Hey All,

I thought I’d write a quick blog post announcing that we have recently implemented two affiliate programs, one for my window cleaning "How To" product, How To Start Your Own Residential Window Washing Business, and one for my window cleaning software, The Customer Factor.

For those of you who don’t know what an affiliate program is, it is simply a way for you to earn commissions on products. It doesn’t cost anything to sign up and it’s a great way to make some extra money on top of your window cleaning profits. And since the pricing model for The Customer Factor is monthly or quarterly, I could be paying you each month/quarter on a regular basis.

Here are the two web pages that you need to go to sign up for free and to read more:

Affiliate Program for my "How To" Window Cleaning Program

Affiliate Program for my Window Cleaning Software

Many of my system owners and software users are already in forums discussing the above products, so feel free to join ‘em. ) It’s a great way to earn commissions for basically doing nothing. Just share your unique affiliate link (which is assigned to you when you sign up at the above "Affiliate Program" web pages) with other folks in forums, window cleaning hangouts, or anywhere else that window cleaners might congregate. If they visit your affiliate link(s) and end up buying, you’ve made some moolah! Even if they visit through your affiliate link, don’t buy right away, but then come back later to buy, you still get credit for the sale. Everything is tracked.  Oh…and I pay commissions on the 1st of each month like clockwork. 

Two Final notes:

1. Obviously it’s not in your best interest to sell my window washing "How To" program in your local area. Although competition is healthy, it’s probably not smart to create too much competition for yourself. So it’s best if you share this product with window cleaners who are not in your local area like many of the window cleaners you might run into on forums. Or if you know of a friend or relative in another location who wants to start a profitable business, great.

2. My Window Cleaning Software however is a product that can be sold to anyone in any location. And although I market it primarily to window cleaners since that’s the business I was personally in, any service business owner can benefit from it. I have members who are carpet cleaners, maid services, janitorial services, pressure cleaners, etc. Any service business who deals with customers needing repeat services is a prime candidate for The Customer Factor. And if you’re not a member yourself yet, come on in. The water is fine. )

And check this out…if you become an affiliate for The Customer Factor, make 4 or 5 sales (easy to do), you could literally enjoy a FREE membership to the software, AND I could be paying you each month. Not a bad arrangement, wouldn’t you say? 

So visit the two affiliate program web pages above or below. Read about how much commission is offered for each product, why it pays to be an affiliate, etc. etc. It takes just a couple of minutes to sign up and it’s FREE! Here are the 2 web pages again where you can check out the affiliate programs:

Affiliate Program for my "How To" Window Cleaning Program

Affiliate Program for my Window Cleaning Software

Have a great day.

Steve  

(Below is a window cleaner’s reply to my previous reply to him)

Thanks for the advice Steve,

Going about sending a letter makes me realize I need to take better care of and be in more contact with my customers.

I am so much better these days, but when I first started I was 26 and was not so focussed on customer satisfaction past being paid for the job.

I wish I had kept better track of all those clients, and had taken better care of the ones I had, being more diligent on following up and making sure they were satisfied.

Lots of people just dont call me, Im wondering if I should drop them from my list and only focus on my clients that I know love me and build from there.

My feeling is to send one card to everyone, and one next spring, and then drop it and really focus on building a happy clientele base, and staying in contact with them.

Could you give me an idea as to what to say in offering gutter cleaning (an existing service), I also though to say something about an exterior touch up, to plant the idea to prepare for the holidays.

My sales skills arent so strong, so any advice would be appreciated, maybe a simple template letter note, to get an idea, I think I go to complex when I send letters in the past…

Yeah I worked with a friend who use to be an emyth coach for awhile, and there are a lot of systems for me to implement I know.

Thanks again,
Aaron.

My Response:

Hi Aaron:

Good morning. 

Right…follow up is really critical.  It can make or break a business.  It can be a bit costly and time consuming to always go after new customers.  Keeping current customers is much, much easier and less expensive since the initial marketing expenditure was already done (flyer, postcard, door hanger, etc.) to get them on board the first time.  It’s not too late for you to follow up though.  Do you have any customers in The Customer Factor on the home page who need to be called?  If not, do you have any "frequency alerts" on the home page?  Make sure to fill in some frequency periods so that you can take full advantage of The Customer Factor functionality.  If you have all the frequency periods filled in, the software will do the rest and present you with anyone who needs to be followed up with.

Right…customers won’t necessarily call you.  That’s why I stress "follow up" so much.  People get busy and forget about us.  So a nice courtesy call is just the thing they need.  So I definitely wouldn’t "drop them".  Just because they haven’t called you doesn’t mean they don’t like you and your service.  Again, they may have just "forgotten", got busy, etc. etc. 

As far as "what to say in offering gutter cleaning"…are you referring to a letter?  If so, it’s real easy.  No sales skill involved.  Just a simple straight forward letter to your current customer base announcing that you now do gutter cleaning (or exterior touch up).  Like this:

Dear Mrs. Customer (personalize this):

Aaron
<your company name>

That’s all.  Just a simple letter.  I used variations of this, so my letters were never the same.  But the above would work well.  I would prepare it in The Customer Factor and send it out.  But I would still follow up with a phone call though.  Nothing quite like a phone call to prompt a customer to take action.  

