Posts tagged "how to start a window cleaning business"

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

Window Cleaning Responses?

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

A Window Cleaning Plan…

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. )

A Marketing Technique that’ll REALLY turn your Window Cleaning Business on its Head (in a good way).

Hey all:

The other day I received an email from a window cleaner asking me what my thoughts were on him participating in the local home show coming up in his area in April. You can read everything below, but before getting into it, I wanted to urge you to contact your local chamber of commerce and see if there is a home show coming up in your area. There is an investment in renting a booth obviously, so some of you new window cleaners might not have the funds to swing it, but if you can, do you have any idea how many targeted window cleaning prospects will walk past your booth over the weekend? A LOT! Literally in the thousands.

I’ve talked about home shows before, but this is the time of the year to plan for ‘em. They’re usually held in late march/april, so proper planning is important right now in order for you to have a successful show. Anyway…happy reading.

Hello Steve!  My name is Junior and I am with the Custom Cleaning Pros here in <location deleted>. We have only been in business for about two years now and I must say I feel like we have the window washing business down packed. Your absolutely right when you say this business is pretty simple yet very profitable. Our business is doing great and we are having success beyond our wildest dreams! There is only one problem though-you can never make enough money-so I am always pondering how to generate more(aka acquire more prospects).

I have kinda assumed the role of the person in charge of marketing in my company and not to boast or brag but I seem to know my stuff when it comes to figuring out how to reach people. On April 18-20, my city is hosting the Home Design And Remodeling Show which will bring in 50,000+ people to the convention center over three days. Now as a marketing major I have this bright light that comes on over my head that tells me that this is a great branding and marketing opportunity for us to get some exposure and to  reach our ideal customer.

The problem is that it cost about $1,000 to reserve a booth and I guess because the lack of success with other expos in the pass my business partners are reluctant to side with me regarding this event. My question is should I take their advice and just stick to what has been working for us and use the money in that manner or should I take the risk cause I feel the benefits far outweigh the monetary loss upfront and sign up and continue on my path to WINDOW WORLD DOMINATION..lol? Thanks for your time and effort.

Junior

Custom Cleaning Pros

My Response:

Hi Junior,

Good morning.  Sure…I remember you well.  We spoke a few weeks ago. 

First I’d like to provide you with some information on home improvement shows which I wrote about before.The first is a newsletter that addresses home improvement shows. Click here to read it.

This 2nd link is from a blog post about a window cleaner’s experience with the home show he attended. It was posted in march of ’07, but the home improvement show he went to gave him the immediate jump start he needed in his business. Click here to read the post.

So now back to your email.

I’m glad to hear your business is doing super.  Excellent.  But you’re right…you can never have enough customers.

I think a home design and remodeling show is the absolute perfect vehicle to generate more profits.  Without a doubt.  #1, by the time the show is here, it’ll be springtime, so people are automatically in spring cleaning mode.  And #2, just the title of the show (design and remodeling) tells me it’ll be a great show. People attending the show are interested in design and remodeling stuff as it relates to their homes, so they care about their homes. And probably not too many poor folks or low to middle income folks will attend.  So you’re talking about the ideal person at the show to go after with your window cleaning service.

I personally would be willing to dump a couple grand into this marketing tactic because I know it works.  I’m not sure what other expos you participated in, but were they the exact same show as what is happening april 18 to 20th?  Or was the target market of the past shows a bit different.  Because I really feel that this particular show coming up would be an absolute winner for your business.

I do want to say though that it’s very, very important that you present a rock solid image for your company at the show.  $1000 is just for the booth space.  But I would invest another $500 or so into some personalized items (giveaways), I would get a 2 or 3 panel quality brochure made up and display them in take one boxes on your booth table. 

And if I were you, I’d be willing to hold 2 or 3 drawings to give away two or 3 window cleanings to the ones who win.  Have little address pads made up so visitors can leave a name, address, and phone.  Then get 2 fishbowls with a large sign over them that says "Free Window Cleaning" in red.  Folks come by, fill in their info. tear it off the pad, and drop it in the fishbowl. 

Another idea is to take a video of yourself cleaning some windows. Upload the video to your website. So visitors walking by your booth can see you in action cleaning windows.  Do you have a laptop?  And within the video, you can explain the importance of making sure windows are cleaned regularly.

I firmly believe this show would  be a wise investment for you to make.  As tony mentioned at the 2nd link above, he got 180 people from the show to request estimates. He wrapped up $10,000 in jobs on the first day!  We’re talking serious numbers here.  Although distributing flyers and postcards work very well, you simply won’t get those kinds of numbers from either flyers and postcards in a 2 day period.  So what other form of marketing can you do where you can attract your ideal target market in one weekend?  Nothing that I’m aware of. 

So a thousand dollar booth rental and a few hundred in additional expenses to make sure your image is top notch will gain you a whole slew of new customers.  In addition since you’re collecting names, addresses, and numbers, you’ll have people you can insert into The Customer Factor software (congrats on joining up by the way) and send personalized follow up letters to them which will turn some of them into even more jobs over time. 

The right home improvement show will pay dividends to your company for years.   But as mentioned, don’t just show up at the show with a table/table cloth and plop some business cards on the table. Start planning now so you can put together an attractive and high impact show. This isn’t something you want to wait for the last minute to plan for. But the preparation and planning will be well worth it.  Hope this helps.  Take care for now.

