Posts tagged "window washing"

Anyone in Baltimore?

I was recently contacted by someone in the baltimore, maryland area who owns a window treatment dealtership. He’s interested in partnering up with someone in the area to clean their customer’s windows. Please let me know if you’re interested by contacting me. I’ll then forward over your information to him. Thanks much. Have a super day.

Steve

Giving your customers the hook…

Hey Guys and Girls,

Ah, nothing like starting off 2008 with a little controversy. ) 

I’ve been wanting to write about "firing your customers" for a long time. No…not ALL customers. Just certain customers in certain situations. Sometimes it’s simply necessary. I’ll give you the link to the newsletter in a minute.

But first just a quick apology for the intermittent posting to this blog. I try and post every few days, but I’m in the middle of working on a powerful window cleaning directory (you’ll be notified about it soon), a social network site for window cleaners, and of course continuous upgrades to The Customer Factor. So something has to give. But I’ll get back into regular blog posting mode as soon as some time frees up.

Ok…let’s get it rolling. Here is the link to "Firing Your Customers". Of course you can always click the link at the right under "Recent Newsletters" too. Enjoy and happy 2008 to you. It’ll be a good year for window cleaners!

Steve
 

A change of plans…and a bunch of questions.

I mentioned in yesterday’s post that I would be posting my newsletter today to this blog, but there’s been a slight change in plans. I wasn’t able to complete it as scheduled, so it should be ready to roll in the morning (sunday). In the meantime, here’s an email I received a little bit ago with a few questions.

Hey Steve,

This is Nathan.  I’ve talked to you a couple of times.  I have done window cleaning in the past but not had any of the information on marketing, etc and always cleaned windows as side jobs in addition to my regular job.  My customers were always very satisfied but I never launched my business. 

Anyway I purchased your info awhile back and have finally gotten around to having my advertising info personalized.  Should have done it a long time ago.  That being said, I’m really looking forward to launching my business the way you suggest and hopefully having that as my sole income.  I have a couple of questions though. 
 
First, I live in <location deleted> and it gets quite cold and snowy this time of year.  Should I start marketing now or wait until spring?  Is there the potential of getting jobs in this kind of weather? 

Also, if this isn’t the time of year to get things going, are there any other similar lines of work that you would suggest at this time of year where I can employ the same techniques of advertising and then focus on windows in a few months?  I know it’s good to stick to one thing as you suggest, I just don’t know what to be doing in the cold months.  I have no problem bundling up and going out to clean, but I don’t know if that is to foreign of an idea to potential customers.  

Also, once I get customers this spring and summer, are there ways of talking them in to winter cleaning as well?
 Next, I’ve noticed plenty of roofs made out of material like metal or even what appears to be breakable material that has to be walked on in order to get to the windows on the second story.  If those windows aren’t removable, what is the proper procedure for cleaning those windows?
 
Ok thanks for all your great ideas and motivation in your newsletters.  I’m looking forward to making this work.  Anyway, I appreciate any suggestions you may have.

Thanks, Nathan

My Response:

Hi Nathan:

How are you doing?  It’s good to hear from you.  Sure I remember speaking with you in the past. I’m glad to hear that you’re ready to kick the business up a notch.  Better late then never, right?  ) 

As far as your questions.

Whether you get market now in your weather or not really depends on the type of marketing you want to do.  If it’s postcards, then definitely wait.  They’re most effective when people can actually call you right then and there.  People will hold on to them and call you later also, but since a postcard campaign requires a little investment to crank it up, for the best bang for your buck, i’d wait ’til the weather gets nicer.

Now if you were to go with flyers, since the cost is so low, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to attempt a couple of flyer distribution campaigns now.  You may not get the 1% average like you would normally, but you’ll still generate phone calls.  I wouldn’t distribute flyers yourself though.  Go to craigslist.org and stick a help wanted ad in your area for a couple of flyer delivery people.  A wise investment that’ll give you a good return.

