My wife is returning Sunday after 2 weeks in China.  Needless to say I’m excited.  And the internet has made it much easier for both of us.  How?  Good question…We used Google talk to talk almost daily!

I have to say the clarity was awesome.  I expected some connection problems, or lag time speaking.  But that was not the case.  It was a clear as talking on a regular phone.  And we spent hours talking a couple of times.  It sure did make this trip much easier on the missing her part. 

The only draw back…arranging our schedules to get together really screwed up my sleep patterns.  But it was worth it.

Well have a great weekend.

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Today I got rained out.  The customer wanted to reschedule.  I tried to tell her about my rain guarantee, but she still wanted to reschedule.  Oh well you can’ t win them all.

Do you have a guarantee?

I do…since 2000 I’ve been using not one, but three guarantees.  What are they?  I’ll tell you in minute.  First, let me tell you why you need a guarantee.  Most people fear making a mistake when purchasing anything.  The risk is on the customer…we know the old adage “Buyer Beware!”.  A guarantee reverses the risk away from the customer, and puts it back on you.  In the customers mind we have just become more appealing to do business with.  In fact there is no risk on their part to do business with you.

Now, I know what you are thinking…”What if some one tries to rip me off?”  SO WHAT!  Dishonest people will try to rip you off no matter what.  The increase in business you from the guarantee will more than offset any dishonest pinhead.

Here are my guarantees:  A 7 day rain guarantee (only had it used 4 times in over 7 years), a 100% satisfaction guarantee, and an on time guarantee.

One day I realized that I would do each one of the above things if a customer asked…So why not shout it from the mountaintop.

This time of year we see a seasonal slow down in residential window cleaning jobs. In fact, over at Gary’s Site the Window Cleaning Network there is a thread about this in his discussion group.

Now I could give you positive talk about the slow down…For example:

“The only slow down is between the ears!”

“I don’t have a slow down…because I choose not to participate!”

“I don’t have a slow down…because I think & operate outside the box!”

However that kind of talk always bugs me. I always feel insulted when some pinhead stands there and rattling off those or similar platitudes.

Now, I’m not saying you should wallow in the fact that this time of year is slow for window cleaning jobs. You should just acknowledge it for what it is…A fact. Figure out what you are going to do about it, and move on.

You can one of several things. You can ride it out till back to school time, take advantage of the down time, crank up the marketing machine, or panic. Personally at one time or another I’ve done all four. I find panicking to be the most stressful.

What I’ve done the last few years is a combination of cranking up the marketing machine, and taking advantage of the down time.

This time of year is good for sending out 3-step customer reactivation postcards, 3-step and new mover postcards. On the reactivation postcards put a strong headline (and no…GET YOUR WINDOWS CLEANED, or your company name is not a good headline), a reminder that you miss them, you really appreciate their business, a great offer if they call and set an appointment, a deadline, and your contact info (Funny, but I have received stuff in the mail with no phone numbers, addresses, or websites). On the mover postcards, replace you miss them - with welcome to the neighborhood.

Send each 3-step postcard 7-10 days apart and refer back to the last one. The easiest way is to not change the post card, just put at the top, left - 2nd notice (for the second postcard, Final notice (for the last postcard).

That usually keeps me booked with all the window cleaning jobs I want.

Is…

The Flyer.

Most of the time I’ll get funny looks or comments about using flyers to market my business. Usually will hear…”They don’t work - who would read them.”

However today I booked another window cleaning job off the flyer.

What I really like about a flyer is once you find one that works, it keeps chugging along. Producing steady results week after week, month after month. No worry, no fuss.

The flyer is also very versatile. Pass them out to homes, leave them on store counters, post them on bulletin boards, stick a stamp on them and mail ‘em. The list can go on, and on.

The best part is they are cheap to create, and produce. All you need is a computer, word-processing software, and a printer. If a flyer is not working, you can make quick fixes. Your marketing become flexible adjusting to your customers response.

I’ll get off my soap box now.

Going to get another 500 flyers out tomorrow.

Well it finally happened today…

A person called to complain about getting a flyer at their house.  I wonder what took so long?  I was expecting one much earlier.  The call was left on voicemail before business hours.  He said he did not want to see any of my flyers anywhere, or he would get laws passed to stop me. 

What am I going to do about it?  Am I going to stop flyering?  Nope — Just make sure we don’t give him another flyer at his house.  You cannot let a little criticism stop, or slow you down.  You have to let it roll off your back like water off a duck.

Because the only vote that counts is the one who puts cash in the bank.  Flyering has a high ROI.  For every dollar spent printing flyers & then passing them out returns $11.18 in new business. 

And the votes are in…keep flyering!

Wow…it has been over two months since I’ve posted anything.

I could bore you with tales about how May, and June got busy.  However just about any window cleaner waving a squeegee around gets busy that time of year.  So, I won’t

The motivation was just not there to post…and once I got into the habit of not posting it became easier to just let it slide.  The last couple of days I’ve been thinking about starting this back up again.  However I kept putting it off.

This morning I got up and decided today was the day.  My goal was to get this done before I left for the day.  I’ll get back on a regular schedule, and have some more great tips coming your way!

 That’s it for now…Off to clean a customer who is 10 minutes from here!  You gotta love that commute!