I hope this helps.  If you focus on the follow up process, I can promise you that you’ll see more jobs and more profits coming your way.  Take care for now.

Regards,

Steve

Hey Steve,

In the past I have made some good money just cleaning gutters in October, November, December, so much so I am considering pouring all of my marketing efforts into that until Spring, of course letting people know I clean windows as well.
When do you think is a good time to start, first I will send a card to all my current clients, then start flyering all the tree filled neigborhoods in October I think, and if I can get the cash together do some direct mailing in November and December possibly even January and February.

Thanks again,
Aaron Swanson

My Response:

Hi Aaron:

Good morning. 

I think the time to start promoting gutter cleaning is right now.  We are about to hit a busy, busy time.  So now would be the perfect time to get the word out.  I would do a flyer distribution in 2 to 3 ideal tree filled locations within the next week and then go back and do ‘em again the 2nd week of october.  This should give you plenty of profits to invest in a postcard campaign or two also.  But again though, focus on just a few areas.  The biggest mistake I see people make is they try and cover too many areas.  I’ve had the biggest results come from repeatedly hammering  home my message to the best locations instead of spreading myself all over town.

Man….$1000 a day is just super.  Great job.  The only way to really make this kind of income consistent is with other people working with you.  With the proper training, they’ll make you a bunch of money.  That’s the only way I know of to consistently rake in that kind of money though on a regular basis.  We can all have individual profit days like what you described, but to do it day in and day out would require each of us to be superman.  )  It’s rough to keep that kind of pace going. 

It sounds like you’re ready to get yourself a system (game plan) going.  Have you ever listened to michael gerber’s emyth seminar tape program? Do a google search for "emyth seminar" and I’m sure you’ll find it. Great stuff.  But it’s important for all of us to create some kind of system for our business where we can have those $1000 days every day.  There’s no reason why we can’t.  I’m sure there are plenty of houses in your area that can support your services, especially when you throw gutter cleaning into the mix.

Anyway…I got off on a tangent.  )

Another service I would really, really recommend that you offer this time of year is christmas light installation.  You already have the ladders.  I charged a flat hourly on this.  So my hourly was $45 per hour to hang lights.  And I’d throw in a couple hours extra to cover the take down in january. Since you’re a member of The Customer Factor, use the personalization feature provided to prepare a letter to your customer base.  When you’re logged in, click on the "total" customer link in the navigation area, "check all" customers, and scroll down to click on the "personalize it!" button.  Then create yourself a personalized letter with a "new services" announcement.  Include gutter cleaning and christmas light installation.  If gutter cleaning isn’t necessarily a new service for your company, then the letter can focus more on "it’s that time of the year again" or something similar.  Know what I mean?  But using the personalization feature will allow you to easily print letters for all your customers with one click. 

I will say though that regardless whether it’s "new services" or a "it’s that time of the year" approach, I’d make an attempt throughout the year to stay in touch with each of your customers.  Just a "How are you" kind of letter.  I mailed out 6 to 8 greeting cards per customer per year.  The reason for this is because not only did these cards generate direct business, referrals, and customer goodwill, but when I then sent out a special announcement offering a new service (it might just be an old service repackaged as "new"), it makes it an easier sell because I kept in touch throughout the year. If you only stay in touch with the purpose of selling something, it’s a bit more difficult to make the sale. 

Anyway…prepare right now.  We are about to come up on the money season.  Next to march/april/may, the upcoming months are real profitable, so get yourself a flyer distribution out there, create a personalized letter announcing your services, and have fun!  Let’s see if you can turn a few more days into $1000 days.  )

Take care and have yourself a great day.

Regards,

Steve 

Hey All,

It’s been awhile since I posted to the blog simply because The Customer Factor has taken huge chunks of time. Whew…who knew that creating videos was so time consuming? One whole day for a little 7 to 10 minute video between writing the script, creating the vid, editing it, and producing it.Anyway…as many folks know, we temporarily closed The Customer Factor to new member signups for the last few weeks so that we could spend the proper time on new videos. And now we’re back up and running again where new members can signup. Some window cleaners have told me over the last few weeks that they’re anxiously waiting to get started with it, so about an hour or so ago, The Customer Factor is back in action and accepting new member signups.  

Oh…and you can check out a new, updated demo video on the site at http://www.thecustomerfactor.com. We’re always doing regular updates and upgrades to the software based on member suggestions, so the demo videos tended to get outdated rather quickly. But this one is hot off the presses and ready for viewing.

And finally, now that my window cleaning software is reopened, I’ll be able to get back to posting some quality content for all of you pertaining to window cleaning. I’ve received a bunch of window cleaning related emails and questions over the last few weeks, but again, as stated above, I just haven’t had the time to post ‘em to the blog.

Take care and have a wonderful day.

Steve