you can have him/her make phone calls to all your customers. If you’re a member of The Customer Factor, then simply click one search button and all your customers who are due to be scheduled again will pull up on one screen.  Print it out and give it to ‘em.  All of the contact info and past job details are there for her to reference. 

So whether you make the calls or someone else makes the calls, please make sure you do it. Your family will thank you for it…and so will your bank account.  

Best Wishes,

Steve

Company Branding and Maps

Now that’s a weird title, but it’s actually two different subjects discussed in two different emails that were sent to me, so I posted ‘em both below. Enjoy!

A branding question:

Hi  Steve:     

I read on line somewhere that it is a good idea to brand your bussiness.  Was wondering your thoughts on this and if have any ideas on branding?  Thanks Larry Grant.

My Response:

Hi Larry:

Good to hear from you.  Yes…it is important to brand your company without a doubt.  You’ll soon see the brand/image/"look" that I created for my company as you go through my materials when they arrive.  From business cards to letterhead to signage to flyers to postcards, etc etc., it was all the same overall "look".  If you do something similar for your company, it’s only a matter of time before you have a big advantage over many of your competitors.  Because while other window cleaners are buying the $12 business cards with the usual clipart on the card, you’ll have your own signature look that will be instantly recognizable.  It works.

Take care for now.  Talk soon.

Regards,

Steve
 

A Map Tip

Hi Steve:
 
I just wanted to comment on something. I have been using a Google Earth type of map but through windows which I think to be better, it is called "Live Search Map". At the start of this business I had a really hard time deciding where to drop off flyers. I found it really hard finding the "right" neighborhoods. I had already downloaded this software but did not really take advantage of it. Then a light bulb lit in my head, "why don’t I use this software to drive around virtually?".

So I tried it and to my surprise I was driving around virtually checking the neighborhoods looking at the houses deciding if they were the right market without spending any gas, thus saving time and of course money. It took a little getting used to at first but It definitely paid off. I started from my house and just "drove around" this way I did not distribute flyers to neighborhoods that were too far when I could find neighborhoods that were closer. Basically this is how I am running things now, start as close as home as possible and expand from there. By the time I have gone far it will be time to redo the close neighborhoods again. I don’t see how I can go wrong. Anyways, I thought maybe your could give this advice to others in your blog that maybe are going through what I went, it might help them.
 
I have to say that I am thankful for all the information I got from your book and are still getting. You’re a window cleaning guru.
 
Thanks,
 
Marvin Duran
 
p.s. By the way, the download is free.
 

My Response:

<blushing>. No guru status please. I’m just a dude who wants to see folks build successful window cleaning businesses.

Thanks much for your map tip.  I appreciate it and I’m sure other window cleaners will too.

And don’t forget that the "right" neighorhoods also include retirement homes. They’re generally smaller type homes, but you can do ‘em lickety split and the word spreads like wildfire in these communities. Our wealther, big home type of customers who are out there working, running businesses, etc, are busier than our retired clients. So our retired customers have nothing to do but talk. So do a good job for these folks and you’ll be running around all over the place cleaning their windows. 

I think it’s an underserved market since many window cleaners are focusing solely on "big" homes.  Again, the retirement type homes will be a bit smaller and many of them are single story, but I thoroughly enjoyed doing them. In and out in 2 hours, the hourly pay is better because you can do a healthy "bump-up" (read chapter 7), and then you move on to the next. There were situations where I literally parked my car in one place, did one customer, moved across the street to do another, and then moved next door to do another. 

One final note: You should always display your yard sign for every job you do because it generates great exposure/activity, but a yard sign placed in customer’s yards who  were in retirement communities really seemed to generate outstanding interest. The early morning walkers walk by, see your sign, want an estimate, etc. etc.

Anyway…have a great weekend and thanks again for the map tip.

Steve