Posts tagged "start a window cleaning business"

Recession…what recession?

Hey All:

One of the challenges I face sometimes is getting window cleaners to not get dragged down by all the negative news that we hear every single day. It’s dangerous and can really impact our businesses negatively if we’re not careful. Because what it does is paralyze us into inaction. We say to ourselves "What’s the point…the economy is bad so who’s going to want their windows cleaned?" And guess what? We stop marketing which results in no one wanting their windows cleaned. )

So we need to put our head down, ignore the naysayers and plow forward. It has nothing to do with being in denial or sticking our heads in the sand. We know the economy is going south. But we CANNOT let this affect the action we need to take. I wrote about this subject in a recent newsletter.  So I won’t expand on it in this blog post. All I really want to do in this blog post is copy an email below that I received the other day from a gentleman who just spent his first week in the window cleaning business. As the title of this blog post states: "Recession…what recession?" Here’s the email:

Hi Steve well I passed out about 1300 postcards in baggy’s started last sunday and had my first job on tues in which i earned $215.00 for 6 hrs work and he paid me cash! i took longer then i should have because i also cleaned the mold on several of his windows, they were a mess,

My Response:

Hi Bill:

Good morning.

Cool…$215 cash is great.  Keep in mind, as I tell everyone, don’t focus so much on the "time" at the beginning of your career.  Because you will be slower when doing the first few jobs.  It takes a bit of time to streamline your operation.  So I would keep your pricing the same and not worry about it.  In a couple of months, that 6 hours would be knocked down to 4 to 4 1/2, so then your pricing would be accurate.

It seems like you’re moving in a great direction.  Excellent.  I would call folks back in 3 to 4 days. You’re presenting a nice looking estimate package, right?  Cover letter, reference  page, estimate sheet, business card?  I always wanted to give my prospects a good 3 or 4 days to look that over.  

Yeah…the magnetic sign will draw attention to your business, but wait ’til you see what happens with the yard sign.  Make sure you pop that in every yard of every customer you do a job for, and you’ll be amazed at the folks who will be walking by, see your sign, and either ask you for a business card or for an estimate.   It all works out.  Thanks much for your comments.  I appreciate them.   

And I’m sorry to hear about your window. I haven’t heard about anyone else doing this, but I’ll keep you posted.  Has your girlfriend stopped laughing yet?  ) 

Take care for now and have a great weekend.

Regards,

Steve

Teams of Two or Three?

Hi Steve, 

Sergio

My Response:

Hi Sergio:

Good to hear from you.  Doing fine over here.  And how are you? 

I preferred teams of two, but I know some window cleaners have teams of 3.  I just thought that with the responsibilities for each job, two could handle it best.  More than 2 people and we’re bumping into each other at times. 

Ex: Assuming me and one other guy.  We arrive at the job.  The other guy immediately removes all equipment from car while I say hello to the homeowner, enter their home, and start removing screens.  Once the other guy has the equipment set up and ready to go, he goes around the house and collects the screens that I’m removing from the inside.  He then focuses on cleaning all screens while I get set up to start cleaning the outside windows.  As soon as he finishes the screens, he joins me cleaning the outside windows and we hopscotch around the house together.  We then repeat the process inside.  When done, the other guy places the now dry screens next to proper window to be put back in and then he would start cleaning up and putting equipment back in car/ladders on roof, etc.  I would put the screens back, present invoice, collect money, and say goodbye to homeowner.

I’m sure we could fit one other guy in the above procedure somewhere.  Like maybe while me and guy #1 are outside cleaning, guy #2 could be inside cleaning.  But I just thought it was more streamlined with 2 people total per crew.  We’re not bumping into each other and there’s no wasted time.  So overall your profits will be better because you can take this 3rd guy and place him on a new job with one other guy. Repeat the process at house #2 with guy #3 and guy #4 working it, and you’re all set.

Hope this helps.  Take care for now.