Regards,

Steve 

Transitioning to Employees

I received a comment not too long ago in response to one of my blog posts. I posted the comment below. As a side note, I get a lot of blog comment spam, so if anyone has direct questions, it’s really best to email me. Ok…here’s the question:

Hi Steve,

I started my window cleaning business last year 2007 on a part time basis because I have a full time job working 40 hrs. a week for someone else. My question for you is how to transition from my full time job making 50K a year + bennies? It doesn’t seem to be an easy task.

My customers like the work I do and I have even gotten a couple of refferals as a result. So I thought I would do another year part time and see where it goes, if I can pick up a few more customers and the ball starts to roll referral wise if you know what I mean?

The only advertising I did was through Dex yellow pages which generated lots of calls and plenty of estimates/jobs. So I am kind of afraid to do the flyers altough I think it would really generate a lot more biz for me I am afraid I won’t be able to handle the work load just on weekends. I work 4-10′s so I am off on Friday’s and work almost every Friday cleaning windows.  I’m just not sure how to do this transition and need some advise. Please let me know your thoughts.

Thanks,
Rick

My Response:

Hi Rick:

Good to hear from you.

I think the question you posed is one of the most challenging for all window cleaners. It’s a tough decision on when to make the jump to the next level and bring in people to assist. And I can especially understand your particular challenges as far as when to leave a job paying 50k plus. A tough call.

Ok…let’s step back and look at the situation. You mentioned your customers love your work. Excellent. And from your comments, it appears that you have just enough work for you to handle right now. And you want to do some additional advertising to bring in more jobs and more profits. I have some people currently who are facing that exact problem where they did some advertising, have another job, and now they have a backlog of jobs. I guess that’s a better alternative though then sitting around waiting for the phone to ring. )

What I would do if I were sitting in your shoes is to go out and get one or two part time people to help knock your current jobs out faster. Take a baby step first and start with a part-timer so you don’t have to commit to giving your helper a set number of hours per week. The ideal situation is simply to find someone looking to make an extra $100 or so a week. They could easily make that working one day with you.

If you have any colleges nearby, this is a great place to attract presentable individuals looking to make extra money and need flexible work hours. I used to visit the student activity centers that are set up in colleges and place a little flyer on the bulletin board explaining what I was looking for. I cut little tabs at the bottom so someone could yank a tab with my contact info. on it and call me.

An alternative is to place a general ad in the newspaper, but I personally wouldn’t do that. Most people responding to your ad will be looking for full time work. Plus you’ll get inundated with too many calls from turkeys. If you do run an ad in the newspaper, it would be best to screen them first. You do this by making them listen to a 60 second voice mail message about what the position entails, what you’re looking for, etc. etc. Then you provide them your address and ask them to send you something in writing explaining why they want the position. It’s a great way to weed out people. Michael Gerber (of emyth seminar fame) explains this really well and hired applicants exclusively this way. It’ll save you a lot of time.

Anyway….ok we now have a person on board. The advantage that you have is that you do have money coming in from another job. So it’s not like you’ll be sacraficing a lot of dollars by paying someone to assist you. I always explain to folks that sometimes there is a short term loss with the potential of huge gains right around the corner. I’m not talking about actual "loss". I’m just saying that instead of making $250 yourself on a house you do on saturday, you might make "only" $150 or $175 since you’ll be paying your assistant.

But it’ll only be short term because you’ll now have the ability to crank up a flyer campaign and not worry about getting "too many calls". When you get the calls, you’ll be able to schedule ‘em no probs since you now have a helper.

With that said though, I still wouldn’t go out and distribute 5000 flyers. Just ease your way  into it. 1000 flyers gives you 10 calls. You’ll turn that into at least 7 jobs. Now keep in mind, as you know not all 10 calls will come in right away. So let’s assume you get the 7 jobs over one month, can you handle 7 jobs (in addition to what you’re doing now) in one month with one assistant? If so, how about a plan of action that involves you putting out 1000 flyers on the first saturday of each month?

And then just go up from there. If you’re consistent with 1000 flyers each month, it won’t be long ’til you’ll need a 2nd person to assist on the weekends (keep all contact information of the people who call from above mentioned flyer in the student activity center).

The thing I can’t really help with though is the decision on when to break away from your company. At what point will you feel totally comfortable leaving? Can you get health insurance through your wife’s work? Or is this another expense you have to pick up? So I’m not sure how much you need each month to support your lifestyle and not miss a beat if you lose your full time income from your main job.

I do know many window cleaners that have made the tough decision to leave their employee though. The thing that’s nice about the window cleaning business is that it does provide peace of mind as you build your customer base because of the repeat nature of the business. It’s a real business that isn’t going anywhere, so unless you move or they move, there is an excellent chance you’ll be continuously cleaning their windows for a long, long time. As a matter of fact I received a call yesterday from a new window cleaner who said it perfetly. He secured a couple of jobs totaling a little over $700 and they both want their windows cleaned every 6 months. So he told me: "I just increased my yearly income by $1400" Just 2 jobs! So it doesn’t take many jobs/customers to replace 50k a year income.

I hope this helps and I hope you take that next step. It’ll be a step out of your comfort zone, but the rewards on the other end are tremendous. Take care for now.

Sincerely,

Steve

A Steve Jobs Commencement Video…

I saw this video a few months ago and really liked it. Regardless what you think about "Jobs", Apple, or whatever, this video might be just the thing to get you going today in your window cleaning business. It’s hard to stay "up" all the time, so check it out. 

Ah…a little motivation perhaps?

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

Do you have doubts?

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