The big thing with winter is how severe it is.  I mean if there is snow flying around, then probably not many residential customers will want their windows cleaned.  But if it’s just cold and clear, then you’ll have more customer interest.  Of course you’ll never have quite the interest obviously in the winter as you will in the spring/summer.  So that’s why I recommend focusing on implementing a low cost marketing investment like flyers and making follow up calls (this is no cost) to current customers and see if they would be interested in a repeat cleaning now.

As far as other services….how about gutter cleaning?  You can send out a letter to your customers saying that you now offer gutter cleaning services.  That would be one service I would focus on more than any others.  I mean there’s always pressure cleaning and blind cleaning as great add-on services, but there is an investment to provide these services.  There is no investment in gutter cleaning.  Just labor.

As far as the roofs you’re talking about, the absolutely only way to clean the outside of these windows is with a pole.  I’m not a big fan of poles, but sometimes we have to use ‘em.  This would be one of those times.  It’s better to do that then risk breaking any roof tiles.

Take care for now and happy new year nathan.  Talk soon.

Regards,

Steve

Suggested Pricing and flyering…

Thought I’d post an email below that I received recently. Oh…and by the way, please stop back tomorrow (1/19) to this blog. I’ll be posting a newsletter that you’ll absolutely want to read.  See you then.

Steve

Email:

Hi Steve

Ted

My Response:

Hi Ted:

Good morning. Thanks much for your comments.  Right, been there…done that.

I’m not sure which email you’re referring to, but really all of the pricing posted in my manual will apply in your case for residential customers.  My business was in north central florida and so is yours so we would use the exact same pricing structure.

For additional pricing info., you can check out this pricing webpage:

But a note on above "pricing" webpage. I mention "$3" for a window. That’s for a very small bathroom window. The majority of my windows were $5.  If it was 2nd level, I did bump each window up another $1 to $2 due to the time spent climbing ladders. 

All other pricing on the webpage above is exactly what I charged.  Keep in  mind though that I usually did a bump-up in price before presenting pricing to prospect.  I’ve written about this before, but by doing this, you can cover gas, any incidentals at the job (like moving furniture) that might slow you down, etc etc.  So if an estimate’s "true" pricing is $141, there’s an excellent chance I would present it as $159 or even $169 to the prospect.  Doing this is tough when you’re just getting started.  The tendency for new window cleaners is to go "lower".  But try and resist this urge.  Because if you do end up going lower, you’ll be doing this job again and again (assuming you did a good job the first time) for the customer at this "lower" price.

Right…flyers and postcards work very well.  It’s just all about numbers.  An example of some "not so good" numbers can be illustrated by a phone call I got the other day. The gentleman was talking about distributing 20 flyers a day.  Just 20 flyers!  Based on the response percentages (average of 1%), that would be a tiny fraction of a phone call for 20 flyers distributed.  So he would be working for 5 days to distribute 100 flyers and only walk away with one phone call of which he may or may not get the job.  So again…think bigger numbers.  If you can distribute or hire someone to distribute 1000 to 2000 flyers per week, you now have a business that’ll grow consistently week in and week out with new customers.  And then before you know it, those new customers become repeat customers and the snowball effect begins.  )

Take care for now.  Have a profitable day.

Regards,

Steve

Let’s Get Started in 2008!

Are you excited about 2008 and the possibilities for your window cleaning business? I hope so because this business is one that is soooo rewarding. 

Just remember to do something every single day. Success means different things to different people. But regardless what your definition of success is, if you do something every day to work towards your goal, then next year this time in 2009, you’ll look back to 2008 and say "I had a successful year". 

Speaking about goals, did you create any goals for this year? I’m not talking about new years resolutions because everyone breaks them. I’m talking about realistic goals for your window cleaning business. It might involve distributing 400 flyers every saturday. Or it might involve hiring your first person by May. Or it might involve mailing two postcard campaigns every month for 12 months. Whatever they are, just make sure you take action on ‘em and apply consistency.

And keep in mind that I’m always available at 256-546-2446. Some days we all need a little motivation. Other days maybe you need some direction or someone to bounce ideas off of. So call me. That’s why I’m here. 

Let’s make 2008 a year to remember!