Regards,

Steve

A follow up:

Thanks Steve, 

Sergio

My Response:

Hi Sergio:

Great…That sounds super.  The system I described earlier worked for me in my area, but as you mentioned, with your homes being "mansions" and having "old windows", a team of 3 might fit you better.  As long as each person knows what their responsibilities are and there is no overlap, then it’ll work for you.  In my market with my homes, I would have had overlap which would have decreased my overall profits. 

Thanks for your comments on 3 Bears Window Cleaning Directory. I’ll start doing some search engine optimization work soon to make 3 Bears rank high in the search engines.  For folks like yourself who are listed, they will see results from prospective customers finding their window cleaning businesses in the directory.  Take care for now.

Regards,

Steve  

Gearing Up…

Hope you’re having a super weekend!

Just a real quick blog post to let you know that we’re gearing up for the reopening of The Customer Factor on tuesday, April 22nd, so if you are not a member already, give it a quick look-see. Even if you looked at it before, feel free to check it out again. Many changes and improvements have been made just in the last couple of months.

As a side note though…behind the scenes we’re working on a new webpage listing all the new features. It’ll be ready for viewing on tuesday. In the meantime, I have created a series of short videos if you want to look deeper into the software. Here they are:

Video #1 – Easy Breezy Intro

Video #2 – Scheduling Jobs

Video #3 – Daily/Weekly/Monthly Calendars

Video #4 – Searching

More to come….

Enjoy!

Steve

P.S. Oh…and in 3 Bears Window Cleaning Directory, we created a new feature where you can assign the listing you create for your business to 2 additional locations besides your main location. So please login to 3 Bears and edit your listing to take advantage of this feature. If you haven’t listed your window cleaning business yet in 3 Bears, what are you waiting for? It’s free!

A 4/23 Update

The Customer Factor reopened smoothly 4/22/08. If you happened to sign up to my mailing list before I removed it, I’ll continue to send you short videos to give you a peek "behind the scenes".

Economic News…

Hey Everyone:

Nope…no negative economic woes here. We get enough of that in the newspapers and on tv.  I did want to mention though that I wrote an article called The Economy and Your Window Cleaning Business. You can click on the link at the right to read it. Hope you enjoy!

On other news…the 3 Bears Window Cleaning Directory launch went off smooth last week. Thanks to all the window cleaners who listed their businesses. There are still others out there though who I know can benefit, so feel free to register and create a free listing. You have nothing to lose and a whole bunch to gain. Remember…it’s free!

One thing that I noticed is that there was a little confusion between the standard and premium listing. So I’ll be making that a bit simpler to understand. But one thing that really stood out to me is that I don’t think people realize what a huge benefit having a premium listing is. It is hard to explain because it has to do with a lot of search engine stuff, but the bottom line is that we made the premium listing in such a way so that you can create your own search engine friendly webpage on the directory. This means that prospective customers will find your web page online and in the search engines. More online exposure = more customers.

We will be making some minor adjustments like allowing for folks to apply their listing in 3 Bears to different cities. So if you create one listing with one main address, you’ll be able to assign that same listing to different cities in which you do business. Again…this is all designed to get you more exposure.

Hop on over to 3 Bears and create  yourself a listing if you haven’t already. Everyone should have one. There’s no reason not to unless you don’t want any more customers. And for the cynics out there who are wondering what the catch is, sorry to disappoint. There is none. 

Oh…and I just uploaded a short 6 minute video for The Customer Factor that I thought you might enjoy. We’ll be reopening in about 2 weeks, so we’ll be releasing a few short videos leading up to our reopening that’ll give folks a peek inside the software that has many window cleaners pretty excited. This particular vid talks about how customers and prospects just "appear" on the home screen so that they can be easily contacted and scheduled. I also give you the script I used when asking my customers when they would like to be serviced again. So enjoy the vid.

See ya soon!

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

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